Woodcock (not Tony)

Woodcock-Waldschnepfe

First catch yourself a woodcock (Scolopax rusticola) this is not as easy as it seems as:

a) They have a very erratic flight

b) Are a small target

c) Are in very short supply

d) The last one I shot came down headless

The above being the case, I seeing one (the only one on the stall) at Furness’s in Borough Market, I immediately bought it. Packed in my cool box along with other nice things (wild rabbit and a grouse) a pucker gen Very Large Spanish Chorizo, very nice indeed even if it did cost me £20,-.

I safely got it home and so decided to freeze the rabbit and grouse and eat the woodcock the next evening (Tuesday).

I washed and picked it over to remove the remaining feathers.

The cooking of:

Browned it in a little goose fat, sautéed some cubed potatoes, speck and onions.

Placed the Woodcock on top of the potatoes, sprinkle with some fresh herbs and allow to fry for a while.

covered with a few slices of smoked bacon sliced from a nice piece of home cured and smoked belly

 and popped it into the oven to finish.

Next I fried a slice of whole grain bread with a few slices of bacon and that was the crouton

Remove the woodcock from the oven,

place it on a crouton, suround with sautéed potatoes and the bacon, enjoy.

The breast was pink, very pink just how I like them.

I can tell you there wasn't a lot left from the fine little fella

Wild boar and steak curry aloo

When my daughter was up in Kiel at Christmas, I was sitting thinking what to do with a piece of wild boar collar and a thick piece of rump steak, I was toying with either a stew or a pie but having had these already, I decided on a quick curry.

So the ingredients where.

300g of wild boar collar diced quite large (collar has a little more fat than the rest of the boar)

300g of rump steak diced (as this is a quick curry and not cooked for a long time, I think that rump or entrecote will be best)

5 potatoes cut into chunks

Spices

5 green cardamom pods

5cm piece of cinnamon bark

5 cloves

Teaspoon of methi seeds

5-6 dried curry leaves

1 teaspoon white mustard seeds

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon of Nigela

1 teaspoon of coriander

1 Scotch bonnet chilli (seeds removed and chopped fine)

1  onion diced

3 garlic cloves crushed

4-5 small tomataoes ¼ rd

1 teaspoon of tomato paste

1 tub of greek joghurt (250g)

300ml of chicken stock

2 teaspoons of Garam masala

Method:

Cut the meat into bite size pieces, season with salt, pepper and garam masala add the crushed garlic, cover and set aside.

Now make your tarka

Place the dried spices into a mortar and roughly pound with the pestle.

transfer to a frying pan, when the mustard seeds start to pop add to the meat Fry the onion in Ghee (I used vegetable oil, thinking of the girls waist lines, LoL., tears running down my cheeks)

Add the meat and sear, add the spices,chillies, stock and add the tomato paste and tomatoes, lid on and allow to cook until the meat is tender (when the meat is just tender add the spuds and cook until soft).

Adjust the seasoning and add the lemon juice and stir in the Joghurt

Serve with fresh boiled fluffy rice, poppadoms and chutneys and pickles (some homemade and some bought).

It turned out very nice for a quick curry!

Tournedos Rossini

Tournedos Rossini


Linda had bought a couple of filet steaks already dressed (had the bacon skirt held in place with those elastic garters). So we decided to have these for Sunday lunch (late as we had , had a full English earlier)

Ingredients

2 ready prepared filet steaks

Salt flakes,

Fresh ground pepper

Olive oil

Fois Gras (in this case as we had no fresh we used the preserved semi-cru)

Duxelle (mushroom, shallot and grain mustard)

Crouton (2 rounds of rye sour dough bread fried in duck or goose fat)

Oil, salt and pepper the steaks (I oil the steak and not the pan)

Method

Fry the duxelle until quite dry in a heavy based pan (cast iron in this case), in the same pan, heat a little duck or goose fat, add the croutons and fry until golden brown

Switch on the oven and allow to heat to about 180°C

Heat the frying pan until it smokes,

Place the steaks in the pan and do not move until they come away of their own free will, flip them over and repeat. Now brown the outside holding the tournedos with tongs.  Spread the croutons with the duxelle,

place a steak on each and sprinkle with salt flakes and fresh ground black pepper a plate, put the fois gras on top and place in the oven to finish cooking.

Now make the redwine sauce

¼ bottle redwine

250ml of stock (beef if you have it or better still a thick beef consommé)

2 teaspoons of olive oil

Very fine chopped mixed vegetables (carrots, shallot, leek)

50g of finely diced smoked ham (or speck)

½ teaspoon of sugar

Beurre marnier

Salt and pepper.

In the same pan add the oil and soften the veg (if finely diced it won’t take long) add the wine and reduce,

add the stock and sugar, reduce until it starts to thicken. Now whisk in the beurre marnier, a little at a time, until the sauce is rich and glossy.

Take the steaks out of the oven and allow to rest

Place a table spoonful of the red wine sauce on a plate, on top of this place your Tournedos Rossini.

We had this with spinach and creamed potatoes.

Pity we didn't have any truffles that would have just rounded it off!

Burns Night supper

I had brought a Haggis while in England ( A Marks and Spencers) with the sole purpose of having it on the first opportunity and as Burrn's Neet was just round the corner we decided to do an early one.

Some hae meat and canna eat;

And some wad eat that want it:
But we hae meat and we can eat
And sae the Lord be thankit.

Scotch Broth

To make the broth

1 lamb neck (scrag end) cut into 6 slices

Roughly dice the following

 The white of 1 leek

2 carrots

1 slice of celeriac about 1 cm thick (or 2 sticks of celery)

Also

1 clove of garlic crushed

1 onion spiked with 3 cloves holding 3 small bay leaves

The stalks of a bunch of parsley (better still if you have a parsley root)

1 table spoon of thyme

1 tablespoon of crushed pepper

½ litre of vegetable stock (or chicken stock)

1½ litres of cold water

2 table spoons of oil.

Salt & Pepper to season lamb.

Method

Season the lamb with S&P,

heat the oil in a large pan and colour the meat,

 remove with a slotted spoon, add the diced vegetables and sweat a little to soften,

 return the lamb neck and add the stock,

put in the studded onion, the crushed clove of garlic, the parsley stalks, add the water and bring to a rolling boil, skim at regular intervals as the gunge rises.

Reduce the heat, put the lid on and allow to simmer until the meat is cooked and just about falling off the bone. Remove the meat and set to one side to cool.

Strain the vegetables and discard (they have given up all of their goodnes anf flavour into the broth liquor.

The Scotch broth vegetables diced (about 1cm)

½ a turnip (Swede)

3 carrots

2-3 potatoes

1 large onion

¼ of a piece of celeriac

3 leeks (sliced into rings)

1 cup of pearl barley

1 table spoon of oil

Linda doing the dicing

When the neck is cool strip the meat from the bones and dice.









Sweat the onions in a little oil.

Add the barley to the onions and glaze a little, then

add the liquor and allow to boil just to give it a start as the barley takes a bit longer than the vegetables. Add the vegetables, when  the vegetables are just soft  put the meat into the broth. 

Transfer to a terrine, sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve piping hot (piping hot get it? scotch broth-piping hot !!!! oh forget it!)

.

with some crusty whole meal bread

Now that was starter and a half.

The main course.

Haggis, Neeps and Tatties.



Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o the puddin'-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy of a grace
As lang's my arm.

This year I didn’t make my own haggis, but bought a one from Marks and Spencer’s.

Cook the haggis as directed on the tag, in this case was steamed for 55mins, removed from its casing, sprinkled with whiskey and placed in the oven to keep warm. Make your mashed tatties and neeps, how is up to you, but do use plenty of butter and pepper.

Whiskey Sauce (from the Hairy Bikers)

 And so we had that Chieftain O' thi Puddin' Race with Neeps, Tatties and Whiskey sauce

Dessert

Cranachan

1 cup of Rolled oats

200ml of whipping cream (whipped just stiff with a dessert spoon of caster sugar)

2 table spoons of runny honey

1 dessert spoon of dark brown soft sugar

Dram of whiskey (how much of a dram is up to you)

1 punnet of raspberries

Teaspoon of icing sugar

Method

Toast the oats in a frying pan,

 place in a bowl with the honey, brown sugar, whiskey and half the whipped cream, stir well and set aside to mature. 

Remove about 10 nice berries and set aside to decorate,

 crush the rest with the icing sugar.

Place the oats mixture in the base of a glass (we used champers glasses), spread the  raspberry mixture on top of the oats and top this with the whipped cream and decorate with the reserved berries. Put in the fridge to cool.

This was a nice crowning glory for a smashing meal.