P-P-P Poach a Pear

The sky hung low and shone a claustrophobic, dull metallic grey colour. It was mid-morning on the ridge by the wood. A lone, long-billed bird the size of an underfed chicken darted overhead Northwards in silhouette. It was the second weekend in January and the weather was characteristic of that time of year in that it still seemed dark even though sunrise had long been a feature of the day.

The Dogg and I realised that it wasn't a day for staying out for a long period. Also I realised that I had a recipe I wanted to prepare so as to make best use of some Pears recently acquired from the specialist fruit and veg vendor in my local town. 

The cold pale, grey day acquired appropriate music to fit the mood. That said on the player was wintry and wonderful electronica duo Neu's final release; the version I had was released under the title Neu! '86. It was recorded in 1985 but not released at the time as the duo behind the band, ex Kraftwerk men Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger, fell out with only a few of the songs for the album fully complete. After Dinger's death in 2008, Rother worked to finish the album that was released as Neu! '86. 

The record is as vital and essential as their other three albums and combines the atmospheric, cold, yet wonderful moods of Neu! 75', the proto punk of Neu! and Neu! 2 with a fistful of contemporary synth sounds that fit the bill well. It was a handy coda to their career. 

Why not have a listen for yourself at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qugv2kbxAHI&list=PL511fSPfMr9IDVwyFtOXQOTJezTIlxsUh   

So the recipe. The ingredients comprised of:

Five tablespoons of Scotch Whisky. 
Three tablespoons of Brown Sugar. 
Nought point three litres of Water.

Two pears, peeled but not topped and tailed. 

Three tablespoons of powdered Dark Chocolate.
Nought point two litres of Almond Milk. 

This tasty yet surprisingly healthy treat is relatively easy to make:

1. Combine the Whisky, Sugar and Water in a saucepan and leave to soak overnight with the lid on. 

2. The next day bring the contents of the saucepan to boil. 

3. Add the Pears and simmer for ten minutes.

4. While the pears are simmering, combine the Dark Chocolate Powder and the Almond Milk in a saucepan. Stir together thoroughly and warm through while stirring regularly on a medium heat until the Pears are ready.

I served the Pears by dolloping a healthy amount of the chocolate on each and presenting them in a serving bowl. The Pears benefited from rich but sweet taste of the whisky and sugar water. They were also soft but not so soft that they lost their texture and taste. The chocolate sauce meanwhile used strong Dark Chocolate Powder and Almond Milk that are much more healthy than their lighter and dairy counterparts. It was certainly a cheat meal without the need to cheat, too much, because some of  the ingredients were quite healthy in themselves. 

Get saucy- this chocolate sauce is a surprisingly healthy adjunct to the Whisky Sodden Pear. 

Chestnut, meet Beetroot

The change of the clocks can mean many things. Often they are things that people view as negative; ropey weather, long nights and shorter days. It's true that the prolonged darkness can give you, friends, colleagues and clients alike low mood and low energy. There are many times over the years where I've thought like that, especially when, at this time of year, I spend a lot of time in the office during the day in the week and only leave and arrive when it's dark.

There are ways this can be turned on its head. One way is to get some fresh air by taking a walk on your lunch break, going long walks at the weekend and making lots of comforting food. It especially helps if you try some innovative and new seasonal recipes. As we progress through the latter part of winter '18 and '19, come and join me as I make some new recipes and lots of comforting food and drink.

During the weekend of Bonfire Night. I was celebrating an important four year professional anniversary and reflecting two trips to the pub and one epic session of pool during the working week.

On the menu that afternoon were variously homemade Parkin, Calzone (which featured on a recent blog entry), Sweet Potato and Butternut Squash Gratin and a Beetroot and Chestnut Soup, which is the feature of today's blog.

The Beetroot and the Chestnut are two foodstuffs that are found in most greengrocers and supermarkets at this time of year. I sourced mine from a local greengrocer that was bought out last year and has lots of exciting potential. It never fails to deliver fresh, quality ingredients that run rings round the two supermarkets close by.

The ingredients of the soup are:

Three Beetroot, topped, tailed and peeled.
The stems and leaves of the Beetroot.
Ten Ounces of fresh Root Ginger, peeled and sliced very thinly.
A tablespoon of Celery Salt.
A pint of Pale Ale.
A quarter of a pint of water.
Olive Oil.

I jumped back to 1989 for the music with Eric Clapton's "Journeyman" album. My esteemed colleague, who is a partner in the firm at which I work, once described the album as still sounding brilliant after all these years. She is, as with her judgment in many professional matters, absolutely spot on in her assessment. Pick tracks include the liability denying "Before you Accuse Me" , "Running on Faith" and gritty covers of "Hard Times" by Ray Charles and "Hound Dog" by Lieber and Stoller.

A link to allow you to listen this record is at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZX7OAdrD-_KgbN5L-GjAzzQnPzJwdpAk

There's a fair bit of cooking time involved in this recipe. The main reason for this is that it takes a good while to cook the Beetroot to ensure it's soft enough to be blended.

The first step is to slash each Chestnut across the middle with a knife to create a hole in it. Then cook the Chestnuts on a baking tray in the oven on Gas Mark 7.

While the Chestnuts are cooking, cut the Beetroot into large cubes and fry in a saucepan in Olive Oil with the stems and leaves and the Root Ginger Pieces over a lowish heat.

After the Chestnuts are ready, rinse them in water to cool them down. Then using either a nutcracker or if, like me you don't have one, use some clean pliers to crack the nuts and remove the skin. Add the flesh of the Chestnuts to the pan with the Beetroot and Ginger.

Once the Chestnuts have been added put in the Celery Salt and stir it in. There is an esteemed french food critic who has praised the virtues of mixing Celery with Chestnuts and that led me to conclude that the Celery Salt would work well in this dish.

After that add the Pale Ale. Lots of pale ales can be used, I plumped for Greene King Pale Ale but any pale ale will do the trick. Then simmer the ingredients on the hob for around thirty minutes. After that add the water and simmer steadily for another hour.

Then place the contents on one side to cool down before adding them into a blender and blending them on the "Puree" setting for about ten seconds at most.

You can then warm the soup through in the sauce pan and serve it in bowls. The taste of this soup was slightly bitter and burned but in a warm way that made me want more. I think because the fresh chestnuts made it rich. Definitely the best Beetroot Soup Recipe I've come across.

Purple Peril- a bright and vibrant soup that is rich and nutritious 

The Artist formerly known as Beef

The words of the title of this blog were uttered many years ago by me to a very close friend when we spotted, in our local boozer, a bloke we'd been at school with who's nickname in those days was "Beef". Unsurprisingly with a nickname like that it revealed his large size which meant he was a key player in the school rugby team. The team had a very successful run in competitive matches. This was mainly through their strategy of simply passing the ball to Beef who would then repeatedly power through shell-shocked defences, much like a sharp knife through low fat margarine, as many times as was necessary to secure the victory. Today old Beef is just a memory. I've not seen him for years and heard he passed away before he was twenty-five through drug use. I hope that's just a rumour.

However whenever I think of the word Beef, it often reminds me of him and the small period when our lives crossed paths. I still walk the streets that he once did and one Saturday recently, from a shop on those streets, I was able to acquire some delicious diced chunks of British Beef for an innovative and warming winter recipe.

Still well galvanized to explore new recipes by the recent cookery course I'd attended I decided to make a spicy Beef recipe with a fair few fresh ingredients. These were the following:

Ten ounces of fresh chunks of Beef.
Five Shallots, topped, tailed, peeled and sliced widely.
Three Garlic Cloves, topped, tailed, peeled and sliced thinly.
A six cm by two cm piece of Root Ginger, peeled and sliced very, very thinly.
An eighth of a pint of Coconut Milk.
A tablespoon of Turmeric.
Three Birdseye Chillis, cut into very small pieces.
A bunch of Fresh Coriander.

To match my new creative flair I listened to Frank Zappa's innovative 1978 double live album "Zappa in New York" which mixes bawdy comedy, jazz-rock virtuosity and peerless guitar to form an irresistible cocktail of entertainment by one of music's all-time greats.

If you want to listen to the record try following this link  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pTC8F6i_0I

So to the method. I don't often use meat in recipes but realised that I needed to take more care when cooking the Beef, as compared to Quorn or other meat alternatives, as otherwise I risked under cooking the Beef which could lead to illness. This said I fried the Beef in Olive Oil in a frying pan while turning it regularly for around- twenty five minutes. By that time it was totally brown and well on the way to being cooked.

While the Beef was cooking I prepared the Garlic, Shallots, Ginger, Chili and two thirds of the Coriander. As the Beef came towards the end of its twenty-five minutes in the frying pan I started frying these ingredients in Olive Oil on the hob on a medium heat while stirring regularly. After about five minutes the Shallots were starting to go transparent. That meant it was time to add the Beef.

Fortunately enough I had timed the preparation and initial cooking of the Garlic, Shallots, Ginger, Chillis and two thirds of the Coriander so that when they had been cooking in the Le Cresceut for five minutes the Beef had come to the end of its initial twenty-five minute cooking time. That said I added the Beef and stirred it together with the Turmeric and the Coconut Milk. I then put the lid on the Le Cresceut and, while stirring fairly regularly to stop the ingredients sticking, left the ingredients to stew on the hob on a medium heat for thirty minutes.

 In the meantime I made some mashed Sweet Potato by steaming some chunks of one in a steamer for around twenty-five minutes and then mashing them with a tablespoon of Coconut Milk.

When the stir-fried Beef Mixture was ready I served it with the remaining third of the Fresh Coriander and a side of mashed Sweet Potato. The difference in taste making this recipe with Fresh Ginger and Fresh Coriander made it much more flavoursome than it otherwise would have been. The Chili made it very spicy but not totally overpowering thanks to the presence of the Coconut Milk. It was a well balanced meal and one that was healthy and warming on a winter evening.

Coriander Canopy- spare pieces of Coriander are placed in the mashed Sweet Potato to give the look of a small tree sheltering the spicy Beef, Ginger, Shallot and Chili Stir Fry.