The cookery clubs Autumn menu

Autumn 2013 KIKOKLU

It was that time again; the trees are just starting to put on their Autumn colours, the russets, oranges, yellows and reds. The ground littered with falling acorns and ruddy chestnuts, that being so it was time for our KikoKlu Autumn meet, it had been decided that it would be in Stockelsdorf this year, that being so it meant that we would be doing the main course, I was in a dilemma as until 2 weeks ago I had thought about wild duck, but had been unable to get hold of any (keeping their heads down,  ducking I suppose), but when down in Rheda I happened to pop into a hunting friend of mine to get some game ribs to make a consommé  and told him of my problem, he opened up a deep freeze and there lay about 10 plucked and drawn ducks, he said that they had been out water fowling during the week and had been quite lucky.

I picked 3 nice plump ones at about 1kg each, he charged me €5,- each and threw 2kg of Roe ribs in as well. I had a few partridges in my freezer, but think I only had about 4 so this was the best solution (this year we are only 5 as Marianne was in England visiting friends in my home town of Newcastle)

So I decided that we wouldn’t be having loads of potatoes, Semmel Klöße,  Spätzle or potato dumplings, we would in fact have a nice melange of mixed autumn roast vegetables.

The Menu was to be:

As the guests arrived we would have a nice Prosecco with sausage rolls and crab and prawn Vol au vents.

The opening would be Carolyn’s trout mousse with trout caviar and a small dressed salad, the mousse was absolutely fantastic, it was not puree’d  to destruction, but still had identifiable pieces of smoked trout in it (more a rillet). Wonderful and tasty with just a touch of horse radish.

Next came Linda’s  creation in honour of the Octoberfest, this was a game consommé with Leberknödel  (liver dumplings) floating in it. Well done Linda, it was a first time and she mastered the art of making the Leberknödeln very well; I will try and get her a job Auf’n Wiese next year.

Martin had really went to town making Cepes and hazelnut tortellini , these had been made with hazel nut and rye flour, poached in stock served with a sage butter and drizzled with Cepes oil

Then came mains which I shall explain in a little more detail later

And last but not least came one of Kalle’s veritable culinary master pieces, a wonderful medley of deserts, a plum tartlet, a port wine poached pear on a port wine reduction and a smashing crip nut praline. Bravo Kalle  take a bow, what a fantastic ending to the meal.

 

The Stuffed roast mallards, with a fruit and sage filling, glazed with a kumquat-apricot sauce. Served on a bed of Riesling sauerkraut, accompanied by a selection of autumn vegetables and red wine poached pears with preiselbeeren

I picked the birds over to remove the worst of the stubble,  quill ends and any shot, washed inside and out and dried them and giving them a good salting and peppering.  

I had soaked some sultanas, orange peel and dried apricots in orange juice overnight, I mixed this into a packet of sage and onion stuffing (a well-known brand) with some spiced sausage meat (mett) made this up as per the packet and allowed to stand.

I then stuffed each duck with the filling closed the openings with toothpicks, covered with bacon strips and trussed with kitchen twine. I diced some root vegetables and onions placed these breast sides up into a roasting tin with some vegetable stock.

 

Into a pre-heated oven at 180°C (fan assisted) to take on colour after 20 minutes, removed and turned so that the breast are facing down. Lower the heat to 160° and allowed to slowly cook for a further 40 minutes (check the breast temperature it should be about 50°C, it will rise while resting, but will remain juicy). Cover and allow to rest.

Remove from the roasting tray and pour all of the contents into a saucepan and add a glass or two of white wine, reduce and strain through a sieve. This will be added to the kumquat sauce.

Kumquat sauce

200g small (they are in any case) kumquats (50% in halves and 50% cut into slivers)
2 tbsp. of apricot jelly
2 tsp. of caster sugar
200ml orange juice made up with the orange juice that you soaked the dried fruit in.
Salt and pepper to taste

Add all of the ingredients except the salt and pepper into a saucepan, allow slowly to cook down until it is nice and syrupy, add the stock a little at a time, but still keeping the syrup consistency. Now adjust the seasoning (It may well not require any).

Riesling Sauerkraut

You can buy this ready-made, but in this case I bought normal bio-sauerkraut and added a couple of  bay leaves stuck into 2 halves of onion with cloves, 5 juniper berries, a good handful of sweet Riesling grapes, 2 tsp. of  vegetable stock powder, ¾ of a bottle of Riesling. Add to a large pan and allow to simmer for a couple of hours, I think the longer the better, you can even make it the day before and slowly heat it up to be ready just prior to eating.

Roast Autumn Vegetables

2 large sweet potatoes
500g Hokkaido pumpkin
10 small beetroots
10 small parsnips
2 yellow courgettes

Peel the potatoes, and parsnips, I used only the bulbous top parts and cut them to the same size as the beetroots.  Cut all of the vegetables into pieces of approx. the same size. Parboil the beetroots and the parsnips (two different pans),  when still firm peel the beets and transfer to a roasting tray, add the rest of the vegetables, drizzle all over with olive oil, add some fresh chopped herbs (rosemary, thyme, oregano), fresh ground black pepper and course sea salt, mix well together  so that all are coated, cover with foil and place in the oven to roast for about 1 hour (I roasted at the same time as the duck, duck at the top and veg at the bottom, keep an eye on the veg if they are cooking too quick remove and then replace while the duck is resting.

Poached pears in red wine

3 pears halved
1bottle of red wine
1 stick of cinnamon bark
2 cloves
3 cardamom pods crushed
6 dsp. of preiselbeer jam or jelly (or any other red berry jam or jelly).
Peel , halve and de-core the pears, poach in the red wine (a red Australian merlot in this case. Remove from the poaching liquid and allow to cool, fill them with the jam

To serve,
Remove the tooth picks and thread, remove the crispy bacon, halve each of the ducks (I have some special secateurs for this, but a good sharp knife works just as well) , with the stuffing inside still in it, place these on top of the Riesling Sauerkraut in a pretty serving dish, glaze and decorate each with the sauce and glazed kumquats and the crispy bacon.

Decorate with the halved pears.

Pour the remainder of the Kumquat sauce into a sauce boat and serve separate

Put the vegetables into serving dishes and open up the bottle of good wine (red or white the choice is yours, but a nice Riesling would go nice with this meal.

My Stockelsdorf Pasties (after the Cornish art)

We had, had a very nice weekend and I was wondering what to cook for dinner (I am now a full trained houseman), I thought that as we had really enjoyed our Cornish Pasties from Helston, I would make a batch for our evening meal. I was wondering what type of pastry was used to encase the filling as I remembered the pastry was very nice and flaky.  This had lead me down the road of thinking it could have been puff, though I had my doubts, after a discussion with some members of the wildfoodboard.info, I was informed that it wasn’t puff but short crust, but a flaky short crust ( seem to remember “Wor Mam” making this for her pasties, but that had been lost  somewhere in my remembering cells. I also had a look at a lot of recipes and these all confirmed this.

It is also the general opinion that beef skirt is the meat to be used, the other ingredients being turnip, (Swede for the foreigners amongst you) potato, onion, plenty of pepper and salt.

I found a nice recipe in a pie book that I had and with a few twists of my own used that as the basis of my pastry and filling.

So here it is.

Rough puff pastry

425g of flour
100g of lard
100g of butter
Good pinch of salt
Enough water to pull it all together (not too much it should be quite a firm dough)
1 beaten egg to seal and glaze

Method:

Freeze the butter and lard for a couple of hours. Mix the flour and salt into a basin and grate the fats into this, mix in with the back of a knife until it looks like very course bread crumbs, add enough water  and bring together into a ball (do not over knead). Wrap in cling film and chill for half an hour.

While you are waiting make the filling:

300g of beef skirt (my butcher had no skirt so I got some well-marbled rump steak)
225g of turnip
225g of potato
1 medium onion (I used 3 shallots)
1 tbsp. of veg oil
Plenty of pepper
A teaspoon of marigold vegetable stock

Dice all of the vegetables and the beef into uniform sizes, quite small approx. 5mm

Mix together and add a good sprinkling of pepper (some say white, but I like fresh ground black), here my recipe differed from most as this one said add 1 table spoon of oil, this I did as I could see that it would help in the cooking of the filling. I also added a few finely chopped thyme leaves, not a lot but just enough to give it a subtle taste. Normally it a Cornish pasty would have salt added but I used marigold vegetable stock powder to give it the salt content.

So the filling is mixed

Cut the ball of pastry into 4 pieces, form into balls and roll out on a floured board and place a 20cm plate on top and cut around to form 4 discs, I found I had enough off cuts to make another disc so though my recipe said makes 4 mine made 5.

I have been informed that traditionally the true Cornish Pasty has the plait on the side (it was originally not eaten, as it would have been used by the tin miners to hold it and because of the  muck and dirt would be thrown down the mine for the Pixies or whatever that small folk are called that live down the mines ). Mine not being made in Cornwall and up here on the Baltic, pixies are as rare as rocking horse poo on the moon, mine went on the top, I did manage to get a rope type twist, but I will have to practice to get it a bit better, I suppose I would have gotten a “he tries hard but not with a lot of success”.

So filling piled in the middle egg wash round one half of the circle and then joined together at the top and using finger and thumb managed a rope plait (of sorts). Egg wash all over the top and pierce with a knife in a couple of places to allow the steam to escape.

Place them on a baking tray covered with baking paper (or a silicon mat if you’re really up to date)

Put them into a pre-heated oven (fan assisted) at 180°C for about 40 minutes until the they are golden brown, if they are browning too quickly turn off the fan  or reduce the temperature and just use top and bottom heat.

Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack.

 

Turn up the oven and place your  oven chips in (I used McCain ones)at the required temperature.

Heat your beans in the microwave (or you can dirty another pot if you wish).

Linda just arrived through the door as the meal was ready, so it was Baltic Pasty with oven chips, baked beans and a splodge of brown sauce.

These below are before the embellishments

Not bad, not bad at all.

England Summer Tour 2013 (6)

Tuesday 20^th Aug    

Minehead to Pershore

We had managed to get hold of dear Carol early and she had arranged to get us into the visitors suit at their sheltered  accommodation complex (a very nice watering hole, in a very nice part of the country with very nice people). So heading into town we headed for the evasive Morrison’s of yesterday (it was only about 150mtr from the round-about that we had used the last evening to turn and back track.

We done a raid and of course bought far more than we had envisaged, but used the impending visit of Linda’s Dad as an excuse, well at 93 years of age you can hardly expect him to eat foreign muck can you?  Shopping done we headed for the M5 and Pershore reaching there mid-afternoon, had a cuppa with Carol and Bill, Linda had a pet with Zebadee, their ancient cat and then had a bit of shut eye. We had arranged to go out to the fantastic Thai restaurant that Pershore has on its high street.
We walked past the wonderful Abbey and a window full of passion fruit, until we arrived at:

The passion fruit hanging like large green eggs

The Thai Legend    

If you are ever passing through Pershore (I see no reason why you should, so make a detour), this is a must, they do wonderful food at very reasonable prices, try the buffet menu (s) we both and shared them, very tasty and well worth the price.

 

The meat starter

The fish starter

And the boys had Tom Yam soup

The wonderful buffet

A nice ly carved water melon at the entrance

The smashing window decoration

We have been to two Thai restaurants this holiday, both of them have become favourites of ours and there really is nothing to choose between them in quality and value.

We wandered back passing the Abbey all lit up and the moon peeking from behind the tower.

We got home and it was time for bed, so bed it was.

Wednesday 21^st August

Stratford on Avon

We had decided to visit the Bards birthplace as this was another place that Linda had never visited, it was also many years ago that I had visited it and Carol (almost a local) said much had changed, so after breakfast off we jolly well went, not a lot of traffic and in almost no time (though not in the 12 minutes that Carol is purported to have done it in) we had followed the parking signs across the bridge and into the very large car park with large parking bays (a must for a 6mtr camper).

The spires and willows that line the river banks

The ferry arrives

Messing about on the river

A very fine engine room

Disembarkation of the passengers

It was just a short walk across the meadows to the chain ferry, we jumped aboard (well I jumped, Linda hobbled) and we crossed the river Avon in style, not Regal, but in style. It was a very warm day and the weeping willows that line the bank were a beauty to behold.

The ducks quacking and diving, the Swans majestically gliding and the Canada Geese shitting all over the place (they really are a waste of space and are best roasted). We alighted (well in sorts) and walked past the Swan theatre

and watched a narrow boat emerging from the locks at the only remaining coaling wharf (Brandon).

Opening the lock gates




























We then walked into town, it being about time for a spot of lunch and Carol had informed  us that she had discovered this small fish restaurant, that served the world’s best fish and chips (I have eaten in many, many world’s best, so am a bit of a sceptic in these matters).

The entrance to the café is up a back alley

The take-away at the front

Linda patiently waiting for her haddock and chips

 

The menu

Now that's a nice plaice in a nice place

The Kingfisher is its name and it is quite unimposing, a small down the alleyway (seem to have been down a few alleys on this holidays) chippy, it is not at all pretentious doesn’t even have table clothes, but the fish and chips, are absolutely fantastic, I had plaice and chips (on Carols directions) and Linda had her normal haddock and chips, mushy peas bread and butter and a mug (no cups here)of builders tea. This to my way of thinking is how fish and chips should be served and reminded me of the Friday Fish and Chips at the Low Lights chippy on the Fish quay at North Shield, these we had as apprentices before going to the wooden Dolly (Prince of Wales) to make a nuisance of ourselves.

Juice White fish, with a fine crispy batter

The batter was ever so light and crisp, no stodgy half raw inside bits, the chips fresh cooked, the fish cooked to perfection, I mean just cooked, still moist and glistening inside, that lighter than air batter. I suppose we could have done without the mushy peas but old habits die hard and they are part of the ritual.

There are not a lot of tables in the Kingfisher (and I think that is good) but all seats taken and the one old lady had everything in grip and the fish fryer a master of his craft, nothing in the fish fryer until you ordered and the portions are just too much (a small portion of chips would have done both of us).
Is it the best in the world? I am totally adverse to that silly term, it is used so much on TV and far too often, until I have eaten at all of the Fish and chips shops in the World I shall never be able to answer that question. But, of all of the fish and chips I have eaten so far, it will be in the top ten. So not only does Stratford upon Avon have a bloody good theatre, a mighty fine script writer, poet and thespian (even if he didn’t write them all) but also can lay claim to having a mighty fine Fish and Chip Shoppe.

We next visited Waterstone’s, the bookshop, as Linda wanted to get books for birthday presents or at least that is what she said (Linda we do not need any more books and I have an e-reader). Linda then said you pop off and wander and I will saunter my way back to the river and the ferry, I shall meet you back there. So while Linda sauntered, I meandered around this and that looking at various pieces of architecture and buildings all with a sign wafting in the breeze pronouncing it to be ye oldie building from pre 1600s and had been slept in by all and sundry (I do hope that they have changed the sheets). I think that this is the type of things that our Cousins from across the pond like as having no culture of their own try and hang onto our coat tails in such matters. I believe that they are all part of a Scottish Clan, an Irish Hooligan family or in some way part of our Wills family.

 

I got my liquorice fix from a Ye Oldie Sweet Shoppe (well I couldn’t go back empty handed could I? sauntered back towards the chain ferry and caught Linda just as she was emerging from the rear of the theatre, I think they have done a very good job on it and must try and take in a piece of classic theatre when next in the area, may be next June time.

Across the ferry and then to the van and off back to Pershore, we parked the van and then walked into town as I wanted some of those famous Pershore plumbs for my Rumtopf. In years past I have used the ones from Linda’s Hof in Kiel but as we are no longer able to scavenge these, I thought then it will have to be Pershore's. The whole town is done out in Purple ready for the coming plum festival (following bank holiday weekend), it is great when a town, goes to town so as to speak, all ver4y impressive. Linda also wanted to write some more post cards (where ever does she find all these friends and she is not even on Facebook). She popped into the post office, I went into No 8 (the arts and culture centre that Carol and Bill are such leading lights in), I ordered the carrot cake and coffee and just a coffee for Linda.

Cards written, coffee drunk and cake eaten of we went first into a shoe shop (she does have a lot of shoes does that lass) and I picked up my plumbs.
Headed back to where we had parked the van, outside of the Sheltered accommodation, in a perfectly legal manner may I add, when almost there I noticed a police car, a bus and a gaggle of people. Carol was part of the gaggle and came towards me to tell me that because of a car parked on the opposite side of the street, the bus did not have enough space to pass and was just about to be rerouted with multiple police escorts. I apologised to the young police officer for any inconvenience that I may have caused, but he said he was sure it was the fault of the car parked on the other side of the street and thanked me for being so understanding and moving my van to the opposite side to allow the bus to continue on its journey. After all of the exertions and excitement it was time to have a lie down, as that evening Carol was cooking for us.

The evening meal, Carols spiced belly pork, rice and stir-fried vegetables and Bills Whisky

I am sure it was not how the script had been written but as it turned out we had a fantastic meal (I wouldn’t have expected anything less from Carol and Bill and I broached the best part of a bottle of whisky. This was before Bill thought that if he was to have any left for the next day it was time for me to leave.
So thanks to the both of you for a very enjoyable 2 days.

Thursday 22^nd August

Pershore to Polstead, ferry and home

Next morning it was off across England, it must be the thickest part (I am talking about the distance not the inhabitants, though…) We set off after bacon sandwiches and  then into the rain, I do believe it rained for 90% of the journey, we stopped for lunch (we had also stopped at a Tesco Superstore and re-victualed) so we dined on ham off the bone (though they called it ham on the bone?), roast beef, scotch eggs and pork pie (not a patch on mine). We arrived at the campsite that we had stayed at the first night (a 5 star one in our estimation) the wardens had reserved us a pich right at the entrance so that we could get a straight run out when we left early next morning. We watched a bit of tele (Linda is in love with the Big Bang Theory) and then tootled along to a pub just around the corner passing the blackberry patches

The Brewers Arms is a pub that you now find the length and breadth of Great Britain, they can no longer make a living selling only beer so the main stay of their income is food, some do it well some do it not so well some should be hounded out of the trade. I am pleased to say this was one of the former, because of its proximity to the campsite it is well frequented, though I also noticed what looked like locals (straw in mouth, smock coat and cotton hat pulled over the straw coloured bedraggled hair – Suffs Just joking, honest).

 

 

We ordered  from the Carvery, this consisted of roast beef, roast, turkey and gammon accompanied by the works, roast potatoes, boiled minted potatoes, baton carrots, buttered cabbage, steamed cauliflower and broccoli, braised onions, Yorkshire puddings (not frozen and not out of a packet) and loads of gravy.
Now this is in no way high end dining and does not proclaim to be it is just good honest well cooked food, with no frills. There is a time and a place for  Michelin food and we often do go for it, but this our last night in the UK we wanted a good roast and we got it. Mine was two slices of beef, about 5mm thick juicy and tender, the vegetables all well-cooked (I mean well cooked in the sense of not being cooked to a pulp).

My plate was full and I mean full, I was bloated and truly enjoyed every bite.

Linda had the gammon and Turkey and could not finish all of her Turkey and I couldn’t help her, the shame. I washed it all down with a glass of wonderful Suffolk Draught Cider, I had been told about it from some friends of ours and had had it at Carols the night before (she had been told about it by our mutual friends). If you have never tried it you surely should, I never associated Suffolk with Cider, this being as I thought the domain of Dorset, Devon, Cornwall and of course Zommerset! I have now discovered another county to add to those.

It was an early to bed, as we had an early rise.

Friday 23^rd August

We got up before the larks, but not before the pigeons and the bleeding cock, got everything ready and headed off, Linda commented how lucky we were that they had opened the gates before the advertised time of 07:00, to which I replied with a wry smile, “THEY didn’t open the gates”!

It was an uneventful trip to Harwich with the exception of going into Colchester (why did I listen to Linda and not my Sat Bitch)! Arrived and boarded got seats in the Stena lounge and settled down to write this blog. We arrived on time and headed for home arriving at 02:00 hrs. this morning, van now unpacked and the washing machine on the go.

 The garden had been well looked after by our neighbours and the flowers in full bloom and the butterflies enjoyed it.