Brandade Dressing

This dressing is primarily used to serve with brandade dishes such as Cod Brandade, but goes well as an accompaniment or dressing to a variety of fish dishes, salads and similar light meals.

Makes 600ml

1 Onion finely chopped
25g of thyme chopped
25g of rosemary chopped
25g of basil chopped
25g of chopped parsley
2 cloves of garlic crushed
50g of unsalted butter
500ml of olive oil
300ml of red wine
50g of chopped walnuts
50g of chopped olives
25g of anchovies chopped
25g of capers chopped
8 tomatoes concassed

Sweat off onions, herbs and garlic in the butter and a little olive oil till soft

Add red wine and reduce to about 2 tablespoon of liquid

Add remaining olive oil, with the rest of the ingredients; omitting the tomatoes

Bring to a simmer for a few minutes, then add tomatoes, season remove from the heat

Double baked cheese souffle

Cheese souffle is porbably one the most notorius dishes that people acclaim to easily go wrong/ in all honesty theyre not that much of a nightmare, just be sure not to open the oven whilst cooking, and if you must, do not slam the door when closing. Other than this its pretty much plain sailing.


You will need (makes 8)


500ML OF MILK

100G OF SPINACH COOKED, CHOPPED AND SQUEEZED

30G OF BUTTER

PLAIN FLOUR TO BLEND INTO A PASTE WITH THE BUTTER

100G OF GRATED CHEDDAR CHEESE

PINCH OF FRESH NUTMEG

TEA SPOON OF ENGLISH MUSTARD

4 EGGS

Double butter ramekins, this is done by buttering then freezing or chilling the ramekins then buttering again

Sauté off the spinach with seasoning of salt, pepper and nutmeg

Chop up the spinach then squeeze to remove water

Blend heated butter with flour to make a paste

Put the spinach into milk pan and bring to the boil once simmering

Beat the flour paste into the spinach milk until a smooth sauce is created

Add the cheese, nutmeg and mustard stir in to form a smooth sauce

Allow the cheese sauce to cool, while the sauce is cooling separate the eggs and beat the egg white into stiff foam

Mix in the egg yolks into the cheese sauce

Fold in the egg whites

Pour the mix into each of the ramekins leaving a 1 cm from the top

Bake for 8 minutes then cool and fridge

Pommes Boulangeres

image provided courtesy of tescorealfood.com

Boulangeres is one of those potato dishes that goes pretty well with everything, and is useful alongside hearty dishes as well and lighter ones, they go phenomenally well with meat and fish dishes and much like every potato dish they can serve well as a "vehicle" for a variety of flavours. This dish uses a rosemary herb focus, but it doesn't have to be that way it can easily be amended to suit your preference.


You will need (serves roughly 6):

1.2 kg desiree, king edward or romano potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly on a mandolin (/or carefully with a chefs knife)
2 medium onions (peeled  & sliced thinly into same porportions as the potatoes)
large handful fresh rosemary
2 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
300 ml vegetable stock
150ml milk
50g butter

The doing bit:

Take the rosemary and rub in a pestle and mortar until it softens a little. If you dont have one you can do the same with a rolling pin on a hard surface. Take two thirds of the rosemary and chop finely. Take the sliced onions and the potatoes and garlic, and create a layer in a baking dish followed by a scattering of rosemary and season with a little salt and pepper. Continue layering, until your top layer has a layer of potatoes and onions that slightly overlap.

Mix the milk and stock together and pour over the potatoes into the dish. Season the top layer, then scatter the remaining rosemary over the top for decoration.On the top add the butter in small pieces until the dish is evenly covered and place in oven on the highest shelf into a preheated oven to 180C, until the top is crisp and the underneath is soft, tender and creamy.

Remove from the oven and devour.

Mussels in white wine with garlic & shallots / french bread

image courtesy of themarkethipster.com

*Part of the sizzling staffordshire menu series*

I suppose in retrospect this recipe isnt too dissimilar from the classic "moules marinieres", a french dish comprising mussels steamed in their shell with white wine, garlic and shallots. This recipe uses the sweet elements of vermouth to allow balance with the potential saltiness of the mussels.

You wlll need (serves 4):
3lbs of live mussels, de-bearded and cleaned of barnacles
4 large shallots finely diced
2 cloves finely chopped garlic
tbsp unsalted butter
100ml sweet vermouth, or even sweet cider
tsp fresh thyme finely chopped
2 tbsp fresh parsley finely chopped
1/2 tsp fresh sage finely chopped
3 tbsp whipping or double cream
1 large french baguette

The doing bit:

In a large pan saute the onions, and garlic in a little oil until soft, on a moderate heat. add the mussels, butter and herbs, then put a lid on the pan and steam until the shells begin to open. Add the wine and put the lid back on until the mussels have fully opened. Finish with cream and cook without the lid for 30 seconds more.

Discard any mussels that do not open.

Tear a chink of bread, serve mussels into large bowls and devour.

Brioche

Image courtesy of wikipedia

Brioche is one of my favourite breads that provide a wonderfully buttery and sweet flavour which gives way for its use in desserts, as well as application for savoury dishes. I love brioche at breakfast time, as its a lovely conforting start to the day.

Ingredients

15g of quick yeast
70ml of warm milk
Pinch of salt
500g of plain flour
6 eggs
350g of butter, softened
30g of sugar

Fold together the yeast flour and sugar with salt
Add egg, (already beaten)
Mix together to stiff dough
Knead for 10 minutes
Add butter little by little until the dough is glossy
Prove for about one hour
Knock back (knead further); prove in fridge for four hours
Bake for 8 minutes for individual rolls or 40 minutes for large loaf