1 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika
2 tablespoons harissa
a bunch of coriander
a bunch of parsley
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
80g butter, at room temperature
olive oil
1 × 1.6kg chicken
1 lemon
425ml fresh chicken stock
1 onion
2 tomatoes
350g bulgur wheat
Greek yoghurt, to serve
Preheat your oven to 190°C/gas 5. Peel the garlic. Halve the preserved lemon and remove the seeds. In a dry frying pan toast the cumin and coriander seeds until lightly toasted. Place in a food processor along with the paprika, preserved lemon, harissa, half the coriander and parsley (stalks and all) and the garlic. Season well and blitz to a paste. Add the butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil and pulse until smooth.
Use your hands to carefully prise the chicken skin away from each breast, to create a pocket. Slash the skin on the thighs and rub the butter all over – under the skin mainly and all over the top. Halve the lemon and pop it into the chicken cavity, then place in a small snug-fitting roasting tray. Put it into the oven and roast for around 1¼ hours, or until golden and crisp but cooked through – check that the juices run clear around the thigh area. Baste the chicken a couple of times during cooking with the buttery juices in the tray.
When the chicken has about 20 minutes left to cook, start the bulgur wheat. Heat your chicken stock in a medium pan. Meanwhile peel and finely chop the onion, and deseed and finely chop the tomatoes. Pour a glug of olive oil into a saucepan and put on a medium-low heat. Add the onion and sauté for 10 minutes, until soft. Add the tomatoes and cook for a further 5 minutes, then add the bulgur wheat. Stir for a minute, then add the hot chicken stock and season lightly. Bring to the boil, pop on the lid, then reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 8 minutes, until the wheat is cooked through and fluffy, then remove from the heat. Cover the pan with a tea towel and put a lid on top to keep it warm. Chop the rest of the coriander and parsley leaves and stir through the bulgur wheat.
When the chicken is ready, leave to rest for 10 minutes, then squeeze over the lemon from the cavity and carve it up – you can carve traditionally or shred the meat into the buttery juices to keep the meat insanely moist. Serve with the bulgur wheat and tangy thick Greek yoghurt.
Roast Harissa Butter Chicken and Cracked Wheat
HAM HOCKS, FENNEL AND BEANS
This is my ideal way of cooking: little prep, hours in the oven and a delicious and comforting result. And if you can bear it, make sure there are leftovers, as it’s even better the next day.
SERVES 6–8
400g dried borlotti, flageolet or cannellini beans
2 gammon hocks, around 750g each, skin removed (get your butcher to do this for you)
1½ tablespoons fennel seeds
1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
1 whole bulb of garlic
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
a few sprigs of rosemary and thyme
olive oil
2 bulbs of fennel
2 fresh bay leaves
175ml white wine
a splash of white wine vinegar
½ a bunch of flat-leaf parsley
Make sure you remember to start this dish the night before. You’ll need to soak the beans in plenty of cold water to soften them, and soak the ham hocks to get rid of all the excess salt, leaving them overnight in the fridge.
Preheat your oven to 170°C/gas 3.
In a mortar and pestle, bash the fennel seeds and chilli flakes to a coarse powder. Peel 4 of the garlic cloves and add, along with a good pinch of salt. Pick the rosemary and thyme leaves and add to the mortar, then bash everything together until you have a thick paste. Muddle in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to loosen, then, using a paring knife, slice a few pockets in the ham hocks and rub the paste all over. Leave to one side.
Trim the fennel bulbs and cut them into wedges about 2cm thick, then place in a large casserole dish or ovenproof saucepan. Add the drained soaked beans, bay leaves, remaining unpeeled garlic cloves and wine. Place the pot on a high heat and bring the wine to the boil, then cook it rapidly for 4–5 minutes, until almost all the wine is cooked away. Add enough water to just cover the beans and bring everything to the boil. Pop the coated ham hocks (and any leftover garlic herb rub) into the dish and cover with the lid. Place in the preheated oven for around 4 hours, or until the ham is tender and pulls away from the bone. Baste the meat a couple of times during cooking, and add a splash of boiling water if it looks like the beans are drying out – you want them to be creamy and soft.
When the pork is cooked, remove the lid and drizzle with a little olive oil, then pop the pot back into the oven uncovered. Turn the heat up to 200°C/gas 6 and cook for a further 20 minutes, so the hocks get a little crispy. When they’re ready, finish the beans with a splash of white wine vinegar and season to taste. Pick and chop the parsley leaves and stir through the beans. I like to shred the meat into the beans and serve, or alternatively transfer it to a platter and let everyone dig in.
Ham Hocks, Fennel and Beans
STICKY PORK BELLY SALAD WITH FENNEL AND CHILLI
Don’t let the slightly long ingredients list put you off with this one, it’s absolutely delicious and a fantastic way of using a slow-cook cut of meat in a lighter way. If you are short of time, poach the pork belly the day before. It’ll sit happily in the broth overnight (covered in the fridge, of course).
SERVES 4
600ml beef stock
100g soft dark brown sugar
1 star anise
1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons fish sauce
1 garlic clove
1 stick of lemongrass
700g pork belly, skinless and boneless
1 red chilli
1 lime
½ tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon groundnut oil
a bunch of mint
½ a bunch of dill
30g toasted peanuts
1 chicory
70g watercress
2 bulbs of fennel
4 spring onions
Pour the stock into a large saucepan and stir in 60g of the sugar along with the star anise, five-spice, white wine vinegar and 2 tablespoons of the fish sauce. Crush the garlic clove and lemongrass and add to the pan, then place on a medium heat. Gently bring to the boil, then carefully add the pork belly. Once the stock starts to bubble, reduce the heat to low and leave to tick away for 1 hour, until the belly is cooked through and tender but still holding its shape. If the stock runs low, top it up with boiling water to keep the meat covered during cooking. Turn off the heat and leave the pork to cool in the broth for around 20 minutes.
While the pork is cooling, make the dressing and prepare the rest of the salad. Deseed and finely chop the chilli and pop into a small bowl. Squeeze in the juice of the lime, then add the honey, sesame oil, groundnut oil and the remaining 1 tablespoon of fish sauce. Whisk together and leave to one side. Pick and roughly chop the mint and dill leaves, and roughly chop the peanuts. Roughly chop the chicory, then wash and spin along with the watercress. Trim and slice the fennel into thin shavings, using a mandolin or a potato peeler, and pop them into a bowl of cold water with a few ice cubes – this will make the shavings crisp. Trim and finely slice the spring onions, into strips if you can, but rounds is fine too.
When you are ready to assemble your salad, preheat your grill to medium high. Remove the pork from the broth and cut it into 1cm slices. Lay them out on a roasting tray and sprinkle with the remaining 40g of sugar. Grill the pork for around 5–10 minutes, until sticky and caramelised. Place most of the pork slices erratically on a large platter. Drain and spin dry the fennel and mix in a large bowl with the salad leaves, herbs, spring onions and dressing. Scatter the salad over the platte
r and top with the remaining pork slices. Finish by sprinkling over the chopped peanuts.
Sticky Pork Belly Salad with Fennel and Chilli
PECAN AND SAUSAGE STUFFING MAC ’N’ CHEESE
There’s been a real mac ’n’ cheese resurgence recently, with it popping up on menus all over. And I do love it, it’s pure nostalgia. Some like it crazy cheesy, some super sloppy – it’s a personal thing. This is my favourite way of making it. Cheesy, oozy, with nuggets of sausage and ham laced throughout. It’s so naughty, but so good.
SERVES 6–8
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 garlic cloves
75g butter
100g plain flour
2 teaspoons English mustard
1.3 litres full-fat or semi-skimmed milk
200g mature Cheddar
500g macaroni
100g cooked/leftover ham
200g leftover cooked sausage stuffing (if you haven’t got any leftovers don’t worry, just use the cooked meat from good-quality sausages)
1 tablespoon maple syrup
a few sprigs of rosemary
olive oil
30g pecans
Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 4. Bring a large pan of well-salted water to the boil.
Peel and finely slice the garlic. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a medium-low heat, then add the garlic and the flour and keep stirring until you have a caramel-coloured roux. Stir in the mustard, then slowly add the milk, whisking it in as you go so the sauce is as creamy and smooth as possible. Keep adding and whisking until all the milk has been added. Very gently bring the sauce to a simmer, then cook over a low heat for 5 minutes until thickened and smooth. Coarsely grate in most of the Cheddar, stir it in, then season to taste.
While the sauce is ticking away, cook the pasta a couple of minutes less than the packet instructions, and drain, reserving a large mugful (300ml) of the pasta water. Chop and shred the ham and stuffing, so it is all roughly 1cm in size, and place in a medium-size non-stick frying pan over a medium-low heat and glaze with the maple syrup. Fry until golden and sticky.
When you are ready to bake your mac ’n’ cheese, pour the cooked macaroni into the cheese sauce and mix. Add all the reserved pasta water and keep stirring. It might feel loose, but the pasta will carry on cooking and the sauce will thicken up in the oven. Stir in most of the ham and stuffing and pour the mixture into a large ovenproof baking dish. Grate over the remaining cheese and scatter over the remaining meat.
Pick the rosemary leaves and toss with a little olive oil. Chop the pecans and add to the rosemary. Sprinkle over the top of the dish and pop it into the oven. Bake for 25–30 minutes, until golden on top and bubbling. Leave it to sit for a couple of minutes, then serve, with a crisp green salad.
Pecan and Sausage Stuffing Mac ’n’ Cheese
LANCASHIRE PIE BARM
A dedication to Pete, my pie-loving husband, this is slow and gentle cooking at its best. Slow-cooked beef shin, enrobed in suet pastry – it’s a firm family favourite. You could serve these beauties with mash and gravy for a traditional dinner, but if you’re really brave, serve the pies in a buttered barm cake with copious amounts of brown sauce – just like he does.
MAKES 4 PIES
1 onion
1 carrot
olive oil
2 fresh bay leaves
250g beef shin
525g plain flour
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon English mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
250ml beef stock
250g suet or cold butter
150g Maris Piper potatoes
butter, for greasing
50g mature Cheddar
a splash of milk
4 barm cakes or baps, buttered (optional)
brown sauce, to serve
Peel and finely chop the onion and carrot. Heat a good drizzle of olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium-low heat. Add the onion, carrot and bay leaves and sauté for 10 minutes, until soft but not browned.
Cut the beef into 2½cm chunks removing any excess fat and toss with 25g of the flour and a little pinch of salt and pepper, until coated. When the onion and carrot are ready, spoon them into a bowl, then add another drizzle of oil to the pan and fry the beef for 5 minutes, until browned. Return the softened onion and carrot to the pan, along with the mustard and Worcestershire sauce, and fry for a further 1–2 minutes, until everything is thoroughly mixed.
Add the stock, gently bring to the boil, then simmer, lid on, over a low heat for 2 hours, stirring occasionally, until the meat is soft and tender.
Meanwhile make the pastry. In a bowl mix together the suet (or coarsely grate in the butter) and the rest of the flour with a little salt and pepper. Using your hands, mix in 100ml of cold water and bring it together until it forms a dough. Wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.
Peel the potatoes and cut into 2½cm chunks. Put a large saucepan of water on to boil, and boil the potatoes for 10–12 minutes until just cooked. Drain in a colander and leave to steam dry completely.
When the beef filling is ready, take the pan off the heat, remove the bay leaves and stir in the potatoes. Leave to cool for 10 minutes, or, if you’re making it in advance, leave to cool completely and refrigerate until you are ready. (If you have time, it’s almost easier making the filling in advance.)
To build your pies, preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 4. Take the pastry out of the fridge and divide into 8. Grease four 12cm pie tins, then roll out 4 pieces of the dough into a circle larger than the tins, about ½cm thick. Line each tin with a rolled-out piece of dough, pushing it into the edges, then trim off the excess. Fill each one with a quarter of the filling, crumble a quarter of the Cheddar on top and push it into the meat a little. Roll out the extra balls of dough, so they are a little larger than the pie, and drape them on top. Press the edges of the pastry together, and crimp to seal.
Snip a little hole in the pastry top of each pie to let steam escape, then brush with milk. Place them on a baking sheet and bake in the bottom of the oven for 50 minutes–1 hour, or until golden and crisp.
Leave the pies to cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then gently remove. Eat however you like, but ideally in a freshly buttered barm cake, with a good squeeze of brown sauce inside.
Lancashire Pie Barm
ADOBO BRISKET WITH GRIDDLED PINEAPPLE SALSA
The flavours in this marinade are heavily influenced by our favourite meal on a recent trip to Mexico; slow-cooked beef- and pork-filled tacos, on the side of a road. So good was this family’s truck that we were advised to get there around 11 a.m. if we didn’t want to miss out, and it was so worth it. Punchy but not spicy, this beef brisket dish is perfect for a dinner, even for a party. Serve this tender shreddable brisket with the salsa, a stack of tacos or tortillas, and let people dig in.
SERVES 8
4 dried ancho chillies
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
6 garlic cloves
2 shallots
½ teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon dried chilli flakes
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 orange
25g cacao (optional)
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1.4kg beef brisket, boned and rolled
olive oil
2 cinnamon sticks
2 fresh bay leaves
500ml beef stock
1 red onion
1 red chilli
2 limes
½ a ripe pineapple
½ a bunch of coriander
rice and tortillas, to serve
Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 4. Put the ancho chillies on a small baking tray and place in the oven for 2–3 minutes, until lightly toasted. Transfer them to a small saucepan and add enough water to just cover. Place the pan on a medium heat and gently bring to the boil
. Remove from the heat and leave the chillies and liquid to cool completely.
Dry toast the cumin seeds in a small pan over a low heat, until they start smelling wonderful. When the chillies are cold, remove and discard their stalks (reserving the liquid) and put them into a blender. Peel the garlic and shallots and roughly chop, adding them to the blender also. Add the ground cloves, toasted cumin seeds, chilli flakes and oregano, then finely grate in the orange zest and squeeze in the juice, and grate in the cacao if using. Add 1 tablespoon of the red wine vinegar, season well and add a splash of the chilli soaking water. Blitz until you have a thick paste, adding more of the chilli water if it is too thick. Spoon the chilli paste into a large bowl and add the brisket. Spread the paste all over, so the meat is completely covered, and leave to marinate in the fridge for a few hours, or overnight if possible.
When you are ready to cook the brisket, place a casserole style pan, one that will hold the brisket pretty snugly, on a medium heat and preheat the oven to 140°C/gas 1. Pour a good glug of oil into the pan and add the marinated beef, browning it on all sides. When it has browned, add the cinnamon and bay leaves to the pan along with any remaining marinade and pour in enough beef stock to come just over halfway up the meat. Turn the heat to high, and as soon as it starts to boil, remove from the heat.
Tear a piece of greaseproof paper, slightly bigger than the pan, and rinse under the tap. Squeeze out the excess water, then tuck the damp paper over the top of the brisket. Cover with the lid and pop the dish into the oven. Cook for 3½–4 hours, until the meat is tender and shreds easily. Check it twice during cooking, turning it over so it all gets basted, and topping up the liquid if it starts to look a little dry.
While the brisket is cooking, make the salsa. Finely slice the red onion and chilli – deseeding if you don’t want it too hot. Transfer to a bowl, squeeze in the juice of both limes and stir in the remaining 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar. Leave to one side for 30 minutes. Pop a griddle pan on a high heat. Trim the pineapple half, remove the skin and cut into quarters lengthways. Remove the core, and pop the wedges on to the hot griddle. Keep turning the pineapple, giving it a few minutes on all sides, so it is charred all over. Remove from the griddle, leave to cool, then chop into small pieces, around 1cm big. Pick and chop the coriander leaves also, and pop everything into the bowl with the lime-dressed red onion. Toss together well and season to taste.
Stirring Slowly Page 10
