Getting Smokey

Whether you know it as mutabbal, moutabal, caviar d’aubergines or baba ganoush, the smoke-scented aubergine puree is a classic.

Baba ganoush is a Lebanese dish of aubergine, mashed and mixed with virgin olive oil and various seasonings. I suppose you could say it’s the lesser known cousin of hummus, only instead of chickpeas you have aubergine.

Good baba ganoush is reliant on the smokey, charred flavour of the aubergines, although I like to help it along with a little smoked salt too. Too many versions of this recipe fail to recognize the importance of scorching the aubergines over a grill or hot flame. This is essential to give the smoky quality that lends such a distinctive note to the dish.

Feel free to drizzle with some pomegranate molasses or pomegranate seeds – this works particularly well with lamb – if you feel like it, but, please don’t go too mad with the flavourings; this is an opportunity for the aubergines earthiness to shine.

Baba Ganoush

• 3 medium-sized aubergines
• 130g tahini
• 1/4 teaspoon smoked salt (or sea salt)
• 3 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• A good handful of fresh parsley or coriander leaves plus extra parsley or coriander leaves to serve

1. Preheat the oven to 190C or the equivalent.
2. Prick each aubergine a few times, then char the outside of the auberginess by placing them directly on the flame of a gas burner and as the skin chars, turn them until the auberginess are uniformly-charred on the outside.
3. Place the aubergine on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes, until they’re completely soft; you should be able to easily poke a paring knife into them and meet no resistance.
4. Remove from oven and let cool.
5. Split the aubergine and scrape out the pulp.
6. Puree the pulp in a blender or food processor with the other ingredients until smooth.
7. Taste, and season with additional salt and lemon juice, if necessary.
8. Chill for a few hours before scattering with the herbs and drizzling with olive oil.
9. Serve with flatbread, pitta or crackers.

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I recently set up a weekly order with Abel & Cole (I wasn’t very happy with my old delivery scheme and had previously tested some of Abel & Cole’s produce with fabulous results). I plumed for the Deluxe Organic Fruit Box and Seasonal Salad Box. Abel & Cole also, very kindly, sent me a Mixed Organic Fruit & Veg Box to be delivered free of charge for me to review.

Organic delivery boxes are becoming more and more popular, contrary to the view expressed on a recent Mary Queen of Shops episode. Basically one of the three sisters running the grocers said she didn’t think veg box schemes would get the slightest interest – she was wrong, the local people snapped them up! For those who didn’t watch the program, why not watch the short clip below.

There is something rather special about getting a vegetable box, something beyond knowing you’re buying organic – I mean let’s face it, you can buy organic stuff from any shop nowadays – the feeling is that of community, you can source local, fresh from the farm ingredients from a company you can trust. Now, before you all begin to shout, I know that is just me feeling all light of heart, woolly and contented. Abel & Cole are of course, as much a capitalist company as the next one – and therein lies tension. Capitalism – greed, grubby, yet vital in this day and age – destroys the pastoral. You can’t sell your cake and eat it, and the green wellied virtues of environmentalism sit uneasily with cold-blooded corporate self-interest.

But, and it’s a big but, who would you rather your money went to? A notoriously unethical supermarket chain or an ‘eco-co’ with values? I know who I would choose. And, anyhow what more ethical option is out there? Other than growing everything yourself?

Box schemes of course are not suited to everyone. I dare say if I were a city dweller with shops galore on my doorstep I mightn’t be so keen to use them. But, I don’t, I live out in the sticks with no shopping options but a post office and small convenience store. So unless I make a journey into the nearest town – only to be faced with the supermarkets – my options are limited to say the least.

I also happen to love the surprise element of the delivery box. It makes you think on your feet, encourages you to try out new ingredients and new recipes – gone is the option to eat in a repetitive or boring manner. Should you wish to have more order to your weekly cooking, you can go online to see what will be in your delivery that week, or you could create a box yourself from scratch.

So back to the boxes.

Deluxe Organic Fruit Box

Mixed Organic Fruit & Veg Box

Seasonal Salad Box

I was exceptionally pleased with the quality of all the produce.

All the boxes were packed full of exciting things. If you are very busy and if you add up the cost of motoring to the supermarket and the time involved I reckon that a weekly delivery is of fresh seasonal fruit and vegetables is excellent value. The added bonus of course is that Abel & Cole do not only supply fruit and vegetables – they sell meats, fish, dairy produce (including fabulous clotted cream), artisan cheeses, breads and a few ‘ready meals’ to name but a few.

Abel and Cole offer a lot of flexibility. You can elect never to receive the fruit and veg that you dislike. A service my previous delivery company did not include.

One downside is that there is no indication on the produce or the receipt where the items have come from. In any supermarket it either states the country or in the case of much UK produce the county and even (in most cases) the farmer it’s from. The farm shop can and does do the same. Come on Abel & Cole this needs improving.

With some of the sumptuous salad ingredients I made a prawn & avocado salad, dotted liberally with the sweet, juicy heirloom tomatoes.

Dessert was no more complex than some of the sweet, juicy fruit, sploshed with a little orange blossom water – a trick picked up from a Nigella Lawson book many moons ago.

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The Big Cheese

I have to confess when I noticed Riverford (from whom I buy my organic box delivery) were selling Mozzarella made not in Italy but in Hampshire I was to put it mildly a little dubious.

Could Laverstoke Park Farm really be producing genuine buffalo mozzarella that could live up to, let alone rival, the glorious milky cheese I’d eaten in Italy? This I had to try.

So last week I ordered a pot.

Mozzare means to tear by hand, a crucial step in the process of making mozzarella, one of Italy’s most popular cheeses. Its name also may come from scamozzata, a southern Italian term meaning “without a shirt,” an apt description of a soft cheese without a dry or hard covering.

The key to good mozzarella is of course freshness so it makes sense that UK produced mozzarella would be good from that point. Even the best Italian mozzarella imports lack that freshness and mouthfeel that you get from the real deal in Italia itself. God knows how long the packets of rubbery rounds of cheese in overly salty brine that taints have been sitting in storage before being sold at the supermarket.

In Italy mozzarella is a cheese to be bought fresh from the deli or specialist cheese shop on an as and when required basis. It is not bought at the weekly shop to sit languishing in plastic bags in the fridge for days on end.

Laverstoke Park Farm mozzarella turned out to be the best mozzarella I have eaten outside of Italy. It’s a truly excellent product, but, it cannot compare to the mozzarella I ate in Amelia (Umbria).

Image Courtesy of Google Images

Picture the scene, on an early morning stroll around the old town I came across a cheese shop selling so many specimen that I was on cloud nine. After a lengthy conversation in broken Italian and much gesticulating I came away with a bag overflowing with the best of the local produce; nestled on top of this mountain of goodness: a few balls of freshly delivered mozzarella which the assistant had plucked from a bucket of week saline solution and bagged up in front of my eyes. I did no more than break the mozzarella with my fingers, allowing the milk to ooze out and devour it plain. The burst of freshness was out of this world.

With my Laverstoke mozzarella I decided to make an Insalata Caprese.

Insalata Caprese is one of the most simple foods going, all it comprises is a plate of tomatoes, mozzarella and basil leaves drizzled with a little olive oil and freshly ground black pepper.

Not very exciting you may think, but you’d be wrong, very wrong. Sweet juicy tomatoes paired with soft milky cheese and picante basil leaves with good green and peppery olive oil can be blissful especially when paired with some rustic, crusty Italian bread.

The flavour of the Laverstock mozzarella is gentle but rich, subtle but acidic, ultra soft yielding at the slightest pressure, without being intrusive. Somehow it manages to cleanse and coat the palate at the same time – the ultimate sign of excellent mozzarella.

I was so impressed with the cheese that I’ll be adding it to my regular Riverford order and checking out Laverstoke’s online shopping section.

Why not watch a short video about the Laverstoke mozzarella?

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Will you be cool as a cucumber?

Fresh cucumbers are simple to add to salads. For an easy salad just toss diced cucumbers with sliced red onions, red tomatoes and your favourite vinaigrette. This can be a fast way to make a refreshing salad that reaps some great benefits of cucumber.

Not merely is the cucumber known for the capability to cool off the body, it has also been proven to assist with jaundice, diarrhoea, epilepsy, sore throat, conjunctivitis (redness of the eye) and swelling of extremities.

Some people find it best to deseed the cucumber as the body can have difficulty digesting the seeds. It is possible to deseed them yourself easily by cutting them in two and using a spoon to eliminate the seeds or if you wish to eliminate this step it is possible to buy cucumber chunks that are already seeded.

Anti-diabetic Benefits of Cucumber:

Beta cells within the pancreas produce the hormone insulin. Cucumber is found to have a hormone necessary for beta cells in the insulin production. Moreover, the Glycemic Index of cucumbers is found to be zero.

Why don’t Cucumbers have a glycemic index listed? Does this signify they do not raise blood sugar levels?

No! It means that under the “rules” for the concept of the glycemic index, it is too hard to get an accurate number. It is because you’ll need to eat a very big amount of the food to get 50 grams of carbohydrate at once in order to be tested. In general, the lower the quantity of carbohydrate in a vegetable and the more fibre it has, the less the increase in blood sugar levels will be.

The carbohydrates are primarily responsible of the raise of the glucose level. But the carbohydrates within the cucumber are easily digestible.

Just a few Quick Serving Ideas:

• Use half-inch thick cucumber slices as petite serving “dishes” for chopped vegetable salads.
• Mix diced cucumbers with sugar snap peas and mint leaves and toss with rice wine vinaigrette.
• For refreshing cold gazpacho soup that takes five minutes or less to make, simply purée cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers and onions, then add salt and pepper to taste.
• Add diced cucumber to tuna fish or chicken salad recipes.

Cool Cucumber Salad

Serves 8

Preparation time: 25 minutes

Marinating time: 1 hour

• 3 medium cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 1 carrot, peeled and shredded
• 1/2 red onion, sliced paper-thin
• 1/3 cup roughly chopped coriander

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup rice vinegar
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce (preferably low salt)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
• Pinch dried red pepper flakes

1. Combine the cucumbers, carrots, red onion, and coriander in a large bowl.
2. Combine the dressing ingredients. Pour the dressing over cucumbers, cover, and refrigerate for one hour before serving.

Nutritional Values per Meal: 1/2 cup portion

• Calories: 25
• Calories From Fat: 10
• Total Fat: 1 gram
• Saturated Fat: 0.1 grams
• Cholesterol: trace
• Sodium: 50 milligrams (without added salt)
• Total Carbohydrate: 5 grams
• Dietary Fibre: 1 gram
• Sugars: 3 grams
• Protein: 1g

About the writer:

Suzanne Ault shares knowledge for the diabetic diet recipes blog, her personal hobby internet site centred on cooking suggestions to stop diabetic issues.

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“Train up a fig-tree in the way it should go, and when you are old sit under the shade of it.”

Charles Dickens

Figs are such a strikingly beautiful fruit, with their fresh green or deep purple skin and vibrant deep pink flesh what is there not to love?

Fresh figs always remind me of holidaying in Turkey. We stayed in Gumbet long before it became a clubbers paradise – when we visited Gumbet was still a traditional, small fishing village on the Aegean Sea.

The nearest town, Bodrum, was by contrast a hive of activity with regular bustling markets selling everything from livestock, to fruit and vegetables, to herbs and spices, right through to clothing and household items. Cafes and restaurants lined the seemingly ever sunny sea front, but, for the best food we headed further into the centre of Bodrum, to small family run places dotted throughout the narrow side streets, many shaded by fig trees and palms.

I certainly made the most of having the luscious figs at my fingertips throughout the stay, eating them at every available opportunity whether just as a healthy snack or as part of a meal. There is little better than the fig tree’s produce when it is fresh and still warm from the sun.

Even during my young teenage years I appreciated the beautiful scenery, culture and above all the food! It was probably that holiday that sparked my long lasting love of Middle Eastern influenced food.

Image Courtesy of Google Images

Anyhow that is enough about me and my holidays. Back to the figs.

Figs can be traced in history back to the earliest of times with mentions in the Bible and other ancient writings. They are thought to have been first cultivated in Egypt. They spread to ancient Crete and then subsequently, around the 9th century BC, to ancient Greece, where they became a staple foodstuff in the traditional diet. Figs were held in such esteem by the Greeks that they created laws forbidding the export of the best quality figs. It is also claimed that Plato told the Greek athletes to eat lots of figs to aid their performance. Figs were revered in ancient Rome where they were thought of as a sacred fruit, according to Roman myth, the wolf that nurtured the twin founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, rested under a fig tree.

Figs were later introduced to other regions of the Mediterranean by ancient conquerors and then brought to the Western Hemisphere by the Spaniards in the early 16th century. In the late 19th century, when Spanish missionaries established the mission in San Diego, California, they also planted fig trees. These figs turned out to be inferior in quality to those that were imported from Europe, and it wasn’t until the development of further cultivation techniques in the early 20th century that California began focused cultivation and processing of figs. Today, California remains one of the largest producers of figs in addition to Turkey, Greece, Portugal and Spain.

Fresh figs are very delicate and tend to deteriorate quickly. When choosing fresh figs, select those which are plump and tender, have a rich, deep colour, are free from bruises and are not mushy. Even the best quality figs will only last a couple of days in the fridge after purchasing.

Figs are high in natural and simple sugars, minerals and fibre. They contain good levels of potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, copper and manganese. Dried figs contain an impressive 250mg of calcium per 100g, compared to whole milk with only 118mg.

Figs and goats cheese is a combination to die for. Fresh sweet figs against the salty cheese is amazing, add in a sweet olive oil and honey dressing with a few mixed leaves and you are heading towards salad perfection. Only the addition of some prosciutto could possibly improve this.

Although the figs were imported from Turkey, everything else was pretty locally sourced – honey from Norfolk, goat’s cheese from the UK although no more information was provided (as a side note the So Organic cheese from Sainsbury’s was surprisingly good) and salad leaves from my garden. The olive oil came from Spain via last years Ludlow Food Festival; I hope to go again this year and would suggest any foodies who have the chance to make the journey too.

Fig & Goat’s Cheese Salad

(Serves 1)

• 2 figs cut into quarters
• 50g (or to taste) of soft, crumbly goats cheese
• Cucumber (approx. 5cm piece) diced
• Salad leaves of your preference although it is good to have some peppery leaves such as rocket or watercress (to taste)
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 tablespoon boiling water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

1. Make the dressing. In a small bowl mix the honey with the boiling water to allow it to dissolve slightly and become more liquid. Very slowly add the olive oil, mixing well, to allow the liquids to amalgamate.
2. Combine the salad ingredients in a serving dish and drizzle over the dressing, mix gently to ensure the dressing is dispersed throughout the whole salad.
3. Serve with some crusty bread or pittas.

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A Taste of Morocco

“I’m really proud of this beautiful dish. I’m not sure what the mechoui man I met in the market in Marrakesh would make of it, but I like to think I’m respecting the way he cooks”

Jamie Oliver (Jamie Does)

If Jamie Oliver is unsure of how his version of Mechoui lamb with carrot and orange salad would go down in Morocco, goodness knows what they’d make of my extremely far removed from tradition version of Mechoui roast chicken wraps, served with harissa yoghurt dip and red onion salad.

Regular readers will know how much I enjoy Moroccan cuisine and how I generally try and stick to traditional methods and ingredients.

Moroccan food is one of the most sensual in the world. It appeals directly and unashamedly to the senses of smell, sight and taste in a way that no other cuisine in my eyes can match. I have yet to travel to Morocco; the closest I have got is Gibraltar, a greatly uninspiring place – too many tourists visiting en masse to shop for cut price drinks, tobacco and whatever else they could find – the one thing that did inspire though once I’d got off the beaten track was the Moroccan influence on the food. I came away with an even greater love of the Moroccan way of eating, the combination of spices and serving fruits with meat. For that reason alone I am glad to have made the trip.

In regard to the mechoui chicken though things took a rather non-traditional route. Mechoui is a North African lamb dish which is frequently prepared in Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria. Each nation has its own specific take on mechoui, so several different dishes are collectively referred to as “mechoui.” Mechoui comes from an Arabic word which means “to roast on a fire,” and traditionally the (whole) lamb is either roasted on a spit or cooked in a pit.

Whole cooking a lamb is certainly out of the question so Jamie adapted the traditional method to make it suitable for home-cooking. I’m sure, should you wish the recipe could be adapted slightly and used for lamb steaks (or other meat of your choice) which could then cooked on a barbecue.

Whatever meat you decide on, don’t forget the mandatory requirement of fiery harissa and cooling yoghurt dips. Harissa paste is widely available at all the major supermarkets now and so getting hold of some shouldn’t be a problem. You could always have a go at making your own though.  My favourite paste is one that my great friend Francesca sends me jars of from Israel.

The only reason I used chicken is because I cooked this as a birthday lunch for my mother, and she requested the chicken. Irritating really as she normally would pick lamb given the choice. Happen I should just have kept my mouth shut and served up a ‘surprise’ meal. Never mind though as the chicken was delightful.

Rather than rub the ground spices directly on the chicken I made a spice butter with them, which I then stuffed under the skin of the chicken and splodged over the top of the bird too. Jamie’s recipe calls for smen (a type of fermented butter) which is not exactly easy to get hold of in rural Staffordshire I had a pot of double cream in the fridge that needed using up so I made the ‘mechoui butter’ from scratch, needless to say you could just use some store bought butter and beat in the spices. A short recipe for the ‘mechoui butter’ can be found at the end of this post, but, if you’d like to know more about how to make butter a post with detailed photographic instructions on how to make butter can be found here.

The chicken ends up incredibly moist, flavoursome and fragrant. The waft of spices and citrus backnotes permeating the house as this cooks is enough to not only whet your appetite but have you salivating at the mere thought of the first mouthful.

In a very lapse moment I forgot to order my carrots for the salad so substituted them for red onions. What a great move that proved to be. Sweet, wafer thin slices of onion in a heady bath of citrus juice, red wine vinegar and superb light but peppery Tunisian olive oil made the perfect accompaniment to the chicken.

Don’t just take my word for it, get cooking.

Mechoui Butter:

• 250ml double cream

• 1 heaped teaspoon ground cumin

• 1 heaped teaspoon ground coriander

• 1 teaspoon sea salt

• a small handful of fresh thyme sprigs, leaves picked

• a few sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked

1. Put your (room temperature) cream in the free-standing mixer, with the paddle attachment in situ.
2. Whip the cream on high speed until stiff peaks form.
3. Reduce the speed of the mixer to medium and continue beating until the cream begins to go yellowish and clumpy.
4. Reduce the speed to low and keep mixing, after a few minutes you will see the butter forming and buttermilk being extracted.
5. Remove the butter from the dish and reserve the buttermilk, wash the bowl well and then place the butter back into the bowl. Cover the butter with very cold water and knead well, repeat the process several times or until the water is clear.
6. Press the butter (using butter pats or wooden spoons) to extract the water before gently kneading in the salt, herbs and spices.
7. Refrigerate the butter until needed.

Mechoui Chicken:

• 1 chicken (approx 2-2.5kg)
• 1 portion of ‘mechoui butter’ (see above)
• 1 lemon, cut into rough chunks
• 1 orange, cut into rough chunks
• 1 bulb garlic cut in half

1. Preheat the oven to 200C or the equivalent.
2. Loosen the chicken skin over the breasts and fill with the 2/3 mechoui butter.
3. Make a trivet for the chicken with the lemon, orange and garlic.
4. Sit the chicken on the fruit & garlic and then spread the remaining butter over the chicken.
5. Roast the chicken for 20 minutes per 500g plus 10-20 minutes extra – this will be 1 hour and 50 minutes to 2 hours for a 2.25kg bird.
6. Once cooked either carve or shred the chicken.
7. Serve with flat breads, salads and dips.

Red Onion & Citrus Salad:

• 2 small red onions, peeled and very finely sliced.

• Juice of 1/2 an orange

• Extra virgin olive oil

• Red wine vinegar

• A small bunch of fresh mint, leaves picked, larger ones torn

• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Dress the red onions with the orange juice, a good lug of extra virgin olive oil, a splash of red wine vinegar, the mint leaves and a pinch of salt and pepper

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“Bread is the king of the table and all else is merely the court that surrounds the king. The countries are the soup, the meat, the vegetables, the salad but bread is king.”
Louis Bromfield, American novelist  (1896-1956)

Oh sunshine where have you gone?

The weather has been a little challenging of late, to say the least. First we had the snow – much more than we would ever normally see, only to be followed then the big freeze. Roads and pavements were transformed into veritable ice rinks. The snow and ice has gone (for now at least) and we have seen it replaced with rain, rain, and yet more rain.

This seemingly unending rotten weather has left me craving a little summer warmth and as I’ve next to no chance right now of just being able to hop on the next plane heading to sunnier climes I have taken the plunge and gone for summer food instead , albeit in the form of a warm salad and fresh crusty bread.

The salad needs no recipe, sure enough anyone could throw it together in next to no time. Simply put it is slivers of crisp bacon and hot sweetcorn (fresh from the freezer in this case, although, I’m sure fresh from the cob would be even better) tossed through some mixed salad leaves and dotted with ultra creamy soft cheese. The salad dressing? Extra virgin olive oil and a splash of sherry vinegar to give a slightly sharp edge to the otherwise very sweet salad. Oh yes, I used the said dressing to ‘deglaze’ the bacon pan so as to get all the lovely salty, fatty morsels that otherwise would have ended up being wiped out with kitchen roll and in the recycle bin.

The essential companion to this mood enhancing lunch? Bread, glorious bread. Oh and maybe some beautiful flowers delivered for your table. What could be better on a cold, wet, wintery day that pottering around the kitchen, kneading bread dough, the oven preheating, warming the kitchen up and making it all toasty, the promise of sweet bread odors to permeate the air. This time around I made oak smoked oat bread.

Yes, you read that right – oak smoked flour.

It’s a lovely dusky brown flour studded with nuggets goodness such as malt flakes, with such a delightful smoky aroma. The flour comes from Bacheldre Watermill and the flour obtains its smokiness from the malted wheat flakes getting cold smoked over locally sourced oak chippings for 18 hours in the smokehouse.

Matt Scott, co-owner and founder of Bacheldre Watermill, comments,

“The oak chippings infuse the specially malted wheat flakes with a delicious smokiness, the flavours work  really well. The slow cold smoking process infuses a sweet wood-smoked aroma and taste that is reminiscent of bread being baked in a wood fired oven.”

Matt has hit the nail on the head. A perfect crumb with a hint of smokiness which is not overly powerful, perfect plain with butter or good for a sandwich, toasted dripping with butter would be heaven itself.

Allowing the dough to rise three or maybe even four times is something you will not see in many bread baking methods but it does help yield a better texture, giving a bread slightly closer in crumb, and a definitely more flavoursome loaf in a wholesome yeasty kind of way.

The addition of oatmeal did make the loaf slightly more cakey in texture than an all wheat bread but that is no bad thing at all.

Another great idea is to spritz the oven with water when you put the dough in as it helps recreate a traditional bakers steam oven, I use a cheep plant mister I picked up from a local garden centre, nothing more fancy is required.

Matt suggest using this flour as a pizza base but I cannot see that working at all well myself, maybe I’m just blinded to using a proper Italian style base only, what do you think?

Oak Smoked Oat Bread:

• 550g oak smoked flour
• 50g fine oatmeal
• 300-350ml warm water
• 1 7g sachet of fast action yeast
• 1 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey
• 2 handfuls of rolled oats for coating the bread.

1. First, mix the dough. Combine the flour, fine oatmeal, yeast and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the liquid and honey, and with one hand, mix to a rough dough.
2. Add the oil and mix it all together.
3. Adjust the consistency if you need to with a little more flour or water to make a soft, kneadable, sticky dough. Turn the dough out on to a work surface and clean your hands.
4. Knead the dough until it is as smooth and satiny as you can make it – this will take about 10 min (or you can do this is in a free-standing food mixer).
5. Shape the kneaded dough into a round. Then oil or flour the surface and put the dough into the wiped-out mixing bowl.
6. Cover the bowl with a cloth or clingfilm and leave to ferment and rise until doubled in size. This could be anywhere between 45 min and 1½ hours – or longer still, if the dough is cold.
7. Deflate the dough by tipping it on to the work surface and pressing all over with your fingertips. Then form it into a round. If you like, leave to rise again up to four times. This will improve the texture and flavour.
8. Now switch the oven to 250c or the equivalent and put a baking tray in position.
9. Shape the dough into the desired shape and brush with milk before gently covering it with oats. Leave, covered, to prove, checking often by giving gentle squeezes, until the loaf is almost doubled in size.
10. Transfer the loaf carefully to the hot tray (removed from the oven). Slash the top, if you wish, and before you bake the bread, spray it all over with water.
11. Turn the heat down after about 10 min to: 200c if the crust still looks very pale; 180c if it is noticeably browning; 170c if it seems to be browning quickly. Bake until the loaf is well browned and crusty, and feels hollow when you tap it: 40-50 min for large loaves. If in doubt, bake for a few minutes longer.
12. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

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As some of you may be aware I have reviewed products on behalf of Abel & Cole on previous occasions and I have always been pleased with the quality of the goods sent. I was very happy to learn that I would be getting more products to review, a pack of two duck fillets and a pack of pork and leek sausages.

This post will focus on the duck fillets as the sausages are earmarked for dinner tonight – hence a write up will be available very soon  

Before I begin to discuss the duck and what I did with it I thought it would be a good idea to write a little about why I think organic is the best way to go, especially after all the slightly negative press it has been given through our (UK) media recently. So here goes:

1. Organic is good for you and your planet, is kind to animals and wildlife due to using more humane farming methods and reducing the number of chemicals used in farming.
2. Over 20% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions come from food and farming today. Nitrogen fertiliser manufacturing is the worst offender. To produce just one tonne takes one tonne of oil, seven tonnes of greenhouse gasses and one hundred tonnes of water. Organic farmers work with nature to feed the soil and control pests. By choosing organic, local and seasonal – we can significantly reduce our carbon footprint.
3. Organic food avoids pesticides and all controversial additives including aspartame, tartrazine, MSG and hydrogenated fats. Organic food contains higher levels of vitamin C and minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron and chromium as well as cancer-fighting antioxidants and Omega 3. Organic milk for example, is on average 68% higher in Omega 3 essential fatty acids
4. Animal welfare is at the heart of organic systems. Soil Association standards for meat and animal products rigorously protect all aspects of animal wellbeing – from rearing, feeding and shelter, to transportation and slaughter. Organic animals are free to pursue natural behaviour because they have plenty of outside space to thrive and grow, and are not routinely drugged with antibiotics. Organic standards prohibit cruelty and guarantee truly free-range lives for farm animals.
5. Organic farming relies on wildlife to help control natural pests, so wide field edges are left uncultivated for bugs, birds and bees to flourish. They are also not sprayed away by the fertilisers, chemicals and pesticides routinely used on non-organic farms. The UK Government’s own advisors found that plant, insect and bird life is up to 50% greater on organic farms.
6. Genetically modified (GM) crops and ingredients are banned under organic standards. Shoppers wanting to avoid GM products may be surprised to know that over a million tonnes of GM crops are imported each year to feed non-organic livestock, which in turn supply our supermarkets with pork, bacon, milk, cheese and other dairy products.

If you want to read more about the future of food in the UK please do have a look here, it’s a long but very informative read.

The duck fillets were rather expensive in comparison to the ones I had bought at my local butcher for the Bill Granger noodle dish I made a short while back, but, the flavour was out of this world; I would be more than happy to pay for the excellent quality of these.

Another thing I really liked about the Abel & Cole product is the packaging, not only was the county of origin shown but the name of the farmers too, giving a more personal feel. Now I realise that supermarkets do this too, along with a lot of sneaky usage of outside farm photos to imply the animals are having a wonderful life even if they are indoor reared, but here I know that is not the case – just good honest and detailed labelling which is inclusive of the Soil Association logo.

As you can see from the photo the meat was a lovely dark colour, indicating it had been aged (according to the website, it is hung for four days) and the lovely marbling of fat goes to show that the ducks had a good outdoor life with plenty of activity to keep them fit. Nevel and Rona have won numerous awards for their poultry, including a Gold Award at the 2005 Taste of the West Awards. It is this hanging process and marbling of fat that provides the exceptional flavour, and the only way to get that is by outdoor rearing. 

So what did I decide to do with the duck? Well I had lots of ideas and was originally thinking of going down an Oriental theme but thought better of it as I seem to have cooked rather a lot of Oriental inspired dishes recently and when I reviewed a chicken for Abel & Cole I went for a Chinese theme there. In the end I went for a French inspired dish of Hot Salad of Puy Lentils and Confit of Duck.

The duck confit recipe was adapted from The Avoca Cookbook Book 2 (Hugo Arnold) which is an absolute delight of a book which focuses on simplicity and goodness in rather exciting variants, simple food paired up well and sometimes with a little ‘razzle dazzle’ for when something a wee bit special is required. The puy lentil salad is of my own making.

Duck confit is most frequently made using duck legs but surprisingly the fillets worked really well, cooking times obviously had to be reduced and I had that down to some guess work but all paid off; the duck was succulent, moist and incredibly tender but not in the least bit fatty (something I was rather worried about due to it being cooked – almost poached – in goose fat). 

Puy lentils are small slate-green lentils with a delicate blue-grey marbling. Puy lentils are considered by many to be the best lentil because of their unique peppery flavour and the fact they hold their shape during cooking. As with Castelluccio lentils puy lentils are also rather earthy in flavour but rich and creamy almost in texture to eat. I paired the lentils with steamed green beans, sugar snap peas, beetroot that had been baked en papillotte, sweet red pepper and and crispy fried potato cubes.

I used my actifry to cook the potatoes but it could very easily be done either in a frying pan or in the oven, just fry or bake until the potato is cooked through and golden crisp. I think the key thing here is that I used some of the fat from the confit to roast the spuds, giving them a lovely flavour which was in keeping with the rest of the dish – they then became an integral part rather than a side dish.

The addition of plenty of vegetables meant that the two duck fillets would actually have fed four people quite easily (the three of us had good sized portions and I am having the leftovers for lunch today) making the meal much more affordable for an average family.

Steaming the green vegetables allowed them to keep an al dente crunch which worked well alongside the meltingly tender duck, juicy beetroot and crispy potatoes. The dish came together like a dream

As I felt the meal would need a little extra moisture I reserved the cooking juices from the beetroot and reduced them with a good splosh of balsamic vinegar (I stress here that you don’t use your best one) to create a light reduction to spoon over and around the plate. Looks rather pretty with the vivid pink against the blue/grey lentils don’t you think?

The Recipe:

Duck Confit:

• 2 duck fillets
• 300g goose fat
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 3 tablespoons thyme leaves
• 1 tablespoon black pepper corns

1. Place all the ingredients in a saucepan and cook in a preheated oven at 180C for 45 minutes.
2. Allow to cool then remove from the pan and remove & discard the duck skin.
3. Shred the meat and then return to the pan, set aside until needed.

Puy Lentil Salad:

• 1 portion of duck confit (see above).
• 150g cooked puy lentils
• 2 beetroots, cooked and cut into 2cm dice
• 100g mixed green beans and sugar snap peas, steamed until tender
• 1 red pepper cut into strips
• 2 potatoes, peeled and cut into 2cm dice fried until crisp (preferably using some of the confit fat)

1. Fry the red pepper in a tablespoon of the fat from the confit until just tender.
2. Add the green beans, sugar snap peas and heat through.
3. Now add the lentils and beetroot and heat until just warmed.
4. Meanwhile heat through the duck confit.
5. Place the hot salad ingredients on a plate and top with the duck confit (making sure to get some of the lovely sweet and softened garlic), dot the potatoes around the plate and drizzle with the beetroot reduction if using.

NB This is also good served cold.

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Algo es algo; menos es nada or roughly translated – half a loaf is better than no bread! Never were truer words spoken. Oh how I wished I’d made a lovely rustic country style loaf to go with our dinner yesterday but I didn’t and it meant we were without bread, I was sure we’d some in the freezer but it must have all been used because when I went to get some to heat through the freezer was bare.

We had a lovely warm salad of sweet chorizo and butter beans but without the bread to mop up all the rusty coloured, highly flavoured oils it was lacking, with all the will in the world it couldn’t be the great delight I had in mind. 

The chorizo was a sweet (dulce) variety, but you could use any you like with no detriment to this dish. Chorizo is a very famous Spanish pork sausage, coloured the most beautiful shade of red by the use of paprika – the kind used varies depending on the type of chorizo. There are many varieties of chorizo available so it is worth experimenting with a few different kinds; some come cooked and sliced thinly to be used as a tapas along with other cooked or cured meats.

I would highly recommend that you buy dried beans and soak them overnight, before cooking as per your recipe instructions. They have a much superior flavour and texture to those sold in cans. The butter beans I used came from Delicioso and were of the Judion de la Granja variety (a much larger than average bean).

They can be hard to get and pricey so feel free to replace with them with regular butter beans, it will still be incredibly nice, I just like using different ingredients (not that you’d have guessed) and the drama of the large beans.

For the greenery I used a spring cabbage that I’d shredded and blanched and a bag of mixed leaves, which added both texture and a variety of flavours as some were peppery and others very sweet. I also tossed through some chargrilled spring onions and asparagus tips.

For colour I scattered a little sweet paprika over the beans. The variety I used mimicked the sweet variety used in the chorizo being a sweet sun-dried paprika from ‘El Ruisenor’ with its own Denomination of Origin (D.O.C Murcia); another buy from Delicioso.

Moral of the story? Always make sure you have a fresh loaf to hand.

The Recipe:

• Olive oil
• 1 loop of chorizo
• 4 spring onions
• 20 spears of asparagus (tips only)
• 1 small spring cabbage (shredded and blanched)
• 200g mixed salad leaves
• 100g cooked (still hot) butter beans
• Sweet paprika for sprinkling

1. Dice or slice the chorizo and fry gently in a little olive oil, do this slowly to allow all the paprika stained juices from the meat to escape.
2. Meanwhile griddle the asparagus tips and spring onions until tender and charred.
3. Add the cabbage to the frying pan with the chorizo and heat through, now add the asparagus and spring onions.
4. Finally add the salad leaves and toss together.
5. Plate up the salad and then scatter with the still warm butter beans.
6. Sprinkle with paprika.
7. Serve with plenty of bread

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For years and years I’ve had my eye on the Sullivan Street Bakery recipe for no knead bread, and the other weekend I finally got round to baking it! Thank you Coby for finally giving me the inspiration to do it. Oh how did I put it off for so long? How could I do that? The only semi rational reason I can think of is the time factor, but even that should not have been enough … note to myself (and all of you) do not let anything put you off making this bread, it is to die for.

What is there not to like? A crisp, lightly golden exterior yielding a chewy, flavoursome interior that just makes you want to rip the bread apart with your bear hands and devour with no added extras.  If you can find the inner strength though do try it dipped in lovely olive oil or spread with a good butter (home-made always goes down well).

I can assure you that Jim Lahey (of Sullivan Street Bakery) is one very clever baker, to come up with such a simple recipe for a bread this good he must be. The concept is a bread which is not kneaded at all, and develops it’s texture, gluten and flavour through an incredibly long rise. (12-18 hours.- but the longer time the better.) It is baked at a high temperature in a heavy, covered, roomy pot, which is preheated which mimics the effect of a real bakers oven. My choice here was a Chasseur Cast Iron Round Casserole Blue 22cm which was roomy enough to let the bread rise sufficiently in baking, a slightly smaller pot would work also. I scattered the bread dough with cornmeal before baking which helped add to the crusts fabulous texture and slightly nutty flavour.

I went on to serve slices of this gorgeous bread with a lovely Spanish inspired salad, with an array of produce from the fabulous online store Delicioso. Delicioso sell a lovely variety of both Spanish food, drink, kitchen equipment and skin-care produce, all of which is of a great quality and not unreasonable prices, but the key thing that makes me go back to them time and time again is their stunning level of customer service; for example on my last order one of the items I chose was going to be unavailable for a few days so to speed up delivery (it came the following day) Delicioso provided me with a superior (and more expensive) product at no extra cost

So what did I use in my salad? Well it was based around smoked Idiazabal cheese, Idaizabal cheese is sharp, pungent, very well defined, slightly piquant, with a mild and brilliant smoked flavour. Idiazabal, a town in which sheepherding has been an economic and social mainstay for centuries, is an exceptional place for cheese making. Sheepherders still do credit to their craft by making Idiazabal cheese with pure, raw Latxa sheep milk, which is coagulated and pressed into rounds. The Denomination of Origin for Idiazábal Cheese was created in 1987 and defines the basic regulations for the manufacture of the product. Only unpasteurized milk from latxa breed of sheep can be used. The minimum ageing period is two months. The more aged cheeses take on a unique, somewhat acidic flavour and a delicious aroma.  

I served the cheese with a simple salad of lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes which I complimented with some lovely small beans called habitas fritas  

Gorgeous olive oil with fruity flavour and rich yellow colour brought all the ingredients together.

All in all a perfect summer meal and certainly very delicioso indeed

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