First signs of Spring

It's a beautiful sunny day here today in Shropshire -  but still bitingly cold.  But, cold or not,  at least we are beginning to see the first signs of Spring.  The snowdrops are out, the daffodils are in bud and I have just been down to Dudmaston Hall, our local National Trust property, where they are getting ready to re-open on 17th March. 

What has surprised me this year however, is how early the wild garlic is coming up.  I would normally expect to see it appear as the bluebells flower, but Sophie went out and gathered 2 big bagfuls yesterday afternoon.  You can imagine what our office smelt like by home time!!
Keen to use it while it was still fresh, I decided to experiment with a new recipe last night and I'm delighted to say it went down a storm and so I'm now happy to share it with you.

White beans with wild garlic sauce.



400g cooked white beans (cannelini, haricot, butter beans - whatever you've got!)
200ml white wine
200ml chicken or vegetable stock
1 onion, sliced
1 dstsp grain mustard
100ml single cream
1 large handful wild garlic, washed and chopped finely
Salt and pepper

Put the wine and stock in a pan and bring to the boil.  Simmer until reduced by half.
Gently fry the onion in rapeseed oil in one of our frying pans, with a knob of butter, until translucent and soft
Add the onions and mustard to the reduced stock mixture and stir well.  Add the beans and heat through
Add the cream and warm gently
Toss in the wild garlic, season with salt and pepper.

Serve - with crusty bread, sausages, lamb chops or a nice piece of cod........... or any other combination that takes your fancy!
Not the world's best food photo, I admit, but teenage son was in a hurry to tuck in and not channelling his creative tendencies.  The moral being, never take food pics on an empty stomach!

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2013 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Food for a goddess

A little bit of mythology to start with.
Loki was one of the Norse gods, a blood brother to Odin the supreme deity, a giant and also known as the Mischief Maker .  He was first married to Glut, whose name means Glow and they had a daughter called Esia, meaning Ember.  Clearly a guy not to be messed with! 

So what, you may ask?  Well, my latest food critic was named after Esia and when you are cooking for the daughter of a god, you need to be sure of what you are offering.
Especially if you also subscribe to the old adage "Never work with animals or children"..........because this is Esia

And here is what I prepared for the baby goddess, or the Little Princess as her mother describes her (most of the time!)

Chicken Esia

1 free range chicken

1 tin chopped tomatoes

200ml water

1 onion, sliced

1 red pepper, chopped

2 tsp oregano

Splash of dry sherry

Salt and black pepper

Place the onions in the bottom of the cast iron bowl of your Netherton Foundry slow cooker.  Sit the chicken on top and then add all the other ingredients.

Cook on HIGH for 3-4 hours and serve with rice, pasta, potatoes or whatever your inner deity fancies!

As simple as that , leaving you plenty of time to do whatever it is that domestic gods and goddesses do when they are not on duty!

Obviously, Esia is not yet able to write her own review, but,  as her mother points out, if more of the food ends up IN the child, rather than on any other available surface (including hair, table, face, floor, wall), then you are onto a winner.
This will be featuring regularly on Esia's menu and when she's older, we'll be back with her comments!

If you have your own comments on Chicken Esia, or any of our other recipe ideas, please get in touch.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2018 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Not just for toast..

It's Seville orange time again, I have already made several jars of marmalade and am sorely tempted to make some more, while they are in season.  Apparently marmalade sales are falling, so this is part of my attempt to re-popularise this delicious spread.

I love the stuff, but not just on my toast.  Did you know that you can make absolutely gorgeous ice cream by mixing equal volumes of whipped cream and marmalade and simply putting it in the freezer?  You don't even have to get it out and beat it during the freezing process and it stays wonderfully "scoopable".  Delicious with a hot chocolate fudge cake!!

The following recipe combines the richness of shoulder of pork with the tang and acidity of Seville oranges, which cut through the fattiness with zest and zing.  Shoulder of pork is a fantastically economic cut and this is a ridiculously easy recipe, which makes a superb meal served with mashed potatoes and wilted spinach.

1kg shoulder of pork joint
2 dessertspoons fennel seed
2 tablespoons marmalade - doesn't have to be home made
200ml water
Salt and pepper



Put all the ingredients into the slow cooker bowl.
Put on the lid
Place the bowl on the heater base.
Cook for 3 hours on HIGH or 5 hours on LOW or 8 hours on KEEP WARM.

Enjoy!!

Netherton Foundry Shropshire © 2013
www.netheron-foudnry.co.uk



Arabian cooking ..... from Herefordshire

We are delighted to share this fantastic recipe from Aspen House, Hoarwithy , a green, organic, real food B&B in the beautiful Herefrodshire village of Hoarwithy, run by Sally and Rob, who share our passion for locally sourced, well cooked food and a desire for a more sustainable way of life.
I just wished they'd taken a photo before they ate it all!!

~ :  mutton and spelt tagine  : ~

I am a big fan of mutton, because it is so much tastier than lamb.  The logic is simple.  Mutton is a mature meat, like beef.  Lamb is an immature meat, like veal.  Each has its place, but if you want to get the right balance of flavours in this homage to Arab cooking, mutton will give you a more authentic taste.  Your local butcher should be able to supply – at the very least you might be able to find some hogget (meat from a yearling, halfway between lamb and mutton).

The only advance preparation this dish needs is the soaking of the spelt grains, at least 24 hours in advance.  All whole grains benefit from soaking, but spelt particularly so.  It is an ancient grain (the Romans used it) with a hard skin, but well worth the trouble because the flavour is so good.

As with all spicy dishes, it is important to grind the spices fresh each time you need them.  Ground spices go stale very quickly, but freshly ground spices have a real zing to them that will make all the difference to this dish.

You will need:

500g diced mutton (or lamb)

250g whole spelt grains (soaked for minimum 24 hours)

I large onion, finely chopped

6 garlic cloves, finely sliced

25mm stick of fresh ginger, finely chopped

4 dried apricots, sliced

olive oil

a good pinch of saffron

spice mix:

            1 heaped teaspoon roasted cumin seeds

            75mm stick of cinnamon

            ¼ of a nutmeg

            5 allspice berries

            1tsp paprika

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Here goes:

Firstly, prepare the spices, starting with the cumin seeds.  Put them in a dry pan over a high heat and stir or toss them gently for a few minutes until a ‘toasted’ aroma comes off them.  Then put them in a grinder with all the other spices and grind to a fine powder.  In the same pan gently toast the saffron strands, which will immediately begin to curl and take on a darker shade.  This will take only 10 – 15 seconds.  Put the saffron in a tablespoon of milk and let it soak while you prepare the rest of the dish.

Over a medium flame on your cooker, heat your Netherton Foundry slow cooker pot, add about four tablespoons of olive oil and brown the mutton all over.  Set aside.  In the same oil, sauté the onions, garlic and ginger until the onions take on a light golden colour, then stir in the spice mix for a few seconds.  Add 500ml of water and stir the mixture through.  Add the saffron/milk, which should be quite yellow by now, the sliced apricots, the mutton and the spelt.  Season with sea salt and black pepper, give it a good stir and make sure there is enough water to cover the whole dish, as the grains will expand during cooking.  Transfer the slow cooker pot to the hob and simmer it on ‘low’ for 8 hours.  If possible, check it halfway through the cooking time to make sure it is not drying out.  Serve on its own or with any vegetables of your choice.

A recipe for the Sabbath

We are delighted to include the following recipe from Rabbi Aronovitz, who has been kind enough to send us his Cholent recipe.
I think this sounds delicious, whatever your faith.

I know that it has been a long time coming but here it is:
Over the past year I have been using the Netherton Foundry cast-iron slow cooker for my Cholent. It now has an amazing smoky flavour.
Cholent (Yiddish: טשאָלנט) is a traditional Jewish stew. It is usually simmered overnight for 12 hours or more, and eaten for lunch on Shabbat (the Sabbath). Cholent was developed over the centuries to conform with Jewish laws that prohibit cooking on the Sabbath. The pot is brought to boil on Friday before the Sabbath begins, and kept hot, in my case in a Netherton Foundry cast Iron Slow Cooker, until the following day.

Makes 8 generous portions.

4 Large White Potatoes
1 Sweet Potato
1 Onion
3 Cloves of fresh garlic - crushed
300 Grammes of Pre-boiled and drained Assorted Beans
200 Grammes Pearl Barley
700 Grammes Ball of Rib Steak (Cubed into 4cm x 4cm)
1/2 Teaspoon Pepper
1 Tablespoon Paprika
1 Table spoon Salt
3 Tablespoons Honey
1 Tablespoon of Marmite (Optional)
Heat up Pot on "High"
Dice onion into pot and seal the meat. Add rest of ingredients and water to cover.
After 4 hours, top up water to "just" cover the cholent and then turn to "Keep warm". Leave for anything from 12 hours up to 24 hours before serving.

Enjoy!

Pondering a pineapple

When I was growing up, fresh pineapple was a rare luxury and we all made do with tinned rings and chunks.  Who else remembers?
And, whilst not exactly the height of sophistication, a pineapple chunk and a cube of Cheddar on a stick graced many a buffet table.
Even in more recent times, pineapples were still a pricey and exotic choice.  But latterly they  have become a lot  cheaper and more plentiful and we tend to regard them as commomplace.  You are as likely to see pineapple in a school lunch box as a satsuma or a banana.

Which brings me to the one sitting in my fruit bowl...what to do with it?  Last week I made pineapple, red pepper and chilli relish, which was a real zinger with the home made fish cakes, but this week I fancied something sweet and a bit different.
Going back to memories of growing up, I recalled having pineapple rice for school lunch - watery rice pudding with a few pineapple chunks thrown in and wondered how I could bring this up to date.... and here is the answer:

½ fresh pineapple, cut into small chunks
1 can evaporated milk
1 can coconut milk
100g sugar
100g pudding rice
2 eggs

Whisk the eggs with the sugar.  Heat the evaporated milk, ideally in one of our milk pans to just below boiling and stir on to the egg mix. Add the coconut milk and mix well.
Place the pineapple and rice into the slow cooker cast iron bowl and pour the milky mixture over the top.
Cover with the lid and put onto the heater base.  Cook on LOW for 2 hours.
Switch off and allow to cool to room temperature.



I drizzled this with a caramel sauce, for sheer decadence..

Melt 100g sugar in a saucepan over a low heat until it turns brown.  Carefully add 120ml double cream and the juice of 1 lime and cook slowly until the caramel dissolves into the sauce.
Add a slug of rum and pour over your custard rice

Sweet and savoury

Two lovely new dishes for you to try and which will warm you up now that the winter is approaching.

The first one is inspired by my Chinese friend, Sophie and demonstrates that not all Chinese style food has to be cooked in a wok!  This is simplicity itself and requires virtually no effort to create a delicious, low fat meal which will get your tastebuds tingling

Slow braised tofu with aubergine
250ml stock ( I used vegetable stock to make a vegetarian meal, but beef would work too)
2 tblsp soy sauce
4 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 tsp Szechuan peppercorns
3 star anise
1 stick of cinnamon
1 aubergine, cut into cubes
400g tofu, cubed

Place all the ingredients in the slow cooker bowl and cover with the lid.
Place on the heater base and cook on KEEP WARM for 8 hours
Serve with noodles and beansprouts or boiled rice.

This quantity is enough for 6 people, but you can easily make double the amount in one go if you are entertaining a crowd.

And for afters.........

Ginger Apple Topsy

125g  + 50g butter

100g golden syrup

25g black treacle

125g sugar

2 eggs

150ml milk

250g self raising flour

1 tblsp ground ginger
1tsp ground cinnamon

Stem ginger

5 apples, peeled, cored and cut into large chunks

Place the slow cooker bowl on the hob over a low heat. Melt 50 g butter.  Place the bowl on the heater base and add the apples to the butter. Stir well to coat.

In a separate pan, melt the rest of the butter, syrup, treacle and sugar together over a low heat.

Add the flour, milk and eggs and beat well to create a batter.  If you really like ginger, chop some stem ginger and add it to the batter.

Pour over the apples and put the lid on.

Cook on LOW for 3 hours.

Serve with whipped cream ( add some syrup from the stem ginger to make it even more special!)

Enough for 8 greedy pudding fans!