Meat
Guinea Fowl Stuffed with Barley, Sage and Chestnuts
Will serve 5 (no left-overs)
Ingredients
• 1 guinea fowl of 1.4 kg
• 200 g of pancetta- bacon will do too but it should not be cut too thick
• Some kitchen string
• Few knobs of goose fat- butter will do too
The stuffing
• 1 large onion diced small
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped
• 5/6 leaves of fresh sage equivalent to 5 g chopped finely
• 5 g of a mixture of other fragrant fresh herbs chopped finely – thyme, rosemary, marjoram, tarragon
• 100g of cooked chestnuts, chopped finely
• 1 branch of celery diced very small
• 120 g of barley soaked overnight and boiled with a bay leaf for 40 minutes
• Salt and pepper
• 50 g of goose fat or butter
Preheat the oven to 190C.
Melt the goose fat. Sweat the onions and the celery for 5 minutes; add the garlic and cook for another 10 minutes. Add the chopped chestnuts; mix and add the cooked barley. Mix well and season. When cooled down, spoon the stuffing into the cavity of the guinea fowl. When finished, close by tucking the legs back into the cavity.Season the guinea fowl and lay the pancetta rash on its back and sides. Secure it with kitchen strings. Put some goose fat knobs over the bird and season with freshly milled pepper.Place the guinea fowl on a baking tray; cover with aluminium foil for the first 90 minutes. Uncover and roast for another 30 minutes.Serve with roasted root vegetables and sautéed broccoli.
Spice Wild Rabbit Stew
Cooking time: 2 hours
Serves 4 people
Ingredients:
Marinade:
3 garlic cloves, halved
1 small carrot, roughly chopped
1small onion, roughly chopped
2 rosemary twigs
100ml of red wine
1 wild rabbit, skinned and jointed
4 tbsp of flour 150ml of olive oil
150 ml of olive oil
1 large red onion, finely diced
1 large carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
6 garlic cloves, chopped
250 g tin chopped tomatoes
50 ml of red wine
2 rosemary twigs, stripped
2 bay leaves
2 thyme twigs, stripped
½ nutmeg, grated
1 clove
1 small cinnamon stick
1 small dried chilli, crushed
Zest of 1 lemon
Salt, pepper
To make the marinade, mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Place the rabbit in the marinade, cover and leave in the fridge overnight.
Preheat the oven to 150C/ Gas3.
Remove the joint form the marinade (sieve the marinade, discard the onion and the carrot but keep the garlic and the liquid. Chopped the garlic)
Pat the rabbit dry and lightly dust in flour.
Heat the oil in an ovenproof saucepan and fry the rabbit in batches until light golden brown. Set aside on a plate.
Scrape the bottom of the pan and add the onion, celery, and garlic to the pan and cook until soft and slightly brown.
Add the tomatoes, wine and marinade and reduce for another 5 minutes until the sauce thickens.
Stir in the herbs and the spice. Add the rabbit, season and cover. Cook in the oven for 2 hours. Turn the meat halfway through cooking.
Serve piping hot with some polenta or creamy celeriac-potato mash.
Bon appétit!
Lamb Tagine with Prunes and Cinnamon
Preparation time: 15 min
Cooking time: 2 hr
Serves 6 people
It is best to cook this dish on the hob using a flame diffuser. This will allow a very slow cooking. You can also make this dish in a preheated oven at 160 C.
This well-balanced stew is intense yet mellow. The prunes soak up the fragrant spices, and a long, slow cooking turns the lamb fork-tender.
1.5 kg boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 5cm pieces
1 lage red onion, halved and thinly diced
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cinnamon sticks
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 pinch saffron threads
1 tablespoon white wine or water
100 ml of water
10 prunes ( if using dried prunes, they need to soak. Tin prunes can be used as they are)
3 tablespoons mild honey
2 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 bunch of coriander tide-up with kitchen string
- Toss together lamb, onion, the oil, the spices (except saffron), 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper in a bowl. Check that the meat and onion are evenly covered with the spice mixture.
- Transfer to the Tagine dish
- Lightly toast saffron in a dry small skillet over medium heat until just fragrant, 15 to 30 seconds. Crumble into wine and let stand 1 minute.
- Add wine to the pot, then add the coriander and enough water to cover the lamb halfway.
- Cover and gently simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Stir occasionally and check there is enough cooking liquid.,
- When the meat is tender, remove the coriander and stir in prunes and honey and simmer until the sauce has thickened, Season with salt.
- Toast sesame seeds in dry small skillet over medium heat, stirring, until pale golden, then sprinkle ontoto the Tagine.
- Serve piping hot with cous-cous.
Pork Chops in a Cider Sauce
Cooking time: 30 min
Will serve 2 people
You can replace the chops by a leaner piece such as the fillet. Favour organic or free-range pork as the meat will be much tastier.
Ingredients:
The main course:
2 pork chops
Some cooking olive oil
30g of butter
1 finely chopped red onion
A handful of finely chopped celery
100g of peeled squash and cut in thin slices
1 apple, core removed and cut in thin slices (6 slices of a quarter of apple)
1 bay leave
1tbs of fresh thyme
1tbs of fennel seeds bashed in a pestle and mortar
The zest of an unwaxed lemon
2 tbsp of juice ½ lof dry cider
1 tsp of corn flour
Salt and pepper
The side dish:
250g of kale
350g of sauerkraut
Some cooking olive oil
1 finely chopped onion
1 small Italian chilli
3 juniper berries cut in two
The Main:
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/360°C/ gaz mark 6
2. Prepare all your ingredients, remove the chops fat partially and make 4 incisions on the side of the chops to prevent the meat to shrink.
3. Sweat the onions and the celery until translucent, set aside.
4. In a frying pan, melt the butter on a soft flame and add the sliced apples and squash, add the thyme, fennel seeds, bay leave, the zest and juice and salt and pepper. Turn the slices on the other side; season again.
5. After 2 to 3 min on each side, the apple and squash are still firm, turn the heat up, add the onions and celery and baste everything with ½ of your cider, the rest being mixed to the corn flour.
6. Bring to the boil, add the rest of the liquid and bring to simmer for few minutes, the sauce should have a smooth consistency but should not be thick.
7. Grill the chops (or fillet) on a griddle for 2 to 3 min each side until nicely charred.
8. If your griddle is ovenproof, pour the sauce over onto the chops and put the dish in the heated oven for another 15min to 20 min depending on the weight of the chops.
The Side Dish:
1. Pour some oil in a frying pan and sweat the onion.
2. When the onion is translucent, add some chopped chilli pepper, the kale, sauerkraut and the juniper berries and season with salt and pepper.
3. Stir-fry for 5 to 10 minutes.
4. Serve piping hot with some more black pepper.
Lamb Navarin
Preparation : 30 min
Cooking time: 2 h
Ingredients
For 15 portions:
3kg of diced leg of lamb+ 1kg diced shoulder of lamb
1,5 kg of carrots medium sized dices 1,5 kg of turnips medium sized dices
1 large onion diced finely
50ml of white wine
3 tbsp of flour
3 garlic cloves finely chopped
3 tbs of tomato puree
1 large bouquet garni salt/ pepper
1 large pich of nutmeg
Some olive oil
Preparation:
Take some of the fat off the meat. Heat up some olive oil and seal the meat.
When sealed, add the flour keeping stirring the meat.
Pour the white wine on a high flame and let alcohol evaporate for 1minute or 2.
Add nutmeg, salt, pepper, the tom. puree, the garlic and the bouquet.
The cooking liquid should come +/- at half of the meat level.
Bring to the boil, cover and finish it off ( +/-90 min) in the oven (temp: 170).
Check every ½ hour that the cooking liquid is not drying off and stir the meat.
Shallow fry the onion till translucent, add the diced carrots and turnips.
Season and shallow fry them for 15 minutes. Add them to the meat ½ hour before the meat is cooked.
Serve piping hot with some Pilau rice.
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