Sticky blackcurrant shallots

A really easy, delicious preserve using red wine and cassis from Sybil Kapoor's recently released The Great British Vegetable Cookbook - a great present for anyone who has an allotment.

Sybil says "This ultra-sticky shallot confit will keep for several weeks covered in the fridge. It tastes amazing in blue cheese sandwiches or as an accompaniment to roast venison or steak.

SERVES 6–8

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

450g/1lb smallish shallots, peeled

salt and freshly ground black pepper

150ml/5fl oz full-bodied red wine

150ml/5fl oz crème de cassis

1½ tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 Set a wide sauté pan over a low heat. Add the oil and, once warm, mix in the peeled shallots. Season lightly and fry gently, stirring regularly, for 10 minutes, until they start to colour, then cover the pan with some dampened crumpled greaseproof paper and a lid. Cook gently over a low heat for 20 minutes, or until very soft, remembering to give the pan the odd shake.

2 Remove the lid and paper. Add the wine, crème de cassis and vinegar. Return to the boil, then simmer gently for 30–35 minutes, or until the liquid has evaporated into a sticky juice and the shallots are dark and soft. Season to taste and transfer to a clean container. Once cool, cover and chill until needed. Gently reheat to serve.

Sybil Kapoor’s The Great British Vegetable Cookbook is published by National Trust Books. Recipe photography is by Karen Thomas.

Oktoberfest potato salad

The key element to this typically Bavarian recipe, which comes from my book An Appetite for Ale, is the addition of hot stock which gives it a consistency half way between a conventional potato salad and mashed potato. It also has the most delicious sweet-sour flavour.

Serves 4-6

1 kg of waxy new potatoes, peeled and cut into even-sized pieces
1 tsp vegetable bouillon powder
4 tbsp white malt vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp caster sugar
1/4 tsp white pepper
2 tbsp sunflower or grapeseed oil
1 medium-sized mild or sweet onion, peeled and finely chopped
40g butter
Fresh chives or dill

Put the potatoes in a pan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Simmer until tender - about 12-15 minutes. Drain, reserving the cooking water. Pour 150ml of the cooking water over the vegetable bouillon powder and stir. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle (about 5 minutes), slice them roughly into a bowl.

Put the vinegar in a small saucepan. Add the salt, caster sugar and pepper and stir to dissolve. Add the oil and the onion, bring to the boil then pour the hot dressing over the sliced potatoes and stir vigorously.

Melt the butter, add to the salad and stir again. Add a little more of the potato cooking water to give you a slightly sloppy consistency, a bit like lumpy mashed potato. Leave to cool and stand for about 2 hours for the flavours to develop. Sprinkle with snipped chives or finely chopped dill and serve with cold sliced sausage and ham, frankfurters or grilled bratwrst

* Sometimes the locals add cucumber. Take half a cucumber, peel it, halve it and scoop out the seeds with the tip of a teaspoon. Cut into slices, put in a shallow plate, sprinkle with salt and put another weighted plate on the top. Leave for about 20 minutes then rinse the cucumber and pat dry. Dress with a little white vinegar seasoned with salt and sugar and a splash of sunflower oil and mix in with the potato. (Or you could serve it on its own sprinkled with a little fresh dill)

What to drink: Given this is a typical Munich salad you should drink an authentic Munchener helles or Marzen lager with it - or a Czech golden lager, at a pinch.

 

 

Pink peppercorn, passion fruit & strawberry pavlova

A totally delicious strawberry pavlova recipe from top pastry chef James Campbell. It's quite complicated but would be a fantastic dessert to serve on an occasion you really wanted to blow your guests away.

James says: "I love the combination of strawberry and passion fruit and I felt the pink peppercorn gives it an unusual twist. I feel that sometimes pavlova can be a little too much on the sweet, creamy side so for me the balance with the peppercorns works well and with the lemon yoghurt tulle and basil it helps to re-invent this old classic."

Serves 8-10 People

For the pavlova:

4 egg whites

140g caster sugar

140g icing sugar sieved

2 tbsp crushed pink peppercorns

Pre-heat the oven to 100°C Fan/110°C conventional, then whisk your egg whites up using an electric whisk. Once the whites are doubled in volume gradually add the caster sugar. Whisk on full speed for approx 10 mins. The resulting merIngue mixture will seem over-whisked but that is perfect for this recipe. Take the icing sugar and fold in gently in three stages. Then fold in the pink peppercorns.

Transfer the meringue to a piping bag with a size 8 plain piping nozzle and pipe on to a baking tray lined with parchment by making a large circle (roughly 20cm in diameter). Repeat the process on top of the original circle, then pipe a 4cm wide border round the edge to contain the fruit (Or James says you could just spread out the meringue with a palate knife if you’re lazy, like me FB)

Transfer to the oven and bake for between 1hour 30 mins and 1hour 40min. You can tell if the pavlova is cooked if you can lift the paper off the base and leave no residue underneath. Once it is cooked set aside to cool.

For the passion fruit curd:

50g passion fruit pulp including the seeds

2 medium egg yolks

1 whole medium egg

50g caster sugar

50g unsalted butter

In a heatproof mixing bowl, add the passion pulp, egg yolks, whole eggs and caster sugar and whisk together. This is then cooked over a bain-marie: Fill a saucepan with a third of water and leave over medium heat. Sit the bowl on top ensuring the water does not touch the bowl as it is the steam that cooks the curd. Continue to whisk over a medium heat until the mixture starts to thicken. Take off the heat and whisk for one more minute, whisk in the diced butter, allow to cool slightly and add a little lemon juice to taste. Cover with cling film and refrigerate

For the chantilly cream:

100ml whipping cream

100ml double cream

Seeds of 1 vanilla pod

1 tbsp Icing sugar

Whisk together the vanilla seeds, cream and half of the sugar, add as much or as little of the remaining sugar as you like depending on how sweet you like it and continue to whisk until the creeam forms soft peaks. Place in the fridge for finishing the dessert.

For garnishing the pavlova

1 punnet of strawberries

a little small-leaved basil

Wash, hull and halve the strawberries, set aside with the basil.

For the peppercorn & yoghurt tuile

75g fondant icing sugar

50g liquid glucose

10g dried lemon zest (see below)

10g acidic yoghurt powder (optional or include a little citric acid)

1 tsp crushed pink peppercorns

Boil the fondant and glucose together and continue to cook until 156°C then pour onto a Silpat mat or parchment paper and allow to cool. Once the mix is cool put in to a food processor and mix to a fine powder, then add the rest of the ingredients and mix again.

You can dry the lemon zest by taking the peel from the lemon using a peeler and leaving at room temperature for 24 hours. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C Fan/200°C conventional, dust the powder over a silicone mat or parchment paper evenly and finely and bake for 3-4 mins or until the tuille has melted, remove from the oven and sprinkle over the pink peppercorn, allow to cool and break into rustic shards

To assemble the dish:

Take the cooled pavlova shell, and pipe or spread the passion fruit curd up to the edge then spread the chantilly cream on top. Scatter over the strawberries and a little basil and spike in a few tuile shards. Dust with a little icing sugar for a nice finish.

What to drink:
I'm inclined to think you need something a little off-the-wall with this exotic dessert. I tried a Sauternes at the tasting and it was overwhelmed. A young vendange tardive or late harvest gewurztraminer would be ideal - or a late harvest riesling. A moscato d'asti would possibly work too. FB

You can follow James on Twitter @dessertdoctor

 

 

 

 

 

Lemon and cherry possets with fruit marshmallows

It might seem perverse to choose a dessert from a barbecue book* but the Pitt Cue Co crew are as good at trashy desserts as they are at meat. And you need to finish off your BBQ somehow, don't you?

So here, from Pitt Cue Co: The Cookbook . . . "A cute, citrusy and velvety post-pork refreshment. These possets can be made well in advance and will suit all sorts of fruit, which makes it a pretty perfect get-me-out-of-the–shit dessert candidate.

Serves 5–6

cherries 500g

demerara sugar 40g

blackcurrant jam 20g

vanilla pod, split lengthways 1

double cream 600ml

caster sugar 170g

lemon juice 100ml (about 2 lemons)

Marshmallows (see below)

Set aside a cherry for each posset, to use as a garnish. Remove the stones from the remaining cherries and cut them all in half. Put half the cherries into a bowl with 20g of the demerara sugar and set aside to macerate for 1 hour.

Put the rest of the cherries into a pan with the other 20g of demerara sugar, the blackcurrant jam and the split vanilla pod and cook on a low heat for 10 minutes, until softened. Remove the vanilla pod, blitz the cherries to a thick pulp in a blender and pass through a sieve to make a thick purée. There should be about 70–80g. Set aside.

Divide the macerated cherries evenly between serving glasses, reserving the juices. The cherries should just cover the bottom of the glass. Put the glasses into the refrigerator to chill.

To make the posset, bring the cream and sugar to the boil in a pan, whisking to ensure that the sugar is well combined. Take the pan off the heat and pour in the lemon juice, then pass the mixture through a fine sieve. Take the glasses out of the fridge and pour the posset on top of the cherries.

Allow to cool, then return the glasses to the fridge for 4 hours to set.

To serve, arrange the marshmallows on top of each posset. If you like, you can blowtorch the marshmallows until just browned andmelting. Finish with a cherry on top.

Marshmallows
(makes lost)

gelatine leaves 12g (about 1–2)

water 30ml

caster sugar 200g

liquid glucose 20g

fresh free-range egg whites 80g (about 4 eggs)

finely grated zest of 1 lemon

fruit purée, optional 80g

cornflour, for dusting 70g

icing sugar, for dusting 70g

Maldon sea salt, a pinch

Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

Put the gelatine leaves into a bowl, cover with cold water and leave to soak until soft. Put the 30ml water, caster sugar and glucose into a large pan and heat until the temperature reaches 121°C on a sugar thermometer.

In a free-standing electric mixer, slowly whisk the egg whites and lemon zest on a medium speed until they reach stiff peaks. When the sugar mixture reaches temperature, take the pan off the heat. Squeeze out the gelatine leaves and add to the pan, mixing gently. Be careful: the mixture may bubble and splutter a bit. Turn the mixer to the lowest setting. With the mixer running, gently pour the hot sugar mixture down the side of the bowl into the egg whites, then increase the speed to medium and continue to mix until the whites are cool, glossy and stiff, about 8–10 minutes. Fold in the fruit purée, if using, until well combined.

Scoop the mixture into a piping bag with the smallest nozzle available. Combine the cornflour and icing sugar and sift over the prepared baking tray – this will stop the marshmallows from sticking. Pipe little marshmallow teardrops on to the greaseproof, about the width of a 10p piece with a nice quiff. Put the tray into the fridge for 1 hour to allow the marshmallows to set.

What to drink: Not an easy one. I would be tempted to serve a sweet sparkling red like a brachetto d'acqui or a Cabernet Franc ice wine like this Peller one here. (But not a sparkling shiraz - too strong, too dry)

* A lot of the savoury recipes also involve sub-recipes that would take up too much space but don't be discouraged - the book, which is published at £20 by Mitchell Beazley, is awesome. Photograph © Paul Winch-Furness.