Stock making

Early shifts coming up and as Autumn is here, I am making a few long slow cooked dishes. I intend to braise boneless best end of neck tomorrow and a brisket Thursday, both of which will require a good rich stock and some red wine for depth.
Helen says it is almost like a meal in itself and would be good just with some nice bread.
Having been asked how I make my stock by a very nice facebook friend I thought it best to blog it in stages.

First then,
I have roasted some beef and lamb bones. The roasting adds depth of flavour.
This is all about building layers of flavour It will bring depth to the completed dish as well as complement the meat and give a very satisfying finish.

While the Bones are roasting, I prepare some trimmings from the veggies for the dinner.

In this instance some parsnips, a couple of carrots, celery, onions, brocoli stalks and leek stems.

What I often do and will also be doing here is, when we have veg during the week, freeze the trimmings to add to the next batch of stock I make.

This also works with meat trimmings, parts of chicken carcasses etc.

And of course the stock, besides keeping for 3 days in the fridge will freeze and keep also.

So,

the bones are roasted up and the veggie trimmings are ready, now we pop them into a big pot and boil them down. The idea is to get them simmering then reduce the heat to a very low bubble, barely turning over.

Of course I will use the fat and juice from the bones here to colour the parsnips, carrots and onions before adding about 6 litres of water ( however we will be topping the water up a little before we reduce the whole thing down ) I also ran some boiling water over the roasting  pan, thn poured that in too so we dont lose any little bits of flavour.

Then some salt, pepper, worcestershire sauce and bayleaves go in and we simmer.

As an aside here, When  listening to or reading about cooking you might hear the term "mirepoix" this refers to the basis for a lot of french and Italian dishes and is a a chopped mixture of chopped onions, celery and carrots and is not too indistinct from the cajun and " holy trinity of Celery onions and peppers. So part of the basis of the stock here comprises these ( although personally I hate celery )

While this is boiling down, I will tell you that the bones make a very handy trivet to keep the meat from burning on the bottom of the roasting tray and the dog gets the stray bits of meat left from the boiling process. So there's no waste.

When the liquid has reduced by about a third I will top it up with some warm water from the kettle, then reduce it again and leave it bubbling for a bit longer. I will strain it after 3 hours or so ( keeping an eye on it ) then strain it off.

Normally I would leave it to stand overnight usually though not time this time because of time constraints. then reduce it some more down to 3 litres then add a third of a bottle of good red wine and reduce it further.

So we have strained the chunks out ( above ) the liquid went from the bowl it was in, through the fine strainer and muslin ( cheesecloth ) into the wiped clean pan, added the wine and some more water and simmered again.

This will be reduced down by half then allowed to cool in order to skim the fat off the top then use.

so far then it looks like this

So this is a basic stock base, you can use it as I intend to for slow braising ( as in a pot roast) you can make any of the 2 late stages of roux ; 1st being blond roux, fat usually butter)  and flour, with milk. Second stage sandy ( fawn roux) with meat fat flour and juice,

or dark roux 3rd stage using browned flour and dark stock. Espagnole sauce is a good example of use for this.

Enjoy.

Barbeque ribs

Barbeque ribs.

I marinated a

Some nice meaty ribs in my favourite barbeque sauce, Stubbs. Its made in texas, and if your'e reading this rocky I'd still like that shirt.

Anyway, I marinated them for 2 days so the flavour really penetrated the meat.

Then slow roasted them on a very low oven for 3 hours than basted them with more sauce.

  Uncovered them and turned the heat up a touch to get a nice bark and viola. 

Served them with a bowl of the cooking sauce to dip them in.

Delicious, just needed a baguette.

Risotto

Chicken and Asparagus Risotto.

A bit behind due to various work constraints but last night we had this for tea.

Poached the Woody asparagus stems for stock, then lightly poach the tips and reserve for decoration later.

Then cook the spears until soft then chop them up very fine

Had some finely chopped onion

chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces.

 In a half and half mixture of butter and olive oil, fry these until the onions are  opaque and the chicken lightly coloured. Don't have the heat too high!

When these are ready take them out and reserve.

Put a good dollop of butter ( or 50 / 50 butter and oil ) in the pan ( I use the wok ) and Melt, then put the rice in. Arborio for preference

Toast this for a few minutes, then start adding the stock ladle at a time, again keep the heat quite low.

stir frequently but not too vigorously, after about 10 minutes add the chicken and onion mixture with some chopped Italian herbs, Worcestershire sauce, salt & pepper. Keep adding the stock and stirring, this will take about 20 minutes during which time you add the sliced mushrooms and chopped asparagus spears. Then add the sweetcorn, keep stirring and after 10 minutes add the asparagus tips. Taste and check seasoning then adjust accordingly. Continue adding stock and stirring until the rice has lost it's nutty texture. Stir in a small amount of butter and continue stirring for five minutes.

When it has a creamy texture and no too moist, serve.

I like to eat mine with some encona hot pepper sauce but that's just me.

Venison in a red wine jus

For tea tonight I cooked a lovely venison steak and prepared a red wine jus separately, serving it with mushrooms, potatoes and assorted vegetables.

The venison was a shoulder steak that I fried in butter and olive oil.

The ingredients for the jus were: 

• A red wine from bordeux
• Mushrooms
• Onions
• Balsamic vinegar
• Brandy
• Cream
• Italian Herbs
• Oregano
• Worcestershire Sauce

I started by softening the onions and then added the mushrooms,

I then seasoned with salt and pepper, putting in the Italian herbs,

oregano, Worcestershire sauce and wine. I reduced the sauce over a medium heat, stirring frequently over the course of 5-10 minutes. When the jus was reduced I added a dash of brandy, the cream and some juice from the venison.

I served the meat with broad beans, runner beans, boiled jersey potatoes and carrots.

Moules mariniere

This dish took 30 minutes to prepare and cook in total and was enjoyed with crusty baguette during a break whilst fixing the guttering.

Ingredients:

• 1kg of fresh mussels 
• 1/2 of a small onion
• 2 cloves of fresh garlic
• A handful of chopped parsley
• 150ml (I think) of white wine 
• A small knob of butter
• A tablespoon of cream
• Salt & pepper to taste

First I cleaned and prepared the mussels, removing the beard and any extraneous substances from the shells. After cleaning the mussels I went on to finely chop up the onions and garlic which are softened in some butter, I then added a dash of wine and then the mussels & parsley, then seasoned. 

I added the rest of the wine to the mix, covered it and allowed it to steam in its own juices. 

The mussels cooked for 4-5 minutes on a low heat. When the mussels had all opened I strained them and reduced the liquor then whisked in another knob of butter and the cream then served.

Here is the finished dish:

Shavua Tov

Shavua Tov ( שָׁבוּעַ טוֹב )
Pentecost is here  and I haven't blogged for a long time.
So busy with work and the dog settling in.
More changes afoot but The Lord is good.
No pictures or videos to share just now.
Had a very nice curry at the local Indian restaurant. Bombay in Grays, if you are this way I recommend it the service and food are excellent. Celebrating one of the guys 70th birthday.
reminds me of the advance of time.
Shavua Tov.

Hot Dogs with pepperonata & Chipotle mayonnaise

For a quick and easy lunch whilst in the midst of roof-painting I prepared a simple yet delicious snack of hot dogs with peppers, onions and a homemade chipotle mayonnaise. 

First I softened the onions and peppers with a dash of olive oil in a small skillet.

After putting on the (red) onions and peppers I began mixing a blend of smoky Chipotle sauce and mayonnaise. 

I fried the frankfurters in the same pan that was used to sautee the vegetables to give them more flavour. 

After 3-4 minutes of frying the hot dogs were done and I assembled the finished product on a small plate.

Chanukah's coming!

Chanukah starts Tuesday 16th at sunset.
So we have been prepping for our feast of dedication dinner.
A time to cleanse the temple and rededicate it to Yeshua.
We have a roast leg of lamb dinner and steaks for guest who dont like lamb.

Pictured is the larder :1 good sized lamb leg, a nice piece of fillet steak ( going to cut it into portions) some beautiful extra matured scottish rib steaks and a couple of extra french trimmed lamb racks. As well as the beef ribs which form the basis for the gravy. I will try to video the prep and cooking of the whole meal.

 Ribs

Lamb leg ( still thawing )

Scottish rib eye steaks, Lamb racks and  a nice cut of well matured fillet for portioning.

Moriel teaching Saturday

So, Jacob Prasch came to our Fellowship today.
Sort of a double helping following last weeks conference.
Thoroughly enjoyed meeting and hearing him again.
Lunch was a very low tech deal, bag of lunch pie or two and some crisps and a very garlicky polish sausage and some pickled onions.

Not I am afraid, the very delicious Ernie's onions we are treated to courtesy of a nice lady from work.
Topped it off with a brioche bun and some butter cookies.
I did get to use my SOG salute to cut the sausage.
Got all my main themes in one post here.

Me and Jacob Prasch ( its an old picture tho )

SOG Salute.

Garmin

Spend the weekend at the Moriel conference in lovely Derby. Some nice local beer, but the food wasn't much to talk about. Something about catering for large numbers.
Made what I hope will become a good friend, and some new acquaintances.

Very good teaching from Jacob Prasch, Pastor Bill Randles ( a wonderful person and great man of God) and David Nathan. Men it is a privilege to have met and heard.

The downside was that the satnav wouldn't direct me to the A1, my preferred route but went via a plethora of minor A roads. Got really jacked in Tottenham and very frustrated combination of satnav fury and road closures. Thank God that my phone took me down some back roads in the right direction. Home safely.

 Me with pastor Bill Randles

(Yes I know my eyes were shut)

Hayes Conference centre

Find more Jacob Prasch at:  www.moriel.org

And more Bill Randles at: http://www.believersingrace.com 

Eve's pudding and a simple roast.

As an accompaniment to a roast I was cooking I decided to make an Eve's pudding. 

The apples were boiled for 10-15 minutes with a splash of water to soften them up just a tad. 

 The completed pudding should be cooked for 20+ minutes on gas mark 5 (approx) or until golden brown in colour. 

Please excuse the shaky camera work as I filmed this myself rather than my daughter who usually films.

Here is a slice of the finished dessert served with cream. 

The roast was lovely too, served with all the traditional roast accompaniments. 

Pan fried duck & Yaxell Knives

This dish was prepared with a favourite knife of mine- a birthday present from my oldest daughter.

The Yaxell knife I used is 69 layers of Damascus steel that works fantastically to slice through meat and vegetables and looks good doing it: 

The dish itself was pan fried duck with an orange glaze that I served with a jacket potato and salad. 

Butternut squash soup & Challah

After a Remembrance Sunday memorial service and parade what better than to sit down with a bowl of home made soup and some challah. Cooked the night before and warmed up, I used fresh ingredients and a splash of brandy & cream.

Above is the finished dish with a garnish of coriander. 

Roast French trimmed rack of lamb

An early attempt at cooking videos. Very little information about ingredients or method.

Thanks to Richardblaine@ezcooking.com for the creative input and advice.

I made two  French trimmed rack of lambs ribs.

One plain and the other sprinkled with seasoned with  mint and honey.

Served with potatoes roasted in Goose fat, baby courgettes, asparagus and carrots.

The finished item plated.

It was delicious.