Venison Loin in Butter, Thyme & Garlic

'Are you interested in a roe deer?' Well yes, in short; regardless of who is asking and in what context. Max the chef at Bistro 46 had a deer going spare 'head off, hoofs off, skin on' did I want it? So I found myself the owner of a new headless pet... I enjoy a bit of butchery, but have only really dealt with game birds and small animals to be honest. The thought of the deer didn't really phase me. I was excited to get to grips with it, really interested, and I like learning new skills. I watched a few videos, but in the end I took it along to Charlotte's Butchery and asked her to give me a lesson, as I was concerned I didn't have the right tools, I need to invest in a few saws...

Charlotte took me through it. Removing the skin to start, which wasn't as difficult as I thought, then breaking down the deer into shoulders, legs and loins. I'd happily tackle the next one myself as it is easy enough to figure out, following muscles and the obvious joints of an animals body. It's an art I think, and one I would like to become better at.

There are two loins either side of the spine that once you know what you are doing are pretty easy to remove. They would serve 4 people, but we ate one between two because that's what often seems to happen in our house and also, we were on holiday. I have to say it is the most delicious venison I have ever had, which could be for any number of personal reasons, but it just was. It was shot near Chevington, just up the road, and I hope it won't be the last venison I can get from Max.

I haven't had a pan large enough on any occasion to cook the loin all in one piece, and it doesn't suffer at all from being cut in half, one end seems slightly thinner than the other, this may be my butchery skills, so it needed a touch less cooking.

Bring the loin to room temperature, for at least an hour, maybe more; then dry it thoroughly with kitchen roll and season generously with salt and pepper, more than you think, as if you were salting a pavement I read somewhere...

Take a heavy non stick frying pan and add a little bit of oil, it doesn't need too much. Then when it is hot you can add the venison, it should sizzle loudly as it hits the pan. Add both halves to the pan, don't move them or touch them or press them, just leave them to cook for 2 minutes. Watch them, the pan should be hot, but if it smells like its burning then turn it down a touch. After 2 minutes turn the loin onto the other side and give it 2 minutes again, it should have taken on a lovely golden colour.

I'm generally more at home with slow cooking, lots of flavours gently mingling together, rather than fast paced hot pans. But I find it exciting, I'm working on becoming more au fait with cooking with fire. Francis Mallmann, Niklas Ekstedt and others are inspiring me. Ideally I would have done this in a big heavy cast iron pan over a drift wood fire on the beach... another time, this time will come.

When the loin has had 2 minutes on each side turn the heat off and throw a big knob of butter into the hot pan, along with a crushed clove of garlic and some thyme. Then start to baste the meat for ten minutes, spooning over the delicious melted butter that has picked up all the flavours of the meat, the garlic and the thyme.

Finally remove the loin and rest it somewhere warm for 5 minutes. Carve into 2cm slices and serve, drizzle a little of the pan juices over the meat on the plate. We had it with some sticky beetroot and red cabbage and some celeriac mash with lots of butter and a bit of nutmeg. The meat is on the rare side of medium rare, and is so beautifully soft and delicious. I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed both of the loins, each as delicious as the other.

Nettle Soup

On Monday morning I arrived at Cook House to open up, I glanced down the side of the containers and went to pick up some rubbish, at the same time noticing glass everywhere and my heart sank. It's really pretty soul destroying when you work hard at something and people decide to just help themselves. I'm pretty resilient most of the time but waiting for the police, surrounded by mess and glass, I felt pretty fed up and disheartened...

But then this morning an old man appeared at the door of Cook House with a bunch of flowers. It was Bill. A few weeks ago I found myself again on the phone to the emergency services as Bill, one of the tour guides from the Victoria Tunnel next door, had tripped in the road outside. He had hit his face on the curb and couldn't move, lying in the road outside Cook House. It was a bit scary as there was so much blood, but luckily a young doctor happened to drive past and put everyone at ease, eventually taking Bill off to hospital himself...

Bill is ok thank goodness, his face is fine but he has broken his shoulder in three places, yet is on the mend. Standing in the door of Cook House with some flowers. So I'll just concentrate on the lovely Bill's of this world and not the toe rags.... and on soup, because that always makes you feel better in times of trouble.

Did you know you can pick young nettles with your bare hands and they don't sting you? Don't blame me if you do get stung, but I've tried it and found it to be true,... most of the time... I picked about a carrier bag full. 

Heat about 3 tablespoons of olive oil and about 25g of butter in a big pan. Add 3 sliced leeks, thoroughly washed, 3 sliced onions, 2 cloves of crushed garlic and a big pinch of salt and sweat gently for about half an hour. Then add two large potatoes, peeled and diced, and leave to sweat for another ten minutes. Cover with a litre or so of either water, ham stock or vegetable stock, whatever your preference. I like to use the stock from simmering ham hocks, diluted down with water a bit so it's not too salty. Simmer everything until the potatoes are soft.

Finally add the nettles, again thoroughly washed, and grass picked out... I sometimes add a bit of spinach too depending how many nettles I've picked. Simmer for a couple more minutes then blend until smooth. Add lots of black pepper and the quantity of salt will depend on which stock you have used, keep adding in small quantities until it tastes delicious. You will probably need to add more stock or water too until it is the desired consistency. And there you have it, nettle soup, delicious, free ingredients and restorative...

Wild Garlic Harissa

The wild garlic is back in abundance, I looked a few weeks ago and it had just started, a few shoots here and there, but nothing more than a dainty garnish. A little bit of sunshine and suddenly there's a carpet of it. I filled a bin bag full last week and started to think of things I could do that I hadn't tried before...

I've made a lot of wild garlic pesto in the past, it's good in obvious things like pasta or a poached chicken salad. I like it drizzled into soup, particularly a new season nettle soup. I made some in Cook House last year and loved it. I also hadn't known until then that the new young nettle shoots don't sting you, you can just pick them with your bare hands... I'm still quite tentative though...  

Last week I made a form of green harissa for some canapes I was serving; a little fresh cheese and green harissa tart with sumac and pine nuts, they were really pretty tasty. I used coriander, parsley and rocket as the green base, but thought it would be good with wild garlic too. This green harissa is a mild form of Zhoug, a middle eastern green chilli paste.

I used two chillis, deseeded and chopped up, 60g coriander, 60g wild garlic, juice of quarter of a lemon, a pinch of salt, a good grind of black pepper. Then lightly toast half a teaspoon of coriander seeds, half a teaspoon of cumin seeds and half a teaspoon of cardamom seeds, and crush them until they are a fine powder in a pestle and mortar. Add this to your green mix and blitz the whole lot, gradually adding a stream of olive oil until you have a thick paste. It's delicious, a bit like a pesto but it has heat and spice and depth to it. It was delicious with my homemade fresh cheese.

I also added it to a salad of beetroot, feta and green lentils, lovely. A warning not to have it and go straight to a meeting, it tends to stay with you for a little while! Next up I'm trying some wild garlic oil, which you can use to drizzle into soups or salads, but sounds like it might be good to make mayonnaise with too... fried chicken and wild garlic mayo I'm thinking...

Wild Duck, Pistachio & Juniper Terrine

I just picked up Jane Grigson's 'English Food' to see what she had to say about terrines, and it turns out nothing. I had presumed that a version of the terrine was rooted somewhere in English food history, but it seems that we only have the French to thank, as far as Jane is concerned anyway...

Elizabeth David has a lot more to say with recipes for Terrine de Campagne, duck, veal, hare, pigeon and rabbit terrines. She employs two methods, the first is to pack a terrine tin with all your ingredients, then cover with aspic, a jellied stock made from pigs trotters, then cook. Or, the method I use, to line your terrine tin with bacon, layer in your terrine ingredients, seal with bacon, then cook and press overnight.

I am not au fait with an aspic yet, and Elizabeth says that they keep better using the bacon method anyway. A terrine was a preservation method originally. The terrine itself keeps very well for about a week, and improves in flavour after a few days. But if you seal it into the tin after cooking and cooling, with a layer of pig fat, it can keep for up to a month.

Most of the recipes that ED uses have similar flavours, juniper, thyme, brandy, some sort of liver, lemon zest, bay, mace and garlic appear in most instances. In spring and summer i would use fresher flavours, perhaps a poached chicken with lemon zest, thyme and almonds, then in autumn and winter I prefer game; duck or pigeon, with juniper, brandy and rich chicken livers.

I'll tell you my method, it is easily changeable depending on the season and what is to hand. Once you have made a couple you can switch things around and experiment, I don't think you can go that wrong once you have mastered the basics.

For a duck terrine I use two small wild duck, for pigeon you would probably need 4 birds and you can see the chicken method here... Roast the duck at 200˚C for 15 minutes. They don't need to be entirely cooked as you are going to cook the terrine again, very pink is fine as you want it to stay moist, a dry terrine isn't good.

Leave the birds to cool and when you can handle them cut off the breasts and legs and shred every scrap of meat you can get off them into bite size pieces, this is best done by hand. Keep the carcasses to make stock if you wish, it's lovely for a Cassoulet.

While the birds are cooking and cooling you can prepare the sausage meat. I use 800g of sausage meat, for a 30cm terrine tin. Get it from the butcher, you want it to have a decent amount of fat in it, minced meat in the supermarkets these days is fatless to the point of ridiculousness.

Now you can freestyle, but I'll tell you what I add. 2 tablespoons of brandy, a clove of grated garlic, 5 juniper berries crushed and finely chopped, the leaves from a large sprig of thyme, half a teaspoon of mace and a large handful of chicken livers cut into bite size pieces. I used to mince it finely, but now I prefer to come across these rich creamy pieces while eating the terrine. Then a handful of pistachios, I like the added texture of a nut, and a little pop of bright green when you cut it open.

Then I grease the terrine tin with butter and place three bay leaves on the base. These look pretty when you turn it out, but they also add flavour as the terrine steams in the oven. Line the tin with unsmoked streaky bacon, about 600g. The whole thing needs to be wrapped in the bacon, so line the bottom and the sides, leaving longer pieces so you can wrap over and also seal up the top.

Then you are going to layer up the sausage meat mix and the duck, starting with a layer of sausage meat, you will have three layers of this, with two layers of duck in between, starting and ending on sausage meat. So add a third of your sausage meat mix to the bottom of the tin and flatten it down with your hands into a pressed layer. Then add a layer of the duck meat, half of it in total, spread it out evenly over the sausage meat and again press it down, then the next third of sausage meat, then the remaining duck, then the final layer of sausage meat, pressing down the layers in between. When it is all in, then fold over the bacon sealing up the top, add a few extra bits here and there if you have any gaps.

Now it is ready to cook. Cover with a piece of greaseproof paper slightly larger than the tin, and tie this up with a piece of string. Place the terrine into a large deep baking tray and fill with water about half way up the side of the terrine tin. You are aiming to slowly cook/steam the terrine, so don't add boiling water, I usually add something tepid as freezing cold slows everything down too much. Then put into the oven for about an hour at 150˚C, until the terrine has come away from the edges of the tin If you want to measure it with a probe, the internal temperature should be about 68˚C. Remove from the oven and pour out the water.

Now you need to press it, put it back into the baking tray as juices will spill out as you weight it down. I have used various ramshackle methods of doing this, but you need something the same size as the terrine to sit on top of it, then heavy stuff. Another terrine tin filled with weights is a good idea. I currently use one and a half bricks, which fit nicely, on top of another layer of greaseproof paper, then I balance chopping boards and heavy pans on top. Like I say it's a bit ramshackle, whatever works for you, but figure it out in advance. I've had angry moments in the cupboard under the stairs looking for anything that might fit in the bloody terrine tin.

Then leave it to sit over night weighted down. I find it best to then leave it in its tin for a further day in the fridge for the flavours to really come out. Then slice and eat. It is good with hot toast, chutney or pickle. I made some pickled damsons which were lovely with the game, a spiced apple chutney is good, or a sweet pickled cucumber, or just a few little cornichon. It's a good thing to have around over Christmas if you can find the time to make it in advance as it can just sit in the fridge if you need a snack or guests arrive for lunch... It has a lovely rich flavour, spiced, moist duck, creamy chicken livers... delicious.

Wild Garlic Damper Bread

If you're quick you can still catch the wild garlic season. They say once the flowers appear it is past it but I picked some in Jesmond Dene on Friday, the flowers were just beginning to bud, and as long as you get the fresh little leaves from the base it is still delicious. The bigger leaves are beginning to get a bit tough. You will know when you've found it as it is pretty pungent, a green leafy garlic smell filling the air...

My latest supperclub was a rustic French affair on Friday in the lovely tasting room at Carruthers and Kent. I served the wild garlic as part of the main course in a Spring Stew, cooked in butter with baby onions, asparagus, peas and courgettes, it was delicious alongside Confit duck and Pomme Anna, and went down a treat, thankfully...

I also made this little loaf last weekend in the Lake District where the wild garlic has only just appeared so you have a little longer over there. It is a very simple loaf that I saw Lorraine Pascal making on one of her programmes ages ago. I made a Red Pepper, Thyme and Anchovy Damper loaf a while ago which was delicious, so thought I'd give it a go with fresh wild garlic.

For this version I just made a little loaf so double the amounts if you want a larger loaf. To start heat your oven to 200°C and mix 225g of self raising flour with quarter of a teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil. Add 110ml of water and mix everything thoroughly until you are left with a ball of dough. Knead briefly until it is combined and smooth.

Dust your work surface with some flour and flatten out the ball of dough into a circle. I finely chopped a large handful of wild garlic. You could use any combination of fillings you fancy really; chopped green or black olives, roast soft garlic, diced chorizo, roasted tomatoes. Pile your filling into the centre of the dough and start to fold the edges over the top until it is sealed. Turn the dough over and knead it to distribute the wild garlic. The aim is a ball of dough with the filling mixed through evenly inside. Once you have it under control flatten it out a bit and squash the handle of a wooden spoon into it to create triangular segments.

Finally bake in the oven, Lorraine said 35 minutes for her olive version, mine took about 40 minutes, if you use wetter fillings it takes longer again. It should be golden and risen and sound hollow on the bottom when tapped. 

So green bread is a little strange visually, but it was delicious! It was TLI's birthday so we took it on a walk up the valley armed with a picnic basket and some fizzy wine. A thick piece of cold butter went perfectly with the bread, it tastes like garlic bread, funnily enough, but fresh and mild. Give it a go if you come across a patch while it lasts...

Spiced Apple Chutney

I think perhaps I forgot I had a blog, or at least I haven’t really had time to have one recently. I've been cooking easy 'go to' recipes like kedgeree or meatballs or things on toast, that I have told you about before. New things I have cooked have either been bad; apple, pancetta and sage risotto, don't go there... Or delicious, but I didn’t take any photos; celeriac and truffle dauphinoise and braised venison in red wine with orange and juniper, my god that was good. I also suffer at this time of year with the dark evenings; I just have a little automatic camera which has seen me very well for the past few years taking some beautiful pictures, but at this time of year in the low light everything just looks blurred and orange. I might just take the plunge and get the fancy pants camera I've had book marked for the past 6 months, or perhaps I should buy some Christmas presents...

I always make some Christmas presents, a few years ago I went to extreme lengths with potted duck, white chocolate and cranberry biscuits, chocolate truffles, chutneys, pickled grapes, florentines, the whole lot... I think a few jars of chutney and some chocolates might be my limit this Christmas, it's been a busy year! This Spiced Apple Chutney, which I have made a few times before, is perfect if you're thinking of making foodie presents for Christmas this year this is a winner. I've made it before in little jars with tiny parcel tags and it went down pretty well I think. Delicious with cheese, or lush Christmas ham with that sugary mustard crust, in sandwiches, with cold meats or potted game, any excuse really...

This isn't a recipe that has to be followed exactly to the letter, how sweet it is will depend on your apples, some recipes add cinnamon or nutmeg too, paprika, allspice or malt vinegar, you can play around with it, the following recipe is what I've settled on as one of my favourites...

Peel and dice 900g of cooking apples, I've used a mix of cooking and eating before too. Then combine 550g of caster sugar, 200g of brown sugar and 900ml of cider vinegar. Heat the mixture through to dissolve the sugar and add a tablespoon of ground ginger, 2 tablespoons of mustard seeds, a large pinch of salt followed by two large diced onions, 2 cloves of garlic crushed and chopped and 250g of raisins. Finally add all of the diced apples and stir it well. Then simmer for about an hour, it is difficult to say exactly as it depends on the amount of water in your apples. I have cooked it for 45 minutes before, and also 2 hours... You want it to turn quite dark and to begin to take on the consistency of warm thick jam. Then pot into warm sterile jars.

Finally leave it to sit, for it to do its stuff. Be patient, I'd say 3 weeks minimum, in a cool dark place, some people say 6 weeks. I've never managed to wait that long but it's perfect timing for Christmas presents... It is my favourite chutney I think, sweet, thick tangy and spiced, SO good with some ham, bread and butter or a piece of cheese. I was so disappointed when my last batch ran out, I'm hoping the next one will be just as good!! It keeps for ages, recipes say to eat chutneys within a month, but generally they last a lot longer, if you can manage to not eat them for some odd reason...