Spring Sauce.

 

A very tasty sauce that is a take on mint sauce / salsa verde - at this time of year you could subsitute wild garlic for traditional garlic and add jack by the hedge (garlic mustard), it's great with lamb but you could adjust the herbs to suit chicken, beef, fish or game.

Chop a clove of garlic and add salt and pound in a mortar & pestle until it is a pulp.

Add a little chopped mint, a chopped bunch of parsley, lemon zest and a dash of juice, a dash of sherry vinegar, a grind of pepper and a glug of extra virgin olive oil and keep grinding it down until it is a paste.

Very finely chop a spring onion and mix in.

Leave for all the flavours to merge and serve.

Cornish Pasties

 

Can they be called Cornish if they are made in London? Who cares!

Peel and dice potato, swede and turnip (one or the other is fine if you can't get both) and cook in salted water until par cooked - I diced mine quiet small so this only takes a few minutes - drain and leave to cool.

Finely slice a beef steak - it doesn't have to be an expensive cut, in fact a cheaper cut such as frying or rump works better, and fry in a little oil - again it doesnt have to be cooked right through, put into a bowl to rest.

In the same pan add beef stock and reduce down until its a thick syrup, add any resting juices from the beef and scatter in finely chopped thyme - leave to cool.

Mix all the cooled ingredients together in a bowl and season with salt and a good grind of pepper.

Roll out puff pastry and cut into circles.

Place the filling into the centre and fold the pastry over and then crimp the edges to seal.

Brush with beaten egg yolk and bake until the pastry is cooked.

Shin of Beef, Ginger, Soy, Noodles and Pak Choi.

 

Season the diced beef shin with salt and pepper and brown off in small batches in a casserole in a little veg oil and set aside.

Deglaze the casserole with a little apple juice and add to the beef.

Add a little more oil and fry a couple of finely chopped garlic cloves and a thumb of ginger chopped into match sticks until softened.

Remove the pan from the heat and return the beef and juices, then add a teaspoon of red current jelly (any other fruit jelly such as crab apple, hawthorn etc will do so long as its not too sweet), a good glug of soy sauce a whole chilli, and the juice of half a lime.

Add a little more apple juice until it is about three quaters of the way up the meat cover and put in a low oven - about 120 degrees - the longer and slower it is cooked the better.

After a few hours cooking the meat should be falling apart. If there is too much liquid cook without a lid for the last half an hour to reduce.

Half or quarter the pak choi and soften in a little oil and slightly salted water until wilted.

Serve with noodles and the wilted pak choi.

Tomato, Basil, Pine Nuts and Parmesan.

 

This tomato salad is basicaly a deconstructed pesto with tomatoes.

Place a large bunch of basil leaves and a few garlic cloves in a bleder with extra virgin olive oil and blitz.

Leave to infuse then strain through a fine sieve or muslin cloth.

Chop and slice your tomatoes and place in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper.

Scatter with slightly crushed toasted pine nuts and ripped up basil leaves.

Make a dressing with a little good quality vinegar such as sherry vinegar, dijon mustard and the basil and garlic oil and drizzle over the tomatoes.

Scatter with parmesan shavings and serve.

Bacon, Apple and Rocket Salad.

 

A simple, but tasty salad of crispy bacon, apple matchsticks and peppery rocket.

Cut the bacon into small pieces and fry in a knob of butter until crispy.

While the bacon is frying cut your apple into small matchstick size pieces and roll in lemon juice to stop it discolouring.

When the bacon is cooked place it on a bed of rocket while it is still warm in your serving dish and add the apple.

Deglaze the warm pan with the lemon juice from the apple and a little good quality vinegar - add little more oil and a teaspoon of dijon mustard, season and mix into a dressing.

Dress the salad while the dressing is still warm and serve.

Asparagus, Potato, Cheese and Chervil Tart.

Peel and chop potatoes and put onto boil in salted water.

While the potatoes are boiling brush a baking dish with melted butter and add the filo pastry in layers, brushing with the melted butter in between all the layers. 

Make sure the pastry lines the sides and hangs over the edge slightly as this will be folded back later.

If you have very thick asparagus spears its best to par boil them for a minute or two by dropping them into the pan with the potatoes just before the potatoes are cooked.

When the potatoes are cooked (removing the asparagus if you have par boiled it), chop and add milk (or cream), salt & pepper, chopped chervil and good quality grated cheddar and a couple of eggs - then mash - you are looking for a consistency that will pour into the pastry lined dish, but will be set when cooked and cooled.

Pour into the dish and place the asparagus spears on the top (you can also push some into the mixture if you want more asparagus), fold back the excess pastry to form a rim and place in a pre heated oven.

Cook for 15/20 mins until the pastry is done on a fairly high heat then allow to cool for 15 mins or so before serving so it can set and be sliced.

Serve warm or cold with a good green leaf salad.

Asparagus Broth.

 

Make a stock with the bottom half of the asparagus spears, a stick of celery, a small carrot, a leek (the white part only), a peeled shallot, a couple of bay leaves, parsley and a couple of black peppercorns.

Once the stock has simmered for a hour or so allow to cool and strain and discard the veg and aromats.

Slice the top half of the asparaugus spears thinly at an angle but keep the tip whole and add to the stock along with some chopped chervil and salt.

Warm through until the asparagus tips are cooked and serve with more chopped chervil.