Curried Parsnip soup and Leffe 0.0

It is the very coldest time of the year. This type of weather requires this type of soup. maybe served with a bread roll slathered thickly with butter. This recipe is very much a start point, there are no hard and fast rules here I have made many of the quantities and ingredients deliberately vague.

Serves 2

• 3 medium Parsnips
• 1 medium onion
• 1 medium desert apple
• Splash of oil
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• 2 cloves of garlic
• half "a thumb" of ginger
• 3 or 4 tsp Curry powder (or your favourite spice blend)
• 150 ml double cream

Peel and chop the parsnips into bug chunks. Finely dice the the onion and peeled apple. Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the spice mix, follow this with the onions, garlic, ginger, apple, and parsnips. Make sure all the veg and fruit are nicely coated with the oil and spice mix. Add enough water to cover everything and crumble in the stock cube. 

Boil everything until the parsnips are soft and then blend in a liquidiser, returning the soup to the same pan. Add the double cream and bring to the boil. Taste and season, pour into warmed bowls and serve with the last dribble of the cream over the top. 

The match

Leffe Blond (the full strength one) was once described to me as a "Entry level Belgium". It is very easy drinking, nicely balanced without the ferocious alcohol of some of its Belgium cousins. Please don't misinterpret this I love a Belgium Quad as much as the next guy but its definitely not midweek drinking. This is the zero alcohol version of Leffe and is really quite good. It has a solid malt base with some hoppy high notes, maybe a hint of spicy phenols and fruity esters. It stood up to the soup very well and created nicely balanced meal. It was also perfect for a lunch as there was no dozey afternoon issues after!

Chicken Margaret and Guiness 0.0

This dish was named in memory of my late mother. She was a child during the war so always had a sense of the value of chicken, especially one roast as a part of a feast day meal like Christmas or Easter. She never had much time for the idea of cheap chicken, it was always a luxury to her. Further to this, she had a liking for Black Pudding which bordered on obsession. Black pudding is a blood sausage, and so, not to everyone's tastes but it is part of "nose to tail eating". A full English breakfast is incomplete without Black pudding, and my Mum would agree. This is one of the few dishes on my YouTube channel and a demonstration of how to cook it can be seen on there:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdIfWRJNUmU&t=4s

Serves 2

Please note that the sauce is different from the one in the video

• 2 Chicken legs (just the thigh and drumstick)
• 2 slices of Black pudding
• A handful of Bread crumbs
• 1 egg
• 150 mls vegetable or chicken stock
• 1 tbsp redcurrant jelly

Cut the bone out of the thigh of each leg. This takes a bit of time so please don't hurry and do not try and take the drumstick bone out - you'll be at it for days.

Blitz up the Black pudding, breadcrumbs and egg in a small blender to produce a rough, dry paste. Roll two fingers of the paste and put it where the bone has been removed from the leg. Wrap the flesh and skin around and secure it with two or three cocktail sticks. Put the legs in the oven at 180 for about 20 minutes until it is cooked through and the skin looks brown and crisp.

Meanwhile, reduce the stock in a pan until it becomes a little bit syrupy. Stir in the jelly and allow it to melt to create a sweet, rich, shiny sauce.

Carve the thighs into three or four pieces and place neatly on the plate. Gently run some of the sauce over and create a small pool.

I always serve this dish with a puree of cauliflower (more of this in a later post). This time I also added buttered cabbage and roast potatoes.

The Match

At present I am partaking in Dry January so my beers will all be without any alcohol and doing some research into this, increasingly important, type of beer has been a revelation. Guinness 0.0 is genuinely lovely. It is a really good approximation of the "real thing". Obviously, it is Malt forward and has the thick, creamy head that makes this style of beer so famous. However, I was not expecting the level of depth in the maltiness or the dryness in the finish. It is not exactly like the real thing but a few pints into an evening I would defy most people to tell the difference.

The richness stood up well to the black pudding and the depth of flavour in the chicken. The redcurrant sauce with the Guinness took me back to my student days when some of my misguided friends used to have a shot of blackcurrant cordial poured into the top of their Guinness claiming it was the next big "thing". I look forward to matching stouts (Irish, Milk, English, Oyster and American) with food in the forthcoming weeks. 

 

Chicken chow mein and Wild Beer Everstone.

 

This will be my last beer and food matching with alcohol until February as I will be undertaking Dry January. However, I will be matching food with no and low alcohol beers for the whole of the month. Despite the fact that this blog was loaded early in the new year the meal was cooked on the 29th December. 

Chicken Chow Mein (Serves one)

• One nest of dried noodles
• 60 - 70 gms skinless chicken (either breast of thigh meat is fine)
• A handful of mushrooms
• Half a medium onion sliced
• 1 clove garlic finely chopped
• Small lump of peeled ginger finely chopped
• A handful of bean sprouts
• A few peas
• 1 tbsp of corn flour
• Soy Sauce
• Sesame oil
• Vegetable oil for frying

Boil the noodles according to the instructions on the packet and then cool them down under a running tap until they are cold. allow them to drip for a few minutes then stir a couple of teaspoons of the sesame oil.

Meanwhile chop the chicken into bite sized pieces and dredge them with the cornflour, ensuring total coverage. Pop a little vegetable oil into a wok and heat it up. Add the onions and fry for a short while. Then add the garlic and ginger and cook for a couple of more minutes. Put this in a bowl and set aside. Put a little more oil in the wok and add the chicken. fry until nearly cooked and add the mushrooms until they are cooked. Add the onions, garlic , ginger, peas, bean sprouts and noodles and stir fry until everything is piping hot. Add quite a few dashes of the soy sauce and serve.

(You could add some finely chopped chilli with the onions if you fancy a bit of heat).

The Match

Wild Beer Company went into liquidation a while ago but was rescued and are still producing this awesome beer. I discovered it a couple of years ago and it's one of the few beers I always have in the fridge. It describes itself as a New Zealand IPA which  sounds a bit weird but as it uses New Zealand hops the concept seems to work. It is full of tropical fruits on the nose -  mango, lychee, pawpaw. Then on the palate it seems to move onto stone fruit - peaches, nectarine and even pear. Its all held together by both a malty spine and  a crisp finish.

This collection of big flavours manage to deal with the strong and rich flavours in the dish with all the fruit weighing in against all the salt and the bitterness balancing the richness. 

Salmon Fishcakes and Pilsner Urquell

 

Most of my Christmas dishes were accompanied with wine which is why this blog comes a couple of days late. On the big day myself and the Beautiful Wife had Roast duck on the big day accompanied by a beautiful 1999 Pavilion Rouge (Chateau Margaux's second wine) if you are interested.

There is time during the "in between period" for simple food which brings comfort and sustenance without testing the recipient or the cook. It is also a time for using leftovers and not wasting anything that can be saved.

Salmon fishcakes (recipe per person)

• 150 gms mashed potatoes (must be cold and as dry as possible)
• 100 - 150 gms cold cooked salmon (or any other cooked flaked fish)
• 1 egg beaten with a splash of milk
• 50 gms of flour
• A handful of breadcrumbs
• Vegetable oil for frying

Roughly mix the potato and fish with your hands and form into two or three thick patties. Coat them in the flour and then put them in the egg wash to make a glue. Finally drop them into the breadcrumbs to form and even coating. pop some oil in a frying pan, a depth of about 5 mm should be fine. Heat up the oil and fry the fishcakes on both sides, gently splashing a little of the oil up the sides to give and even fry. Serve with chips or just a nicely dressed salad.

A couple of additions, if you fancy: You could add a few sesame seeds to the breadcrumbs, you could change some of the fish for smoked salmon off cuts, you could also add in some dill or parsley to the mix, etc.

The Match

Pilsner Urquell literally translates as "Original Pilsner" it was the first lagered beers of this type to use pale malt and thus, in many ways invented the idea of the modern lager. It is, without doubt, a classic beer. A grassy, herby nose gives way to a soft malt body on the palate ending with a dry crisp finish. A measured bitterness means that this beer is perfect with the richer oily fish. The Breadcrumbs are perfectly echoed in the malty body of the beer. If you had not tried Pilsner Urquell yet I strongly urge you to do so, it may be the start of an education of lagers beyond the usual macro brewery fare.       

  

    

Bangers and Mash with Timothy Taylor Landlord

 Bangers and mash comes squarely from the Pub Grub school of cooking. It is filling, tasty and rich whilst being simple enough to be produced in quantity. Incidentally, this simplicity allows the cook to add their own twist elevating it to the level of "Gastro pub" food. 

The name "bangers" comes from a time when there was too much water added to the sausage meat mix. (The other ingredients are: Minced meat, spicing and bread or rusk all popped into a natural hog casing). More water meant a greater weight and thus more profit. This was certainly done during the rationing of the second world war, but may well have been happening both before and after. This meant that when the sausages were heated in a frying pan the steam meant that they were very likely to blow up in the pan. This lead to the mistaken dogma of pricking the sausages with a fork before cooking. Please do not do this, all the fat will run out, leaving you with a dry sausage with the texture of cous cous.

Buy the best sausages you can afford, a decent butcher will take pride in their traditional sausage. Start them in a frying pan with a little oil to get a little brown on them. Then put them in a medium oven for about 25 minutes, they should still have a distinct snap as you bite through the skin.     

I served the sausages with buttery mash and an onion gravy. Peas, as a vegetable, just seemed right. 

The Match

For many years, Landlord has been the last word in classic English Bitter. It is consistently good, one of the most reliably good beers in the UK. This example was from the bottle and was delicious, however, if you can find some from the cask in a pub, you are in for a real treat! The balance between hops, yeast and malt is nearly perfect. It drinks very easily with just a hint of fruit, a smart but balanced lick of hops and all based out with malt. Needless to say, it was an excellent match to the bangers and mash. The only problem with Landlord is that it is far too easy to drink - one pint is never enough!

Crab croquettes and Brewgooder New England IPA

I am a huge fan of crab. In truth, I think I prefer it to lobster. It is expensive but nearly always worth it. As with a lot of food, the more you pay the better the product. I tend to go with UK caught, unfrozen crab for most dishes. A crab contains two types of "meat": The Brown and The White. White crab meat is mild and sweet and turns into tiny flakes, the brown is more liquid and full of rich crabby flavour. This recipe uses both. If you are buying a whole crab then you will need to follow instructions from the many offerings online and split it into the two types of meat. Alternatively just buy them separately or buy a dressed crab and break it down.

These croquettes are a bit of a hybrid but perfect for a starter or a light lunch.

• 150 gms Plain flour
• 50 gms Butter
• 50 - 150 ml milk
• 120 gms white crab meat
• 120 gms brown crab meat
• a handful of btreadcrumbs
• 2 eggs
• 2 tblsp mayonnaise
• 1/2 tsp of Old bay spice or paprika 
• 500ml vegetable oil.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan until it just starts to foam, add 50 gms of the flour and mix to form a roux. slowly add about 50-100 mls of the milk to form a very stiff paste. Place a sheet of cling film on a small baking tray and spread the paste on it. Place another piece of cling film on top. allow this to cool and then place in the fridge to chill.

Mix all of the white meat with 2 tblsp of the brown crab meat and pop in the fridge. Mix the remaining brown meat with all of the mayonnaise and pop in the fridge too

After about an hour place three bowls on the work surface. In the first bowl place the remaining flour, in the second break the egss, add the milk and beat to create an egg wash. The third bowl is for the breadcrumbs.

Take the white meat and the paste out of the fridge and mix them, this should form a very thick paste.

Here comes the tricky bit. split the paste into 6 equal lumps. With slightly damp hands form one of the lumps into a barrel shape. (You will have to work quickly but without hurrying) Pop your first croquette into the flour and make sure it is totally coated. (This is a good chance to ensure the shape is perfect). Move the Croquette into the egg wash, again ensuring an even coating. Finally roll the croquette in the breadcrumbs to coat. When they are all done put them back in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm up.

Heat the oil in a large pan. (The oil should not be more than one third of the way up the inside of the pan). It should be hot enough so a small piece of bread fizzes on the surface and brown in about 90 seconds.

Fry the croquettes in the oil for a couple of minutes and lift out onto kitchen paper. Retrieve the brown meat mayo from the fridge and smear a generous amount across two plates. Place the croquettes on top of the brown meat mayo and serve with a wedge of lemon and a sprinkling of old bay or paprika.   

The Match

Brewgooder is a brewery that is determined to make the world a better, fairer place. They have B-Corp status and they are involved in many projects around the world, they also brew really lovely beers! This dish calls out for a dash of citrus and this beer definitely provides it. It is a classic sessionable New England IPA. It feels like a very drinkable beer with no real harshness on the finish. There is just a hint of malt to stand alongside the breadcrumbs. However, it is those lovely citrus notes that win the day in this match. 

 

   

Chicken thighs with garlic and thyme butter with Northern Rock Faith

It is said that we all "stand on the shoulders of giants" and this is never more true than when looking at cooking. Those of us who take ourselves a little too seriously in the kitchen find ourselves looking at the same gods and goddesses of the culinary arts for inspiration. If you are a Brit of a certain age who likes to cook its hard to find yourself going much beyond the genius that is Nigel Slater.

The dish below is very firmly based on one of his earlier acts of genius. This is not a  perfectly produced copy of what Mr Slater wrote but it is so close that I am not taking any credit for its invention.

• Chicken thighs (enough for two each, make sure you have the skin on)
• Butter
• Crushed garlic
• Dried thyme

The first thing to do is to take the bone out of the thighs. This takes a bit of practice but pretty soon one becomes quite good at it! You should now have lovely flat pieces of meat with skin on one side. heat a tiny bit of the butter in a frying pan. When the butter is foaming add the thighs, skin side down. Fry until golden and crisp then turn over. In the mean time, mash up the rest of the butter with the crushed garlic and thyme. Make sure that the chicken is cooked through then pop on a plate smothered in the butter. 

I served it with dauphinoise potatoes and Brussel sprouts with bacon and chestnuts. These will appear in later matches around Christmas and New Year.

The Match

Northern Monk produce great beer. Faith is one of their classic brews. It is a genuine Hazy IPA coming in at 5.4%. It matched the, garlic heavy, dinner beautifully. With a solid malty spine topped off with an American hop finish it made all the ingredients sing a little. Its rich mouthfeel even worked well with the buttery fattiness of the dish.

Just as an aside, Northern Monk produce a superb lower alcohol IPA called Striding Edge (2.8% alcohol). It's perfect for a midweek beer followed by a morning with no consequences.