Chorizo and rosemary baked beans with a poached egg and rocket

For this weeks blog post a few of us on Twitter decided that we would set a topic and all cook and blog something along those lines. As someone who mostly cooks and blogs alone I relished the chance to do something interactive with other foodies. However, for the first time since starting the blog I felt a sense of pressure to perform, so hopefully this post will be good enough! It’s been really good fun though and I can’t wait to see what everyone else has come up with. 

The topic for this week was brunch. This suited me fine, although I don’t eat brunch too often so it was a challenge to try and think of interesting things to come up with in such a broad category. Over the past week or so my mind has been racing with loads of different ideas, with some sounding pretty wacky and others frankly disgusting. In the end I’m almost sad to say that I went for something pretty safe, but I think equally delicious; good old baked beans. My version lifts the simple tinned version to a new dimension, with the chorizo, paprika and rosemary giving the finished dish a brilliant depth of flavour. 

I think I’m the only person I know who really dislikes Heinz baked beans. I find them too sweet and tangy to the point where they overpower any dish that they’re with. With this recipe the finishing touches are what really make the beans special. Some tinned beans cooked with onions and tomatoes would normally be quite bland, but the addition of the treacle, salt and vinegar at the end of the cooking transforms it into something really tasty. This is what I can never understand when talking to people that don’t eat salt; the difference it makes in the taste of food is staggering. 

This is a really simple dish to make, and once you try it you’ll make it again and again. The only thing that it needs is patience with the slow and gentle cooking, firstly with the onions and then with the beans. I have used tinned pulses in this recipe for ease, but you can use dried beans that have been soaked overnight if you have them.

It’s worth making a big batch as it keeps well for quite a few days, and like any stew or curry will get better with time.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

For the beans:

50g butter

4 red onions, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves, finely chopped

1 medium red chilli, finely chopped

110g good chorizo, skinned and cut into 1cm pieces

1 heaped tbsp hot smoked paprika

4 tins cannellini beans, juice retained from 2 of the tins

2 tins butter beans

2 tins chopped tomatoes

2 bay leaves

1 large tbsp black treacle

Splash of white wine vinegar

Salt and pepper

For the poached eggs:

1 large egg per person

Splash of white wine vinegar

Salt and pepper

To finish:

Small handful of rocket leaves

Parmesan cheese

Slices of good quality toasted bread

Butter

Olive oil

Heat up a large, high sided frying pan or skillet on a low heat and add the butter. When melted add the onions, garlic, chilli, rosemary and paprika and cook slowly until very soft, about 20-30 minutes. Add the chopped chorizo pieces and fry for another 5 or so minutes, or until softened and the oils have been released into the onions. 

Pour in both types of beans and the retained liquid, the chopped tomatoes and bay leaves. Stir gently and bring to the boil, then turn right down to a low heat and simmer uncovered for an hour. Be careful to only stir every so often and not to vigorously to keep the beans as intact as possible. 

When the beans are nearly done put a large saucepan of salted water on to boil.

After an hour the beans should have thickened a little and darkened in colour slightly. Season well and add the treacle and vinegar, folding into the sauce. Cook for another couple of minutes then taste; you want to find the perfect balance between sweet, salty and sharp. Adjust as needed and take off the heat. 

When the water is boiling add the splash of white wine vinegar and reduce to a gentle simmer. Very carefully crack the eggs with a knife and break very close to the surface of the water. Cook for two minutes then check by lifting with a slotted spoon and touching the yolks. If they aren’t quite done then drop back into the water for another 30 seconds. 

While the eggs are cooking get the bread toasting and buttered ready to serve.

To plate up spoon some of the beans into a shallow bowl and position the poached egg in the middle. Top with a few rocket leaves, sprinkle over some grated parmesan and drizzle over a little olive oil. Serve with the hot buttery toast and dig in.

Braised pork ‘chop’ with crispy cheek, scratchings, roasted beetroot, celeriac puree and a maple syrup sauce

Today I have had another day off, and it was the perfect opportunity to make a dish that I’d had in my head and had been looking forward to making for a while. I had really wanted to make something nice with pork for a while, particularly involving pork chops and the cheeks. I have had chops a few times in the last few months, but although each time had been delicious, I had failed to get it quite right with the flavour combinations. It’s always difficult when trying to create dishes in your head, as it’s never guaranteed that they will turn out as good as imagined!

Pork is such a versatile meat, and at a time when meat prices are rocketing, is still really reasonably priced. The main thing with buying pork is getting good quality, well reared meat. Although there has been a spotlight on pork welfare standards in recent years, loads of dodgy stuff still gets through to the supermarket shelves, and it really does have an impact on the taste of the finished meal. You only have to look at pork in a quality butchers to see the difference; the colouring is so much richer, and far less waterlogged and anaemic. It actually looks like it has come from a living animal! And the thing is, you don’t even need to spend that much more to get better meat. The first time I bought a chop from the butchers I was astounded; it was massive, and put all of the thin chops on the supermarket shelves to shame. 

Recently I have heard loads about using pork cheeks and have been very interesting in using them myself. Now this is the most budget of all pork cuts, and the two free range cheeks that I bought for this recipe came to a massive 66 pence. Like all hard working muscles, they need a lot of slow cooking a patience, but once ready offer the most tender and flavoursome meat. In this recipe they add another element to the pork, with a different taste and texture to the chop and the scratching. 

Pork goes fantastically well with sweeter things like maple syrup, beetroot and apple, but you need to be careful to balance out the sweetness. There’s nothing like having a lovely meal in front of you ruined by a really sickly sweet sauce. The key is to keep tasting as you go, and add the sweet ingredients in moderation so that they can be controlled. 

Although there are loads of elements in this dish, you can make most of them in advance, and have them ready to be heated up when the meat has been cooked. I haven’t added potatoes to this recipe as there is quite a lot of meat on the plate, and it might make it a bit heavy. However, you could easily add some roasted potatoes, or a gratin if you so wished. 

Serves 2

Ingredients: 

For the chops: 

2 thick pork chops, around 1 1/2” thick

1 fennel, sliced, fronds saved

1 carrot, roughly chopped

1/2 leek, roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic, skin removed

5 sprigs thyme

200ml dry cider

20g butter

For the cheeks:

2 pork cheeks

1 litre chicken stock

1/2 leek, roughly chopped

1 carrot, roughly chopped

1 fennel bulb, roughly chopped, fronds saved

1 onion, roughly chopped

3 garlic cloves, skin removed

1 bay leaf

8 peppercorns

1 small handful panko breadcrumbs

1 egg, beaten

100g plain flour

1 tsp wholegrain mustard

20g butter, melted

1 litre of vegetable oil, for frying

For the sauce:

1 shallot, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, skin removed

6 sprigs thyme

The bones and trimmings from the chops

100ml brandy

4 tbsp maple sypup

1 bay leaf

1 star anise

30g butter

For the celeriac puree:

1/3 celeriac, roughly chopped into 1” pieces

3 tbsp double cream

20g butter

2 thyme sprigs, leaves picked

For the roasted beetroot:

2 large beetroots

2 garlic cloves

5 sprigs of thyme

Olive oil

For the scratchings:

The skin and fat from the outside of the chops, sliced into long, thin pieces

Sprinkle of salt

2 slices of streaky bacon

1/2 Granny Smith apple, sliced into small dice

1/2 lemon, juice only

First put the cheeks on to slow cook. Put the cheeks into a large saucepan with the stock, leek, carrot, fennel, onion, garlic, bay leaf and peppercorns. Bring the stock up to the boil, then turn the heat down to low, cover, and cook for 4 hours. When the cheeks are falling apart and tender, turn the heat off and allow to cool in the stock. Drain the saucepan, keeping the liquid in a bowl, and discard the vegetables. Put the cheeks in a small bowl and shred apart. Add the mustard, melted butter and season well. Mix together, taste and adjust. Put in fridge to cool for 20 minutes. 

To turn the cheeks into croquettes, put the flour onto one plate, the panko onto another and beat the egg in a small bowl. Season all of the elements. Take the cooled shredded cheek mixture out of the fridge and make two small golf ball sized balls, compacting them in your hands. Carefully coat the balls in the flour, then dip them into the egg before rolling them in the panko, making sure they get totally covered. Repeat the egg and panko process with each, then put aside for cooking later. 

Heat the oven to 210ºC (fan)

To make the scratchings, trim the outside skin and fat from the chops, and cut into long pieces about 1cm wide. Put the fat pieces onto a lined oven tray, sprinkle with salt and put into the hot oven for 15-20 minutes, or until crispy and golden. Set aside.

Lower the oven to 200ºC (fan)

Put the streaky bacon onto a lined oven tray and cook in the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until crispy and brittle. Remove, drain and finely chop. Set aside.

Lower the oven to 180ºC (fan)

Put the whole beetroot into a small oven dish and add the thyme, garlic and seasoning. Drizzle over a little olive oil and mix well to coat everything. Cover with foil, and put in the oven for 1 hour. 

To cook the chops, trim the bone and fat away so that you are left with the loin pieces. Keep the scraps and bone for when you make the sauce, but throw away any excess fat. Heat up a frying pan to a medium-high heat. Rub some oil into the loin pieces and season well. Fry in the hot pan for a couple of minutes on each side, then add the butter and quickly baste the pork until it is a golden colour. Pour in the cider and bring to the boil. Put the carrot, leeks, fennel, garlic and thyme into a deep oven dish, and nestle the browned pork amongst this. Pour over the pan juices and top up with some of the stock left over from the pork cheeks until the liquid goes 2/3rds of the way up the sides of the pork (make sure you save 500ml for the sauce). Put into the oven uncovered for 45 minutes.

To make the sauce, heat up a little oil in a large frying pan to a medium-high temperature. Fry the bones and trimmings of the chops and cook until well browned on each side. Add the shallot, garlic, thyme and bay and cook for another couple of minutes until golden brown. Pour over the brandy and flambe, then add 500ml of the leftover stock from cooking the cheeks. Add the star anise and maple syrup and season well. Let the liquid bubble away and reduce until there is about 150ml left, about 20 minutes. Strain the sauce and return the liquid to a clean pan. Taste, adjust and set aside until the meat is ready.

For the celeriac puree, heat up some salted water in a saucepan until boiling. When the water is hot, add the celeriac and boil for 8-10 minutes or until tender. Drain the water away and tip the celeriac into food processor along with the cream, seasoning, thyme and butter. Blitz until very smooth. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve to remove any lumps. Taste and add seasoning if needed, then transfer into a small saucepan to be reheated later. 

Pick the fennel fronds from the leftover bits of fennel and set aside. Cut some thin slices from the apple and finely dice them. Put the small pieces apple into a bowl and squeeze over the lemon juice to stop from browning. 

When the meat has cooked, take out of the oven and put the pork onto a plate to rest for 10 minutes.

When the beetroot is ready, carefully peel off the skin, trim the top and the bottom and cut into a disc with a round cutter. 

Put 1 litre of vegetable oil into a large saucepan and heat to 150ºC. Carefully lower the breadcrumbed cheek balls into the hot oil, and fry for a few minutes until golden brown. Remove and drain on kitchen paper. 

Heat up the puree and sauce in separate saucepans. When the sauce is hot, add the butter and stir well, before having a final taste and season. 

To plate up, put a tablespoon of the puree onto each plate. Add the cheek croquette, the rested ‘chop’ and the roasted beetroot disc. Place a couple of scratching on top of the beetroot, and sprinkle some of the apple, bacon and fennel fronds onto the pork. Spoon over some of the sauce and serve.

Mackerel stuffed with salsa verde served with pea puree, samphire, clams and chargrilled cucumber

This was one of the first proper things that I ever learned to cook, and the first time that I really appreciated how nice mackerel is. It is based on an old Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall recipe that appeared in the Guardian Weekend supplement for mackerel stuffed with salsa verde, but over the years I have tweaked the ingredients and turned it into a complete plate of food. Once practiced it is really easy to cook, and is great if cooking for a large amount of people as the main elements can be prepared well in advance.

Salsa verde is such a great accompaniment to so many things. It’s a sharp, strong sauce that is amazing with steak, lamb, fish (particularly oily fish), or with potatoes or steamed greens. I personally could just eat it out of the bowl with a spoon! You can tailor it to just how you like it by changing the herbs around, adding more lemons or mustard etc. until it’s just right. With this dish it balances so well with the oily mackerel and the sweetness of the pea puree. 

Everyone that I’ve told about the grilled cucumber looks at me with a confused and bizarre expression, and until a few weeks ago I would have agreed. I used to only use cucumbers cold as a salad item or in a tzatziki, but I recently watched Ashley Palmer-Watts on the TV grilling a cucumber and I was intrigued. In this recipe, the chargrilled cucumber adds a refreshing touch to all of the other strong flavours, and helps balance everything out. I will definitely be trying it out with other recipes in the future.

As with all dishes involving fish, try and search out a local fishmonger that will provide you with really fresh fish. They will normally be cheaper and have a far wider selection than the supermarkets, and their survival keeps high streets looking independent and unique. 

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 mackerel, filleted and pin boned

For the salsa verde:

1 large handful of parsley

3 sprigs basil leaves

3 sprigs mint

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tbsp capers, rinsed

1 pickled gherkin

2 anchovy fillets

1 tsp english mustard

1 lemon, juice only

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

Extra virgin olive oil,

Salt and pepper

For the pea puree:

300g frozen petit pois

1/2 bunch of mint leaves

1 lemon, juice only

1 knob butter

Salt and pepper

For the rest of the dish:

1/2 cucumber, skin cut off to create 2 3” rectangles

200g samphire, rinsed under cold water

1 lemon

1 knob of butter

Olive oil

15-20 clams

Small glass of white wine

Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC and put a saucepan of salted water on to boil.

First make the salsa verde. Finely chop the herbs together, then add the anchovy, chopped garlic, capers and gherkin and chop everything again, mixing it all together with the knife. When everything is finely chopped and combined, transfer to a bowl and add the mustard, white wine vinegar, lemon juice and seasoning and mix. Finally add enough extra virgin olive oil to create a loose paste. Taste and adjust the vinegar, seasoning and lemon and set aside. 

When the water has boiled add the peas and cook for a couple of minutes until just tender. Be careful not to overcook and lose the colour and flavour! Once cooked, transfer to a food processor with the mint, butter, lemon juice and seasoning. Blend to a smooth puree before tasting and setting aside somewhere warm. You could pass it through a sieve to make it extra fine if you like. 

Lay out the pin-boned mackerel fillets on a chopping board skin-side down, and smear a good amount of the salsa verde down one of the two fillets of each fish. Lay the other fillet on top of the stuffed fillet and tie together with a couple of pieces of butchers twine. Put the mackerel packages aside until ready to cook. 

When you are ready to go, heat up a heavy griddle pan on a medium-high heat, a small saucepan on a medium-high heat and a frying pan on a medium heat. 

Season the mackerel and place on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper, drizzle with a little olive oil and put in the oven for 8 minutes. 

While the fish is cooking, cook the samphire, the clams and the cucumber at the same time:

Add the butter to the frying pan and saute the samphire for a couple of minutes before adding the lemon juice and seasoning. Keep warm until the fish is ready.

When the saucepan is hot, add the white wine. When it starts to boil add the clams and put the top on the pan, shaking everything a couple of times. After a few minutes check the clams - they should be opening up. If not, replace lid and allow another minute or two. Once cooked take off the heat and keep warm. 

Rub the cucumber rectangles with seasoning and olive oil and place on the hot griddle, turning every minute or so once nicely charred on each side.

To plate up, spoon a good dollop of pea puree on each plate and place the cucumber on top. Position the cooked fish on the cucumber and spoon a bit more salsa verde on top. Surround the fish with the samphire and the clams and serve with a glass of white wine.

Slow-cooked beef shin cannelloni with girolles, anchovies and broad beans

For the love of slow cooking!

I don’t often get long periods of time to cook big meals, but when I do I really enjoy it. I’m all for quick and easy meals - they form a large part of what I eat - but there’s something great about spending the whole day or afternoon cooking something really special. This time consuming style of cooking will sound really mad to some people, but I love it when you are cooked for by someone else and they go to town on it. With this style of cooking you can achieve things that you could never do in a short space of time - cooking things for 5 or even 10 hours can have the most incredible results that are definitely worth the wait. On the plus side, most of these processes are fairly low maintenance, and once on can be left alone for a long time.

This style of cooking also lends itself to cheap, alternative cuts of meat. In this case I have used beef shin, which is unbelievably underused. As in most cases, the cheaper cuts of meat hold way more flavour than the more expensive ones, all they need is to be cooked with a little care and time until mouthwateringly tender. The shin that I bought for this recipe cost me five pounds for a kilo - that’s less than one fillet steak would be! Slow cooking meat like shown in this recipe is also a method that is excellent for loads of different things - stews, ragu sauces, ravioli fillings etc. You can even make amazing chilli or shepherds pie using flaked slow cooked meat. When cooking meat in this way, I often make more than I need and have a lovely intense stew for dinner the next night.

The cannelloni in this recipe is not typical to how it is usually made, with a creamy cheese sauce and baked in the oven. Making it this way makes it much lighter and more of a summer dish, and the combination of the beef with the mushrooms, anchovies and beans really works. 

Serves 2

Ingredients:

For the slow cooked beef:

500g beef shin, cut into a few large pieces

1 litre good beef or veal stock

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 bay leaf

2 rosemary sprigs, leaves picked and finely chopped

Small handful of thyme sprigs

3 carrots, peeled and cut into small cubes

1 large parsnip, peeled and cut into small cubes

2 onions, finely chopped

Large glass red wine

2 anchovy fillets

For the fresh pasta:

200g Italian 00 flour

2 medium eggs

Salt

For the cannelloni filling:

10g dried girolle mushrooms

2 tbsp parley leaves, finely chopped

2 tbsp pecorino cheese

For the sauce:

10g dried girolle mushrooms

300g broad beans, podded and shelled

2 anchovy fillets, very finely chopped

2 knobs of butter

To finish:

Grated pecorino 

Baby rocket

First of all get the beef going. Put the stock in a medium saucepan and bring to the boil. Heat up a little olive oil in a separate large saucepan on a medium to high heat. Season the meat well and brown well on all sides until well coloured, before removing and setting aside. Turn down the heat a little and add a little more olive oil if needed before adding the onion, garlic, thyme and rosemary. Cook until softened before adding the carrots, parsnips, anchovies and bay leaf. After a couple more minutes, turn the heat up slightly and add the wine, letting it bubble and reduce slightly. Now add the meat back to the saucepan and cover with the hot stock. Season well and bring to a simmer before turn right down and cooking with the lid on for about 5 hours, or until the meat falls to pieces. 

Meanwhile make the pasta. Put the flour, eggs and a good pinch of salt in a food processor, and blitz until the mix looks like coarse breadcrumbs. Tip everything out onto a floured surface and knead together until the dough has an elastic texture but is not sticky. Knead in a little flour if necessary. Wrap in cling film and put in the fridge for half an hour to rest.

After half an hour, remove the pasta dough from the fridge. Using your pasta machine, roll the dough until it goes through the thinnest setting. Cut the thin sheet of pasta into 4 inch pieces (allowing 2 per person), flour each side well and put in the fridge until needed later. Spare dough can be saved for another occasion.

Now prepare the rest of the filling for the cannelloni. Put the dried mushrooms (for the sauce and filling) in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Soak for half an hour before removing the mushrooms from the water, and finely chopping the half being used for the filling. Leave the other half whole and set aside for the sauce. Keep the soaking liquid to use in risottos, soups etc. Combine the chopped mushrooms with the grated pecorino and chopped parsley in a medium bowl and put aside. 

Use any more time while to meat is cooking to prepare the other ingredients for the sauce.

When the meat is really tender, gently remove it from the broth and shred finely. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then add to the bowl of other filling ingredients. Combine well, adding a couple of tablespoons of the broth liquid and seasoning to taste. 

Fill a medium saucepan with salted water and bring to the boil. When the water is bubbling, add the pasta sheets and cook for 1 minute. Once cooked, remove the pasta and lay each piece on an individual piece of greaseproof paper that is a little bit bigger than the pasta. Carefully add a line of the cannelloni filling to one end of the pasta, leaving a lip of about 2cm. Using the greaseproof paper, ease the pasta around the filling to create a filled tube. Try and get it so that the seal is on the bottom of each tube. Gently move all of the tubes onto one piece of greaseproof paper (small enough to sit in a steamer) and set aside until ready to cook. 

For the sauce, strain 4-5 ladles of the broth liquid into a small saucepan and heat on a medium heat until boiling. Add the anchovies and mix well, then reduce the liquid by half until the flavours have intensified. 

Meanwhile, pour a little water into a medium saucepan and bring to the boil. When the water is boiling, put the rolled cannelloni into a steamer and place on top of the boiling water for 2 minutes. At the same time, add the broad beans, girolles and butter to the saucepan with the sauce in it before mixing well, tasting and seasoning. 

When the cannelloni has cooked, arrange two on each plate and carefully spoon some of the finished sauce around them. Finish by scattering some baby rocket and a pinch of pecorino on top. A very time consuming process, but well worth the wait!