Pressure cooked meat sauce

This is one for the pressure cooker club, if you’re not a member I guess you could slow cook it, but it’s really not the same, there is something about cooking under pressure and using next to no added liquid that really pumps up the flavours in the sauce. If you’re on the fence about owning a pressure cooker and have heard nothing but horror stories, the days of exploding pots of hell are well and truly over, the modern pressure cooker is quite unlikely to erupt, and heck you can even get set and forget electric models which are great for freeing up a hob and not adding to the heat in the kitchen, not a bonus on a cold day though.

Melt in the mouth beef nestles into the indentations of the orecchiette pasta, giving an almost perfect ratio of meat/sauce/pasta with each mouthful. It’s definitely my go to quick and easy sauce. It’ll make you think twice about cooking up a batch of mince based sauce again, primal cuts give better flavour and texture, you get to control the fat going in, and as it’s slow/pressure cooked it breaks down to melt in the mouth tender pieces.


500 g Chuck steak, cubed
2 Onions, diced
200 g Tomato purée
1 Carrot, diced
1 Bulb of garlic, peeled
Handful of parsley, chopped
3 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
3 Tbsp Tomato paste
Salt
Pepper
Hot sauce, to taste, or chilli flakes

It's dead simple, put everything into the pressure cooker and cook on high pressure for about 40 minutes. Let the pressure drop naturally. Use a wooden spoon to break up any lumps of meat. Taste and season with salt, pepper and white wine vinegar. Stir in another handful of chopped parsley. Serve stirred through orecchiette.

Monkfish Stew

A forced diet tends to put roadblocks front and foremost in the mind, what you can’t have rather than viewing the opportunities of experimentation forced by limitation. As such a negative view of a once loved activity slowly creeps and has the power to become all encompassing if not held at bay and the positives of the situation reflected upon. It certainly didn’t help that along with the prescribed low fat diet, I was told strictly no alcohol and that meals should be smaller and more frequent, breakfast, pshaw. Needs must though and once recuperated, mentally and physically, I tried to push the negative creeping thoughts of “what the hell can I eat, no butter, no fat, no dairy, no good stuff” and the sarcastic “thanks a lot pancreas”.

Breakfast has probably been the hardest adjustment to make, I usually skipped it, having a strong black coffee in its place, but now I have become quite the porridge making expert, thankfully I’ve never been a huge fan of the added milk/cream to my oats so I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything. I find the trick is soaking the night before, one part oats, three parts water, a good pinch of salt, dried sour cherries and figs, all placed in a bowl, covered and refrigerated overnight, ready to be cooked over a low heat until thick and lush.

Lunch wasn’t so much a problem, I miss the cheese I must admit, a crusty baguette just isn’t the same without a schmeer of butter, but I can still have tasty treats like pressed ox tongue on rye with super hot english mustard and a good sour pickle to finish it off with.

Dinner, well, I’m getting there, it’s hard not to add a dash of butter or a glug of olive oil, avoid dressings, no white wine to deglaze with. I started out quite somber, completely no fat added meals, and as you can imagine they weren't the most successful, you need a bit of fat to carry flavour, you can’t soften, caramelise, or sauté a humble onion without a slight dash of oil to keep it from sticking or fry with. Finally I got past the limitation of diet as a roadblock and an absolute, low fat isn’t no fat, and now am slowly starting to introduce a more normal diet, but it’s difficult because what I have tonight could make me sick tomorrow, but as I’ve heard and read, it’s about the only way to know if my body can handle certain things now, try it and if it doesn’t make you feel like shit then it’s probably OK.

1 Medium Fennel bulb, diced
1 Large Red onion, diced
200 g Chickpeas, cooked
1 Carrot, diced
A good handful of Parsley, finely chopped
Juice of a Lemon
1–2 tbsp of Harissa
200 g of Tomatoes, peeled and chopped (or purée/passata)
Monkfish fillet, cut into large chunks
Capers
Olive oil
200ml Stock (fish or chicken)

Place a pan over a medium heat and add the olive oil, add the onion and fennel, sauté until soft and translucent. Stir in the Harissa and cook until fragrant. Deglaze with the stock, add the carrot, tomatoes and half the parsley. Simmer for about 10–15 minutes, the carrots should be cooked and the liquid reduced a little. Add the chickpeas and capers, cook for a minute or two, taste and adjust the seasoning, add the lemon juice. Bring to a simmer and then place the monkfish pieces in the stew and cover. The fish will only take a couple of minutes to cook. When cooked, remove from the heat and adjust the seasoning, stir through the remaining parsley.

Serve in a bowl with some crusty bread.

Recovery

Well the updates may be a little slower than normal at the moment as I’m recovering from a short stint in hospital due to a case of pancreatitis. Which unfortunately means my diet in the coming months is rather restricted—low fat, no dairy, no booze—so all the good stuff really. But I have my health (now) and they didn’t find anything else wrong with me when they were prodding and poking me with far too many needles! Anyway I’ll still be updating this blog as per usual, the post might just be lacking the copious amounts of bacon grease, duck fat and butter as per normal.

Chicken wings the egg white version

I do seem to have lot of chicken wing recipes on here, this has to be version six I’ve published on here, and I wouldn't even want to start with the numerous experiments that haven’t made it to the site, I don’t have enough digits. This is a baked version a bit like the hot wings version I did a while back they’ll spend a little while in the fridge so preparing the night before is probably the best, but at a pinch six hours before cooking should be enough.

500g chicken wings
1 large egg whites
2 tsp baking soda
Chilli flakes
Salt

Prepare a baking tray that will fit in your fridge with a rack and set aside.

Whisk the egg whites until they have increased in volume but still runny, we’re not looking for soft peaks just a little volume so coating the wings is easier.

Add the baking soda, chilli flakes (to taste) and salt (about a teaspoon). Whisk together.

Toss the wings through the egg white mixture and transfer to the baking tray, make sure there is space between the wings. Transfer to the fridge uncovered and leave overnight, or prepare in the morning for the evening.

Pre-heat the oven to 230ºC, cook the wings for 15 minutes, turn the wings over and cook for 15 minutes more, turn over again and another 10–15 minutes depending on their size and how well you like you chicken cooked.


Toss the hot cooked wings in your favourite hot sauce, I’m quite a fan of Tapatío hot sauce at the moment, and eat immediately or at least once they’re cool enough for you to handle. A finger bowl and paper towels are a must.

Brined to Grill

Brining meat is a great way to get a little more flavour in it and retain a bit of moisture. When you brine a couple of already awesome pork shoulder chops you’re almost transforming them into quick brined ham. As it’s a pretty quick brine you don’t have to be too precise with the salt levels, I used about a cup of cider, which adds a nice sweetness and sugars to help caramelise, a good pinch or four of kosher salt, probably about 3 percent, a good dollop of Dijon mustard, because well apple; pork and mustard is a winning combination. The liquid along with the chops were placed in a ziplock bag and sealed, leaving just a corner unsealed, then submerged in a sink of water, forcing all the air out of the unsealed corner which is finally sealed. Placed in the fridge for a few hours or overnight, thrown on a hot grill, letting all the fat drip out and sugars caramelise they made a quick and easy dinner with a side of spicy potato salad. Sometimes quick and easy may take 5 minutes of prep and a little patience.

The best chicken gravy

This is a really simple sauce that takes no time at all to prepare and really brightens up a roast chicken meal, instead of that heavy gluggy gravy this is a bright sweet and sour sauce with the chicken drippings adding that unctuous roast gravy feel.


In a pot over a medium heat add a couple of tablespoons of sugar and a dash of water, slowly melt the sugar until it caramelises. How far you want to take it is up to you, I like quite a dark caramel.

Deglaze the pan with about the same amount of vinegar and let the sugar dissolve. Use something that will compliment the liquid you’ll add later, I used wine vinegar as I will add red wine, but if you were doing this for pork and wanted to use apple juice or cider, use a cider vinegar.

Add a generous glass of red wine and let the liquid reduce. If you want to add a herby note, now is the time to do it, with chicken I quite like to pop in thyme tied up in a bundle so it can be later removed easily.

Finally, once the roast has rested add the cooking/resting juices to the pan and reduce down again, season to taste and spoon over the served up roast.

Tasty wee beets

It does take a little forethought and preparation to make the tastiest beetroot ever, and maybe a little more thought on what you’re going to use them for, as they are utterly transformed by the end. I haven’t really taken another serious look at them since making beetroot “tartare” but had an itch to scratch and quite a few good looking beetroot wanting to be used. There was no clear outcome with what to do with the finished product, just a desire to make it.

The beetroot are placed in a casserole dish with some aromatics, cinnamon, fennel, coriander seeds and a few cloves, dish is covered and placed in a moderate oven for an hour or so, until the beets are cooked through. Remove from the oven and let cool until you can handle the beetroot without burning yourself. Turn the oven down to 50/60ºC. Peel the beets and place on a lined tray, return to the now cool oven and leave to dehydrate for about 12 hours.


The beetroot will of shrivelled up and concentrated its flavour, it’ll be a bit dry and sticky on the outside. Place the beetroot in a bag and place in the fridge, the moisture should equalise through out the beetroot.


I puréed one of the beets with sour cream, seasoned it well and added a little acid to brighten it up. The sauce made a great addition to a tortilla with mashed garlicky peas, pickled kohlrabi, tomato salsa and some spicy grilled skirt steak.

Pea risotto

We’ve been quite lucky with the peas in our garden, they went in a little late and have given us a glut of plump pods, which we still have a good meal or two left on the plant, well that is if they survive my greedy little hands snapping them off and ripping open the snappy pod and scoffing the sweet round peas. Ever since the plant showed signs that it was actually going to produce I’ve been hanging out to make a risotto using our home grown peas, frozen is fine but nothing really beats peas freshly picked and podded mere minutes before being folded in some lush steaming risotto.

So to justice to the fresh produce, make your own stock or at least get some good quality stuff. It’s not too hard to get a stock going, and if you have a pressure cooker well you have no excuse at all not to make your own fresh chicken stock. Take one chicken carcass and any other saved chicken bits and bobs and place in the cooker, add a bunch of herbs, thyme, parsley, bay leaves, sage, then a carrot or two, roughly chopped, an onion or two depending on the size, a good dash of salt and pepper, pour in two litres of water and cook on high pressure for about 40 minutes. Strain the stock through a cloth into a saucepan and put on a medium-low heat and bring to a simmer, reduce down to about one litre, skim off any scum as it reduces. Strain into a bowl through a cloth, cover and let cool, when cold enough transfer to the fridge. It should set up to a nice firm jelly overnight.


I had about twenty pea pods, which would be about half a cup of actual peas, so the peas are podded the peas set aside and the pods put into a pot with the chicken stock and a fresh bunch of thyme and parsley, bought gently to a simmer and left for about fifteen minutes, refreshing and infusing the stock, it is then strained and put back in the pot and put on the lowest flame. Adjust the seasoning of the stock with lemon or vinegar but not too much salt at this stage.


Getting the risotto together is very simple and quite therapeutic standing in front of the stove stirring and folding the rice, adding the stock little by little until it’s reached just the right consistency, not hard at all, just remember slower is better.

With a large pan on a medium heat add a good glug of olive oil and toss in a finely diced shallot, sauté until translucent and then add a cup of risotto rice cook until almost fully translucent, stirring constantly, deglaze the pan with a cup of dry white wine. When the wine has fully evaporated add in a small ladleful of stock (about 70ml) and stir in, keep stirring and folding the rice, helping release the starch, a silicon spatula makes easy work of this, when the stock is all but absorbed add in another ladleful of stock and repeat, the rice should take the whole litre and will take a little more than twenty minutes to cook on a low heat.


Once the rice is lush and cooked, taste and adjust the seasoning, fold through the peas, they’ll take no time at all to cook. I gilded the lily a little and stirred through a large tablespoon of ricotta, mainly because I had it and it needed to be used. Fold in a chiffonade of mint and spoon into a serving bowl and drizzle with a little peppery olive oil.

Duck confit with beets

Well the long wait for the confit to age in the fridge is over, the legs had been submerged in the duck fat for a little over two months and it was well and truly time to dig them out and roast them up. You don’t need to age your confit, but doing so intensifies the gamey ducky flavour. The crispy duck leg was served up with a pan seared pickled beet salad and a beet gastrique made using the cider vinegar that pickled the beets.

The night before beetroot was wrapped up in tinfoil along with some aromatics, allspice, cinnamon and peppercorns, baked in a moderate oven until tender then left to cool. When cool enough to handle, unpack the beets and rub off the skin, slice into bite size wedges, place in a container and cover with cider vinegar and a little salt. Refrigerate overnight.


To make the gastrique, slowly caramelize some sugar in a pan and then pour in an equal quantity of the pickling vinegar and a couple sprigs of thyme. Let the liquid reduce to a syrup, but don’t reduce to far. Pick out the thyme sprigs, and set the sauce aside.


Preheat the oven to about 220°C and get a oven proof sauté pan on a high heat. Dig out the legs from the fat and carefully scrape off and excess fat. Place the legs skin side down in the searingly hot pan and cook for a few minutes then transfer to the oven for about 5 minutes. Place the legs on a board and set aside to rest for a couple of minutes.

While the duck is resting, toast some hazelnuts and sauté the sliced beetroot in some olive oil until caramelised. Toss all together with some chopped parsley.

Pâté de Campagne

I bought myself a wee early Christmas present, a Le Creuset Terrine, I’ve always wanted one but the price tag has put me off until now, however I had plans for my contributions toward the Christmas fare and it seemed as good of an excuse as any to indulge myself. I’ve previously mentioned the Walnut bread and Chicken Liver Pâté, but they were mere sides to my ambitious plans, well maybe not that ambitious, of Pâté de Campagne is pretty simple to put together, although the mincer from hell almost broke my wrist but apart from that it’s just few simple steps and patience.

You’ll have to excuse the lack of gram measurements, as these will depend on how large your terrine is. Also if you can get pork liver, great, if not use chicken, the same can be said of caul fat which I couldn’t get my hands on so I used very fatty belly bacon.


Meat
2 parts pork shoulder
1 part pork back fat
1 part liver

Trim the livers and cut in half, cut the back fat and should in to cubes small enough to fit through your mincer feeder. Chuck the whole lot in a bowl that will fit in your fridge.


Marinade
Brandy
White wine
Sage
Thyme
Parsley
Shallots
Nutmeg
Pink Salt (optional, use 1% by weight of the meat)

Roughly chop the herbs and shallots and toss into the bowl with the meat, grate in nutmeg to taste. Pour in a glass of wine and a splash of brandy. Add the pink salt if you’re using. Stir through and cover. Refrigerate overnight.


Other
Streaky bacon/caul fat
1 egg
Salt (around 2% by weight, this can be adjusted later)

Set your mincer up with a medium die and pass through the meat mixture. Using your fingers mix through the salt and egg. Take a small portion and wrap in cling film, making it water tight, and poach in some simmering water until cooked, taste and adjust the seasoning as needed, remember that the terrine is served cool so the seasoning will be more muted.


Line the terrine with the bacon (or fat) and pour in the minced mixture. Tap the terrine on the bench to get rid of any air pockets. Fold the bacon over the top of the mixture and place on the lid. Place the terrine in a bain-marie (with hot water) and into an oven set at 150–160°C, cook for about 2.5 hours, or until the internal temperature is about 70°C (65°C should be enough though).


Remove from the bain-marie and let cool, then weigh down a tight fitting lid with a couple of cans, use a stiff piece of cardboard cut to the correct shape and wrap in tin foil, refrigerate overnight.

Serve with pickled onions, cornichons, hot mustard and my walnut flat bread.