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Mediterranean Stuffed Lamb Breast – from Gordon Ramsay

Mediterranean Stuffed Lamb Breast – from Gordon Ramsay

Time to get my personal prejudices on the table – I have never enjoyed watching Gordon Ramsay on the television – but I really do like some of his recipes!  There you are – all out in the open!  This recipe is a perfect example!  We have modified it very slightly to cook on the Big Green Egg.  Additionally, as I really don’t think it benefits at all from the addition of chilli flakes, these have been omitted from our cook.  The recipe below includes chilli as on option.  We have included a link to Ramsay’s original recipe and YouTube video (1).

I really love working with these secondary cuts of meat that need to be cooked slowly and in doing so can take on such bold flavours.  In addition they are often relatively inexpensive – this is a real case in point.  The recipe was based round a 750g rolled lamb breast.  It was picked up at our local supermarket reduced from £4.70 to £2.29!! A true bargain – though even at full price it would have been excellent value!

The first thing to do was unroll the piece so that we could add additional flavours to the inside of the joint.  The roll had been made up from 2 separate pieces, again illustrating the versatility of this cut.
It was laid out on a cutting board and seasoned generously with salt on both sides. This was followed by the dried oregano, lemon zest and anchovies.  The ingredients for the dish gave it a very Provençal feel. From our experience chilli is not used to any great extent in Provence and so we omitted the chilli flakes that were suggested in the original recipe.

So time to re-roll the meat.  We used some small elastic poultry bands to hold it together.  These work so well on small cuts of meat like this as well as on poultry!  If you don’t have any to hand, then a conventional butcher’s string tie at each end and one in the middle would be fine.

We did the first part of the cook in one of our handless Tefal pans.  This could be done directly on the BGE or on a conventional hob.  The pan was heated and some olive oil added.  The lamb was then rolled around the pan until it took on some good colours all over. As the outer layer shrinks a little as it cooks, the inside seems to squeeze out of the middle as in the picture.  Don’t worry about this as it will largely correct itself in the second part of the cook.  Whilst the meat browned, the onions were cut into large chunks (as it was going to be a slow cook and we don’t want  them to disappear into the cooking sauce). The meat was set aside, a little more oil was added, and the onion put straight into the same pan to fry with the partially crushed garlic.  The capers were then popped in with the onions and cooked through, followed by a little more lemon zest.  The pan was then deglazed with white wine and a good squeeze of lemon juice.  The final addition was the tinned tomatoes which were gently crushed and stirred into the mix.  The rolled lamb was then placed on top and we were ready to go.

If cooking indoors this needs to be covered with a lid or a foil top to prevent too much liquid loss. It can then be placed in the oven on 170C for 2 – 2.5 hours. We were cooking in the Big Green Egg which had been set up for indirect cooking at around 140C.  Cooking in the EGG this way we usually leave the dish uncovered.  Very occasionally the liquid may need to be topped up a little with some water.

At this temperature I would expect to cook for 3-4 hours until the meat core temperature was between 88-93C.  At this point the meat would be very tender but not quite at the stage you might have for pulled lamb.  It is however perfect for slicing.

After about 3 hours – the lamb was lifted out and the sauce stirred to check on the consistency.  It really didn’t need any more liquid so the lamb was popped back in and left to complete the cook.

When the core was around 90C the meat was removed and allowed to rest prior to carving.   At this point the final consistency of the sauce can be checked.

When ready to serve, carefully remove the bands or butchers string and carve into generous slices.  These can be served directly on the sauce.  We also added some French beans from the garden – well it is a Provençal dish!!

We will be doing it again ……………

………………… do give it a go!!

 

 

References (1) Gordon Ramsay’s Braised Stuffed Lamb’s Breast – https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VaWYE8dvDGk

 

Mediterranean stuffed lamb breast

March 18, 2024
: 2-3
: 30 min
: 4 hr
: 4 hr 30 min
: Reasonably straightforward

Slow braised lamb belly flavoured with anchovies and cooked in a rich Mediterranean sauce

By:

Ingredients
  • 1 lamb breast (around 750g)
  • Salt
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • (1/2 tsp chilli flakes - included in the original recipe but not here)
  • 1 lemon, zested and juiced
  • 15g anchovies
  • Olive oil
  • 2 onions, sliced thickly
  • 3 garlic cloves, smashed but not crushed
  • 1 tbs capers
  • 1 handful black olives
  • 1 glass white wine
  • 1 tin plum tomatoes
Directions
  • Step 1 Unroll the lamb breast and lay it out on a cutting board. Season generously with salt on both sides. On the inside surface add the dried oregano, lemon zest and anchovies. (if you wish to add chilli flakes add these here too), Re-roll the meat and tie or use small elastic poultry bands to hold it together.
  • Step 2 Put a frying pan on your heat source (Kamado or hob). Add some olive oil and roll the lamb around the pan until it takes on some good colours all over.
  • Step 3 Cut the onions into large chunks. She meat aside, add a little more oil and the onion put straight into the same pan to fry with the partially crushed garlic.  Add. the capers and cook through, followed by a little more lemon zest.  
  • Step 4 Deglazed the pan with white wine and a good squeeze of lemon juice.  Add the tinned tomatoes and gently crush and stir into the mix.  Place the rolled lamb on top and we were ready to go.
  • Step 5 If cooking on a Kamado like the BGE set up for indirect cooking at around 140C.  (If cooking indoors this needs to be covered with a lid or a foil top to prevent too much liquid loss. It can then be placed in the oven on 170C for 2 – 2.5 hours.)
  • Step 6 On the BGE, leave the dish uncovered and cook for 3-4 hours until reach a core temp of between 88-93C. After around 3 hours, lift out the lamb, stir the sauce and check on consistency. Add water if necessary. Once the core reaches around 90C remove the meat and allow rest before carving  Check the final consistency of the sauce and modify if necessary.
  • Step 7 When ready to serve, remove the bands or butchers string and carve into generous slices.  Serve directly on the sauce.

 

Rethinking what we eat – Spicy chicken revisited

Rethinking what we eat – Spicy chicken revisited

There can be a real joy in revisiting recipes – and this one is a case in point.  It is a few years since we first cooked this dish but it really is worth coming back to!  You can find the original cook here – or you can jump straight to the recipe below.

Coming back to this particular cook made us realise that our relationship with food has subtly changed over the last few years.  I noticed as (more…)

Pork cheeks braised in sherry

Pork cheeks braised in sherry

A recent raid on our freezer turned up a 1Kg pack of pig cheeks that we had completely forgotten about.  Well time to correct this omission immediately!  I really think that pig cheeks are an overlooked resource so often just turned into pork mince.  They are also often difficult to get hold of, even from small artisan butchers – simply as each pig only has two!  Wanting to do something a little different with them we found an inspiring recipe from Javier De La Hormaza, the owner of Basco Fine Foods.

We were not going to use black Iberian pigs known as Cerdo Ibérico, which I am sure are stunning, but we did follow a very similar recipe modified slightly for cooking on the Big Green Egg.  The initial prep was quite conventional and done indoors on the hob this time before (more…)

Breakfast kippers!

Breakfast kippers!

Kippers are a speciality of the North East of England though other areas of the UK (rightly) claim them as their own regional food too!  A cured gutted herring is split ‘butterfly fashion’ and then cold smoked, usually over oak.  Traditionally eaten in the UK as a breakfast dish – they were also eaten for ‘high tea’ or as a supper dish in Britain largely before WW2.

We are yet to cold smoke our own herrings to make kippers – but one day!  These kippers were smoked at the Galloway Smokehouse in South Western Scotland and were just first class!

A really simple breakfast cook.  We set up our MiniMax BGE for direct cooking for these.  The BGE was left to stabilise at around 180C.  The kippers were popped into one of our handleless Tefal Ingenio pans with a little butter and gently cooked over the direct heat for around 5 minutes until the backbone started to lift.

They could have simply been left for a further minute or so to finish on the BGE – but we had our Gozney Roccbox pizza oven set up next to us.  We simply used it as a salamander to finish them off with some top heat for a minute or so.

Which ever way this is a dish everyone should have a go at!  It cooks so well on the BGE – the other advantage in my case is that it is Wife Friendly in that it doesn’t leave kippers smells around the house all day!

As a beautiful product …………….

……….it   partners well with a little lemon, oregano and some brown bread and butter!

 

Breakfast kippers

August 4, 2023
: 2
: 10 min
: 10 min
: Easy

Freshly smoked Galloway kippers pan grilled fried and then grilled with top heat

By:

Ingredients
  • 2 pairs of kippers (2 fish)
  • Butter
  • Lemon
  • Herbs
Directions
  • Step 1 Set up the BGE for direct cooking.  Stabilise at around 180C. Add the kippers to an handleless Tefal Ingenio pans with a little butter and gently cooked over the direct heat for around 5 minutes until the backbone started to lift.
  • Step 2 Either shut down the BGE and cook for around a further minute or remove and pop under direct heat from a preheated pizza oven used as a salamander for a minute or so.
  • Step 3 Serve with a little lemon, oregano and some brown bread and butter!
Cassarecci with courgette capers and smoked halibut

Cassarecci with courgette capers and smoked halibut

A very quick post!  This dish is based on an original dish by Theo Randall, we modified it to make Fettuchini with courgettes and salmon. That recipe can be found here

We had been cold smoking different white fish and for this dish we used some smoked halibut. It is an absolutly perfect way of using some of the trimmings – For this we used the thin tail sections.  There doesn’t seem to be a large tradition of cooking with smoked fish in Italy. In this dish, the subtlety of the smoked halibut makes it a perfect dish.  We combined it with cassarecci pasta ……………………

……………………..it works so well, do give its a go!

Footnote – this should work well with smoked haddock too!

Cassarecci with courgette capers and smoked halibut

August 1, 2023
: 2
: 10 min
: 15 min
: 25 min
: Straight forward

A perfect blend of smoked halibut, courgette and pasta

By:

Ingredients
  • 150g courgettes/zucchini
  • Olive oil
  • 1 garlic clove finely sliced
  • 100-150g smoked halibut - skin removed and sliced into strips (0.75cm)
  • A few chopped basil leaves
  • 1 tbsp of drained capers
  • Around 150-250g dried Cassarecci
  • Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Directions
  • Step 1 Cut the courgettes into 1cm rounds and then cut into batons – usually three to a disc.  
  • Step 2 Set up the BGE for direct cooking at around 180C.  Heat the olive oil in a handleless pan such as the Tefal Ingenio. Add the sliced garlic and cook for1 minute.  Add the courgettes and cook for around 5 minutes, tossing them a few times until they are a light golden colour.  
  • Step 3 Add the sliced halibut followed by the basil and capers and a little seasoning. Cook for 2-3 minutes then remove the pan from the heat.
  • Step 4 The pasta should be cooked until (quite) ‘al dente’ – probably 1-2 mins less than the stated cooking time. Add the pasta to the courgettes and salmon and place back on the heat so the pasta cooks in the sauce for the last few minutes. Add a little pasta water and evaporate off as necessary to add silkiness to the sauce.  Add more pasta water if the sauce needs to be loosened slightly.  If cooking on the BGE this last stage needs to be done with the lid open.
  • Step 5 Serve on warmed plates
Scottish Bistecca alla Fiorentina

Scottish Bistecca alla Fiorentina

Travelling back from a week away in Scotland we called at a fantastic farm shop.  Kilnford Farm Shop sits on the outskirts of Dumfries, just off the A75.  There was so much we could have chosen, but the 28 day matured T-bone joint seemed to have our name written all over it! In the UK, the T-Bone is also know as a Porterhouse steak but in Italy we would have been thinking Bistecca alla Fiorentina.

Bistecca alla Fiorentina comes from the loin, below the ribcage.  If the cut contains both the sirloin and the fillet then it has been taken from just below the ribs.  As you move closer to the rump the cut just contains the Sirloin.  Outside Tuscany a Bistecca alla Fiorentina normally contains the fillet.  In Tuscany however,  and particularly in Florence you may be offered bistecca nel filetto (with the fillet) or bistecca nella costola (without the fillet) (ref 1).

We asked for a piece around 3cm thick which delivered around 1Kg of the finest Galloway Beef! And our piece was most certainly bistecca nel filetto!

Classically, Bistecca alla Fiorentina comes from the enormous Chianina cattle that have been farmed in the  Chiana Valley in Tuscany for more than 2000 years.  Our beef was reared in Scotland, in Galloway by the owner of the farm shop.  These Belted Galloway cattle are much smaller and really suited to the area in which they are reared.  They are allowed to grow slowly on rough pasture and only receive a limited amount of concentrated cereal feed as they reach maturity to encourage marbling in the meat (2). It is a real privilege to be able to enjoy meat produced in such a low input and environmentally sustainable system here in the UK.

Traditionally, a Bistecca alla Fiorentina is cooked very close to the wood embers from room temperature.  There should be little or no seasoning and it is said that it should only be turned once after 3-5 minutes.  It is then finished standing upright on the bone for between 5-7 minutes.

We have previously cooked our version of Bistecca alla Fiorentina using a reverse sear technique.  This time too we were not completely following the Tuscan tradition to the letter either.  The purpose of cooking closer to the embers is to develop an aromatic crust with the Maillard reaction. We were going to do the same but using our stainless steel plancha.  This encourages an even colour over the whole steak rather than just on the stripped grill marks, as described here. (My personal view is that neat grill marks represents chef vanity rather than cooking excellence!!!! But please feel free to differ!)).

The BGE was set for direct cooking with the Plancha at around 230C dome temperature.  The steak had been warmed to room temperature, dried (to enhance the Maillard reaction) and very lightly salted just before putting onto the heat.  As we were on a plancha rather than using open heat, the sub-dermal fat layer on the edge of the steak was first coloured by direct contact with the hot plancha as in the first picture.  This quickly releases some fat which may ignite.  Be carful not to burn the fat layer.


The flat sides of the steak were then exposed to the heat of the plancha.  Although I tried to resist the temptation to turn the meat more than once, this is much less important when you are not trying to realign  grill marks! We turned this every couple of minutes.

As soon as a good colour has been developed on both sides of the steak the meat was stood vertically on the T-bone itself.  This is said to make sure that any traces of blood (actually myoglobin) have been eliminated from the bone.  In reality though the bone also acts as a thermal shield whilst the rest of the meat roasts for 5-7 mins.  It is worth taking a measure of the core temperature to make sure this is not done for too long.

Traditionally the core of a Bistecca alla Fiorentina is served between blue and rare – and certainly only warm rather than cooked!  Our preference though is to serve it a little warmer and so just rare.

Our core temperature after 5 minutes standing was still only in the high 20s Centigrade.  Whilst the temperature would rise by a few degrees during resting we decided to give it a conventional oven finish.  Our oven of choice here would clearly be the BGE.  Sitting the steak on a bed of Rosemary in a cold handleless pan and putting this back on the BGE would safely allow 5 mins or so more roasting without over cooking.  This was a technique we first came across on a Theo Randall cooking course.

After around 5 mins the core temperature had risen to around 45C and was ready to rest.  It was taken out of the BGE and wrapped in foil and covered with a tea towel to rest and keep warm.  Whilst resting some parboiled potatoes were roasted off in the BGE using the residual heat.

Once fully rested, the meat was a joy to carve.  Carved at right angles to the bone separating the sirloin and the fillet.  This is often just served by itself on a sharing cutting board with some lemon, the fillet and the sirloin surrounding T-bone.

We chose to serve it plated.  Separating the sirloin and the fillet we served with the roasted potatoes and a mix of French beans and semidried tomatoes in oil.

This was a truly fabulous dish using carefully reared and butchered meat from the UK, every bit as good as any we have had in Tuscany.  This beautiful dish was cooked using the principals if not the absolutely identical techniques used for a classical Bistecca alla Fiorentina.  Whether you see this as an homage to the classical Bistecca alla Fiorentina, or as a great way to cook some wonderful Scottish steak really doesn’t matter!  It was a great dish ………………

………………which ever way you see it do give it a go!!

References

1, https://www.theflorentine.net/2016/06/21/exactly-bistecca-alla-fiorentina/

2, https://www.kilnford.co.uk/visit/butchers

Scottish Bistecca alla Fiorentina

July 21, 2023
: 2-3
: 5 min
: Reasonably straightforward

A fine Scottish T bone from a Belted Galloway Heffer given the Bistecca alla Fiorentina treatment

By:

Ingredients
  • A T-bone steak approx 3cm thick (1Kg) Ideally matured for at least 21 days
  • Salt
  • Rosemary
  • Finishing salt
Directions
  • Step 1 Remove the steak from the fridge ideally at least 2 hours before cooking to bring to room temperature. Set up the BGE for plancha cooking either with a dedicated plancha or a cast iron frying pan that will allow the lid to close – allow to stabilise with a dome temp around 230C
  • Step 2 Dry the steak and very lightly salt it. Expose the fatty edge of the steak to the plancha but be carful not to burn the fat layer.
  • Step 3 Turn the steak onto one side and press the steak down to make good contact. Either turn the meat every minute or so until the surface has good colour – or if feeling brave just turn once after 3-5 mins and repeat on the other side. As soon as a good colour has been developed on both sides of the steak stand the steak vertically on the T-bone itself.  Roast in this position for 5-7 mins. If going for a traditional ‘blue’ finish the steak may well be at that stage at this point (check with a thermoprobe)
  • Step 4 If wanting to serve the core rare or medium rare it could be left in this vertical position for longer. Alternatively, as we did here sit the steak on a bed of Rosemary in a cold handleless pan and put this back on the BGE until the core temperature has risen to around 45C
  • Step 5 Remove the steak and wrap in foil then cover with a tea towel to rest and keep warm.  Once rested (at least 10 mins) carve at right angles to the bone separating the sirloin and the fillet.  Serve on a cutting board with some lemon, the fillet and the sirloin surrounding T-bone or plate with vegetables of your choice

 

Crispy Partridge Saltimbocca

Crispy Partridge Saltimbocca

Walking through the garden I suddenly realised that our Sage was growing precociously.  And precocious sage means one thing – Saltimbocca!  What could be better than Saltimbocca?…….. Saltimbocca with extra crispy sage!

Classic Saltimbocca alla Romana is not surprisingly thought of as a Roman dish.  Despite this it was probably  invented in Brescia the home of prosciutto crudo. Saltimbocca alla Romana is made with veal escalope with sage leaves wrapped in prosciutto crudo.  A rough translation of the name is ‘jump in the mouth’ and this dish packs enough punch to do just that.

The recipe here is a variation on this classic Saltimbocca and we have used partridge breast as a substitute for the veal.  As long as you are not a ‘culinary purist’ this works really well; and works even better served with crispy fried sage.

The partridge breasts are a good modest size for this dish but needed to be flattened slightly. They were covered in clingfilm and gently bashed with a rolling pin until less than 1cm thick.  The clingfilm was discarded. A couple of freshly picked sage leaves (stem removed) were placed onto the breast which was then wrapped in 2 pieces of prosciutto.  There was no need to season the breast as the prosciutto acts as the seasoning. Make sure the edges of the prosciutto are neatly tucked out of the way and you are ready to go!

The BGE was set up for direct cooking.  We used our handleless Tefal Ingenio frying pan and heated it over a medium heat (around 140-150C dome temperature). Once the pan was warm we added 1 tbsp butter and a drizzle of oil.  The 2 wrapped escalopes were popped in the pan and fried on each side for about 2 minutes until beautifully coloured.

When cooking the first side we added some more sage leaves and fried them till crispy.  As we were ready to turn over the escalopes the sage leaves were nicely fried, and were carefully lifted onto the cooked side of the escalope whilst the other side was cooked. The meat and accompanying sage leaves were removed to a warm plate and covered with foil to keep warm.

The pan was put back on the heat and the remaining butter was added along with the masala. This was simmered for a minute to produce a lovely simple glossy sauce.

This can be served simply with a salad, polenta or fried potatoes and crusty bread.

On this occasion we added some cauliflower topped with finely shredded sun-dried tomatoes and sautéed asparagus.  The asparagus was simply pan fried in a little oil for a minute or 2.  The dish was finished off with a little fresh lemon ……………..

………………… and those wonderfully crisp sage leaves!

 

Partridge Saltimbocca

July 7, 2023
: 2
: 10 min
: 5 min
: 15 min
: Easy

Partridge breast with sage wrapped in prosciutto

By:

Ingredients
  • 2 Partridge breast
  • Sage leaves
  • 4 slices of prosciutto crudo
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • Olive oil.
  • A glug of Masala
  • 2 Lemon quarters
Directions
  • Step 1 Cover the partridge breasts with clingfilm and gently hammer them with a rolling pin until less than 1cm thick. Discard the clingfilm.
  • Step 2 Place a couple of fresh sage leaves (stem removed) onto each breast. Wrap the breasts in the 2 slices of prosciutto. Tuck in the edges of the prosciutto neatly.
  • Step 3 Set up the BGE for direct cooking at around 140-150C. Allow the pan to heat on the grid. Add a tbsp of butter and a drizzle of oil.  Place the 2 wrapped escalopes in the pan and fry on each side for about 2 minutes until beautifully coloured.  When cooking the first side add some more sage leaves to the pan and fry until crispy. Remove and set aside.
  • Step 4 Turn the meat and cook for a further 2 minutes then remove to a warm plate and cover with foil to keep warm.
  • Step 5 Return the pan to the heat and add the remaining butter along with the masala. Simmer for a minute to produce a lovely simple glossy sauce.
  • Step 6 Serve simply with a salad, polenta, fried potatoes or crusty bread. Finish with a wedge of lemon together with the crisp sage

 

Porcini seasoned pan roasted loin of venison

Porcini seasoned pan roasted loin of venison

We are enormously fortunate in having a good friend whose family has access to venison but doesn’t like it!  We therefore help out when we can!  This week we were given a piece of venison – I suspect from a roe deer.  It was a very strange looking piece of meat which I wished I had photographed. It looked like a very lean meat wrapped in a number of layers of  belly.  A little rummaging suggested it may be loin (still with its silver skin intact.)  This was indeed wrapped in what I think must have been the whole belly.  Now there are a few problems here.  Firstly the belly would benefit from a long slow cook.  The loin in contrast really needs to be served pink.  On top of that before cooking the loin the silver skin needs to be removed.  If it is not removed then it will contract when cooked and leave a very chewy piece of meat.  While it would have probably been possible to do the whole piece as a slow braise/roast it really wouldn’t have done any of it justice.

There was only one thing for it – the filleting knife was made ready.  The 2 loin pieces , what Americans refer to as ‘backstop’ were teased away from the breast meat.  This resulted in 2 loins each with a substantial silver skin attached. This is relatively simple to remove and makes such a difference. Slide the filleting knife between the silverskin and the muscle – and then remove the silver skin in exactly the same way as you would fish skin from a fillet of fish.  Just keep the blade close to the cutting board.  This gave 2 lovely loin joints which just needed a little neatening to finish them. There was then around 500g of belly.  The simplest thing to have done would have been to mince it and use it for sausages or burgers.  This time however we chose to remove some of the more obvious connective tissues and cut it into chunks to make a simple venison ragù (more later).

Each loin yielded 3 x 150g pieces.  So if cooking 2 portions remove a third and save for later. Cooking a single 300g piece is easier to handle in the pan and reduces the waste as the very ends are discarded (chef’s perks) for serving.  It can be worth rolling the loin in clingfilm to make a large sausage shape as this gives a nice even shape for cooking and serving. This can be kept in the fridge until needed

We had found some porcini mushrooms in the autumn and had dried these at home. For us porcini are a rare find on a woodland walk so we had dried and preserved every last bit of them! We had kept the ‘neatening trimmings’ that most people discard separate.  So we took around 1tbsp of this and ground it into a powder with a pestle and morter.  We added the salt we would use for seasoning the loin to the porcini powder. When ready to cook we removed the loin from the fridge. (We tend not to leave it to come to room temperature as we are trying to delay the heating of the core for long enough to colour the outside of the meat).  The loin was dusted with the porcini salt mix and rolled until completely covered (the very ends were ignored as these would not be served).

The seasoned venison was then seared in one of our Tefal Ingenio pans heated directly.  The trick here is to get the pan hot then add a little oil to moderate the temperature.  Once the venison is put in the pan it needs to be left on each side long enough to colour. At which point it needs to be moved around in the pan so that an even browning occurs on all sides.  And we are trying to do this without the heat penetrating too far into the meat.   When the venison was well coloured (core temperature was less than 40C) we set the BGE back to indirect cooking adding a cold platesetter and closed off the vents.  The venison was placed back into the BGE allowing the indirect heat to bring the core temperature up to around 52C.  This only took a few minutes. The venison was then rested whilst the vegetables were finished.

The vegetables were plated and the very ends of the venison loin were removed (chef’s perks) and the 300g loin cut into 4 pieces (2 large and 2 smaller).

Removing the very ends allowed the loin to be served vertically.  This shows the contrast between the core, cooked medium and pink, and the well coloured exterior surfaces.  These were popped into the convenient spaces left for them on the plate. On this occasion we served with charred sticky fennel based on our slow roasted caramelised fennel recipe, sautéed leeks and chard, and pan roasted parsnip.

Finally, we served with a little shallot and redcurrant sauce enriched with the venison cooking juices.  Whatever vegetables you chose to serve the venison with…………

…………….. this is a lovely way to cook this beautiful loin!

 

Porcini seasoned pan roasted loin of venison

June 23, 2023
: 2
: Not too difficult

A 300g piece of venison loin, seasoned with salted porcini powder and pan roasted

By:

Ingredients
  • 300g of prepared venison loin
  • 1tbsp porcini mushroom powder
  • Salt
  • Olive Oil
  • (The gill area of the porcini makes an excellent powder if preparing your own porcini save the gill area for this. Dried porcini can also be blitzed in a spice grinder)
Directions
  • Step 1 If the silver skin has not been removed from the loin already then remove this. It is relatively simple to remove. Slide a filleting knife between the silver skin and the muscle and remove in the same way as you would remove fish skin from fish.  
  • Step 2 Wrap the loin in clingfilm and roll it into a sausage shape. Leave in the fridge until ready to use.
  • Step 3 Grind the porcini to produce around 1tbs of porcini powder. Add 1tsp of salt and dust the loin with the mix on all sides
  • Step 4 Heat the pan on the BGE over direct heat. Once hot add a little oil to moderate the temperature. Add the venison loin to the pan, leave long enough to colour and rotate the loin to give an even colour on all sides. When the venison is well coloured (core temperature will/should be less than 40C) remove from the heat. Add the platesetter to the BGE and close off the vents. Put the venison pan back into the BGE. Allow the indirect heat to bring the core temperature up to around 52C. This only takes a few minutes.
  • Step 5 Remove the venison from the pan and rest for at least 10 minutes before serving.
  • Step 6 To serve, cut off the very ends of the loins then cut into 4 pieces – 2 large and 2 smaller. Plate the pieces vertically to show the pink cores of the loin uppermost. Serve with vegetable of your choice and perhaps a simple shallot and redcurrant sauce enriched with the venison cooking juices.  

Pulled Goat Kid with sticky onions & Pomegranate glaze – Coronation Goat!

Pulled Goat Kid with sticky onions & Pomegranate glaze – Coronation Goat!

We took quite a little time to decide what to cook on the day of the Coronation of King Charles III.   Coronation Chicken entered the catering lexicon 70 years previously at the Coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953.  I suspect that our Coronation Goat may not have quite the same impact on the culinary world!  It did turn out to be a very special and versatile dish though!

This is the 3rd of a series of goat dishes we have published.  We are cooking some wonderful Goat Kid from the lovely people at Moat Goats.  Our first one was – Braised Goat Kid Shoulder and Chickpea Ragù.   The second was for a very inexpensive but beautiful goat ragù.

Today’s cook though utilised a 2Kg shoulder joint which we thought would be perfect for a slow cooked fuss free dish.
We had all sorts of ideas of the flavour profile that might work with the dish.  In the end we went for a lightly spiced dish braised in pomegranate juice and finished with a pomegranate glaze.

We adapted a recipe from the BBC Good Food website for lamb shoulder with a pomegranate glaze.  The basis of the dish was to marinade the meat in a lightly spiced aromatic paste for 24-48 hours, braise the shoulder slowly on a trivot of onions in pomegranate juice,  and finally turn the braising liquid into a sticky glaze.

Making the paste for the marinade was very straightforward.  The garlic, cinnamon, cumin, oregano and lemon (all the lemon minus the pips) in a blender with 1 tsp salt and 2 tsp black pepper. This was blended until smooth.  As we were cooking goat which is much less fatty than lamb we also added 2tbsp of olive oil to the marinade. The paste was massaged into both sides of the shoulder which was then covered with foil and left in the roasting dish for 24 hours (you can leave if for upto 48 hours).  This was left in the fridge until the morning of the cook.

 

So on the day of the Coronation we lit our large Big Green Egg and set it up for indirect cooking at around 120C (the original recipe cooked the lamb at 160C for 4 hours).  When there is an opportunity for long slow cooking it is very much what I would opt for.  It also allowed us to disappear for a big chunk of the day to watch the coronation knowing the meat would be ready for us in the evening! The quartered onions were used as a trivet under the goat and 750mls of pomegranate juice was poured over the top as the cooking started.  We managed to find some pure pomegranate juice (unsweetened) with a little difficulty as most are apparently sweetened with artificial sweetener – these may be OK too!  The original recipe suggested covering with foil which I would definitely do in a conventional oven. We only did here for the second half of the cook after around 4 hours at the stage you can see in the picture on the left.

After a further 4 hours the core temperature of the meat had reached 90C.  It was time to remove the foil and carefully pour the meaty pomegranate juices from the roasting dish. These were added to a saucepan with the honey.  This was allowed to bubble on the hob for around 30 minutes to reduce and thicken the glaze.  Meanwhile the goat was re-covered with the foil and allowed to continue cooking.

Once the pomegranate glaze had reduced and thickened, the foil was removed from the meat and some of the glaze poured over it – spread with a brush. This was done every few minutes until all the glaze was used and the meat was left to cook for a further 30 mins, uncovered, until the glaze is bubbling and just starting to char. The meat and the sticky onion sauce was then removed. The meat was covered with foil and a couple of tea towels and left to rest (we left it for around an hour).

Whilst the goat was resting we mixed most of the pomegranate seeds into the yogurt together with the mint leaves.

The goat was shredded. mixed with the sticky onions and served on a bed of rocket and wild garlic (we should have added the rest of the pomegranate seeds to the meat at this stage but forgot until we were plating!!  The whole dish worked perfectly with the home made flat bread we made as the meat was resting!

We will definitely be coming back to this dish………………..

 

……. do give it a go!

Footnotes:

  1. When we cook lamb for pulling we normally stop cooking at a core temperature of around 90C. With our first experience of cooking goat this way I would be tempted to allow it to cook to between 93-95 if you want it to really shred rather than pull into chunks
  2. The spicing of this dish was lovely and gentle.  I suspect it would easily take a little more, perhaps some sumac and some cardamon without distorting the overall balance

 

Coronation Goat with Pomegranate Glaze

June 16, 2023
: 6-8
: 1 hr
: 9 hr
: 10 hr
: Straightforward

A slow cooked Goat Kid shoulder with sticky onions and a pomegranate glaze

By:

Ingredients
  • 4 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tbsp dried oregano
  • 1 lemon, quartered, pips removed
  • 1.5-2kg bone-in Goat kid shoulder joint
  • 3 red onions, cut into wedges
  • 750ml pomegranate juice
  • 3 tbsp clear honey
  • 250g natural yogurt
  • 100g tub pomegranate seeds, or seeds from 1 fresh pomegranate
  • small handful mint leaves, chopped
Directions
  • Step 1 Add the garlic, cinnamon, cumin, oregano and lemon (all the lemon minus the pips) to a blender with 1 tsp salt, 2 tsp black pepper and 2tbsp olive oil. Blended until smooth. Massage the paste into both sided of the shoulder, cover and leave for 24-48 hours in the fridge
  • Step 2 On the day of the cook set up the Big Green Egg for indirect cooking at around 120C. Quarter the onions and set as a trivet in a roasting dish. Place the shoulder on top. Add the pomegranate juice. Cook uncovered in the EGG for around 4 hours – checking and basting every hour or so. After 4 hours cover with foil and continue cooking for around a further 4 hours until core temp reached above 90C
  • Step 3 Remove the foil and pour the meaty pomegranate juices from the roasting dish. Added to a saucepan with the honey.  Reduce until thick and sticky – for around 30 minutes. Meanwhile re-cover the goat with the foil and allowed to continue cooking.
  • Step 4 Once the pomegranate glaze had reduced and thickened, remove the foil and pour some of the glaze over the meat – spread with a brush. Repeat every few minutes until all the glaze used. Cook for a further 30 mins, uncovered, until the glaze is bubbling and just starting to char.
  • Step 5 Remove from the EGG. Cover the meat with foil and allow to rest for around an hour. Whilst the goat is resting mix most of the pomegranate seeds into the yogurt together with the mint leaves.
  • Step 6 Shred the goat or tear into chunks, mix with the sticky onions and served on a bed of rocket and wild garlic. Add the rest of the pomegranate seeds. Serve with home made flat bread
Roast Venison Topside – Roe Deer

Roast Venison Topside – Roe Deer

We have been fortunate enough to be gifted roe deer haunches on more than one occasion.  We have cooked them as a whole haunch, and we have tunnelled boned out the haunch and roasted them that way. (more…)

Ragù di Osso di Capretto (Kid Goat Bone Ragù)

Ragù di Osso di Capretto (Kid Goat Bone Ragù)

It We need to start with two small confessions.  Firstly, we have not found an authentic Italian recipe for this dish (yet)! And secondly, we have taken longer to name the dish than it did to cook and eat it!!  Lets start with how we came to make the dish and you will get some idea why the naming took some time!!

After a lot of advice from Meg at Moat Goats we bought a half Goat Kid from them in early 2023.  We challenged ourselves to cook each of the pieces that arrived without venturing into any form of curried goat (this time at least).  We have already cooked a (more…)

Venison and Vegetable Bourguignon

Venison and Vegetable Bourguignon

There are no authentic ‘Venison Bourguignon’ recipes in the same way as there are no authentic  ‘Vegetable Bourguignon’.  In food terms Bourguignon is a classic beef dish.  That has not stopped us playing with ideas for a similar tasting, but vegetarian dish.  We first published our original Vegetable Bourguignon in March 2021 and our amendments to the recipe in October 2022.  These are dishes we cook regularly and are also very popular with others on the website.  So when we wanted to try a venison based Bourguignon it seemed the ideal place to start.

We have no intention of ever becoming vegetarian, but we have been reducing our overall meat consumption over the last few years.  We have added a range of vegetarian and plants-centric dishes to our cooking repertoire over the same time.  We refer to some of the dishes on the site as plant-centric because although they are predominantly vegetable based they may not be entirely vegetarian.  For instance they may be based on a meat stock rather than vegetable stock, or may be largely vegetable based, with just a little meat included.  This is the way we decided to go with this Venison Bourguignon. So we have built it on our Vegetable Bourguignon, but included a little venison and pork lardon in the recipe.  We toyed with the idea of calling it Vegetarian Bourguignon with Venison but didn’t want to offend anyone who was vegetarian.

As this dish was only going to use a relatively small proportion of meat we were going to include all the steps we had previously taken to add texture to the vegetarian dish.  We therefore kept  the swede and the celeriac and kept the root vegetable chunks much larger than you might normally.  We also kept our addition of dried wild mushrooms including porcini as these offer a different texture from the fresh mushrooms.   The first change we made though was to use beef stock rather than the porcini stock cubes we had used previously, though they would have still worked well.

The first thing to do before anything else was to soak the dried mushrooms.  Ideally, we now soak them for 2-3 hours before using them.  If that isn’t possible we try to make sure they are soaked for more than the 30mins we used to do it for!

We lit the Big Green Egg and prepared the vegetables as we let it come to a steady temperature of around 180C.  We try and use round shallots for this dish and just peel them and leave whole,  the carrots celeriac and swede were cut into large chunky pieces and the garlic was coarsely chopped.  The button /chestnut mushrooms were left whole if not too large or were halved or quartered.  We had some other fresh woodland mushrooms so these were included too.   Once the EGG was up to temperature we added the fresh mushrooms to a dry sauté pan and began to toast them until they took on a little colour and then finished them in a little olive oil and set them to oneside for later. We did the same with the dehydrated mushrooms and set those aside but kept them separate.  Save the mushroom liquor.

The rest of the vegetables were then added to the sauté pan with some more oil and cooked until they too started to colour but we tried to avoid them softening (unlike in the original recipe). The vegetables were seasoned and transferred to the dutch oven which would be used for most of the rest of the cook.  Before dispensing with the sauté pan the lardon were lightly coloured and set to one side and then the venison was browned off and these left in the warm pan whilst we set the BGE to indirect cooking and we switched to the Dutch oven.

We added the tomato puree to the partially cooked vegetables.  They were then tumbled so that all vegetables were coated with the puree.  This was then left to cook for another 5 minutes or so.  Once at temperature the tomato puree undergoes a Maillard reaction (the same as meat does when roasted) adding to the overall intensity of the tastes. The browned venison was then added followed by
the lardon

Then it was a matter of adding back the venison and the rehydrated mushroom  and the red wine.  Then once the alcohol had been driven off we added the stock, the reserved mushroom liquor, Tamari and thyme.

By this time the steady temperature of the BGE was at around 140C and so the Bourguignon could be left to cook for the next hour.  We could then see how the meat and the vegetables were cooking.  It needs to be long enough for the venison to be soft and tender whilst the vegetables still have a good and reasonably firm texture.  We left it cooking for another 30 minutes, adjusted the seasoning and added the rest of the mushrooms the had been previously set aside.

By this time the sauce had darkened and thickened but we still finished it by thickening with a very small amount of cornflour (about 1tsp).

The Venison Bourguignon was served on this occasion with a baked potato cooked at the same time in the BGE together with some of our spiced red cabbage and some French beans…………..

………………….. but it works well with rice, mashed potato or couscous too!

 

Venison and Vegetable Bourguignon

May 26, 2023
: 8
: 30 min
: 2 hr
: Straightforward

The big tastes you would expect from a Bourguignon - but venison and plant based

By:

Ingredients
  • 300-500g cubed Venison shoulder
  • 50g lardon
  • 4-5 banana shallots - or 12-14 small round shallots
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • Olive oil
  • 500g of carrots
  • 500 g celeriac
  • 200g swede
  • 250g mushrooms (button or chestnut)
  • Any other mushrooms such as shiitake or Oyster
  • Large handful of dried mushrooms (ideally with at least some porcini)
  • 2 sticks of celery
  • 750ml Mushroom or vegetable or beef stock
  • 2-3 tbsp tomato puree
  • 1/3 bottle red wine (Pinot Noir ideal)
  • 1-2 tbsp Tamari
  • 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
  • Salt & pepper to season
  • 1 flat tsp cornflour if necessary
Directions
  • Step 1 Light the BGE and bring to a temperature of 180C whilst preparing the vegetables
  • Step 2 If using banana shallots peel and cut lengthways into quarters.  If using round shallots peel and leave whole.  Finely chop the garlic.  Peel and cut the  carrots, celeriac and swede into chunks. Dice the celery.
  • Step 3 Take the dried mushrooms just covered with cold water and leave for 5-10 mins and then pour away and recover the mushrooms with fresh water.  Rehydrate for around 1-3 hours.
  • Step 4 Prepare the button or chestnut mushrooms.  If they are small keep them whole.  If large, cut into halves or quarters.  Prepare any other mushrooms you have in a similar way.
  • Step 5 When the Egg is up to temperature heat a sauté pan and dry fry the fresh mushrooms until they take on a little colour. Add some oil and continue to sauté conventionally. Set aside to add to the casserole near the end of the cook.  Squeeze the water from the rehydrated dried mushrooms (reserving the water).  Add to the sauté pan and cook until they too take on some colour.  Set these mushrooms to one side.
  • Step 6 Add the rest of the vegetables to the pan with some more oil and cook until they start to colour.  Season with salt and pepper. and transfer to the Dutch Oven
  • Step 7 In the sauté pan fry the lardon and set to one side and then brown off the venison.  Leave in the warm pan and add the platesetter to the BGE and move to indirect cooking. Swap the sauté pan for the Dutch Oven and add the tomato puree. Toss the vegetables until coated in the tomato paste and cook for another 5 minutes or so.
  • Step 8 Add the venison and the lardon together with the rehydrated mushroom  and the red wine.  Then once the alcohol has been driven off add the stock, the reserved mushroom liquor, Tamari and thyme. Test the seasoning, stir and then to leave for at least an hour or more cooking indirectly on the BGE.
  • Step 9 Add the fresh sautéed mushrooms around 20 minutes before the end of the cook. Cook for long enough for the venison to be soft and for the vegetables to soften but to still have texture and enough character to bite through when serving.  If necessary thicken the sauce with one flat teaspoon of cornflour suspended in a little cold water and continue to cook for 10 mins.

 

Braised Goat Kid Shoulder and Chickpea Ragù

Braised Goat Kid Shoulder and Chickpea Ragù

We have been wanting to experiment with goat for some years and have simply never got round to it.  That changed when we came across Moat Goats on a UK cookery programme with the ‘Hairy Bikers’. They are based in Pembrokeshire in Wales and have Boer Goats bred for their meat rather than for milk.  Meg has been really helpful with the ordering and offering advice. Based on that, our first purchase has been a half Goat Kid, the plan being that it has both ‘quick cook’ pieces, such as a rack but also slow cook joints like the shoulder (more later).

Buying a half animal you do get just about everything.  This is great as (more…)

Coda alla vaccinara – Braised Oxtail Ragù

Coda alla vaccinara – Braised Oxtail Ragù

This quintessential Roman dish is a perfect example of Roman food history.  This particular recipe dates from 1887 and is an iconic dish, but one probably few people know about, and certainly very few outside Italy.  In Rome, until late in the 20th century, prestigious cuts of meat were reserved for the rich.  The butchers (vaccinari), slaughter house workers and lower classes of Rome ate the off cuts and the offal.  These were referred to as the ‘quinto quarto’ (the fifth quarter) – see below.  It was the inventiveness of (more…)

Two year update – ‘new’ Big Green Egg Vent Cap

Two year update – ‘new’ Big Green Egg Vent Cap

We had never had the slightest  problem with the original BGE dual function metal regulator cap so I wasn’t immediately excited when the new rEGGulator Vent Cap was announced a few years ago now.  The only real issue I had ever had was occasionally leaving it on the BGE and that could cause a little rust to develop.  The other problem that had been reported was the settings of the regulator changing when the EGG was opened and closed.  Not a problem if you realised it had happened as it was easy to correct, but an issue if it went unnoticed!!

The rEGGulator was designed to address these issues (more…)

Slow Roast Leg of Lamb – from Marcus Wareing

Slow Roast Leg of Lamb – from Marcus Wareing

We have quite a number of successful ways of cooking lamb leg.  Our regular ‘go to’;  Greek lamb and roast potatoes  – is a particular favourite, but this Easter we wanted to try something slightly different.  We had came across a recipe from the delightful Marcus Wareing – from his book ‘Marcus at Home’.  He opens by saying “you really shouldn’t rush the cooking of a whole leg of lamb, and the secret to getting tender meat that’s infused with plenty of flavour is to baste frequently.” Music to my ears!!!

There is nothing revolutionary about this recipe, but it is simple, considered and perfectly balanced.  The final texture and taste of the meat, and the contrast with the sherry infused meat juices is exceptional!  The technique for the slow cooking is as you might expect, around 4hrs – so not ‘low and slow’ but cooked at 150C (the advice in the recipe for a conventional oven was 160C or 140C if with a fan.   So we allowed a good 5 hours so that we were under no pressure when it came to serving.

The Big Green Egg was set up in indirect mode and allowed to come to temperature (150C) and stabilise.  The lamb was sat on a trivet of quartered onions. It was covered in a paste made from rosemary, thyme, garlic, lemon zest, paprika, sea salt and olive oil.  The lamb was put into the BGE and cooked for an initial 45 minutes. After which time the lamb was gently taking on a little colour and releasing juices into the roasting dish.

We poured 250ml of sweet sherry over the meat being careful not to disturb the paste then set it back on its cooking journey for another 3 hours.  Other than basting the meat with the mix of sherry and meat juices every 45 minutes it could just be left to its own devices. (If the mix of sherry and meat juices starts too dry up just add a little water too it to rehydrate it)

After 3 hours and 45 minutes the core temperature of the lamb was at 86C and we were around 90 minutes away from eating.

So the meat was fully cooked but to a core temperature less than one would use if you were cooking pulled meat. We simply closed off the vents on the Egg, and allowed the residual heat to do a little more cooking, and then as it cooled further to act as a warming drawer as the meat was allowed to rest.

When the rest of the meal was ready, the lamb was carved and plated.  Some of the lamb fat/oil was poured off the cooking liquor and the jus was served in a small jug. We could have been very Chefy and passed the jus – but the little fragments of meat, herbs and onion were far too good to discard!!

I have to say the combination of flavours of the jus and the taste and textures of the lamb we’re quite exceptional…………..

  ………….indeed this may have been the best lamb dish I have ever eaten!

 

 

 

 

Footnote: whilst the combination of the gently soft meat and the sherry enriched jus was exceptional when served hot – the lamb, served cold the following day was every bit as good

Attributions: This recipe comes from Marcus Wareing’s “Marcus at Home” ISBN 978-0-000-818447-6.  The only modifications are those undertaken to cook in a Big Green Egg rather than a conventional oven.

Slow roast leg of lamb - Marcus Wareing

April 14, 2023
: 6
: 15 min
: 4 hr
: Straightforward

A beautiful herb and lemon infused roast lamb with a sherry enriched jus

By:

Ingredients
  • 2 Large onions, quartered
  • 1 leg of lamb approx 1.8KG
  • 3 garlic cloves peeled
  • 2 tbsp chopped rosemary
  • 1 tbsp thyme leaves
  • Grated zest of one lemon
  • 2 tsp of sweet paprika
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 250ml sweet sherry
Directions
  • Step 1 Set up the Big Green Egg in indirect mode and allowed to come to temperature (150C) and stabilise.
  • Step 2 Sit the lamb on a trivet of the quartered onions in a casserole or roasting dish.
  • Step 3 Make a paste initially with the garlic and salt and to  this add the rosemary, thyme, lemon zest, paprika, sea salt and olive oil. Cover the lamb evenly with the paste. Place the lamb in the Big Green Egg and cook for 45 minutes
  • Step 4 After 45 minutes gently pour 250ml of sweet sherry over the meat taking care not to disturb the paste. Continue cooking for another 3 hours basting the meat with the mix of sherry and meat juices every 45 minutes.
  • Step 5 After a total of 3 hours and 45 minutes the core temperature should be around 86C (adjust the time accordingly until this temperature is reached). Close off the vents on the Egg, and allow the residual heat to continue cooking and to then keep the meat warm as its rests
  • Step 6 Pour off some of the the lamb fat/oil serve the jus in a small jug then carve the lamb and serve with your choice of vegetables
Beef Shin Ragù with red wine

Beef Shin Ragù with red wine

We are continuing to plan our way through the diversity and breadth of the history of ragù in Italy.  Some time ago we published our first ragù recipe from that master of Italian food;  Theo Randall (you can find that recipe here) – if you have not come across Theo – check him out here.

This dish has a lot of similarities to that recipe of Theo’s in that it is not Bolognese in style (more…)

Braised Lamb Neck and Chickpea Ragù

Braised Lamb Neck and Chickpea Ragù

This dish is based on a dish from Angela Hartnett and Cafe Murano.  The original meal was described as “slowly braised lamb neck served with a light chickpea ragù.  The vegetables from the lamb braising liquor adding to the richness of the base of the ragù”. The original recipe also added smoked paprika and fennel seeds, before simmering with tomatoes and chickpeas.  We did not include those here but I am sure they would work well.

Trying to reproduce something similar, we started  by soaking dried chickpeas overnight the following morning these were slowly simmered until nearly cooked (you could use tinned chickpeas to avoid this step).  The cooking proper started with a small handful of lardon in one of our Tefal Ingenio handless pans.  The lardon were gently cooked to release some of their fat.  To this was added a simple soffritto of onion, carrot, celery and a chopped garlic clove.  A little olive oil was added and the vegetables coloured.

Once well coloured the soffritto was set aside into the casserole that we were using for the majority of the cook.  Back in the first pan, over a medium high heat, we then added the lamb neck fillets which had been generously seasoned with salt and pepper.  These were rotated in the pan until all the surfaces were beautifully coloured.
The lamb was then added to the soffritto in the casserole.  The pan was deglazed with the red wine so as not to waste any of the tastes built up in the Tefal pan.  It was heated until all the alcohol had been boiled off.  The wine was then added to the casserole along with one tin of tomatoes, gently crushed, and a little tomato purée.  Although not absolutly necessary we also added a little concentrated chicken stock at this point.  The Big Green Egg was then reconfigured to an indirect setting and the temperature stabilised at around 140C.  The lamb was slowly braised for around 2 hours until it began to soften.

The meat was removed from the braising liquid and the cooked chickpeas were stirred through the ragù.  This chickpea ragù was brought back to temperature and a sprig of thyme was added together with the lamb.  This was then slowly cooked for a further hour or so.  At this point everything was ready to eat – but we find the taste of these dishes is so much better the following day.  Therefore, the BGE was then shut down and the whole thing was left overnight to cool (night-time temperature 4C).

The following day the ragù was reheated (meat above 70C). There were about 4 portions with perhaps a little ragù left over.

We found that a 360g ragù plus 2 lamb fillets worked well for 2 of us.  The additional ragù was put into a dish and was used later with some Trofie pasta to make a light lunch.

The lamb ragù works well on its own as shown here (which is how it would be eaten in Italy) or with a simple green salad

Do give this a go ……………..

………………….. it is a great dish!

 

Variations: Although not yet tried, I suspect the addiction of fennel seeds and a little smoked paprika would work well as in the original description

 

Braised Lamb Neck and Chickpea Ragù

March 31, 2023
: 4
: 3 hr 30 min
: 3 hr
: Relatively straightforward

A rich braised lamb dish served on a hearty chickpea ragù

By:

Ingredients
  • 4 Lamb neck fillets
  • 100g Lardon
  • 1 onion
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 stick of celery
  • 1 garlic clove, chopped
  • 2 tins Chickpeas (or 200g of dried chickpeas)
  • 1 tin of tomatoes gently crushed
  • 1 tsp tomato purée
  • A little concentrated chicken stock (optional)
  • Olive oil
  • Red wine
  • Salt and pepper
  • Sprig of fresh thyme
  • (optional - smoked paprika and fennel seeds)
Directions
  • Step 1 If using dried chickpeas, soak overnight and the following morning slowly simmer until nearly cooked (If you are using tinned chickpeas you can avoid this step).  
  • Step 2 Add the lardon to the pan and gently cook over medium direct heat to release some of their fat.  Add the soffrito of finely chopped onion, carrot, celery with some olive oil until it takes on a little colour. Add the garlic and cook for a further minute. Once cooked, set aside into a casserole dish.
  • Step 3 In the same pan add the lamb neck fillets seasoned with salt and pepper.  Rotated in the pan until all the surfaces are beautifully coloured.
  • Step 4 Add the lamb to the soffrito in the casserole.  Deglaze the original pan with the red wine and keep on the heat until the alcohol had boiled off.  Add the wine to the casserole along with the tin of tomatoes, gently crushed, and the tomato purée.  If you are going to add chicken stock, do it at his point
  • Step 5 Reconfigure the Big Green Egg to an indirect setting and let the temperature stabilise at around 140C.  Braise the lamb casserole mix for around 2 hours until it begins to soften.
  • Step 6 Remove the meat from the braising liquid. Add and stir through the cooked chickpeas and a large sprig of thyme. Reintroduce the lamb back into the casserole and continue cooking for a further hour or so.  
  • Step 7 At this point the dish is ready to eat, or can be left overnight for the flavours to intensify.  If reheating the following day make sure the meat is heated to above 70C.
  • Step 8 Remove the lamb and serve the ragu onto warm plates. Divide each fillet into 2 and serve 2 pieces of each portion of ragù
  • Step 9 Any left over ragu makes a great dish in its own right or can be served with a short pasta

 

 

Fettuchini with courgettes and salmon

Fettuchini with courgettes and salmon

We have really enjoyed exploring pasta dishes that are some distance away from those based on meat ragù although these will probably always be a bedrock of our Big Green Egg cooking.  This recipe was inspired by a dish of Theo Randall’s that we had cooked previously.  In that dish, sea bass and courgette paired beautifully with Tagliatelle, Basil and Capers.  This summer we have had a real glut of courgettes (zucchini) from the 4 plants we had grown in the garden.  We also had the tail of a nice side of salmon that we had prepared for a different dish earlier in the week.  So a similar but slightly different dish!

In reality, there is no need to cook this dish outside on the Big Green Egg it cooks beautifully on a conventional stove.   But when the sun is shining ……………… why not!!    When we do this we still usually cook the pasta on a hob!   This is a great dish for using the tail end of a side of salmon after using the prime cuts for other dishes.

The courgettes were cute into rounds about 1cm thick and then these were cut into batons – usually three to a disc.  The BGE was set up for direct cooking at around 180C.  The olive oil was heated in one of our Tefal Ingenio pans. (These work so well on the BGE as well as on the Hob as the handles can simply be clipped off as needed). The sliced garlic was added to the oil and was cooked for around 1 minute.  The courgettes were then added and cooked for 5 minutes, tossing them a few times until they were a light golden colour.  The salmon tail had been skinned and cut into strips.

These were added to the pan followed by  the basil and capers and a little seasoning. The fish was cooked through for 2-3 minutes only and the pan was removed from the heat.  If you cook any longer the fish will break up.

This dish calls out for a long pasta that will hold a sauce.  Theo’s original recipe used freshly made tagliatelle – which works really well.  In this occasion we chose to use a good quality dried fettuccini which needed to be cooked for around 8 minutes.  We therefore set the timer for 7 minutes and put it on when we added the fish to the courgettes.

At 7 minutes the fettuccini was still a little undercooked and so this is a perfect time to add it to the courgettes and the salmon and bring the whole pan back to temperature over the heat.  Cooking the pasta in the sauce for he last couple of minutes infuses the sauce flavour into the pasta.  Possibly even more importantly, the pasta and a little pasta water, adds a silkiness to the sauce.  It may be necessary to add a little more pasta water if the sauce needs to be loosened slightly.  If cooking on the BGE this last stage needs to be done with the lid open.


The pasta is ready to serve onto warm plates.  Italians would not usually chose to add Parmesan cheese to this dish and in reality it doesn’t need it!!

……………….do give it a go!

 

 

 

 

Inspired by a recipe for Tagliatelle with Sea Bass, Zucchini, basal and Capers:- by Theo Randall in his book ‘Pasta’ ISBN: 9780091929008

 

Fettuccini with courgettes and salmon

November 14, 2022
: 2
: 10 min
: 15 min
: 25 min
: Straight forward

A perfect blend of salmon, zucchini and pasta

By:

Ingredients
  • 150g courgettes/zucchini
  • Olive oil
  • 1 garlic clove finely sliced
  • 100-150g fresh salmon - skin removed and sliced into strips (0.75cm)
  • A few chopped basil leaves
  • 1 tbsp of drained capers
  • Around 150-250g dried Fettuccini
  • Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Directions
  • Step 1 Cut the courgettes into 1cm rounds and then cut into batons – usually three to a disc.  
  • Step 2 Set up the BGE for direct cooking at around 180C.  Heat the olive oil in a handleless pan such as the Tefal Ingenio. Add the sliced garlic and cook for1 minute.  Add the courgettes and cook for around 5 minutes, tossing them a few times until they are a light golden colour.  
  • Step 3 Add the sliced salmon followed by the basil and capers and a little seasoning. Cook for 2-3 minutes then remove the pan from the heat.
  • Step 4 The pasta should be cooked until (quite) ‘al dente’ – probably 1-2 mins less than the stated cooking time. Add the pasta to the courgettes and salmon and place back on the heat so the pasta cooks in the sauce for the last few minutes. Add a little pasta water and evaporate off as necessary to add silkiness to the sauce.  Add more pasta water if the sauce needs to be loosened slightly.  If cooking on the BGE this last stage needs to be done with the lid open.
  • Step 5 Serve on warmed plates
Vegetable Bourguignon – revisited

Vegetable Bourguignon – revisited

We first published this recipe about 18 months ago – you can find it here.  Since then we have regularly dipped in to this dish.  In so many ways I am always surprised when eating it that there is no meat!!!  It certainly doesn’t feel as though anything is missing!!   I think this is perhaps because of the range of textures we have now managed to include.  The vegetables are left large but of different sizes and shapes – but importantly cut very chunky!   We also use both fresh and dried mushrooms that give quite different textures.  Widening the variety of textures makes it much easier for meat eaters, like us, to enjoy these plant centric dishes without feeling we are missing anything!

So over the last 18 months we have made just a couple of small adjustments.  The recipe below includes all these changes.

The first change was soaking the dried mushrooms for much longer than we used to.  If you can soak them for 2-3 hours that is perfect, but certainly more than the 30 mins that we used to use. This is especially effective in a relatively short ‘slow cook’ such as this one.

The second change we made was adding the sautéed fresh mushrooms towards the end of the cook – perhaps 20 minutes before removing from the heat rather than at the start of the cook.  That helps to keep the textures more varied still.

The third change is only necessary if the sauce is still too fluid towards the end of the cook.  At this stage, mix a flat teaspoon of cornflour with cold water and stir into the sauce.  Cook for another 10 mins or so to make sure the cornflour has done its thickening job.  This very slight thickening just slows the speed at which the sauce flows.  This seems to enhance the taste of the sauce, probably as it “hangs around” in the moths a little longer!

So what is next ……………..

……………… just remove the thyme sprigs from the cook………………and you are ready to go!!

Vegetable Bourguignon - revisited

October 28, 2022
: 6
: 30 min
: 2 hr
: Straightforward

The big tastes you would expect from a Bourguignon - but plant based

By:

Ingredients
  • 4-5 banana shallots - or 12-14 small round shallots
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • Olive oil
  • 500g of carrots
  • 500 g celeriac
  • Some turnip or swede
  • 250g mushrooms (button or chestnut)
  • Any other mushrooms such as shiitake or Oyster
  • Large handful of dried mushrooms (ideally with at least some porcini)
  • 2 sticks of celery
  • 750ml Mushroom or vegetable stock
  • 2-3 tbsp tomato puree
  • 1/3 bottle red wine (Pinot Noir ideal)
  • 1-2 tbsp Tamari
  • 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
  • Salt & pepper to season
  • 1 flat tsp cornflower if necessary
Directions
  • Step 1 Light the BGE and bring to a temperature of 180C whilst preparing the vegetables
  • Step 2 If using banana shallots peel and cut lengthways into quarters.  If using round shallots peel and leave whole.  Finely chop the garlic.  Peel and cut the  carrots, celeriac and turnip into chunks. Dice the celery.
  • Step 3 Take the dried mushrooms just covered with cold water and leave for 5-10 mins and then pour away and recover the mushrooms with fresh water.  Rehydrate for around 1-3 hours.
  • Step 4 Prepare the button or chestnut mushrooms.  If they are small keep them whole.  If large, cut into halves or quarters.  Prepare any other mushrooms you have in a similar way.
  • Step 5 When the Egg is up to temperature heat a sauté pan and dry fry the fresh mushrooms until they take on a little colour. Add some oil and continue to sauté conventionally. Set aside to add to the casserole near the end of the cook.  Squeeze the water from the rehydrated dried mushrooms (reserving the water).  Add to the sauté pan and cook until they too take on some colour.  Set these mushrooms to one side.
  • Step 6 Add the rest of the vegetables to the pan with some more oil and cook until they start to colour.  Season with salt and pepper.  
  • Step 7 Add the platesetter and move to indirect cooking. Swap the sauté pan for the Dutch Oven and add the partially cooked vegetable and the tomato puree. Toss the vegetables until coated in the tomato paste and cook for another 5 minutes or so.
  • Step 8 Reintroduce just the rehydrated mushrooms and add the red wine.  Cook for 5 minutes to drive off the alcohol then add the stock, the reserved mushroom liquor, Tamari and the thyme.  Test the seasoning, stir and then to leave for at least an hour or more cooking indirectly on the BGE.
  • Step 9 Add the fresh sautéed mushrooms around 20 minutes before the end of tithe cook. Cook for long enough for the vegetables to soften but to still have texture and enough character to bite through when serving.  If necessary thicken the sauce with one flat teaspoon of cornflour suspended in a little cold water and continue to cook for 10 mins.
  • Step 10 Serve with spiced red cabbage, baked pumpkin, a baked potato, rice, mashed potato or couscous.
Grab that seasonal veg!

Grab that seasonal veg!

As much as anything this is a ‘reminder to self’!  There are so many wonderful vegetables available in the middle of summer that with or without a recipe we should grab and use them.  Here is a perfect example of that – we had a few extra tomatoes and French beans from the garden.  We had also bought a few more peppers than normal as they had been on offer so they were abundant too.  So this ‘Grab some Veg’ dish (more…)

Sicilian lamb and mushroom ragù: with a twist

Sicilian lamb and mushroom ragù: with a twist

The more we look at some of the worlds great foods the more we are finding that so many have been born out of poverty, food shortage and simply the need to survive the perils of winter, looking forward to a new spring.  So we have the Andouillettes of France, the tripes and the offal dishes of Rome and the glories of cured pork culminating in perhaps the best known prosciutto di Parma – but there are so many more!!

We are living in a very uncertain world.  Global warming, a pandemic, and now a superpower leader waging a brutal war in Europe.  All this has made us reflect, step back, and take a breath.  It is easy to feel powerless in these circumstances and in some ways we are.  Equally though we can all do something!  Doing something positive is good for each of us.  We have been looking harder at reducing food waste and also looking to be inspired by some of these ‘less sought after’ food elements.  On reflection I think we should be exploring these foods so much more!

We recently published a great recipe for Italian Lamb Kidney with Anchovy and Lemon .   In this same vein this recipe is based on a Sicilian lamb ragù which we had first from those rather nice people at ‘Pasta Evangelists’ based in London.  They are a generous company and shared the recipe for the ragù in their excellent cook book.  We have taken a slight sideways step from this recipe in that we used lamb heart rather than lamb shoulder for the dish.  We felt this was very much in the spirit of using items from what is referred to in Roman cuisine as the “quint quarto” or the “fifth quarter”.  The “quint quarto” comprise the ‘less noble’ parts of the animal often referred to as the offal.

Before we go any further – this dish is fabulous made using lamb shoulder.  If you are open to some new ideas – it is every bit as good, though slightly different using lamb’s heart as in this recipe.  If you are not happy with the idea of using heart (at a fraction of the price) then use shoulder!
You will be pleased that you have – it is a great dish – but with lamb’s heart it is also fabulous!

This recipe used 2 lamb hearts which cost just over £1.50 in the UK 2022.  The major vessels were chopped off, the top and the heart muscle sliced lengthways to reveal the heart valves which were also removed. The meat is incredibly lean as you can see from the picture on the right .  The muscle was then chopped into 1cm cubes and browned in a hot frying  pan over direct heat with a little olive oil.  The chopped mushrooms were added to the pan and fried off for a couple of minutes more.  These were then put to one side.

In the same pan the onion was added and cooked till it started to become translucent.  Stir in the garlic and continue cooking. After one minute the carrot and celery was then added and the sofrito cooked until it took on a little colour.  If the mixture becomes a little dry add a splash of the stock.

Add the red wine and deglaze the pan.  Allow the alcohol to boil off then add the stock and the tomatoes and simmer over medium direct heat for 10 minutes or so.   At this point we transferred this mix to a small casserole dish and added back the meat and the mushrooms. The final addition was the sugar, mint, rosemary bay and thyme. The Big Green Egg was then set up for indirect cooking and the casserole was left without a lid to cook for around 2-2.5 hrs at 120-30C.  Initially the sauce will look very wet and a little incipid but over the period of the slow cooking it will become thicker, darker and richer.  Ultimately finishing with a super rich sauce which sticks beautifully to the pasta.  As this is not truly a regional dish we played with some different pasta types.  It went well with pappardelle, our usual Tuscan standby as you can see above.  It would work well with rigatoni reflecting the dishes Sicilian origin – but we finally settled on casarecce – again Sicilian in origin and a perfect pairing for the lovely dish.

Which ever way you chose to serve it, a little pangrattato adds a lovely additional texture……………….

………………………do give it a go soon!!

 

 

Sicilian lamb and mushroom ragù: with a twist

July 14, 2022
: 4-6
: 20 min
: Straight forward

A hearty lamb ragù in every sense of the word

By:

Ingredients
  • 2 lamb hearts
  • 100g chopped mushrooms
  • 1 small onion
  • 1 finally chopped/minced garlic clove
  • 1 large carrot finely diced
  • 1 stick celery finely diced
  • 50ml red wine
  • 250-500 ml lamb stock
  • 800g good quality tinned tomatoes
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp of chopped mint leaves
  • 1 sprig fresh rosemary
  • 1 Bay leaf
  • 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
  • Salt and pepper
  • Pasta
  • Parmesan/pangrattato
Directions
  • Step 1 Remove the major vessels from the hearts, slice open the hearts and cut into 1cm cubes – discard valves. Brown in a hot frying-an over direct heat with a little olive oil.  Chop the mushrooms roughly and add to the pan and fry off for a couple of minutes more.  Put both to one side.
  • Step 2 In the same pan add the onions and cook till it started to become translucent.  Stir in the garlic and continue cooking. After one minute add the carrot and the celery cook until it takes on a little colour.  If the mixture becomes dry add a splash of the stock.
  • Step 3 Add the red wine and deglaze the pan.  Allow the alcohol to boil off then add the stock and the tomatoes and simmer over medium direct heat for 10 minutes or so.   Transfer to a small casserole dish and add back the meat and the mushrooms. Add the sugar, mint, rosemary bay and thyme.
  • Step 4 Set up the Big Green Egg for indirect cooking and cook the casserole without a lid to cook for around 2-2.5 hrs at 120-30C.  Initially the sauce will look wet and insipid but over the period of the slow cooking it will become thicker, darker and richer.  Ultimately finishing with a super rich sauce which sticks beautifully to the pasta.  
  • Step 5 Serve with pasta of your choice – I would suggest one of the short pastas and a little parmesan or pangrattato

New Award 2022 – Best Outdoor Cooking Advisory Resource

New Award 2022 – Best Outdoor Cooking Advisory Resource

We are absolutely delighted to discover that we have just received the “Best Outdoor Cooking Advisory Resource 2022″ award from LuxLifeMagazine in their 2022 Restaurant and Bar Awards.  This comes ‘hot on the back’ of our award last year for the “Cooking Blog of the Year – UK  2021” award by LuxLife Magazine in their 2021 Restaurant and Bar Awards.

It is wonderful to think that “Smoked Fine Food” has been nominated for these awards, especially as it has been our readers who have done this………. being nominated 2 years on the run is very special – winning 2 years on the run feels quite exceptional!

Our website has gone from strength to strength especially as more and more  people have changed how they operate in the last 2 years!  The site started simply as a place for us to keep some working notes on recipes in development and two record recipes once we were happy with them.  It seems that this approach has proved to be extremely popular perhaps as it is a different approach from other sites.  We are delighted to have found that so many people seem to find it valuable.  We are getting thousands and thousands of visitors – and whilst we expected this to fall as the world slowly seems to be coming out of a pandemic, as yet we seem too be getting as many visitors  and requests for advice.

Hopefully, at least in richer nations, we have passed the worse of the pandemic.  Time will tell, but we do hope so.  The last 2 years has involved us all changing our lifestyles to protect others.  One of the unexpected bonuses that has come out of this is that so many people have found a fresh joy in preparing and trying new foods. Outdoor cooking has been such a big part of this and if we have done a little to help in that area we are delighted.  We continue to cook outside all year round – embracing the British weather!! Plant-based cooking is also figuring more in our diet, and as we get our head round things that work well, will appear more on the website too.

We hope you enjoy your own cooking journeys in the rest of 2022.  Great food does not have to be complicated so share those cooking pleasures whenever you can.  Please do feel free to get in touch through the website or directly by email or social media if we can be of any help with advice or simply sharing our own experiences.

All that is left to do then is to thank you, our readers, for the nomination for this 2022 award and also to thank you for all the support we have received that has got us to  this point!

……………… enjoy your cooking and do share your successes!!

Best wishes

Mark and Jackie

Link to the 2021 Award on the LuxLife Website here

Link to the 2022 Award on the LuxLife Website here

Stop Press: New Award! ……..2 years on the Run!

Stop Press: New Award! ……..2 years on the Run!

And for the second year running ………………!  We have just learned that we have been recognised by LUXlife in their “Restaurant and Bar Awards 2022” – the award is for the support we offer to others and particularly the excellence of our on-line contribution in terms of recipes and cooking techniques on this “Smoked Fine Food” website ……… more details to follow!!

 

Chicken/Turkey, chestnut, leek and pasta ‘al forno’

Chicken/Turkey, chestnut, leek and pasta ‘al forno’

We have had fantastic fun this year cooking new dishes with some great products.  We have also spent a lot of time trying to reduce our food waste by making sure that we have some plans (at least some idea) what we might do with any left overs from a cook.  Taking this one stage further we have used one of the food ideas that the Italians are famed for.  They often simply cook some extra food to make sure they have leftovers to use for another dish.  They call these ‘Avanzi’ – which although it translates as ‘leftover’ sounds so much more affirmative!!

Here is the perfect example of a dish which you can really only make with ‘Avanzi’ – in this case cooked turkey breast (though chicken or other white meats would work just as well) with chestnuts.  They just require the planning to make sure plenty is cooking in advance to make sure there is enough ready for this second dish!

This particular recipe is a reworking of a Jamie Oliver recipe for leftover leek and turkey pie.  We have kept the leek and turkey elements but substituted pasta and a sumptuous crispy cheesy topping for the pastry.  This therefore gives you a silky rich leek sauce with generous chunks of turkey and chestnuts with go to form the basis of a ‘pasta bake’.  Rather than doing the pasta in layers as in a lasagna, it is just stirred through the sauce before topping the dish off with cheese and breadcrumbs.  Other than cooking the pasta (which is best done on a conventional hob) this dish can be cooked in the BGE or a domestic oven.  I favour the BGE for the hint of smoke it offers the dish.  The BGE also retains the moisture so much more than a domestic oven which I think works well for this dish.

The first thing to do was to cook and chill around 130g of pasta, the recipe works well with penne or fusilli, but any short pasta will work.  The pasta is cooked ‘al dente’ then chilled as the final part of the cooking will occur in the sauce.

Traditionally the leek sauce would be started off by frying some pancetta/lardons in a pan and then adding the leeks.  In the spirit of ‘Avanzi’ we used some sausage meat we had in the fridge after making stuffing balls to have with the turkey the day before – but equally some of those stuffing balls broken up would have done just as well.  The first stage was cooked over direct heat.  Once in the pan and coloured, 500g of chopped leeks were added with some thyme leaves (fresh or dried will work) and some olive oil. These were sautéed at a medium heat for a few minutes.  The heat was then turned down by adding the platesetter and converting to indirect cooking.  The leek mix was seasoned and covered to cook for around 30 minutes.  We checked and stirred the dish every  5-10 mins to make sure nothing was sticking or taking on too much colour.

This whole process reduces the bulk of the leeks by about two thirds.  At this point we added the turkey torn into chunks, and some cooked chestnuts left over from the roast turkey dish the night before (fresh vac-pac chestnuts would be fine too if you have no left overs).  As the turkey and chestnuts were warmed through in the sauté pan, a tablespoon of cornflour was stirred into some cold turkey stock. (This was made from the bones of the turkey on this occasion but a stock cube or a ‘stock pot’ would work).  The stock/cornflour mix was then stirred into the pan and was kept gently moving until it began to thicken at which point the nearly cooked chilled pasta was added to the mix.
It is important to make sure it is all well covered in the sauce.  You may need to add a little more stock if there is not enough sauce to go round all the pasta.  Everything should be coated coated with the sauce, but it is just as important that everything it is not immersed by the sauce!

And now the work is nearly done!  The temperature of the BGE was brought up to around 170C.  The mix was put into an ovenproof roasting dish. Some breadcrumbs were added, followed immediately by the torn or sliced mozzarella.  Then for a crispy top, more breadcrumbs and the parmesan.
Finishing took around 30mins until the core temp came to around 85-90C and the top was nicely coloured.  Sometimes getting a nicely coloured top in the EGG  is a little difficult.  If this is the case don’t despair!  Two minutes under a domestic grill (or in a pizza oven if you have one to hand) will sort that out very easily!!

Allow to cool for 10 mins ……………..

……………perfect with a fresh salad!!

 

Chicken, chestnut, leek, and pasta 'al forno'

April 6, 2022
: 2

By:

Ingredients
  • 130g pasta eg penne or fusilli
  • Pancetta or sausage meat - around 50-150g
  • 500g of chopped leeks
  • Thyme leaves (fresh or dried will work)
  • Olive oil
  • Cooked chestnuts 100-150g (or what ever you have to hand
  • 1 tsp cornflour
  • Chicken/turkey stock 150-300ml
  • Some chopped cooked chicken or turkey meat (a couple of handfuls 150-175g)
  • Breadcrumbs
  • 100-125g torn or sliced mozzarella
  • Parmesan for top
  • Thyme
  • Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
  • Step 1 Cook then immediatly chill in cold water around 130g of pasta.  The pasta should be cooked ‘al dente’. The final part of the cooking will occur in the sauce.
  • Step 2 Fry off the panceta/lardons or sausage meat in a pan.  This should be done over direct heat – a shallow casserole or the Tefal Ingenio sauté pans work really well as you can keep the lid closed except when stiring.  Once in the pan and coloured, add 500g of chopped leeks with some thyme leaves and some olive oil. Sauté at a medium heat for a few minutes.  Add the platesetter to convert to indirect heat and drop the temperature (to around 120C). Season and cook for around 30 minutes.  We checked and stirred the dish every  5-10 mins to make sure nothing was sticking or taking on too much colour. If colouring reduce the temp a little more and cover with aluminium foil.
  • Step 3 Once the bulk of the leeks is reduced to around 2/3rds add the
  • Step 4 chicken/turkey, torn into chunks and the cooked chestnuts and warm through in the sauté pan.
  • Step 5 Add a tablespoon of cornflour to some of the cold stock. then stir into the pan until it begins to thicken
  • Step 6 At this point add the chilled pasta and stir  into the mix. Make sure the pasta is well covered in the sauce.  If necessary add a little more stock.  It is important that everything is coated with the sauce, but not immersed by it.
  • Step 7 Bring the BGE up to around 170C.  Add the mix to an ovenproof roasting dish. Sprinkle the surface with some breadcrumbs, followed immediately by the mozzarella.  For a crispy top, add more breadcrumbs and the parmesan.
  • Step 8 Finish by baking in the EGG for around 30mins until the core temp is in the region of 85-90C and the top nicely coloured.  Sometimes getting a nicely coloured top in the EGG  is a little difficult.  If this is the case finish under a domestic grill (or in a pizza oven) – don’t let the top burn!
  • Step 9 Allow to cool for 10 mins and serve
Slow cooked crispy crackling belly pork & other friends!

Slow cooked crispy crackling belly pork & other friends!

The first thing we bought from our local butcher after the first batch of pandemic ‘lockdowns’ was a good piece of belly pork.  This is something we have never really managed to find in our supermarket deliveries as they are just too thin and lean!  True ‘low and slow’ recipes render out so much of that wonderful pork fat out of the pork.  It does leave enough thought to give fantastic taste and texture that only fat layers can provide.

For this cook we went to our ‘go to’ pork belly recipe here.  If going to cook and eat on the same day then just follow the recipe on the link.  For this cook though the cook was going to be in two phases.  The first a standard slow cook on the EGG.  Before the second phase, the finishing and production of a lovely crispy crackling we planned to portion up the pork, vacuum pack, and freeze until needed.  Finishing was done portion by portion when needed.  The steps are exactly the same but with a pause between the first and second part of the cook.  We were cooking a 1.6Kg piece which should yield 8 portions of deliciously rich pork.

Rather than give all the cooking details that are there in the link – here is a brief summary.  Our recipe has grown out of Nic William’s recipe for belly pork.  The dry skin was scored and rubbed with Maldon salt.  It was then massaged with olive oil and more salt added.  The Big Green Egg was set up for indirect cooking at 120-30C with the platesetter in the feet up position.   We used the expander system so the pork could sit on the top layer and drip quietly into a roasting pan on the second layer away from the hot platesetter. For the first hour the meat was placed with the skin up and then the pork was turned over with the skin down for the rest of the slow cook.  It would take around 6-8 hours for the pork to reach an internal temperature of  90+C.  We took the belly pork off at this stage.

Once removed from the BGE the piece was allowed to cool in the fridge overnight and was portioned and vacuums packed in the morning.  At this stage the fat in the skin has been rendered but is anything but crispy!!

To finish off the pork – defrost the number of portions required and place on a roasting tray in a domestic fan oven at around 200C.   Once the meat is back up to a suitable core temp (above 70C) add some top grill heat to your oven.  This crisps the skin very quickly – so don’t let it burn (yes we have learnt the hard way!).

There are so many ways to serve this delicious piece of meat.  On this occasion we served with baked potatoes cooked on the Big Green Egg using Nic Williams excellent recipe.   The other star in this dish was our spiced red cabbage.  The spicing and the residual balsamic recipe off sets the richness of the pork perfectly.  It works with so many other dishes too – and the recipe can be found here.

Do give these dishes a go at some point …………….

………….. they are worth coming back to!!

Below is a copy of the linked recipe for crispy pork belly

Crispy Succulent Belly Pork

March 25, 2022
: 6-8
: Straightforward

Slow cooked belly pork with crispy crackling

By:

Ingredients
  • A good slab of belly pork - if the bones are still in, leave till after the cook
  • Salt
  • Olive oil
Directions
  • Step 1 Leave the pork uncovered in a fridge for 12 hours or overnight.
  • Step 2 Score the skin well and rub in salt. Wipe the whole piece of meat with olive oil and if necessary add some more salt
  • Step 3 Set up the Big Green Egg for indirect cooking at 130C with the platesetter in the feet up position.   If using the expander system put the pork on the top grid and a roasting dish too catch the fat on the second grid – separated from the platesetter.  If you have a standard set up add some crumpled aluminium on the platesetter and put a drip tray onto this to collect the released fat. Put the grill into position over the drip pan.
  • Step 4 Place the pork skin side up for the first hour and then turn it skin side down for the rest of the cook. Once the core temperature reached 90+C remove from the EGG (and turn up the EGG to around 220C if serving immediately.
  • Step 5 Portion the pork (removing the bones which will simply slide out) and put back in the Egg to crisp the skin.
  • Step 6 If you are finishing the pork later (as here) hen crisp the skin on the pork in a domestic oven at 200C and when back up to temperature add some top heat from a grill until the skin takes on that lovely crackling appearance. This crisps the skin very quickly – so don’t let it burn
  • Step 7 rest for at least 10 mins to allow the skin to fully crisp and serve with your favourite accompaniment
Italian lambs’ kidneys with anchovy and lemon

Italian lambs’ kidneys with anchovy and lemon

The is definitely a dish that is not for everyone – but if you like lambs’ kidneys it is definitely one you should try!  There is very little to it in terms of effort and in all honesty it cooks just as well in a domestic kitchen as it would on a Big Green Egg.

Rome is the home of most of the Italian kidney recipes.  This one however is based on a recipe from Anna del Conte from the Emilia region of Italy

It is a really simple dish that will cook equally well on the BGE or on a domestic hob.  On the BGE we use one of the handleless sauté pans from Tefal.  This was brought up to temperature and some olive oil added.  The cleaned and dried kidneys were sautéed in the olive oil until they just changed colour.  This is a good time to close the vents on the BGE as this stage just takes a minute or so and care is needed so as not to over cook and make them tough!

A paste of butter, anchovy and flour was then added to the pan and this was stirred through the mix for around a minute.  The pan was removed from the heat, seasoning adjusted and some lemon juice and chopped parsley was added.

Once stirred through the dish is ready to serve!             ………………………….. Delicious!

Lambs' Kidneys with anchovy and lemon

February 14, 2022
: 2
: 10 min
: 5 min
: 15 min
: Easy

Quickly sautéed lambs' kidneys with butter, anchovy and lemon sauce

By:

Ingredients
  • 4 lamb kidneys
  • 1 tbsp wine vinegar
  • 20g unsalted buttter
  • 2-4 bottled/canned anchovy fillets
  • Olive oil
  • 1 tbsp flour
  • 1 chopped clove garlic
  • Salt and pepper
  • Freshly chopped parsley
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
Directions
  • Step 1 Split the kidneys in half lengthways. Discard the cores and then cut each half kidney into 2 pieces (this step can be omitted if you prefer your kidneys larger).  Wash and add to a bowl of cold water with 1 tbsp of wine vinegar – leave for 30 mins.
  • Step 2 If cooking on the BGE set for direct cooking on a medium heat (around 160C)
  • Step 3 Whilst the kidneys are soaking, finely chop the anchovies and cream into the butter, softened if necessary. Add and mix in 1 tsp of flour. Set to one side.
  • Step 4 Heat some olive oil in a suitable sauté pan on the BGE (you need to be able to close the lid or it will all get too hot). Close down the vents and add the kidneys and sauté for a minute or so until they begin to change colour. Do not over cook.
  • Step 5 Stir in the butter and anchovy mixture and stir for a minute or so – if necessary (if BGE is too hot) remove from the heat to do this.
  • Step 6 Once off the heat, check the seasoning and adjust as necessary. Add the chopped parsley and lemon juice and stir through the mix. You are ready to serve!
  • Step 7 Serve on some toasted or fried bread – perhaps with a small salad
Aubergine and gnocchi puttanesca bake

Aubergine and gnocchi puttanesca bake

Having played with our Aubergine/Gnocchi and Parmigiana bake we have also played with a number of variations over the last year or so.  One of the best has moved it a little closer to a puttanesca sauce with anchovies, capers and olives, and for us at least, only a little chilli!

The preparation of the dish is exactly the same as for the Aubergine/Gnocchi Parmigiana bake.  Firstly the aubergine was cut into decent size chunks.  We were short of aubergine and so added a little courgette which works well too.  These were then sautéed in a little oil until each side had taken on some colour.  (We often choose to include the peppers in this dish and if so add them at this point.  The dish does work well without then too).  Set these to one side.

We added some finely chopped onion to the pan to soften in a little olive oil.  Once it had started to take on some colour the chopped garlic was added and cooked a little more.  If you are using fresh or dried chilli, then add it at this stage and stir through the mix.

A can of chopped tomatoes was added and warmed through and then the pan was taken off the heat and the anchovies stirred in.  As it is stirred through the anchovies completely break up and thickens the sauce. The pan was put back on the heat and some black olives and capers were tossed in and allowed to cook through for a couple of minutes.  This is a good time to test and adjust the sauce base as necessary.

Now to build the dish.  The roasted aubergines, (the peppers if including them) and the gnocchi were added to the sauce and left to bubble for 10-15 mins.  The sauce was stirred occasionally in the first 5 mins to make sure everything was thoroughly mixed.  Normally, at this stage, this would be the time to transfer to an ovenproof dish.  As we were already cooking in the Tefal Ingenio pans with the removable handles, this was going to be our ovenproof dish.

Once the gnocchi were starting to soften and the sauce had thickened we stirred through some fresh oregano and thyme and then scattered the torn chunks of mozzarella on the top.  We usually add a little grated parmesan cheese on top of the mozzarella.  It adds a contrasting texture and colour as well as a little more crunch to the topping.

We have cooked this inside on the hob and on the Big Green Egg, both work well.  This was being cooked on the Egg and so the vents were closed and the cheese allowed to melt for a minute or two.

Whether cooking in a domestic kitchen or on the Big Green Egg the dish often needs to be finished under a domestic grill as a ‘crozzled top’ is the one thing the BGE doesn’t do well unless the EGG diameter is a lot greater than that of your pan.

The dish can be put under the grill in the kitchen to finish off the top – but more recently we have been finishing these off in our Gozney Pizza oven.  Either way just watch that it doesn’t burn!!!

This is a dish that always tastes better if you let it cool for at least 15 minutes after cooking.  So ………

Just take a drink ……. make a green salad………….

………………… give it a go!

Aubergine and gnocchi puttanesca bake

February 2, 2022
: 2
: 15 min
: 45 min
: 1 hr
: Easy

A combination of roasted Aubergines, puttanesca sauce and gnocchi - a perfect and simple bake

By:

Ingredients
  • 1 Aubergine cut into decent size chunks.
  • Olive oil for sautéing
  • 1 Red pepper, deseeded and chopped - optional
  • 1 Onion, finely chopped
  • 1 Garlic clove chopped
  • 400g tin of tomatoes
  • Salt and pepper.
  • 250g gnocchi
  • Handfull of pitted black olives
  • Capers 2Tbs
  • Salted Anchovy fillets 5-6
  • A little finely chopped fresh chilli or a few chilli flakes
  • Fresh or dried oregano and thyme
  • 125g mozzarella
  • Grated parmesan (optional)
Directions
  • Step 1 Cut the aubergine into chunks, around 3 cm in most directions. Sauté in a little oil until each side had taken on some colour. Add the chopped peppers if using them and cook for a few minutes more.  Set both the peppers and aubergine to one side.
  • Step 2 Add the finely chopped onion to the pan and soften in a little olive oil.  Once it takes on some colour add the chopped garlic, the chilli,  and cook for a few minutes more.  
  • Step 3 Add the tinned tomatoes and allow to cook through for a couple of minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the anchovy fillets until they break up and thicken the sauce
  • Step 4 Put the pan back on the heat and add the capers and black olives. Season with salt and pepper.  
  • Step 5 Add the roasted aubergines, pepper and the gnocchi and leave the sauce to bubble for 10-15 mins, stirring occasionally. The gnocchi will soften and the the sauce thicken.  
  • Step 6 Transfer to an ovenproof dish, stir through some fresh oregano and thyme and then scatter  torn chunks of mozzarella on the top.  At this point you can also add a little grated parmesan cheese.
  • Step 7 Allow to continue cooking till the cheese melts and starts to colour. If needed transfer to a domestic grill for a couple of minutes to finish off the top – just watch that it doesn’t burn!!!
  • Step 8 Let the dish cool for at least 15 minutes after cooking. Serve with a green salad
Meat-less – altering the meat vegetable ratio!

Meat-less – altering the meat vegetable ratio!

In our last post we said we were trying to support regenerative food production where ever possible.  So we are not going without meat for January – no ‘Veganuary” for us! Our plan is to continue to eat less (but better) meat but all year round!   We have been playing with the idea of just using a little meat to provide more complex flavour and texture profiles than we can find we can get when cooking purely vegetarian food.


We have used the term ‘plants-centric’ to describe this idea.  It has worked well for us, and describes dishes that are probably 90-95% vegetable based.  Our ‘Meat-less” idea has come a little later and describes dishes that are probably 80-85% vegetable based.

The dish in the pictures on this page is a perfect example of this sort of cooking. This is a classic pork based cassoulet but with only around 450g of meat for a dish that would feed 12.  Even including the meat based stock (from the ham we cooked earlier) we are probably only talking of around 40g of meat per portion.  This is a very small portion of meat, perhaps too much to describe out as ‘plant-centric’ but I think fulfils the idea of ‘less-meat’ ………..

…………………..or as we have cheekily described it – ‘Meat-less’!!!

 

The plan is too add more of these dishes, interspersed with more traditional cooks throughout the year!

Not a meat free – but a ‘meat-less’ January

Not a meat free – but a ‘meat-less’ January

Many people are trying meat free January – but not for us!!  We are reducing the volume of meat we are eating, year round, not just for a month!  We are also trying to buy this smaller volume of meat from producers supporting regenerative farming; at least when we can.

This dish is a simple example. Mostly slow sautéed leeks with pasta, and for 4 portions, less than 200g of meat.  With some chestnuts, this is enough to provide some great flavours, some texture and a really effortless cook.

So we are not going ‘meat free’ but what we might cheekily ‘meat-less’ or more accurately ‘meat-light’!!  Hopefully there will be a reasonable number of recipes supporting this approach this year……………

……………..fingers crossed!!