Manhattan creams with citrus caramel

Of all the magical chapters that make up Diana Henry’s wonderful book How to Eat a Peach - a combined food memoir, travelogue and cookery book, ‘Missing New York’ is the most evocative, making you immediately want to jump on a plane and spend a few days following in her footsteps.

But the subsequent menu is wonderful too, not least the ‘Manhattan creams with citrus caramel’ which she describes as ‘possibly the best pudding in the book’. (I like her use of that word rather than dessert)

Over to Diana . . .

“Oh, there are so many puddings that say ‘New York’! I struggled over the choice, juggling brownies, roast apple and bourbon ice cream, upside down pear and cranberry tarts… but in the end I settled on this. It has the flavours of a Manhattan – bourbon, sweet vermouth and a dash of Angostura bitters – captured in a pannacotta. You can use oranges or blood oranges instead of grapefruit, if you prefer.

This is possibly the best pudding in the book… not counting ice creams, of course. Make it often: it’s classic, useful and able to take all sorts of different adornments. It works well with roast peaches, apricots and pears, poached plums, or caramelized slices of apples, though use orange rather than grapefruit juice for the caramel if you want to serve it with any of these fruits.

serves 4

for the cream

3 gelatine leaves (about 6g/¼oz)

150ml (5fl oz) whole milk

300ml (½ pint) double cream

80g (2¾oz) caster sugar

squeeze of lemon juice

2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon

bourbon

1 tablespoon sweet white

vermouth

good dash of Angostura bitters

1 large red grapefruit

for the citrus caramel

200ml (7fl oz) pink grapefruit

juice

3 tablespoons lemon juice

100g (3½oz) caster sugar

You will need 4 metal moulds, each with a capacity of 125ml (4fl oz).

Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for about 10 minutes; they will soften. Pour the milk and cream into a heavy-based saucepan with the sugar and place over a low heat, stirring a little to help the sugar dissolve. Remove from the heat and leave to cool until hand-warm.

Lift the gelatine leaves from the water and squeeze out excess liquid. Stir into the milk and cream mixture. The mixture should not be hot: if it’s too hot it will affect the gelatine ’s setting properties; if it is too cold, on the other hand, the gelatine won’t dissolve. Add the lemon juice, bourbon, vermouth and bitters. Pour into the metal moulds and leave to cool, then set in a small roasting tin (this just makes things easier), cover with cling film and chill to set for about 4–6 hours.

For the citrus caramel, mix the grapefruit and lemon juices together. Put the sugar in a heavy-based saucepan with 5 tablespoons of water. Set over a medium heat and cook, gently tipping the pan every so often, until the sugar has dissolved. Increase the heat to high and cook until caramelized: you will know by the smell and colour, but be careful not to take it too far (it goes from caramelized to burnt very quickly). You need to tip the pan as the sugar caramelizes around the edges, to spread the caramelization. Quickly add the citrus juices, standing well back (the caramel will bubble and spit). Stir and boil for about 2 minutes, then remove from the heat. Leave to cool completely.

Trim the top and bottom of the grapefruit (it will now have a base on which to sit). Working from top to bottom and turning the grapefruit round as you go, remove the peel and pith (use a small sharp knife) in broad strips. Slide a small knife with a fine blade between the flesh and membrane and ease each segment out. Keep the segments as neat as possible. You should end up with 12 neat segments, 3 for each person.

To serve, dip the base of each mould into just-boiled water for a few seconds, then invert on to a plate, give the cream a shake and allow it to slip out. Spoon some of the citrus caramel around each cream and add the grapefruit segments.

What to drink: I’m honestly not sure you need a wine with this given the booze in the cream. Added to that the sweetness of the accompanying caramel will strip the flavour out of most dessert wines. A Canadian ice wine or very sweet young Trockenbeerenauslese riesling served very cold might possibly do it.

Book credit: How to Eat a Peach by Diana Henry is published by Mitchell Beazley, £25 (www.octopusbooks.co.uk)

Imagery credit: Laura Edwards

Sausage, Cep and Chestnut Galette

This recipe was created by my friend cookery writer Claire Thomson of 5 o’clock apron to celebrate the release of this year’s Beaujolais Nouveau about which we’ve just made a reel which you can find on my instagram feed @food_writer.

I’ve generally gone down the easy (and typically French) route of recommending it with charcuterie and cheese but she’s come up with a delicious galette (open-topped pie) that would make a great main course for a Beaujolais nouveau supper. It’s super-easy to rustle up too.

We tried it with the 2024 Chateau de Vaux Beaujolais Villages which I was sent to try by Christopher Piper Wines which is brimming with cherry flavours and great value at £10.94.

Serves 4

Pastry 
125g 00 plain flour
125g wholemeal flour 
150g cold butter, diced 
1 egg beaten with pinch of salt

Galette filling 
Handful of dried cep or porcini, soaked for 15 mins in boiling water, drained (keep the water for another recipe)
150g button mushrooms, sliced 
2 red onions, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic
3 sprigs of thyme 
3 best quality sausages 
Big knob of extra butter
Salt and pepper
1 egg, beaten with a pinch of salt (egg wash) 
4 - 6 chestnuts, coarsely grated (you can buy them in a vac pack) 
Parmesan 

Claire served this with a salad of watercress, russet apple, hazelnut and parsley dressed with red wine vinaigrette (and I served it rather less healthily, as you can see, with new potatoes and Brussel tops!)

Claire writes: Make the pastry, I used a food processor to pulse, then added the egg and splash of very cold water to bring the mix together. I refrigerated it overnight. Roll the pastry out approx 1/2 cm thick & 38cm round and refrigerate again on a baking sheet. 

Cook the onions, garlic and thyme for 10 mins over medium heat till softened. Add both mushrooms and cook for 5 mins to soften. Add thyme, salt and pepper. Off the heat, add sausages (removed from casings). Arrange this in the centre of the pastry, leaving a border. Pull the sides over to create a border of approx 5cm. (See Claire’s reel) 

Egg wash the pastry and cook in at 190°C/160°fan/375°F/Gas 5 for around 40 - 45 mins. Remove from the oven and grate over the chestnuts and parmesan to serve.

What else to drink: Other light juicy reds such as a pinot noir or cinsault would work too.

For pairings with other Beaujolais wines see this post.

Duck casserole with red wine, cinnamon and olives

One of my favourite recipes from my recently reissued book The Wine Lover’s Kitchen which is full of recipes for cooking with wine.

Red wine and cinnamon are natural partners and work together brilliantly in this exotically spiced, Moorish-style casserole. I suggest you use a strong, fruity wine such as a Merlot, Carmenère or Zinfandel. 

Duck casserole with red wine, cinnamon and olives

Serves 4

2 duck breasts

4 duck legs

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

1 celery stalk, thinly sliced

1 garlic clove, crushed

350 ml/1 ½ cups full-bodied fruity red wine (see recipe introduction), plus 2 tablespoons extra

250 ml/1 cup passata/strained tomatoes

2 small strips of unwaxed orange zest

1 cinnamon stick

100 g/1 cup pitted mixed olives marinated with herbs

½ teaspoon herbes de Provence or dried oregano

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

couscous or pilaf and leafy green vegetables, to serve

an ovenproof dish

Preheat the oven to 200 °/180°fan/400 ° F/Gas 6.

Trim any excess fat from all the duck pieces and prick the skin with a fork. Cut the breasts in half lengthways and season all the pieces lightly with salt and pepper. Put 1 tablespoon oil in an oven proof dish and add the duck pieces, skin-side upwards. Roast in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, then remove from the oven and pour off the fat (keep it for roasting potatoes). Reduce the oven temperature to 150 °C/130°fan/300 ° F/Gas 2.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a flameproof casserole, add the onion and celery and fry over a low heat for 5-6 minutes or until soft.

Stir in the garlic, increase the heat and pour in the red wine. Simmer for 1-2 minutes, then add the passata/strained tomatoes, orange zest, cinnamon, olives and herbs. Transfer the duck pieces to the casserole and spoon the sauce over them. Bring the sauce to a simmer, cover and transfer the casserole to the preheated oven for about 1¼ hours until the duck is tender. Spoon the sauce over the duck halfway through cooking and add a little water if the sauce seems too dry.

Take the casserole out of the oven, remove and discard the cinnamon stick and orange zest and spoon off any fat that has accumulated on the surface. Stir in 2 tablespoons red wine and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with couscous or a lightly spiced pilaf along with some cavolo nero or other dark leafy greens.

Note: You can also make this casserole a day ahead. To do so, cook it in the oven for just 1 hour, then let it cool, cover and refrigerate overnight. The following day, skim off any fat, then reheat it gently, adding a final dash of wine just before serving.

What to drink
Any robust southern French, Spanish, Portuguese or southern Italian red would go well with this recipe. As would a good, gutsy Zinfandel.

For other pairings see 9 great wine pairings for duck

From The Wine Lover’s Kitchen by Fiona Beckett, published by Ryland Peters & Small (£22) Photography by Mowie Kay © Ryland Peters & Small.

 

 

Beef, Stilton and Onion Pie

This is just one of the amazing pies in Calum Franklin’s The Pie Room which will happily give you projects to work through all winter. He says it’s for ‘wintry days when the roads are blocked and you are snowed in’ but I’d be perfectly happy to have it on a grey November day. However one can’t argue with Calum’s conclusion that it’s ‘rich, decadent and best followed by a nap on the couch’.

Beef, Stilton and Onion Pie

SERVES 4–6

300g rough puff pastry (or shop-bought puff pastry) There is obviously a recipe for rough puff pastry in the book.

1 egg yolk beaten with 1 teaspoon water, for brushing

For the filling

600g beef chuck steak, cut into 4cm dice

100g plain flour

40ml vegetable oil

4 Spanish onions, peeled and halved but with the roots left on

400g chestnut mushrooms, halved

1 teaspoon table salt

300ml red wine

2 bay leaves

3 thyme sprigs

2 litres beef stock

100g Stilton cheese, broken into 2cm nuggets

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Equipment

pie dish (25cm long and 5cm deep)

Preheat the oven to 220°C fan/240°C/gas mark 9.

To prepare the filling, put the beef in a roasting tray, dust with the flour and toss the beef until all the flour has been absorbed by the meat. Add 20ml of the vegetable oil to the tray and toss well to make sure the meat is evenly coated. Put the tray in to the preheated oven and roast the beef for 20 minutes until browned and any juices released during cooking have evaporated.

While the beef is roasting, cut each onion half into six wedges through the root to leave petals. Put a large frying pan over a medium heat, add the remaining 20ml of vegetable oil and warm for 1 minute. Add the onions to the pan and cook, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon until the onions have started to brown. Add the mushrooms to the pan with half the salt and continue to cook for a further 3 minutes until the mushrooms have just softened. Next, add the red wine, bay leaves and thyme and bring to a simmer.

After 20 minutes, remove the beef from the oven and check it is nicely browned. If not, return it to the oven for a further 5 minutes. When the beef is ready, tip the onions, mushrooms, herbs and red wine into the roasting tray over the top of the meat. Put the frying pan back on the heat and pour in the beef stock – half at a time, if necessary – and bring to a simmer. Add to the tray with all the other pie filling ingredients.

At this stage, take the time to make sure the beef is not stuck to the bottom of the roasting tray: using a wooden spoon, dislodge any caramelised chunks of meat. Working carefully as the tray is hot, tightly cover the top of the tray with aluminium foil. Return the tray to the oven and continue to cook at 220°C fan/240°C/gas mark 9 for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 160°C fan/180°C/gas mark 4 and set a timer for 1¾ hours.

While the filling is braising, prepare the pastry. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry to a 5mm thick circle large enough to cover the pie dish. Slide the rolled-out pastry onto the lined tray and chill in the refrigerator for at least 25 minutes. Set aside any pastry trimmings for decoration.

After the beef has been braising for 1¾ hours, remove the tray from the oven and, using a dish towel to protect your hands, carefully peel back a corner of the foil. Spoon out one chunk of beef and check to make sure it is tender. It is okay if the beef has a little bite left in it, but it should not be chewy. If necessary, pop the tray back in the oven for a further 15 minutes and check again.

When the beef is ready, carefully remove all the foil from the roasting tray. Place a colander over a large bowl and tip in the filling. Let the mixture strain for a couple of minutes, then place the contents of the colander back into the tray and spread around to cool down. Transfer the strained liquid from the bowl to a large saucepan, bring to a simmer over a medium heat and cook until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Season with the pepper and the remaining salt, adding a little at a time, stirring and tasting until it has the correct level of seasoning. Pour the reduced liquid over the mixture in the tray and set aside to cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally to speed up the process. Once the mixture is cool, transfer the filling to the pie dish and level the surface. Nudge the nuggets of Stilton into the filling, distributing them evenly across the surface but avoiding the sides.

Increase the oven temperature to 200°C fan/220°C/gas mark 7.

Brush the rim of the pie dish with the egg wash, brushing about 2.5cm down the sides of the dish. Lay the pastry circle centrally across the top of the dish, allowing it to rest lightly on top of the filling. (The pastry lid should not be taut as it may droop during cooking and tear.) Press firmly down on the pastry against the egg-brushed rim of the dish to seal all the way round. Lightly brush the pie lid with more egg wash and decorate however you prefer using the reserved pastry trimming and then brush that with egg wash. Return the pie to the refrigerator and chill for a further 20 minutes.

Place the dish on a rack in the centre of the preheated oven and bake the pie for 25 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and the core temperature of the filling has reached at least 70°C on a digital probe thermometer. Alternatively, poke the tip of a knife through the pie into the middle of the filling and leave it there for a few seconds – it should be hot to the touch. Halfway through the cooking time, turn the dish around in the oven to ensure an even bake. Serve the pie simply with some boiled new potatoes and slow-roasted carrots.

What to drink: This justifies a really good red Bordeaux or other top notch cabernet sauvignon.

See also The best wine and beer pairings for steak pie

Extract taken from The Pie Room by Calum Franklin (Bloomsbury Absolute, £26)

Photography © John Carey (edited for the web)