As mentioned in a previous post, I’ve been looking at new features to add to Hand To Mouth. My friend Dazzler suggested I try re-creating recipes from weird and wonderful books, which I thought was a great idea. This first ‘Tried & Tested’ post fits more into the latter category, as it comes from a rather lovely new cookery book called ‘Great British Food‘.

Put together by the guys behind the brilliant Canteen mini chain of restaurants, this Lancashire Hot Pot stays true to their ethos of cooking gutsy, tasty, good quality, British grub. The recipe calls for leg mutton, which I couldn’t get hold of at the time of cooking, so instead I used shoulder of lamb.

The recipe takes a bit of prep, but once you get going it’s pretty easy, and it tastes reet good.

Ingredients (serves 6)

50g butter

250g onions, sliced

1kg boned leg of mutton, 3-4cm dice

150g carrots, sliced

10g fresh thyme, leaves picked

3 bay leaves

700g floury potatoes (Maris Piper), peeled ad thinly sliced

500ml meat stock

100ml meat stock

Salt and black pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 135 degrees, and then heat up half the butter in a saucepan. Add the onions and sweat over a low heat for around 15 minutes or until soft and translucent, but not browned.

Next place the meat in an oven proof dish and add the onions, carrots, thyme and bay leaves. Season well with salt and pepper, and then mix together.

Arrange the potato slices on top of the meat and vegetable mix, overlapping the slices slightly, and then pour the stock and ale into the dish.

Now melt the remaining butter and brush over the potatoes, season with salt, cover with a lid and then pop in the oven to cook for 2 hours.

After two hours, remove the lid from the dish, increase the oven temperature to 150 degrees and continue cooking for a further 30-45 minutes until the potatoes are nicely browned.

Serve in big bowls, making sure you get a good mix of the meat, vegetables and the tasty stock.

Veal had a bit of a bad rep in the 80s, but that didn’t stop the veal escalope becoming one of my favourite things to eat when I was growing up. There used to be this great Italian restaurant called La Baita up the road from my folk’s place in North London that we’d to go to on a pretty regular basis. I pretty much always ordered the veal escalope, which was served with sauteed potatoes and deep fried courgette. Not exactly healthy, but very tasty.

This is a bit of a remix of that childhood favourite. The prep is a bit fiddly, but well worth it.

Ingredients

For the Veal

2 veal escalopes

Seasoned plain flour

Thyme, finely chopped

Breadcrumbs (enough to coat both escalopes – 250 ish g)

1 egg, beaten

For the Courgette & Potato Cake

1 large potato, grated

3 courgettes, grated

1 medium onion, finely sliced

1 large clove of garlic, finely chopped

1 chilli

Handful of grated Parmesan cheese

Grated nutmeg

Salt and pepper to taste

2 medium eggs

Olive oil

Method

Start by preparing the the cake. Grate the potato and courgette, and then finely slice the onion (in a food processor if you have one). Turn out onto a clean tea towel, bunch up and squeeze the excess moisture out of the grated veggies. Place in a bowl and add the chopped chilli, finely chopped garlic, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and a few grates of nutmeg. Mix together, crack in the two eggs, mix again thoroughly and then set aside.

Now prep the veal. Scatter plain flour on a large plate and season with salt and pepper, then take another plate and scatter on the breadcrumbs. Chop the thyme, and then mix into the crumbs. Finally beat an egg in a flat bottomed bowl. Take each escalope, pat dry with kitchen towel, and then coat with the seasoned flour. Pat off the excess and then dip in the egg, covering the surface of the meat. Then coat with the breadcrumbs, patting down to make sure the escalope is covered, and then set aside.

Get a large frying pan on the heat, and coat with olive oil. Decant the courgette and potato mixture into the pan and flatten with the back of a spatula to form an even cake about an inch thick, and then turn on your grill to maximum. Cook on the hob for around 5 minutes. Turn up the side of the cake with the spatula, once it’s a dark golden brown, pop it under the grill for another five mintes.

Whilst the courgette and potato cake is in the oven, get another frying pan on the heat. Add some rapeseed or groundnut oil to the pan, and when it’s good and hot, pop in the breaded veal escalopes. Fry on each side for around one minute, or until golden brown. Remove from the pan, rest on kitchen towel to remove excess oil, and you’re ready to eat.

Serve with a slice of the courgette and potato cake, a parsley, red onion and cucumber salad dressed with a nice mustardy vinaigrette, and a wedge of lemon. Buon appetito!

Image - factmagazine.co.uk

Joe Goddard of Hot Chip fame has just released a solo album called ‘Harvest Festival’, and I’m liking it. I’m a big fan of the Chip, and listening to ‘Harvest Festival’ it’s clear who influences the beats and bleeps in their releases.

Each of the tracks has a fruity theme (hence the post), Apple Bobbing, Go Bananas, Sour Grapes to name but three, and range from the melancholy and melodic to the more bass bin troubling.

There’s also a nice surprise if you buy the CD or vinyl. You get a recipe for a Tomato Harvest Chutney from the suspiciously well connected Rosie Lovell of Rosie’s Deli Cafe in Brixton. Nice touch.

Ingredients

500g English strawberries

75g vanilla sugar

Juice of half a lemon

Method

Hull the strawberries (remove the leafy top and pale fruit) with the tip of a sharp knife and then wash. Dry off with a tea towel and place in a large pan. Add the vanilla sugar (vanilla sugar is easy to make – every time you scrape out a vanilla pod, put the remains in a jam jar with caster sugar – after a week or so the sugar will take on a lovely vanilla smell and taste) and lemon juice and stir.

Before you put the pan on the heat, get a saucer and place it in the fridge. I’ll explain why in a minute. Next, put the pan on a high heat and bring up to the boil while stirring. Before long the fruit will start to give up its juices, and the mixture will begin to resemble jam. You need to simmer the jam for about 10 minutes to bring it to setting point. A scum will probably develop on the surface of the mixture; skim this off every few minutes.

After 10 minutes take the pan off the heat, and dribble some of the mixture onto your cold saucer. Place the saucer back in the fridge. After a couple of minutes, take it out again and perform the ‘wrinkle’ test by running your finger through the mixture. If it wrinkles, the jam is at setting point and ready to store, if your finger slides through return to the heat for a few minutes and repeat the test.

If the jam is at setting point, put the mixture in a sterilised jar. You can sterilise jars by pouring in boiling water to the top or placing in the oven for a few minutes at 100ºC.

Leave the jam to cool and then eat or refrigerate. It should keep for 3 – 4 weeks.