Power to the Pontack

It was early, too early really, in the morning at the start of the working week when I picked up a package of some value that was created in the mid-nineteen eighties and had been delivered to the local corner shop. It was a shop adjoining a housing estate containing memories of sports entertainment, made by many long gone, from the 1980s and  early1990s and a certain kind of edge and danger that raised itself at the end of the noughties. 

However, opposite the shop was a park where daffodils with flowerheads the colour of bright turmeric bloomed and butterflies with tangerine wing-tips flitted effortlessly in late April to mark the arrival of a new summer. The park led to a building that had a slanted roof and a construction that was akin to the design of houses made of Lego that first went on sale nearly forty years ago. It was there, just four clear days later, where I joined a holy host of others for some much needed calmness over a continental breakfast. 

The day in question was the first Saturday in September, a date where historically a physical and mental re-set after the end of summer normally takes place. This first Saturday was no exception after what was, from a career, sporting, social and emotional point of view, a successful summer. However, due to changes in people far and near old and new, it all felt different this time. Such feelings however were tempered by a familiar chat, with one of my oldest friends, about foraging and the multitude of exciting and wonderful recipes that can be found in the wild, wild woods at this time of year. 

One such recipe is to make a savoury sauce out of elderberries. Elderberries are at their best at the end of August and the start of September. As I have done on many occasions since 1988, the same year I met my friend, I found myself wandering towards the woods near my childhood home. It was not long before I stumbled into a field soaked in mist at the edge of which hung a clump of Elderberries that glistened like wet leather and hung from iridescent red stems. I grabbed them gratefully and headed home to get away from the claustrophobic fog. 

Inspired by my good friend's recommendation, I settled upon a recipe that Henry VIII used to put on his venison meals. Pontack sauce, which is made with elderberries and can include shallots. In the days before tomatoes reached our shores, this sauce was the aristocrat's choice to go to in flavouring their meals. 

It is often made by baking the ingredients in the oven for a number of hours. However my recipe was a shortcut that  reduced my carbon footprint considerably. As I commenced cooking; on the player was some music of apparent blackness, that in fact hid in plain sight swathes of sardonic humour and life affirming goodness. The music was Leonard Cohen's set at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival. Walking out onto the stage in the small hours to a tired and increasingly hostile crowd; Cohen's dry authority and impeccable timing in his introduction to the setlist blunted their anger and his set, brought to life by a sparse backing band and Cohen's unmistakeable baritone, had the audience eating from the palm of his hand as they clapped and sang along like they were his best friends hanging out with him down the pub. 

Against this backdrop, the recipe was as follows:   

200 grams of the fresh Elderberries I had foraged earlier that day.

2 tablespoons of Onion Salt. 

Quarter of a pint of White Wine Vinegar.

A teaspoon of ground Black Pepper.

The first job was to remove the stems from the Elderberries. They are neon red for a reason, to advertise their toxicity and eating more than a couple of them will give you an upset stomach. Having removed the stems, I washed the berries thoroughly and placed them in a saucepan with all the other ingredients and mixed them together. 

The next job was to place the pan on the hob and bring the mixture to boil. Once this had happened, I simmered the mixture for twenty minutes. The next task was to set the Pontack to one side and let it cool. Once it had cooled I placed it in a sterilised jar; but not before sniffing it to realise that it had a rich smell that leant itself to being enjoyed with an indulgent joint of meat, such as venison or rump steak, as comfort food on a gloomy Autumn Sunday. 

Curry of Many Parts

 One of the things I have continued to try and perfect during my hiatus from compiling this blog is the perfect curry mix. The are two key tips I've learned the first, which I feel take the best traditions from Bengali meat curries on which many "traditional" British Curries are based and vegan curry recipes, are to give equal precedence to the meat and the vegetables. The second is to always marinate the ingredients for some time before cooking them. 

With this in mind, I recently made a Chicken and Broccoli Curry that I had left the ingredients of to marinate for most of the day before I cooked them. This curry was a product of my recent quiet weekend which involved much rest, reflection and re-setting together with important reading of papers. 

On the player for the preparation was music, which matched the temperamental spring storm out of doors, in the shape of disc two of Pink Floyd's The Early Years Box Set. This disc covered 1968, a year that could have broken them with losing their lead singer and key songwriter. However the trend towards more expansive pieces that were by turns more reflective and mellow while still allowing space for power and intensity showed them on the first steps to securing their ultimately illustrious future. 

The ingredients for the Curry were as follows:

Two Chicken Breasts cut into cubes

Two 4cm x 2cm pieces of Root Ginger, peeled and sliced finely. 

Six cloves of Garlic, peeled, topped, tailed and sliced finely.

A teaspoon of Tomato Puree. 

A teaspoon of dried Chilli Flakes of your choice. I used hot and smoky Chilli Flakes. 

A tablespoon of Sumac.

A tablespoon Garam Masala.

A tablespoon of Fenugreek. 

A teaspoon of Turmeric.

A tablespoon of Fresh Mint well chopped. 

A head of Broccoli well diced. 

One hundred grams of Cashew Nuts.

A quarter of a pint of Chicken Stock.

One Bell Pepper, de-seeded, cored and sliced into small squares. 

One hundred grams of Rice of your choice 

The method goes like this:

1. Take all ingredients, save the Rice, and combine together in a deep bowl. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and hold the sides of it to stop the clingfilm slipped off. 

2. Shake the bowl hard for a couple of minutes while holding the clingfilm in place to ensure none of the ingredients escape. 

3. Put the bowl of ingredients, still covered with the clingfilm, in the fridge or somewhere else cool and leave to marinate for 8-12 hours. 

4. Melt some Salted Butter in Le Cresceut or other similar dish/deep pan. 

5. Add the ingredients and cook on a medium heat on the hob for around half an hour stirring them frequently to avoid them sticking to the bottom of the man. 

6. After half an hour add the vegetable stock and stir this in cooking for another half an hour. 

7. While the above is happening, boil the Rice for around fifteen minutes until soft and add extra Turmeric to the Rice if so desired. 

8. When the Curry mix is cooked, add the Rice to the dish and stir through before serving. 

The good thing about this Curry was that there were three main flavoursome ingredients to it as the marinating of the Broccoli and the Cashew Nuts meant it was not just the tender chicken pieces that made this dish a flavoursome experience. 

Who has the beef?

When someone asks me whether "I got beef" I have to think carefully about my response as there could be a number of possible answers. Depending upon who I am speaking to, I might wish to reassure them I have no problem with them and I also might want to enlighten them that I extol the virtues of a certain ingenious pop-up restaurant in the locality. The organisation in question is known as "Got Beef" and I can give no better reference than to commend you to check out this review in a local newspaper at: Derbyshire chef hopes to bring pop-up American style street food venture to more Chesterfield pubs (derbyshiretimes.co.uk) 

The architect behind the organisation takes his inspiration primarily from beef recipes from the United States of America while, as should be the way with all great creative minds, adding something uniquely and wonderfully his own to the recipes. 

During the recent weekend of storms, nature, gardening, life admin and Pink Floyd binging I took my inspiration for today's blog entry from the O.G Got Beef. 

There was a break in the Floyd bingeing and a break in the weather as I, in light of volunteering to support my parents at a forthcoming gig of his, I gave Paul Weller's 1995 album "Stanley Road" a proverbial spin. I knew well the soaring, slightly synthetic, shimmering eighties soul of his work with "The Style Council" and could not have made it to this stage in life without prolonged exposure to the punchy and deceptively eclectic offerings of "The Jam". 

This record was different gravy however as it was a ramshackle collection of quasi Clapton numbers with smattering of Blue-Eyed Soul and a shot of Stevie Winwood. It felt like the sound of a man wanting to run as far as he could from the laser-sharp work of his earlier bands. 

As with lots of dishes the first job was to marinate long and hard. I took a pack of diced beef and threw it into a bowl with the following:

Two tablespoons of Ground Cumin.

Six diced cloves of Garlic.

A teaspoon of Chilli Flakes.

A teaspoon of Pink Himalayan Salt.

A tablespoon of Cayenne Pepper.

A tablespoon of Tomato Puree. 

Two Leeks, topped, tailed, their outer skins removed and then sliced finely.

A Bell Pepper that had been cored, de-seeded and sliced into thin strips. 

I then put cling film on the bowl and shook it hard for a couple of minutes before leaving it in the fridge overnight to marinate. 

Next I poured it into a Le Cresceut and melted some seventy five grams of Salted Butter into the mix. I cooked it in the oven for around thirty five minutes on Gas Mark 4 before adding a tin of Tex-Mex Mixed Beans and a tin of Chopped Tomatoes plus seventy five grams of Lentils Vertes I'd boiled for  thirty minutes. I then turned off the oven and left the mixture in the pot in the oven as it cooled down to help it all ferment together. 

The result was a spicy, tender and rich dish with a diverse set of ingredients and flavours that in, some ways, represented the diversity of American Culture. 

The dish can be frozen for later consumption as is shown with this helping that is ready to de-frost and warm up. Therefore it is a dish ideal for block cooked meals eaten during the working week. 

Dating Sight

It was a weekend of storms, but in the house it was somehow still and peaceful. A time of oneness and just "being". The previous weeks had been action packed and featured, amongst other things, a St Patrick's Day double-header, my first fraternal black tie dinner since 2019 and a long weekend deep in Eastern Countryside to celebrate an important milestone. 

At my time of life; the action packed days must be enjoyed and the opportunities realised, but the flipside of that is regular downtime needs to be taken to be at my best for those who are important to me. The weekend therefore of gardening, resting, reading, finding time for nature was much needed before the adventures begin again next week. 

With downtime comes cooking new and exciting recipes. Some to consume over the weekend, others to freeze and then microwave in the office so as to give something delicious and wonderful to fortify me during the working week. 

Yesterday's recipe was simple step back into the world of creating recipes for the food blog. It was inspired by trips to a wonderful Turkish Restaurant and an equally brilliant Persian Restaurant in a major city and links to both can be found at Zeugma Restaurants Sheffield (zeugmaiki.com) and QashQai Kitchen food review: A Sheffield heaven for Persian food just round the corner (thestar.co.uk) both of which serve wonderful sweet dishes, some of which are used when Muslims break their fast during Rhamadan.

I chose to make some stuffed dates and the ingredients to make this dish were as follows:

1. Eight Dates, with the stones removed. 

2. Around fifty grams of fruit and nut chocolate, melted to liquid in a sauce pan. The chocolate was a gift from my trip to the secluded East the previous weekend. 

3. Four tablespoons of Liquid Honey. 

4. Chia Seeds. 

On the player was Disc 1 of Pink Floyd's brilliant 1965-72 compilation called "The Early Years". The collection largely consists of re-mixes and rarities of most their output prior to their internal blockbuster "Dark Side of the Moon". Disc 1 is significant for showing how quickly they went from being a slightly quirky rock and roll and blues cover band to a world beating, transcending, force. It also has the bonus of a rare gig with their original and storied erratic genius Syd Barrett as frontman. 

With these still inventive sounds floating out of the player, I set to work by cutting a hole-about the size of my thumbnail- into the middle of each date. Then I melted the Chocolate, fruit and nut and left it to one side for a moment while I added the Chia Seeds and Honey to the centre of each date. 

While it was still cool and before it set, I topped the hole with the chocolate mixture. This soon set so as to keep the Dates together as well as ensuring the Chia and Honey Mixture remained in place. After it had all fully cooled, I placed it in the fridge overnight to help the Chocolate set. 

The next day, I removed the collection of Dates from the fridge to find the overnight cooling had done wonders to lock in the sweet flavours. A delicious treat during a relaxed weekend.

 

Spring into Sunday

Today was, much like a lot this July, a day that held weather not unlike how summers often were in my childhood in the 1980s; in that the temperatures were fresh, it was often wet and windy and the results of games of cricket, at all levels, often depended upon the weather. 

I was about to have a wander with a long-standing friend and our Doggs after coming off the end of a week chock-full of fraternal activities, a sunlit evening game of cricket against the Kashmir XI and quality time with the Most Important Person. All this said I decided I needed something substantial for the upcoming walk. 

A lot of much needed weeding on the back garden the day before had revealed I had some thriving Spring Onion and that the Chives and Russian Tarragon continued to grow. This, plus some spare eggs in the fridge, inspired me to make some Scrambled Egg. However rather just any Scrambled Egg I decided to use the things from my garden to make a butter sauce to drizzle on the Scramble Egg.

On the player was the Band's 1970 effort "Stage Fright". After the pretty much flawless brilliance of their rootsy, back to basics sounding first and second efforts, "Stage Fright" came to some as a disappointment. I remember my Dad recalling, when he was a fluffy Chemistry Student at a local University at the time of the record's release, the album being criticised in the student press as not being as good as the previous two. 

However in the fifty-three years that have passed since that review, time reveals the record to contain much that is worthwhile and illustrates that it is a collection of great songs rather than a great album. There's plenty to marvel at including the buoyant, nerve-ridden rocker "Shape I'm In" while "Time to Kill" and "Stage Fright" reveal a set of musicians still capable of making great music while being clearly fatigued by the constant pressures of touring. 

...And now back to the food; this is how to make the dish

For the Scrambled Egg

 2 Eggs Beaten

Tablespoon of Semi-Skimmed Milk.

Pinch of Nutmeg

For the Spring Onion Butter Sauce

1 Spring Onion from my garden, tailed and cut finely.

100 grams of Russian Tarragon from my garden sliced finely.

25 grams of Chives from my garden sliced finely. 

Half a teaspoon of Black Pepper.

A tablespoon of Cider Vinegar; I used one that was blended with Lemon Juice and Ginger. 

150 grams of Salted Butter.

Serve with:

5 Gluten Free cheese-flavoured oatcakes.

The Method

The method goes like this:

1. Beat the Eggs together in a measuring jug, then add the Milk and Nutmeg and stir together.

2. Melt the Butter in a Saucepan then add the Spring Onion, Chives, Tarragon, Black Pepper and Cider Vinegar and stir well together, while cooking on a very low heat on the hob, for around five minutes. 

3. Line another saucepan with Rapeseed Oil and add the Eggs, Milk and Nutmeg. Stir regularly over a low heat, to stop the contents sticking to the saucepan bottom, for around five minutes.

4. Place the Oatcakes in a pattern on a dinner plate. Add the Scrambled egg and then drizzle the Spring Onion Butter Sauce over the top and serve.

Afghan Adventures

It was the middle of January and the mild weather was slowly giving way to some Tundra type frosts. In order to prove that the January Blues were a mere urban myth we had booked to spend a long weekend in North Yorkshire. It was a weekend that was memorable, spontaneous and full of winter sun. On the Saturday evening of the trip we went a-wandering to downtown Pickering and stumbled upon a wonderful curry house for our evening meal. It seemed that anybody who was anybody in the village was there and I enjoyed an excellent Afghan Curry. It was, in fact, one of the best curries I had ever tasted. A link to the site of this tasteful restaurant is at: Noyon | 7 Eastgate, Pickering, YO18 7DU | 01751476969 / 01751477039 | (noyonindian.co.uk) 

A weekend later, with time on my hands due to the Dogg and I not wanting to walk far in the cold Sunday ice, I decided to make my own version of this curry. 

The ingredients were as follows:

Two Chicken Breasts cut into small cubes and supplied by the ever wonderful Stretton Hall Farm | Facebook 

Two tablespoons of dried coriander. 

Two tablespoons of dried mint.

Two teaspoons of dried Cumin.

Five crushed cloves of Garlic

Four Tablespoons of Coconut Oil.

Two teaspoons of Garlic Salt

Half a teaspoon of Black Pepper.

One well-diced Red Onion. 

A tin of chopped Tomatoes.

A tin of Kidney Beans in Chilli Sauce. 

One Vegetable Stock Cube

On the player was Sinatra, Frank Sinatra. On this particular release from 1968, he and Duke Ellington teamed up and travelled incognito by calling the record "Francis A and Edward K" being their first names and middle initials. The record finds the pair in the early Autumn, in the case of Sinatra, and the winter, in the case of Ellington, of their careers. They however handle the excellent choice of material assuredly to create an engaging album. 

So to the method of this dish, it goes like this:

1. Put half the Coriander, Cumin, Mint, Garlic Salt Coconut Oil and one of the Garlic Cloves into a bowl with the Chicken Pieces. Mix the ingredients well together, cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave in a cool place for a couple of hours to allow the mixture to marinate. 

2. When the marinated chicken is ready add to a Le Cresceut or large, deep frying pan with some melted butter. 

3. Fry together with the red onion on a medium heat for around twenty minutes then add the rest of the herbs and spices, Coconut Oil and half the chopped tomatoes before stirring them together and cooking for another fifteen minutes. 

4. Add the vegetable stock cube and the other half of the Chopped Tomatoes and mix together keeping the heat at just below medium for another twenty minutes.

5. Add the rest of the Garlic and the Red Kidney Beans and stir thoroughly while keeping a medium heat to ensure everything is cooked and blended together. After fifteen minutes of doing this the flavours should be blended and the dish ready to serve. 

On this occasion I served the dish with Rice that was mixed with Cardamom pods. The unique part of this curry is that the mint gives it a fresh flavour that contrasts with the spices to ensure it is strong tasting but has a rich creaminess behind the initial strong taste. It was a flavoursome replication of a meal that was part of a wonderful, memorable weekend. 

Broadbean Bazaar

 It was the wettest day of the month and rain drops hung like beads of sweat on the lush grass growing near the railway track running close to my home. It was the morning after some hard work in helping my cricket team to get a draw and the lion's share of the points to move ourselves off the bottom of the table. It was also the morning after some revelations, albeit ones that would naturally open the door to something wonderful and new, with the realisation that the love you take is always equal to the love you make.

Against these rather deep Sunday Morning thoughts it was time to get creative with the remainder of some delicious bacon sourced from Stretton Hall Farm | Facebook . I had three slices left and I slashed these into small cubes and fried them for around three minutes. Then I put them to one side on a serving plate. 

As I steamed the Broad Beans I had plucked from my garden, the Rolling Stones' excellent album "Exile on Main Street" blared noisy defiance on the player. It was just the inspirational music that was needed after some recent challenges I had faced. The record is one that despite containing sounds as old as the hills, remains fresh and vital. Those of you who haven't checked it out could do worse than take a listen at: Exile On Main St. - YouTube  

The Broad Beans were steamed for around ten minutes to ensure they remained flavoursome but not too al dente. After that I fried in the bacon fat left over from the earlier frying two diced Onions and a diced clove of Garlic. I fried them for ten minutes until the Onions were translucent. I then added the Bacon Pieces, the juice of one Lemon, six fresh Mint Leaves and three small heads of fresh Parsley and mixed all these ingredients together. Then I added the Broad Beans and warmed everything through. 

I served the mixture on a bed of fresh red lettuce leaves. With the use of a lot of fresh, green vegetables this dish had the positive tastes that summer meals bring.