Salad Armenienne. (Mushroom Salad)

A really surprisingly nice french salad lifted from an Elizabeth David book.
Fry sliced mushrooms with a few slithers of garlic and bacon cut into small pieces.
Add a small glass of red wine boil for a minute then reduce the heat and simmer for another two or three.
Take off the heat, stir in chopped parsley and leave to cool, but do not refrigerate as really cold will kill the flavours.
Dress chopped celery and red pepper in a good oil, seasoning and some white wine or tarragon vinegar and spoon the mushroom mixture on top before serving.

Balsamic Roasted Beetroot with Thyme Oil, Goats Cheese and Horseraddish.

Top and tail some small beets and cut most of the way down the length in a cross, so you can get oil and thyme into the centre to flavour whilst cooking.
Place the beats on a sheet of foil, work chopped thyme and seasoning into the centre, cover in a dash of oil and a glug of balsamic vinegar wrap and place on a baking tray and roast for 30-45 mins depending on size - they are done when a sharp knife slides in with little effort.
Remove from the oven - open the foil slightly to allow to cool and when cool enough rub of the outer skin and continue the existing cuts to quarter the beets.
While the beets are cooking put chopped thyme and a good glug of rape seed oil in a saucepan and warm through.
Leave to cool and infuse the place in a small blender and blitz, then sieve out the chopped thyme.
Serve the beet quarters while still warm on a bed of beet and balsamic puree with a good goats cheese,a drizzle of thyme oil, watercress and a good grating of fresh horse radish.

Cavolo Nero with Bacon and Chestnuts.

Half the chestnuts and take the outer shells off and roast in an oven on a medium heat for five or ten mins - this is to dry out the bitter inner skin to make it easier to peel.
When the are cool enough to handle peel off the inner skins.
Chop the bacon and add to a hot pan, when the bacon is cooking add a glug of rape seed oil and add the peeled chestnuts.
Add the chopped and de stalked cavolo nero, you may need to add a bit more oil at this stage and fry until it is cooked through.

Pickled Beetroot with Watercress and Crottin De Chavignol.

Peel the beetroot and slice thinly.
In a saucepan add two parts water to one part white wine vinegar, a hand full of peppercorns, a bay leaf, salt and sugar to taste.
Bring to the boil and add the beetroot leave to cook on a gentle simmer for five mins and then remove from the heat.
Cover and leave to cool.
Serve with dressed watercress and Goats cheese.

Rib Eye Steak with Raw Chestnuts, Fondant Potatoes, Rainbow Chard, Pickled Mushrooms and Honey & Thyme Roasted Purple Carrot.

In a saucepan add two parts water to one part white wine vinegar, a hand full of peppercorns, a bay leaf, salt and sugar to taste.
Bring to the boil, take of the heat and leave to infuse for half an hour.
Bring back to the boil then pour over chopped mushrooms (wild if you can get them) - cover and leave to pickle for a few hours.
For the fondant potatoes cut the potatoes into barrel shapes, heat a large amount of butter in a saucepan and on a med heat place your potatoes in the pan.
Leave to cook until the potato end is nicely coloured (do not move them around)- usually around 3-5mins - then flip them over and do the other side.
Finely add a bunch of thyme, a crushed garlic clove and veg stock.
Turn the heat down to a simmer, cover and slow cook until the potatoes are soft.
Roll your carrots in a rapeseed oil and runny honey, then in chopped thyme.
Place in a roasting tray and roast in the oven.
Strip the stems from the rainbow chard and chop into 4/5cm lengths, place in a steamer basket over some slightly salted water.
Place the shredded leaves on top and steam for 10 -12mins.
When cooked drain the water from the pan add a knob of butter and return the stalks to the pan and keep warm.
When the leaves are cool enough to handle squeeze out any excess liquid and return to the pan season and roll in the melted butter.
Always allow a steak to come up to room temperature before cooking and oil & season on both sides before cooking.
Fry the steak in a little oil or butter on both sides until medium rare, place a small knob of butter on top, cover with a little foil and leave some where warm to rest.
When plating up pour any resting juices back over the top of the steak.
Peel your chestnuts, remembering to remove the bitter inner skin and using a mandolin or sharp knife slice finely.
Spread the chestnuts over the top of the steak when serving.

Pickled Mushrooms.

In a saucepan add two parts water to one part white wine vinegar, a hand full of peppercorns, a bay leaf, a chopped shallot, salt and sugar to taste.
Bring to the boil, take of the heat and leave to infuse for half an hour.
Bring back to the boil then pour over chopped mushrooms and a chopped clove of garlic - cover and leave to pickle for a few hours.
Make a dressing with extra virgin olive oil a tea spoon of dijon mustard, chopped parsley and a little of the pickling liquor.
Remove the mushrooms from the pickling liquor, dry on a paper towel, plate and dress.

From The Archive : Tomato Ketchup

Roughly chop 1.5 kg of tomatoes, about 500g of apples, and an onion and place in a saucepan.
Add about 1/2 ltr of malt vinegar, salt, sugar to taste and cayenne pepper.
Wrap cloves, pepper corns and all spice in a muslin bag, secure and place in the saucepan.
Bring to a simmer and cook for an hour and a half until all the ingredients are well broken down.
Remove the muslin bag and discard - press the mixture through a sieve into a new saucepan.
Boil for two to three minutes to bring it all back together then decant into sterilized jars.
It will be ready to use in a couple of days or so.