Big Pot Goulash

A Big Pot Goulasch

Ingredients:

2kg of half and half Gulasch meat from the butcher, or cut up your own from quite lean pork and beef (a bit of fat is ok)

3 carrots diced small

1 slice of celeriac diced small

2 small leeks white only diced small

100g of speck (or diced bacon) diced

1 large onion diced not too small

3 cloves of garlic (or 1 level tsp. of garlic powder) crushed and chopped

3 large red bell peppers (red Paprika) cored and diced (15mm dice)

4 diced tomatoes (seeds removed and sliced)

1 ltr of beef stock

1 dsp of tomato puree

1 tsp. of sweet chilli powder

1 tsp. of hot chilli powder

1 tsp. of smoked chilli powder

½ tsp. cumin powder

½ tsp. Fenchel seeds

1 tin of passiert tomatoes with herbs

1 tin diced tomatoes

6 roasted paprika (out of a jar) sliced

1 bottle of Rama cooking cream (or 1 tub of sour cream)

Salt and pepper to taste

2 to 3 tbsp. of flour

Neutral oil for frying

METHOD:

Heat the oil in a frying pan, fry the speck and onions together until the onions are translucent, remove and set aside in a large bowl.

Dust the goulash meat with flour and plenty of salt and pepper, put these into the frying pan adding more oil is requires, brown over a high heat, transfer to  the bowl with the onions. Only do enough at once that can only cover the bottom of the pan, I used the frying pan and the pan that I would eventually cook the goulash in to do this.

Add all of the goulash meat, onions and garlic to the large pan, add the diced root veg. 

Deglaze the frying pan with 500ml of beef stock and add this to the large pan, add the tomato puree and stir in, bring to the boil and add the paprika powders, cumin and fenchel, mixing well. 

Add the rest of the stock and both of the tins of tomatoes, return to the boil, lower the heat, lid on and simmer for 15 mins, add the diced bell peppers and tomatoes, return to a simmer and allow to cook until the meat is tender, add the sliced roasted pepper strips and the cream, warm through.

Ready serve with parsley potatoes (on the first day and large noodles the second day) you will have enough to feed 5 hungry adults and an 18 month old child (he eats everything) for two days.

Cassoulet ( a little different)

Sunday a bike ride and a cassoulet (as never been done before)

The title says it all I have done a mixture of the lot, but didn't have any goose or duck, that doesn't detract from the flavour, it is deep and rich and even (heard that some other place?).

I used lamb, because I had some in the freezer that needed using up, it had been in there since January and I was sick of moving it from drawer to drawer, back to the front, it just didn't seem to have a proper home, so out it came, I also had some pork collar marinated in paprika. Beans soaked overnight.

I was up early as I wanted to go and see if the Great Crested Grebes had successfully reared any off spring this year, so cycling along the river, towards the rose garden at the Schloss, it was amazing how many birds, animals and a few people where about, the air was full of song, the fields full of hares and the krrrikkking of the cock pheasants, the fish rising on the slow flowing Ems, it was beautiful and serene. I then went along the cycle track through the Erlenbruchwald  (this is an area of land set aside so that the wood in the main Black Alder are allowed to grow and die without the hand of man coming into contact, there are many fallen trees (the Alder has a very shallow root system) that do not survive the Autumn storms, the area is marsh and wet lands criss-crossed by streams and ponds, at once you are greeted by the quacking of the ducklings, the moorhens wandering to and fro with not a care in the world,

The Blackbirds giving off there alarm call and passing the rabbits out for an early morning graze on the banks of the park.

I reached the Emssee and at once heard the begging call of young Great Crested Grebes, oh joy and bliss, they had reared a brood, I turned the corner, crossed the little bridge and there in front of me was a mother being chased by one begging chick,

 in the distance I saw her mate with another two off spring, all begging for food.

There was a chap out fishing (there are some good carp, eels and tench here) and a moorhen pair decided to inspect his tackle (fishing tackle that is),

I had a bit of a rest and took some Photos of the parent birds, diving, catching a fish and the three chicks racing to get there first amid the begging calls.

serving up breakfast, now how fresh is that?

I could have sat there all morning, it was so nice, but alas the Cassoulet was calling so I mounted the bike and headed for home, not by the direct route that is along main roads, I headed out through the fields and byways.

On reaching home I got into prep-mode.

Ingredients
500g of beans soaked over night
8 lamb chops (dry marinated in Herbs de Provence and sea salt)
2 pork collar steaks in a paprika marinade
1 black pudding cut into slices
An end of chorizo cut into chunks
Some hot smoked spiced belly
70g of speck
100g of streaky bacon
6 Nürnberger bratwurst
White of a leek diced
3 stalks of celery sliced
2carrots diced
5 small tomatoes ¼d
100g of fine green beans, topped and tailed then blanched
1½ peppers diced (the peppers left over from last night’s stir fry)
1/2 large onion diced (also left over from last night)
1 litre of homemade beef stock (that was all I had, would have preferred chicken)
Olive oil and sunflower oil for frying (you should really use duck or goose fat but I had to do something healthy??)

For the topping, sourdough breadcrumbs mixed with 2 garlic cloves and a bunch of parsley all blitzed with a magic wand.

Strain the beans that had been soaked overnight, put them into a pressure cooker cover with water add the speck and the skin from the pork belly cut into strips. Lid on and cook for an hour.

Mean time chop and prepare all of the rest of the vegetables and meats.

When the beans are cooked, Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed casserole (cast iron is good for this), fry the bacon, then the sausages, next the pork collar, remove and add the chops.

Add the black pudding slices to the fat in the pan (I was using German blutwurst, this is softer than the UK sort) fry just a little turning once, add half of the mixed vegetables,

then cover with some beans,

next the lamb chops and bacon,

then the rest of the veg, next the pork, the Nürnberger, the chorizo, the smoked belly, cover 2 with more beans and then the tomatoes and green beans,

finishing off with the final layer of beans,  pour in the stock,

 bury the bouquet garni into the beans, lid on and into a preheated oven at 180°C for 2 hours.

Now make your topping (this is not for traditionalists), this is a tip from Monsieur Raymond Blanc as are the tomatoes, so what is good enough for a Michelin starred chef (ahem, did I tell you I have eaten at his Bistro in Cheltenham) is good enough for you lot and of course ’moi’   

Spoon the topping over the top and turn up full, now at this point I had been using my blender and it ceased to function, I thought that it was the blender but no! for some strange reason I had lost a phase, alas also the oven phase. So what I thought was browning nicely was doing sweet Fanny Adams. After 20 minutes I went in and discovered the malaise, so down to the cellar, reset the MCB and what was sweet Fanny Adams was now Bob’s your uncle.

So what is “they” say “all’s well that ends well” stupid saying if you ask me, but I suppose you never will!
There will be those that will not say that is not a Cassoulet Castelnau, Carcassonne, Columbié or Toulouse, I would say you are correct and as all of these differ, so does mine. The Cassoulet was originally a peasant dish, a meal of the people, and then some “Super Chef (s)” decided that his was the correct version and so wrote the ingredients and procedure down in tablets of stone. What he/they forgot was that the peasants had been making this for hundreds of years prior to “their version”. They, as in all one pot meals used whatever was at hand, in some areas, ducks abound, in another mutton, in yet another pork, just because they couldn’t lay their hands on some duck confite didn’t stop them from making ”their” Cassoulet.

I was forced down the road of using Nürnberger Bratwurst, I would have loved to have used some pucka gen Toulouse sausages, alas it was Sunday and I wasn’t able to get any raw sausages (Toulouse or fresh Bratwurst) so I used these, I think that they dish did not lose any of its taste because of them as they are very well seasoned and there flavour did not get lost in the dish.

The finished dish ready to serve

Plated and ready to eat

Ate!!! and nice it was, very, very nice indeed! Not a lot left of those two plates full.

Pea Soup - Erbsen Eintopf

Pea Soup.


A few months ago I had bought a ham bone from one of the stalls at Kiel Wochenmarkt, it was a monster and had been languishing in Linda’s freezer ever since. She had been doing a bit of a re-formatting (nice word that) of her drawers (freezer ones) and had asked about it, I said put it out I shall make a big pot of pea soup at the weekend.

So here it is.

You shall need:

For the stock

1 ham bone (it may be from Holsteinische Katenschinken or if down South a good old Westfalisches Schinkenknocken)
A couple of onions studded with cloves and bay leaves
1 Carrot roughly diced
Green of a leek
A couple of slices of celeriac chopped
5 litres of water
Teaspoon crushed pepper corns

Bring the bone to the boil a couple of times discarding the water, (These ham bones and residual meat can be very salty). Then put the bone with the veg into a large pot with 5 litres of water (cover the bone),

bring to the boil and cook for about an hour, remove the bone ( you can shred the meat and add it to the soup, beware it can be very salty and have a strong smoky taste, some like it some don’t)

1 kg of whole dried peas, steeped overnight (or better still 24 hours)

White of 1 leek cut down the middle and chopped
2 carrots diced
Parsley root diced
1 medium onion diced
¼ of a globe of celeriac, peeled and diced
1 teaspoon of pepper corns (crushed)
1 teaspoon of dried marjoram.

There is a myth, nah, a fairy story about that you don’t add salt or seasoned stock to pulses before cooking, this is a load of poppycock, It has been proven as nonsense and I have once again done this!

Put the peas into a large pot, pour over the stock and cover with water, bring to the boil and cook until soft (it is quicker using a pressure cooker, but harder to judge when cooked). When they are just soft add the veg, pepper and marjoram, bring to a rolling boil, if too thick add some more water check that it doesn’t set on to the bottom.

When cooked, you can add some shredded ham, or cooked pieces of kassler.

I like to puree about 30% of the finished soup and then stir all together, you can add more stock or water if you wish to have a thinner soup, but I like the real rib sticker stuff!!!

Serve piping hot with fresh crusty bread (this is smashing Guy Fawkes night grub).

Cataplana Porco e Mexhilöes of sorts

The Cataplana

Though I had travelled to Portugal in the late 60s and mid 70s, it was either for a footy match (Newcastle against Setubal) or on a ship to Porto to collect wine for Peter Dominic, I had never been to the South of Portugal (Algarve) until 1982.

I first had a Cataplana many years ago (to be exact 29, I know this as my daughter had just turned 2 and her Birthday is 5th August and she has now just turned 31 we had taken a holiday in a place called Quartiera on the Central Algarve (A terrible place and I don’t think it could have changed much) but it wasn’t all that far from the better places along the Algarve coast with a hire car. One evening we decided to drive into Albefeira for a meal and a bit of a promenade along the prom with daughter in her buggy, we went out quite late as we thought we could tire her out and have a restful meal at one of the small fish restaurants at the harbour, she did fall asleep, so we decided to chance a quick meal.

We went into a very small, cosy family run restaurant, about 12 tables, Mama cooked, daughter and Papa waited on. I couldn’t then and still cannot now speak or read Portuguese, but with the smattering of Spanish, that was in my grips I understood the pork and shellfish part of an entry on the menu. But Cataplana beat me hands down. I asked the Papa in embarrassingly bad Spanish, what it was, he shrugged his shoulders (they all seem to do that), pointed to a shiny copper ornamental clam shell object hanging from the walls and called his daughter across (she was in her mid 20s) she came across and started to chat and make a fuss of my daughter, who had by this time woken up (she had fantastic blonde hair, my daughter that is, why does she ever dye it black, orange and purple). She spoke very good English, although alas with a Cockney accent. I asked where she learnt it and she replied that she worked most of the year in London in a hotel run by her brother and returned home to help her Mama & Papa in the high tourist season.

I asked about this Cataplana thingy-me-bob and she explained it was a cooking utensil. A hemispherical top and bottomed pan made out of beaten copper this had been tinplated on the inside. One side had a hinge that had a removable pin and the sides had swing clips to clamp the two halves formly together, it also had copper cantilever handles. I was intrigued and started to ask quite a lot of questions and my daughter decided to join in, alas in a rather high pitched wail, which turned into a scream. I saw that this would be the end of a nice evening meal, but no! Maria (the name of the young lady) called out to the kitchen, out came Mama and took the screaming brat into the kitchen with her, buggy and all. I was relieved as by now I would have willingly not paid the ransom to get her back from any kidnappers, mother on the other hand looked a little more than worried, but was taken by the hand into the kitchen and there was a now placated baby girl happily playing with a baby boy of approx the same age, both sitting on a blanket in a corner of what can only be described as a large home kitchen. Watching over the pair, was Gran with a bucket of potatoes at her feet, peeling away merrily. It could have been the kitchen of my childhood. A warm healthy glow spread through me, a feeling of contentment and well being pervaded through, what was a very humble kitchen.

We left that wonderful kitchen and sat down at the table, I ordered a carafe of the local plonk and my wife had a bottle of water (I drove there, so she drove back). As I had made so many enquiries about it, I now just had to have the Cataplana. This was the start of a love affair that has lasted almost 30 years, I later through friendship visited the Algarve many, many times (though never again to the horrible Quartiera), but I shall never forget that wonderful evening in a small restaurant in Albefeira.

When it came, placed on the centre of the table with great aplomb by Papa, it was opened and out streamed the most wonderful, pungent, fishy odour, that had ones mouth salivating profusely before even tasting a morsel. Eaten with a bowl of those wonderful small potatoes and a pot of both the salsa Verde and the hot chilli piri-piri sauce and some crusty bread. It was wonderful, pure bliss, I think it must be one of the original seafood meat dishes ever invented. Who said that peasant dishes are not worthy of star ratings????

I have over they years tried to replicate the first experience, but have never come anywhere close to it. But the one that follows is pretty dammed good. Oh! My wife retrieved our sleeping nipper and we visited that fantastic restaurant a few times during that Algarve stay, but never again on an evening, I was all for it (it saved having to hire a babysitter from the complex) but my wife was having none of it!

So here is my miserable attempt to replicate that wonderful meal

Ingredients

600g pork filet

Marinade

Chilli flakes
2 small dried chillies
Smoked paprika
Sweet paprika
Salt and pepper
Red Wine
Lime juice
Lemon oil
Garlic



Slice the pork filet into 1 cm slices

Add the ingredients to the meat mix well, cover and place in the fridge for a few hours (Mine went in at 07:00 this morning and was cooked at about 19:00)

adding the wine to the pork

the meat in the marinade to marinate

Remainder of Ingredients

1 dessert spoon of Mojo Verde (see recipe)
Strained marinade juices
100 g of Chorizo sliced
Small sweet tomatoes (halved)
1 small tin of tomato dice
A few prawns, mussels or clams (they can be frozen and defrosted if fresh are not available)
50 g diced speck (bacon)
2 small or 1 medium onion (or 2 shallots) sliced into rings
300 ml of fish or vegetable stock
1 clove of garlic crushed and sliced
1 bay leaf
A couple of spoons of olive oil.

You can do this all in the cataplana and I suppose if being really authentic you would, but I heat some oil in a heavy bottomed frying pan add the onions and fry until traslucent, add the speck and allow to sweat a bit, then the garlic and chorizo, allow to soften and give off its paprika oils to the pan.

Remove from the pan, place in the base of the Cataplana and add a bit more oil if required, add the drained sliced pork filet and swiftly fry, making sure each piece is coloured, transfer to the Cataplana on top of the onions etc, add about 6 small halved tomatoes. Pour the marinade along with the stock into the frying pan and stir in the Mojo Verde, pour this into the Cataplana, add the bay leaf, put the prawns and/or the clams/mussels on top of the meat, pour your tinned tomato pieces over the top, lid down, clamped shut and cook on a medium heat for about 15-20 minutes. Open and sprinkle with loads of fresh chopped parsley and coriander and serve. ( I always open at the table and serve direct from the Cataplana as it is sooooo exciting and the guests just love a good oooo-ahhhhh)

colouring the pork, in the back ground the Cataplana with the  Chorizzo,onions, speck and garlic

Adding the prawns and mussels

Papas Arrugadas

I serve mine with the salt encrusted wrinkly potatoes from the Canary Isles (Papas Arrugadas).

Boil small salad type potatoes in boiling water loaded with salt until soft, when cooked pour off most of the water until you are left with enough to just cover the spuds, now boil until almost all of the water has evaporated and the spuds have a salty coating and have gone wrinkly!

Papas Arrugadas in the last stage of wrinkling

These potatoes originate from Lanzerote but as this is a region closer to Portugal than Spain, I think that they go very well with this dish, accompany these with a green garlicky sauce and a spicy red one to dip them into.

Mojo Verde

10 cloves of garlic
1 small onion
200ml EVOO
150 ml white wine vinegar
Small handful fresh coriander
Small handful fresh mint
Small handful fresh lemon balm
Small handful parsley
A couple of  sage leaves
Pinch of cumin powder
Salt and pepper

Boil the garlic in the skin to soften, then fry the onion until translucent add all to a blender, add the herbs and spices, the oil and the vinegar, blitz and taste adjust seasoning to suit your taste.

poaching the garlic

The herbs garlic and softened onions

The finished sauce

Salsa Roja

50ml EVOO

25 ml red wine

1 fresh chilli (chopped) (from my balcony supply)

1 diced onion (or shallot)

1 clove of garlic (diced)
1 red pepper (diced fine)
2 ripe tomatoes de-seeded and diced fine
Grated Peel of ½ lemon
Juice of ½ lemon
S&P to taste (Celery salt is also good)

This is a raw sauce, so add the chilli, onion, garlic, half of the diced red pepper to a blender and bltz into a fine mixture add the EVOO and the red wine, add the grated peel and the lemon juice, blitz once again, put the diced tomatoes and the remainder of the red peppers into a bowl, pour over the sauce. Mine unlike many Salsa Roja does not use any cooked ingredients, adjust seasoning at the end ( a sprinkling of Cellery salt won't go a miss.

shallot, red pepper, garlic into blender

De-seed and remove white pith and chop chilli add to blender

grated lemon rind and juice of the lemon half

The finished meal with the salty spuds, the green sauce and the red one, all washed down with an ice cold bottle of pink.(Portuguese Weissherbst from Aldi under €2,- a litre bottle). All served on my balcony in the evening heat, boy did we need those bottles of pink!!!

11 O'clock, Papas Arrugadas, 12 O'clock, Cataplana, 3 O'clock, bog standard baguette, 6 O'clock Salsa Rojas, just off centre Mojo Verde