Category: potatoes

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food ham leeks mustard potatoes

gammon, leek and cider pie

gammon leek and cider pie with mustard mash

I had a bleedin’ horrible commute home from Enfield on Friday, involving miles of tailbacks, a blown tyre and crazed BMW drivers. So imagine my relief to see this pie waiting for me when I get home.

It’s taken from the pages of this month’s delicious magazine, involving chunks of salty gammon and rich cider in a creamy liquor, topped with browned and fluffy mash with a hint of mustard heat. Just the job.

Gammon, leek and cider pie:

1kg gammon joint

1 onion, diced

2 leeks, sliced

3 carrots, sliced

1 teaspoon thyme leaves

4 tablespoons flour

500ml cider

For the mustard mash top:

8 tablespoons creme fraiche

1kg potatoes

1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard

  1. Boil the gammon joint for 2 – 3 hours until tender. You may wish to add aromatics to the water to lend extra notes; an onion, a couple of carrots, a bay leaf, some juniper – whatever is to hand. Remove the meat from the water and cut into chunks. Save some of the water for the next step.
  2. Fry the leeks, thyme, onion and carrots until softened and add the flour. Add the gammon, cider, 300ml gammon water and bring to the boil. When simmering add half the creme fraiche and season. Allow to simmer for ten minutes.
  3. Cook the potatoes in salted boiling water and drain, then mash with the remaining creme fraiche and mustard. You may wish to add a little milk and/or butter to loosen it up.
  4. Pour the sauce into an ovenproof dish, top with mash and bake in a 180C oven for 25 minutes.
Categories
bacon carrots chicken food potatoes stock

chicken tray bake

This is yet another delve into Jamie Oliver’s latest book, Jamie’s America. I’d bought a whole chicken at the weekend to wanted to portion it up for use throughout the week. Here the wings and one breast went into a soupy, veggie oven-baked dish, browning off while leaking their savoury juices into the broth. I made a few of my own tweaks, leaving out sweet potatoes (not a favourite of mine since the rancid ‘Barefoot Contessa’ destroyed it in a recipe of hers I recreated) and substituting carrots. Otherwise it’s essentially sliced carrots and sliced potatoes baked in chicken stock with some oregano for half an hour, then chicken pieces added on top for another half hour. The other great touch here was brining the chicken; something I’ve always contemplated but never tried. The meat was left for three hours in a mixture of water, salt, garlic, honey and sage. It left the meat tasty and juicy and something I will definitely return to. I know for example Heston Blumenthal’s perfect roast chicken requires a few days’ brining… watch this space.

The whole dish was very tasty though next time I think I’d add an acidic twist with perhaps a splash of white wine.

Categories
cabbage food leftovers potatoes

bubble and squeak

The great British Sunday brunch-before-anybody-knew-it-was-called brunch: Bubble ‘n’ Squeak. After a successful roast with plenty of leftovers, is there any better way to put all those still-tasty morsels to good use? Crunchy and tasty, these are perfect little pick-me-ups. Served with a drizzle of leftover gravy too and some strong coffee, and breakfast gets little better than this. There’s no point listing a recipe for this, as it’s whatever there is to hand! There has to be potatoes, so mash these up with other veg lying about. I use a stick blender to mush it up a bit. Then with wet hands form them into little patties and fry in butter and oil until browned all over. Serve with either a splash of gravy or HP Sauce.

Categories
bacon cheese egg food onion potatoes

navajo breakfast

This is the first recipe I’ve tried from Jamie’s America, Jamie Oliver’s latest cookbook exploring the US coast-to-coast in search for true Americana, away from burgers and fries. I’ve started with the Navajo Breakfast, something dead easy and reminiscent of many a western breakfast; potatoes, bacon, onion, eggs… fairly ordinary stuff. It’s a pretty hefty breakfast though, only worth contemplating on a busy Saturday!

I start by frying a sliced onion with some bacon, then adding red potatoes that have been sliced on the ‘wide’ bit of a box grater. I continued frying these until soft and then seasoned. Then I chucked in some beaten eggs mixed with a little cayenne pepper, and once the eggs had set oozed the lot on to some toast. Not quite content with my cardiac state I added a little grated cheese on top. Totally satisfying and very tasty, this will come round again another breakfast time!

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