Purple sprouting broccoli has to be one of my favourite vegetables. Its arrival on my plate with the warmer weather tells me that in a few weeks time I will be enjoying asparagus. It’s delicate appearance and slightly sweet taste is brilliant with so many foods. I like mine nice and simple; with copious amounts of garlic infused oil and coronary shattering piles of Parmesan.
Rhubarb Sorbet and Shortbread
I managed to get hold of some delicate Champagne rhubarb and set about making my sorbet. Two large sticks of rhubarb weighed around 500g which turned out to make enough sorbet for four. Discard the ends of the rhubarb before cutting into inch sized pieces. Put the chopped rhubarb in a pan with small amount of water and about 80g in total of sugar. When I make sorbet I always add a tablespoon of glucose syrup and half the sugar I think I’ll need. The glucose syrup gives it a certain texture; it sort of makes it sticky and gives a thicker mouth feel.
Sausage Rolls Four Ways
Originally I was just going to put a few caramelised onions in with the sausage meat but then I started thinking of other flavours; rosemary and fennel to start. With these new found thoughts I made a batch of eight sausage rolls, two of each of the following flavours; caramelised onion, herbs, fennel and olive. I think a nice spicy tomato chutney would have been brilliant too.
First of all make the caramelised onions. I used a whole onion, fried gently in butter for 20 minutes until soft and starting to brown then added sugar, salt and pepper. They were wonderfully sticky. While the onions are cooking; crush some fennel seeds, chop a few sprigs of fresh rosemary, parsley and chives and finely chop a few olives.
Jerusalem Artichoke Gratin, Buttered Spring Greens and Sausages
The sausages I had for this were some lovely, local chipolatas from a fantastic butcher. My butcher not only knows everything there is to know about meat, he knows a fair few things about vegetables. I heeded his advice about cooking the spring greens and they turned out brilliantly – see below.
Jerusalem artichokes aren’t very big and to make the most of them I needed a helping hand from the potato. In total you need 450g finely sliced and peeled artichokes and potatoes. You don’t have to peel the artichokes if you give them a good scrub but I did. They have a tendency to go brown very quickly once peeled so speed is of the essence here.
Layer the finely sliced potatoes and artichokes in a baking dish, seasoning between each layer. Mix together 120ml cream and 180ml milk and pour this over. Place in an oven at 170C for an hour and twenty minutes.
Spring Green and Bacon Potato Cakes with Cheddar and Chive Sauce
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For the potato cakes:
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600g potatoes (Maris Piper are ideal)
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£0.54
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Milk and butter (for the mash)
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£0.20
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6 rashers smoked, streaky bacon
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£1.50
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4-5 big leaves savoy cabbage (or Spring greens)
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£0.20
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Salt and pepper
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£0.02
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For the cheese sauce:
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25g butter
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£0.15
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25g plain flour
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£0.02
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300ml milk
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£0.10
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75g strong cheddar cheese
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£0.85
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Small handful fresh chopped chives
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£0.40
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Total
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£3.98
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First and foremost make some mashed potato. Maris Pipers I found to be particularly good; they are fluffy enough to make mash like a cloud and yet waxy enough to hold the greens and bacon in. Mash your potatoes as you see fit; add milk, butter, cream and anything you fancy but don’t forget the salt and pepper. While the potatoes are boiling away, slice some bacon and fry in a pan. Snap the leaves of the spring greens off and shred it finely. Add to the bacon and carry on frying until lovely and golden. For two people I used four rashers of bacon and five large spring green leaves.
Classic French Onion Soup
There’s nothing quite like it, it wraps you up from the inside out but at the same time remains quite clean and almost guilt free. Considering it’s basically boiled onions in beef stock, which doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, it delivers on so many levels. There’s sweetness, depth and texture with every mouthful. There are so many different ways of making French onion soup/onion soup and after looking at several versions I was able to ascertain the most important ingredients are: onions, beef stock, alcohol and Gruyère. I went into soup making with full gusto.
Dark Chocolate and Hazelnut Tart with Rhubarb and Blood Orange Compote
Start by making the pastry. Blend 50g cold butter with 100g plain flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add 15g caster sugar and 25g chopped, toasted hazelnuts and then bring the pastry together with one small egg. Persevere it will get there in the end but you can add a little cold water if you think it needs it. Wrap the pastry in cling film and chill in the fridge for half an hour. I would recommend making the pastry when you’re as sure as you can be that the phone won’t ring and the doorbell won’t go because otherwise there’ll be pastry all over the place.
Boeuf Bourguignon with Dauphinoise and Purple Sprouting Broccoli
Preparing the meat can be as difficult or easy as you like. Valentine’s Day brings out our flirtatious side and, not that I would advocate it of course, projecting a little of this new found eyelash fluttering on your butcher may result in your chosen cut being prepared for you. I’m not sure it would work with your greengrocer though. I used brisket for mine which needed a fair bit of trimming and preparing but I quite like doing that.
Beetroot and Goat’s Cheese Risotto
This is the first of a three part post for Valentine’s Day. It’s designed to be seasonal, sumptuous, divine and stress free. The quantities are meant for two. The dessert is one that can be prepared in advance and kept in the fridge; the main is meant for long cooking so you have ample time to make the simple starter. All this spare time means you’re not rushing around desperately trying find that Barry White CD at the last minute. After all, it’s your Valentine’s dinner too.
Sloe Port – how to use leftover sloes
Top Tips
First and foremost separate the gin from the berries. Not as easy as it sounds; one kilo of sloe berries fills a much larger space than the average sieve provides. I would recommend the bath rather than the kitchen sink to help stop any escaping berries and gin. Once this task has successfully been completed, make the sloe port. When making my sloe gin I ignored the advice to use cheap gin. I’ve tried sloe gin using cheap gin and nicer gin and it does seem to make a difference. I applied the same rule to the port; I used wine I would have been happy to drink.Variations
Sloe port is a brilliant way to use up leftover sloe berries and makes something a little different. If you want to use the sloe berries another way, you can simply add more gin and sugar and make another batch of sloe gin.
To find out what the sloe port turned out like you can find the taste test here. It also makes a fantastic sloe port jelly to serve with cheese.
After the sloes have been decanted from the port, they can be used again to make some sloe chocolate truffles.
Pin my Sloe Port recipe for later!
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