by James Martin
SERVES 4
4 large parsnips, peeled (peelings reserved)
250ml milk
3 small parsnips, unpeeled
25g butter
1 sweetheart cabbage, tough core removed and quartered
a few sprigs of rosemary
50g honey
50ml sherry
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 x 300-g venison saddles
1 tablespoon olive oil
1–2 litres vegetable oil, for deep-frying
For the sauce
50ml sherry
50ml red wine
200ml veal jus
10g butter
Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan)/400°F/gas 6.
Chop 3 of the large parsnips into a small dice, tip into a medium pan and pour over the milk. Cover, bring to the boil, then simmer for about 10 minutes or until the parsnips are soft.
Quarter the 3 small parsnips lengthways. Place an ovenproof frying pan over a medium heat and add 10g of the butter. As soon as the butter has melted, add the parsnips and fry until coloured, then add the cabbage and rosemary. Drizzle with the honey, then pour over the sherry and season well. Mix everything together then transfer to the oven to roast for 10–15 minutes.
Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat until hot. Season the venison, then drizzle the oil into the pan and add the remaining butter. When the butter is foaming, add the venison to the pan and cook for 2–3 minutes, turning halfway through. Transfer to a roasting tin and roast for 4–5 minutes. Remove from the oven, cover and leave to rest for 4 minutes. Set aside the frying pan to make the sauce.
Heat the vegetable oil in a deep-fat fryer to 180°C (350°F) or in a deep, heavy-based saucepan until a breadcrumb sizzles and turns brown when dropped into it. (Note: hot oil can be dangerous; do not leave unattended.) Line a baking tray with kitchen paper.
Peel the remaining parsnip into ribbons and, together with the peelings from the other three large parsnips, deep-fry in batches for 2–3 minutes until golden. Use a slotted spoon to lift onto the kitchen paper and sprinkle with salt.
Heat the frying pan that the venison was cooked in over a medium heat. Pour in the sherry and wine and stir with a wooden spoon, scraping any bits off the base of the pan to deglaze it. Pour in the veal jus and bring to the boil, then simmer until reduced by half. Season and whisk in the butter.
Use a stick blender to whizz the diced parsnips and milk until you have a smooth purée, then season and put back on the heat to warm through.
Slice each piece of venison into 5 or 6 slices. Spoon the purée onto plates, add a few slices of venison, place a few roasted parsnips and a cabbage quarter alongside, spoon over the sauce and top with the parsnip crisps.
PORK CHOPS WITH BEANS, TOMATO & SALAMI STEW
The brilliant Lisa Goodwin-Allen from Northcote restaurant took me to see Holmes Mill in Clitheroe. It’s the brain child of James Warburton and is quite impressive with a vast array of produce from near and far and experts on hand to show you what to do with it. It’s the Harrods food hall of the North and is worth a trip to see it and to try a tipple of its home brew. I made this dish with the fantastic ingredients I found there.
SERVES 4
1 tablespoon olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 pork chops
100g British salami, cut from a large sausage, then chopped
100g cherry tomatoes, halved
1 shallot, sliced
3 large garlic cloves, diced
100g padrón peppers
400-g can butter beans, drained
50g roasted red peppers, diced
50ml white wine
small bunch of curly parsley, chopped
15g butter
Heat a large frying pan until hot, then drizzle in the oil. Season the chops on both sides then pop in the pan and cook for 3–4 minutes on one side until golden. Turn them over and cook for a further 2–3 minutes.
Add the salami, tomatoes, sliced shallot and garlic and continue to cook for 3–4 minutes, stirring everything around, until the tomatoes have broken down slightly.
Next add the padrón peppers to the pan, along with the butter beans and roasted peppers. Mix all the ingredients together, pour in the wine and increase the heat to bring to the boil. Season, then sprinkle over the parsley and add the butter. Cook for a few more minutes until everything is heated through.
Spoon the vegetables onto a warm platter, arrange the chops on top and serve.
MIXED GRILL WITH PEPPERCORN SAUCE
This is a dish that’s fallen out of favour over the years – I don’t really know why – so when I visited Richard and Rosamund Vaughan and their rare breed animals at Huntsham Court Farm in the Wye Valley, I had to make a mixed grill. Their meat is some of the most delicious I’ve tasted and it takes this classic 1970s and ’80s dish to another level. Don’t just take my word for it – check out their website and see what great chefs around the country say about their produce. You can also order some of this amazing meat and find out for yourself.
SERVES 4–6
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 rump steak (approx. 250g)
4 lamb chops
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 pork chops
6 pork sausages
2 pork kidneys
3 large vine tomatoes, halved
For the peppercorn sauce
30g butter
1 shallot, diced
1 garlic clove, sliced
a glug of brandy
300ml beef stock
1 tablespoon pink peppercorns
1 tablespoon green peppercorns
3 thyme sprigs
50ml double cream
Preheat the oven to 100°C (80°C fan)/210°F/gas ¼. Put a large platter in the oven to keep warm.
Put a large griddle pan over a high heat. Rub the oil over the rump steak and cook on the griddle for 4–6 minutes, turning halfway through. Depending on the thickness, this will cook the steak to medium rare. Add the lamb chops to the griddle and cook for 6–8 minutes, again turning halfway through. Season well, then transfer the meat to the platter in the oven to rest and keep warm.
Place the pork chops, sausages and kidneys onto the griddle. Turn the kidneys over after 3 minutes and continue to cook. Allow 6–8 minutes for the pork chops, turning halfway through, depending on their thickness. Turn the sausages regularly, allowing them to colour on all sides, and cook for 15–20 minutes, depending on how thick they are. Slice one in half to check it’s cooked through.
Once the meat is cooked, remove it from the griddle, season well and set aside in the oven as before. Place the tomato halves, cut side down, onto the griddle, and cook for 1 minute on each side then transfer to the oven.
For the peppercorn sauce, place a high-sided frying pan over a medium heat. Add half the butter and as soon as it has melted, stir in the shallots. Cook over a low to medium heat for 3–4 minutes until starting to soften then stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
Add a glug of brandy to the pan then flambé it to burn off the alcohol. Pour in the stock, then add both types of peppercorns (crush these a little beforehand if you wish) and the thyme and stir together. Boil rapidly until the sauce has reduced by half. Lower the heat and slowly add the cream, swirling the pan as you do, then stir in the remaining butter to make a smooth sauce. Season to taste and remove the thyme sprigs.
Take the platter of meat and tomatoes out of the oven, pour over the peppercorn sauce and serve.
FOREST PORK FEAST
Not only is Nottingham in a beautiful part of the country, it just happens to have a stunning restaurant and one of Britain’s finest. Restaurant Sat Bains sits in an unusual site under a flyover and power lines just outside the city, but it has become a gastro hotspot thanks to the husband and wife team behind it. Brilliantly clever cooking makes for an amazing meal. After filming the whole day, I worked th
e evening service in the kitchen to see it at first hand, away from the cameras. How anyone can make beetroot and potatoes taste like that is beyond me, and if you think I was going to make anything technical in the middle of Sherwood Forest on a camping stove with one pan, cooking for Sat Bains, think again! This is a straightforward dish full of fantastic hearty flavours.
SERVES 6–8
25g lard
12 large pork sausages
4 slices of streaky bacon, chopped into 2-cm pieces
6 slices of back bacon, chopped into 2-cm pieces
1 leek, diced
1 carrot diced
2 celery sticks, diced
1 shallot, diced
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
300g drained haricot beans (from a can or jar)
200ml cider
200ml veal jus or beef stock
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons runny honey
1 Bramley apple, diced
a few sprigs of rosemary
200g ham hock, shredded
To serve
a handful of carrot tops or flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Heat a large, heavy-based, non-stick sauté pan until hot. Add the lard and as soon as it has melted, add the sausages. Cook for around 5 minutes, turning regularly until golden brown. Add the bacon to the pan and fry for 2–3 minutes more.
Stir in the leek, carrot, celery and shallot, season well then add the beans and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring regularly.
Pour in the cider, the jus or stock and the Worcestershire sauce. Stir in the honey and the diced apple and add the rosemary to the pan. Increase the heat a little to bring to the boil then simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the shredded ham hock and stir to warm through. Taste to check the seasoning, sprinkle with carrot tops or parsley and serve.
ROAST PORK WITH BLACK PUDDING FRITTERS & CARAMELISED APPLES
This was simply the crew’s favourite dish of the whole trip. I wanted to call it ‘pork and crackling and other bits’ but people higher up had other ideas. Laverstoke Park Farm in Hampshire makes the best black pudding in my view, if you’re searching for one.
SERVES 10–12
4kg pork loin, rind scored
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
50g caster sugar
1 Bramley apple, sliced
50g walnut halves
10 cobnuts, removed from their shells
30g butter
300ml dry cider
300ml veal jus
200g black pudding
50g plain flour
2 eggs, beaten
50g panko breadcrumbs
1–2 litres vegetable oil, for deep-frying
Preheat the oven to its highest setting.
Put the pork into a big roasting tray and rub 2 tablespoons of sea salt over the rind making sure it goes into all the cuts. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes, then turn the oven down to 150°C (130°C fan)/300°F/gas 2 and cook for a further 3 hours.
Heat the sugar in a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat until it dissolves and caramelises. Add the apple slices and nuts, along with half of the butter and 50ml of the cider. Take the pan off the heat and set aside to cool.
To make a sauce, pour the remaining cider into a medium saucepan and add the veal jus. Bring to the boil over a medium heat and simmer until the liquid has reduced by half. Whisk in the remaining butter.
Slice the black pudding into thick rounds. Put the flour into a shallow bowl and season. Pour the eggs into a separate shallow bowl and the breadcrumbs into another. Coat each slice of black pudding in the flour, then in the beaten egg, then in the breadcrumbs.
Heat the vegetable oil in a deep-fat fryer to 180°C (350°F) or in a deep, heavy-based saucepan until a breadcrumb sizzles and turns brown when dropped into it. (Note: hot oil can be dangerous; do not leave unattended.) Line a tray with kitchen paper.
Carefully lower the coated black pudding slices into the hot oil and fry until golden and crispy. Lift out and drain on the kitchen paper. Season with salt.
To serve, place a large slice of the pork and a piece of crackling on each plate, spoon the caramelised apples and nuts alongside and add a black pudding fritter, then drizzle over the warm sauce.
NORTH YORK MOORS HEATHER LAMB
The bandstand in Whitby harbour might not be an obvious place to cook a dish containing lamb but from here you can see the amazing moorland all around the town that stretches for miles inland with the huge number of sheep grazing on the heather and grassland. The heather and heather honey work so well here, coupled with the peas from the area just beyond the Moors towards where we used to live. Oh, and they grow great spuds in these parts too.
SERVES 4
4 x 125-g lamb loins or fillets
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon heather honey
small bunch of heather, flowers picked
25g butter
For the salad
1 large banana shallot, sliced
100g fresh peas (from approx. 300g peas in their pods)
75g peas in their pods
2–3 asparagus spears
100g cooked new potatoes, sliced
For the dressing
50ml veal jus
25ml gin
50ml olive oil
1 teaspoon heather honey
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
To serve
50g sheep’s curd
elderflowers, to garnish (optional; when in season)
Heat a flat griddle pan over a medium heat until hot. Put the lamb on a board and season well. Drizzle the oil over the griddle then pop the lamb on. Drizzle the honey over the lamb, sprinkle with heather then dot each piece with a quarter of the butter. Turn each piece of lamb over after 2–3 minutes, coating each side in the honey butter. Continue to cook for a further 2–3 minutes. Check the centre of each piece of lamb has reached 70°C (160°F) using a cook’s thermometer, then lift onto a board, cover and leave to rest.
To make the salad, pop the sliced shallot and both types of peas into a large salad bowl. Snap the woody ends off the asparagus spears and discard, then use a potato peeler to slice the spears into ribbons. Add these to the bowl, together with the potatoes, and toss everything together.
Whisk all the ingredients for the dressing in a separate bowl and season well. Spoon over the salad and toss together.
To serve, pile the salad onto a platter. Slice the lamb into 2-cm pieces and arrange on top. Dot the curd cheese all over and scatter with the elderflowers, if using.
BBQ LAMB CHOPS WITH CHIMICHURRI SAUCE, BROCCOLINI & NEW POTATOES
This dish is simply lamb and mint sauce. Chimichurri is a green sauce that originates from Argentina and Uruguay and is usually made with parsley, garlic, olive oil and red wine vinegar. Adding mint to it makes it a great, simple fresh-tasting sauce that goes beautifully with barbecued or grilled lamb chops.
SERVES 4
400g new potatoes
25ml olive oil
8 lamb chops
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
200g broccolini
For the chimichurri sauce
15g flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
15g coriander, roughly chopped
15g mint, leaves picked and roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 green chilli, chopped
1 shallot, chopped
25ml red wine vinegar
50ml olive oil
Light your BBQ. When the coals are silvery in colour, it’s ready to cook on.
While you’re waiting for the coals to heat, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the new potatoes for 10 minutes until just tender.
When the BBQ is ready, rub a little oil over the lamb chops and season well. Put the potatoes and broccolini into a bowl and add the remaining oil. Season a
nd toss together.
Put the chops onto the BBQ and cook for 3–4 minutes on each side. Add the potatoes and broccolini when you turn the chops over and turn these over after 1–2 minutes.
To make the sauce, mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and season well.
To serve, pile the lamb, potatoes and broccolini onto a platter and spoon over the sauce.
WELSH LAMB WITH GNOCCHI & VEGETABLES
To top off the trip through Wales, I had the best meal I’ve ever eaten in Britain at Ynyshir near Machynlleth. Both Stephen Terry and I had wanted to go and taste the food by Gareth Ward and it didn’t disappoint, from the moment we walked in with The Rolling Stones on vinyl playing in the restaurant to the last of the 20 courses we had here. It’s brilliant cooking and if you want my tip of where to go to eat, you have to put this place on your list. Oh, and the lamb is great too.
SERVES 4
12 small lamb chops
200g Welsh sheep’s curd cheese
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
25ml olive oil
500g cooked potato, pushed through a ricer
125g plain flour
2 egg yolks
4 heritage carrots, halved lengthways
1 large leek, sliced
8 spears asparagus, trimmed
½ spring cabbage, tough stems removed and leaves torn
50g butter
zest and juice of 1 lemon
small bunch of mint, leaves picked and chopped
Preheat a large, flat griddle pan over a medium heat until hot.
Using a sharp knife, cut a pocket through the fat side of the lamb, right into the meaty part. Set aside half of the cheese, then fill each pocket with around a teaspoonful of the rest. Season the lamb all over then drizzle the oil over the hot griddle pan and pop the lamb on to cook for 2–3 minutes on each side. It should be golden on the outside and feel slightly firm when pressed. Transfer to a plate, cover and leave to rest. Turn off the heat under the griddle but leave it on the hob for later to cook the vegetables.
To make the gnocchi, mix the potato, flour, egg yolks, the remaining cheese and some seasoning together in a bowl until well combined and smooth. Divide into 4 portions then roll each one into a long thin sausage (about 20cm long and 2cm thick), using a little extra flour. Cut each sausage into 3-cm pieces.
