When will I, will I be famous?! New Blog

When I first started this blog, it was purely a hobby, a project, something to keep me occupied. I love food and I also like to write so a food blog made perfect sense to me.

Well, a few weeks ago I got in touch with Exposed Magazine and they liked my blog, so much so that they wanted me to write one for them. Wow. I can't begin to tell you how chuffed that made me feel! I really enjoy writing this blog, but to know that people enjoy reading it is pretty cool!

So here it is........ Clare's Foodie Blog

It's gonna be purely about Sheffield food; restaurants, produce, recipes etc. My first post is about a trip to the Sheffield Farmers Market where I got to meet a few producers and chat about their food. I'll be keeping this one up too to cover non-Sheffield stuff and also to complement some of the Exposed blog posts. I hope you enjoy!

Poll results and The Street Food Chef

Firstly, I’d like to say thanks to all who voted in my recent poll. It’s great to have some reader involvement and I really do appreciate your input. I welcome comments on my posts and if any of you have any requests for items you want covering, it would be great to hear from you.

In the meantime, I have the results of the most recent poll and I am quite surprised by the result. The majority of you, in fact 41% of you, voted for Mexican. I personally thought you would have had me struggling with bits of rice and seaweed to make sushi, but no, you’ve been kind and it’s gonna be Mexican.

Mexican seems to be getting more and more popular, at least it seems that way in Sheffield. Obviously we’re far behind the Americans who have developed their own take on the cuisine; TexMex. You may have already seen my review for Amigos Mexican Kitchen which is a relatively new Mexican venture in Sheffield, and now we have a new addition.  The Street Food Chef has opened its own Mexican Burrito Bar on Pinstone Street. You’ve probably seen these guys before as they have attended many events in Sheffield with a food store selling their Mexican wares. Now they have a permanent set-up and they are quite handily located between the Moor and the Peace Gardens. It’s only been open a week or so but I’ve had my eye on it as soon as I heard it was coming. 

Well, today I needed to pop into town and as it was approaching lunch time I suggested that we nip out to check out the Street Food Chef to Gav. This suggestion was, unsurprisingly, well received!

The set up is quite simple. This is strictly street food and there are no stools to perch on, nor are there tables to eat from. They specialise in burritos, wrapped or ‘naked’, but also sell tacos and empanadas. The naked burritos are essentially the contents of a burrito served on a tray rather than wrapped up in a tortilla. The tacos are small soft tortillas, laden with their fillings and served open. Neither of these were for me. We were walking and eating and I wanted something I could grab in my hand; I didn't want to have to use a fork.

I chose the rice, cheese and beans empanada and Gavin had the shredded pork burrito with picante salsa. Service was quick as the empanadas are already made up, ready for toasting and the burrito fillings are pre-cooked and kept warm. The burrito was rolled up on the counter in front of us; as everything is open; there is no hiding place for this Street Food Chef! 

I had my empanada served with sour cream which meant that it came on a tray, otherwise it would be handed over to me wrapped up in foil, just as Gav’s burrito was. There was habanero sauce too and we were encouraged to try it. It is very hot; only a dollop or two is required, but it’s a tasty hot! I had a bite of Gav’s burrito and I was impressed. The pork is cooked with cumin seeds and cider vinegar and although I only had a small bite I could certainly tell that cumin was used. And, as I love cumin this really worked for me. Gav wasn't complaining either. His choice of picante salsa and the odd splash of habanero sauce left his lips tingling a little so if you are nervous of heat, skip the habanero and choose the pico de gallo salsa instead of the picante.

My empanada was suitably satisfying. It wasn't packed with as much flavour as the burrito, but it was packed with cheese and the tortilla was toasted nicely. I added some of the habanero sauce to the sour cream which made a great tasty dip. Maybe next time I’ll try the pork, rice, beans and jalapenos empanada.

Amigos Meican Kitchen it is not and this is still my favourite for Mexican, but the Street Food Chef isn’t trying to be another Amigos. It is purely street food at a good price and it makes a great quick lunch or snack. Quite often I have been in town and been stumped as to where to go for a quick, well priced lunch and I usually end up with a pasty from Greggs, but now I’ll be coming here for a £2 empanada. 

In the meantime I’m gonna look at ideas for my own Mexican feast. I’ll probably do a mix of the traditional and TexMex to ensure all angles are covered.

Have you tried The Street Food Chef yet?  Will you happily walk and munch, or do you prefer to sit and eat?

Sushi Express, Sheffield

Well, well, well, Sheffield has a new Japanese/sushi restaurant; Sushi Express. That’s five Japanese/sushi restaurants in Sheffield now, if you count Yo Sushi that is.  Not bad going eh? Certainly not if Sushi Express is a sign of things to come. It’s located on the corner of Milton Street and Fitzwilliam Street, on the ground floor of a development of flats and it’s a welcome arrival to the city centre. Prior to Sushi Express moving in, the only other sushi place we had in the centre was Sakushi.

On entering we were greeted by about 2/3 smiley waitresses. One took us past the small area displaying various Japanese foodie goodies (which are for sale), past the open kitchens and through to the dining area. The décor is mainly dominated by the huge floor to ceiling windows that wrap around three of the four sides to the premises.  Everything is clean and tidy, as expected from a new restaurant. There’s black flooring, pristine white walls, smart black tables and bright white chairs. Sounds bland and it probably would be if it wasn’t for the windows which allow for some ever changing wall art.

It was quiet when we entered at about 1.30pm and there was just one other table occupied, but the music helped create some atmosphere and it was set at the right level - it didn't intrude on our conversations. Tables were set up with chopsticks (and we were both glad to find that they were made of wood rather than plastic – easier to eat with), napkins, a bottle of soy sauce, some salt and a tub of some rather intriguing chilli powder (which contained sesame seeds and orange peel as well as chilli).

We first perused the wine list. Wow. There’s a lot of choice here, especially if you like Japanese drinks. Just wanting something straight forward I ordered a large house white (bargain at £3.65) and he, Gav, had an apple juice. We headed straight for the lunch section of the menu as they have a fantastic lunch time deal for £4.90. You can have char sui noodles, a selection of sushi, katsu curry (chicken or pork), house special cold noodle (an oddly unappealing sounding dish of chicken, ham, egg, cucumber and ‘sponge’ served with cold noodles garnished with Japanese ginger), salmon salad or assorted skewer don. Each comes with a choice of either miso soup or a side salad. 

We both go for pork katsu curry, with miso soup. We also order some sashimi; scallop and salmon. Because we didn’t specify an order in which we wanted everything, it all turned up at once. Not a problem. We started with the curry as the sashimi wasn’t going to go cold!

Every time I have katsu curry, it’s completely different to the last and this one was the hottest I have ever had. It was as hot as an Indian curry, which is no bad thing. It was still quite fruity and had the usual chunks of potato and carrots in there. The portion of pork wasn’t huge, but this is lunch at £4.90, so it was fine. The coating was crispy, but it wasn’t as light as I have had it in the past. Its appearance suggested that it had been re-heated, but I’m not sure as the meat was still moist and tasty. There was ample sticky rice served which was good as I find it very moreish.  

Pork Katsu

The miso soup was as good as any other I have had and there are no complaints to be had, bar the fact that it was served with a spoon. It was served in drinking cups, but with a spoon and I do wonder whether these were provided because we’re not Japanese. 

To be honest the curry and the miso soup were more than enough to fill our bellies and we didn’t really need to order the sashimi, but I had wanted to see if this place was gonna be any good as a sushi restaurant, not just for a cheap lunch. 

As is often the case, the sashimi was nicely presented. The scallops came with the nice addition of some roe which added to the prettiness of the presentation, if not so much to the taste (I think it was flying fish roe as each egg was tiny - I like my roe fat and juicy!). We did have to ask for wasabi though and the soy sauce was surprisingly watery which was bizarre, but the sashimi was good. Both scallops and salmon were fresh and clean tasting, an absolute must for sashimi. The salmon was good, with ample lines of fat running through each slice. I really do enjoy salmon sashimi and easily prefer to eat salmon this way, rather than having it cooked. The scallops were too bland for Gavin, but sashimi is about the texture as well as the taste and these scallops were soft and creamy so I happily finished them off. It was at this point that I wished I had specified an order for the food to come in; I think the spiciness of the curry had killed off a few of Gav’s taste buds!

As we ate the place got busier and busier. It seems that Sushi Express is no secret to us Sheffielders as it was quite busy when we left at about 2.30pm on a Wednesday afternoon. This is good to know and I hope the restaurant can keep it up.

The bill came in at about £25 which was as expected given that we had splashed out a bit on the sashimi. Overall I was very happy and I’m pretty sure we shall return for an evening meal as well as the odd bargainous lunch. The service was attentive and friendly, the place was spotless (including the toilets), the food was good, the prices were right and the place had atmosphere. It’s likely that Wasabisabi will remain number one for me, but it seems that, as this place is a 5 minute walk from my flat, I have found my local sushi joint.  Hurrah!

Have you been searching for a decent sushi place in town?  Have you tried this one yet?  See another approving review here on the Girl Who Ate the World blog.

A Postponed Valentine's Day Dinner

Some time last week, my husband (the darling) texted me from work to say that he had agreed to work Monday night. I replied and asked him whether he knew that said Monday night was Valentine’s night. He texted back with "I do now".  Great. So, this year Valentine’s day was postponed and as he had totally scuppered my plans (which involved cooking a three course meal from my recently acquired Milestone recipe book) I asked him to cook.

He was happy to oblige as he does enjoy a bit of cooking, he just doesn't get much chance to do any these days. So last night was our Valentine's night. I didn’t have to lift a finger.  He picked what to cook, went shopping for the ingredients, prepared everything himself and kept me nicely topped up on wine. Bliss.

I should tell you about the wine as I have discovered an easily quaffable vino at Aldi. It’s an Italian Soave. Nothing fancy, but easy going and cheap at £3.29 a bottle. I first bought some for cooking with, and was surprised to find that I enjoyed it in the glass as well as on the plate. Worth a go, especially for a mid-week meal.  

Onto the food.

Starter was Lesley Waters’ Goats’ cheese and sun-blushed tomato salad which is taken from the BBC website. This, essentially, is chargrilled goats’ cheese served on a bed of herbs with sun-dried tomatoes and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.  I say chargrilled, but it was more like warmed on the chargrill pan.

Gav understands my love of goat's cheese and he know that I have a favourite (Rigottes de Condrieu Goats' Cheese) so he served this up with the salad. Now this cheese is very strong and smelly. Unfortunately it was too strong for the dish and the basil and coriander flavours were completely lost. Only the sun-dried tomatoes held their own. He was disappointed; I didn’t care. We are talking about my favourite goat's cheese here and little is going to upset me when that’s on my plate. However, if you do replicate this dish, I’d advise getting a standard goats’ cheese so that the full flavours of the dish do come through.

Main course was James Martin’s Roasted Sea Bass with chorizo, red onion and cherry tomatoes.  This dish is as described with the addition of garlic, thyme and black olives.

Roasted Sea bass with chorizo, red onion and cherry tomatoes

Looking at the recipe now, I’m quite shocked that James Martin, as a Yorkshire man, suggests that one sea bass is sufficient to serve 4 people! Either that was a typo or James has a supply of some supper huge fish! Thankfully Gav was not fooled and he doubled everything in the recipe, bar the chorizo, so we had a fish each and ample roasted veg. This lovely, light dish was surprisingly filling and we didn’t touch the bread served with it, even though the starter had been light also. The fish was really moist and Gav had stuffed it with lemon thyme which worked well and probably is a better alternative to normal thyme when cooking fish. The onions were juicy and sweet and reminded me how good red onions actually are (part of my costs saving plan is to replace all red onions with white wherever I can). The olives were out of a jar so their saltiness added to the dish and the chorizo was appreciated (when isn't it?), but for the pescetarians amongst us, this can easily be omitted. I would also say that this dish would work with any white fish, including fillets, not just whole fish. Indeed, sea bass is not cheap and whole rainbow trout would be a perfect alternative.

Dessert was ready made. “Tut tut”, you may think, but no, give him a break. He did alright and it was one of my favourites; Lemon Tart. A good meal, but was it worth the wait? Yeah, delaying Valentine’s worked out quite well as I was able to celebrate a friend’s birthday on the 14^th, so all was well.

What did you do for Valentine’s?  Go out, stay in?  More importantly, do you have any tips re Aldi wines to share?!

P.s. If you haven't voted in my recent poll yet, there's still time!   Please do let me know which cuisine is your favourite.

New Poll!

Poll Number 2

Well I've done Italian and I've done loads of British dishes.... what would you like to see me do next? Vote Japanese if you would like to learn about sushi and sashimi. Go Mexican for some chilli-fired delights. Vote Chinese for some noodle-tastic dishes. Or vote Indian for a spectacular full on Indian feast.

I love them all, but which is your favourite?

VOTE NOW!!!!!!

Who ate all the pies? Steak, ale and cheese pie

Now I love pie. I truly, truly do. Especially pork pie. In fact my old work colleagues knew me for my love of pork pie and would make sure I was provided for whenever birthday buns were brought in. I say birthday buns, our department had birthday buffets rather than just buns and every single one of them would have a pork pie, just for me. Sigh.

I digress... It seems that some of you are seeking a break from the offal as, along with Oxtail, the pie won my recent poll. My Sausage Stew post also won the praise from a friend who was after something a bit homely but free of bizarre ingredients! So, rather than go for something unusual here, I resisted the urge to do a pie of four and twenty blackbirds and went for an old classic – steak and ale.

I like thick, chunky, stodgy pie. I don’t like my meat to be swimming in gravy and I like a think pastry top AND bottom. It’s not much to ask is it? Well, I didn’t think it was but it took a bit of searching to find the right recipe. It was worth it though and I found everything I wanted and MORE as this pie has CHEESE in it. Oh my! Thick, meaty pie, with a top and a bottom and CHEESE. It’s a Jamie Oliver recipe and can be found here.

I made a few adjustments. Firstly I didn’t actually use Guinness (it was £6.50 for 4 cans in Tesco - £6.50!!) and I went for Hobgoblin beer (it was on offer). Secondly I didn’t have any fresh rosemary, so I used fresh thyme. Thirdly I’m not so hot on celery so I used 2 extra carrots instead. Oooo and I used standard button mushroom instead of field mushrooms and white onions instead of red.

So this is how it went.

Ingredients:

Olive oil

3 medium onions, peeled and diced

3 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced

30g butter

4 carrots, peeled, halved length ways and sliced

4 medium button mushrooms (more would be better, say 8)

1kg of stewing steak, chopped into bite size chunks

5-6 sprigs of thyme

salt and pepper

440 mls Hobgoblin (use any beer, or Guinness, not lager)

3 heaped tablespoons plain flour

200g grated Cheddar cheese

500g ready made, all-butter puff pastry

1 egg, beaten

Serves 4-6

Pre-heat oven to 190C

I took a casserole dish, heated some oil on a low heat and then added the onions. I fried these very gently for about 10 minutes – just to soften them – not to colour them. I then turned the heat up, added the garlic, butter, carrots and mushrooms. I mixed everything together and then added the beef, the thyme and some salt and pepper.

I turned up the heat and cooked it to colour the beef, for about 4 minutes or so. Then I poured in the Hobgoblin. That immediately frothed up, but calmed down after a bit of stirring.   

Frothy stew

Next went in 2 tablespoons of the flour. I stirred that in then added enough cold water to cover everything and brought it stew up to a simmer, placed the lid on the dish and put it in the oven. I left it there for about two and a half hours, taking it out for a stir every half hour or so. About half way through, I added the third tablespoon of flour to help with the thickening of the gravy. 

Once the two and a half hours were up, the stew was thick, the meat was tender and all the veg had softened. Jamie says that if the stew isn’t thick enough at this point you can place it on a hob to reduce the sauce further. I then stirred in half of the cheese, seasoned it and left it to cool a while whilst I prepared the pastry.

Suitably thick pie filling.

Buying ready made puff pastry might be considered cheating, but I’m sure I’ve heard many chefs say that they would never make their own puff pastry at home…. And who am I to argue? I dusted a work surface down along with my rolling pin. Taking the block of pastry, I cut about a third off it and rolled each separate block into circular shapes. One had to be large enough to fill the pie dish with some over hang, the other to form a lid. I then greased my pyrex flan/pie dish and laid the larger piece of pastry into it leaving the excess hanging over the sides   I then spooned my stew mixture in, followed by a scattering of the remaining cheese.  

I brushed the edges with egg and laid the smaller piece of pastry on top, tucked it into the sides then folded the overhanging pastry over onto the lid forming a nice tight seal. I brushed the lid with egg and stuck it directly onto the bottom of the oven for 45 minutes.

I could barely keep my eyes off it as it cooked!   

Apart from anything else, I was scared that the pie would explode, that the juices would seep out and make a terrible mess of my oven. This didn’t happen – thankfully. Instead the pastry puffed up magnificently and it kept the filling nice and safe.

PIE!

I served it with chips and peas (what else?). The filling was thick and rich with tender chunks of meat. The pastry was flaky, yet stodgy at the same time. The pastry on the bottom really benefited from the direct heat of the bottom of the oven as it had a nice colour to it and wasn’t soggy. It was even good cold the next day.

Cold PIE!

Overall it was a damn good pie and I was impressed with the ease of the recipe. I would just make one change as I wouldn’t scatter half of the cheese on top of the stew, below the pastry. Although it smelt delicious whilst cooking, I think the pie would have benefited from all the cheese being stirred into the mix rather than having half of it form stringy clumps on top of the meat.

Definitely one to repeat!

Are you a pie lover?  What’s your favourite?  You gonna give this one a go?

Use your Noodle at Noodle Inn

Many years ago, when Gav and I lived in a flat above a shop on Abbeydale Road, the Vietnamese Noodle Bar came to London Road, Sheffield. Every day, to and from work on the bus, my head would turn to catch a glance of it, tempted by the bright purple façade and the promise of unusual cuisine (remember, this was the first Vietnamese place in Sheffield). 

Needless to say, we visited quite soon after it first opened and we were introduced to a whole new way of eating. We’re talking long tables to be shared with strangers, chopsticks by default, brisk service and a smile if you were lucky. Fine dining this was not and you would think that a lot of people would have been put off. But no, it quickly became a busy establishment, so much so that they extended into the next door premises and ditched the purple façade for gleaming chrome.

Everyone was there for one reason; the food which was amazing. The menu was enormous and although we gave it a good go, I don’t think we even covered a tenth of all the dishes in the time it was there. Favourites were hot and sour soup, Vietnamese pancakes, hot clay pots and the whole fish dishes. Of course, there were noodles too and you could get them with almost anything! Fantastic. For a long time it was our favourite restaurants and we took many of our family members and friends who were as impressed as we were.

Unfortunately the Vietnamese Noodle Bar is no more as it shut down a couple of years ago. I heard the owner went back to Vietnam. I just hope he comes back with new recipes to cook for us all! 

So, we’ve had to find an alternative. Thankfully we didn’t have far to go as the Noodle Inn is about 5 doors away. It’s been around for many years and I had tried to get Gav to try it earlier, but he refused. He can be quite loyal to places and as long as there was the Vietnamese Noodle Bar, he wasn’t prepared to go to Noodle Inn. 

We’ve been a few times now and the last visit was last Sunday. As per usual it was heaving and there weren’t any tables free. So, we were shown to the long central table where we sat opposite each other, with a family to the right of me and another joined to my left halfway through the meal. I love to see kids at these places. I’m a true believer of having kids try different things when they are young and noodles are an easy start.

The atmosphere was very informal. It was pretty loud and staff were flying around the place, all on their own individual missions. Gav was further entertained as a Miss China show was on the TV opposite him (and behind me). He’d even decided on his favourite and was rooting for her to win!

We’d brought a bottle of wine with us, as it is BYOB (another reason to visit!), and a waitress quickly brought us glasses with some tap water. We sipped away at that as we started to peruse the exceptionally long menu. Now, we have visited here many times and ordered takeaway many, many times so we do know the menu quite well, but it still took us at least 15 minutes to decide what to have. Gavin was as decisive as ever, which always delays the process somewhat and we had decided to try some new dishes, which also added to the delay. 

This also meant saying goodbye to my favourites, which include fried aubergine harbour style (aubergine slices rolled around a prawn stuffing, battered, fried and served with lots of chillies) and deep fried pumpkin with salted eggs (strips of pumpkin, presumably coated in a salty eggy mixture and fried). Instead we went for sesame prawn toast to share as a starter (predictable but sometimes necessary), a ‘Big Plate Rice’ with mixed veg curry and egg fried rice, Three Roasties and Fish Fillets in Hot Chilli Oil. The waitress warned that the fish was very hot, which only encouraged Gav further. It did raise a bit of concern with me; I have witnessed Gav struggling through various hot and spicy dishes. Bless, he can’t actually cope with chilli as well as he would like to. 

Sesame prawn toast was fine. Nothing offensive, but nothing exceptional either. It is what it is; sesame prawn toast, which is why there are no photos. In fact, I'm sorry as there are no photos at all. I did take some but my memory card isn't working properly.... sorry!

Next up was the mixed veg curry rice dish. The dish was huge and there was more than enough rice for the both of us. The veg was fresh and there was the usual variety; peppers, mushrooms, bean sprouts, mange tout and baby corn etc. It was all well cooked and still had a bite to it. The curry sauce was very typical Chinese curry sauce, no heat, but flavoursome.  

Three Roasties was a plate of 3 meats. One line of duck, one of pork and the other of chicken. Each were cooked differently. The pork had a crispy outing, more than just crackling and the chicken must have been cooked in some bright orange substance as the skin was stained.

Fish in Chilli Oil was a huge dish of fish swimming in chilli oil and pak choi, amongst other things. It wasn’t actually that hot given the warning. Having said that we did have to work around the heaping mounds of dried chilli and it did still leave a slight tingling. There was plenty of moist fish in there and it was a lighter alternative to the meats. Good choice.

But man alive! The portions are humongous. So much so the waitresses ask if you want doggy bags before taking the plates away. We said yes to that and also to the offer of free ice cream.

Next up was the other great thing about this place; the bill.  It was £29. Marvellous. 

If you haven’t been to Noodle Inn yet then you should try it.  Their takeaway is almost as good as their restaurant food, but be warned, they get busy so grab that table or make that order fast!

What’s your favourite Noodle place?  Do you have a favourite dish?  

Are you a Bunny Boiler? Rabbit and Garlic

Wow. Of all the food stuffs I have cooked, rabbit is the one that has sparked the biggest response. No one battered an eye-lid at the veal, but as soon as I posted that I had a bun(ny) in the oven on Facebook, there was uproar! Presumably it's because many of us have, or have had, pet rabbits, and yes, eating a pet rabbit is an uneasy thought. 

However I was fed rabbit as a kid. My fondest memory of eating rabbit was on a family holiday. My Uncle and Granddad had gone out into the fields to shoot rabbits.  Once back at the house my Granddad skinned them and we barbecued them for tea. Well I hate to say it, but they were delicious!

Since then I’ve only ever eaten rabbit when eating out and I’ve never even thought about cooking it at home…. Until I saw them for sale at the market. Knowing that it was readily available, I consulted my copy of Fergus Henderson’s Nose to Tail Eating and the Rabbit and Garlic recipe took my fancy. In this recipe Fergus takes inspiration from a dish he ate in Barcelona. He admits that he hasn’t quite mastered the Spanish dish, but considers his version a good alternative. Having loved food in Barcelona myself, a Spanish inspired dish sounded good to me!

Now this recipe calls for the use of tame rabbits, which I assume means bred rather than wild. I asked the butcher whether his rabbits were tame or wild and got the answer ‘Well they went wild when they shot ‘em’. Hmmm. Funny guy, but he didn’t really answer my question! I went for one anyway and picked the largest one available which set me back about £6.50. 

Once home, I took the rabbit out of its bag to check out what I had. I had 6 portions; two front leg and two back leg and thigh portions and two portions from the middle. I was surprised how clean and glistening the meat was. It was very light in colour and looked a bit like chicken with very little fat. I think mine was tame after all. There wasn’t any shot or bruising. 

Here we go….

Ingredients:

Olive oil

1 tame rabbit (have your butcher chop it into portions for you)

Salt and pepper

150g streaky smoked bacon, with the rind attached

12 shallots, peeled, but kept whole

30-40 cloves of garlic, unpeeled

150mls dry sherry

300mls white wine

500mls chicken stock

1 bay leaf

Bundle of fresh thyme and parsley tied together

The above serves 4/5

I heated the oven to about 180C and then heated some olive oil in a large lidded casserole dish. I seasoned the rabbit and then browned it in the dish (in two batches). Once happy with the colouring, I removed the rabbit and set it aside. 

Next in was the bacon. Now Fergus says to chop the bacon into ‘spirited chunks’. What ‘spirited chunks’ are, I had and have no idea. Google was no help either. So I just chopped it into random sizes chunks, hoping that at least a third of them would be ‘spirited’. 

So with the ‘spirited’ bacon in the dish, I added the shallots and cooked them for about 10 minutes, stirring to ensure that nothing was starting to burn. I then returned the rabbit to the dish and added the garlic, sherry, wine, stock and the thyme and parsley bundle. I was also meant to add the bay leaf at this stage but forgot. Oooops!  

I then checked the seasoning, brought it to the boil, put the lid on and stuck it in the oven. One and a half hours later and the meat was almost falling off the bone. Time to serve.

I served mine with mashed potato, red cabbage and broccoli. I also had some crusty bread on the table for mopping up the juices and I think that this has been my most successful dish so far! The rabbit was tender and juicy. The flavour wasn’t so gamey (which again suggests that it was tame rather than wild) and it took on the salty flavours of the bacon and the garlic nicely. The sauce was beautiful; make sure there is plenty of bread for mopping it up if you make this dish. It was garlicky and salty, but not overly so. There is a LOT of garlic in this dish, but as the cloves are unpeeled, the flavour wasn’t overpowering and sucking the flesh from the cloves was a delight! 

Everyone praised the dish and had seconds. One diner, known for restraining herself a little more than the rest of us when eating, went for thirds!

If you’re a little squeamish about cooking up Bugs Bunny, maybe you could use skinned chicken portions. I’d use free range though; as you’ll want it as lean as possible.

This is the second Fergus Henderson recipe I have tried, the lambs’ heart was the first, and I’m impressed so far. Some say that his recipes are a bit difficult to follow for the novice cook. It’s true that you do have to use a bit of common sense, but that’s ok. Some cook books spell everything out to the point that they become patronising. 

So, have you had rabbit?  Is it a step too far for you? Or is it just another piece of game to enjoy?

A Tail of Two Dinners – Coda alla Vaccinara – Roman Oxtail Stew - Part 2

Just a very, very quick one to let you all know that part two of the Coda alla Vaccinara was delicious. I picked all the meat from the bones, chopped up half of the celery (we ate the rest as a snack!) and mixed everything back into the sauce to be re-heated. Once it was bubbling away, I put the pasta on. 

I had some left over Pecorino Romano in the fridge and finely grated it. Some went into the sauce as it was heating and some was to be served with the dish. Pasta nicely al dente I mixed everything together and served in bowls, with the cheese as an optional sprinkle.

Now this was definitely worth the hours of cooking. Delicious!

A Tail of Two Dinners – Coda alla Vaccinara – Roman Oxtail Stew

Oxtail was one of the winners of my recent poll and I was determined to get it done this week. There must be many British oxtail dishes (soup for one) but I had my heart set on another cuisine. If you read my Nonna’s review, you’ll know that the husband had coda di bue - which I now gather means oxtail of beef (i.e. not of pig?!). Anyway, it was good and reminded me that I had a Roman recipe for oxtail in my trusted David Downie ‘Cooking the Roman Way’ cook book.

Coda alla Vaccinara is a traditional Roman dish, so called because old and retired working oxen would be slaughtered and butchered by vaccinari who would be paid in kind with skins, unwanted offal and oxtails. The recipe is taken from Carla Bertini, who, according to Mr Downie, makes the best coda alla vaccinara he has ever tasted. Hmm. This guy knows his Roman food so it should be pretty good! 

First of all I had to buy the oxtail. In the past I have seen this for sale all nicely chopped up and ready to go... so I did have a little bit of a shock when, after asking for 3 pounds of oxtail, my butcher reached up above his head to unhook a whole tail hanging over the counter. Shiiiiit! It really did look like a tail! Then the next shock – the price. It was about £6.50, for just under 3 pounds. I have heard people moan about the price of oxtail increasing but still didn't expect it to be that much – especially as most of it is bone!

Anyway. Back at home I started the prep, and there is quite a bit of prep. But first of all, just for you guys, I laid the oxtail pieces out from end to end so that I could take a picture of the whole tail…

Oh it’s a good job I’m not squeamish! On to the recipe...

Ingredients:

1 oxtail (about 2½ to 3 pounds)

12 celery stalks

1 clove garlic

1 carrot

1 medium onion

110 g pancetta

2 heaping tablespoons of finely chopped flat leaf parsley

olive oil

salt and pepper

250 mls red wine

2 cans of tomatoes

1 tablespoon of tomato puree

boiling water

5 cloves

1 bay leaf

To Serve 6

First of all I prepared the oxtail. Mr Downie told me I just needed to hold the pieces under warm running water and use my fingers and a knife to ‘eliminate any fat or gristle’.  This is much harder than you think and to ‘eliminate’ all the fat and gristle I would really have to put some hours in. So I eliminated as much as I could. I then peeled the celery to remove the stringy bits and chopped all but one stalk into finger sized sticks. 

Using a food processor I minced up the one whole celery stalk with the garlic, carrot, onion, pancetta and 1 tablespoon of the parsley. I then took a large pan, heated it up, added a splash of olive oil and cooked the veg and pancetta mix for 4-5 minutes on a medium heat. I then added the oxtail with some salt and pepper and cooked it, whilst stirring, for about 15 minutes. Next in was the wine, which I boiled for about 2 minutes to evaporate.  Then I tipped in the tinned tomatoes and squirted in the puree. That just needed a good stir, to make sure the tomatoes were crushed and I then poured in enough boiling water to just about cover the bones. 

Mr Downie then says to make a purse out of gauze to hold the cloves in, with the view that it is then easy to remove before serving. I don’t have any gauze so my cloves were free to swim around the pan. The bay leaf went in too. I then left the stew to simmer for just over 2 hours, partially covered.

I had already planned to make this to be eaten the next day, as I knew that oxtail gives off a lot of fat which can be skimmed off when the dish is cold. Also Carla Bertini says that this stew is ‘best of all when reheated’. 

When I came to warming the dish up again the next day, there was a reasonable layer of fat, which I skimmed off. I then reheated it to simmering point and added the sticks of celery. Then I simmered the stew for 40 minutes, with the lid on. Once done, I stirred in the remaining parsley and served.

This can be served in soup bowls with bread, but we had it with mash and red cabbage. The question for me was whether it was worth the two nights of cooking. I think it was. There was no gruesome butchery involved (as had been the case with the pork cheeks) and it was an easy dish to make. More importantly the meat was tender and tasty and the sauce was nicely rich. So yes, it was good and worth the effort, but it wasn’t exactly easy to eat! You really do need to work the meat from the bones! The recipe for the sauce is a good one to know and should be pretty adaptable. I think I’ll try it with stewing lamb or beef.

Why the Tail of Two Dinners then? Well, Mr Downie suggests that the leftover meat and sauce should be used to dress pasta and that is exactly what I shall be doing tomorrow. Although this time I’ll skip the celery. I don’t care much for celery.

So will you give it a go? Are you already partial to a bit of oxtail, even if it is only in the tinned soup form?

Soothing Sausage Stew

Firstly I’d like to say thank you for voting in my poll. Oxtail and pie came in joint winners and I’m hoping to do both this week. For the veggies amongst us, I’ll be doing a veggie pie too. Calf’s liver came next with one vote and not one of you voted for Ox heart. Wimps!

Anyway. Back to the post. Soothing Sausage Stew.

I have always called this my sausage casserole, but apparently a casserole is cooked in the oven, not on the hob. This has always been cooked on the hob so it is, technically, a stew. Not a Casserole. Whatever it is, it’s soothing, warming and packed full of flavour and goodness. 

Everyone knows that chicken soup is good for colds and so is my sausage stew. Given the number of colds and flus everyone is suffering from at the moment, I feel I have a duty to share this recipe! It’s a pretty simple one, and you can swap and choose the ingredients according to what’s in your fridge. This is what I did….

Ingredients:

2 onions

2 peppers (whatever colour you have)

1 and a half large courgettes

2 medium aubergines

250g mushrooms

4 cloves of garlic

3 standard size tins tomatoes

2 standard size tins kidney beans (or whatever beans you have to hand)

12 sausages (you could skip these and use more beans/vege or use veggie sausages)

100g streaky bacon (if you have any lurking in the fridge)

300mls beef stock (or veggie stock if you prefer)

2 tbsp tomato puree

2 bay leaves

2 sprigs of fresh thyme (or dried mixed herbs)

Splash of Worcestershire sauce (or Henderson’s relish)

2 tsp hot paprika (or standard paprika with a splash of Tabasco sauce)

olive oil

Parmesan rind (whenever you finish off a triangle of Parmesan freeze the rind, it’s perfect for adding richness to these kind of dishes)

This made 6 servings of sausage stew and one serving of bean stew. 

Dice the onions and fry in some olive oil a very large pan. Once very soft, but not coloured add the garlic (sliced finely) peppers (diced), courgettes (halved lengthways and sliced) and aubergines (chopped roughly). Fry on a low to medium heat for about 15 minutes, until soft. Add more olive oil as and when needed. Add the mushrooms (sliced) and fry for a further 5 minutes. 

Make up the beef stock and add to the pan along with the tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, herbs and bay leaves, Worcestershire sauce, paprika and Parmesan rind. If you have some spare, add some red wine at this point. Having not been brought up in Sheffield, Henderson’s isn’t the be all and end all for me and I do prefer Worcestershire sauce. I hope you don’t hold it against me; I just prefer the richness of Worcestershire sauce.

Let everything cook away on a low heat, with the lid on, for a good hour or so. Just before the hour is up fry the sausages on a medium to high heat. You want to colour them, not cook them through. Add to the stew. Keep the lid off now, to help thicken the stew up.

I used tomato sausages from my favourite Castle Market butcher - W Bunting & Son. They weren’t incredibly cheap at almost a fiver for 12, but they were enormous, freshly made, free of gristle and good. Well worth the price. I used tomato flavour, but you can use plain or whatever flavour you fancy. If you’re also using bacon, chop it and fry quickly now. Once it’s starting to crisp, add it to the stew.

Allow everything to cook for about 20 minutes until the sausages are cooked. Drain the beans and add to the stew. Give everything 10 minutes or so and it’ll be ready to serve.  

Done.

If you have guests for dinner, and they’re running late (as mine often are), this is fine to sit on the lowest heat on the hob for up to an hour or so. Just make sure you remove the Parmesan rind before serving!

Serve with jacket potatoes or mash. Recently I served it with mashed swede and carrot. Cool and freeze any leftovers; like many tomato based foods, this is better second time round.

And, it’s gorgeous! Truly full of goodness, but very tasty too. The recipe is so versatile and can be adapted to anyone’s taste. Make it veggie, by just using beans. Or skip the beans and use more veg. Use chicken pieces instead of the sausages and chorizo instead of the bacon. Try some firm fish, or some squid. Whatever you fancy really.

This is my favourite recipe, one that’s been with me since my student days. It’s never let me down. What’s your favourite fail-safe recipe?