Month: October 2011

Categories
food gammon ham peas stock

heston blumenthal’s pea and ham soup

heston blumenthal's pea and ham soup

“You don’t like small food, do you?”

That’s something someone said about my eating habits a few years back. It’s not completely accurate but did draw together a few of my food hates: sweetcorn, baked beans and peas. Baked beans remain the work of the devil, I’m still not really sold on sweetcorn (why does it always end up in tuna?) but over the years I have grown to accept peas. And if any recipe is going to fully convince me of the power of the pea, it’s a Heston one. I was sent this recipe by someone who knows of my Hesotn obsession, and comes from his new book Heston Blumenthal at Home.

It’s refreshingly free of bonkers twists, as long as you discount defrosting frozen peas. Oh yes, frozen peas – I think most chefs now accept frozen is the way to have peas if they’re not straight from your garden. And the peas are barely cooked so they retain their vibrant colour and fresh taste.

The finishing touch, as is so common with Heston recipes (I’m looking at you, vanilla salt), the thing that just makes it. A few drops of mint oil is a crystal clear note among the comforting, meaty flavours.

It’s absolutely delicious. Creamy and fresh, with a round, savoury flavour that is amplified in all directions. Do try it, it’s brilliant.

Heston Blumenthal’s pea and ham soup (serves 4):

1kg gammon joint

1 onion, peeled and sliced

1 carrot, peeled and sliced

1 leek, white part only, rinsed and sliced

8 mint leaves

30ml extra virgin olive oil

900g frozen peas

65g butter, diced

75g shallots, finely diced

1 clove of garlic, minced

160g unsmoked bacon, cut into lardons

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 85°C. Pop the gammon, onion, leek and carrot into a casserole and barely cover with water. Bring to a simmer on the hob, pop a lid on it and transfer to the oven for 5 hours.
  2. While the gammon cooks, put the mint in the oil and leave in a warm place to infuse. Line a baking tray with kitchen roll and layer the frozen peas on this to defrost and absorb excess moisture.
  3. When the gammon is done, let the meat cool in the liquor. Sieve off the solids (Heston then says to discard the veg, but I squeezed out the excess juice and mixed with mash the following day for fab bubble ‘n’ squeak). Then shred 180g of the meat for the soup – the remainder you can keep for another day.
  4. Get a large frying pan over a low heat and add 25g of the butter. Ad the bacon, shallots and garlic and sizzle for five minutes so they soften but do not colour.
  5. Add 750ml of the gammon stock and bring to a simmer for 5 minutes. Add all but 75g of the peas and the rest of the butter and remove from the heat. Liquidize then strain through a sieve, squishing thoroughly to get as much good stuff in the pan as possible. Season to taste and reheat gently.
  6. Use a hand blender to aerate and thicken the soup, then add the reserved gammon and remaining peas. Allow these to warm up and then serve, drizzling with mint oil.
Categories
beef

steak

Few things in food get me more excited than a lovely piece of steak. And this sirloin steak from Farmer’s Choice is an excellent specimen. Based in Fareham Farmer’s Choice have been providing free range meat for over 20 years. They kindly sent me a selection of products to try all individually frozen so it’s really convenient to get as much or as little out as you need for dinner.

You can see how good it is raw; marbled and ruddy brown, with a loose flaking texture. When cooking I added the bare minimum of flavourings so the natural taste of the beef could come through. And it was a really tasty piece of meat, strong and savoury with crispy yellow fat.  Usually I buy rump for economy so to have sirloin was a bit of a treat.

If you struggle with steak, you can read 1,000 words I wrote about it previously, or distill it to a few simple rules: really high heat, let it rest, and buy really great meat.

Steak (serves 2):

2 x 400g sirloin steaks

¼ beef stock cube

  1. An hour before you want to cook, get the steak out of the fridge. You’re not going to cook the steak for very long even if you like it charred, so allow it to come up to room temperature first.
  2. Fifteen minutes before you want to cook, get your frying pan on super-hot, as high as it will go. You may wish to temporarily remove the battery from your smoke alarm (but don’t forget to put it back in, I’d feel terribly guilty if you didn’t). Also put your oven on 150°C and pop an ovenproof plate in there to warm up.
  3. Crumble up the stock cube and rub liberally all over the meat. Shake over some olive oil and wait for your pan to start shimmering. Lower them in and just leave them be for a few minutes.
  4. Flip them over and cook for a further couple of minutes. Doneness is up to you and the best way to figure it out is to press the meat in the pan with your finger and feel how bouncy it still is. After cooking a few steaks this will become your best guide for how done they are.
  5. When done, turn your oven off and carefully remove the plate and plonk the steaks on that. Leave for about five minutes.
  6. While the steaks rest, add about 100ml of water to your pan and use a wooden spoon to scrape at the crusty bits. After a few minutes’ bubbling this will reduce to a syrupy consistency, at which point serve up your steaks and pour this beefy nirvana over your meat.
Categories
beef oyster sauce red onion

beef in oyster sauce

When Ken Hom is on Saturday Kitchen, he usually pulls a blinder out of the bag, such as crispy chicken noodles. And this recipe was no exception. Tender beef, sticky savoury sauce and to quote the Homster “disgustingly healthy”. I’m not sure how healthy it is, but it tastes pretty darn good to me.

Based on Ken Hom’s original recipe and messed around with according to what I had knocking about

Beef in oyster sauce (serves 4):

For the beef

450g fillet of beef, cut into thin strips

1 teaspoon dark soy sauce

2 teaspoons sesame oil

1 tablespoon dry sherry

2 teaspoons cornflour

3 tablespoons rapeseed oil

3 tablespoons oyster sauce

4 spring onions, chopped

For the salad

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon Madras curry powder

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 broccoli, cut into small florets

100g green beans, trimmed

½ cauliflower, cut into small florets

Small tin of water chestnuts, drained

½ red onion, finely diced

  1. Mix the soy, sesame oil, sherry and cornflour together and add the beef. Combine well and leave to marinate while you chop up everything else.
  2. Get your wok on screaming hot, then add a few splashes of oil. While the oil heats up stick a sieve or colander over a bowl. When the oil is smoking add the beef. Keep it in the wok until it’s browned lightly on all sides, then chuck the lot into the sieve, letting the excess oil drain off. Wipe the pan out with kitchen paper.
  3. Put the vegetables into a pan of simmering water. These will take 4 -5 minutes to get tender. While this is happening, mix the mustard, curry powder, soy sauce and oil in a bowl, mix well and add the onion and chestnuts.
  4. Back to the wok: get the oyster sauce to simmering point and add the spring onion and drained beef. Toss well to coat.
  5. While the beef finishes, drain the veg and add to the salad dressing. Mix thoroughly with the dressing and serve up with the beef.
Categories
burger chilli lamb mayonnaise mint reviews

red hot lamb burgers

There’s no shortage of burger recipes on this blog, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for one more.

I was sent a bottle of Frank’s Red Hot sauce in the post. It’s not a condiment I usually use but after a little taste I found it really interesting – very hot of course, but with a very pleasant fruity taste. I thought it would work really well at cutting through the richness of lamb in these burgers, and if it all proved too much then the mint mayonnaise rushes in at the end to put out the fire. A great combo, and I’m definitely converted to hot sauce!

PS. I’ve been pointed to this bonkers competition of Frank’s, where you can win a “massive” TV. 

Red hot lamb burgers (makes 4):

400g lamb mince

1 tablespoon Frank’s Red Hot Sauce

1 tablespoon mint, finely chopped

200g mayonnaise

1 beef tomato, sliced

4 soft rolls

  1. Combine the mince with the sauce and a good pinch of salt. Form the lamb into 4 patties but try not to compress them too much – you want to keep a nice loose texture.
  2. Preheat a frying pan to pretty darn hot. Add a splash of oil and fry the burgers for 3-4 minutes each side.
  3. While the burgers are cooking mix the mint and mayonnaise together. Lightly toast the rolls.
  4. When the burgers are browned on both sides, slam into a bun, layer on a tomato slice, slather with minty mayo and gobble up.
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