Recipes
Navarin of lamb
I made this simple, classic French one-pot meal down in the Languedoc in April last year - proof that a stew hits the spot at what can still be a chilly time of year.
Ideally you need to plan it 24 hours ahead. It's better, like many stews, made the previous day but if you haven't factored that in at least allow time for the stew to cool and refrigerate so that you can spoon off the layer of fat that will rise to the surface. (Don't let that put you off - it's better made with slightly fatty meat.)
What veg you use for a navarin depends what’s in season but I’d suggest carrots are essential and turnips nice. Later in the spring you could add a few lightly cooked fresh peas and skinned broad beans at the end along with the parsley.
Serves 4
750g lamb shoulder cut into large chunks or a combination of shoulder and neck
3 tbsp seasoned plain flour
5 tbsp olive oil
20g butter
100ml dry white wine + an extra slosh
2 medium-sized onions, peeled and sliced (sweet onions like oignons de lezignan would be ideal)
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 tsp crushed coriander seeds
2-3 medium-sized carrots, peeled and sliced
2-3 medium-sized turnips, scrubbed and cut into even-sized cubes
2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 bayleaf
1 sprig of fresh thyme
A good handful of flat-leaf parsley
500ml chicken or vegetable stock
400g new potatoes, washed
Pat the pieces of meat dry and roll in the seasoned flour. Heat a frying pan and add 2 tbsp of the oil, then when the oil has heated, the butter. Fry the meat on all sides a few pieces at a time. Remove from the pan and set aside. Deglaze the pan with the wine and pour over the meat. Wipe the pan and return to the heat. Add the remaining oil, tip in the onions, stir and leave over a low heat until soft. Add the garlic and coriander seeds then the carrots and turnips, cover and continue to cook for another 7-8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the remaining flour, tomatoes, bayleaf, parsley stalks and stock and bring to the boil. Add the meat, bring back to a simmer then cover and leave on a low heat or in a low oven 110°C fan oven for 1 1/2 hours, checking occasionally. Remove from the oven cool and refrigate. Spoon off and discard the fat. Reheat gently Cook the potatoes in boiling water until almost done then add to the stew. Leave over a low heat for 10 minutes for the flavours to combine, adding an extra dash of white wine if you think it needs it. Chop the remainging parsley and fold through.
What to drink: this is a homely dish so I don't think you need anything particularly grand with it. Although used white wine to make the dish, and a rich smooth white would work with it, I'd marginally prefer a red. A basic burgundy or Beaujolais would pair well - something dry and medium-bodied rather than a big full-bodied belter. It's also a good foil for a mature Bordeaux or Rioja that needs drinking up - or even an old Faugères which is what we drank with it back in April last year.
The rather messy pic is mine. At least you know it's real.
Japanese ginger and garlic chicken with smashed cucumber
A simple but spectacular Japanese-style dish from Diana Henry's marvellous new book A Change of Appetite which I've also reviewed on the site here.
Diana writes: "This dish has a great interplay of temperatures. The chicken is hot and spicy, the cucumber like eating shards of ice (make sure you serve it direct from the fridge).
The cucumber recipe is adapted from a recipe in a wonderful American book called Japanese Farm Food by Nancy Singleton Hachisu. You can also make the chicken with boneless thighs and griddle them."
Serves 4
For the chicken
3 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp sake or dry sherry
3 tbsp soft dark brown sugar
1/2 tbsp brown miso
60g (2oz) root ginger, peeled and finely grated
4 garlic cloves, finely grated
1 tsp togarashi seasoning (available in Waitrose), or 1/2 tsp chilli powder
8 good-sized skinless bone-in chicken thighs, or other bone-in chicken pieces
For the cucumber
500g (1lb 2oz) cucumber
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp pink pickled ginger, very finely shredded
small handful of shiso leaves, if available, or mint leaves, torn (optional)
Mix everything for the chicken (except the chicken itself ) to make a marinade. Pierce the chicken on the fleshy sides with a knife, put the pieces into a shallow dish and pour the marinade over. Massage it in well, turning the pieces over. Cover and put in the fridge for 30–60 minutes.
When you’re ready to cook, preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Take the pieces out of the marinade and put them in a shallow ovenproof dish in which they can sit snugly in a single layer. Pour over half the marinade. Roast in the oven for40 minutes, basting every so often with the juices and leftover marinade (don’t add any leftover marinade after 20 minutes, it needs to cook properly as it has had raw chicken in it). Check for doneness: the juices that run out of the chicken when you pierce the flesh with a knife should be clear and not at all pink.
When the chicken is halfway through cooking, peel and halve the cucumber and scoop out the seeds. Set on a board and bang the pieces gently with a pestle or rolling pin. This should break them up a little. Now break them into chunks with your hands.
Crush the garlic with a pinch of the salt and massage this – and the rest of the salt – into the cucumber. Put in a small plastic bag, squeeze out the air and put in the fridge for 10 minutes. When you’re ready to eat, tip the cucumber into a sieve so the juices can drain away. Add the shredded ginger. You can add shiso leaves if you can find them (I can’t, I have no Japanese shop nearby). Nothing else really tastes like it, but I sometimes add mint.
Serve the chicken with brown rice or rice vermicelli (the rice vermicelli is good served cold) and the cucumber.
Try this with… edamame and sugar snap salad Mix 2 tbsp white miso paste, 1 tbsp rice vinegar, 2 tbsp groundnut oil, 2 tbsp water, 1 tsp runny honey and 2cm (3/4in) peeled, grated root ginger. Toss with 100g (3 1/2oz) cooked edamame beans, 100g (3 1/2oz) raw sugar snap peas, sliced lengthways, 8 sliced radishes and a handful of mizuna. Serves 4.
What to drink: While this type of sweet-savoury dish is delicious it can be tricky with wine. Chilled sake might be your best bet - otherwise I'd go for a strong fruity rosé, a light red like a Beaujolais cru or a New Zealand pinot gris.
You can read my full review of A Change of Appetite here.
From A Change of Appetite by Diana Henry, published by Mitchell Beazley. Photograph © Laura Edwards.
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