Recipes for May 2022

Quick Rhubarb Chutney with Cardamom

Makes 2 x 500g. jars

200mls. cider vinegar
400g. soft light brown sugar
100g. raisins
2 red onions, chopped
2cm. piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
seeds from 20 cardamom pods
4 – 5 star anise
grated zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp. salt
1kg. rhubarb, cut into 3cm. lengths

Put all the ingredients except the rhubarb into a large, heavy based pan, bring to the boil and boil for 5 minutes.  Add the rhubarb and bring back to the boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Cool slightly and spoon into dry, warm, sterilised jars, (you can sterilise them in a very hot dishwasher, or boil them in a pan of water for 10 minutes.  Cover with a wax disc, then seal and label with the date.  This chutney can be eaten straight away.  Once opened it is best stored in the fridge, and will keep for up to a month.

TIPS

You can use this chutney in the usual way with bread and cheese, or alongside cottage pie, but it is also good heated through and served with roast pork, duck or grilled mackerel. 

I sterilise my jars in the oven, at a low temperature, for about 15 minutes.

Fillet of Salmon with Sweet-Sour Beetroot and Dill Crème Fraiche – Serves 6

For the dill crème fraiche:

200g. / 7ozs. crème fraiche
2 tbsps. grain mustard
1 ½ tbsps. chopped dill

For the beetroot:

500g. / 1lb. cooked beetroot
50g. / 2ozs. unsalted butter
½ tbsp. oil
2 red onions, finely sliced
2 tbsps. caster sugar
1 ½ tbsps. red wine vinegar
salt and pepper

For the salmon:

30g. / 1¼ozs. unsalted butter
1 tbsp. oil
6 x 175g. (6oz.) salmon fillets
good squeeze of lemon juice

 

To make the dill crème fraiche simply mix the crème fraiche, mustard and dill together and refrigerate until you need it.

Cut the beetroot into small pieces.  Season and taste for sweet/sour balance, you may want more sugar or vinegar.  Set aside and reheat before serving.  Heat the butter and oil in a frying pan and cook the onions until soft.  Add the beetroot and increase the heat.  Cook for 2 minutes, then add the sugar and stir until beginning to caramelize.  Add the vinegar and let it bubble.

Heat the butter and oil in a large frying pan.  Season the salmon on both sides and cook over a medium heat, flesh side down, for 1½ – 2 minutes or until golden.  Turn over and cook for 1½ – 2 minutes.  Reduce the heat and cook until done but still moist.  Squeeze on some lemon juice.  Serve with the beetroot and dill crème fraiche.

TIPS

We had this dish for lunch and I used vacuum packed beetroot which worked well.  Just pat it dry before cooking.  I also used dried dill, about 1 tsp., as fresh dill is often hard to come by.

I served it with new potatoes.

April 2022 Recipes

EASY LEMON TART – Serves 6

Pastry:

125g. plain flour
100g. melted butter
3 tbsps. icing sugar, sieved

Lemon Filling:

150mls. whipping or double cream, not single
50g. caster sugar
2 large eggs
2 large lemons, juiced and the rind of 1

  1. Mix the flour and sieved icing sugar in a bowl.  Melt the butter and press the dough into the base and sides of a 7 inch / 18cm. diameter pie tin (I used a sponge tin with a loose base).  Bake blind for 20 minutes at 190 degrees.  Cool.  Reduce oven temperature to 150.
  2. Whisk all the filling ingredients together and pour into the pastry lined tin.  Bake for another 35 – 40 minutes until set.  Allow to cool before slicing.  This would be lovely served with some raspberries / blueberries and some coulis.  It does not require more cream in my opinion.

TIPS

Baking blind stops you getting a soggy bottom.  I have special baking (ceramic beans) but you can use rice or any dried beans.  Just line the tin with baking parchment so that the base is weighed down.

I didn’t refrigerate my tart and it lasted for 3 days.  Keeping it out of the fridge stopped the pastry going soggy.  It was beautifully crisp the first day, not quite so crisp the following day but still very good.

Pour the filling into the tin whilst it is in the oven and on a baking tray then you won’t have to carry it across the kitchen – use a jug for the purpose.

SLOW COOKED SHOULDER OF LAMB WITH ROSEMARY AND ONION SAUCE – Serves 4 – 6

 

6 garlic cloves
5 sprigs of fresh rosemary
10 bay leaves
2 – 2.2kg. shoulder of lamb
salt & pepper
250mls. red wine

For the rosemary and onion sauce

50g. butter
1 onion (about 200g. finely sliced)
2 tbsps. plain flour
500mls. milk
2 tbsps. cream or creme fraiche
1 tbsp. finely chopped rosemary

Preheat the oven to 160/ gas mark 2-3.  Place the unpeeled garlic in the bottom of a large roasting tin with the rosemary and bay leaves.  Sit the lamb on top and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.  Roast in the oven for 2 hours, then pour in the wine and roast for a further hour.

To make the sauce, melt the butter over a low heat, add the onion and saute until soft.  Stir in the flour and then add the milk gradually, stirring all the time.  Cook on a low heat for 5 minutes, add the cream and rosemary and cook for another 5 minutes, again stirring all the time.  The sauce should not be too thick so add the little more milk if necessary.  Season with salt and pepper.

Take the lamb out of the oven and transfer to a warm plate.  Cover in foil whilst you make the gravy.  Discard the rosemary, bay leaves and garlic and spoon off all the fat.  Put the tin over a medium heat and add a little water (or vegetable water) and bring to the boil, stirring to make a gravy.  Arrange the lamb meat in chunks on a serving plate, pour over the gravy and serve with the rosemary and onion sauce.

Eat More “Nose to Tail”: Return of the Simmered Bone Broth

Our guest blogger Liz Pearson Mann explores the parts of the animal our thoughts may not normally reach, shares her personal views with us and provides some recipes:

A native African mother gives her baby its first solid food, according to local cultural wisdom.  She offers up raw liver, which she has first thoughtfully chewed.  People of the Sudanese/Ethiopian border also highly value liver. They believe that their soul resides in the liver, and that a person’s character and physical growth depends on how well they feed the soul by eating it. Indeed, liver is so sacred that it cannot be touched by human hands. This report was given by Weston A Price in the 1930s. He was a Canadian dentist and researcher of indigenous tribes and their approach to health through food.

Liver – this is just one component of “nose to tail” eating.  Cheek, heart, liver, tripe (stomach), kidneys, blood, ribs, tail bone, trotters and more could be added to the list depending on your tastes, of course.  Although this is food we’ve long been eating (until recent decades), you might ask if we’d want to return to it. However, if you want to enjoy a healthy diet, and be sustainable in your eating, read on.

You could be forgiven for thinking that nose to tail eating is merely a frugal way to make do, and poor fare at that. But, this is the way our ancestors ate.  They used knowledge passed down through generations in order to maintain the health of whole communities through the food they ate, and the health of their local natural landscape.  Yet, those eating habits of small, remote indigenous communities are still relevant, even here in a modern Herefordshire landscape.

Wheat and Meat

On the Ledbury Food Group blog, in Diversify Your Grains: Throw in Some Beans we told how the stiff, fertile clay soils surrounding Ledbury have been the focus of heavy wheat crops for centuries, but not without problems.  Even fertile soils can be worn out through constant cropping, if not rejuvenated by fallow periods, with grazing and manuring with livestock in the mix.  Professor Thorold Rogers, in the Victoria County History of Herefordshire, explained how land during medieval times was let to lie fallow every three years, sometimes reduced to two.  He wrote “But fallowing alone could not keep the land in good heart, so that by the end of the 15th century the arable land was being worn out.”  There is only ever so much wheat we can grow and eat, and conversely only so many animals we can ever raise and eat. Balance has always been key.  Enter “nose to tail” eating as part of the balance.
 

Sheep grazing in a fallow field
Sheep grazing in a fallow field

Ancestral Food and Thrifty Fare

The most nourishing minerals, vitamins and compounds (like gelatine) are to be found in parts of an animal we rarely eat these days.  People have always known this without the need for modern science.  They’ve observed the connection between health and food, passing this knowledge down through descendants by word of mouth for most of human existence: this is ancient nutrition.  For instance, if you’ve ever bought glucosamine capsules for joint pain, you’re buying a medicine that is found in collagen and gelatine released in a pot of slow-simmered bone broth. You could see this as ancestral food versus techno food, and natural health versus Big Pharma.

“Nose to tail” eating is easy on the budget too; after all, liver, kidneys, black pudding, sausages and slow-roast joints of meat are well known for being thrifty fare.  Farmers can’t raise just a pork chop, lamb shank, or beef topside joint – they have to raise the whole animal.  Many say that to eat the whole animal is to respect the life of the animal.  Though some may not wish to eat meat, or any part of an animal, a truth we may find harder to accept today is that all diets require the sacrifice of life.  We are all part of the circle of life, however we eat.

Here are some ideas for “nose to tail” cooking:

Cheeky Recipes: Beef Cheeks

With rising interest in slow-roasting, slow-simmering and ‘slow food’, beef cheeks have seen some attention in the cooking world recently.  D T Waller and Sons butchers, at The Homend in Ledbury, rate ox cheeks as a good buy at certain times of the year, so check in with them to find out when they may have them in stock.

If you’re looking for recipes, then here’s one that covers some basics:

How to cook ox cheeks by Farmison

And, if you like to try recipes from famous chefs:

Beef cheeks in red wine from Jamie Oliver

Braised beef cheek from Great British Chefs

The Middle and the Tail End of the Story

Sally Fallon, in her book about ‘Nourishing Traditions’ points out that American cook books of only a century ago were full of “nose to tail” recipes. The same could be said of a cook book I own which was my great-grandmother’s. Coombs Unrivalled Cookery for the Middle Classes was published in 1911 with a title which wouldn’t sit well with many people today!

My Great-Grandmother’s cookbook – full of nose to tail recipes.
My Great-Grandmother’s cookbook – full of nose to tail recipes.

Many of the recipe names in my book sound rather up-market (it’s the style), and though made from simple, basic ingredients, they’re still good.  Here’s an easy one for grilled kidneys:

Grilled kidneys a La Maître D’hôtel – Serves 2

3 sheep’s kidneys
1 tsp lemon juice
1oz butter
1 tsp chopped parsley
Pepper and salt

Method:

  • Skin and core the kidneys and cut into halves
  • Grill for seven minutes, and serve with butter in each

For the butter:

  • Put all the ingredients on a plate and work with a knife until the butter absorbs the lemon juice and parsley.

 Stewed Oxtail and Tomatoes – Serves 5 – 6

Here’s an oxtail recipe from my great-grandmother’s cookbook.  It was more commonly seen in previous decades, but it still lives on, mostly as commercially-made oxtail soup.  You’re unlikely to see oxtail (bone with the meat) in a supermarket, and it’s even hard to get it from a butcher’s, but D T Waller and Sons on The Homend in Ledbury sell it.  It would be worth asking at any local butchers whether they normally sell it, or would order some in for you.  (Please note, though, that modern food safety requirements restrict what butchers can sell today compared with butchers of the past.)

1.5 kg oxtail joints
Chopped ham (to taste)
1oz of cornflour
4 or 5 tomatoes
1 1/4 pints warm water
Little pepper
1 small onion
1 oz butter
1/2 tsp gravy powder*

* The original recipe lists ‘Coombs gravy salt’, which isn’t made anymore, but I take this to mean gravy powder, now mostly superseded by gravy granules. I suggest using the instructions on the back of the packet and adjust for 1 1/4 pints of water.  If you can make your own stock, it will be tastier and more nutritious.

Method:

  • Wash and remove the fat from the oxtail, melt the butter in a pan, and fry until brown.
  • Also fry the ham (adjust amount to taste), the onion (sliced), and the tomatoes cut into slices.
  • Add the water and simmer slowly for two hours
  • Put the tail on a hot dish
  • Mix the cornflour with a little cold water, thicken the sauce with this, add pepper and gravy powder, and pour over the pieces of tail and serve. The sauce can be strained if liked

If you find you have some left over, you can freeze if for another tasty meal.

Find Out More

For more information, try:

It Takes Guts: A Meat-Eater’s Guide to Eating Offal by Ashleigh VanHouten

Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats by Sally Fallon (with Mary Enig)

Liz Pearson Mann is a writer, archaeologist, crafter and grower. She writes about being rooted in landscape, traditional culture and evergreen skills. She is author of Eat Like Your Ancestors (From the Ground Beneath Your Feet): A Sustainable Food Journey Around the English West Midlands

Thanks to Matt Waller of D T Waller and Sons for information and help in the preparation of this blog,

March 2022 Recipes

FAST CHEESY HERB MUFFINS – Makes 12

Good with soup, salads or for eating on the go!

275g. / 10ozs. self raising flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
50g. / 2ozs. butter, melted
1 large egg, beaten
250mls. / 9fl. ozs. milk
75g. / 3ozs. cheddar, grated
leaves of 1 bunch of basil, chopped
75g. / 3ozs. pitted black olives, chopped
2 tbsps. sun-dried tomato paste

  1. You will need a 12 hole muffin tin and 12 muffin cases.  Preheat the oven to 200c/180c fan/ gas mark 6.
  2. Measure the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl.  Mix the butter, egg and milk together in a jug.
  3. Add the cheese, basil and olives to the bowl of dry ingredients and mix well.  Pour in the wet ingredients and gently stir everything together using a fork.  Mix in the sun-dried tomato paste right at the end to give a rippled effect through the batter.
  4. Divide the mixture between the cases and bake in the oven for 18 – 20 minutes until well risen and lightly golden brown.
  5. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly.  Serve warm or cold.

TIPS

These are best made and eaten on the day but will keep for 2 days in the fridge in an airtight container.  They freeze well for up to a month.  Defrost and warm through at a low heat in the oven to refresh.

If you can’t find muffin cases you could use cupcake cases, they are larger than fairy cake cases but not quite as deep as muffin cases, so the mixture may stretch to a few extra muffins.  Gently swirl in the sun-dried tomato paste, without stirring it in completely, as this gives a lovely hit of tomato when you eat the muffin.

CHICKEN AND LEEK SUET CRUST PIE – Serves 6

2 tbsps. oil
4 slim, small leeks or 2 fat ones, trimmed and sliced
3 carrots, peeled and cut fairly small
4 skinless and boneless chicken breasts (about 450g. in weight)
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
2 tbsps. plain flour
150mls. (5fl. ozs.) Marsala or sherry
200g. / 7ozs. full-fat creme fraiche
2 tbsps. chopped parsley

For the pastry:

150g. / 6ozs. self raising flour
75g. / 3ozs. suet
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg, beaten

  1. You will need a 26cm. / 10 1/2 inch pie dish that can hold about 1.2 litres (2 pints).  Preheat the oven to 220c/200c fan/ gas mark 7.
  2. Heat half the oil in a large frying pan.  Add the leeks, carrots and onion and fry until soft.  Add the garlic and cook for a further minute.  Remove from the pan and set aside.
  3. Heat the remaining oil, season the chicken and fry over a high heat until browned.  Remove from the heat and set aside.
  4. Whisk the flour and Marsala / sherry in a bowl until smooth then tip into the pan.  Add the crème fraiche and stir until thickened and combined.  Add back in the leeks, chicken etc.  Add the parsley, season, spoon into the pie dish and allow to cool.  You could do this step the day before.
  5. To make the pastry, measure the flour, suet and salt into a large bowl and pour in enough water (about 100mls. / 3fl. ozs.) to make a soft dough.  Add the water gradually, do not tip it all in at once, and stir with a knife as you go.  Bring together with your hands and lightly knead.  Roll out on a floured surface to about 1cm. / 1/2 inch thick and large enough to cover the top of the pie dish.
  6. Brush the edge of the dish with a little of the beaten egg, then carefully lay the pastry over the filling.  Trim the edges and press to seal.  Brush with more beaten egg and make a small hole in the middle of the pastry to allow steam to escape.  Place on a baking sheet and cook for about 25 – 30 minutes until lightly golden.
  7. Serve with boiled or mashed potatoes and a green vegetable.

TIPS

I had a pie dish of exactly the right dimension, but I also have 2 that are deep and oval, so if you can get the filling in, a dish of that type would be fine.  You wouldn’t need as much pastry for covering the top with a dish of that shape.

If you have a pie funnel (I have 2) I suggest you use one as it keeps the lid from getting soggy on the bottom by holding it up.  You can still buy pie funnels in a good kitchen shop (I have seen them in the one in Ledbury).

The pie can be totally assembled up to 6 hours ahead and baked to serve.  The pre-baked pie freezes well.  Bake straight from frozen for 40 – 45 minutes.

Recipes for February 2022

CAULIFLOWER AND WALNUT CREAM

Serves 4

1 medium cauliflower
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
450mls. / 3/4 pint chicken or vegetable stock
450mls. / 3/4 pint milk
45ms. / 3 tbsps. walnut pieces
salt and pepper
paprika and chopped walnuts to garnish

1. Trim the cauliflower of outer leaves and break into small florets. Place the cauliflower, onion and stock in a large saucepan.

2. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes. Add the milk and walnut pieces, then puree in a blender or food processor until smooth.

3. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper, then reheat. Serve sprinkled with a dusting of paprika and chopped walnuts.

MARMALADE QUEEN OF PUDDINGS

Serves 4 – 6

10g. butter, plus extra for greasing
565mls. full fat milk
100g. breadcrumbs
zest of 1 lemon
50g. caster sugar
3 medium eggs
2 generous tbsps. thick cut marmalade

1.Heat the oven to 150 C/ gas mark 2. Butter a medium baking dish. Heat the milk until it just reaches the boil. Remove from the heat and add the butter, breadcrumbs, lemon zest and 25g. of the sugar. Thoroughly mix so that the butter really melts.

2. Set this aside for 15 minutes to swell and melge. When it is a little cooler separate the eggs and add the yolks to the custard. Use a small hand whisk to amalgamate. Pour this mixture into the buttered dish and place in the oven for about 30 – 35 minutes until just set.

3. Meanwhile melt the marmalade in a saucepan and spoon over the baked custard base.

4, Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Whisk in the remaining sugar and spoon this on top of the pudding. Return to the oven for a further 15 minutes or until the soft meringue is beginning to turn golden. Wait for about 15 minutes before eating.

TIPS

1. You will always get a smoother soup with a blender than with a food processor.

2. You can make Queen of Puddings with a jam rather than marmalade. I have used this recipe as it is the marmalade making season. I used brioche bread to make my breadcrumbs and cut it into slices the night before, spreading it on a rack so that it was stale by the time I used it. Do not use ready made breadcrumbs.

3. We ate the leftovers cold and still liked it. If you try heating meringue in a microwave it will disintegrate. I used to volunteer in a Lunch Club for older people and would watch them asking for lemon meringue pie to be heated in the microwave, The meringue would virtually disappear.

January 2022 Recipes

CHICKEN AND BACON PUCHERO – Serves 4

1 tbsp. oil plus a little extra
1 yellow pepper, deseeded and cut into bite size chunks
2 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
200g. baby potatoes, halved or quartered
2 onions, chopped
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
700g. skinless and boneless chicken thigs cut into bite size pieces
200g. back bacon rashers, visible fat removed and sliced
900mls. boiling chicken stock
2 bay leaves
1 tsp. mild or medium curry powder
1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
4 tomatoes, deseeded and roughly chopped
400g. can chickpeas, drained
200g. green cabbage leaves, roughly chopped

  1. In a lidded non stick pan heat 1 tbsp. oil.  Add the pepper, carrots and potatoes and fry for 6 – 8 minutes, until lightly browned.  Transfer to a plate.
  1. Add a little more oil and the onions, chilli and garlic and stir fry for 6 – 8 minutes until softened.  Add the chicken and bacon, season to taste and stir fry for 10 – 15 minutes.
  1. Pour in the stock and add the bay leaves, curry powder and vinegar.  Bring to a simmer and let it cook for 12 – 15 minutes, then add the tomatoes, cover and cook for a further 10 minutes.
  1. Stir in the pepper, carrots and potatoes, chickpeas and cabbage.  Cover and cook for 10 – 12 minutes or until the cabbage has wilted and the other vegetables are tender.  Serve hot in bowls with rice if you prefer.

TIPS

This is a Spanish slow-cooked stew (the name means stewpot) and it can be found with different ingredients and spices throughout the Spanish speaking world.  This is a version from the Philippines and the curry replaces smoked paprika.

There is quite a lot of liquid with this dish. When I made it I did not bother with rice as I didn’t think it needed it. 

SPICED BEETROOT AND CARROT CURRY – Serves 4

1 tbsp. oil
1 tsp. black mustard seeds
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 green chillies, deseeded and chopped
1 tsp. curry powder
2 tsps. cumin seeds
1 cinnamon stick
400g. beetroot, peeled and cut into batons
2 potatoes, peeled and cut into batons
2 carrots, peeled and cut into batons
2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
600mls. boiling vegetable stock
100mls. reduced fat coconut milk
juice of 1 lime
chopped fresh coriander to serve

  1. In a wide non stick frying pan heat the oil and add the mustard seeds and as soon as they begin to pop, add the onion, garlic and chillies and stir fry for 3 – 4 minutes or until the onion has started to soften.
  2. Add the curry powder, cumin seeds, cinnamon stick, beetroot, potatoes and carrots and stir fry for 2 – 3 minutes.  Add the tomatoes and stock and season to taste.  Turn the heat to low and simmer for 15 – 20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.
  3. Stir in the coconut milk and let the curry bubble nicely for another 5 – 6 minutes or until the sauce has thickened slightly.  Remove from the heat, stir in the lime juice and check the seasoning.  Scatter over the coriander and serve hot with rice.

TIPS

  1. This dish too has quite a bit of liquid.  You could try reducing the amount of stock used in both recipes by at least 100 mls.
  2. Do wear thin rubber gloves when chopping the chillies and beetroot, or make sure you do not touch your eyes, or any part of your face after touching the chillies.
  3. Both these recipes come from a Slimming World book so are good if you have over indulged at Christmas.  You could always use full fat coconut milk if you are not worried about calories.  Give the tin a good shake before using.  Handley Organics do a very good range of spices upstairs.
  4. Any leftover coconut milk can be used when making a rice pudding or cooking rice.

Happy New Year,

December Recipes

STOLLEN TRAYBAKE

stollen traybakeMakes 24 squares

175g. golden marzipan
125g. mixed dried fruit
275g. self raising flour
225g. soft unsalted butter
125g. caster sugar
100g. light brown sugar
zest of 1 orange, plus 1 tbsp. juice
75g. ground almonds
2 tsps. baking powder
seeds from 8 cardamom pods, ground
1 1/2 tsps. gd. mixed spice
1/2 tsp. gd. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. fine sea salt
5 large eggs
30g. flaked almonds
icing sugar to dust

  1. Chop the marzipan into small dice then spread out on a plate and put in the freezer to chill – this stops it melting in the oven when baked.
  2. Preheat the oven to 180C, fan 160C, gas 4.  Grease a 20 x 30cm. traybake tin and line with baking parchment.
  3. Toss the mixed fruit in 1 tbsp. of the flour and set it aside.  This helps to prevent the fruit sinking through the cake batter.
  4. Place the remaining ingredients, except for the flakes and icing sugar, in a large bowl.  Beat for 2 – 3 minutes until combined.
  5. Add the cold diced marzipan to the bowl of mixed dried fruit and toss to combine before folding it all into the cake mixture.  Spoon into the prepared tin, level it out and scatter with the flaked almonds.  
  6. Bake for 35 – 40 minutes until golden brown and springy to the touch.  Leave to cool completely in the tin.  Carefully remove, dust with icing sugar and cut into squares.  

CHEESE AND PARSNIP ROULADE

For the roulade:

40g. butter
25g. plain flour
275mls. cold milk
110g. Sage Derby cheese, grated or alternative cheese
49g. hazelnuts, chopped and toasted
1 tbsp. Parmesan cheese, grated
3 large eggs, separated
salt and pepper

For the stuffing:

225g. onions, chopped
40g. butter
3 level tsps. dried sage
1 tbsps. chopped fresh parsley
75g. white breadcrumbs
salt and pepper

For the filling:

350g. parsnips (prepared weight)
25g. butter
2 tbsps. double cream
freshly grated nutmeg
salt and pepper

You will need a Swiss roll tin 32 x 23 cm. lined with baking parchment

 

  1. First make the stuffing by melting the butter in a pan, adding the onions and cooking them for about 6 minutes or until transparent.  Add the herbs, breadcrumbs and seasoning, stir well to combine then sprinkle evenly over the silicone lined tin.
  2. Now for the roulade, place the butter, flour and milk in a saucepan and whisk together over a medium heat until thickened.  Season well and leave to cook over the gentlest possible heat for 3 minutes.  Draw the pan off the heat to cool slightly, add the egg yolks, whisking them really well in.  Add the grated Sage Derby, or alternative, and check seasoning.
  3. In a large bowl and with a spanking clean whisk beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks.  Gently fold one spoonful into the mixture to loosen it then spoon a little at a time into cheese mixture.  Now spread the whole lot evenly over the stuffing mixture in the tin and bake on the top shelf for 20 – 25 minutes until it feels springy and firm in the centre.
  4. Meanwhile cook the parsnips in a steamer for 10 – 15 minutes until they are soft, then cream them together with the butter, double cream and seasoning.  A food processor is easiest for this.  Keep them warm.  Lay a sheet of baking parchment (slightly larger than the roulade) on a work surface and sprinkle the hazelnuts all over.
  5. Turn out the roulade on to the hazelnuts and carefully peel off the base paper.  Spread the creamed parsnip evenly over the sage and onion stuffing.  Roll up the roulade along the longest side, using the baking parchment to help you pull it into a round.  Transfer to a serving plate and sprinkle with a dusting of grated Parmesan.

TIPS

With the traybake you can chop and freeze the marzipan the night before to save time if necessary.

The roulade recipe is an old one of Delia Smith’s, hence the Sage Derby.  You can still sometimes buy this but it is not easy to get hold of.  You could try the cheese man in the Saturday market.  I think Cheddar would be a quite acceptable alternative but you could always seek advice from someone who knows about cheese.

The first time you make a roulade is quite daunting but it usually works well, give it a go!!