Cookery demonstrations at the Alton Show
I’m getting all my ingredients and equipment together for the Alton Show tomorrow, running through my recipes and trying to calm the butterflies in my stomach! I’ve included all the recipes from my 3 sets below. Now, back to the packing!
Brunch Recipes:
Hampshire Kedgeree
Serves: 4 – 6
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
75g butter
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 large onion, quartered & thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 mild green chillies, finely chopped
2 tbsp mild curry powder
2 cups of long grain rice, washed
2 cups chicken stock
2 hot-smoked trout fillets
4 eggs
½ bunch watercress, chopped
– Melt the butter and oil in a large frying pan and fry the onions until they start to get sticky.
– Add the garlic and chilli and fry for 2 more minutes.
– Add the curry powder and rice and stir to coat in the butter, then tip into the rice cooker with the chicken stock.
– Allow it to cook for 1 cycle. (Alternatively, put everything in a medium saucepan and cook with the lid on for 12 minutes.)
– When the time is up, flake in the trout and leave to stand for 10 minutes.
– Meanwhile, boil the eggs for 5 minutes then refresh in cold water and peel.
– Stir the watercress into the kedgeree, then pile into bowls and top each one with a quartered soft-boiled egg.
Local ingredients:
Butter – Bookhams Fine Foods – see them in the food tent!
www.bookhams.com
Cold-pressed rapeseed oil – Pratt’s Food, Andover
www.prattsfood.co.uk
Hot-smoked trout – River Test Smokery, Chilbolton
www.rivertest.net
Eggs – Claytons Eggs, Romsey
www.claytonseggshampshire.co.uk
Watercress – Mapleleaf Watercress, Mapledurwell
Full English Mini Muffins
Makes: 24
Prep time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 10 – 15 minutes
4 rashers of streaky bacon, chopped
150 g black pudding, cubed
2 large eggs
120 ml cold-press rapeseed oil
180 ml Greek style yoghurt
75 g oak roasted cherry tomatoes in oil, drained
110 g Sussex Charmer, grated
225 g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
Rocking Roasted Pepper & Chilli Sauce for dipping
– Preheat the oven to 180⁰C (160⁰ fan) / 350F / gas 4 and oil a 24-hole silicone muffin tin.
– Fry the bacon and black pudding in 2 tbsp of the oil for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
– Beat the egg in a jug with the oil, yoghurt, tomatoes and cheese until well mixed.
– Mix the flour and raising agents in a bowl, then pour in the egg mixture, bacon and black pudding and stir just enough to combine.
– Divide the mixture between the moulds, then bake in the oven for 10 – 15 minutes.
– Test with a wooden toothpick, if it comes out clean, the muffins are done.
– Serve warm with a bowl of Rocking Roasted Pepper Sauce for dipping.
Local ingredients:
Bacon and black pudding – Pete’s New Forest Butchers – see them in the food tent!
Eggs – Claytons Eggs, Romsey
www.claytonseggshampshire.co.uk
Cold-pressed rapeseed oil – Pratt’s Food, Andover
www.prattsfood.co.uk
Oak-roasted cherry tomatoes in oil – The Tomato Stall, Isle of Wight
www.thetomatostall.co.uk
Sussex Charmer – Bookhams Fine Foods – see them in the food tent!
www.bookhams.com
Rocking Roasted Pepper & Chilli Sauce – The Hampshire Chutney Co. – see them in the food tent!
www.thehampshirechutneyco.co.uk
Stewed rhubarb with yoghurt and granola
Serves: 6
Prep time: 10 minutes
300 g rhubarb, chopped
4 tbsp caster sugar
1 orange
500 ml Greek style yoghurt
4 tbsp runny honey
200 g honey granola
– Preheat the oven to 180⁰C (160⁰ fan) / 350F / gas 4.
– Put the rhubarb in a roasting tin with the sugar and the zest and juice of 1 orange.
– Bake for 15 minutes or until soft, then leave to cool.
– Spoon the rhubarb into 6 bowls or glasses.
– Mix the yoghurt with the honey and spoon on top of the rhubarb.
– Sprinkle with granola and serve.
Local ingredients:
Rhubarb – Sunnyfields Farm, Totton
www.sunnyfields.co.uk
Runny honey – A&M Johnson Honey & Hive, Bishops Waltham
www.honeyandhive.co.uk
Honey granola – Dorset Cereals, Poundbury
www.dorsetcereals.co.uk
Speedy Supper Recipes:
Rarebit Bites
Makes: 16 – 20
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
25 g butter
25 g plain flour
125 ml Midhurst Mild
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp mustard
125 g Sussex Charmer, grated
1 baguette, sliced
1 jar Caramelised Onion Chutney
– Preheat the oven to 180⁰C (160⁰ fan) / 350F / gas 4
– Melt the butter in a small saucepan, then stir in the flour and cook over a medium heat until it forms a thick roux.
– Gradually stir in the beer until it is all incorporated, then cook until thick.
– Stir in the Worcester sauce, mustard and cheese until the cheese melts into a thick paste.
– Season with freshly ground black pepper and spoon onto the baguette slices.
– Bake in the oven for 5 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and bubbling.
Local ingredients:
Midhurst Mild
Ballards Brewery – see them in the food tent!
www.ballards-brewery.co.uk
Sussex Charmer
Bookhams Fine Foods – see them in the food tent!
www.bookhams.com
Caramelised onion marmalade
The Hampshire Chutney Co. – see them in the food tent!
www.thehampshirechutneyco.co.uk
Rigoletti with sausage meat and fennel seeds
Serves: 4-5
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 10 – 15 minutes
1 tsp fennel seeds
a splash of rapeseed oil
4 pork sausages
500 g dried Rigoletti pasta
3 garlic cloves, crushed
a splash of cider vinegar
140 ml double cream
50 g Twineham Grange pasta cheese
– Bring a large saucepan of boiling water to the boil.
– Put the fennel seeds and rapeseed oil in a large frying pan and put over a medium heat until they start to sizzle.
– Squeeze the sausages of their skins and into the pan and break them up with a wooden spoon.
– Fry the sausage meat for 4 minutes then put the pasta onto cook – it should take 6 minutes.
– Add the crushed garlic to the sausage meat and fry for 2 minutes, stirring regularly.
– When the sausage meat is starting to colour, add a splash of cider vinegar and let it evaporate in the pan.
– Stir in the double cream and lower the heat, letting it bubble together while you test the pasta.
– When the pasta is cooked al dente, scoop it into the frying pan with a slotted spoon.
– Stir to coat and cook for a further minute so that the flavours can combine.
– If the sauce gets too thick, add a splash of the pasta cooking water.
– Spoon into warm bowls and serve.
Local ingredients:
Cold-pressed rapeseed oil
Pratt’s Food, Andover
www.prattsfood.co.uk
Pork sausages
Pete’s New Forest Butchers – see them in the food tent!
Rigoletti and Twineham Grange
Bookhams Fine Foods – see them in the food tent!
www.bookhams.com
Cider vinegar
Mr Whitehead’s Cider Co., Selborne
www.mr-whiteheads-cider.co.uk
Double cream
Blackburne and Haynes (Meadow Cottage Ice Cream) – see them in the food tent!
Gooseberry and Elderflower Cocktails and Mocktails
Makes: 2 of each
Prep time: 5 minutes
300 g gooseberries
2 tbsp caster sugar
For the cocktail:
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp sea salt
½ lemon
50 ml gooseberry juice
20 ml elderflower cordial
50 ml gin
For the mocktail:
50ml gooseberry juice
20 ml elderflower cordial
10 ml lemon juice
250 ml sparkling water
– Put the gooseberries in a saucepan with the sugar and 1 tbsp of water and cook over a medium heat until the gooseberries start to soften and burst. Leave to cool, then strain out the gooseberry pieces (these can be used for the sundae).
For the cocktail:
– Mix the sugar and salt together on a saucer. Rub the rim of 2 martini glasses with lemon, then dip them in the salt and sugar mix, shaking off any excess.
– Put the gooseberry juice, elderflower cordial and gin in a cocktail shaker with 10 ml of lemon juice and a handful of ice cubes.
– Put the lid on the shaker and shake for 10 seconds or until well chilled, then strain into the glasses.
For the mocktail:
– Put the gooseberry juice, elderflower cordial and lemon juice into a jug and stir well to mix.
– Divide between 2 tumblers and top up with sparkling water.
Local ingredients:
Gooseberries
Durleighmarsh Farm PYO, Petersfield
www.durleighmarshfarmshop.co.uk
Elderflower Cordial
The Real Jam and Chutney Company, Southampton
www.realjam.co.uk
Sparkling Water
Hildon, Stockbridge
www.hildon.com
Gooseberry and Ginger Sundae
Makes: 2
Preptime: 5 minutes
300 g gooseberries
2 tbsp caster sugar
100 g sticky ginger cake
4 scoops stem ginger ice cream
200 ml double cream, whipped
2 pieces crystallised ginger
– Put the gooseberries in a saucepan with the sugar and 1 tbsp of water and cook over a medium heat until the gooseberries start to soften and burst. Leave to cool, then strain off some of the excess liquid (this can be used in the cocktails).
– Cut the ginger cake into cubes and layer up in 2 sundae glasses with the stewed gooseberries and ginger ice cream.
– Spoon the whipped cream into a piping bag and pipe a big swirl on top of each sundae.
– Top each one with a piece of crystallised ginger.
Local ingredients:
Gooseberries
Durleighmarsh Farm PYO, Petersfield
www.durleighmarshfarmshop.co.uk
Stem ginger ice cream and double cream
Blackburne and Haynes (Meadow Cottage Ice Cream) – see them in the food tent!
Summer Salad Recipes:
Caesar Style Potato Salad
Serves: 4
Prep time: 20 minutes
400 g new potatoes
1 garlic clove
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
2 thick slices of bread, cubed
For the dressing:
1 garlic clove
4 anchovy fillets
½ jar of mayonnaise
75 g Twineham Grange pasta cheese, finely grated
– Boil the potatoes in salted water for 10 – 15 minutes or until tender. Drain the potatoes then leave to cool to room temperature.
– Squash the garlic clove and put in a frying pan with the oil. Heat until the garlic starts to sizzle, then remove it from the pan.
– Add the bread cubes to the pan and fry until golden.
– To make the dressing, pound the garlic with a pestle and mortar, then pound in the anchovies until you have a smooth paste.
– Stir the anchovy paste into the mayonnaise, then stir in the grated cheese and toss with the cooled potatoes.
Vietnamese Style Salad
Serves: 4
Prep time: 20 minutes
2 carrots
100 g green beans, blanched and refreshed
4 spring onions, trimmed
2 little gem lettuces
2 tbsp salted peanuts or cashews (optional)
For the dressing:
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 red birdseye chilli, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tbsp lime juice
– To make the dressing, stir the caster sugar into the fish sauce and leave for a few minutes for the sugar to dissolve.
– Pound the chilli and garlic together with a mortar and pestle, then stir in the sugar and fish sauce mixture and the lime juice.
– Use a julienne tool, mandolin or grater to shred the carrots.
– Cut the green beans in half and slice the spring onions on the diagonal, then toss together with the shredded carrot and enough dressing to coat.
– Separate the little gems into individual leaves, then spoon some of the salad into each one.
– Sprinkle with the nuts if using and serve immediately.
Beetroot and Fennel Salad
Serves: 4
Prep time: 20 minutes
1 bulb of fennel
½ cucumber
3 small beetroot, cooked and cooled
borage flowers (optional)
For the dressing:
a splash of cider vinegar
½ tsp runny honey
½ shallot, finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh tarragon leaves, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tsp grain mustard
rapeseed oil
– To make the dressing, whisk together the vinegar and honey with a pinch of salt until dissolved, then add the chopped shallot. Leave for a few minutes for the shallot to soften.
– Whisk in the chopped tarragon and crushed garlic, then incorporate enough rapeseed oil to make a thin dressing.
– Taste for seasoning and adjust with sea salt and black pepper.
– Use a mandolin or sharp knife to cut the fennel into thin slices.
– Cut the cucumber into rounds and slice the beetroot.
– Arrange the vegetables on a plate and spoon over the dressing.
– Garnish with the borage flowers if using.
