RECIPES
Beer Bread recipe
Equipment
· Stand mixer (Kenwood or similar type) is essential.
· 23cm x !3cm bread tin
Notes
· A ‘cold’ overnight rise works best with this recipe. Make it just before going to bed!
· The best “oven spring” is achieved by cooking the dough, starting with a cold oven.
· A cold start oven cook allows the healthy yeast remaining in the dough after proving, to remain active slightly longer than it would in a hot bake, resulting in a marginally lighter bread.
· In the beginning it is best to use the ‘K’ beater, to make sure that the wet and dry ingredients blend smoothly, then later change to the ‘Bread Hook’ for kneading.
Ingredients
1 x 330 ml can lager (Blonde type if available)
580 gm strong white bread flour
1 x Sachet dried yeast
1 x heaped teaspoonful table salt
1 x large egg
50 gm softened salted butter
Optional ingredients could be poppy seeds, onion flakes or cumin, to your choice.
Method
First add the can of lager to the mixer bowl along with the salt, seeds and flakes if you’re using them, plus the butter and the egg. Mix gently to blend.
When the initial ingredients have been incorporated, start to add the flour a tablespoon at a time, so as to avoid lumps being formed. Depending on the flour in your part of the world, this will create quite a stiff mixture, therefore, it might be necessary to add a few splashes of water, to loosen it, but try not to add more than 20 ml. The resultant dough should be easy to handle, just a little stiff. A good test is that the ‘K’ beater will still be able to work the mix on low to medium speed, although it will tend to struggle, perfect! Now change to the Bread Hook for kneading.
The texture of the crumb in this bread benefits from a long ‘knead’ at medium speed, say twenty minutes at slightly less than half speed. Half way through the knead add the dried yeast gradually and continue to knead for a further ten minutes until the yeast is fully incorporated, the dough is silky smooth and accumulates around the dough hook rather than the bowl of the mixer. It should make a sound like a gentle handclap. When it does, the kneading is done.
Put the finished dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with “Clingfilm,” also oiled, to avoid any sticking as the dough rises and leave it to rest overnight in the bottom of the fridge.
Next morning the dough will have risen somewhat, remove it from the fridge and leave it on the kitchen worktop in its bowl, still covered, until it reaches room temperature, by which time it will have ‘proved’; doubling in volume!
When the dough has come to room temperature and doubled in volume, remove it from its bowl to a floured worktop, “deflate” it by stabbing it with stiffened fingers, then gently stretch and fold it a few times to form a fat sausage, the size of the baking tin.
Next oil the baking tin generously and put the dough in it, uncovered, and allow it to rise. When it has reached the top of the tin, turn the oven to 220° C, give the dough a good deep slash across the top with a sharp blade and then immediately put it into the cold oven for 30/35 minutes.
To achieve an attractive glaze to the finished bread; about half way through cooking, remove the loaf tin from the oven and brush the top of the loaf generously with beaten egg before returning it.
After 35 minutes or so, the bread will be almost certainly be cooked, turn it out of the tin and apply the usual test to ensure that it is fully cooked, by tapping it on the base, checking for a good solid “hollow, knocking” sound. To ensure that the bread was fully cooked, my teachers at ‘Ballymaloe School of Cookery’ would often return the turned-out loaf “bottom up,” to the oven, for a further five or ten minutes as the oven is cooling, just to be on the safe side!
Resist the temptation to take a slice off the loaf and allow it to cool fully, on a cooling rack, before cutting into it.
Finally, NEVER, NEVER wash out your bread baking tins, brush them out if there are stubborn crumbs, but the tins need to be correctly ‘conditioned’ over time, to be sure of a perfect loaf every time.
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Classic Nepalese Curried Goat
Ingredients and equipment
Equipment
· Magimix or similar food processor
· Electric Coffee grinder
· Large casserole
· Large frying pan
Fruit and Vegetables
· Onions one red, one normal
· Peeled garlic cloves x three
· Ginger, a piece about the size of a walnut
· Juice of one lime
· Tomato puree, one tablespoonful
Spices
· Fenugreek seeds, one level tablespoonful
· Curry powder, one heaped tablespoonful
· Garam Masala, one level tablespoonful
· Cinnamon, one medium stick
· Hot dried chillies, three or to taste
· Szechuan pepper, one heaped teaspoonful
· Cider vinegar 100ml
Meat
· 500gm bone in, kid goat meat cut into chunks
· Chicken or lamb stock 750ml
N.B. “Bone in meat” adds an extra layer of richness and flavour, but boned meat will work almost as well, the bones add just a little extra authenticity!
Lamb works almost as well as goat in this dish, I would use chopped up skirt and shoulder; although in the case of animals reared here in Ibiza, free range goats have the benefit of flavours picked up whilst grazing on herbs in the wild, even in a curry!
Method
First put all the spices, except the cinnamon, into a spice blender (electric coffee grinder) and blitz them to a powder.
Fit the knife attachment into the mixer bowl
Peel and quarter the onions and load them into the bowl of the mixer together with the ginger and garlic cloves. Blend these ingredients very well, until they become a kind of “fine slurry.”
Put a good glug of sunflower oil into a large frying pan and bring it to frying temperature although not smoking. Add the onion/ginger mixture and sauté gently until the mixture takes on a light golden colour.
When the onion mixture is nicely golden add the powdered spices and cook until the mixture begins to give off an appetising spicy aroma.
Add the diced “bone in” meat to the pan and cover it as much as possible with the onion/spice mixture, continuing to cook it gently until the meat has lightly browned.
When lightly browned, transfer the contents of the frying pan to a deep, lidded, casserole, then, season to taste, remembering that flavours intensify as water evaporates; and add the tomato purée, the cinnamon stick, broken into two or three pieces, the cider vinegar, the juice of a lime and finally sufficient stock to almost cover the meat.
Cover the casserole and put it to cook in the oven, at 160 C for four hours; covered for the first two hours then uncovered for the final two hours. When uncovering the pot, make sure that there is enough liquid (or “gravy” as the cooking liquid is known on the sub-continent) surrounding the meat to ensure that it cooks without burning during the next phase, noting that as water evaporates it should thicken up as cooking continues.
Finally serve in bowls, with chutneys, chapattis, naan bread, finger bowls and napkins with a big bowl to the side for discarded bones.
Cork Fish Chowder
I’ve heard Rick Stein describe some dishes he makes as a little bit “cheffy” when they’re complicated. This is one, it requires rather a lot of stages in the making. First, proper fish stock, then “beurre manié”. The end result really is worth the effort though!
For the fish stock, under no circumstances use a fish stock cube. All you’ll get is salt and a shed load of ‘E’ numbers! Get yourself a kilo or so of Monkfish and/or Halibut bones from a proper fishmonger. Cover them with water in a big pan, with a roughly chopped onion and a bay leaf. Simmer the bone broth, uncovered for about an hour, until its reduced by almost a half, then strain it and discard the makings. Right! That’s your fish stock.
‘Beurre manié’ is the next ingredient you will need to make. In fact, it’s very easy, it just has a posh name. It’s a clever way to thicken sauces. Simply take two dessert spoons full of soft butter mixed with two of plain flour ad mash them together well, and there you have it.
Ingredients
1 x Large white onion diced small
2 x Large waxy variety potatoes (e.g., Charlotte, Maris Peer and Jersey Royals) cubed
1.5 Litres good fish stock
500 ml full fat milk
350 ml x 35% cream
100 gm salted bacon (tocino)
2 x dessertspoons full plain white flour
30 gm approx., butter, for ‘Beurre manié’
30 gm approx., butter for sautéing
Cooking oil
A selection of fish and shellfish to taste e.g.
· Monkfish
· Cod
· Salmon
· Mussels
· Shelled prawns
Method.
Dice the onions small and add them to a large saucepan along with a large knob of butter and two or three lugs of good quality cooking oil and sauté them gently along with the cubes of salt bacon. Cook the onions and bacon until the onions are soft and translucent, not brown and the bacon has released most of its fat.
Add about 1.5 litre of the fish stock and the cubed potatoes to the pan, bring to the boil then reduce the liquor to a simmer until the potatoes are just about cooked. Next to go in is 1 litre of full fat milk and 300 ml of 35% cream. Stir well and allow the liquid to reach simmering point. Do not boil or the chowder will split. Now comes the time to thicken the chowder to your own taste. I like mine quite rich and creamy, its up to you.
To achieve the creamy consistency that you want add quantities of the ‘Beurre manié’ to taste. Begin by adding about one quarter of the quantity made. Using a balloon whisk gently blend the ingredients together, making sure not to puree the potatoes into the now, soupy mixture. Repeat until you have the consistency of chowder you want.
Finally comes the time to add the fish, being aware that not only are we putting the final touches to the chowder, we will be cooking the fish simultaneously. Begin by adding the ‘meatier’ fish that take longest to cook, such as the Monkfish. Bear in mind that most fish cooks very quickly so think in stages (minutes) and add it according to its delicacy. In my recipe the order is:- Monkfish, Cod, Salmon and lastly shellfish.
Once the fish is all added, simmer the chowder very lightly until all the fish is cooked, check for and adjust seasoning to taste and serve into warm bowls, sprinkled with parsley, with a side of “Soda Bread”, preferably warm.
A couple of afterthoughts
· Don’t season the chowder until the very last thing. Different fish vary in their saltiness.
· Using a smoked fish like smoked haddock makes an interesting flavour variation, when you can get the proper stuff, please not the yellow “dyed” variety! Similarly, smoked tocino also works well .