Chicken, tarragon, cream - three ingredients

The latest in our series of recipes from the talented chefs of Shropshire.

With many thanks to Chef Chris O’ Halloran, from the simply stunning La Becasse  restaurant in Ludlow.  Update: sadly La Becasse is now closed, as far as we know, Chris can now be found here

One of our frying pans would be ideal for this dish

Chicken, tarragon, cream

This emulates a dish served at La Becasse restaurant in Ludlow. To me it exemplifies French cooking - simple yet elegant and perfect for a cosy dinner for four.

Ludlow, Shropshire often dubbed the foodie capital of England, Ludlow is known for its fine cuisine and Quality produce

 Serves: 4

4 chicken breasts, skinned and boned
2 Tablespoons olive oil
20g butter
1 clove garlic, crushed
3 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
1 teaspoon French mustard
3 teaspoon lemon juice
250ml double cream 

125ml dry white wine
Salt and pepper to season 

In a pan, heat the oil until moderately hot but not smoking – look for heat waves coming off it. Add the chicken breasts skin (if it had any) side down. They should sizzle mildly when they hit the pan. Cook until golden but not browned.  Gently turn them over, add the garlic to the pan and continue cooking for 4-5 minutes. Add the butter to the pan and while this slowly melts, combine the tarragon, mustard, lemon juice and wine and add to the pan. Allow to simmer for about 1 minute. You will smell the wine “cooking off” as the alcohol evaporates. Now stir in the cream and allow simmering and thickening for about 10-15 minutes, basting the chicken breasts if you feel like it. Check that the chicken is cooked through – it should be firm to the touch and tender when cut.  Serve with a side of long grain rice or a simple salad.

Christopher O’Halloran

© La Becasse/Chris O’Halloran.Not to be distributed without prior permission.

Seriously good rice pudding

We have definitely upped our game on this one, well not us exactly............

This recipe has been contributed by the exceptionally talented James Sherwin, who not only treats the good folk of Shropshire to fantastic food, but also showed us all a thing or two on The Taste with Nigella Lawson, the late Anthony Bourdain  and Ludo Lefebvre.



Rice pudding with stem ginger and black pepper.
I came up with this recipe when preparing for "The Taste" .  We had been set the challenge of "comfort food" 
My immediate thought turned to rice pudding, memories of being a child at my grandma's house fighting over the skin and stirring in a spoon of strawberry jam until the whole dish turned pink resonated with me. However, I was doing an adult take on it by adding spice and alcohol to make it less babyfood and more indulgent decadence.
For a while I struggled with the simplicity of the dish, was I really going to impress notorious pudding hater Anthony Bourdain and the "Frenchest" man on the planet with a simple, if jazzed up, rice pudding?

The recipe is incredibly easy; the difference between this rice pudding and a normal one is that it's made on the hob in a good pan and treated with the same love and attention that you'd give a risotto.

Equipment needed
A large heavy bottomed Netherton Foundry casserole dish
Liquidiser 
Baking tray
Large glass bowl

Ingredients
300g stem ginger plus juice it comes in
400g pudding rice
1litre of full fat milk
1 glass of dry white wine preferably an Italian Soave
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
50g unsalted butter
100mls condensed milk
100 mls double cream
1 Vanilla pod
Pinch of salt
Kirsch
4-5 cherries per serving
Brown sugar
1 tbs vegetable oil

Process for the rice.
1. Start by making the cooking liquid.  Add the stem ginger, the seeds from the vanilla pod and  the milk into the liquidiser and blitz until smooth. Strain through a sieve just in case there are any large pieces of ginger left.
2. Warm liquid in a pan but don't boil.

3. Add oil to the casserole dish, heat, add the rice and cook until rice is translucent.
4. When translucent, add the wine and boil away the alcohol.
5. When the alcohol has boiled away add a pinch of salt and a ladleful of the milky cooking liquid. This is where it is treated in the same way as a risotto, add a ladleful at a time and stir continuously, always clockwise, according to the Italians it encourages more starch out of the risotto and makes a creamier dish.
6. When the rice is all cooked through, take off the heat, add the butter, double cream and condensed milk and leave to sit for a few minutes. 
7. Stir and add the juice of a lemon to cut through all the richness and serve.

Process for the Cherries
1. Cut cherries in half, add to a bowl with a sprinkle of brown sugar and a very generous glug of Kirsch.  Leave to marinate for an hour.
2. After an hour, drain the cherries (but reserve the liquid) and place under a hot grill for a few minutes until caramelised.
3. Take reserved marinating liquid and put in a hot pan, boil down until syrupy.

Now assemble the dessert, put a very large helping of the rice pudding into a bowl, sprinkle liberally with freshly ground black pepper, place a few cherry halves on top and drizzle a little of the kirsch syrup on top.

This dessert is incredibly simple to make but hugely rewarding.
It's perfect following that really rubbish day at work or a stressful day with the kids. Enjoy!

Many thanks, James.

Potato and wild garlic pancakes

Much as I love pancakes with lemon and sugar, I also like to experiment and mix it up a little.  If you read the posts last Spring, you will also know that I am very partial to wild garlic and will make the most of it, while it lasts.

So here we are - adding some wild garlic to the batter and seeing what happens.

2 potatoes, approx 180 - 200 g
150g plain flour
2 eggs, plus 1 egg white
200ml milk
Handful wild garlic, thoroughly washed

Peel the potatoes and boil whole for 12 minute.  Allow to cool.



Sift the flour into a bowl and season with salt and pepper.
Separate the eggs and add the yolks and the milk to the flour.  Whisk to a smooth batter.
Allow to stand, while you coarsely grate the potatoes and chop the wild garlic.




Stir the potatoes and garlic gently into the batter.



In a clean bowl whisk the 3 egg whites until stiff.  Fold into the batter mix.



Put your crepe pan over a medium heat and add ½ teaspoon of butter.  When the butter foams and starts to turn brown, add a large spoonful of batter and smooth out to a thickness of about ½cm.




Cook for about 2 minutes, until the underside is golden, then turn over and cook the other side. Slide out of the pan and keep warm, while you make the rest.



Makes approx 6 pancakes.

Suggested accompaniments

Apple sauce and crispy smoked bacon rashers
Poached salmon and hollandaise sauce
Poached eggs with sauteed leeks
Pork sausages and ketchup
Smoked haddock and cheese sauce
Roasted peppers with griddled Halloumi cheese

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2014

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Mac'n'cheese

 I can remember when my Mum bought those little tins Heinz macaroni cheese as a "treat", but there again I remember Toast Toppers, Sandwich Spread and Findus Crispy Pancakes too, so some things are perhaps best forgotten!

Then I can recall macaroni cheese as a student dish - cheap, filling and a change from baked potatoes. 

So how did the humble macaroni cheese come to be the rock'n'roll dish of the day?
 I have no idea, but it's great to see such a fantastic combination dished up in so many ways.

Conscious that whilst it is utterly lush - to quote Tom Kerridge - on its own, I decided to add some veg to balance the carbs and protein and make it a complete meal.Classic combinations of cheese and tomato and cheese and onion,  have been interpreted to create this.....

Macaroni cheese with leeks and tomatoes

50g butter
4 dessertspoons plain flour
500ml milk
200g grated cheese - Gruyere is ideal for this
50g cream cheese
Salt and black pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
300g pasta
1 large leek
2 large tomatoes

Start by making the cheese sauce.
Melt the butter in a pan, one of our 7" saucepans is ideal and then stir in the flour. Cook for a couple of minutes over a medium heat, stirring constantly.Whisk in the milk and continue stirring.Add the grated and the cream cheese and the seasoning.  If you use nutmeg, just add a little - too much and it will overwhelm the finished dish.Turn the heat as low as it will go and leave to cook gently while you cook the pasta and prepare the veg.

Heat the oven to 180º or Gas Mark 4

Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet.Meanwhile, slice the leeks and saute gently in a little olive oil.Cut the tomatoes in half and remove the seeds. Chop into chunks.

Drain the pasta and add to the cheese sauce.  Stir well and transfer to an oven proof dish, such as our cast iron casserole 

Spread the leeks and tomatoes over the top and pop into the oven.

Cook for 15-20 minutes and serve immediately.

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2014

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

North African flavours

This is a development of one of my favourite recipes from a book called Supercookery, which was a present for my 21st birthday - and, no, I am not going to tell you when that was!!  But here's a picture of the book, so you can make up your own minds how old it is and therefore how old I am..........

The recipe it's based on is called Carrots, Algerian style and at the time, was considered very exotic.  Cumin was hard to come by in those days unless you lived in the south or a Midlands city with a sizeable ethnic population and a brief spell living in County Durham made spice shopping an epic venture.

Of course these days what were once exotic ingredients are now readily available and North African cooking is far more prevalent.

As is the appropriate cookware - what better to prepare this in than one of these ........

What I particularly love about the original recipe though is the family story of Neil telling our, then 3 year old, daughter that these carrots were his favourites.

The next day she asked me when we were having Daddy's friends for tea again.

I assumed she meant the friends who had been round the week before and explained that they were on holiday, so it would be a while before they could come again.

"No," she said, "not them, the carrots.  Daddy said they were his friends!!"

They are now firmly established as Daddy's friends, though I'm pleased to report that he does have some human friends too.

Daddy's friends tagine

1 onion, sliced

2 fat cloves garlic

1 dessertspoon cumin seeds

2 tsp rock salt

1" ginger

6 cloves

1 dessertspoon dried rose petals (optional)

200g chick peas, soaked and cooked - or use a 400g tin

4 large carrots

1 red pepper, sliced

2 satsumas, quartered

6 dates, stoned and chopped

1 dessertspoon honey

450ml stock

Black pepper

Pucketts carrot and cardamom chutney (optional)

Put the cast iron bowl over a medium heat and add 1 tablespoon oil.
Fry the onions until translucent.

Meanwhile, pound the garlic, salt, cumin and cloves to a paste.

Add to onions and stir well to distribute evenly.

Peel and finely chop the ginger and add to the bowl.

Cook for 3 minutes over medium heat.
Thickly slice the carrots.

Add chick peas, carrots, stock, rose petals, satsumas, dates, honey, chutney and black pepper. Stir well to mix.

Put the tagine lid on.
Cook for 45 minutes.

Remove the satsumas before serving

Serve with roast chicken and cous cous for a sumptuous Sunday lunch - or with flatbreads and salad for a mid week meat free treat.
You can also leave it til the next day and serve at room temperature as a salad or pitta bread filling.

You can also make this dish using the electric tagine.

Once all the ingredients are added to the cast iron bowl, put the tagine lid on and carefully transfer the dish to the heater base.
Cook on LOW for 3 - 4 hours.

 Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2014 ©

Bridgnorth Beef Barrels

A delicious  dish, that punches well above its weight in terms of flavour and cost.  This is what slow cooking is all about - taking a cheaper cut of meat, adding some additional ingredients and producing a fabulous result.

This takes the classic combination of steak and mushrooms, as used for classic pub grills, stroganoff, pies and the ultimate - Beef Wellington, and marries them together as something new.

This would be as welcome mid week as it would centre stage for Sunday lunch.... I'm thinking of Yorkshire puddings with gravy here too!!

Our spun iron frying pans do make excellent Yorkshire pudding pans  - as you can see from this Toad in the Hole

You will need

500g braising steak - in a single piece


I bought this beautiful piece of meat from Checketts in Ombersley; great meat, great service, great advice.

And
2 medium field mushrooms, finely chopped
1 large onion, sliced
70g fresh breadcrumbs
1 egg
6 sprigs of fresh thyme
100 ml port
1 litre stock

Method
Hammer out the steak to twice its original size -  use a meat hammer if you've got one, otherwise a rolling pin will do a good job.



Finely chop the mushrooms and mix together with the breadcrumbs, egg, thyme and seasoning.
Slice the onions.
Put the cast iron pot onto the hob and heat 1 tblsp oil over a medium heat.
Add the sliced onion and cook until softened, but not brown.

Spread the mushroom stuffing over the steak.


Then roll it up like a Swiss roll and sit it on top of the onion slices. Secure with cocktail sticks or string.
(Please do not use Bridget Jones style blue string!! Check the link if you've never read the book/seen the film/done the trivia quiz....)

Any "escaped" or leftover stuffing can be added to the dish.



Add the port and the stock and put the lid on.



Transfer to the heater base and cook on LOW for 6 - 8 hours or HIGH for 4 hours.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2014 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Pattacake

A pan fried version of a nut loaf, that is very quick and easy to prepare and which will appeal to vegetarians and omnivores equally.
It's also nice served cold with coleslaw and a baked potato.

Cashew and Halloumi rissole

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
½ butternut squash, peeled and chopped into ½" chunks
75g chopped roasted cashews
100g breadcrumbs
1 block Halloumi, grated
Salt and pepper  to taste
2 eggs

Place a crepe pan on the hob and gently heat 1 tblsp oil.
Fry the onion and squash until soft.
Remove from heat. Place all the other ingredients into a mixing bowl, then add the onions and squash.
Stir well to mix. Season to taste - Halloumi is quite a salty cheese, and if you are also using  salted cashews, make sure you taste the mixture before adding additional salt. 
A handful of chopped fresh herbs will give this dish some extra zing - try parsley, thyme or mint.

Leave for 20 minutes for the breadcrumbs to absorb the egg.

Replace the crepe pan on the hob, add 1 tblsp oil and turn the heat to medium.

Add all of the mixture to the pan and spread out evenly.  Press down with the back of a wooden spoon.

Cook for around 7 minutes until the underside is browned and the "cake" holds together.

Place a large plate or serving board over the pan, invert and turn out the cake.

Slide back into the pan, cooked side upper most.
Continue cooking for another 7-10 minutes until the underside is cooked..

Slide out onto a plate and cut into slices.

Serve with greens, tomato sauce and, if you fancy, real chips!
We finished off the last of the Christmas cranberry sauce with this, which was a delicious accompaniment.

Cranberry sauce -  a quick and simple version
Simply cook some fresh cranberries with a splash of orange juice and sugar to taste.  As soon as the fruit softens, remove from the heat and leave to cool.

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2014

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk