Recipe - Venison Sausages with Puy Lentils

Browsing the farmers' market at Castle Terrace this weekend, I picked up some venison sausages from Seriously Good Venison. One of many great producers from Fife, there's no fear of what's in their sausages, simply venison, pork fat, oatmeal and a little spice mix, all wrapped up in natural casings. This venison is lean, healthy and responsibly farmed, and not just at home in winter stews or sliced seared and rare at dinner parties. It's ideal for everyday cooking too.

I browned the sausages in a Le Creuset before cooking scraps of onion, carrot and celery found in the fridge. For this recipe I planned to use up a lot of vegetables and pulses I already had in, so I bought these sausages to meat-up the meal. After the first tranche of veg went chopped peppers, tomatoes, tomato puree and wine, then back in with the sausages. To this I added vegetable stock and a mix of green and Puy lentils, what I happened to have in the cupboard. You could use all of one kind, I prefer Puy, they are quicker, prettier and tastier.

Venison Sausages with Puy Lentils

The sausages, vegetables and lentils are simmered for 20-30 minutes, till cooked. The sausages, which I worried could be dry and overcooked, were perfect, cut through with a little juicy fat against the wholesome peppers and lentils. Even though summer approaches this is a brilliant casserole for drizzly Edinburgh days. The sausages, lentils and the basic method are all you need; the vegetables can be adapted according to what you have available. Of course, it is a lot tastier with the flavours and colours from the garlic, celery, tomatoes, and wine, but don't let that put you off! Sausages and lentils are a classic combination, so if you don't have venison on your doorstep get the best pork or beef ones you can find. The red-meatiness of the venison works well as an alternative to pork so beef should be great too.

Venison Sausages with Puy Lentils

 

Serves 2 with seconds and scraps/Serves 4 with bread 

 

Ingredients:

one packet venison sausages
olive oil
one small white onion finely chopped
two cloves garlic sliced
one carrot diced
one celery stick chopped
bay leaf (fresh or dried)
sprig of thyme
one and a half diced peppers, any colour (I used a half of three)
two tomatoes, roughly chopped
small glass of white wine
one tbsp tomato puree
500ml vegetable stock
200g Puy or green lentils (also haricot beans would work well. a mix works if you are using up cupboard scraps but probably works better with one type of pulse)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

To serve

crusty bread
flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Method

• Heat a casserole dish medium high. Add a splash of olive oil, then brown the sausages for a few minutes in the oil. Transfer to a plate and keep safe.
• Add the onion, garlic, carrot, celery and herbs. Season and cook at a low heat with the lid on to soften.
• After about ten minutes your kitchen should be smelling great! Add the peppers and tomatoes. Give everything a good stir, turn up the heat and add the wine. Let it bubble for a moment, then add in the tomato puree, stir through and cook for another minute.
• Put the sausages back in the casserole, pour over the stock and lentils. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 20-30 minutes till the lentils are cooked. You may need to add a splash of stock or hot water, depending on how greedy your lentils are. Adjust seasoning to taste - this can take a good bit of pepper.
• Sprinkle over the parsley and bring to the table. Serve a couple of generous ladles each on a trencher of crusty bread.

Delish!

You can find Seriously Good Venison at several Scottish Farmers' Markets.They'll also be at this year's Crail Food Festival; discover more about them in this featured post on the Crail Food Festival website, including more recipes and some great pics!

Recipe - Yellow Cherry Tomatoes with Oregano

Look at these beauties!

 Clyde Valley Tomatoes were at Edinburgh Farmers' Market yesterday and I've been looking forward to getting my hands on some tomatoes that actually taste like tomatoes from them for a while. My home grown fruits are still a way off being ready to eat, so the smell of the leaves on my hands after watering them is the closest I'm getting to any real flavour for the time being!


Clyde Valley Tomatoes live over in the west at Carluke and are bringing back the tradition of tomato growing to this part of the world. Thanks to the microclimate that exists there they are able to raise 10,000 plants in their greenhouses and are growing heritage varieties and fruits that taste of something other than pulpy water.

I bought the yellow cherry tomatoes, golden coloured, sweet and tender. As well as being juicy, compact fruits full of flavour, they have a delicate, thinner skin compared to supermarket ones. Because they're so delicious, this recipe is barely one at all!

Golden!

Yellow Cherry Tomatoes with Oregano
 
One punnet cherry tomatoes
Sea salt (crushed or flakes)
Freshly ground black pepper
Small handful fresh oregano leaves
Extra virgin olive oil

• Cut the tomatoes in half round the 'equator' and place cut side up on a serving platter (something that will show off the colours at their best!)
• Sprinkle over a large pinch of salt and some black pepper, then the oregano leaves
• Drizzle with olive oil
• After a few minutes the juices will be drawing out of the tomatoes. Keep at room temperature and serve within half an hour. We ate this with some Morbier cheese and crusty bread!

Loving our lunch

Wheatrig Farmhouse Supper Club - East Lothian Supper

I've been to a few supper clubs in Edinburgh and while they've all been a bit different, with their own quirks and personalities, they could all ultimately be summed up as "a nice dinner in a nice house". That's not to say the Edinburgh supper club is a boring or formulaic experience, far from it, I keep going to them because I love the sense of the unknown, the taste of adventure (once I got a bus!), the unforeseen alchemy of what happens when strangers get together in the intimacy of someone else's home. I've also had some great food, most of which was better value than a lot of restaurants I've visited. And I've had some great conversations, some awkward ones, and plenty of just plain weird. It's all been part of the experience and one I'm still eager to continue to try.

This time though I was leaving the city behind for the evening. We were attending East Lothian's first Supper Club, on a farm near Longniddry, a short journey outside of Edinburgh. Not far on a map, far enough to get utterly lost without said map and directions in the event - entirely my fault to forget these. As I drove around and around a dark landscape of flat fields and no sign posts we were getting embarrassingly late. Then it started to snow... adventure, I reminded myself, this is more exciting than catching the No.23 armed with only a wad of cash and a large bag from Oddbins.

Luckily we pieced together our memory of how to get there and eventually found our hosts' home. Outside of the city and you really notice the darkness, the cold, the quiet. As we parked up and struggled on the gravel we could have been 200 miles away not 20! Our hosts William and Anna live on their family farm, the farmhouse recently renovated and decorated with the potential to run a B&B, supper club and other projects including Scottish flour from their own fields. Their plan is to provide a farmhouse dinner experience of good home cooking and local ingredients, cooked honestly and without pretention.

Our table for the evening

On arrival we were shown into the drawing room (last ones there - the shame). Although supper clubs are about the food you can't escape the fact they are also about the host's home and that weird feeling of slightly intruding but still being invited in to do so. Like other supper clubs I've been to the farmhouse was exquisitely decorated with attention to detail throughout. On the food front there were still some canapes left for us thanks to our kind hosts and fellow diners, a duo of an excellent, well seasoned trout pate on homemade blinis and a meaty wild venison one, served on soda bread with onion chutney. The venison was quite crumbly, I dropped some on the cream carpet but we were assured the family labrador would finish it off. Our fellow diners were mostly local, from North Berwick or nearby. It was a friendly crowd and we chatted about home, work, food, then it was through to the dining room.

The table was laid out with crisp linen and slate place settings in the older part of the farmhouse with it's stone walls and old fire place. I had a swig of wine with the canapes then stayed on the sparkling grape juice because I was driving. I'd say that was one of the differences about hosting a supper club outside of a large town or city, it means more people have to drive. It doesn't necessarily put them off coming but might make for a different atmosphere if the drink isn't flowing as freely.

Blue cheese, pear and Ballencrieff tartlet

For our first course we were served a blue cheese, pear and Ballencrieff bacon tartlets. This made the most of excellent local produce, the cheese especially was delicious, the pastry crisp and it was fantastic to have some local free range bacon. The conversation around the table was in full swing and I never heard an awkward silence the whole night. Nor did I think I'd ended up at the 'quiet' end of the table, you know when you're convinced the people at the other end are having a much better time than you.

Our main course was pork again, Scottish Pork fillet en croute served with apple gravy, Dauphinoise potatoes and Chantenay carrots. I wouldn't normally eat a lot of pork at home, especially not loin so this was a treat. In fact I don't think I've ever had pork en croute anywhere and have never cooked it myself so relished every morsel. As a side a hefty wedge each of dauphinoise potatoes were served, and a rich apple gravy. The vegetables were tasty but the meat was the main event. It was a huge main course but well presented and everything had plenty of flavour and was cooked well.

Pork Fillet en croute

Two desserts beckoned, not some weird ladies/gents thing like you get at a wedding but a choice of what we fancied right there at the end of the meal. In the interests of research I chose the Plum Crumble made with their own plums harvested last year and preserved in the freezer, while my dining companion went for the Sticky Toffee Roulade with caramel sauce. In fact he went for it twice, snapping up seconds quicker than the labrador. The crumble was good, the plums sharp and the crumble mix included oats which I have never seen before. The roulade was more than delicious I'm informed but two portions were probably too much for my not-too sweet tooth.

Following the meal tea and coffee were served in some dainty china cups with thin shards of mint chocolate, made by our hosts. Despite the huge amounts we'd eaten these went down well. The cost was the usual 'donation', we gave £30 each, so with wine (one bottle!), pretend wine and petrol it was heading towards the £80 mark. Eventually taking our leave we and our fellow diners headed home, out into the cold, flat darkness. We'd been served and eaten a fine meal in a welcoming home, and while ye,s it was a nice dinner in a nice house, it was the friendliest, most talkative crowd of diners I've experienced at a supper club so far. I wonder if getting out of the city contributed to that. Who knows, it's that strange alchemical mix that makes me keep going back to these things.

We were welcomed to experience the first supper club in East Lothian and seeing our hosts go all out to make it a great experience for us, the attention to detail and stress on local produce made it an excellent night. Wheatrig Farmhouse Supper Club are hoping to host more suppers this year so it's well worth checking out. The scenery will be wonderful on the long summer nights and will really contribute to the whole experience, not to mention getting there on time! Book a taxi and enjoy some vino with all that lovely food!

There's a short article about William and Anna here

They are also on twitter @farmsupperclub

Plum Crumble with home grown plums

Oeuf en Cocotte with Spinach, Mushrooms, Smoked Cheddar and Pancetta

Spring may be here in a calendar sense, but the Edinburgh weather says otherwise. Snow, a bitter wind chill and driving rain are keeping me wrapped up inside and the heating at full. But after months of winter I'm getting a bit tired of hearty rich stews, root vegetables and other seasonal fare. It's not quite time for a salad (though really, when is it ever) but for something a bit lighter, something that says "hi glass of crisp white wine" but still comes out of the oven.

Les Cocottes, all the way from France

I'm lucky enough to have received a gift of some individual oven dishes, baby casseroles if you will or cocotte as the French call them. They lend their name to the traditional French dish of Oeuf en Cocotte, where a whole egg is cracked into each dish, seasoned and baked to soft, creamy perfection in the oven using a bain marie. Sometimes butter, cream or cheese are added to make a luxe version, or maybe herbs or wilted spinach. You delve into the baked oeuf with a spoon or some posh sourdough soldiers and savour the rich yet delicate flavours inside.

I made this version with baby spinach, mushrooms and smoked cheddar. These flavours work really well together, the earthiness of the spinach and mushrooms, the richness of the cheese and the lightness of the egg. I fry up some salty pancetta to finish the oeufs off; it brings out the smokiness of the cheddar and adds texture but it's not essential.

Perfect for a cosy late supper or a starter. Double or triple the recipe for more or hungrier people

Serves 2

2 Very large free range eggs, the biggest and free-est you can find. I had some straight from a local farm where you buy them from an honesty box. They're usually double yolkers the colour of marigolds.
Couple of handfuls baby spinach
3 cubes of butter
70g white mushrooms, stalks discarded
2 tbsp creme fraiche
50g smoked chedder, grated
4 rashers of pancetta
Decent bread
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Ground paprika (to serve)

2 small individual baking dishes/cocottes/ramekins with lids (or use foil)
Roasting tin to cook them in, deep enough to be used as a bain marie

1. Preheat the oven to Gasmark 3
2. Wilt the spinach with seasoning and cube of butter in a saucepan. Drain and press out all of the liquid
3. Discard the stalks of the mushrooms and slice them finely. Heat a frying pan, add the butter till sizzling then fry the mushrooms till browned. While they're cooking, boil the kettle.
4. Grease each dish with butter, then add a layer of spinach, then the mushrooms. Pat them down quite firmly.
5. Break an egg carefully into each dish over the mushrooms. You can break it into a cup or measuring jug first if that helps. Add a tiny pinch of seasoning. Pour over the creme fraiche and cover with the cheese.
6. Put the lids or foil on and place in the roasting tin. Pour boiling water into the tin so it comes up to about two thirds of the sides of the little dishes. Bake for 15-20 minutes depending how set you like the eggs. I take the lids off for a few minutes at the end to get a bit of colour on the cheese.
7. When they're nearly cooked fry the pancetta and drain on kitchen paper. Slice and butter some bread. Serve the eggs with a sprinkling of paprika and the pancetta on top.

Oeuf en Cocotte

Slow Food Edinburgh AGM February 2013

Slow Food is an international movement that brings together producers, chefs and enthusiasts all with an interest in preserving and promoting the pleasure of good food. Started in Italy in the 1980s, it has grown worldwide to thousands of members all with an interest in sharing and enjoying the best local produce their region has to offer. In contrast to the industrialisation of food production, mass agribusiness, supermarkets and fast food, Slow Food seeks to encourage people to reconnect with their food and where it comes from. Sustainability and provenance are key and at Ballymaloe they are big supporters of the movement, with Darina Allen speaking at the biannual Terre Madre event, a gathering of producers from all over the world held in Turin.

Slow Food is organised regionally in local grassroots groups set up by their members called convivia (from the latin 'with life'. In Edinburgh the Slow Food convivium is one of the largest in the UK and I attended their Annual General Meeting in February to find out more about the work they're doing in Scotland. It was held at the Edinburgh New Town Cookery School so I got to have a look at their lovely demo kitchen complete with glossy black aga!

Delicious Cake from The Edinburgh Larder

Before the serious business of the AGM a supper was served of organic chicken soup, tasty chicken served in a broth with vegetables, herbs and potatoes and slices of freshly baked onion bread. There was also sharp crumbly cheese made by St Andrews Farmhouse Cheese using unpasturised milk.

For dessert we ate chocolate cake made with beer from http://www.blackislebrewery.com/. The food was provided by a local business The Edinburgh Larder who are passionate about using the best of Scottish produce. We also had some delicious pies from Acanthus Hand Made Pies. They were quality raised pies filled with haggis, neeps and tatties and chicken curry.

Acanthus Pies

.

Jane Stewart

The AGM covered a review of 2012 and the visit to the afformentioned Terra Madre and Salone del Gusto. Running alongside Terra Madre, the Salone del Gusto is a a food market on a massive scale, where wonderful producers from all over the world have the chance to display and sell their wares. I would love to go in 2014! Jane Stewart from St Andrews Farmhouse Cheese told us about it and some of the wide range of fabulous foods that were on offer, the producers and the similarities and shared values they found in common despite coming from different corners of the world.

Hams!

We also found out about some of the work Slow Food Edinburgh has been doing in the community, with schools, allotments and universities with Slow Food on Campus. There's lots going on and it was great to see so many people there and so many great producers so close to home. Hopefully that interest and enthusiasm can be maintained and built upon to encourage more people to think about where their food comes from. In the current climate of the horse meat scandal there was an interesting discussion about how Slow Food can do more to tackle the issues which have come out of that. It was no surprise to me and the people there that things like this happen when selling very cheap processed food at the end of a long supply chain, but what can be done next to convince others of the problems and risks inherent in such as system?

 

http://salonedelgustoterramadre.slowfood.com/

http://www.slowfood.com/ 

http://www.slowfood.org.uk/

https://sites.google.com/a/slowfoodedinburgh.co.uk/web/

The AGM