Venison Sausage sticky tray bake

time needed: 1h minutes including prep and warming oven

Venison Sausage sticky tray bake

Having come home with two very fat venison sausages I looked in the fridge to see what would make a simple supper. In the veg collection we had sweet potatoes, carrots, onions and fresh chillis and a lovely spring cabbage.

Based on this recipe we ate very well. And considering that Steve said he'd like 'just a sausage sandwich' he managed to tuck in ok.

Substitutions, aside from the veg, which was prepped in slices, was fig jam with lemon and vinegar instead of redcurrant jelly, with a few frozen redcurrants thrown in. It was nice and sharp.

In summary:

• set oven to 220C and allow to warm up 10m
• oil all the veg except the onions and put in roasting tray, put in oven and roast 15m
• add the sausages and onions, stir through the veg, put back in oven 20m
• drizzle redcurrant (or similar) mixture over contents of roasting tin and stir, put back in oven 15m
• serve with salad or green veg.

All the Gratins

These gratin dishes were originally put together to use the residual heat from the baker’s oven for the family Sunday meal, prepared and left with the baker to be cooked  in the cooling bread oven and be collected after church and taken home to eat.

 

These days we are used to strong flavours, but please don’t be tempted to add more herbs, garlic or stock. The way these dishes are put together makes them pack beautiful flavour. It’s tempting to tweak recipes, but try and resist.

You can make all the potato elements of these gratins into vegetarian or vegan dishes by substituting oil and plant milk.

The recipes are for a group of 6-8, using a large quantity of potatoes - I'll be working on versions for smaller meals and will post them in a while.

 

This recipe collection was saved by my parents, cut out from a magazine and kept, despite them having multiple cookbooks and years of experience. It's a high recommendation.

Gigot boulangere – roast leg of lamb on potatoes

 

For 6-8 people

cooking time 4h+

 

Ingredients

One leg of lamb 1.75-2kg

2.5kg/5½lb potatoes

100g butter

sprigs of thyme, bay leaves

2 cloves of garlic

pepper and salt

an oven dish as long as the leg of lamb, and around as deep as your finger

 

Method

set the oven to warm 6 (400 or 200) at least 15 minutes in advance

Lamb

 

The lamb can be prepared in advance but should be at room temperature when you start to prepare the meal

• Peel the garlic cloves, cut into long slivers and with a sharp knife puncture the leg deep into the meat and push the slivers in, repeat until you’ve used all the garlic
• Mash half the butter with pepper and salt, then slather over the leg of lamb and set aside.

 Potatoes

• peel the potatoes and cut them into thin slices then spread them out in the oven dish in layers
• between each layer put a sprig of thyme and a bay leaf and repeat until the potatoes are all in the dish
• add enough water in the dish to reach the top of the potatoes, sprinkle with pepper and salt and add half the butter
• set the potatoes to cook in the oven for around two hours – check them after 20m, and once they are boiling turn the heat down to 5/375/190. the potatoes  should be completely cooked before you add the lamb, but still be pale
• take the cooked potatoes out and put the buttered, seasoned, garlic studded leg of lamb onto them
• turn the oven to its highest setting
• cook the lamb for 15m per lb/500g to be pink/a point or 20m per lb/500g to be cooked through
• check the lamb every 20m, turning it if it’s very coloured, there is no need to baste it

Once cooked rest the lamb 15 minutes, when carving save the jus to pour over the cooked potatoes

 

Roti de porc boulangere – roast pork on potatoes

 

For 6-8 people

Cooking time 3h+

Ingredients

1.8kg/4lb rack or loin of pork

2.5kg/5½lb of potatoes

60g butter

thym, bay leaves

nutmeg

pepper and salt

 

Method

set the oven to warm 6 (400 or 200) at least 15 minutes in advance

 

prepare the pork by rubbing mashing the pepper and salt into the butter and rubbing it all over the meat

 

• peel the potatoes and cut them into thin slices then spread them out in the oven dish in layers
• between each layer grate a little nutmeg, crumble thyme and break up a bay leaf and repeat until the potatoes are all in the dish
• add enough water in the dish to reach the top of the potatoes, sprinkle with pepper and salt and add half the butter
• set the potatoes to cook in the oven for an hour
• adding water to bring it up to the top layer of the potatoes if needed before sitting the pork onto the potatoes

• the pork needs to cook through, in a low oven, allow 22-28m per lb/500g, so turn the oven to 2/300/150 ie around 1¾h depending on the thickness of the joint, then turn off the oven leaving the dish inside for 5-10m
• at this point the liquid in the potatoes will be almost completely gone
• put the dish on the table and carve the pork, pouring any juices into the potato gratin

 

Pommes boulangere – potato gratin or layered baked potatoes

 

For 6-8 people

cooking time around 2h

 

Ingredients

2kg/5lb potatoes

10 onions – medium sized

60g/4 tbsp of butter

3 tbsp oil

salt and pepper

nutmeg

 

Method

roughly chop the peeled onions and cook in a pan on a gentle heat with the oil and half the butter, stirring, making sure they stay pale. Cook until transparent.

 

Set the oven to warm mark 6/400/200 at least 15 minutes in advance

 

peel the potatoes and cut them into thin slices then spread them out in the oven dish in layers

between each layer grate a little nutmeg and add some cooked onion mixture and repeat until the potatoes are all in the dish

add enough water in the dish to reach the top of the potatoes, sprinkle with pepper and salt and add the rest of the butter and the cooking fat from the onion pan

set the potatoes to cook in the oven for an hour then turn the oven up to its maximum temperature and cook another 30m

 

This dish goes well with any roast meat, ham, dried or cooked sausages

 

Gratin Dauphinois – Creamy baked potato gratin

 

This richer version of gratin potatoes goes best with plainer roasts, boiled meats or plain fish dishes. It is delicious, but has a richness of a savoury pudding, and that’s why the quantity of potatoes is reduced. It’s delicious as a main dish and you can make it with plant milk to serve a vegan dish – don’t use coconut oil, it makes it too dessert-y.

 

Some versions of this dish include egg and even cheese, which creates something very like a potato version of macaroni cheese, tipping it over into excess stodge, don’t do it.

 

cooking time 1.5h+

For 6-8 people

 

Ingredients

2kg/5lb potatoes

four cloves of garlic

½ litre/1 pint warmed milk

6 tbsps cream or crème fraiche

 

Method

rub a peeled clove of garlic around a large deep gratin dish, and crush the remaining garlic into a paste

peel the potatoes and cut them into thin slices then spread half the potatoes into layers in the oven dish

season with pepper and salt, sprinkling of crumbled thyme and half the crushed garlic

add more layers until the potatoes are all in the dish

mix the milk and cream and pour over the potatoes, adding enough water in the dish if needed to reach the top of the potatoes – leave enough room above the layered potatoes so that when the milk boils it stays inside the dish

cook for 1½h or until the milk has boiled away and the potatoes are cooked through

 

Serve with plain meat or fish and lightly cooked vegetables

Vegan Mushroom Wellington

brush the pastry with plant milk
to make it golden brown

Preparing food for a vegan treat, to be eaten while others tuck into a roast is worth doing. Why should anyone lose out on an occasion meal. The aim, while preparing the vegan mushroom pie (Wellington) is for everyone to envy the person eating it.

What is needed then?

• a dish that looks great
• flavour packed into every mouthful
• texture and moisture - to keep the eater's attention
• nutritional value

Deep flavour 

- use a mirepoix or soffrito, celery, carrot and onion sweated gently in olive oil. Mix this with chick peas, a spoonful of nut butter or tahini and crush or blend it all together, adding garlic if you like.

- a rich stock, home made vegetable bouillon or ready made with added porcini mushrooms, peppercorns, cloves, bayleaf and other herbs all simmered gently for 30 minutes

This isn't a quick dish to prepare, it's a proper main to match any other Sunday Roast type main. I served this alongside roast lamb, and those eating the lamb still eyed up the veg wellington. You may want to add gravy to the list, although if you serve it with a dressed salad you won't need it.

Mushroom Wellington - makes two

Ingredients

• Leaf spinach - one bunch
• Mirepoix - 1 stick celery, 1 carrot, half onion
• large onion
• mushrooms (1 punnet)
• half cup chick peas
• parsley chopped fine
• chopped mixed nuts (I use sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds)
• half dessert apple peeled and finely diced
• porcini mushrooms 
• puff pastry block or ready rolled
• 1tsp veg bouillon or veg stock cube (read label to ensure they are vegan)
• 1 tbsp nut butter (I like almond butter as it adds richness but not flavour)
• nut or other plant milk
• mixed herbs
• oil

Method

• Take half the onion for the mirepoix mixture (see below)
• Prepare the mirepoix, chopping celery, peeled carrot and onion very fine, put into pan over low heat with a spoonful of oil, cook gently until tender (this is sweating) check the heat and stir, you don't want the mixture to brown.... once it's cooked add finely diced peeled dessert apple and cook until soft, stir through the finely chopped parsley, season and then set to one side COMPONENT: MIREPOIX MIXTURE
• Clean mushrooms by tapping out soil and removing stems, set caps to one side COMPONENT: MUSHROOM CAPS
• prepare half cup of stock adding spoonful of porcini mushroom and stems from the other mushrooms - boiling all together to deepen the flavour. If you don't have any suitable stock the mushrooms will good favour in a cup full of water, add herbs to taste. Once the stock is flavourful turn it off. You can discard the mushrooms or keep them to add to the chickpea mixture BUT if you do you'll need to puree them very well
• slice remaining half onion and fry gently in small amount of oil until brown, add herbs and chickpeas and stock and reduce until only small amount of liquid remain, then mash or puree chick pea mixture adding in spoonful of nut butter, pepper and salt to taste stir through the mixed nuts and set to one side COMPONENT: CHICK PEA PUREE
• wash the leaf spinach and dry COMPONENT: SPINACH
• you're nearly ready to put the mushroom wellington together 

you can prepare up to this point in advance

these are all the ingredients except the nut butter

Putting together the mushroom wellington - mounding the ingredients

whole nuts add crunch and the apple adds
pops of sweetness

Set the oven to 180 degrees to warm up

Line a large baking sheet with greaseproof paper

• roll out the pastry if needed and cut  four squares, two about 10x10cm (4 inces) two about 14x14cm (over an inch larger than the other) and us the smaller squares as the base COMPONENT: PASTRY SQUARES
• Line up the components: pastry base, mushroom caps, chick pea puree mixture, mirepoix mixture, spinach leaves
• set out two smaller squares spacing them a couple of inches apart
• moisten the edges of the smaller pastry square with nut milk using your finger or a pasty brush
• cover pastry base with spinach leaves, keeping the edges clear
• spread a spoonful of mirepoix mixture onto spinach leaves, spreading it like butter in a sandwich
• spoon chick pea puree mixture on top of mirepoix mixture and spread thickly
• stack sliced mushroom caps onto mixture, leaving a gap at the sides so the mushrooms sit inside the chick pea puree mixture
• spread another spoonful of chick pea puree over the mushroom slices
• spread mirepoix mixture over the chick pea puree
• cover with spinach leaves
• drape larger pastry square over the mounded ingredients and seal it to the base square using a fork
• put some steam holes into the top so that the steam can escape during cooking
• repeat with second mushroom wellington



pierce pastry with fork to let
steam out while cooking

• brush both wellingtons with nut milk

whole mushroom caps for the centre
chopped mushroom stems and onions for added richness

cook for around 40 minutes until piping hot and golden brown

serve with veg gravy, and steamed green veg or salad

crimp the edges with a fork

Butternut heaven - vegan supper

green salad, roasted butternut squash with sesame seeds, pimped houmous, tomatoes, so good I photographed it... four more times

Roast Chicken, hot and fast

We moved Sunday lunch to suppertime a while ago. I have to reinstate it in the early afternoon if we have people over. It means that the kids mostly make it home for their Sunday meal, However if they arrive and it isn’t roast chicken, complaints fly, even if it’s the fifth week in a row, or the 9^th. I’d like to say it’s boring, but since Steve is the roast meister, I can’t. I did teach him… but a long time ago now, and truth be told, he’s better at roasting chicken than me now.

The way I learnt  to roast chicken was to cook it hot and fast. The basic calculation is 15 minutes per pound, plus 15 minutes, so a 3lb chicken takes one hour. The only thing that you put in the bird is seasoning, half a lemon, a bunch of parsley, a bouquet garni and/or some garlic, the outside is usually covered with a trickle of olive oil, pepper and salt. The bird needs basting every 15 minutes, and we usually turn it onto its back at some point, to make sure the cooking is even and the breast doesn’t dry out. The oven needs preheating to the hottest it can go, the chicken goes in for 15 minutes at the top heat, and then you turn the oven down a third, for the rest of the cooking. Once it’s cooked for that length of time, you sit it on a board, cover it with foil and let it sit for at least five minutes, to relax and to let the juices flow.  Then carve.

If you think your oven might not be heating properly, check how well it is cooked, by pushing something sharp (skewer is the best thing) and if the juice comes out clear, the chicken is cooked.

It’s Monday, so pictures will have to wait until next week.

Saturday roast

We've been invited to our first bbq of the year on Sunday, so we're having our roast on Saturday. Slow roast shoulder of lamb, done in the greek manner, kleftiko style. Flavour is provided by the bone remaining in, seasoned with lemon juice, oregano and thyme. Slow cooked while wrapped, the meat becomes extremely tender and flavoursome, and can be pulled apart with a couple of forks. Good for the dentally challenged amongst us.

I will make pommes boulangeres to go with, not dauphinoise, that is too rich. Pictures and recipes to follow.

Easy, delicious, gluten free pork, lemon and thyme stuffing

You would think there was a big market for gluten free food, especially at Christmas. Yet all I could find in the local supermarket was gluten free chocolate macaroons. But what I need is stuffing. So I bought some pork and bacon and set to making my own.


My local butcher does do gluten free sausagemeat, however I wanted to make some without any imitations of flour or bread in it. So I bought some loin chops and some unsmoked bacon to put together with rice and herbs. 

In this stuffing the lemony tang is nicely balanced with the sweetness of the pork. It is a good match for the richness of roast chicken and potatoes. It's also a  As usual the dilemma is how to avoid overeating. 


By the way, there's no egg in this stuffing either, all the sticking together is done by stirring and the rice.

pork loin

Pork, thyme, lemon and parsley stuffing

ingredients

330g pork loin (that's two large chops, with fat)

160g unsmoked back bacon

2 onions

2 cloves garlic

1 tbsp dried thyme (or half tbsp of fresh thyme)

zest and juice of one lemon

1/2 mug rice

2 handfuls flaked rice

two healthy pinches of Maldon sea salt

2tsp mixed peppercorns (red, green, black)

1 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley

method

• Cook the rice, stir in zest of lemon and pepper - it'll look like it's covered in ash, but the smell is delicious. Set aside.
• Mince or finely chop the pork and bacon.
• Finely chop onion and garlic, and fry on low heat until translucent, then stir in herbs.
• Mix all ingredients together.



diced pork and bacon ready for mincing 

• Roll into balls and chill for several hours before cooking.

Cook on oiled baking tin for 30m, or until brown at 375°F/190°C/Gas mark 6.

Makes 14 balls, could be 15.

These balls can be made ahead and frozen - add 10m to cooking time if you are cooking from frozen. 

mince old style or with a food processor

notes

• The fat of the pork and bacon keeps the balls moist while cooking. If you think the port is lean, drizzle with olive oil or put a dab of butter on them before cooking. 
• Wrap the balls in bacon if you like, that keeps them moist too.
• the rice flakes make the balls nice and sticky, but you can just use a bit more cooked rice and blitz it with the meat.

This stuffing goes well with roast chicken, such as best roast chicken.


I'm going to try them in a tomato sauce soon.


Aha! in tomato sauce they are great, with rice and a sprinkling of parmesan. Extra pepper.

Best Roast Chicken

Sunday lunch is chicken. Always if my children have any say. Roast chicken, potatoes, gravy. No pudding, but maybe fruit.

Yesterday: potatoes were great, chicken, cooked by steam for a change, not up to scratch. My usual method of very fast roasting gets out all the fat. So the breast meat was moist, but the darker meat was a bit too fatty. Kind of flobby.

Best Roast Chicken

1 chicken - not a pappy one, a free range one

garlic

olive oil

pepper and salt

Preheat oven for 20m, at Gas Mark 9 or equivalent (475F/240C), and make it very hot.

Allow 15 minutes per 500g/1lb and add 15 minutes. So a 2kg/4lb bird will take an hour and a quarter.

o    Rinse chicken inside and out and dry the outside with kitchen towels.

o    Pop several cloves of garlic into the cavity of the chicken.

o    Trickle a good slug of olive oil onto the bottom of a roomy roasting tin.

o    Put chicken into the oiled roasting tin and pour some more olive oil over the bird, followed by

o    sprinkling on several good pinches of salt and generous grindings of pepper.

o    Put the chicken into the preheated oven for 15m.

o    After 15m take the bird out and baste it with the juices and sit it on one side.

o    turn the oven down to Gas Mark 7/475F/220C and cook for 15m per pound, basting and turning every 15m.

o    When the cooking time is complete you can test the bird by prodding with something sharp between the leg and the body - if the juice that comes out is red, cook a little bit more. When the juice is clear, the bird is cooked.

o    Let the cooked chicken rest for a few minutes under a covering of foil or baking parchment. This lets the meat relax and stops the delicious juices evaporating.

Carve as you like and eat with whatever you fancy. Not cake.  Yum

A friend’s mum used to like to cook her chicken standing up ‘because it looks more natural’ apparently. She must have had a large oven and not been that bothered about spatters. She propped her chicken on an improvised trivet thing. I imagine it looked like it was begging. Since then I’ve seen lots of different recipes that plonk the chicken like this, some involving cola cans. The good thing about cooking a bird in this position is that the meat will cook more evenly – inserting a can into the cavity will help it cook from the inside out as well. If you’re trying this, please open the can and wrap it carefully in foil – who knows what is used to print onto it. I’ll post a recipe once I’ve tried it out.

Maybe you like stuffing with your roast chicken. If you put it into the bird before roasting you’ll need to cook the chicken much longer, because it increases density and that means the heat takes longer to cook everything. This usually makes the meat much drier, especially the ever popular breast. That’s why people slather it in bacon, or put fat under the skin. That’s why I cook stuffing separately if I cook it, which mostly I don’t unless I am feeding the 5,000 (or Christmas).


Other chicken recipes: marinated chicken strips chicken on forty cloves of garlic flattened chicken