Category: Everyday meals

Please see the Beef Guinness and Oyster Pie recipe. But cut out all meat, instead I made a vegetable stock (exactly the same just without the bones) and tray roasted seasonal vegetables.

Suet Pastry:

For this pastry I used Delia’s recipe:

• 12 oz. of self raising flour
• 1 Pinch of sea salt
• 1 Pinch of black pepper
• 6 oz. of beef suet
• Enough water

1. To begin this pastry, weigh out all of the ingredients as stated above.
2. Into a large mixing bowl add your sieved self-raising flour along with your suet, using a metal tablespoon stir to incorporate.
3. Next add your seasoning and stir to combine again.
4. To begin working the dough add a drop of water once at a time, first using the metal spoon, work the mixture until it begins to come together.
5. Once at this stage use your hands to work and knead the dough.
6. Remove from the bowl and lay onto a floured plate, allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Beef Stock:

• 1 carrot peeled and sliced
• 1 stick of celery peeled and sliced
• 1 onion peeled and sliced
• 1 bulb of garlic sliced in half
• Tomato Puree
• Thyme
• Bay leaves
• White peppercorns
• 200 ml of red wine
• Coriander seeds
• 5 kg of beef bones

1. To begin this recipe, weigh and prepare all of the ingredients as stated above.
2. Pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees, place your bones into a large roasting tray, drizzle them with olive oil and place into the oven for 30 minutes (until roasted and golden) By roasting the bones you help to intensify the flavour.
3. Whilst your bones are roasting, place your vegetables into a large pre-heated saucepan and allow to colour until golden and tender, as this is the base for your beef stock.
4. Once golden and tender add your red wine along with your aromats, and allow the red wine to deglaze the base of the pan. Next add a heaped tablespoon of tomato puree and cook this out or otherwise your stock will just taste of concentrated tomato puree.
5. Once your bones are ready, remove from the oven and place into the pan. Place the roasting tray onto a high heat and deglaze with cold water as this helps to remove all of the cooked on goodness.
6. Now add this to the pan along with enough water to cover the bones and vegetables (this is a small batch of beef stock). Allow to simmer for 2-3 hours once ready allow to stand for 30 minutes, and then pass through a fine chinois and muslin.

The Pie:

• 6 x sustainable fresh water oysters
• 1 bottle of xx guiness
• 1 stick of celery peeled and sliced
• 1 carrot peeled and sliced
• 1 onion peeled and sliced
• 2 garlic cloves crushed
• 1 punnet of chestnut mushrooms sliced
• Your Beef Stock
• Diced Beef Shoulder
• 10 grams of plain flour
• Salt
• Black pepper

1. To begin this dish, prepare all of the ingredients as stated above
2. Next place a medium sized range master pan onto a medium heat, once the pan is up to temperature add a drizzle of olive oil.
3. Next in a large bowl coat your meat in the seasoned flour (with a pinch of salt and pepper) as this helps to seal the beef but also thickens the sauce.
4. Once the meat has been sealed off and golden brown, remove from the pan and lay onto a clean plate.
5. Deglaze your pan with a little of the Guinness, next add your vegetable base, you want to cook this until they all are tender and golden brown as this helps to form the base of the killer pie.
6. Empty them out and now deglaze the pan with a little more, of the Guinness.
7. Increase the heat of the pan and now add your mushrooms, as you want to cook these hard and fast to help release their earthiness.
8. Next add your vegetable base back into the pan along with a teaspoon of tomato puree, ensure that you cook this out or otherwise you will ruin the dish.
9. Then add your beef stock along with the rest of your Guinness, reduce by half to thicken, now adding your mushrooms and beef back into the sauce.
10. Spoon into a fired earth ovenproof dish and allow to cool in the fridge.
11. Next, shuck your oysters and lay these on top of the pie filling. As the pie cooks the oysters will melt and give the dish an extra depth of seasoning.
12. Before rolling your pastry lid, place your pie filling into the oven to warm through. Now roll out your pastry lid and lay it on top, egg wash around the outside of the dish to ensure your lid stays stuck.
13. Cook until golden brown and crisp, for around 30 minutes at 180 degrees.
14. Serve with a glass of red Malbec and buttered wilted organic kale.

Ingredients:

• Freshly picked tomatoes
• Freshly picked basil
• 1 cap of red wine vinegar
• Pinch of sea salt
• 10 twists of pepper

1. For this dish you want to slice your tomatoes into large chunks, so that you can see their beauty and all the different colours and textures.
2. Place them into a large serving bowl along with a pinch of sea salt, 10 twists of pepper and a cap full of red wine vinegar.
3. To finish this salad pick off freshly picked and washed basil leaves along with a little drizzle of olive oil.

Ingredients:

• 1 x orange chilli
• 2 x banana shallots
• 2 x garlic cloves
• 1 x teaspoon of harissa powder
• Olive oil
• Sea salt
• Black pepper
• 3 x plum tomatoes
• 1 x tin of cold water
• ½ bunch of Thai basil
• 6 x free range eggs
• Tobermory sunny orange cherry tomatoes

1. To begin this quick breakfast, lunch or dinner place a large saucepan onto a medium heat, add your finely diced garlic, shallot and chilli to the pan along with a little olive oil
2. Sweat the aromats with no colour, once they are sweet and tender add your harissa powder along with the three tins of plum tomatoes, ensure that these are good quality.
3. Next add a pinch of sea salt and a twist of black pepper, along with half a bunch of picked Thai basil.
4. Allow the sauce to reduce and thicken.
5. In an ovenproof dish, place your cherry tomatoes on the base as they bake in the oven, they will burst and offer a beautiful hit of freshness.
6. Once the sauce is ready pour into the dish and using a spatula make six little pools in the sauce, crack your eggs into these and place the dish into a pre-heated oven at 150 degrees.
7. Bake for ten to fifteen minutes until the eggs are cooked through with a runny yolk.
8. To serve place onto pre-warmed artisan plates, aerve along side a loaf of fresh bread, and rocket salad.
9. For the fresh rocket salad, simply pick some fresh wild rocket and dress with a little olive oil and lemon juice, this is such a great way to eat fresh peppery leaves because with a heavy dressing their beauty would just be lost!

Garden pea, sage, lemon zest and ricotta ravioli with lemon thyme buerre noisette and edible flowers.

For the Pasta:

• 3 large free range eggs
• a pinch of coarse natural salt
• 300 grams of 00 flour
• a drizzle of olive oil.

1. To begin this recipe weigh out all of the ingredients as stated above.
2. Next in a large mixing bowl or onto a clean work surface, sieve your flour once you have sieved your flour, make a well in the middle of the flour.
3. Crack each of your eggs into the well, which you have just created.
4. Using a fork, begin to bring the mixture together, once the mixture resembles breadcrumbs use your hands to bring the rest together.
5. Cling film your dough and place the dough into the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

For the filling:

• 250 grams of ricotta cheese
• 300 grams of freshly podded and blanched garden peas
• Lemon zest
• a pinch of salt
• a pinch of freshly cracked black pepper.

1. To begin this recipe weigh out all of the ingredients as stated above.
2. Next in a large bowl add your ricotta cheese, seasoning and lemon zest
3. In a separate bowl crush your gardens peas with the back of your fork to gently release their sweetness.
4. TASTE
5. Cling film and reserve in the fridge until later on.

You’re on a roll…

1. Firstly fill a pan of cold-water season with a pinch of sea salt, and place onto a medium heat.
2. When rolling pasta you need a lot of room, ensure that you are working in an area with this.
3. Set your pasta machine onto the thickest setting, to make your pasta dough more manageable cut the dough in half.
4. You want to run your dough 10 times through the thickest setting, folding the dough each time, as this helps to develop the glutens in the dough.
5. Next, drop the setting and roll the dough through 2 times repeat this until you reach second to last setting.
6. Using a cookie cutter, cut your discs out, place your bottoms onto a floured surface and using a teaspoon spoon the mixture onto each piece of pasta.
7. Run the lids through the machine once more, using a little water run your finger around the outside of the pasta, gently, ensuring not to make any holes, stretch over the lids.
8. Once you are happy with the positioning, pinch out any air, as this will cause your rav’s to explode in the water.
9. To seal your dough place each of your rav’s into the pan of boiling water for one minute ,refresh them in a bowl with icy water as this helps to cook the pasta dough which makes it more stable.

To plate pre-heat an artisan plate, I prefer to lay pasta out on plates instead of bowls. Once your pasta is cooked, lay them onto the plate. To garnish this dish, any rich sauce would just overpower the subtle freshness of the peas, so I quickly made a lemon thyme buerre noisette along with crispy sage leaves. I then hit it was some fresh garden peas and some edible flowers.

Harissa Yoghurt

• The juice of half a lemon
• 1 teaspoon of harissa powder
• 1 teaspoon of olive oil
• 4 tablespoons of 0% fat Greek yoghurt
• Pinch of sea salt

1. To make this quick yoghurt dressing, firstly weigh out all of the ingredients as stated above.
2. Into an artisan bowl place four tablespoons of Greek yoghurt along with a pinch of sea salt and the juice of one half of a lemon.
3. In a separate bowl add your harissa powder along with the olive oil, and then mix together to form a paste.
4. Ripple this through the yoghurt and reserve in the fridge until later on.

Chickpeas:

• 250 grams of soaked chickpeas
• 500 ml of cold water
• 2 bay leaves
• 10 black pepper corns

1. Place 250 grams of soaked chickpeas into a large saucepan along with 500 grams of cold water.
2. Next add your bay leaves along with 10 black pepper corns, place onto a high heat and allow boiling, once at this point, reduce to a simmer and simmer for 20-25 minutes until they are cooked and tender.

The salad:

• 150 grams of sultanas
• 5 chiffonade dried apricots
• ½ teaspoon of garam marsala
• Juice of one lemon
• Zest of one lemon

1. Once your chickpeas are perfectly cooked drain them off and place into a large serving bowl, add a pinch of Maldon sea salt.
2. Next add the juice and zest of one lemon, along with a drizzle of cold pressed olive oil. Then add ½ teaspoon garam marsala, along with 150 grams of sultanas and 5 chiffonade dried apricots.
3. Stir to incorporate and of course taste to make sure that the salad is perfectly seasoned.

Proteins:

By purchasing a whole free range chicken you are able to complete the quality control checks, which consist of; dry skin to touch, no aroma and lastly the chicken skin should be firm and plump.

Prep and French trim a chicken breast, the term French trim means to expose the bone, offering a more appealing product once plated. (Find the step-by-step photos of me breaking down the free-range chicken for sauté as I didn’t want to waste the other cuts, classically this will consist of two breasts, two thighs, two legs, and two wings.)

How to cook the perfect chicken breast every time:

1. Firstly place a heavy based frying pan onto a medium heat, once the pan is up to temperature, add a generous amount of creamery butter. Allow the butter to colour a little as this helps to deliver a beautiful nutty flavour.
2. On a separate plate or ideally a red raw chopping board, season the breast all over with freshly cracked white pepper and sea salt.
3. Add the chicken breasts skin side down and allow to cook until a beautiful golden brown, (as colour equals flavour) just before removing from the pan add a little sprig of lemon thyme as this will perfume the butter and chicken while it cooks in the oven.
4. To finish the chicken place into a pre-heated oven for 15 minutes until the core temperature has reached 75 degrees so it’s perfectly cooked all of the way through.

The alternative – Mackerel:

You will need… 2 whole mackerel that have been gutted and filleted if you are not comfortable about doing this ask your fishmonger to prepare these for you.

1. Firstly place a heavy based pan onto a medium heat once the pan is up to temperature add a little olive oil as mackerel is a very oily fish any way you will need a lot of olive oil.
2. Place your fish into the pan away from you as this way you avoid being splashed by the hot oil, cook your fish solely on the ring burner
3. To achieve the perfect crispy skin, which everyone loves, cook your fish 80% of the way on the skin, once you see a little golden outline turn your fish over to gently cook the flesh.
4. Remove from the pan and place onto a pre-warmed plate.

To plate:

Add your gently warmed chickpea salad to the centre of the plate then dot four spoonfuls of the yoghurt dressing around the plate and a little under the protein, carve your chicken on the angle to display the contrast between the crispy golden skin and the white flesh finish with some fresh sage leaves. To make this dish Pescatarian add the mackerel.

Braised Fennel:

• 2 lemons – sliced finely
• 1 bulb of garlic
• 10 bay leaves
• Maldon sea salt
• Black pepper
• Olive oil
• A touch of water
• Preserved lemons
• 4 whole fennels

1. To prepare this citrus dish, take four whole fennel bulbs removing the herbs before hand (as this will act a garnish later and give the dish a light anise lift when it is served)
2. Slice each of the fennel bulbs into quarters, ensure that they are cut around the same size as this will result in even cooking.
3. Place these into a large baking tray, along with a sliced garlic bulb, 2 finely sliced lemons, 10 twists of black pepper and a pinch of Maldon sea salt.
4. Now drizzle the whole tray with a little oil and a add 15 ml of cold water.
5. Place the tray onto a medium heat, bring the liquid up to a medium simmer wrap with tin foil and place into a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees for half an hour.
6. The first part of the cooking process is to cook the fennel so that it is tender and al dente. Once this has been achieved remove the tin foil to brown off slightly and gain some colour (as colour equals flavour)

To accompany the dish:

A selection of cured meats

Warm artisan breads

Olive oil and balsamic vinegars

Cold artisan beer or a Malbec of your choice