Smoked trout fishcakes

Ingredients

approximately 300g mashed potato ( we used leftovers from Sunday lunch)

1 portion of smoked trout ( we used Staal Smokehouse)

4 spring onions sliced ( including greens)

Method

Put the mashed potato in a bowl and season.

Flake in the smoked trout and add the sliced spring onions.

Mix together and use a little beaten egg to bind if needed.

Shape into fish cakes.

Heat a little oil in a large frying pan and fry the fishcakes until golden brown on each side.

Yes it is that simple.

Wild garlic and asparagus tart

Ingredients

1 sheet ready-rolled puff pastry

75g fresh curd cheese (I buy Botton dairy from Food Circle York)

small bunch of wild garlic, chopped

1 bunch of asparagus ( I bought local Sand Hutton asparagus)

zest of a lemon

Method

Preheat the oven to 200c

Lay out the sheet of puff pastry onto a baking tray and using a knife, score a border about 2cm from the edge.

Trim the asparagus and cook in boiling water for a couple of minutes.

Mix together the curds, chopped wild garlic and lemon zest, using a bit of lemon juice to slacken if needed.

Spread the curd mixture on the puff pastry within the border you’ve created.

Lay the asparagus on top of the curd mix.

Put in the oven and cook for approximately 35-40 minutes until the pastry edges are risen and golden brown.

Serve warm with a side salad. I lightly pickled wild garlic flowers in cider vinegar and dressed the top of the tart with them.

Black pudding hash

Ingredients (Serves 2)

2 cloves garlic, crushed

4 slices of black pudding (approx 250-300g) diced

2 eggs

Method

Turn the oven on to 180c.

Par boil the diced potatoes for a few minutes til not quite cooked (about 7 minutes).

Put a bit of oil in a large frying pan and add the potatoes and the 2 cloves of crushed garlic . Fry, tossing occasionally.

Add the black pudding and continue to cook, stirring occasionally. You are looking for crispy potatoes and crispy bits of black pudding.

Transfer to an oven dish and make 2 wells. Crack an egg into each well and bake in oven until the egg is cooked but the yolk is still a bit runny.

Enjoy.

Young Buck blue cheese scones

Ingredients

250g soda bread flour ( I use Mortons)

50g butter

125g Young Buck blue cheese

100ml buttermilk

1 egg

Method

Preheat a fan oven to 200c.

Put the soda bread flour in a large bowl, add the butter and rub the butter through flour to resemble breadcrumbs.

Cut up the Young Buck blue cheese into little pieces and add to the flour mix.

In a jug mix together the buttermilk and egg.

Add the wet mix to the dry mix and lightly bring together ( don’t overwork it) adding a tiny bit of buttermilk if needed.

Turnout onto a lightly flour surface and gently roll or pat to an even depth.

Cut out the scones and put on a tray that has been lined with parchment/ baking paper.

Give the scones a light egg wash on top then bake for 10-12 mins.

NB if you cannot source soda bread flour you can use plain flour and add the salt and bicarbonate of soda. I’d recommend 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tsp bicarb.

I like to serve these with Abernethy butter and some pear chutney.

Mini Simnel Bundt Cakes

Ingredients ( makes 4 mini bundt cakes and some muffins)

480g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 ½ tsp mixed spice 
200g caster sugar
2 eggs
110g melted unsalted butter 
280ml milk
Zest of an orange
100g sultanas
50g raisins 
50g currants
50g mixed peel
100g marzipan (plus extra to decorate)

Method

Heat the oven to 170c
Put the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and mixed spice in a bowl 
In a separate bowl whisk the sugar and eggs together

Add the milk and butter  to the sugar and eggs and combine it
In another bowl mix the dried fruit together
Grate the marzipan into the fruit mix and add the orange zest

Fold in the fruit mix and dry ingredients into the egg mix Grease the Bundt tins with butter
Spoon the mix into the mini bundt cake tins
Bake at 170c for 25-30 mins
(I had enough leftover mix to make 10 muffins and baked then for 15-20 mins)

Whilst the cakes are baking, create the marzipan centres by weighing out 4 x 15g of marzipan
make each portion of marzipan in to a ball then flatten slightly. Toast it with a cooks blowtorch
When cooked, cool the cakes in the tins
Once cooled turn the cakes out and place the toasted marzipan in the centre

Slow cooked mutton in a spiced marinade

Ingredients

Leg of mutton

150g Longley Farm fat free yoghurt

Thumb side piece of ginger

2 cloves of garlic 

Teaspoon each of cumin, turmeric, chilli flakes and fennel seeds

Juice of a lime 

1 teaspoon of tomato purée 

Small bunch coriander

Method

Put the yoghurt, spices, ginger, garlic, tomato purée and lime juice in a food processor and blitz

Place the mutton in a large food bag and pour in the marinade.  Leave in the fridge for a few hours.

Place the marinaded mutton in an oven dish and cover its foil

Turn the oven on at 140c and cook the mutton for about 4 hours or until tender.

I ‘pulled’ the mutton from the bone and served with flatbreads, salad and coriander, coconut and lime rice

Mincemeat biscuits

I love making edible gifts for Christmas presents and this is one I’ve made many times. This recipe makes about 24 biscuits.

Ingredients

200g unsalted butter, softened 

100g soft brown sugar

200g porridge oats (I use Stringer porridge oats, from  a local farm in Bishop Wilton) 

100g plain flour

6 tablespoons of mincemeat (I made my mincemeat using the River Cottage apple, pear and ginger mincemeat recipe)

Method:

Heat the oven to 170c

Mix the butter, sugar and flour together, then stir in the oats and mincemeat.

Take small amounts of the mix and roll into balls. You should have enough mix to make about 24 balls. 

Place them on a baking tray lined with parchment.  Flatten each ball slightly.  

I like to sprinkle them with a little Demerara sugar.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden. Take them out of the oven and leave on the tray to cool for 5-10 minutes before putting on a cooling rack to cool completely.

I like to put them in an airtight jar with some ribbon and a nice label and give as a gift.  

Wild Garlic Pesto and Brinkburn Chicken

We discovered Brinkburn goats cheese from Northumberland Cheese Company during an explore of Alnwick Market over Easter.  I love cheese.  I love goats cheese even more. Coupled with the wild garlic I had just picked and turned into pesto I knew I had the makings of a tasty dish….

so a little experimenting and here is the recipe (It is not a looker but it is delicious and quick):

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
1 tbsp wild garlic pesto (see recipe on blog)
35g Brinkburn goats cheese (from Northumberland Cheese Company) cut into small cubes
1 tbsp cream cheese
20g fresh breadcrumbs
Pinch of paprika
150g cherry tomatoes ( preferably on the vine but I used up some I already had!)
olive oil

Method:
Heat oven to 180c
Place the chicken breasts in an ovenproof dish.
Mix the pesto, brinkburn cheese and cream cheese in a bowl.


Spread the mix on top of the chicken breast, covering it.


Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the mix and add a little paprika.


Place the vine tomatoes around the chicken and drizzle everything with a little olive oil.
Bake for 30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

I served this with wild garlic dauphinoise but it also works very well with Nigella Lawson’s rocket and lemon couscous recipe.

Wild Garlic Pesto. A Recipe Reworked

I make wild garlic pesto every year.  I’ve had a recipe on here for a long time but after a fantastic lesson with Sara Danesin last year I realised I could improve it.  In particular using more pine nuts and less olive oil helps the flavour.  Here is my reworked version.

100g wild garlic leaves
150g pine nuts
75g grated parmesan
pinch of salt
Good quality olive oil

Put the wild garlic, pine nuts, Parmesan, tablespoon of olive oil and a pinch of salt in a food processor ( I used my thermomix speed 8) and blitz.  Scrape down the sides and add a little more olive oil whilst blitzing until you get your desired consistency.

I like mine quite thick and not too oily.  You can always loosen later with a little more oil.

store in a sterilised jar putting a little oil in the top to preserve it.

I also freeze some in an ice cube tray for adding to soups and stews later.

Rhubarb and orange cake

We have a lot of rhubarb in our garden and so I make this cake a lot in the summer. It is lovely and moist.

Ingredients:

Rhubarb topping:

50g caster sugar (I usually use golden)

Zest of an orange

300g rhubarb cut up into small chunks

Cake:

150g caster sugar

140 g butter

85g self raising flour

100g ground almonds

1/2tsp baking powder 

Juice of half the orange

2 eggs

Method:

Line a 20cm cake tin

Heat the oven to 160c

Mix the cake topping together and leave to ‘marinade’


Put the cake ingredients in a mixer and mix well together (if doing by hand you might want to cream the butter and sugar together before mixing in the rest of the ingredients)

Spoon the cake mix in to the tin and then arrange the cake topping on top. There will be some juice in the cake topping which you can drizzle over. 


Bake for 45 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.