BLOOMSBURY COOKS SEASONS EATINGS
SUPER SAVOURY Meat, cheese and other savoury snacks for the festive season
Win a copy of Tom Kitchin’s Meat & Game plus an easy-carve Christmas meat hamper from The Great British Meat Co
Enter at www.bloomsbury.com/meathamper
CONTENTS Chestnut Hummus
Recipe from Modern British Food by Jesse Dunford Wood
Bread Sauce and Parsnip Crisps Recipe from On the Side by Ed Smith
Fried Brie with Cranberry Sauce
Recipe from Modern British Food by Jesse Dunford Wood
Wagyu Sliders with Crunchy Onions and Umami Mayo Recipe from Junk Food Japan by Scott Hallsworth
Pheasant and Partridge Scotch Eggs Recipe from Tom Kitchin’s Meat & Game
Kushiyaki Grilling
Recipe from Junk Food Japan by Scott Hallsworth
Roasted Orange-rub Pork Belly with Fennel Recipe from Lisboeta by Nuno Mendes
Roast Topside with all the Trimmings Recipe from Tom Kitchin’s Meat & Game
Chestnut Hummus
Legend has it that someone came into our professional kitchen having had a few too many the night before, and made that quite simple and well-known dish of hummus. Being in rather a fragile state, sadly they forgot most of the vital ingredients, but luckily they did remember those two important components that make a hummus: olive oil and lemon juice. Annoyingly, they forgot the chickpeas and tahini. Quite what it has to do with its Middle Eastern cousin is rather beyond me to be honest, but this hummus could change your life. It has been a mainstay on the Parlour menu for a few years now, simple, satisfying, and has probably received the most comments of any dish on our whole menu. Cut with a sherry vinegar caramel infused with rosemary (known as a gastrique), and served with fresh, plump homemade pitta bread, it’s sweet, sour, moreish, and rather surprising. The pitta freezes well (but don’t feel awkward about buying pitta bread instead), and the caramel stuff (a key part of this dish) will last forever. Like many dishes in this book, it is accessible and familiar, yet with an element of intrigue and the unknown. I love the comforts of the well-travelled road, but I also love a bit of excitement. Don’t you?
Serves 4–6
ROSEMARY SHERRY CARAMEL / Make a caramel: place the sugar in a small pan, add a little water – say 50ml – and bring to the boil over a medium heat. When it starts
Rosemary Sherry Caramel 150g caster sugar
vinegar. BE VERY CAREFUL – it will spit, bubble and dance, so stand back and be gentle. It will also leave an intoxicating caramel and vinegar pouff – do it near an open
50ml sherry vinegar sprig of rosemary
window, even outside, and only once you have done it will you know what I am talking about. It will subside when cool, don’t worry. Add the rosemary while still warm and
to turn to a light brown, watch it like a hawk, and when it is dark, very dark and almost burnt (be brave), take it off the heat and, to stop it cooking any further, pour in the
leave to infuse overnight at room temperature (it will become thicker in the fridge). Hummus
500g vacuum-packed whole chestnuts 250ml water 10g caster sugar 5g salt, plus extra to taste 1 garlic clove, crushed 100ml olive oil lemon juice, to taste salt and freshly ground black pepper Assembly 1 stick celery, finely sliced pickled red onions (see Pickles for a Picnic, page 34) picked parsley leaves chestnuts Rosemary Pitta (see page 173)
36
Modern British Food
Strain the caramel on the day of using. It should be a good runny honey texture, and the bonus is it keeps forever out of the fridge. It should be sweet and sour with a little rosemary edge (and is also lovely drizzled lightly on your roast lamb). HUMMUS / In a large pan, boil the chestnuts, water, sugar, salt and garlic over a medium-low heat for around 30 minutes, until the chestnuts are soft and starting to fall apart. Strain through a sieve, reserving the water if there is any left, and blend the chestnuts with the olive oil in the best blender you have, checking for seasoning and adding lemon juice to taste, and possibly a little of the reserved water to reach the consistency of normal hummus. Transfer to a piping bag and set aside in the fridge. ASSEMBLY / To plate up, pipe a splodge of the hummus on to each plate, cleverly twisted like those in the Middle East do it. Cover it in finely sliced celery for a bit of crunch, a few strands of pickled red onions and some picked parsley leaves. Drizzle with your sherry caramel, grate over a little chestnut in a cloud to finish, and serve alongside the cooked pitta.
Recipe from Modern British Food by Jesse Dunford Wood, photography by Lauren Mclean
Bread sauce and parsnip crisps PRe PARATIO n: TIMe neede d :
on a hob and in the oven more than an hour
Bread sauce is, more often than not, served as an accompaniment to the British Christmas roast dinner, but to cook and serve this just once a year would be something of a travesty. It is soothing and savoury and sits very well next to pretty much anything that once had wings. If you ever have a craving for bread sauce, it ought to inspire you to roast or pan-fry a chicken, guinea fowl, pheasant, grouse, duck or partridge. Alongside, or sprinkled over the top, the baked parsnip crisps add sweetness and crunch and complement the smooth sauce and any poultry perfectly. In my view, unless you’re having it as a cheeky snack straight from the fridge, bread sauce is best when freshly made. But you can make it in advance and reheat it later on – you’ll just need to add extra milk to loosen the mixture. The parsnip crisps could also be made a few hours in advance. Serves 4–6 Bread sauce 700ml milk 100g butter 10 cloves 2 bay leaves 1 onion, quartered 8 black peppercorns ⁄/fl nutmeg, freshly grated 1 sprig rosemary 150g soft white breadcrumbs 100ml double cream Sea salt
Meanwhile, make the crisps. Peel the parsnips, then use a mandolin to cut paper-thin circles, starting with the tip. If you don’t have a mandolin, use a peeler to strip very thin lengths off the parsnips. Place in a large bowl, drizzle with oil and mix well.
Parsnip crisps 600g parsnips 3 tablespoons sunflower or vegetable oil Sea salt
Preheat the oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6 and line 2 baking sheets with silicone baking mats or baking parchment. Spread the parsnip slices out over the baking sheets, ensuring they don’t clump together (you may need to do this in batches), and bake for 10 minutes. Turn them over and bake for 10 minutes more, or until golden and crisp. Once cooked, line the large bowl with kitchen paper and tip the parsnips in. Let the paper soak up some of the oil and season generously with salt. Set aside to cool.
Start with the bread sauce. Put the milk, 60g of the butter, the cloves, bay leaves, onion, peppercorns, nutmeg and rosemary in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. Bring almost to the boil, then simmer gently for 5–10 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave to infuse for at least 1 hour, then strain into a clean pan and discard the aromatics.
To finish the bread sauce, bring the infused milk to a gentle simmer. Add the breadcrumbs and stir or whisk until incorporated. Turn the heat right down to the lowest setting and cook for 10–15 minutes until thickened, stirring occasionally to stop it catching. Add a good pinch of salt, the cream and remaining butter and stir until incorporated. It should
236
Grains, pulses, pasta & rice
be the consistency of a loose porridge – add more milk if you need to. Taste to check the seasoning and add more salt, pepper and/or nutmeg if you wish.
Purple sprouting broccoli with tarragon (page 42); Watercress with pickled walnuts (page 84); Hasselback potatoes with bay and caraway (page 172); Maple and pecan roast squash (page 186); Spiced roast carrots (page 216) A lOnGSIde :
Put the parsnip crisps in a communal bowl, sprinkle with more salt if needed and encourage everyone to take a handful alongside their sauce.
Grains, pulses, pasta & rice
237
Recipe from On the Side by Ed Smith, photography by Joe Woodhouse
Fried Brie with Cranberry Sauce
I always use pretty cheap brie for this. You can use an organic-unpasteurised-prize-winning-artisan cheese – just don’t tell the cheesemaker what you are using it for, as you might lose a few of the delicate nuances during the breading and frying process. This dish has always been about the combination of the crunchy outer texture and the sweet and gooey inside rather than the quality of the cheese. But I will leave that up to you.
Serves 8
Cranberry Sauce 250g fresh or frozen whole cranberries 60g caster sugar 1 orange, peeled and chopped (use the peel too, but no pith please, we’re British – and no pith-taking, either…) 50ml water 5g cornflour, mixed with 1 tablespoon water to make a slurry Panne 70g(ish) plain flour 3 eggs, beaten 150g dried breadcrumbs (Japanese panko are best for an even finish) 200g round of brie Assembly vegetable oil, for deep frying
88
Modern British Food
CRANBERRY SAUCE / Place the cranberries, sugar, orange flesh and peel and water in a pan over a medium heat for about 3 minutes, until the mixture is boiling and the cranberries start breaking down. Add the cornflour and water mix and boil for another minute, which should thicken the sauce. You can keep the sauce chunky, or blend it to a smooth dip. I prefer it smooth for better dippage. Leave to cool. The sauce can also be used as a relish for turkey and duck, or maybe even venison. Or use it in a pudding, with cheesecake or on ice cream. Oh, the versatility! PANNE / Place the flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs in separate shallow bowls. Cut the brie into manageable wedges and roll them first in the flour, then in the beaten egg and then in the breadcrumbs. This is the classic panne breadcrumbing process. ASSEMBLY / Heat the oil in a deep-fat fryer set to 180°C and fry the wedges for about 3 minutes, until golden, crisp on the outside and molten beneath. Serve the fried brie with lashings of the tart (and cranberry bitter) sauce, be it smooth or chunky.
Recipe from Modern British Food by Jesse Dunford Wood, photography by Lauren Mclean
66
JUNK FOOD JAPAN
WAGYU SLIDERS WITH CRUNCHY ONION RINGS AND UMAMI MAYO I used to look down on chefs or restaurants that would serve burgers. I used to put myself up there, where proper and serious chefs ripped food apart and reformed it as a mousse or even worse – a foam. Like most things in life, there is a time and a place for everything and as far as I’m concerned, both the time and place for foaming shit is a long way behind us – or hibernating in soulless five-star hotels all over the planet. So, the slider; essentially a mini burger which apparently can simply slide on down your throat. Not sure I know anyone who can perform this trick though. I imagine that when this was first dreamed up its original name was ‘choker’. Anyway, names aside, here is a recipe for the sliders that we
serve at Kurobuta. In my opinion, burgers should be kept fairly simple. They need onion, good sauces – you always need two – and a simple bun that isn’t flavoured with shaved buffalo dick. It’s there for texture and to pull the whole thing together. A pickle and a crunch also really help. I’m absolutely certain there is somebody out there agonising over whether they serve burgers in restaurants in Japan or not. Stereotypically, in your head, no, I guess not. Back here on planet Earth – yes, they do. Jeeezze – does the pope shit in the woods? These patties could be frozen if you really needed to – I’d suggest that you really don’t – eat up!
Trim the Wagyu and fat, and the beef fillet of any sinew, then with a big heavy chef’s
MAKES ABOUT 12 PATTIES
knife, chop the fat and meat until very fine. Make sure there are no chunks. For the sliders 425g Wagyu beef (I use striploin)
Put on some disposable gloves and mix in the rest of the ingredients for the slider,
90g Wagyu fat, trimmed of sinew
except the olive oil and black pepper, squishing well until all is well incorporated. Form
40g beef fillet
the mixture into little burgers that are about 40g each. Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate
10g grated ginger
for a good hour before cooking.
8g transglutaminase powder (aka, meat glue, easily found online for home delivery)
Next make the barbecue sauce. Add the olive oil to a saucepan along with the spring
onions, garlic, ginger and the dried chilli flakes. Sauté over a medium heat for about 10
1 egg yolk
minutes, until very soft and slightly caramelised.
10ml light soy sauce light olive oil, for frying a big pinch of sea salt, plus extra to season
Add the green apple, mirin, dark soy sauce, Tabasco, sesame seeds, rice vinegar, brown sugar and 50ml of water. Cook again over a medium heat without boiling for 10 minutes and then stir in the cornflour-water mixture. Cook for a further 5 minutes then add the
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt, sesame oil and lemon juice. Remove from the heat and allow the sauce to cool to room temperature before using.
For the Japanese barbecue sauce 2 teaspoons light olive oil
To make the dough, mix the yeast with 130ml of warm water and set aside.
2 lengths spring onions, sliced 12 garlic cloves, roughly chopped 5g ginger, peeled and roughly chopped 5g dried chilli flakes 1 green apple, cored and finely chopped 1 tablespoon mirin 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce 1 teaspoon or about 10 hard shakes green Tabasco ingredients continued on page 68
In a standmixer fitted with the dough attachment, combine all the dry ingredients
until well incorporated. On a slow speed, pour in the water-yeast mix gradually. Once incorporated, slowly pour in the oil and mix well. Continue to mix on a medium-high speed for 20 minutes, until the dough appears elastic.
Remove the dough and place in a lightly oiled stainless-steel bowl, cover with clingfilm and keep in a warm place to prove for 30–40 minutes, or until doubled in size.
recipe continued on page 68
JUNK FOOD JAPAN
67
Recipe from Junk Food Japan by Scott Hallsworth, photography by David Loftus
Pheasant and Partridge Scotch Eggs This was my late Grandfather Ben’s ideal lunch – a good Scotch egg, some strong cheddar and chutney – oh, and let’s not forget the good pint of ale. You can easily adapt the recipe depending on what game you can get, but always try to use a good-quality sausage meat to bind it. Personally, I love it when the yolk is a bit
soft, but if you like your yolks firmer just cook the egg a little longer. You need to mince the pheasant and partridge meat for this recipe, I recommend using a mini food processor.
SERVES 4 6 free-range eggs
500g good-quality sausage meat
200g pheasant and partridge meat, finely minced
50g cooked chestnuts, crushed
1 tablespoon finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard – I like to use Pommery
80g plain flour, plus extra for flouring your hands
50g pank or dried breadcrumbs vegetable oil for deep-frying
cheddar cheese – to my mind nothing
beats the cheddar from Mull – to serve
tomato chutney, to serve
sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
The eggs can be soft-boiled, coated and chilled for up to a day before deep-frying and serving. Place 4 eggs in a large saucepan of boiling water, then boil the eggs for 5½ minutes for soft yolks. In the meantime, place a large bowl of iced water in the sink. As soon as the eggs are cooked, transfer them to the cold water and leave until they are cool enough to handle. Shell the eggs, being careful not to break them, then set aside. (I always cook a few extra just in case some break.) Place the sausage meat, mixed pheasant and partridge meat, chestnuts, parsley and mustard in to a bowl. Season with salt and pepper and mix well together. Fry a small amount in a well-seasoned pan to taste and adjust the salt and pepper, if necessary. Beat the remaining eggs in a wide shallow bowl. Place the flour and breadcrumbs in separate wide shallow bowls and season the flour with salt and pepper. Divide the game mixture into 4 equal-sized portions. Lightly flour your hands and flatten one portion of the sausage mixture into an oval shape in the palm of one hand. Roll one egg in the flour and place it in the middle of the sausage mixture, then gently shape the mixture around the egg, using your fingers to seal any cracks. Lightly roll the sausage-coated egg in the flour, then shake off any excess flour. Add the egg to the beaten egg and roll it around so it is coated, then, finally, roll it in the breadcrumbs, patting them in place. Repeat this stage twice. Repeat with the remaining 3 eggs. At this point you can cover and chill the eggs if not frying straightaway. When you are ready to fry the eggs, heat enough oil for deep-frying in a deep-fat fryer or heavy-based saucepan until it reaches 160°C, or until a small about of the sausage mixture sizzles or a cube of bread browns in 60 seconds. Add the eggs and deep-fry for 6–7 minutes until they are golden brown. Use a slotted spoon to remove them from the oil and drain well on kitchen paper. Season with salt and pepper. Serve the hot Scotch eggs with cheddar cheese, chutney and a little pepper sprinkled over.
174
TOM KITCHIN’S MEAT & GAME
PHEASANT
175
Recipe from Tom Kitchin’s Meat and Game, photography by Marc Millar
118
JUNK FOOD JAPAN
KUSHIYAKI GRILLING
As you may well see from the photo, it’s all about grilling on sticks. In Japan, it’s far more complicated than my very basic description here. The angle of the skewers and how many are used is dependent on the ingredients, or how they are cut. You have lengthways skewering (tate-gushi), side skewering (yoko-gushi), flat skewering (hiragushi), and the list goes on. I use two long skewers for the meat ones. This simply holds them better: no escaping, meat! Also, always soak your bamboo skewers in water for an hour or so, this way they don’t set alight when you’re grilling.
For the glaze, mix together 1 part soy to 1 part mirin and brush or spray all over your
sticks of goodness. (Fill a spray bottle and use this to spray your skewers as they cook.) Grilling over hot charcoal is essential; kushiyaki grilling really shouldn’t be done any other way.
I want to keep it pretty basic, so here are some examples of the simple preparations that we use, but it is worth having some fun with it, too.
Spicy sausage and spring onions: at the restaurant, we make a very garlicky, spicy pork sausage and skewer it with spring onions.
Corn with spicy shiso ponzu (see page 249): cut the corn into 2cm-thick chunks and glaze with ponzu.
Miso steak and white onions: marinate the steak in den miso (see page 244) for a couple of hours before skewering with onions and grilling.
Boneless confit wings with spicy mayo: cut wings into individual joints and cook at 55°C/130°F in duck fat with kombu and ginger for 12 hours – cool and remove the
bones then skewer and grill, serving with spicy mayo such as umami mayo (page 67) or yuzo kosho mayo (page 251).
All of your ingredients should be given a slathering of the soy-mirin spray whilst grilling.
It’s nice to serve a load of different sauces too: try spicy shiso ponzu (page 249), yellow chilli dressing (page 82), kimchi mayo (page 246 – perfect with spicy sausage), chillimiso-truffle (page 173), spicy miso (page 64), spicy Korean miso (page 249).
BBQ AND FIRE PITS
119
Recipe from Junk Food Japan by Scott Hallsworth, photography by David Loftus
120
Roasted orange-rub pork belly with fennel Barriga de porco assada com laranja Serves 4
I first made this dish when I invited some Portuguese friends to celebrate Christmas with me at my first restaurant
For the marinade 5 garlic cloves, crushed 2 teaspoons sea salt flakes 1 teaspoon ground white pepper 2 teaspoons smoked paprika A small bunch of coriander, leaves and stalks finely chopped 1 long red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped Juice and finely grated zest of 1 orange 4 tablespoons olive oil
in London. As the restaurant was closed, we used the open kitchen to cook in and set up a long table in the middle of the dining room. We ate, drank, opened presents and celebrated into the wee hours of the morning of 25 December – just as in Portugal, where the real party is on Christmas Eve. This may not be a traditional dish, but it is a delicious one: the skin is crisp and the insides are lovely and succulent, flavoured with the unmistakeably Portuguese notes of orange and coriander.
To make the marinade — Using a stick blender or small food processor, blend together all the ingredients for the marinade. With a sharp, pointed knife score the skin of the pork belly all over in a criss-cross pattern. Rub the marinade all over the
For the pork 800g boneless pork belly 1 fennel bulb 2 sweet white onions 40ml dry white wine
belly and leave to marinate for a couple of hours in the fridge, or ideally overnight. To cook the pork — Preheat the oven to 160°C/Fan 140°C/Gas 3. Slice the fennel and onions into roughly equal pieces, put them in a baking tray and put the pork belly on top with its marinade. Pour in the white wine. Roast the pork belly for 2½ hours, or until tender all the way through. Increase the oven temperature to 210°C/Fan 190°C/Gas 6½ and roast for another 10 minutes, or until the skin is crisp. Remove from the oven and leave to rest on a warm plate. Cut into thin slices, making sure everyone gets a piece of the lovely crackling. Serve with the fennel and onions on the side.
Lunch
121
Recipe from Lisboeta by Nuno Mendes, photography by Andrew Montgomery
Roast Topside with all the Trimmings Roast beef on a Sunday is a big favourite in our house. Actually, I mean, it’s the best meal of the week, and everything is important with a Sunday roast, from the beef to the Yorkshires. Roast topside is a great alternative to some of the
more prime cuts. Always keep any leftovers, as they can be made into a great mid-week dish. SERVES 4–6 2kg boneless topside of beef, tied olive oil
8 shallots, peeled and left whole
3 carrots, peeled and chopped into large chunks
3 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole 2 bay leaves
2 celery sticks, cut in half
a handful rosemary sprigs a handful thyme sprigs
3 tablespoons plain flour
300ml full-bodied red wine
750ml Beef Stock (page 278)
seasonal green vegetables, hot, to serve (optional)
sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper For the Yorkshire puddings 115g plain flour
2 large free-range eggs 125ml milk
¾ teaspoon salt
4–6 tablespoons vegetable oil For the horseradish cream 125ml whipping cream
½ teaspoon red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons freshly grated horseradish 1½ teaspoons crème fraîche
finely chopped chives, to garnish
The Yorkshire puddings can bake in the oven while the joint is resting after roasting, but the batter needs to stand for 3–4 hours before baking, so plan ahead. Put the flour in a mixing bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the eggs with half the milk and beat until smooth. Now add the rest of the milk and season with the salt and a good grind of pepper, mixing well. Set aside for 3–4 hours before baking. The horseradish cream can also be made in advance. Whip the cream until it holds firm peaks, then add the wine vinegar and whisk quickly to incorporate. Fold in the horseradish and crème fraîche and season with salt. Cover and chill until required. When you’re ready to cook, season the joint with salt, then set aside for 20 minutes before roasting. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 220°C Fan/240°C/Gas Mark 9. Heat a large heavy-based roasting tray over a high heat on the hob, then add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. When the oil is smoking hot, add the joint and sear it so it is nicely browned all over, then set aside. It might take 8–10 minutes to brown the beef, but it’s important not to skimp on this stage. Add a little more oil to the tray. When it is hot, add the shallots, carrots, garlic, bay leaves, celery, rosemary and thyme, and sauté for 2–3 minutes until the vegetables are beginning to colour and soften. Return the joint to the roasting tray and roast in the oven for 15 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 180˚C Fan/200˚C/Gas Mark 6 and continue roasting for a further 40 minutes for juicy pink meat. To check how the meat is cooked, insert a metal skewer into the thickest part for 30 seconds, then remove and place it to your lip. If the meat is slightly warm, the meat is ready to come out if you like it pink. If it is hot or very hot, the meat will be medium to well done. If it is cold, the joint needs longer in the oven.
Continued on page 16
14
TOM KITCHIN’S MEAT & GAME
BEEF
15
Recipe from Tom Kitchin’s Meat and Game, photography by Marc Millar
When the joint comes out of the oven, transfer it to a large platter with a rim and set aside to rest, covered with kitchen foil, while you make the Yorkshire puddings. Immediately, return the oven temperature up to 220˚C Fan/240˚C/Gas Mark 9 and place a baking sheet inside to heat up. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil into each compartment of a non-stick 6-hole Yorkshire pudding tray. Place the tray on the baking sheet in the oven and heat for 5 minutes, or until the oil is smoking hot. Quickly ladle the batter into the Yorkshire pudding tray to three-quarters fill each mould. Very quickly slide the tray on to the baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, or until the puddings are well puffed and golden brown. Meanwhile, make the gravy. Place the roasting tray you roasted the joint in over a medium heat on the hob and sprinkle the vegetables with flour. Mix well and stir for 1–2 minutes to cook out the flour, then add the red wine, stirring until it evaporates. Slowly add the beef stock, stirring to deglaze the pan and scrape up the tasty sediment from the bottom, then leave the gravy to bubble and thicken nicely. Pass the gravy through a chinois or fine sieve into a saucepan and discard the flavouring ingredients. Tip in any of the juices that have accumulated while the joint is resting, then adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Garnish the horseradish cream with chives. Carve and serve the beef with the Yorkshire puddings, horseradish cream and a seasonal green vegetable or two.
16
TOM KITCHIN’S MEAT & GAME
Recipe from Tom Kitchin’s Meat and Game, photography by Marc Millar
COOKBOOKS Recipes taken from our delicious range of cookbooks Browse online at bloomsbury.com/uk to find the perfect Christmas gifts for your foodie family and friends.
Modern British Food Jess Dunford Wood £20
Tom Kitchin’s Meat and Game £26
On the Side
Junk Food Japan
Lisboeta
Ed Smith £20
Scott Hallsworth £26
Nuno Mendes £26