Gourmet on the Go! | The Essex Gourmet Blog

Wanted: Britain’s Best Bakery

gourmet-on-the-go — Fri, 11 May 2012 11:17:39 +0000

Do you know a bakery that makes pastries and baked goods to die for?

Or do you own or work in a bakery and believe your breads and cakes are the best in the land?

If so, Shine TV want to hear from you for a new baking series for ITV1.

We want to showcase Britain’s best independent, family and/ or community bakeries and their amazing creations, from scones and Eccles cakes to baklava, Chinese buns and Jamaican coconut bread.

If you are interested in taking part or want to nominate a brilliant bakery, please call 0207 985 7568 or email: bestbakery@shine.tv ASAP.

Lamb and Apricot Curry Recipe

gourmet-on-the-go — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 12:41:58 +0000

I got into experimenting with Indian spices back in the early nineties when I shared the ‘mature student’ flat with an Indian guy called Nev; a very enthusiastic and able cook. Out went the curry powder, to replaced with a masala dabba and a lust to learn. Over ten years later, and I am still perfecting the art of spicing and cooking delicious Indian influenced dishes, tastes that I never tire of.

As curry’s go, this recipe has relatively few ingredients and is quick to cook. Furthermore, it is extremely tasty – tender succulent meat, subtle spicing, and the sweet fruity balance from the ripe dried apricots.

A great dish to cook for friends at the weekend, delicious served with plain rice, sag aloo and a chapati. An Alsace white wine – Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris or Riesling works well with this curry. I hope you try it, and if you do, let me know what you think!

Lamb and Apricot Curry Recipe

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 25 mins

Total time: 40 mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

450g/1lb Leg of lamb meat, cut into thick strips
2 medium onions, peeled, one sliced and one quartered
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 inch long thumb of fresh ginger, peeled and quartered
1 large green birdseye chilli, halved and seeded, or more to taste
200ml/6fl oz natural plain yoghurt (full fat is best)
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp Garam Masala
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
teaspoon of sea salt
Stick of Cinnamon
2 plump green cardamom pods
6 dried apricots, quartered
2 tbsp butter
Small bunch of fresh coriander, chopped

Method:

Blitz the quartered onion, garlic, ginger and chilli in a mini chopper or processor until finely chopped, or chop by hand. Place in a large bowl. Add yoghurt, tomato puree, cumin seeds, garam masala and salt. Mix thoroughly. Then add your lamb and well coat in the marinade. Allow to marinate for 1 to 2 hours.
In a large pan, fry the sliced onion in 1 tbsp of butter until they become lightly golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and allow to cool before chopping briefly in a processor or grind in a pestle and mortar.
Once your lamb is marinated, heat up the pan that you used to fry the onions (add more butter if it is dry) and add your ground cooked onions. Warm through for a minute and then add the lamb and marinade. Stir fry over a high heat for 2 minutes, then cover the pan, and lower the heat. Cook, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes. Stir in a little water if the sauce becomes dry.
Meanwhile, in another pan, melt the remaining tbsp of butter over a low heat. Lightly tap the cardamom pods with the flat of a large knife, just to open a little. Then add the apricots, cardamom and cinnamon to the butter and gently cook for 2 minutes.
Pour the butter/spice/apricot mixture over your curried lamb and serve.

Chicken Thighs with Local Leeks and Aspall’s Cyder

gourmet-on-the-go — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 15:46:49 +0000

This is one of those seasonal dishes that is so simple and yet so flavoursome. I like to use chicken thighs when slow cooking, as they stay moist and succulent, as well as providing more flavour in your sauce. You could always pull out the bones once cooked if you prefer. Serve this with some lovely local, sweet new potatoes that are about now, steamed or boiled with a couple of cloves of garlic – when cooked squash the garlic into some butter with a fork, crush into the cooked potatoes, and season – a delicious, easy weekday supper.

Chicken with Leeks & Cider Recipe

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

6 chicken thighs
2 large trimmed leeks (about 500g) washed & sliced into thick rounds
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp plain flour
300ml dry cider (I used Aspall’s)
300ml chicken stock
4 sprigs of thyme
Salt & pepper

Method:

Trim any excess fat off of the chicken thighs and then season with salt and pepper on both sides. Melt the butter over a medium low heat, and brown the chicken on both sides. Remove from pan and set aside.
Add the leeks to the same pan you cooked your chicken and sauté on a low heat for 5 to 7 minutes until soft. Then, add the flour and stir in well with the leeks, cooking for a couple of minutes. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the cider and stock, a little at a time.
Put the pan back on the heat, bring up to boiling point and then add your chicken thighs and two sprigs of thyme. Turn the heat down to low, cover and simmer for thirty minutes. Taste and season accordingly.
Remove the leaves from the remaining thyme and scatter over the finished dish when served.

Notes:

Delicious with mashed potato or crushed new potatoes as above.

Half Term Victorian Cookery at Audely End House

gourmet-on-the-go — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:23:05 +0000

What: Everything But the Squeak Week

When: Feb – Sat 11^th, Sun 12^th & Wed 15^th to Sun 19^th. 11am-5pm

Where: Audley End House and Gardens, Essex, CB11 4JF

Experience the sights, sounds and smells of Victorian cookery this February half-term, as Audley End House and Gardens invites families to come and see how a country house cooked with pork in the 1880’s during ‘Everything But the Squeak Week’.

Visitors can watch Mrs Avis Crocombe – the resident cook at Audley End – working on an entire pig in the Audley End kitchens, and cooking her way through parts that we are all familiar with, and some parts we aren’t!

From trotters to snouts, animals were devoured entirely during Victorian Times. Using authentic Victorian recipes, Mrs Crocombe and her team will re-create historical dishes that would have regularly featured on the menu in times gone by, and demonstrate how even in aristocratic households no food was put to waste – and delicious fare was produced using all of the different parts of a pig.

Lucy Hutchings, events manager for English Heritage in the London and East region, said: “Audley End is the perfect location for an event such as this, as the fully functioning Service Wing really gives visitors the chance to experience historic cooking up close, and get an insight into life in a grand Victorian household.

“With thriftiness on many people’s minds these days, the event really shows you how Victorians made full use of leftovers and every part of a pig possible!”

Prices: Adults £8.70/ Concessions £7.80/ Children £5.20/ Family £22.60 (ticket price includes entry to event plus, entry to the Service Wing, Stables Yard & grounds)

English Heritage Members: Free

Pulled Pork and Spicy Slaw Recipe

gourmet-on-the-go — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:51:53 +0000

Pulled Pork is serious business in the States, although has not quite reached us over in the UK with the same enthusiasm. I find this hard to understand, as this dish has the real wow factor, perhaps it is an issue of the time required to create? Anyway, if you want to find out more about creating the perfect pulled pork, the internet is your friend. I found a whole host of sites dedicated to marinades, sauces, cooking times and whether to marinade or not; serious studies of trial and error.

Because you are using a serious hunk of meat, marinating makes little difference as only the very edge of the meat is affected. The spice rub, usually includes paprika, chilli, onion, garlic, salt, pepper and sugar. I used pimenton to give a smoky flavour, with a spicy edge – if you have a home smoker, smoking your pulled pork first will give a wonderful flavour and is a traditional cooking method for the hardcore pulled pork fans.

The essential part of any pulled pork recipe is slow cooking, if you have time, slow cook on the lowest temperature of your oven overnight for the most moist and succulent results, ensuring that your meat reaches 88°C/190°F when cooked. For a faster feast, that still produces tender and tasty results, try my recipe…

Pulled Pork Recipe

5.0 from 1 reviews

Recipe type: Main

Author: Sarah Fay

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 5 hours 30 mins

Total time: 5 hours 40 mins

Serves: 6 – 8

Imagine soft, moist, tender pork with a delicious piquant sauce and spicy, crunchy slaw in a freshly baked roll, oh this is a feast of dreams. This recipe does take some slow cooking to reach the desired texture and taste, although is well worth the time. Treat your family and friends to pulled pork and spicy slaw rolls this bonfires night, and banish the incomparable burgers and sausages…

Ingredients:

For the Pulled Pork:
2kg pork shoulder
2 tbsp hot smoked paprika (pimenton)
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp Garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp sea salt
1 tbsp ground white pepper
5 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp English mustard powder
300ml apple cider
100ml water
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tsp Worcester sauce
For the Spicy Slaw:
Half a red cabbage, finely sliced
1 large carrot, grated
1 red onion, finely sliced
1 inch knob of ginger, grated
1 birdseye chilli, seeds removed & finely chopped
2 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tbsp garlic mayonnaise
Juice of half a lime
1 tbsp soy sauce
tsp castor sugar
1 heaped tbsp chopped coriander

Method:

Thoroughly mix all of the ingredients for the spicy slaw together in a large bowl and allow to rest so that all of flavours meld.
Remove the rind from your shoulder of pork, just leaving a thin layer of fat. Leave your pork out of the fridge so it reaches room temperature.
Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 2/150c/300f.
Mix together the hot smoked paprika, cumin, garlic, mustard and onion powder with the salt, pepper and 4tbsp of the brown sugar to make up your spice rub.
Rub the spice mix all over your pork really massaging it in well.
Add the cider and water to a large baking pan with metal rack. Place the pork on the rack and cover in parchment paper and then baking foil, sealing tightly.
Bake in the oven for four hours, then uncover and cook for 1 more hour. The pork should reach a temperature of 88c/190f.
Once cooked, remove the pork and allow it to rest in a warm area, loosely covered with foil or a clean tea towel.
Pour the juices from the baking pan into a bowl and allow to cool slightly, so that the fat rises to the top. Skim off the fat and discard.
Pour the juices into a saucepan and add the tomato puree, Worcester sauce, cider vinegar and the remaining 1 tbsp of brown sugar. Bring to the boil and then simmer rapidly over a medium heat for 30 minutes.
Use two forks to pull your tender pork apart into chunks, place on a large serving plate or dish and top with the reduced sauce – delicious!