Pickled Rhubarb with Ginger, Orange & Clove

My god it's been a long winter, not that we are even out of it yet, but at least there are some signs. Today I felt the warm sun on me as I walked outside and I began to feel hopeful. Tomorrow it is forecast to rain all day, continuing for the rest of the week; but at least there are glimmers of hope...

We really felt this winter at Cook House. I lost track of how many times they tried to fix the roof, each time it seemed to have stopped leaking there would be another big freeze, a thaw, a shift, and subsequently a new leak. From November to February there was an issue almost every day and I shed some frustrated tears on occasion. Then the snow storms came, and there were no leaks as we were enveloped in a layer of snow and ice inside and out, totally frozen solid.

I can talk about it now that the other side is in sight, now that the daffodils are coming out and the sticks of rhubarb are beginning to appear at the allotment. People often ask me what to do with lots of rhubarb, it is a common allotment affliction, I only have a small plant and it produces more than enough for all my rhubarb requirements. Pickling is one of the answers I think; this pickle is really pretty damn good. It's lovely on it's own, great with cheese, rich liver pate or on top of a salad, and its super easy to make.

Fill a large, sterilised, 2 litre kilner jar with rhubarb cut down into 1- 2cm diagonal batons. I have seen recipes that ask you to put the rhubarb into the hot pickling liquid, but I find this generally makes it fall apart, so prefer to add the hot pickling liquid to it, as it softens, but keeps its shape.

For the pickling liquid combine 750ml water, 500ml white wine vinegar, 350g caster suger, 15g maldon sea salt and heat to dissolve everything. Then you can add your flavours, I used thick slices of fresh ginger, a few large peels of orange zest, a cinnamon stick, 2 cloves, a pinch of chilli flakes and a few black pepper corns. They all bring something to the party, heat and a kick from the ginger, warming chilli, fragrant orange... I don't usually love cloves, but here they really work and the musky flavour is mild but pleasant. Feel free to experiment with other flavours such as juniper, mace, cinnamon, coriander seed, fresh herbs...

Simmer the mix for 5 minutes to bring out all the flavours, then pour the hot liquid over the rhubarb and seal the jar, it will all bob up to the top to begin with and you may need to push it back down a few times over the course of first few days. It is delicious after a couple of days, really delicious after a couple of weeks and will keep well for months if you can manage not to eat it all...

Slow Cooked Ox Cheek

I've been cooking this dish a lot recently, attempting to perfect it. Ox cheek is my current favourite when it comes to cuts of meat. They are a beautiful thing raw; a really intense deep red, and they smell lovely, an earthy meaty smell that I love. I haven't tried them raw, but they look like they might be tasty, and I've been thinking about curing and air drying a few as I think they would be rich and delicious.

Recently however I've been slow cooking them. I've taken advice from Richard Olney, Nigel Slater and Elizabeth David, not personally you understand, and have ended up with my current method which I'll continue to work on.

I think it is safe to say that a lot of the success of this lies in your beef stock, so be prepared to take your time over it. My last batch was my best yet. I think, that might have been down to the bone marrow... I found myself at the kitchen bench having a little snack of bone marrow sprinkled with salt at about 10am the other morning, I did think to myself 'what on earth are you doing eating this at 10am' but soon realised I didn't give a damn and was pretty delighted to be snacking on bone marrow at 10am. Perks.

If you make a big batch of stock you can freeze some, it then makes the ox cheek a much more simple dish to prepare next time you want to cook it. You will want to cook it again, I'm guessing. Ask your butcher for some beef bones, make sure you get a few with some marrow you can scoop out. Then roast the bones at 200˚C for about 20 minutes until they are golden brown and the fat is sizzling. 

While they are cooking get a big pan, heat a splash of oil, and fry a couple of chopped onions, a big pinch of salt, a couple of chopped red onions, a couple of chopped peeled carrots (the skin can be bitter in a stock) a couple of sticks of chopped celery, a chopped leek, a few sprigs of parsley, a couple of bay leaves, a few black peppercorns, a couple of cloves of peeled garlic and cook this all until it softens and starts to turn golden. Then add in the beef bones and enough water to cover everything, a few litres usually. You don't want too much water as you'll loose the flavour, just enough to cover.

Then bring the whole thing to the boil and simmer very gently for 3 hours. It should be only just moving. 'Don't boil the love out of it' someone once told me and I remember it every time. About half way through you should be able to scoop the bone marrow out of the bones, leave it to melt into the stock as it continues to cook. I usually do all this the day before as it's quite a time consuming task.

Now to the cheeks. I serve one cheek per person, but make a few extra just in case you fancy a bit more. Season the cheeks with salt on both sides. Heat a large cast iron pan or frying pan with a splash of olive oil and lay in the ox cheeks when it's hot. Don't crowd them, do them in batches if needs be. Don't move them around, just leave them to brown in one place for a couple of minutes on each side, you're looking for golden brown patches to form, all adding to the final flavour. Do this slowly, don't rush, and place the ox cheeks into a deep baking tray or oven dish as they are ready. Then add two sliced onions and two thickly sliced cloves of garlic to the pan you browned the meat in and cook slowly until golden.

Now add 125ml of red wine and the juice of an orange to the onion pan, heat on high and scrape up anything meaty stuck to the bottom of the pan, until it has reduced slightly, pour this over the ox cheeks, then add your delicious beef stock until the cheeks are just poking out of the top, about a litre. Finally add to the pan a chopped carrot, a couple of strips of zest from the orange, the skin of a pear and lots of black pepper. Cover with tin foil or a lid and cook in the oven at 180˚C for 3 hours, turning the cheeks occasionally. There's a turn the other cheek joke in there somewhere...

Then they are ready, they are the most beautifully soft melty delicious things, with a rich reduced gravy to boot. Serve an ox cheek per person with some vegetables and gravy spooned over, lots of horseradish or mustard, mash, polenta, whatever you fancy. It's been on the menu at Cook House quite a lot recently, I can't see myself tiring of it any time soon...

On Toast...

I've written before about my love of things on toast. Since opening Cook House I have been working on my repertoire. It has become a staple menu item, changing topping week to week, depending on what's in season, what I've spotted in books, magazines, or on my travels. I came home from Mallorca with a couple of Sobrasada in my suitcase last week. I'm not entirely sure that's allowed, so don't tell, but that made up last week's toast; the spicy chorizo type paste that is specific to the Balearics spread on hot toast, topped with creamy homemade ricotta, good olive oil and some dressed pea shoots.

We're talking about an open sandwich in basic terms, I find it a lot more interesting than thinking of sandwich fillings however, and find inspiration from around the world. Everyone has their own variation whether it's called a taco, a pizza or pintxo...

These are ideas more than recipes... You're looking for balance; think sweet, salty, bitter and sour and see where you end up... 

Smoked Leeks on Toast with Whipped Feta and Black Sesame

I was inspired by the Trial Shift boys, when they took over Cook House for a pop up event a few months ago; I found them cooking their aubergines in the embers of my stove. Kicking myself that I hadn't thought of using the stove myself (why did I not?!), as soon as they handed the keys back I stuck some leeks into a roaring fire, totally incinerating the outside. When removed and left to cool I then carefully removed all the black outer edges and tore off ribbons of soft sweet smoked leek into a bowl and mixed with a dash of extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt.

I served this on toast with feta cheese whipped up with some Greek yoghurt and extra virgin olive oil until it takes on the consistency of cream cheese. Spread onto toast, leeks piled gently on top and scattered with toasted black sesame seeds. The sweet smoky leeks with the salty cheese and toasted nutty sesame is delicious, this is probably my favourite invention so far.

Carrot and Lemon Pâté on Toast with Feta and Pea Shoots

I have been making a carrot, lemon and yoghurt pâté for a while now. I discovered it when I was putting together a vegetarian middle eastern style mezze supper last year. I made tons of different Lavosh crackers topped with different seeds and herbs and wanted lots of tasty colourful dips to go with them.

Chop 500g of carrots into large chunks and roast at 200˚C with about 6 cloves of garlic still in their skins and lots of olive oil until the carrots are soft, about 20 minutes. Then pop the garlic out of their skins and blitz with 2 big spoons of yoghurt the zest and juice of half a lemon and a pinch of salt. It's a lovely sweet dip with a rich hint of roast garlic and sharp lemon.

Sprinkle with crumbled feta or goats cheese, and top with a pile of dressed fresh pea shoots or rocket. The rich sweet pâté is delicious with the sharp salt cheese and fresh shoots.

Whipped Feta on Toast with Pear, Pea Shoots and Toasted Seeds

The whipped feta base mentioned previously is good with lots of toppings, as it's so salty and tart my favourite is something a little bit sweet. I've found a popular menu item to be fresh sliced pear, with pea shoots or rocket and toasted seeds, sometimes hazelnuts or a bit of chopped mint too.

I have tried it with pickled grapes and mint too, delicious; sharp, sweet and tasty. I also tried sliced blood oranges with toasted walnuts, normal oranges would work too, that was a pretty good brunch dish I think...

Or you could try fresh peppery radish with mint, black pepper and ricotta. Or ricotta, slow roast tomatoes and toasted cumin seeds... Or crushed peas and broad beans with lemon, mint and crumbled goats cheese... We're in a good season for lovely fresh toppings so I'll keep working on my repertoire...

Seville and Rosemary Marmalade

A friend of mine entered a marmalade competition last year, I remember looking at a photo of her certificates and awards and feeling suitably impressed. So when she said she was entering again this year I thought I would give it a go. The fact that I had never even made marmalade before was just a triviality...

I ended up entering the first jar of marmalade I had ever made, which I obviously didn't tell them, but it was actually nice; and I won an actual award... So I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself and my marmalade making skills. I was awarded a Silver certificate, next year I'm going for Gold...

The Marmalade Awards are held at Dalemain, a beautiful country house near Ullswater. They decorate the whole house with oranges, hold a farmers market and dedicate the whole weekend to all this marmalade. I imagine they must tire of tasting so many marmalades, the entries run into the thousands, but they get through them, and here is what they said about mine...

I had various ideas for what I would like to do, I wanted to add something unusual to the oranges. I thought about coriander seeds, juniper berries, earl grey tea, ginger... but finally settled on rosemary. I have used rosemary in various citrus puddings and always love it, especially my Lemon and Rosemary Posset; so hoped it would turn out ok...

I had 750g of Seville oranges, which I juiced. Keep the juice then finely slice all of the skin and pith, removing and keeping all of the pips. Put all the sliced skin into a large cast iron pan, add the juice and pour over 1.8 litres of water and leave to soak over night.

The next day I added 3 large sprigs of rosemary and the seeds in a little bag of muslin. Some people say that you need the seeds in to help with setting as they contain lots of pectin, which makes a jam or marmalade set, others say there is enough pectin in the fruit itself to do this, I added them anyway just to be on the safe side. Bring the whole lot to the boil and simmer for a couple of hours, until the skin is soft and the water has reduced by about a third. You want to end up with a volume  approximately double the quantity of oranges, so approximately 1.5 litres after cooking.

Then add 1kg of caster sugar and 500g of light brown sugar, adding darker sugar will result in a darker marmalade. This is double the weight of the oranges again. At this point I added another large sprig of rosemary too. Bring everything to the boil and stir to dissolve the sugar, then keep at a fast rolling boil until it reaches setting point. I used a thermometer, it needs to get to about 104 degrees Celsius. Oranges are quite high in pectin so can set a few degrees lower than this but I kept on till 104 just in case. It took about 20 minutes. I also tested it on a cold saucer, dropping a bit on and leaving it for a minute, if it wrinkles when you push it it has reached setting point.

So when you are all done leave your marmalade to sit in the pan for ten minutes. This lets it cool and set very slightly so all the peel doesn't sink to the bottom when you put it into jars. I put it all into little sterilised jars, these quantities produced 11 8oz jars. I put a fresh sprig of rosemary in each jar and then filled them up. I was pretty proud at this point, actual marmalade that tasted lovely, but still nervous that it wouldn't set...

However, they set within an hour and were very tasty. The rosemary is mild but definitely present, the oranges are bitter and delicious and it isn't too sickly sweet. I been enjoying it on toast and serving it to customers in Cook House, who have been very complimentary so far.

I was pretty pleased with my actual scores, I will know better to fill my jar up a bit more next time, I thought it was pretty much full to be honest... but they are obviously a stickler for detail; and next time I may not leave the rosemary loose in the marmalade but keep it in a muslin bag just for flavour, although it does look pretty and the judges didn't complain... First prize was getting your marmalade stocked in Fortnum and Mason's, I'm after that next time...

Blood Orange, Walnut and Ricotta Salad

London was awash with blood oranges last week; every menu we turned to was doing something with them. Margot drizzled them over an impressive looking cheesecake, The Clove Club served them with a delicious goats curd and emerald green fennel granita, Quo Vadis had them with campari or a fennel salad, and Spuntino in a sprightly salad with walnuts. We ate so well, as you might have gathered... I would highly recommend all of the above if you are dining out in the big smoke any time soon...

So instead of filling my bags with the wonders of Liberty jewellery department, which I really wanted to do; I filled my handbag with blood oranges from a delightful little shop called Leila’s near Rochelle Canteen, and brought them all the way back to Newcastle. I realise this is not the most sensible way to shop, but I was worried I wasn’t going to find any in Newcastle and I had Valentine’s diners to feed...

This is a very simple little salad, but very tasty. To serve two for lunch or four as a side, take a bag of watercress, spinach and rocket, one or all varieties will do. I made a little dressing of extra virgin olive oil, cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar, a tiny bit of maple syrup, salt and pepper, shake it all up and dress the leaves well.

Peel one blood orange and slice thinly, they are so beautiful inside, each one different; then toast a large handful of walnuts and mix both through the leaves. Finally top with some crumbled ricotta. A delicious addition to my salad repertoire if I do say so... The warm toasted walnuts are delicious with the sweet rich orange, creamy ricotta and peppery leaves. I’m on the lookout for more blood oranges to carry on enjoying them while the short season lasts...

Candied Orange Peel

I’m testing puddings at the moment for my upcoming festive supperclubs at Lindisfarne Castle in a couple of weeks time. It is a continuation of my collaboration with the National Trust that began earlier this year and has taken me in all kinds of exciting directions. In truth I’m not really a pudding person, but I can’t say that I’m hating a day full of sweet treats! I’m planning to serve a smorgasbord of different puddings at the supperclubs, all delicious and Christmassy.

So yesterday was pretty much full of puddings from beginning to end, luckily I had some lovely friends from London to visit so we forced them to eat everything I hadn’t already ‘tested’; perfect timing. There will be little pots of Christmas Cream or Christmas Syllabub, I can’t decide what to call it; but it’s full of whipped cinnamon cream, sherry sultanas, candied ginger and citrus zest. As well as lush candied spiced nuts, rich chocolate truffles, walnut shortbreads and these pretty little sticks of candied orange peel. They are so beautiful, and smell amazing, another contender for Christmas gifts I think too... You could just parcel them up in a brown paper cracker tied with ribbon, or a little cellophane bag? I have seen them dipped half in dark chocolate too if you’re feeling decedent.

You will need 2 large oranges and you will end up with roughly 60 pieces of candied peel, give or take... To peel them slice off either end of the orange, run your knife in a circle round the top in the pithy bit, then slice down through the skin, stopping before you get to the juicey bit, into equal sixths. You should then simply be able to peel away each sixth pretty neatly and evenly, the pictures explain it better than I have!

Then bring a large pan of water to the boil and cook the sliced orange peel for 15 minutes. Drain the peel then get a fresh pan of water and repeat the same process again for another 15 minutes. In another pan, bring 300g of granulated sugar and 300g of water to the boil, then simmer gently until the sugar has dissolved. Add the drained peel to this sugar syrup and bring it back to the boil. Then heat and simmer on a low heat until the peel is soft and translucent, it should take about 45 minutes.

When they are ready drain the pieces of peel and let them cool separately on a sheet of baking paper. Keep the syrup as you can use it for baking or in cocktails, it is lovely sweet and orangey. Finally put the remaining 75g sugar in a bowl and roll each piece of peel in it until totally coated. Then leave to dry for 24 hours on a sheet of greaseproof paper.

They are so tasty, a bit bitter, but sweet and orangey, just delicious! You can try one straight away, they seem to get a bit softer after a day or two, and will keep for a month or so. I think they will look so pretty on my pudding board of delights at Lindisfarne Castle.

Orange, Ginger and Walnut Cake

I was asked to judge a cake competition last week, at my old school Central High; I was quite honoured. They were looking for one girl to go forward to a national baking competition, to represent the whole school. I wasn't informed how many cakes there might be, or that it was open to the whole school, so was a little bit overwhelmed to arrive and be told I was judging sixty nine cakes...

Myself and Kate Emmett of Cake Poppins Bakery fame had the huge task of tasting every single one of them, all lemon victoria sponges, a Mary Berry recipe that she has created specially for the competition. We were judging on taste, presentation and technique. It was quite good fun to start with; I like lemon cake, most of them were pretty decent cakes, with only one or two disasters in the taste department, still not sure what on earth was in those ones... I made sure I said things like 'this one's a good bake' and 'I think this might be over worked' or 'too much raising agent here' to pretend that I was actually taking part in an episode of Great British Bake Off, or simply that I had some idea about baking in general...

It was all going well until we got about three quarters of the way round when it became pretty hard work. We were tasting tiny, tiny pieces, but even with that in mind it was difficult not to be overwhelmed by sugar, icing, sweetness... My head started to spin and I'm sure my sight went a bit funny... We did select some worthy winners in the end, a few of the cakes really stood out, so hopefully those girls will do us proud in the next round!

Inspired by the girls efforts and also just because I opened the paper and saw this Dan Lepard recipe and wanted to eat it straight away, I have also been baking... It is quite a simple cake to make and full of delicious sharp zesty orange, tangy ginger and warm toasted walnuts. It is not too sugary sweet, just a tasty slice of cake to have with your afternoon cup of tea. You could probably convince yourself it was acceptable for breakfast too, I did...

To start line a 30cm long loaf tin with baking paper and pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Then grate the zest of 5 oranges and keep the oranges and zest to one side. Add 225g of caster sugar to a pan, with 150ml of juice squeezed from the oranges and bring it to the boil. Remove it from the heat and add 100g of unsalted butter and leave it to melt. Taste it at this point, it tastes bloody lovely!

Leave the mix to cool slightly and then add the zest from the oranges, some grated fresh ginger, a piece about 2-3cm long, and 75ml of double cream. Then beat in 3 free range eggs followed by 325g of plain flour and 3 teaspoons of baking powder.

Finally spoon a third of the mix into the tin and add a handful of chopped walnuts evenly over the top with a sprinkling of cinnamon, then add the next third, more walnuts and cinnamon, then the final third and top with more walnuts and cinnamon. I used 100g of walnuts in total, I'd maybe use even more next time... Then bake for 50 minutes in the oven. It is delicious and actually gets better day by day. The crunchy sweet top with toasted walnuts was my favourite bit...

Rollmop Herring

Herring have a long historical connection with the North East of England. Originally the small scale exploitation of an abundant local resource, fishing grew to become a thriving industry all down the east coast during the last century, with whole families in the coastal community relying on Herring for their livelihood. Too much of a good thing eventually saw the fish run out and the industry decline but these versatile, if unfashionable, fish are still caught in the North Sea today.

The herring are in season over the summer in the North East and cost next to nothing. These little fellas were 50p each from the Grainger Market. I bought them to go into Mr. Smokerson, home smoked herring sounded delicious, even though the guys at Craster are pretty good at it I fancied a go. That was until I found out it took 5 days... And even by my standards taking 5 days off work to sit and smoke some fish seemed a bit excessive.

The herring season begins in June in Scotland and works its way down the North East coast over the summer months towards Lowestoft, coming to an end in November. Amble, Cullercoats and North Shields were our main local fishing harbours for herring back in the day. Amble harbour was built in 1830 and was famous for its fishing cobels, which were out in force to catch the 'silver darlings' as the herring became known.

My great grandfather used to have two cobels in Amble harbour; they were beautiful boats, each being built specifically for its user. Boats fished with seven or eight lines, about 200 metres long, with 500 to 1,000 hooks on each, baited with mussels. Baiting the lines was a very timely task usually left to the women, old men and children at home; with children often being absent from school during the herring season. A harbour in Lowestoft once recorded a catch of 60 million herring in one day, so you can see why they were an important visitor...

The rollmop, essentially a pickled herring, has been a staple in Northern Europe since Medieval times, probably being more popular in the Baltic areas of Northern Europe than over here. I have always enjoyed them so decided to give them a go. I went with a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe for my first attempt, a cider vinegar and orange pickle. The flavour is really deep and rich compared to other roll mop I have had, spiced and orangey, but fresh and sharp with sweet soft fish.

To start you need to take the fillets off each of the fish as carefully as you can, I'm not the neatest at this yet but am getting better... Then remove any bones left in the fillets, running your fingers along them to feel where they are and pulling them out with some little pliers or tweezers. Dry each of the fillets with kitchen roll and then place them into a plastic Tupperware type container. Dissolve 60g of salt into 500ml of cold water and pour this brine over the herring fillets, then leave for 2 to 3 hours.

To make the pickling mixture add 500ml of cider vinegar, 250ml of cider, 12 allspice berries, 12 black peppercorns, 6 bay leaves, 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds, the zest of an orange peeled in wide strips and a thinly sliced small onion. I also added a pinch of general pickling spices. Bring this all to the boil and simmer for a few minutes, then leave to cool.

When the fillets are ready to come out of the brine dry them carefully with kitchen roll. You will need a large kilner jar or something similar that seals tightly. Roll up each of the fillets, skin side out, from tail to head; and pack them into your container tightly so they stay rolled. Then pour over the pickling marinade, make sure you have orange and spices in the jar with the fish and liquid, then seal the jar. Store them in the fridge for at least 3 days before eating, they will keep for about a month, and are best between 5 and 10 days. The longer you leave them the softer the fish becomes and the more pickled they will taste.

Pickled fish doesn’t immediately set everyone's taste buds tingling, but these are really fresh and delicious, sharp vinegar with rich orange and spices and the fish tastes fresh, soft and delicious. Hugh recommends serving with some brown bread and sour cream; they have been a treat to have in the fridge over the past few weeks. I will definitely be making more, trying different pickling combinations as I go. I have come across recipes using mace, white wine vinegar, dill, cloves, fennel... I had best get back to the Grainger Market before the season ends...