Cumberland Casserole

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From the Snowy Peak District

 I was lucky enough to be taken away with my parents this Christmas. We spent a week in the snowy and icy Peak District in Derbyshire in England. My mother was born in the area and we still have some relations. It was wonderful to catch up with my aunt, uncle and cousin. I was filled in on some fascinating family history which has been lovingly traced by my uncle, right back to the mid 1700's! Amazing. We enjoyed many slow leisurely meals and long walks in the beautiful snow covered moors. All very idyllic and relaxing.

I made dinner for the family one evening. It being a holiday house I stuck to a simple supper. The inspiration came from a recipe by Tamasin Day-Lewis. I bought some Cumberland sausages from the local butcher. This butchers shop contained a staggering amount of pork pies. The back wall was lined 4 deep and 15 high. When we returned on Stephen's Day (Boxing Day in the UK) they were gone, all of them! I was amazed by the Christmas Pork Pie consumption of these Derbyshire Folk. I guess it must be a Christmas tradition. I was lucky enough to snap one up before they were all gone - and it must have been the best pork pie I've ever had. Perfect pastry, a little jelly on the meat and moist filling - perfect with some English mustard.

Ingredients

Serves 3

5 Cumberland Sausages - skins removed

3 rashers

1/4 of a head of green cabbage - finely sliced

4 potatoes - peeled and finely sliced

1/2 large onion (or 1 small) finely sliced

1 heaped tablespoon of grainy mustard

1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme

1/2 pint of stock

A few small knobs of butter (it's Christmas)
Seasoning

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees. Grill the rashers and cut into small pieces. In an oven proof dish make a layer of half of the cabbage, half the rashers and half the onion. Then top with the sausage meat - go on squish it out of the casing, it feels lovely! Make it into a rough layer. Top this with the grainy mustard and thyme. Then add the remaining cabbage, rashers and onion. Pour over your stock and a good grind of black pepper. Then top with the potato layer. Cover your dish with it's lid (or tin foil if you don't have a lid. The stock should be coming up past the first layer of cabbage and the sausage. As longs as the potatoes aren't covered it should be fine. Bake in the over for 1 hour and fifteen minutes. Top with freshly chopped parsley before serving with some steamed veg.

This is a lovely non-nonsense supper, that is really delicious despite it's modest ingredients. Greater than the sum of it's elements let's say. Quick and simple to put together and forget about while it bubbles away - yumbo!

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Guest Chef No. 3

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The multi talented Ms. Doris K!

Roast Rack of Lamb with a Mustard and Herb Crumb Crust

I am visiting my Dad and his partner Doris in Kerry. Doris is originally from Germany and is a great and a very instinctive cook and has an amazing way of improvising and throwing things together to make something really tasty. A lot of her dishes have a slight German twist, and this one is no exception. She explained that its quite a German thing to coat meat with a stuffing type crumb mixture as this seals in moisture as well as giving a lovely crunchy texture.

This meal was absolutely delicious! Doris also made my favorite gratin potatoes which were the perfect accompaniment. Harley the greyhound was almost as happy as me due to all the bones that he got to eat afterwards!

Ingredients:

1 rack of Lamb (enough for 4 people, about 3 chops per person on each side)

4 tbsps whole grain or dijon mustard

a few sprigs rosemary & thyme

about 4 slices wholemeal bread

2 cloves garlic

salt and pepper

Sear the rack of lamb in a hot pan in olive oil to seal it, then coat the outside skin with the mustard and leave to rest for about 10 mins. In the meantime, put the bread into a food processor, add a few glugs of olive oil, the garlic, rosemary, thyme, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Whizz this into a kind of crumbly paste.

When the lamb is cooled, press the mixture onto the lamb, over where you have already spread the mustard.

Roast in the oven at 220c for about 40 mins, for pink meat, or 50 if you prefer it well done

Homefries

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Like they do in NY diners
Well truth be told - they probably only have potatoes and onions in common, but that's what sprang to mind when I was making them so that's what they're called. This is just another way to enjoy a big bowl of potatoes - and sure lash in whatever you fancy - meat, herbs, spices, cheese...

6/8 boiled new potatoes cubed
1 onion chopped in large chunks
3 cloves of galic sliced thinly
1/2 teaspoon of Cumin Seeds
1 teaspoon Poppy seeds
1 teaspoon of grainy mustard
1 teaspoon of honey
salt and pepper
grated cheese - optional
A few sprigs of fresh Rosemary
Olive Oil

Heat up you oil in a frying pan, then fry your cumin seeds and rosemary for 30 seconds before adding in the onion and garlic. Cook this until it starts to become translucent. Then add in the potatoes and poppy seeds. Cook for a few minutes to heat through the potatoes. Then stir in the mustard, honey and seasoning. Cook this until the edges of your potatoes and onion start to blacken slightly. Top with cheese to melt it just before serving. This would be great with some nice red peppers, cauliflower or some roasted squash. Also would be nice to fry some chorizo at the start so that the spicy red oil could get into it all. Great as a main, or a nice side.

Potato Salad

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The Anti-Salad

Not sure whether it was worth blogging a simple potato salad – but you never know. Mostly I eat salads to get some low carb, low fat and high vegetable content into my life – this salad does not comply to the above standards – being actually the complete opposite. But it’s Sunday and I’m hungover and I miss my friend Kate so all bets are off ok.


Ingredients
5 small new potatoes
5 shards of chives
3 sprigs of parsley
4 little pink radishes
2 spoons of mayonnaise
Salt & Pepper
1 slice of ham
a small handful of cashew nuts
1 teaspoon grainy mustard

The lovely Sarah Lowry introduced me to radishes in potato salad and now I wouldn’t have it any other way. Cook potatoes, chop parsley and chives, slice the radishes finely, slice ham and crush nuts gently. Combine all ingredients in a bowl – mix and serve.

I like to pop the potatoes in still warm – but if you want to cool them down – just run them under the cold tap for 30 seconds or so.

It’s great as a side dish for barbecues and summer food, quiches, fish and chicken – eat outside if possible. To prepare as a side dish simply leave out the ham and nuts

Big up the Mackerel Massive

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Big up the Mackerel Massive

Lu and I went for a cycle this morning all the way to Dollymount
strand. We saw people digging for what we thought were clams but
turned out to be lugworms... anyway, somewhat bizarrely this gave us a
terrible craving for some nice fresh seafood. Wrights of Marino
provided us with 4 lovely big Mackerel fillets, and here is what we
did with them:


Fried mackerel in a coriander cream sauce with crushed dill new potatoes
serves 3
3 fresh mackerel fillets
10-15 new potatoes
1 tbsp coriander seeds, crushed in pestle and mortar
100 ml cream
2 oz butter
juice of 1 lemon
a few sprigs of dill
boil the new potatoes until tender. When they are done , crush (not
Mash!) them with a fork, and stir in the roughly chopped dill, a big
nob of butter and a little glug of cream, salt and pepper. Se aside
with the lid on, they will keep warm while you cook the mackerel.

melt a nob of butter and some olive oil in a frying pan. Turn up the
heat so that when you put the mackerel in, skin side down, it really
sizzles. Cook on both sides for about 4 mins each (if the mackerel is
fat- you will need to check if its cooked all the way through)

Put the potatoes in the middle of a plate, balance the cooked mackerel
on top, and set aside while you cook the sauce (don't worry, its very
quick)


In the same pan that you cooked the mackerel, melt the rest of the
butter. Get it really hot but be careful not to burn. throw in the
crushed coriander seeds, the lemon juice and cream. swirl the pan
around to mix, then leave on head for 20 seconds or so, until it
bubbles. Quickly pour over the mackerel and serve.