Roast partridge & barley broth

 

Introduction 

To use more of the game we got over Christmas, I found another recipe in my Jamie Oliver book. Again I have modified it based on the ingredients we had in and what we like. I think this was a delicious alternative to a standard Sunday roast and would work just as well with a whole chicken or a few thighs and legs. 

Ingredients 

100g pearl barley 

 

1 onion

2 stalks of celery

1 clove garlic

 

1 carrot

1 parsnip

4 rashers streaky bacon

1 tin sweetcorn 

Handful mangetout 

2 partridges 

 

Chicken stock

I had some home made frozen but a stock cube & water would be fine

1 lemon

1 tbsp mixed herbs

Method

• Add the barley to boiling salted water and simmer for 50 mins 
• Meanwhile, prepare the veg. Finely chop the onion, celery & garlic into a bowl
• In another dice the parsnip & carrot. 
• Chop the bacon & add half to the bowl with the carrot & parsnip.
• When the barley is soft, drain and put to one side. 
• Add some oil to a pan and gently fry the onion, celery and garlic for a good 8 mins or until soft. 
• Next mix in the carrot, parsnip & bacon. Stir fry until the bacon is cooked.  
• Mix in the barley & add the stock. There should be enough liquid so you have a fairly thick soup. Turn the heat down & simmer. You can add a touch more water if it gets too thick.  
• For the partridges I have never butchered one before. If you can separate the wings and breasts, do it. I kind of roughly did an ok job.  
• Place in a roasting dish, cover with the mixed herbs and season. 
• Quarter the lemon and give a little squeeze. Leave the lemon segments in the roasting dish 
• Add the rest of the chopped bacon and a splash of water or stock. 
• Roast at 150 degrees C for about an hour
• Just as the birds are done, mix the sweetcorn & mangetout into the barley. 
• Serve with some nice crusty bread

Enjoy 😉

Game Ragù

 

Introduction 

For Christmas, we got a selection of game including a 300g pack of diced mixed game. Looking for something to use this I came across an interesting ragù recipe in one of my Jamie Oliver books. We love Spaghetti Bolognese and I have already done a rich pasta sauce here. With some slight modifications, this is what I made:

Ingredients 

1 onion

3 cloves garlic

1 stick celery

1 large carrot

1 large parsnip 

All the above should be chopped as finely as you can. 

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp basil

1 tsp oregano 

1 tbsp tomato purée

1 tin chopped tomatoes 

1 glass of wine

Jamie's recipe suggests white wine makes a lighter sauce, I used red since we had no white

About half a pint of Chicken stock

300g mixed game

I also reckon that lamb or beef would also work

2 tsp balsamic vinegar 

Fresh chopped parsley 

Orange zest

Salt, pepper, Parmesan to taste

Pasta of your choosing 

Method

• Heat some oil in an oven proof pan
• Add the onion, garlic, celery, carrot & parsnip. Fry gently for 8-10 mins
• Stir in the dried herbs and tomato purée and cook for a further 5-8 mins. 
• Add the wine, tinned tomatoes, stock, salt, pepper & vinegar and bring to a gentle boil. 
• Now add the game meat and simmer for at least 2 hrs with the lid off. The meat should be falling apart. If the sauce gets too dry, add a touch more water but keep the sauce thick
• Cook your fave pasta as per instructions. 
• Just before serving, mix in a handful each of fresh chopped parsley and Parmesan. Grate zest from about half an orange in. This adds a fantastic, unexpected flavour. 
• Garnish with more parsley, Parmesan & black pepper. 

Enjoy 😉

Scouse

Introduction

Scouse.

Staple of Liverpool and surrounding areas. Great way of cooking cheap cuts of meat and using leftover vegetables. Great for tricking children into eating hidden veg. Filling and warming in winter, yet make it thinner and it can be a delightful summer dish too.

Every place has their own version of Scouse. The Welsh have Cawl, there's Irish Stew, Lancashire Hotpot all made to similar (yet different) recipes. Within Merseyside, everyone claims their scouse is the best. Every family will have their own recipe with slight differences

This is mine...

Ingredients (serves 4 for two days)

200g or so of lamb neck

200g or so of a cheap cut of beef such as shin

half a bury black pudding

1 large onion

1 stick celery

2 or 3 carrots

200g or so of spuds. Whatever your fancy

Whatever other leftover veg you have. I had:

half a celeriac

4 or 5 runner beans

1 tbsp plain flour

1 tbsp paprika

2 tsp thyme

3 bay leaves

1 tbsp worcester sauce

2 tbsp of tomato puree

1 tsp marmite

1 tsp cranberry jelly

Method

For this, I've used my slow cooker where you just bung everything in, mix up and let sit for 5 to 6 hours, however you can easily do this in the oven or on the hob by putting the ingredients in the order shown and cooking for a few mins before moving on to the next

• Chop the onion, celery and carrot and put in the pan
  
  
  
• Mix the flour, paprika, thyme, some salt and pepper with the chopped meat. Add to the pan
  
  
  
• Add chopped leftover veg until the cooker/oven pan is almost full
  
  
  
• Finish the top with sliced taters. I like mine to go soft and mushy but still retain shape so about half centimetre slices will do this.  Here I used baby new potatoes but use which ever you prefer
  
  
  
• Add the bay leaves and the liquid ingredients. Now mix well.
• If you have some, a good slug of red wine or dark beer will only make this nicer
  
  
  
• Slow cook for about 5 hours. In the oven you should cook at no higher than 140º for at least 4 hours. On the hob, a low heat for at least 2 hours will probably do
• Serve with some nice crust bread and pickled cabbage (never NEVER beetroot – it's just wrong)

Enjoy :-)

Lamb Tagine

Introduction

Looking at the veg we got in the last delivery, there were a few interesting things we thought we'd like to do. I've always wanted a proper tagine, but there was no reason why we still couldn't make one. A recent addition to the cookerybookshelf was the Hairy Dieters which contained an interesting and easy looking Moroccan tagine. Adapting it slightly based on our ingredients gives us the following, delicious recipe.

Ingredients

500g or so of lamb

1 medium onion

1 stick celery

1 chilli

3 cloves garlic

1 aubergine

1 carrot

5 mini peppers (1 normal pepper would also work)

500g tin of tomatoes

about 10 sundried tomatoes – the recipe calls for dried apricots but the kids are not a fan so I've substituted toms instead

1 tin chickpeas

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp coriander

Method

• Mix the the cumin, coriander and cinnamon together and rub into the chopped lamb pieces. Put aside
  
  
  
• In an ovenproof pan, heat some olive oil and stir in the chopped onion, celery, garlic and chilli. Cook on a medium heat until it all softens slightly
• Now stir in the meat an cook until browned
  
  
  
• Stir in the chopped aubergine and carrot and fry for a minute or two
• Mix in the tin of tomatoes and fill the tin with water twice and add to the mix.
• Stir in the chickpeas and bring to a simmer
• Put in a preheated oven. I used about 160 degrees and cooked for about two hours – you know me, long and slow ;-)
  
• About 10 mins before serving, add the chopped sundried toms and the chopped peppers
• Garnish with fresh coriander

Enjoy :-)

Simple Carrot Soup

Introduction

When I was little, my Nan used to make the most amazing carrot soup. For me, it was magical. How did this pretty disgusting veg (I'd didn't like them then) turn into a delicious soup?

So it turned out we had a bunch of carrots in and a bit of left over coriander from my last curry. With weather changing, this has wholesome carrot & coriander soup written all over it. I did a little bit of research (I googled carrot soup) and discovered it seemed to be really easy.

So this is my attempt at a very simple and quick recipe that turned out to be delicious. I suspect it would work with other root veg instead of carrot. Given the time of year, perhaps pumpkin or (bleurgh) beetroot. Or maybe that massive squash I got recently...

Ingredients

7 or 8 large carrots – no idea what the weight was but this made a lovely amount

1 stick celery

8 shallots

1 espresso cup of red lentils

Veg stock – I used a cube with hot water

Spices

1 tsp coriander

2 tbps coriander seeeds

Small bunch of fresh coriander

Method

• Heat some olive oil and a good spoonful of butter in a pan
• Very roughly crush the coriander seeds
• Mix in in the roughly chopped shallots, carrot, celery & crushed coriander. Keep stirring until it softens
• Stir in the coriander power and the lentils. Mix well

• Add enough stock to cover well
• Bring to boil and simmer until the carrots are soft
• Stir in the chopped coriander leaves
• Blitz with a food processor. The soup should go thick and creamy and delcious

Enjoy :-)