Category: Main Courses

Faggots

• 250g fresh pig’s liver
• 250g fatty pork scraps
• 1 fresh pig’s heart, split in half and rinsed
• 100g ham or bacon scraps
• 100g fresh breadcrumbs
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• Salt
• Freshly ground white pepper
• ½ tsp Mace
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp all spice
• a handful of chopped fresh parsley
• a few sage leaves, finely chopped
• small sprig of rosemary, finely chopped
• small chopped red chilli (or dried chilli)

• Caul fat or streaky bacon for wrapping (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4.
2. Roughly chop then coarsely mince all the meats and combine in a bowl.
3. Add the breadcrumbs, onion, herbs, spices and some salt and pepper and mix together thoroughly
4. Shape mixture into six balls.
5. Wrap each in a square of caul fat. Cut it large enough to overlap – it will bind on itself to hold the faggots together.
6. If you’re using streaky bacon, stretch each rasher with the back of a heavy knife, making them as long and as wide as possible (approximately two per faggot).
7. Flatten the balls slightly and place on a baking sheet or in an ovenproof dish into which they fit snugly and roast for 50 to 60 minutes, basting once or twice.

Fran’s ham

At Christmas, my sister-in-law, Fran always makes a honey glazed ham, and it’s fantastic. The cleverness is in the glaze.

So, here’s my best guess at something like it.

Ingredients

Honey- about 3 tablespoons (clear, runny)
brown sugar- about 3 tablespoons
English mustard- I used 3 teaspoons of dry powder
Worcestershire sauce-again, about 3 tablespoons
A handful of maraschino cherries
A can of pineapple rings

Hanan’s Lamb & Chickpea Stew


2 red onions, fine dice
2 garlic cloves, minced
olive oil
800g lamb cut into large chunks
1.5 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp hot paprika
2 tsp sweet smoked paprika
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1 tbsp honey
1-1/2 cans chopped tomatoes
500ml chicken stock, hot
600g chickpeas, drained and rinsed
fresh coriander, chopped

Fry off the onions for 10 minutes until soft. Add the garlic for a further 2 minutes, then set aside.

Fry off the lamb chunks for 5-6 minutes until browned. Add the cumin and paprikas and fry for a few minutes. Add the onion & garlic back to the pan, along with the lemon zest, honey, tomatoes, stock and chickpeas.

Bring to the boil, then simmer for 20-25 minutes until the lamb is tender. Stir through the coriander and serve with couscous. Finish with chopped coriander.

    Hot Smoked Salmon

    This is a tricky one to get right, and depending on the stove, and the pot you use, you may need to tinker with the recipe a little.

    What you need.

    Salmon steaks, 4 is a nice number
    Oak, hickory or apple wood chips (sold in the BBQ section)
    Brine (salty water)
    Tin foil
    A large stock pot, with a lid.

    First thing. mix up a cold brine, with as much salt as you can dilute.

    Leave the salmon in the brine for about an hour. No longer, or it’ll get too salty, and too dry.

    Next, time for smoking. On the bottom of the stock pot, put some tin foil. on top of the tin foil, put a layer of wood chips. Put the pan on a high heat with the lid on. Eventually, it will start to smoke. This is good.

    Make some long strips of foil, folding it over so that it’s a ribbon about the same width as the salmon (12 inches long, 3 inches wide). You’ll need one for each piece of salmon. Put the salmon on the middle of the foil and fold the rest up to make a handle.

    Open the lid of the smoking pot, drop the salmon on top of the wood chips. You’ll probably be able to get four side by side.

    Put the lid on quickly, other wise the house will smell of smoke for days.

    Leave it in there for 8 minutes, then retrieve it. (This is where the foil handles come in useful.)

    Serve immediately, with a hollandaise sauce, or salsa verde. It’s great as a starter or main.

    Italian Beef Meatballs

    500g Mince beef
    3-4 slices smoked bacon, finely chopped or minced
    1 slice of bread (soaked in water)
    about 1cm x 1cm x 2cm chunk of parasan, grated
    1/2 onion, grated
    1 large clove of garlic, grated/minced
    1/2 tsp celery salt
    1 tblspn herbs – a mix of oregano, parsley, margarum

    put it all in a bowl and mix with your hands. make sure everything is well mixed.
    Once done, break into meatballs and either fry or roast. Add to a marinara or arabietta sauce and serve with pasta.

    Moussaka

    Serves 6. One of my mum’s favourite lamb dishes. I ate this a lot growing up! Seems like a Greek lasagne to me! Serve with a dressed garden salad.

    1 large onion
    2 cloves garlic
    800g minced lamb
    1 can tomatoes
    2 bay leaves
    2 tbl tomato purée
    1 glass red wine
    3 aubergines
    1 tsp sugar
    salt & peper
    2tsp oregano
    1/2tsp cinnamon

    topping:
    50g butter
    50g plain flour
    450ml milk
    50g grated cheese
    2 eggs
    nutmeg

    Fry the onion till translucent. Add the lamb and fry till brown. Add the garlic, wine, bay leaves, cinnamon & tomato and simmer for 20 minutes. add salt, pepper & oregano to taste.

    Slice and fry the aubergine till softened.

    for the sauce – make a roux with the flour & butter and slowly mix in the milk – bit by bit till you get a white sauce. Add the nutmeg and cheese and season to taste.

    Once the sauce is thick and seasoned, remove from heat, and cool for 5 mins before beating in the 2 eggs.

    To make the moussaka, layer the meat and aubergine in a lasagne pan. Spread the cheese sauce on top, and finish with grated nutmeg.

    Bake for 50 minutes at 180°c until the sauce topping is fluffy and golden.

    You can also add potato slices with or instead of the aubergine if you like.

    Mum’s Pork Chops with BBQ sauce

    4 Pork chops
    1 small onion, chopped
    1 stick celery, chopped
    1 tsp brown sugar
    2 tsp mustard powder
    1 tsp salt
    1/2 rsp paprika
    2 tsp tomato purée
    1 tbl worcestershire sauce
    1 tbl vinegar
    2 tbl lemon juice

    Roast chops until brown- 30 mins
    fry veg, and add the other ingredients – pour over chops, with some water to loosen.roast for another 10 mins.

    Pasta al burro/ Pasta Bianco/ Poppys pasta

    This is the quickest simplest pasta dish I know. White pasta or pasta in butter – can be made with olive oil, but I prefer the buttery version. I guess it depends if youre from northern or southern Italy. I’m not. In its simplest form, its cooked pasta in butter with parmigano sprinkled on top – but we can do better!

    Cook a portion of pasta (c100g), drain and retain some of the pasta water.

    In the empty pan, add a small knob of butter and a little crushed garlic (c1/2 a clove for 1 person) and mix til it is softened and smells less harsh.

    Add the drained pasta back to the pan, and toss it in the butter & garlic. add another knob of butter, and a swig of pasta water and mix – the butter should mix to make a creamy sauce.

    Add some grated parmagino and mix as it melts into the sauce. you may need another glug of pasta water if it looks claggy.

    when it looks ‘right’ dump into a bowl and top with more parmagino and some black pepper. nom

    Poppy’s Cottage Pie

    1 Large Onion
    2-3 large carrots, diced.
    500g Mince Beef
    Worcestershire sauce
    2 tbl tomato puree
    1tsp sugar
    1 tsp salt
    1 tsp white pepper
    corn-flour to thicken
    2-3 large potatoes (bakers, or something floury)

    Fry 1 large onion, medium diced. (whilst frying onions, peel the potatoes.) once softened and browned,
    Add 500g minced beef. keep the beef and onions moving whilst the beef cooks (it helps break up the bigger bits of beef). Once all cooked through, and browned a little, add enough water to nearly cover the beef and onion. Add the carrots.
    Add 2 tablespoons of tomato puree 6-8 glugs of Worcestershire sauce (loads), 1 tsp white pepper,  1 tsp sugar, 1tsp salt.
    Let it simmer for a few minutes, and taste for seasoning- add salt, sugar, worcestershire sauce or pasata to taste. Simmer for 15-30 minutes, until the carrots are well cooked and thicken with cornflour to make gravy.  (Add a little water when cooking if it looks like it’s getting too dry and sticky)
    Boil and mash the potatoes
    Make the pie, and brush with butter.
    If the pie is still warm, then bake it in the hottest oven you can until the potato crisps
    If making ahead, cook from cold at 180c for 30 mins