Soda bread obsession

In January, Mr AC and myself spent a really great weekend in Belfast. It's a lovely city and we had some great food. For lunch one day I had soup and soda bread and ever since I have become completely obsessed with making it (the bread not the soup) It's because it's so easy and the variations are many. This afternoon as the weather was foul I stayed in the warmth of the kitchen and made 4 loaves: Cheese & onion, malted wholemeal and fruit. You'll see by the recipe below that it really is simple. It's got a really nice 'cakey' texture and it's wonderful toasted. It does really need to be eaten fresh and if not it's best frozen quickly.

This is the fruity one with my homemade plum jam

Richard Corrigan's
Wholemeal soda bread

250g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
10g salt
15g bicarbonate of soda
250g wholemeal flour
150g jumbo oat flakes
2 tbsp clear honey
2 tbsp black treacle
500ml buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and then mix in the honey, treacle and buttermilk, working everything together lightly with your hands, until you have a loose, wet dough. With floured hands, shape the dough into a round and lift on to the lined baking sheet. With a knife mark a cross in the top. Put into the oven and bake for about 45 minutes, or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the base. Transfer to a wire rack, drape with a damp teatowel and leave until cool. Slather with butter and scoff until you burst.

Malay Chicken Curry

This is one of the best chicken curry recipes I have ever tried. It's rich and creamy without being too cloying. The flavours are quite deep - star anise, cardamom and cassia are the predominant flavours with the lemon grass and curry leaves giving a wonderful fragrance (how pretentious was that?) - and by the way, the curry leaves really do make a huge difference. We like to eat this with some rice and a mango salsa - it goes really well with the salsa - the freshness and sweetness of the mango, the heat of the fresh chill and the fragrant coriander are a perfect match. Well, I'm in danger of turning into Brian Sewell and disappearing up my own doo dah so I will now wind my neck in.




Malay Chicken Curry

Ground Spices:
Coriander: 2 Rounded Tbls*
Cumin: 1½ Rounded Tbls
Turmeric: 1 level Tbls
Chilli Powder (depending on Strength) 1 Tsp
Whole spices
6 Curry leaves
1 Star anise
6 Cardamom pods
A lump of Cassia bark
Meat
6 Large chicken thighs
Veg
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
Small lump of fresh ginger
Medium red chilli (seeds in or out – your choice)
Rounded tsp of lemon grass from a jar
1 Can of coconut milk
Salt, oil & butter
* A 15ml tablespoon

Combine all the ground spices in a bowl and add 6 tblsp of water and make a paste.
Put half the onion in a mini whizzer with half the ginger, 1 clove of garlic and red chilli – blitz. Add to spice paste. Finely slice remaining onion, garlic and ginger.
Put a couple of glugs of oil and a knob of butter in your pan and fry the whole spices for a couple of mins. Then add the onion, garlic and ginger and soften gently for about 10 mins. Add the spice paste and lemon grass and cook for 5 mins. Plop in your thighs and get them nicely coated and slightly seared. Add the coconut milk and simmer uncovered for approx 50 mins, periodically stirring and turning the thighs. Let the coconut milk thicken but don't let it bubble too fiercely. Check for chilli heat.

I always take the meat off the bone before serving as it's easier to eat.

A shed load of fish

As it was such a lovely spring day on Saturday, Mr Ample Cook decided that I would be unleashed from my apron and be allowed to venture out for a spot of lunch. Actually, we ended up having a huge great orb of lunch.

We went to Mersea Island - which is located around eight miles from Colchester in Essex - to a place called The Company Shed. It's run by the Haward family who have been growing and harvesting native oysters since 1792. The 'Shed' is a fishmongers come restaurant. When I say restaurant it's really a shed with tables. You can't book ahead and you take your own bread and drink. It's been reviewed in virtually all the Sunday newspaper magazines (Jay Rayner, Jan Moir etc have reviewed it) so it's become a bit of a 'destination place' to eat. In fact if you don't get there around 11.15 you're at the mercy of the blackboard waiting list and you just have to hang around outside waiting for your name to be called. It does attract the hoorays I'm afraid. They stand outside guffawing and saying "what a charming little place" whilst uncorking their Sancerre.

It's a very haphazard affair inside. You go and collect your crockery and mismatched glasses yourself and just order your food at the counter. You don't even pay up front. First up we plumped for some scallops with bacon which were so yummy I nearly forgot to take a photo - hence only one left on the plate.

Next we ordered the seafood platter for two. It was shall we say a very generous portion. As you can see there was shell on prawns, peeled prawns, crevettes, a whole crab, peppered and plain smoked mackerel, smoked salmon, cockles and green lipped mussels - phew and only £8.50 per head. The photo doesn't do it justice - the platter was around 14 inches in diameter. I can honestly say it was as fresh as a daisy. It makes you realise how lousy supermarket smoked salmon and prawns are. No wonder there was a constant - and I mean constant queue for the fish counter.

This is a photo of the salmon and prawns which the lady sitting next to me had ordered - she very kindly let me photograph it!

We had also ordered a half a dozen oysters too, but we were quite glad that they didn't turn up because quite frankly we were stuffed.

Pork Fest

In my humble opinion pork shoulder is a very under used cut of pork. Pork belly is of course the 'new black' and has become the darling of the foodies. Pork shoulder however has been standing in the shadow of the belly and needs to be brought blinking into the light of the kitchen. It is a perfect cut for braising as it's marbled with fat and when cooked is soft and really tasty. It's like chicken in its versatility because you can cook it with so many things - and it's cheap! Here I have browned the cubed pork with chorizo and onions, and then simmered it with some passata, (I've still got some homemade passata in the freezer, which I have to say is best as it's less 'tomatoey' and a bit fresher tasting) I then added some peppers and courgettes in the last half hour - they get too soggy if added earlier. Although there's paprika rich chorizo I also added some pimenton. It's great with rice or pasta or if laziness overcomes you - crusty bread.

This is another dish using shoulder, this time the pork is braised in cider and a bit of chicken stock with some onion and celery - and a touch of sage. Then as a bit of a naughty garnish I added some apple slices fried in butter. This is really good served with mustard mash - a big 'kerplop' of Dijon and wholegrain added to very buttery mashed spuds.

Ghengis Tomato

I just found this little bad boy at the bottom of a bowl of tomatoes and it made me laugh out loud!

Continuing the chocolate theme.........

There's something very decadent about a dessert that you can stack 'Ferrero Rocher' style, which consists of crisp pastry, filled with softly whipped cream and then smothered in warm chocolate sauce. Pure food porn.

Take a pound of butter and a pound of chocolate.....

Could there be a better start for a recipe?

This is chocolate tiffin, a wicked combination of chocolate, butter, biscuits and toasted nuts. It's quite addictive. I advise my customers, after eating a lump, not to drive or operate heavy machinery.

Turkey, Pork & Bacon Pie

This pie is based on a pie that my Mother-in-law Margaret used to make. She made it on Christmas eve, ready to be eaten on Christmas morning, with a glass of champagne whilst opening your presents. But frankly it's too yummy to only have it at Christmas. It's also good made with rabbit and pheasant, which I use when they're in season, which are shot on the farm.

It's a shortcrust pastry pie, filled with poached free range turkey thigh, pork belly and smoked bacon. The free range turkey thigh is such a lovely dark, moist meat. God knows why people have a turkey crown for Christmas - it's such a waste. To my mind they're missing the best bit as it has far more flavour. They're probably the same type of people who throw away their chicken carcasses and miss out on lovely stocks and soups because they can't be bothered - crazy.

Right, rant over, now where were we? The pie is then baked and when cool a rich jellied stock is poured in. It's like a raised pie, but lighter as it doesn't have the rich hot water crust pastry.

Crunchy nut granola

I don't know about you, but I find most crunchy cereals have an awful lot of sugar in them and sometimes some other stuff that doesn't have a right to be there. So, I decided to make my own. It really doesn't take long and you can add whatever you like to eat in your breakfast cereal. I added some dried cranberries which give it a lovely sharpness.

125g butter
150ml honey
500g oat flakes
100g flaked almonds
100g chopped cashew nuts
100g desiccated coconut
300g mixed dried fruit, such as chopped dates, apricots, raisins etc

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C/fan 140°C/gas 3. Place the butter and honey in a small pan, anput over a gentle heat to melt together.
2. Mix the remaining ingredients, except the dried fruit, in a large bowl. Stir in the melted butter mixture and mix well. Spread out in a large roasting tray and bake for 25 minutes, or until the nuts and grains are a pale golden brown, stirring every 5 minutes so it browns evenly.
3. Remove the tray from the oven and leave to cool, stirring the mixture in the tray occasionally. (If you transfer it to a bowl while it’s still warm, it will go soggy.) When it has cooled down, add the dried fruit, stir, and put into an airtight container. Store at room temperature for up to a month

The other man in my life

There's another man in my life who I couldn't live without. His name is Ken - Ken Wood. He's big, he's shiny, he's strong and he makes wonderful pastry and meringues. He can even knead bread.

He's a bit of a Swiss army knife really, as he has various attachments : mincer, liquidiser, dough hook and sausage maker. He stands 35 cm tall and has a 6.7 litre bowl - impressed?

I make pounds of shortcrust pastry and have tried all sorts of methods, but nothing does it better than Big Ken.

Tonight Matthew, I will be eating my own body weight in sheperd's Pie......

I slow roasted a whole shoulder of lamb at the weekend. We had it with roasted roots - including my sister's fabulous home grown pumpkin. The lamb was lovely - all soft and juicy. There was quite a lot of it left, so I got my kitchen boy to take all the meat off the bone and cut it up into smallish pieces.

I then sweated down some leeks, carrots and celery until they were just cooked and then added the left over gravy and a small amount of fresh chopped rosemary and thyme. I then added the lamb and chilled the whole thing.

It was then topped with creamy mash and brushed with butter. We ate it with buttered cabbage and peas and it was deeeelish. There are only two of us but somehow I always seem to cook enough for three (and sometimes four - it's the caterer in me) So instead of saving a portion, we greedily scoffed the lot.

Move along the trough Porky.....

Herdsman's Pasty Pie

This an authentic cornish pasty recipe, but made into a pie rather than a pasty - plus, because I don't live in Cornwall and it's made using the fabulous beef skirt from Woodford's farm it seemed more appropriate to call it a Herdsman's pasty!

250g Beef skirt sliced into small pieces
1 medium potato

1/2 medium swede

1/2 medium onion

(all veg should be finely chopped)

400g Plain flour

100g Lard

100g Butter

Ice cold water

An 8" loose bottomed sandwich tin

Firstly, make your pastry by rubbing the fats into the flour and adding enough water to bind it (approx 6 tablespoons) Then let the pastry rest the fridge for 30 mins.

Roll out 2/3 of the pastry and line the tin. Roll out the remaining pastry into a lid slightly bigger than the tin.

Begin by putting a layer of onion and half the swede in the bottom. Season generously with salt and pepper, then add the beef, then season, finishing with the rest of the swed and the potato and again season.

The seasoning of each layer is very important.

Pop on the lid and put the pasty pie in the fridge for about 30 mins

Preheat the oven to 180 C/Gas 4/Fan 165, then brush the pie with beaten egg and cook for 1 hour.


The smell that will fill your kitchen will will have you dribbling....

Alternatively, if you can't be bothered with faffing around with all of the above, you can come to the shop and buy some!

And here are some others in my repertoire....

Down on the farm

Here are some photos of the farm where I sell my produce - Woodfords Farm in Canewdon. They rear and sell their own free range beef and pork and have a mixture of cows - Aberdeen-Angus, Sussex, Hereford and Charollais cross. All the pigs are Gloucester Old spot.

I use their meat in my pies, casseroles etc. The beef and pork is nothing like the meat you buy in a supermarket. The taste and texture - particularly of the beef is superb

Above is Gilbert the bull, who is pure - Charollais - with one of his ladies and two lovely little calves. All of the animals are very well looked after, it's obvious that they really care for them. It's good to know that the meat you're buying has had a good life.

They also grow spring barley, its grain is rolled for the animals and the straw is used for feeding and bedding. Beans are grown for the main protein part of the cattle diet and some are sold mainly for export to the middle-east for human consumption. Milling or bread making wheat is their main arable crop.

There's loads of wildlife around the farm: pheasants, hares, rabbits, badgers, barn owls and many more wild birds.

For information and opening times of the farm shop go to www.woodfordmeats.co.uk

Well preserved

The Seville oranges are in season so it's time to make marmalade! Which means standing in the kitchen for hours, picking out pips and shredding orange peel into tiny little strips. It's well worth it though because it is infinitely superior to anything you can buy in the shops.

I also made some lemon & lime marmalade and some rhubarb and ginger jam which is my little soldier's favourite - ah bless.

First shave your pig's head.......................

Vegetarians look away now.
Making brawn is not pretty and is quite messy and labour intensive. It's not much fun for the pig either. Although it is hard work, it's completely worth the faff as it's a lovely, rich amalgamation of moist, fatty pork, which is set in a pork jelly, which you spread on hot toast or bread. I think it's the British version of rillettes de porc – and if anything, I think it's better.

Anyway, back to Pinky. Firstly, you need to shave the head as there will generally be lots of fine hairs on it's face, particularly it's chin. (I use a sterilised Bic razor if you're interested)

The ears are the next thing to be removed as they're not meaty and are usually quite waxy! (I usually crisp them up in the oven for my sister's dog Bertie) Are you sure you want to continue reading this?

The head is then simmered in a very large pot along with a trotter or two for about 3 ½ hours, until the meat – most of which is round the neck and in the cheeks are very

tender.

Then it's Hammer House of Horrors time. You can't let the head cool down too much as it's difficult to skin the tongue and also the fat starts to set and it doesn't mix so well with the meat. When all the meat is extracted it's chopped and mixed and seasoned generously with salt, pepper and ground mace. All the while you're doing this, the stock needs to be boiled right down to concentrate the flavour and make it 'jellied' You then put it into little pots, pour over the stock and let it set. This has become a favourite at the farm shop – mostly with older people as its a thing they used to be able to buy in the local butchers years ago.

I even allowed my husband Mike to have some for lunch with some homemade soda bread.