Inspiration and perspiration.

There are very few new ideas in food. Most interesting ideas in modern food are modern twists on old classics or an introduction of new ingredients or cuisine to a different context. Calital food was probably the first of these to be given a name. The sheer glory of Californian produce with Italian cooking wasn't actually to big a leap of anyone's imagination but it did produce some stunning dishes. Those few cooks and chefs who go beyond innovation into invention usually end up with Michelin stars or bankrupt or both.
Most of us mere mortals search for inspiration from the familiar places: a stunning ingredient, and old classic, a particular location, the work of a "proper" chef and such.
The dish below comes from a few of these!
In February, before the world shifted on its axis, the Beautiful Wife and I were invited out to dinner at the Sir Charles Napier near Chiner on the edge of the Chiltern Hills. The meal was a triumph with that rare combination of great food, great wine and great company. The quality of the cooking was really very high - The memory of the Rhubarb Souffle will stay with me for ever.
For my main course I had the Navarin of Lamb. This in its purest form is a rustic lamb and vegetable stew, very "paysan" and hearty. However, the chef had taken this ancient dish and completely re - thought it. I have never been a fan of the idea of de-constructed dishes but to a degree that is what he did. It was a piece of exemplary cooking. I have endeavoured to recreate it since then and now have something of which I am proud. I have served it with different vegetables as we are later in the year.

Braised Neck Fillet of Lamb with puree of Cauliflower, Roast Beetroot and Thrice cooked chips.

1 large neck fillet of lamb
2 or 3 long shallots
Red wine
Lamb stock
2 carrots - diced
3 or 4 celery stalks - diced
1 medium onion  - diced
1 tbsp plain flour

Cauliflower puree
1/2 head of cauliflower
250 ml double cream
1/2 onion finely chopped
1 clove garlic

Thrice cooked chips
2 large baking potatoes
Lard
Salt

Roast beetroot
1 large beetroot
Oil

In a large saucepan or stock pot heat a little oil and brown the meat until the surface is a little caramelised add in the celery, onions and carrots and fry them with the meat for a couple of minutes until they are just starting to take colour. add in the flour and stir into the mix. Then add half a bottle of wine and a similar amount of stock and stir in gently but thoroughly. Cover and allow to stew on the hob for a couple of hours till the meat is just starting to fall apart. 
In the mean time cut the potatoes into neat large chips wash them in cold water to remove excess starch and boil until they are becoming just tender. Dry them and allow them to cool then chill them in a fridge for an hour or so. Bring 1/3 of a large pan full of melted lard up to a temperature of about 160 centigrade. Fry the chips until they are soft but have not taken any colour. Again cool the chips. Just before serving fry the chips in the fat at 180 centigrade. 
Also while the lamb is cooking the beetroot should be cut into equal sized cubes and popped into the oven with the oil to roast (This takes about 45 mins to an hour.)
To make the cauliflower puree, break the cauliflower into small florets and put them in a pan with enough veg stock to just cover them boil until the cauliflower is very soft and then add the cream. Boil this to thicken a little and then blitz to a puree. This maybe to thin, in which case pop it back in the pan and continue to thicken. Incidentally, you probably wont use all of the puree but it makes a great base for a cream of cauliflower soup (I always thin it out a bit with cream and add crumbled Stilton)
About 20 minutes before serving peel the shallots and cut in half, keeping the root bit attached. Pop this with a little oil in the oven to roast down, caramelise and become all sticky. 
Meanwhile, back at the lamb. Remove the neck fillet from the stew and place somewhere warm; it should be falling apart like pulled lamb. Strain the liquid of the all the veg. They have done their job. Take about 200 to 250 ml of the liquid into a clean saucepan and reduce fast to create a shiny syrupy sauce, maybe add a little butter to add some gloss. Slice the neck fillet in half. Place a piece of neck fillet on half the roast shallot and plate up the rest as you see fit!

A word about presentation: My default position on presentation is "Bistro / Brasserie / Family" I have no aspiration to produce works of art on a plate. Though I always want my food to look like one would want to eat it. For this reason (and many others) it was never in my destiny to win Michelin Stars!
However, with this dish I did go a little to town and showed off, on our best china.

The finished article.

A Year in Bread - Back to the bread.

I had great plans. This year was to be a year of making bread, Then Covid19 arrived and everything changed. Along with their toilet rolls people bulk bought flour and yeast. I should be pleased about this, after all, I have been suggesting people should learn to make their own bread for ages and telling them about the joy of a home made loaf and the house smelling a little like a French boulangerie. Then they all go ahead and do it! It is only in the last few weeks that I have been able to get my hands on any strong bread flour, and I still have not found any yeast, dried or fresh! (I do have a small stash of dried yeast so all was not lost.
There is, however, a bread that requires no addition of yeast, just flour, water, salt and a strange flour and water mix that has been kept captive for a while, being fed flour and water every so often. I write of Sourdough bread.
Sourdough relies on the naturally occurring yeasts in flour and in the air to create enough carbon dioxide to leaven a loaf. It has become, over the past 15 years, very trendy and a little bit over burdened with snobbery, both direct and inverted. At its best it is delicious, at its worst quite plain.
My first memory of Sourdough was in San Francisco in 1995. I was back packing across the States for a month and, owing to jet lag, woke very early in my youth hostel. I headed of on the short walk to Fisherman's Wharf where the was a coffee stand just opening up. I ordered a coffee and a roll for my breakfast. It was a revelation. This chewy, slightly acidic, thick crusted bread was quite delicious. I will always link sourdough to that beautiful, sunny, August morning in California.
I have tried several times to cultivate my own sourdough, starting with following instructions online to purchasing several starters. I have not been able to get these to work for me in any meaningful way and I have certainly not been able to sustain them. However, in times of crisis we must show some determination! So I started another batch and have just baked my first loaf this morning. The loaf is not perfect, but the first few loaves are not supposed to be, and it was quite delicious with my own marmalade for breakfast.
If you search the internet for recipes to create your own sourdough starter then you will find hundreds of different ways of doing it; from adding grapes to the initial mix to mixing many flours and I'm sure these all work well in context but I went for pure simplicity and it appears to have worked.
Below you will see my recipe but I make no guarantee that it will work for you. It is worth bearing in mind that Corner Cottage is a Victorian farm labourer's cottage and is home to both normal bread making and brewing so there may well be some interesting wild yeasts that have got into my mix that might nor find their way into yours.

Sourdough starter
In a large jar with a seal add 50gms of strong bread flour to 75gms of water. Mix thoroughly and then seal the jar for 24 hours. Add the same volumes of flour and water for 4 more days, stirring thoroughly every time. It should be the consistency of thick double cream. You can adjust the flour and water to achieve this consistency as you go. By day 4 or 5 you should start to see bubbles rising to the surface of the sourdough and a definite sour smell should be coming off! By day 6 you should be ready for your first loaf!
After you have taken your first batch of sourdough starter of the process of feeding the starter begins again.

Sourdough loaf

Sourdough starter with the finished loaf.

250gms Sourdough starter
400gms Strong bread flour
200gms Water
15gms Salt

Add all the ingredients to a bowl and bring together. Kneed in your usual manner for a wet dough. (It's worth checking out Richard Bertinet on line for this. He demonstrates a fantastic way to knead any dough with over 65% hydration, there are some quite good spoofs on this too)
Pop your soft, kneaded dough into a clean bowl with a dusting of flour and cover. Put the bowl in a warm, draft fee environment.
Now comes the wait. Depending on the liveliness of your starter and about 10,000 other variables your dough may take a couple of ours to double in size or even as much as a working day (mine took 7 hours yesterday).

Knock the dough back (how I hate that term) folding it gently in on itself to form a small ball again and then pop it in a loaf tin (or banneton) for a second prove (I left mine overnight for this one!).

At the start of the second prove. Patience is all.

Finally the simplest bit. Bake in a very hot oven for about 25 minutes until dark golden brown and a little bit shiny (yes really). If you are using a banneton turn out the loaf and bake on a pizza stone or hot baking sheet.

And in the morning, ready for the oven

Allow to cool before eating (if you can). It incidentally makes the best toast on earth.

Such great toast