*Sorrel is a herb with long, tender green leavesand a tart, lemony flavour. Discard the bitter stems before cooking with it. Sorrel has a strong flavour, so it is best used judiciously.
1. Pour the stock and the wine into a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat, then cover and keep at simmering point.
2. Melt half the butter in a large heavy based saucepan.Add the olive oil, onion and garlic and saute over medium heat for 5 minutes, or until the onion has softened.
3. Add the rice and stir to caot, then add 125ml of the simmering stock and cook, stirring constantly, over low heat until all the stock has been absorbed.
4. Continue adding the stock, 125ml at a time, stirring constantly and making sure the stock has been absorbed before adding more.
5. When nearly all the stock has been added, stir in the asparagus and sorrel. Continue adding the stock until the rice is tender and creamy and the asparagus is just cooked.
6. Stir in the remaining butter and the parmesan.
7. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and serve.
Wild Garlic Pesto
Ingredients
100g freshly picked wild garlic leaves
50g shallot, spring onions or leeks
50g shelled walnuts
200 ml olive oil, sunflower oil or rapeseed oil
50-60g Quick’s goats cheese, finely grated
½ - 1 teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon sugar
Method
1. Start by picking the leaves over and discarding any coarse stalks, damaged leaves or any stray pieces of grass (you don’t need to wash unless you’ve picked from road side verges).
2. Place in food processor along with walnuts, shallot and 150 ml oil. Blitz for about a minute until everything is finely chopped up.
3. Fold in the grated cheese, salt and sugar.
4. Fill into clean sterilised jars to within 5-7 cm of the top of jar. Make sure you press down firmly with the back of a spoon to remove any pockets of air (trapped air can cause contamination) allowing sufficient room to swirl the remaining oil over the top of the pesto to seal the surface.
5. When you come to use the pesto, stir it well before spooning out.
6. Make sure the surface of any pesto remaining in the jar is completely covered with oil before you return to the fridge. (this is very important if it is to keep well).
Chocolate and Ginger Loaf Cake
If you're making this for Mother's Day, don't forget to top it off with a decorative touch or two and add a dash of love to the recipe.
Makes 2 x 500g cakes
Ingredients
100g Saunders Dark Chocolate
2 nuggets of stem ginger in syrup
100g Plain Flour
40g Fairtrade Cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
25g Ground Almonds
pinch of salt
125g Soured cream
75ml Sunflower oil
2 large Low Sizergh Barn Free Range Eggs
150g Fairtrade Soft Brown Sugar
50ml Boiling water
For the chocolate ganache
200g Saunders dark chocolate
75g Winter Tarn unsalted Butter
2 tablespoons double cream
If you prefer you could swap the stem ginger for candied peel or chocolate chips.
Method
1. Pre heat the oven tp 180oc/350of/Gas Mark 4.
2. Butter and line the ends of 2 x 500g loaf tins with a strip of baking parchment.
3. Melt the chocolate. Stir until smooth and set aside. Finely chop the ginger.
4. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, ground almonds and salt. Mix together the soured cream and sunflower oil.
5. Beat the eggs and sugar until they are pale and thick. Stir in the melted chocolate and chopped ginger.
6. Add the dry ingredients and then the oil and soured cream, fold in until smooth. Whisk in the boiling water and divide the mixture into the two tins.
7. Bake on the middle shelf of the pre heated oven for 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cakes comes out clear.
8. For the ganache, melt together the chocolate, butter and cream. Stir until smooth and combined. Set aside to cool and thicken slightly.
9. Using a palette knife spread the ganache over the top of each cake and leave to cool before decorating with chopped nuts and stem ginger.
Recipe taken from 'Gifts from the Kitchen' Annie Rigg, available in the Shippon
Saltimbocca
Serves 4
Ingredients
8 Small Winter Tarn veal escalopes
8 slices of Cumbrian air-dried ham from Shaw meats
8 sage leaves
2 tablespoons of olive oil
60g (2.25oz) of Carron Lodge Butter
185ml (6floz, 3/4 cup) of dry white wine
Method
1. Place the veal slices between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound using a meat pounder until about 5mm (1/4inch) thick. Season lightly with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2. Cut the ham slices to the same size as the veal. Cover each piece of veal with a ham slice and place a sage leaf in the centre. Secure the sage leaf with a cocktail stick or toothpick
3. Heat the olive oil and half of the butter in a large frying pan. Add the veal in batches, ham side up, and fry over medium heat for 3-4 minutes, or until the veal is just cooked through. Turn and fry the ham side, transferring each batch to a warm plate
4. Pour off the oil from the pan and add the wine. Bring to the boil and cook over high heat until reduced by half, stirring to loosen any bits stuck to the bottom of the pan
5. Add the remaining butter and when it is melted, season the sauce to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
6. Divide the saltimbocca among four warmed plates; remove the cocktail sticks and spoon the sauce over to serve
Based on a recipe from ‘The Butcher’ by Leanne Kitchen available in the shippon at £18.99
Rhubarb Chutney
Ingredients
450g rhubarb (red end, washed & chopped)
2 onions, chopped
3 tablespoons sultanas
2 tablespoons soft brown sugar
pinch cayenne pepper
1 tsp English mustard powder
1 tsp salt
1 tablespoon mild curry paste
2 tablespoons of port
150ml white wine vinegar
Method1. Put all the ingredients into a large saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer slowly for 10 minutes, stirring all the time.
2. Boil rapidly for a further 3 minutes until the rhubarb is fully cooked.
3. Put into warm jars and seal.
Let it stand for 7 days before using.
Seville Orange Marmalade
Pam Corbin, in the River Cottage Preserves book (shippon gallery £14.99) offers this easy and timesaving recipe using the whole fruit method.
Ingredients
(Makes 5 x 450g jars)
1 kg Seville oranges
75ml lemon juice
2 kg demerara sugar
Method1. Scrub the fruit, remove the buttons at the top and put it, whole, into a preserving pan with 2.5 litres water. Bring to the boil then simmer, covered for 2 – 2 ½ hours or until the orange skins are tender and can be pierced easily with a fork.
2. When cool enough to handle, take the oranges out. Measure & keep the cooking water – you should have about 1.7 litres. Make it up to this amount with more water if you have less, or bring to the boil and reduce if you have more.
3. Cut the oranges in half & remove the pips with a fork, flicking them into a bowl. Strain any juice from the pips back into the cooking water, then discard the pips.
4. Meanwhile, cut up the orange peel and flesh into thick, medium or thin shreds. Put the cut-up fruit into the strained cooking liquid. Add the lemon juice and sugar and bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar has completely dissolved. Bring to a rolling boil and boil rapidly until setting point is reached, about 10-15 minutes.
5. Leave to cool for 10-12 minutes – a little longer if you have cut the peel into very chunky pieces – then stir gently to disperse any scum, pour into warm, sterilised jars and seal immediately.
Use within 2 years.
Cranberry Sauce with Clementines
Ingredients
2 clementines
200g cranberries
100g light muscovado sugar
6tbsp port
Method1. Squeeze 1 clementine and put the juice in a pan with the cranberries, sugar and port. Cook for 5 minutes until the cranberries start to soften and burst.
2. Tear the other clementine into segments (remove the membrane if you have time) and cook along with the cranberries for 2 minutes more.
Store in fridge, or freezer for up to 2 months.
Jerusalem Artichoke and Carrot Soup
Ingredients
(Serves 6)
25g (1oz) Carron Lodge butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
400g (14oz) Growing Well Organic Jerusalem Artichoke, peeled and chopped
450g (1lb) carrots, of which 240g (8.5oz) roughly chopped, 110g (4oz) grated
Half stick of celery, roughly chopped
900ml (1.5 pints) vegetable stock
110ml (4floz) Brades milk
Salt and freshly ground pepper
To garnish
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
3 rashers of Higginsons unsmoked streaky bacon, chopped
150ml (1/4 pint) single cream
Method
1. Melt the butter and cook the onion gently until soft in a covered saucepan, without colouring. Add the artichokes, roughly chopped carrots and celery and cook gently for 2 minutes. Add the vegetable stock, cover and bring to boil. Simmer gently for about 20 minutes until the vegetables are tender.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil for the garnish and sauté the chopped bacon over a moderate heat until crisp. Drain on kitchen paper.
3. Cool the soup a little, then puree in a liquidizer. Return to clean saucepan and stir in the grated carrots and milk. Season. Cover and simmer gently for a further 5 minutes. Serve garnished with a swirl of single cream and sprinkled with crisp bacon.
Based on recipe from New Covent Garden Food Co. Book of Soups available in the shippon £7.99
Squash and Walnut ToastieHugh says: If you're roasting squash or pumpkin, do a little extra and have this quick lunch the day after. You could use other leftover roasted veg too, such as celeriac, beetroot or carrots, and different nuts, such as hazelnuts, cashews or pine nuts. No nuts is fine too...
Ingredients
Handful of walnuts
1 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
Knob of butter
200-250g leftover roasted squash or pumpkin
Couple of sprigs of thyme, leaves only (optional)
50g blue cheese (or Cheddar, or goat's cheese) crumbled
2 thick slices of sourdough or other robust bread
Tickle of clear honey
Sea salt & freshly ground pepper
Method
1. Heat a non stick frying pan over a medium heat. Add the walnuts and toast gently, tossing the pan, for a few minutes until they start to smell toasty and take on a little colour. Tip out of the pan; set aside.
2. Return the pan to the heat and add the oil and butter. When foaming add the pumpkin or squash and cook for 3 - 4 minutes crushing it down a bit, until heated through. Stir in the thyme, if using, then take off the heat. Add the nuts and the crumbled cheese, and stir roughly into the pumpkin or squash. Taste and add a little salt and some pepper if you think it needs it.
3. Preheat the grill to medium and lightly toast the bread. Pile the squash mixture on to the bread, packing it down a little and making sure some chunks of cheese are on top. Trickle over a little honey and grill until golden brown and bubbling. Serve straight away, with some salad leaves if you like.
From River Cottage Veg Every Day Hugh Fearnely-Whttingstall, £25, in the Shippon Gallery
Steamed Jam Pudding
Ingredients
250g Winter Tarn unsalted butter, softened
250g caster sugar
3 Low Sizergh Barn eggs
375g Watermill self-raising flour
50ml Brades milk
4 tablespoons Mary Harkness Damson Jam
Vanilla Windermere ice cream made from Low Sizergh Barn Milk (to serve)
Method
1. Put the butter and sugar in a medium mixing bowl and beat with a wooden spoon until pale and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until blended.
2. Sift the flour over the egg mixture and fold in. add the milk and continue folding the mixture until smooth.
3. Pour the jam into the buttered pudding basin. Spoon the sponge mixture on top. Cover with baking parchment and secure with kitchen string.
4. Sit the pudding basin in a large saucepan. Pour in boiling water from the kettle until it comes about halfway up the sides of the basin. Cover and simmer gently for 1 hour, topping up with more boiling water as necessary.
5. Carefully remove the pudding basin from the saucepan and peel off the paper. Place a large serving plate on top of the basin, then turn the pudding over, giving it a gentle shake to release it from the mould.
6. Cut the pudding into slices at the table and serve with ice cream.
Based on recipe from Easy Desserts available in the shippon £8.99.
Oxtail Carbonnade
Ingredients
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 kg oxtail
1 onion
2 carrots, sliced
500ml Samuel Smith nut brown ale
1 bouquet garni
Seasoning
2 tsp cornflour
Method
1. Heat the oil in a heavy based frying pan and brown the oxtail.
2. Transfer oxtail to slow cooker
3. Gently fry the onion for 5 minutes then add the sliced carrot.
4. Transfer vegetables to slow cooker
5. Pour the ale into the frying pan and bring to a boil
6. Add the ale to the slow cooker along with the bouquet garni & seasoning.
7. Cover and cook for 10 hours on a low heat.
8. One half hour before serving combine the cornflour with 2 tbsp water and add to the slow cooker to thicken the stew.