Roast Stuffed Peaches & Amaretti

Roast Stuffed Peaches
Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 yellow peaches, skinned
2oz Amaretti (or Macaroons)
1 egg yolk
1oz butter
10z sugar
¼ pint dry white wine


Method:

Cut the peaches in half and remove the stone.
Make the hollow where the stone was a bit deeper with a teaspoon. Reserve the removed flesh
Crush the Amaretti and mix with the reserved peach flesh, egg yolk, butter and ½ oz of the sugar.
Use this stuffing mix to fill the hollows of the peach halves.
Place peaces in a lightly buttered ovenproof dish and sprinkle the rest of the sugar over. Pour over the white wine.

Bake in oven at 180 degrees C for 25-30 minutes.

This can be served hot or cold

Butternut Squash, Sage & Chilli Risotto

Butter Nut Squash, Sage & Chilli Risotto

Ingredients:

Serves 2

• 1 mug of carnaroli risotto rice
• Appx 1 litre good quality chicken stock
• About 4 oz butter
• Good glug of white wine (optional)
• 1 large onion finely chopped
• 1-2 dried chillis, de seeded and finely chopped
• Half a butternut squash, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
• 3oz/75g freshly grated parmesan cheese
• Salt & white pepper

Method:

1. Heat large saucepan, heat half the butter and a splash of olive oil. Add the onion and cook gently until softened but not brown.
2. Add the chilli and cook for one minute
3. Add the butternut squash and cook for 5-10 minutes until soft. I like mine to still have some bite, it is up to you how soft you have your squash. Remember it will cook for another 20mins in the risotto.
4. Stir in the rice and cook for a minute or two.  You want to ensure all of the grains of rice have a coating of butter / oil.
5. Add a good glug of dry white wine. The pan should sizzle as you add the wine.  Stir the rice until all of the wine is absorbed.
6. Add the chicken stock a little at a time.  Stir continuously until each addition of stock is absorbed.
7. Continue this way until the rice is tender and creamy.  The rice should be cooked but still have some bite, about 15-20 minutes.
8. Taste and add salt and white pepper to season. You can of course just use black pepper. I think the white pepper adds something extra. Add the remaining butter, the sage and the parmesan. Stir to combine and then cover and leave to rest for a couple of minutes and then serve garnished with just one small sage leaf.

N.B.

Risotto should always be stirred in the same direction in the pan. This ensures the grans of rice all lay in the same direction.

Eggesford Beans

Eggesford Beans

A great side dish to any curry

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1lb runner beans (de-strung and chopped in 1’ slice)

6 tomatoes (skinned, seeded and diced)

1 small –medium onion finely chopped

2 cloves garlic crushed

1’ root ginger finely chopped

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

1 clove

seeds from 6 cardamom pods

Salt & pepper to taste

Note

I buy my spices whole and grind my own. The measurements above are for whole spices not ground.

Method:

1. Fry the whole spices until they release their aroma, then grind to a powder
2. Blanch the beans in boiling water for one minute. Drain and immerse in cold water to stop the cooking process. Drain and set aside.
3. Fry the onion in 2-3 tbs olive oil or ghee until a light brown colour. Add the garlic and ginger and fry for another couple of minutes. Then add the spices and fry for a further minute
4. Add the beans and tomatoes and cook until heated throughout and the beans are cooked to your requirements. I like mine to retain some crunch.
5. You can garnish with some coriander leaves if you have them, no need to worry if you haven’t.

This is a great way to use the summers’ endless supply of runner beans and a good way with runner beans that have been frozen. Or you could make up a large batch of the recipe and freeze.

Ouch !

So here it is my reluctant to heal femur. I am currently held together with Titanium and have two more screws (out of shot) just above the knee. next step is to fix metal plates either side of the fracture site.

Quiet on the blog front !

So it has been quiet from me on the recipe front recently. I guess moving house or rather trying to and ongoing issues with my broken femur have slowed my blogging. Yup I hope to be moving to the West Country to enjoy a far more rural way of life.

My femur remains broken so some heavy duty surgery is due very soon. The surgeon is currently getting his carpentry set ready.

So in the meantime I seem to have had less time to create new dishes and have been relying on trusted favourites. I have developed a real taste for slow roast brisket on a Sunday. Nothing could be finer than beef slowly roasting whilst I enjoy a few pints of ale in the local pub. If you have not tried brisket please do I can guarentee you will be impressed with just how mouth wateringly tender it is. If I have a choice of fillet steak or well cooked brisket then the brisket wins every time. It really is that good.

I have nearly finished my BBQ smoker a huge beast of a thing. I am looking forward to trying some American style smoked recipes such as ribs, brisket, chicken etc. So there is something to look forward to this summer. Of course any recipes that are truly exceptional will be put on my blog.

Garlic Chicken

Garlic Chicken
Chicken cooked with bay, garlic and sherry
I can't claim this delicious recipe it is taken from the Moro Cookbook and it is just wonderful hence its inclusion here

Serves 4
Ingredients:

1 medium chicken jointed into 8 pieces. Keep the skin on the breast and wings and remove skin from legs and thighs.
4 tbs olive oil
2 garlic bulbs, cloves separated and skins on.
6 fresh bay leaves
200ml of fino sherry or dry white wine
100ml of water
Salt & pepper

Method:
Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
Place large frying pan or shallow casserole over a medium heat and add the olive oil. When the oil is hot add the garlic and fry until the garlic turns golden brown. This may take 10 minutes or so. Remove the garlic from the pan and set aside.
Now add the chicken pieces and fry until well browned on all sides.
Return the garlic to the pan along with the bay leaves and pour in the sherry or wine (I prefer sherry for a more intense flavour) As you add the sherry shake the pan to ensure you emulsify the oil and the sherry. Simmer for a couple of minutes to burn off the alcohol.
Stir in the water, cover with a lid and cook until the chicken is cooked through
You may want to remove the breast meat part way through to prevent it becoming over cooked and return to the pan just to heat through.
I like to finish off under a grill to get a golden crisp skin to the chicken

Serve with good quality bread of your choice to mop the juices.
Notes:
Keep an eye on the liquid level whilst cooking! Do not allow to dry out you may need to add a little water.

Wine:
Serve with a Palamino Fino Sherry or whit wine such as Albarino (Rias Baixas)

Indulgent Cannelloni

Indulgent Cannelloni
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 lb mince beef
2oz pancetta or un-smoked streaky bacon
1 onion skinned and finely chopped
1 tbsp tomato puree
¼ pint of red wine
2 egg yolks
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
8oz ricotta cheese
20z grated parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper
2 pints béchamel sauce
About 20 cannelloni tubes

Béchamel sauce (this makes 2 pints)
2 pints whole milk
2 bay leafs
3 pepper corns
½ stick celery
40z plain flour
Pinch nutmeg
Salt and pepper

Method
Melt the butter in a pan add a couple tablespoons of olive oil add the onion and fry for about five minutes. The onion should be soft but not coloured. Add the pancetta or bacon and cook for another couple of minutes.

Turn up the heat and add the mince beef. Cook until well browned and break down any lumps. Remember you need to stuff the cannelloni tubes with this!

Stir in the tomato puree and red wine. Continue cooking and stirring until most of the liquid has evaporated. Now turn off the heat and set the pan aside to cool for 10-15 minutes.

Mix together the meat, egg yolks, ricotta and nutmeg and 1oz of the parmesan cheese.

Pour just under half of the béchamel sauce into a shallow ovenproof dish. The dish needs to be big enough to take the cannelloni in a single layer.

With a spoon fill the cannelloni tubes with the meat mixture. Lay them in the dish side by side. When all the tubes are filed or like me you run out of space in your dish cover the tubes with the remaining béchamel sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining parmesan cheese and if you wish to go completely over the top you could add an ounce or so of ricotta to the top with the parmesan. Bake in the oven at 200°C (400f) for about 20 minutes. It will be a wonderful golden brown on top.

Serve with a crisp green salad.

Wine choice
A Chianti Classico

Béchamel Sauce
Put the milk along with the bay leaves, celery and peppercorns in a saucepan and slowly bring to just below a boil. Turn off the heat and leave to cool for about 10-15 minutes. This allows the milk to be infused with the bay, celery and pepper.

Melt the butter in a separate saucepan. Add the flour and stir to combine with the butter to form a stiff paste and cook on a low heat for about two minutes. Don’t let the paste (roux) brown. Turn off the heat.

Discard the bay, celery and peppercorns from the milk. A little at a time slowly blend the milk with the roux. Ensure each addition of milk if fully blended before adding the next. Keep adding a little at a time and stirring until all the milk is added. If you have any lumps and I’m sure you won’t then pass through a sieve.

Return to the heat and bring slowly to the boil stirring all the time until the sauce thickens. Simmer gently for about two minutes add the nutmeg and check for seasoning.