porky rillettes

The famously good accompaniment to a gherkin - potted pork. These treats have fallen out of fashion recently, it's about time we brought them back! 'Slow cooking in fat' is the key here; keeping the meat tasty and succulent. They can be stored for 6 months if kept well, so I've added it onto 'my staples' list.

500g pork belly sliced into 1cm stripes (rind removed)

500g pork shoulder chopped into chunks

300g lard

muslin pouch containing a few bay leaves, 4 peppercorns, a few sprigs of thyme, 3 cloves

100ml water

fresh grated nutmeg & other spices of your choice

maldon and freshly ground pepper

Place the pork, lard, muslin pouch and water into a stockpot and cook for 4 1/2 hrs on 120 degrees.

Take out the pot and allow to cool over night so it's handle-able. 

Sterilise some jars in the oven for 10mins at 160 degrees.

Shred the meat from the stockpot and place into a large bowl. 

Once all the meat is shredded, season with spices and salt and pepper. 

Pack your various jars with the seasoned meat.

Pour a few tablespoons of the liquid fat on top of the pork to seal the all the goodness in.

Leave for a couple of days before digging in. Or leave for up to 6 months for another time. 

the sole man

The lemon sole doesn't need much attention at all. 

A few slashes on it's back; a good pinch of maldon, pepper, butter and sprinkling of lemon. Popping him on a bed of lemon slices under the grill on 'very hot' for about 10-12mins should do the trick - top side only. 

At this time of year it would only be right to serve with some lightly steamed asparagus and Jersey Royals (buttered and preferably sprinkled with some wild garlic leaves).

saturday morning congee

If you find yourself feeling a little in need of some instant detox on a Saturday morning - this is your friend. 

This is how the Chinese do breakfast. Refreshing rice soup, topped with crispy, salty, authentic Asian flavours. This recipe is just the base but I assure you; there's much more to explore.

For 2 generous servings:

3 quarters of a cup of rice

1-2 slices of ginger

9 cups of water

NOTE: 

There are three ways of going about the rice soup base depending on the amount of time you have and how well-equipped your kitchen is. 

Pressure cooker - 30min

Saucepan on the hob - 1hr 15mins

Slow cooker - 6hrs on medium

Rinse the rice and place it into your cooking pot of choice and cook for the specified time above with the water and ginger. 

Prepare these toppings and place them on the table for people to add themselves:

1-2 finely sliced spring onions

A handful of chopped coriander

2 slices of ginger chopped into matchsticks

2 chopped cooked Chinese sausage* to cook chinese sausage, steam them for 10 mins, then chop them up and dry fry them in a wok for a couple of mins until crispy.

1 sliced thousand year old egg

pinch white pepper

Add the all important splash or two of prik nam pla (fish sauce with chili), soy sauce to taste, and serve with a hot cuppa Cha (chinese tea)

smiley pumpkin pizza

Work called for an Autumnal recipe. So being Spring; seasonality is a little out of the question here, never-the-less it's delicious and golden! 

 

 

Dough

250g Strong white bread flour

1tsp fine sea salt

1tsp easy-blend dried yeast

1tsp caster sugar/golden caster sugar

tbs extra virgin olive oil

160ml luke warm water

Preparing the dough

Mix together the yeast, sugar, olive oil and water

Leave mixture to rest for a few minutes

Sieve the flour and salt onto a work surface

Using a fork, work the liquid into a well in the centre of the flour, gradually combining the flour from the sides until it collects into a dough-like mixture

Kneed the dough until springy but soft (add extra flour if necessary)

leave the dough to rest in a lightly oiled bowl covered for about an hour

Take the dough and knock the air out of it on a lightly floured surface

Roll into a ball and stretch it into a 5mm thick

Place onto a floured baking tray

Topping

500g organic pumpkin, deseeded, peeled and sliced

4tbs olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

A few sage leaves chopped

1/2 cup grated gruyere

1 large buffalo mozzerella ball

3-4 sage leaves

Preparing the topping

Toss the pumpkin in half of the olive oil with a couple of ripped sage leaves and seasoning in a baking tray

bake in a 200 degree oven for 30-40 minutes until soft and a little crispy around the edges

Mix together the olive oil, garlic and chopped sage, and the oil from the pumpkin pan

Brush the oil mixture over the pizza dough

Scatter the pumpkin over the pizza dough

sprinkle the cheeses on top, adding a little left over and the left over sage leaves

Bake for 10-12 minutes on maximum heat until crisp and golden

Done!

wally wontons

You can't go wrong!

It's a tiny bit laborious in terms of folding the little parcels, but really it's just a few left-over bits of meat, a few herbs and 'bob's your uncle'!

mix together:

100g raw minced prawns

100g raw minced pork

5 water chestnuts finely chopped

1tsp soy sauce

1tsp shaoxing rice wine

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp sesame oil

black pepper

1/2 tsp chopped ginger

1 tsp cornflour

place a small dollop of the mixture into the centre of a wonton wrapper and fold as shown here.

Place the wontons into a rich chicken stock flavoured with soy, fresh chilli, fish sauce, lime juice, rice wine, egg noodles, a few spring onions and some coriander. 

The wontons can be frozen and popped directly into the hot stock for a quick dinner!

 

jellied rabbit on a plate

This may not be to everyone's taste. Although I am one of those who waits patiently until the turkey's cooled at Christmas so I can get stuck into some turkey jelly on toast topped with a little ground pepper and Maldon. It's that stock-y-jelly-ness I love; mixed-in with some cold meat.

1 jointed rabbit
150g smoked bacon lardons
1 trotter
1 onion peeled and quartered
2 celery sticks chopped
2 carrots peeled and chopped
4-5 thyme sprigs
2 bay leaves
1 glass white vino
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 tsp wholegrain mustard
salt and pepper


Heat a tbsp oil in a pan and brown the rabbit. Put aside.
Brown the bacon. 
Place the rabbit, bacon, trotter, veg, thyme, bay wine and enough water to cover into a casserole dish.
Bring to a simmer and transfer to a pre-heated 180 oven for 2 hrs.
Take the rabbit and bacon bits out of the casserole and strain the rest over a saucepan to save the liquid. Discard the veg and herbs. 
Boil the liquid down to about 300mls.
Meanwhile, pick all the meat off the rabbit and finely chop the bacon bits. 
In a bowl, mix the rabbit, bacon, parsley, mustard and salt and pepper.
Loosely pack the mixture into a few ramekins, pickling jar or a terrine.
Poor the cooking liquor into the mixture. 
Cool and refrigerate until set.
Turn out onto a plate and serve with some crispy gherkins and crusty bread.

bready happiness

Even though we like using our bread machine and life is a little easier and happier waking up to some home-made well-timed bread in the morning, there is something slightly more wholesome about slicing into a crusty hand-kneaded loaf. The crust is different. It's crustier and tastier. 

combine 250g flour with 5g fast action yeast

beat in 325ml warm water

cover in a plastic bowl and leave overnight to ferment

add 250g flour and 10g fine sea salt the next day

kneed for 10 mins till smooth and soft

leave the dough in a lightly oiled covered bowl for an hour

knock the air out and shape

pop onto a floured baking tray and whack into a pre-heated 230 degree oven

cook for 15 mins then put the oven down to 200, spray the inside of the oven with water and cook for another 25 mins

leave to rest and cool a little then crack into it and enjoy with obscene amounts of unsalted butter and malden...

a pint o' prawns

Over the weekend a little 1820's cottage in Lyme Regis was our home by the sea. A stroll from the cottage was a fishmongers with some fishy delights. A pint o' prawns for £3 does not happen very often. What better than to whip up a little mix of good quality mayo, olive oil, lemon juice, a small crushed garlic clove, ketchup, lots of black pepper and a sprinkle of salt, to dip the little guys in. 


Buttered hot toast, lemon and a cuppa is all one needs to set you up for a day by the seaside!   

Hilly Fields and the belly

There is something about Hilly fields pork belly which is ensuring itself a place in the top category of 'what to buy' in SE4. The 5 day cure is quite tasty. Petit sale was created from this bacon. 

1kg Hilly Fields Pork Belly
cure:
500g Rock salt
250g Light brown soft sugar
10 juniper berries
3 bay leaves chopped


Mix the cure
rub some cure all over the belly
place belly into a plastic container
next day, drain liquid and re-do 2nd and 3rd step
do this for 5 days
Wash belly
Dry belly and wrap in muslin. Keep for up to one month. 


Do petit sale or treat as bacon. 

the perfect easter egg

Chocolates are the last thing on my mind at Easter. Eggs are the only thing occupying me. So, when I was made some of these for my Easter gift, it turned Easter from a non-event into a great event!

nicola coham's blog

Lincolnshire sausages and burford browns make the perfect Easter egg.

Juicy bits jellified

The Fortress (our very much loved tent) housed us for a short time in Welsummer, Kent.

Whilst walking around, some extremely large fallen apples found themselves in our bags, along with a bumper crop of blackberries.

With little hesitation hedgerow jelly was made;

2kg of 50:50 blackberries: cooking apples
1.2l water

• Boil the lot until the apples are soft
• Let all mixture sit in muslin until the next day so that you're left with a purely clean juicy liquid
• For every 600ml of liquid add 450ml sugar
• Boil away for about 10mins until a droplet of mixture solidifies into jelly on a plate.
• Jar them up in sterilised jars
• Serve to your boy with some toast and lashings of goats butter
• ...or Gobble with game

Everyone likes a sardine

Dad's stuffed sardines

A little mixture of garlic, parsley, breadcrumbs, lemon juice, capers and any other tasty fish loving flavours; stuffed into the little gutted fellows; topped with some crusty Maldon and whacked under a toasty hot grill (or do as dad would do and get a Weber bbq involved of course).

Petit sale

Last week a five day cure finished working on my hunky piece of pork belly. This week, we're reaping the benefits.

Tonight was a petit sale night.

1cm thick slices of salty pork belly, simmered in a vegetable stock and piled on top of some sweet al dente green lentils. Deliciously simple.

Join me every so often, and I'll try to inspire you with some interesting foodie accounts.

The story begins

So this blog is not just about gherkins. It is however aimed at those that like a bit of the ol' gherkin.

...not just gherkins of course.