The Week After the Morning After The Week Before
And is there runny cheese still for tea?
Yes, dear reader, yes there is!
About a month later I'm finally chewing through the last of the Christmas cheeses - mostly Gorgonzola.
I rolled some into a surprisingly long puff pastry log, which I then struggled to fit into the oven.
In the end I had to slide it in at a diagonal, and keep rotating it to limit the scorching of the ends.
I combined the finished, and impressively glossy, cheese roll with some colourful celeriac and pea purées and experimented with different presentations.
What do you think?
The Tête de Moine, or Monk's Head cheese, with which I creamed some kale, was believe it or not, a post-Christmas purchase.
It's a fine-grained semi-hard Swiss cheese which coincidentally originated from Bellalay Abbey near Berne, and is usually scraped or pared for serving, rather than being cut or sliced.
In fact there's a whole device called a Girolle which is sold for scraping this conveniently cylindrical cheese into beautiful rosette-like swirls.
You can manage to produce similarly attractive curls with a regular cheese slicer, or if you are particularly skilled, a sharp knife.
So after that, it's back to my habitual weekly steak, obtained at the end of my meat walk into Brighouse.
Now serving with a fruity liquorice sauce.
Yes, dear reader, yes there is!
About a month later I'm finally chewing through the last of the Christmas cheeses - mostly Gorgonzola.
I rolled some into a surprisingly long puff pastry log, which I then struggled to fit into the oven.
In the end I had to slide it in at a diagonal, and keep rotating it to limit the scorching of the ends.
I combined the finished, and impressively glossy, cheese roll with some colourful celeriac and pea purées and experimented with different presentations.
What do you think?
The Tête de Moine, or Monk's Head cheese, with which I creamed some kale, was believe it or not, a post-Christmas purchase.
It's a fine-grained semi-hard Swiss cheese which coincidentally originated from Bellalay Abbey near Berne, and is usually scraped or pared for serving, rather than being cut or sliced.
In fact there's a whole device called a Girolle which is sold for scraping this conveniently cylindrical cheese into beautiful rosette-like swirls.
You can manage to produce similarly attractive curls with a regular cheese slicer, or if you are particularly skilled, a sharp knife.
So after that, it's back to my habitual weekly steak, obtained at the end of my meat walk into Brighouse.
Now serving with a fruity liquorice sauce.
Chestnut, Gorgonzola & Spinach en Croûte
main veg cheese
I had the last of my Christmas gorgonzola to use up, and this seemed like an ideal vehicle.
Indeed, it's not too bad - just a couple of observations:
- Firstly the filling quantity is huge - far too much for a single roll.
Probably you should halve the quantities for the same amount of pastry.
- Secondly I used about ⅔ volume of stock in the sauce, and also correspondingly less cream. It seemed to produce a reasonably flavoured sauce, which I think would have been far too dilute with the recommended stock volume.
- Although the original recipe calls for Shropshire Blue cheese I used Gorgonzola. Of course any blue cheese will be satisfactory.
- I reduced the oven temperature from Gas 7 to 6. But perhaps it should have been even lower?
- I kept back some of the sauce leeks and fried them in oil and butter until they caramelised to make a crispy topping. Which Flora described as The Spider Corpses. So maybe you shouldn't do that?
- Finally I found 200g bags of whole cooked chestnuts and puréed chestnuts at my Local Fucking Supermarket™ and that seemed like sufficient quantities.
- Good luck finding all-butter puff pastry at your Local Fucking Supermarket™.
Serves 8
Ingredients
- 50g butter
- 500g pack leeks, thickly sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 240g bag baby spinach
- 415g can chestnut purée or 200g of whole cooked
- 3 large eggs, plus 1 for glazing
- ½ nutmeg, finely grated
- 200g pack vacuum-packed whole cooked chestnuts, halved
- 85g fresh white breadcrumbs
- 220g blue cheese, rind trimmed, diced
- 500g pack all-butter puff pastry
For the Sauce:- 500ml vegetable stock
- 2 leeks, thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- 300ml pot double cream
Melt the butter in a large frying pan.
Add the leeks and garlic, stir well, cover and cook for 10 mins until the leeks are soft, stirring a few times to check that they don’t catch.
Tip into a large bowl.
Put the spinach in the pan and allow it to wilt. Leave to cool and, when cold, squeeze out as much liquid from it as you possibly can.
Tip the chestnut purée into the bowl with the leeks and add the 3 eggs, the nutmeg, chestnuts, spinach, breadcrumbs, cheese and seasoning, and stir until well mixed.
Chill for at least 1 hr until the mixture firms up.
Heat oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 6.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the pastry to a rectangle large enough to completely enclose the filling.
Carefully lift onto a large, long baking tray that has been lined with baking parchment, then brush round all the edges of the pastry with the remaining egg.
Spoon the filling down the centre of the length of the pastry, leaving the ends clear.
Tuck the ends over the filling, then firmly lift up the sides to wrap them round, trimming away any excess pastry as you go.
Brush with more egg to glaze, then make a few holes in the top so steam can escape as it cooks.
Bake for 40 mins until golden and the filling is firm. Remove from the oven, brush with more glaze and then bake for 10 mins more.
To make the sauce, heat the stock in a medium pan, add the leeks, boil for 5 mins, then take off the heat and scoop out 2 tbsp of the leeks.
Pour in the cream and reserved leeks and warm through.
Can be made 2 days ahead and chilled. Serve the pastry in thick slices with the sauce.
Add the leeks and garlic, stir well, cover and cook for 10 mins until the leeks are soft, stirring a few times to check that they don’t catch.
Tip into a large bowl.
Put the spinach in the pan and allow it to wilt. Leave to cool and, when cold, squeeze out as much liquid from it as you possibly can.
Tip the chestnut purée into the bowl with the leeks and add the 3 eggs, the nutmeg, chestnuts, spinach, breadcrumbs, cheese and seasoning, and stir until well mixed.
Chill for at least 1 hr until the mixture firms up.
Heat oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 6.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the pastry to a rectangle large enough to completely enclose the filling.
Carefully lift onto a large, long baking tray that has been lined with baking parchment, then brush round all the edges of the pastry with the remaining egg.
Spoon the filling down the centre of the length of the pastry, leaving the ends clear.
Tuck the ends over the filling, then firmly lift up the sides to wrap them round, trimming away any excess pastry as you go.
Brush with more egg to glaze, then make a few holes in the top so steam can escape as it cooks.
Bake for 40 mins until golden and the filling is firm. Remove from the oven, brush with more glaze and then bake for 10 mins more.
To make the sauce, heat the stock in a medium pan, add the leeks, boil for 5 mins, then take off the heat and scoop out 2 tbsp of the leeks.
Pour in the cream and reserved leeks and warm through.
Can be made 2 days ahead and chilled. Serve the pastry in thick slices with the sauce.
It's pretty decent, if you can fit the roll in your oven!
Mine was a bit soggy inside, if I'm honest, so perhaps cooking for longer at an even lower temperature might help.
Celeriac and Sun-Dried Tomato Purée
side veg
I really wanted a pink purée to suit my meal plan's colour scheme.
This seemed like it would work, and the flavours are quite complementary too.
Bonus!
It's the celeriac and the sun-dried tomatoes which are puréed by the way, not just the tomatoes. To clear up any confusion 😉
This seemed like it would work, and the flavours are quite complementary too.
Bonus!
It's the celeriac and the sun-dried tomatoes which are puréed by the way, not just the tomatoes. To clear up any confusion 😉
Ingredients
- celeriac
- sun-dried tomato
- large knob of butter
- cream
- splash stock optional
Peel the celeriac and chop into chunks.
Simmer in salted water until soft and drain.
Blend together with a knob of butter and as many sun-dried tomato pieces as you need to get the colour or taste you require.
Lubricate and thin with cream or stock as needed.
Season and serve.
Simmer in salted water until soft and drain.
Blend together with a knob of butter and as many sun-dried tomato pieces as you need to get the colour or taste you require.
Lubricate and thin with cream or stock as needed.
Season and serve.
Pretty and tasty!
Red Wine, Redcurrant and Liquorice Steak Sauce
meat sauce
A rather thick and delicious alternative to McPhail's steak sauce,
and another step taken in my crusade to combine liquorice with everything.
The fruit jelly is optional.
The fruit jelly is optional.
Serves 1 Steak
Ingredients
- butter
- garlic
- red wine
- herbs - rosemary and thyme
- redcurrant or rowan jelly
- liquorice pellets
After you've fried your steak, add a large knob of butter and some garlic and herbs to the pan, if you didn't already.
Add shallots too, if you like.
Fry until the garlic becomes to colour, then de-glaze with red wine.
Add stock and redcurrant or rowan jelly if you like and bubble to reduce and thicken.
Grind liquorice pellets to a powder in a mortar and mix through the sauce to taste.
Season, strain, and serve with the steak.
Add shallots too, if you like.
Fry until the garlic becomes to colour, then de-glaze with red wine.
Add stock and redcurrant or rowan jelly if you like and bubble to reduce and thicken.
Grind liquorice pellets to a powder in a mortar and mix through the sauce to taste.
Season, strain, and serve with the steak.
Strange, but tasty.
If you like liquorice.
If you like liquorice.
Kale with Tête de Moine and Lemon Cream Sauce
veg side cheese
You'll need a generous amount of kale - it will disappear almost like spinach in this recipe.
You'll want to use a melty cheese. I liked the tète de moine, but any hard melty cheese like gruyère, emmental, or even parmesan would work well.
You can make a decorative rose out of a Tête de Moine by shaving thin slices from the around the centre of the cheese wheel with a specialist Girolle.
Or a coarse approximation using a potato peeler or a cheese slicer.
You'll want to use a melty cheese. I liked the tète de moine, but any hard melty cheese like gruyère, emmental, or even parmesan would work well.
You can make a decorative rose out of a Tête de Moine by shaving thin slices from the around the centre of the cheese wheel with a specialist Girolle.
Or a coarse approximation using a potato peeler or a cheese slicer.
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 10 oz kale leaves
- 1-2 garlic cloves, sliced or minced
- large knob of butter
- 4 tblsps double cream
- stock optional
- ¼ cup Tête de Moine or similar cheese, grated
- juice of 1 lemon
Cut away the stalks from the kale, wash and drain them and roughly tear or chop.
Mix the lemon juice with about an equal quantity of the cream.
Heat a large knob of butter or a splash of olive oil in a saucepan or skillet and sweat the kale until it begins to collapse, but still retains its vibrant green colour. Add sliced garlic and sweat until fragrant.
Season if required and serve.
Mix the lemon juice with about an equal quantity of the cream.
Heat a large knob of butter or a splash of olive oil in a saucepan or skillet and sweat the kale until it begins to collapse, but still retains its vibrant green colour. Add sliced garlic and sweat until fragrant.
You can add some stock to deepen the flavour if you like,
cook most of it off before continuing.
Add some cream, bubble and then add grated cheese and stir until it thickens and all melts together.
Off the heat stir in the cream and lemon juice mixture.Season if required and serve.
Very good. If a bit watery.
Don't just blend in all the cornflour - better to make a slurry first with a little water, then add only as much as required to achieve your preferred consistency.