Roast duck with potatoes

From Nigella Kitchen
Serves 2

Ingredients
2 duck legs
2 baking potatoes or 1 pound other large white-skinned potatoes
Few sprigs of fresh thyme
Salt and pepper
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

On the stove, heat a small roasting pan (I use one like a slightly oversized tarte tatin pan) and sear the duck legs, skin-side down over medium heat until the skin turns golden and gives out some oil.

Turn the legs over, and take the pan off the heat while you cut the potatoes into 1-inch slices across, then cut each slice into 4. Arrange these potato pieces around the duck legs, then let a few sprigs of thyme fall over the duck and potatoes, and season with salt and pepper, before putting into the preheated oven.

Cook for two hours, occasionally turning the potatoes, for optimal outcome, which is tender duck legs and crispy potatoes, though both will be ready to eat after 1 1/2 hours.

This is so ridiculously easy! I wouldn’t go for 2 hours as I think the duck will be too dry. I bought two duck legs from Waitrose and simply followed the instructions which is to cook it for 2 hours at 180 degrees. I added the tomatoes for the final five minutes just to make it a balanced meal

Pot-roasted chicken with apples and cider

Smoked mackerel pate

From Jamie’s Ministry of Food
Serves 4 to 6
Ingredients

200g smoked mackerel fillets
2 spring onions
1 lemon
100g light Philadelphia cream cheese
1 tablespoon creamed horseradish
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 small loaf of good-quality bread
1 punnet of cress

To prepare your pâté

• If you want to pull the skin off each piece of mackerel, do this now and discard it
• Trim and finely slice the spring onions
• Break the mackerel into chunks
To prepare your pâté

• Finely grate over the zest of one of your lemons, then cut it in half
• Put the cream cheese into a large bowl with the creamed horseradish
• Chop up the mackerel, spring onions and lemon zest on a chopping board, mixing everything together as you chop until you have a coarse paste

• Add this to the bowl with the cream cheese and horseradish
• Season to taste with salt and pepper
• Squeeze in the juice of your zested lemon, and mix again

Cream of asparagus soup

From The Great British Farmhouse Cookbook
Serves 4
Ingredients

6 bunches fine asparagus (total weight of approx. 1.2kg)
2 litres vegetable or light homemade chicken stock
300g trimmed and cleaned leeks
100g unsalted butter, plus 25g extra for drizzling
3 sticks celery, thinly sliced
65g plain flour
3 tbsp double cream
1 tsp white wine vinegar, for poaching
8 large, really fresh free-range eggs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

METHOD:
Rinse the asparagus is cold water to rid it of any sand, then snap off the woody ends and roughly chop them. Put them into a pan with the stock, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes, then strain and set aside.

Meanwhile, cut the 4cm-long tips from half the asparagus spears. Roughly chop the remaining stalks.

Bring 2 small pans of water to the boil. Add some salt to one pan, drop in the asparagus tips and cook for 2 minutes until just tender. Drain, refresh under cold water and set aside. Add the vinegar and pinch of salt to the second pan and reduce the heat to low. Break one of the eggs into a teacup. Swirl the water with a spoon to create a whirlpool, drop in the egg and leave it to poach for 3 minutes, then carefully remove with a slotted spoon to a plate. Repeat with the remaining eggs, bringing the water back to the boil and then lowering again each time. Leave the poaching water over a low heat.

Cut off the really dark green leaves from the leeks (and discard or save for stock) and thinly slice the remainder. Melt 100g of the butter in a large pan, add the asparagus stalks, sliced leeks and celery, cover and cook over a low heat for 10 minutes until soft but not browned.

Uncover, stir in the flour and cook for 1 more minute. Stir in the asparagus-flavoured stock, cover again and simmer for 10 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Remove from the heat, cool slightly and then liquidise the soup in batches until very smooth. Pass through a sieve back into a clean pan, bring back to a simmer and stir in the cream and some seasoning to taste.

Melt the remaining butter. Lower the poached eggs back into the simmering water and leave for 30 seconds, then remove and drain briefly on kitchen paper. Ladle the soup into warmed bowls and scatter over the asparagus tips. Place a poached egg into the centre of each bowl, season the top of each one with a little salt and pepper then drizzle over the melted butter and serve.

Steak sarnie

From Jamie Oliver’s 30-minute meals
Serves 4

Ingredients

2 x 300g (10½oz) best-quality rump steaks
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 ciabatta loaf
A small handful of jarred peppers
A couple of sprigs of fresh flat-leaf parsley
Horseradish sauce, to serve
A large handful of prewashed rocket, to serve

STEAK SARNIE: Put the steaks on a board. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, pick and scatter over the thyme leaves, and drizzle with olive oil. Rub the flavours into the meat, then flip over and repeat on the other side.

Pound the steaks once or twice with your fists to flatten them a little, then put them into the screaming-hot griddle pan to cook for 1 to 2 minutes on each side for medium rare, or longer if you prefer. This depends on the thickness of your steaks, of course, so use your instincts and cook them to your liking. Wash your hands.

STEAK SARNIE: Put the ciabatta loaf into the bottom of the oven. Finely chop
the peppers on a large clean board. Move the steaks to the board and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.

Finely chop a few parsley leaves, mixing them in with the peppers and all the steak juices. Scrape the pepper mix to one side of the board. Slice up the steaks at an angle.

STEAK SARNIE: Get the ciabatta out of the oven and slice it open. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Spread over the horseradish, then arrange the rocket leaves on one half. Lay the steak slices on top.
Mix and scrape the peppers and juices from the board and scatter over the meat, then fold together and take to the table.

English onion soup

From Jamie at home
Serves 4

Ingredients
a good knob of butter
olive oil
a good handful of fresh sage leaves, 8 leaves reserved for serving
6 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
5 red onions, peeled and sliced
3 large white onions, peeled and sliced
3 banana shallots, peeled and sliced
300g leeks, trimmed, washed and sliced
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 litres good-quality hot beef, chicken or vegetable stock
8 slices of good-quality stale bread,
2cm thick
200g freshly grated Cheddar cheese
Worcestershire sauce

Put the butter, 2 glugs of olive oil, the sage and garlic into a thick-bottomed, non-stick pan. Stir everything round and add the onions, shallots and leeks. Season with salt and pepper. Place a lid on the pan, leaving it slightly ajar, and cook slowly for 50 minutes, without colouring the vegetables too much. Remove the lid for the last 20 minutes – your onions will become soft and golden. Stir occasionally so that nothing catches on the bottom. Having the patience to cook the onions slowly, slowly, gives you an incredible sweetness and an awesome flavour, so don’t be tempted to speed this bit up.

When your onions and leeks are lovely and silky, add the stock. Bring to the boil, turn the heat down and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. You can skim any fat off the surface if you like, but I prefer to leave it because it adds good flavour.

Preheat the oven or grill to maximum. Toast your bread on both sides. Correct the seasoning of the soup. When it’s perfect, ladle it into individual heatproof serving bowls and place them on a baking tray. Tear toasted bread over each bowl to fit it like a lid. Feel free to push and dunk the bread into the soup a bit. Sprinkle with some grated Cheddar and drizzle over a little Worcestershire sauce.

Dress your reserved sage leaves with some olive oil and place one on top of each slice of bread. Put the baking tray into the preheated oven or under the grill to melt the cheese until bubbling and golden. Keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn’t burn! When the cheese is bubbling, very carefully lift out the tray and carry it to the table. Enjoy.

Don’t worry too much about what onions you have. The thing is to use as many varieties as you can, but if you have just normal onions that’s fine as well. I have gone for the rustic look with this dish which explains the burnt marks on the side!

Slow-roasted beef brisket with potatoes and onions

From The Guardian
Serves six to eight.

2kg piece boned, rolled beef brisket (fresh, not salted)
4-5 garlic cloves, bruised
Good handful of thyme sprigs
Olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1-1.25kg potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
About 400g baby onions or shallots, outer skins removed

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Put the brisket in a large roasting dish. Tuck the garlic and thyme inside and under it. Pour over two to three tablespoons of olive oil and massage into the meat, then season well. Put the meat in the oven for 20-30 minutes, then remove it. Turn down the oven to 130C/250F/gas mark 1/2 , cover the meat with foil and return to the oven for four hours.

After this time, the beef should be very tender. Baste it with its juices, add the potatoes and onions, and toss them in the fat, then turn up the heat to 170C/325F/gas mark 3 and cook, uncovered, for a further hour. Serve the beef in thick slices, with the potatoes, onions and a little of the rich cooking juices.

Prawn cocktail

From Cook with Jamie
Serves 4
Ingredients

1 round lettuce
1 little gem lettuce
600g small, sweet, good-quality fresh or frozen prawns
2 ripe avocados
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
cayenne pepper
1 lemon, cut into wedges, plus a little extra juice

for the Marie Rose sauce
3 heaped tablespoons mayonnaise
1 heaped tablespoon tomato ketchup
a splash of Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon good brandy
1-2 lemons

for the pangrattato
4 slices of good stale white bread
olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Separate the lettuce leaves from the cores. Wash and spin all your lovely leaves and put them to one side. Drain your fresh or thawed prawns.

For the Marie Rose sauce, mix together the mayo, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and brandy until loose and pink. Cut the Marie Rose with a tang of lemon juice – add to taste

For the pangrattato, put the bread slices into a food processor and pulse until you have coarse breadcrumbs. Pour a good lug of olive oil into a frying pan, add a pinch of salt and pepper, then ad the breadcrumbs and fry until golden and crisp. Lay them on kitchen paper to drain off the oil

To assemble, score the avocados in half and twist them to separate the 2 halves. Remove the skin, slice them up roughly into 3 or 4 wedges and divide between the four plates.

Divide your prawns up and pile them on top of the avocado. I like to lightly dress the salad leaves with a little squeeze of lemon juice, a pinch of salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Toss them together and place a nice pile of leaves next to and around the avocado and prawns.

Gently spoon over the Marie Rose sauce, ideally, so there is one reasonably fine layer of sauce over most of the prawns. Flick over a pinch of cayenne, half on the prawns and half on the salad. Serve with a wedge of lemon on the side and your pangrattato in a separate bowl for sprinkling over.

Simple pan-fried trout

From Jamie’s Ministry of Food
Ingredients
Serves 2

2 chunky trout fillets skin on, scaled, and bones removed
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
olive oil
a pat of butter
a few big handfuls of spinach
1 lemon

To prepare your trout:

Put a non-stick frying pan on medium to high heat. Sprinkle the trout fillets with some salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Rub both sides of the fish until well-coated.

To cook your trout:

When the pan is nice and hot, add your trout fillets, skin side down, and cook for 3 minutes until crisp. While cooking, shake the pan around a little. When the heat has crept up nearly to the top of the fish and you think they’re ready, flip the fillets over for 30 seconds to cook from the other side-this will give you a crisp skin and a soft flakiness to the insides. Remove from the heat and place on your serving plates, skin side up. Add the butter and the spinach to the pan with a sprinkling of salt and pepper and place back on the heat. Keep moving the spinach around for just a minute using a pair of tongs. When it has wilted it’s ready to come off of the heat.

Serve your fillets with the spinach and lemon wedges for squeezing over.

Pork loin with apples and cider

A variation of this recipe. Instead of using cider, I used 1/3 cup of milk and 1 tsp of wholegrain mustard

Serves 2
Ingredients
2 pork loin steaks
3 jazz apples, cut into slices
2 small onions, cut into rings
1/2 cup apple cider
2 handfuls of cheddar cheese
1 tbsp fresh sage, chopped

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees

Season the pork with salt and pepper. Brown the pork on both sides. Remove pork to a baking tray. Add the cheddar cheese around the pork.

In a frying pan, fry the onions, sage and apples for 5-10 minutes until lightly browned. Add the cider and simmer for 2 minutes. Pour the apple mixture over the pork.

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, or until the pork is cooked. Serve, garnished with sage leaves

I have been experimenting with pork and apples for some time. This is the first time I actually think the dish’s a success! I got this recipe while rummaging the cookbooks at Books for Cooks near Portobello market. I think the book in question was called Recipes with Cider and Beer. Memorised it, modified it a bit by adding the sage and I think I have found my go-to recipe for pork and apples.

Taste wise, I know it’s strange but it’s kind of like eating pork with a sweet “onion soup” kind of sauce. I think it’s the combination of the sweetness in the apples and the onions (different kinds of sweetness) and the savouryness of the cheese that makes this dish come together. Am quite pleased with this dish.