Chorizo and lentil salad, now that is lunch......

I dont win things very often (hardly ever actually) so when I had a lovely tweet from Sabato telling me I has won a bottle of their delish Mas Portell Merlot Vinegar I said oh yes please. This recipe is inspired by my trip on Saturday to pick up my prize. As the Minister of Finance predicted I did come away having spent some dosh, but in my defence I defy anyone to wander that showroom & not haul the wallet out.......I was actually pretty restrained.......really. Really.

I attended a cooking demo at Sabato a few weeks ago, tapas & cazuela cooking, during which this vinegar was sloshed over some frizzled chorizo. It was completely moreish, and got me thinking how I could incorporate this into something more substantial. While I COULD eat my body weight in chorizo I do realise it probably isn't the lunch of champions. So in came lentils, providing a nutty substance to the hot spicy sausage. Lentils are a great foil to fatty meat, they pick up other flavours and provide a gentle background taste of their own.

Adding some crunch with nuts seemed a good plan, especially as I cant think od Spain without thinking of Almonds (I'll elaborate later....) The dressing is super easy, and uses another Spanish ingredient, Membrillo, or Quince Paste. I love this stuff, we eat a lot of cheese (I don't really have a sweet tooth, but love some cheese at the end of a meal) and this is a gorgeous accompaniment. I should have made some during Quince season (I made Quince and Apple sauce instead....) but the brought stuff is great, and lasts for yonks in the fridge. Anything sweet with a hit of tartness would work of course, redcurrant jelly, guava jelly, fig paste,  even a tangy marmalade? It is melted in the pan you cook the chorizo in, with your red wine vinegar, mustard and some water, simple but tasty.....

Chorizo & lentil salad with membrillo vinaigrette

Serves 2 with enough for lunch the next day (this is a TOP packed lunch)

100 grams lentils (Puy lentils would be great here, or I use these Montebello lentils from Italy)
1 clove of garlic, peeled
3 spicy chorizo sausages ( I love L'Authentiquie Chorizo, nice & spicy)
Handful of Almonds ( preferably raw to toast them yourself, but don't stress if they are already toasted)
One red pepper (capsicum)
1/2 red onion
Parsley (or rocket if you prefer)
Salt & pepper

Dressing

Splash olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar (obviously I can recommend the Mas Portell, but use what you have)
2 tbsp water
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp Quince paste (or alternative, see above)

Bring a medium sized saucepan of water to the boil, and add your lentils and garlic. Set the timer for 25 minutes.
Turn the grill to high, and put your pepper, sliced into four pieces and cored, onto a tray. I cover mine with foil, to save washing up. Pop under the grill and burn baby burn. You want black charred bits, so be brave.

When you have reached a sufficiently worrying burntness, take out and pop straight into a plastic bag, sealing the top. The peppers will steam, and the skin will peel off easily after a few minutes.

Sice your onion into thin crescents, and pop in a small bowl. Splash over a tbsp of the red wine vinegar. This will take the acrid taste out of the onion, and make it much more palatable to eat raw. I always do this with raw onion, sometimes using lemon, or lime, anything acid will do the trick. Your friends will thank you....

In a small frying pan toast your almonds. This is done over a medium heat, in a dry pan. Just keep your eye on them, they will burn in a heartbeat. Mine took about 4-5 minutes, when they are done tip into a small bowl, so you can reuse the pan

Pop you pan back on the heat, and add a splash of oil. Chop your chorizo into small chunks, or if you prefer, squeeze out small nuggets of meat from the casing. Add to the pan, and fry for 5-8 minutes until cooked and starting to crisp up. Pop onto a warm plate and get on with your dressing!

Into the same pan add a splash of oil, your water, vinegar, quince paste and mustard. Whisk together and bring to the boil. You will think oh my goodness what a mess, but trust me, it will come together.

Once your peppers have had 10 minutes or so, take them out of the bag & peel the skin off, it will come away easily. Slice into strips, and douse with Olive oil, salt & pepper

Now drain off your lentils, and add your dressing, onions, nuts, and some of the parsley leaves. I use the parsley more as a salad leaf than a herb in this, if you prefer rocket would be great, or mixed leaves. Spoon out onto a plate and top with your peppers, and chorizo. Check the seasoning, and sprinkle over more parsley. Tuck in and enjoy

I have probably made this sound far more complicated than necessary, but I do urge you to try it, even non lentil fans would be convinced. A great vegetarian version would use helloumi cheese and a chopped chili, salty & hot, yummo........

I spent a lot of time in Spain when Mr PK & I lived in London, mainly in Sedella  with my great friend Tiffany & her mum Estelle & much missed step father Dave. Isn't it beautiful?

They grow lots of beautiful produce in the area, including Olives and Almonds. On our very first trip to Sedella, lacking even basic Spanish and flying solo, we stayed in Estelle and Dave's little house, down a narrow lane near the square. We had been invited by Tiff's friend Jose to his parents for lunch after church on Sunday (this is Victoria's tortilla here) so I didn't have any breakfast.
Leaving the house we were waylayed by Antonio Almonds (most males in the village are called Antonio or Paco, so they get extra identifiers....) who had vast bags of nuts in his front room. He spoke no English, so we did lots of smiling while he insisted on pouring a glass of Village wine (at 10am!). Unfortunately some of gesticulating indicated the grapes had been crushed by his very own feet. If this ever happens to you can I offer a kernel of advice?
Don't look at the feet!!!!!!!!

A little disclaimer.....
I am happy to recommend the vinegar as despite winning it, I had already actually brought a bottle myself (before you say greedy trollop I am giving my extra bottle to my sister!) after tasting it,  so I feel happy to recommend. But as a rule I never mention/recommend a product I have not purchased and used myself. :)

Toad in the Hole, know what I mean?

Before you ask, no toads died in the making of my dinner (although a pig or two was not so lucky....).
Toad in the Hole is a traditional English dish of sausages cooked in Yorkshire pudding batter, I also add bacon to the mix, for extra porky deliciousness.  I like it with loads of onion gravy, mash & something green, last night it was brussels sprouts. We had friends around for dinner, and my toad was a hit, I urge you to give it a go, particularly on a cold winters evening when a good solid dinner is required.

The Yorkshire batter also works perfectly on its own with a roast, either cooked as my Aunt always did I a large roasting pan with drippings from a tin under the sink, or as I do now in muffins tins (saves an undignified scramble at the table for a corner piece).
It is straight out of the wonderful Jane Grigson's "English Food", and works a treat everytime. It originally came from a Chinese gentleman, who won a competition back in the 60's to make the best Yorkshire Pudding. His secret ingredient was tai luk sauce......it took Jane Grigson years to discover that this was a joke, tai luk meaning mainland China! Actually I think the secret is in the slightly back to front way of preparing the batter

Toad in the Hole

serves 6

12 good meaty pork sausages
12 rashers streaky bacon (optional, but good good good)
Splash oil
300 ml milk
4 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
Grind of pepper
250 gr plain flour

Preheat the oven to 220C
Wrap your sausages in a rasher of bacon, and place in a large metal roasting dish. Metal is essential here as the batter rises with the combination of eggs & searing heat, which wont conduct as well through glass or ceramic. Add a splash of oil, about 2 tablespoons.
Put the sausages in the oven for 15 mins, and make your batter. Beat together the milk, eggs & seasoning and let sit for 15 minutes. Sift in the flour, and whisk to a thinnish batter, about the consistency of cream.
Take the pan out of the oven & quickly pour the batter all around the sausages, it will sizzle a bit. Put the dish straight back in the oven & cook for 20-25 mins until golden & puffy. Serve with gravy, mash & greens....or whatever you like, it will taste fabulous.

Onion gravy

This is my go to gravy when, as in this case,  I don't have pan drippings to work with.
Peel and slice 3 onions into thin crescents, then cook very slowly over low heat in a frying pan with a good splash of oil, a knob of butter and a sprinkle of salt. It is the slow cooking (about 30 mins) that creates golden sweet onions, and gives your gravy flavour & colour.

Sprinkle with a tablespoon of plain flour, stirring to cook the flour for a minute or so, then pour in 1 1/2 cups of beef stock (from a carton is fine), turn the heat to medium & stirring, bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes, and check the seasoning, a good grind of pepper is always good here. If it is to thick add a splash of water or stock to thin.

I am well aware Brussels sprouts are loathed by some ( I am married to a sprout hater) but steamed lightly, then fried for a couple of minutes in butter with lots of salt & pepper they are delicious. The after effects can be odourific, but worth it, I'm not kidding......

I have been very quiet of late, someone told me once " if you haven't got anything to say, don't say anything", and I suppose I have had that in mind. Winter seems especially grey this year, and I must say I feel like I lost my mojo for a while there. But a nice break in Sydney, a few new adventures (cheese making, you will be hearing plenty about that in the coming weeks) and a bit of navel gazing and hello world, the crockpot is on & I am slowly coming back to a simmer. Hoping to reach a boil by summer:)


PS Speaking of Crockpots, I have a beef stew I put on after breakfast simmering away and waiting for dumplings, is there anything so cheap & easy that can make a girl feel more competent, organized and generally beyond reproach ? The glare of my halo is giving me a headache......

Democracy is a sausage roll...........

They may be not be fashionable, they certainly are not fancy. But put a plate of sausage rolls on the table at a "do", and watch them disappear faster than you can say "porky pastry goodness".

They transcend class, style and social barriers. Do you know anyone who wont eat a really good one? Ok, excepting vegetarians.  They are impossible to eat without covering your front in a fine coating of pastry flakes, but who really cares? If you don't want pastry on your carpet, don't serve sausage rolls. Or worse, serve them cold. A cold sausage roll is an abomination. Pastry that is meant to flake must flake, not sit pallid , cold and lifeless on a tray.
While I am well aware you can buy sausage rolls frozen at the supermarket, these taste better, are better for you, and take no time to whip up. And of course you can use frozen puff pastry, I'm not a masochist.

Homemade sausage rolls

This recipe makes about 30 small rolls

6 good butcher's plain pork sausages
1 small onion, peeled and very finely chopped
1/2 cup of fresh bread crumbs (straight from the freezer is fine)
1 egg
Handful of chopped parsley, (can also add chives or a little sage if you have some)
1/2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp salt
Good grind of black pepper
4 sheets ready rolled puff pastry (try and get one that is made with butter), defrosted

Preheat the oven to 210C
Take a sharp knife and cut a slit in the sausage skin, then peel it off. Sounds grim I know, but is surprisingly quick and easy

Put the sausage meat into a large bowl, and add the remaining ingredients. I find it easiest to mix everything together with clean hands, it should be really well combined, so each mouthful combines all the flavours you have added.

Now place a sheet of pastry on a dry flat surface and again using your hands, place a line of filling down each side of the pastry. Don't overfill, you are making finger food, not lunch. Using your fingers or a pastry brush, put a line of milk down the edge of the pastry, then fold each side into the middle, to create two rows of sausage roll.

Cut a line down the centre to separate, then using a fork press the edges of each roll together to seal. You can then cut them into smaller individual rolls. I like to make five per half, each about 3-4 cm wide.

Place onto a baking tray lined with baking paper, and brush with milk. I like to sprinkle some sesame seeds on also, but that is entirely optional. Bake for about 15-20 mins until the pastry of puffy and golden and the filling cooked through. You can eat as is, or cool, refrigerate and then reheat for your party, they come to no harm. But promise me you will reheat? Remember the flake factor, you want to hear those rolls talk.......

A few other tips/pointers/bossy exclamations...

Don't serve these straight from the oven, give them at least five minutes on the bench before serving. Watching someone choke on a scalding piece of meaty pastry and burning all the skin off the roof of their mouth isn't very nice, and you only have yourself to blame if they have to spit it onto the Axeminster.

Tomato sauce is the classic accompaniment. Some folk go fancy with sweet chili and the like, but I would stick to tomato. Homemade for preference.........

You may think my rolls are a bit on the small side, but they are supposed to be finger food. A couple of bites, max. I don't understand why shops and cafes insist on serving giant sausage rolls. If you want something that big, get a pie and call it lunch.

Ok, I will stop dictating now. But do try these next time you have catering to do. Maybe no one will say how fabulously trendy they are, but I doubt you will have leftovers......

An excess of choice.....

I sometimes think the hardest part of cooking is deciding WHAT to cook. Is there such a thing as too much choice? That moment standing in the supermarket, deli or whatever , surrounded by a variety of foods (and funny food-like substances, lets be honest....) our grandparents could would not even recognise....paralysed by indecision.
Tonight I took the alternative route. Tired, and with cold feet (I have the circulation of an inert sloth......) the idea of getting out of the car (heater blasting at a skin sloughing 24 C) didn't appeal much anyway, so I decided to head straight home. Dinner would be whatever was lurking in the pantry. Be afraid? Happily, it was pretty darn good.

Patient reader, I give you Sausage and Pea risotto

OK, it does not look like the most exciting supper on earth, but it actually tasted really good. Savoury and satisfying, not easy when you are feeding two people with two sausages.......which you have not bothered to label properly before freezing (why do I always think I will remember, why??)  I was fairly certain from the colour one was Venison and red wine, the other turned out to be lamb. Skinned and broken into chunks, they were fried up until crusty and sizzling. I have banged this drum before I know, but a good meaty butchers sausage is so much more substantial than a cheap one,  it goes further and adds  much more flavour......

In the meantime I fried half an onion in about 20 grams of butter and a splash of olive oil, then added one cup of Vialone Nano risotto rice. No it isn't cheap (about $17 for an approx 5 cup bag, which lasts ages), yes I think it does the best risotto, and given the rice is the main event for this particular dish, it is worth using a good one. I get mine at New World, but Farro also stock it, as do Sabato (available to purchase online).

After toasting the rice in the fat for a minute, I poured in about 1/3 cup of red wine, I cannot tell you what variety as it came out of another unlabelled container in the freezer. Before you scoff, according to Bob Campbell MW, freezing if perfectly fine, and the wine should suffer no ill effects..........if he cant tell the diff, I surely wont, especially not when it is about to be biffed into a saucepan and boiled.

Stirring the wine in, I then stirred in ladlefuls of hot chicken stock (from little LABELLED glad bags , I learnt my lesson here after defrosting egg whites thinking they were liquid stock, hmmmm), it was 2.5 cups in all. A little of the stock was poured over a few saffron strands, these were then added to the pan with the fried sausage chunks. When the rice was cooked, without that chalky centre (probably overcooked for an Italian, but there were none dining with us so no worries......) I added 1/2 cup of frozen peas, plenty of seasoning, another knob of butter and about 1/3 cup of Grana Padano (cheaper than Parmigiana, and totally fine for this), stirred again, and served.

Not bad for a cupboard rummage, I would totally have it again, maybe with a spicier sausage, and some garlic.......