Poached Peaches with Ginger, Lemon & Cardamom

Apricots, strawberries, peaches, cherries, raspberries are all abundant at the moment and we've been ordering them by the box load at Cook House. The window between not ripe and overripe can be small, sometimes overnight on a hot day... Remember those, we had a few before we hit monsoon season...

We're pickling cherries by the bucketload, using a Diana Henry recipe with vinegar, sugar, cloves, black pepper and juniper, they are totally delicious with cheese... I want to keep plenty for autumn however as I think they will be brilliant with some autumn game; duck, venison, pigeon... The syrup even has a use when the cherries have all been eaten, a splash of soda and you have yourself a brilliant cherryade! Add gin at your own discretion... 

I've been poaching the apricots and peaches, to serve with a cardamom panna cotta and also with yoghurt and granola for breakfast. I love the flavour of both and I think poaching them really brings it out, it's like that peak ripeness that you get for 5 minutes extended into something that keeps for a while. It also takes me back to those tins of fruit that my granny used to serve with ice-cream and a wafer. I always liked the peach, the bright red cherries were the best, and I staunchly avoided the gritty white bits which I guess were pear perhaps? 

I've been poaching them in a 1 part sugar 3 parts water syrup, it isn't overly sweet, I prefer it this way as I want to taste the fruit not a sugary sweet syrup, but if it is not sweet enough for you just increase the amount of sugar.

Take 400g sugar and add to a pan with 1.2litres of water and heat to dissolve. I've added a few different flavourings, I really like a bit of fresh ginger, if the peaches are quite ripe they need a bit of lemon and today I added 2 bashed pods of cardamom. Other ideas I might try are rosemary, juniper, thyme, pepper, star anise, fennel seeds...

I added 1 lemon, the juice squeezed in and the squeezed halves added in too, 6 or 7 slices of fresh ginger and 2 bashed pods of cardamom. Simmer this for 5 minutes, then add the peaches. I used 6 large peaches cut into quarters with the stones removed. Simmer the peaches gently for between 5 and 10 minutes, until soft. It will depend on how ripe they are to start, it's better to be a bit under cooked as they can fall apart when overcooked. The skins will fall away as they cook, just pull them off. Cool them in the syrup and keep them in the fridge.

They are delicious with yoghurt for breakfast, or with a bit of thick cream for pudding. I've been serving them on top of a cardamom panna cotta too which is bloody lovely!

Sausage rolls with sage and apricots

The beach between Embleton and Newton was windy and cold but beautiful this weekend, especially with all my close friends... I went on a hen do, but not an awful one, a lovely one in a pretty little Hall, in the wilds of Northumberland near Newton by the Sea. We went for long walks by the sea, a tour of Bamburgh Castle and pub lunches. There was also dancing round the hall in bad bridesmaid dresses till the early hours of the morning, lots of wine, lovely food and general all round hilarity.

I had planned a picnic for lunch at the exact time that a cold wind started, a bit of rain and black menacing clouds rolled in. So we had to improvise by picnicking indoors... Everyone had made different delicious things, my contribution were these sausage rolls...

Finely chop a small red onion and start to cook it gently in a bit of olive oil and a pinch of salt until it is really soft. Finely dice a handful of dried apricots and add these to the onion and cook for a few more minutes.

While these are cooking finely chop six or so sage leaves and the leaves of a few sprigs of thyme. All these amounts are pretty rough as you are just adding as little or as much flavour to the sausage meat as you choose. Add the herbs, onion and apricots to about 450g of sausage meat with some salt and pepper and mix it all together with your hands.

Roll out some puff pastry, I used one sheet of the shop bought frozen stuff as time was of the essence... I had a drive North to get on with. Cut the sheet into two long strips and put sausage meat all down the centre of each. Finally roll the pastry over the sausage and squidge the edges down with a fork. Cut into whatever size you would like them to be.

I brushed the top of each of them with a beaten egg and put them in the oven for 25 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius. Keep checking them as you would be devastated if they burnt...

Lamb, mint and apricot couscous

Cold lamb often isn't as good as many other cold left over meats. It's probably my favourite meat, but I often don't know what to do with the leftovers. This is a really quick way to use it up with little effort. It works for supper, or as a packed lunch in the week.

Chop up half an onion and a small clove of garlic and cook in a splash of olive oil for ten minutes. Turn the heat off and add some couscous, about a 100g for two people. Add water or stock to just cover it, no more, put the lid on and leave for ten minutes.

Chop up your left over lamb, a handful of mint, and handful of dried apricots. Dry fry a few blanched almonds in a pan and chop these up too. Then just toss it all together with a squeeze of lemon juice. You can have it still warm or cold for lunch the next day. It's very tasty and very easy.

Lamb tagine with caramalised baby onions and apricots

My favourite and most used cook book is probably Claudia Roden's Arabesque. It is a taste of Morocco, Turkey and Lebanon, and I am particularly partial to the flavours of the Middle East... North African tagines and big piles of steamy couscous feature heavily, and are something that I make quite often. The recipes are quite adaptable using different meats with nuts or fruits; all based around a delicately spiced stock with ginger, cinnamon and saffron, combining spices with sweet and savoury tastes.

This is a lamb tagine with baby onions. I also made a caramelised apricot jam type thing that gets spooned on the top at the end, which was really amazing. A 1kg shoulder of lamb will feed four people. The recipe asks for a boned shoulder but ours still had the bone in, it still worked just as well though.

1kg shoulder of lamb

3 tablespoons of sunflower or vegetable oil

1 onion chopped

Salt and pepper

Half a teaspoon of ground ginger

Half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Half a teaspoon of saffron threads

300g of baby onions or shallots

40g butter

Brown the lamb in half of the oil in a large pan, until it has a bit of colour all over. Add the chopped onion and half cover with water. The amount will depend on the size of your lamb. You can use other cuts of lamb, on or off the bone. Add some salt and pepper, the ginger, cinnamon and saffron. Simmer for about an hour and a half on a low heat, turn the lamb over now and again so it is cooking all over evenly.



Put the onions or shallots in a bowl of boiling water for five minutes to get the skins off. Trim the roots. Now brown them all over in the other half of the oil for 10 minutes. Add them to the lamb and cook for another half an hour. The sauce should have begun to reduce and the lamb should be softening and coming off the bone. Cook for another half an hour if needs be.

You can add a tablespoon of honey at the end to sweeten it up, but if you're making the apricots I don't think you need to. I added a handful of blanched almonds with the onions, they soften up as the lamb cooks. Serve the lamb with some couscous and a ladle of stock and almonds over the top.



For the apricots soak 250g of dried apricots in water for an hour, drain them and then cook them on a low heat for an hour just covered with water, you will have to keep topping it up. After the hour they will be very soft, let the water evaporate totally. Add a tablespoon of clear honey and 25g of unsalted butter. Stir them until they start to brown and caramelise.

Then spoon them over the top of your lamb. This might seem like a long time for just a few little apricots, but I think it's one of the best things I have ever made from Claudia's book and really worth the effort...