HUNTER-GATHERING: wild & fresh food

The Treehouse Diaries: Blackberry Fool!

 

It’s been sometime since I have dedicated an entry to a single recipe…it’s been a bit treehouse filled of late. So much of the food I have had come and go through the outdoor kitchen has been truly memorable and most of it photographed for future use. But at what point does photographing every stage of an exploit detract from the fun and experience of taking part in escapade to begin with?

 

There are so many things down here That I want to capture, write up and tell the world so everyone can take home a little piece but sometimes there is too much (good thing I’m writing a book to put it all in to)! Nothing gives me greater pleasure than to cook a meal or do something without having to consider it for books, blogs, so on and so forth. Perhaps these are the moments the magic really happens and things move at the pace they should rather than having to wait for the sun to come out again to take that so-important shot…

The Treehouse diaries: Of Marrows & Meadowsweet…

 

Well, Scotland was grand, but I have returned with an absurd enthusiasm and I find myself trying to do everything at once…not possible! On the first day back down I went out to secure some protein for a slap up supper chez treehouse. Carrying an air rifle the size of this one makes me feel like I should be out sniping the Taliban or knocking flat Charlie in the dense Vietnamese jungle…so naturally to achieve such a look (and for practicality actually- you can’t look through a scope with a flat cap forwards!) I had to go all Samuel L. Jackson with the headgear. After creeping along the hedgerow, I had a nice fat rabbit in the bag for supper and my rabbit skin rug would cover a little more floor space.

 

Battersea Nettle Beer: A wild brew from the urban jungle...

 

To those of you following my escapades, I am supposed to be living up a tree at the moment. And that is correct…sort of! I am as we speak in a homeless limbo of my Mothers place in Sussex (where I do all my blogging) and a sleeping bag in the middle of the wood. You will be pleased to know that it is coming along very well and progress will be updated here in a few days. I did have a particularly fine pint one afternoon, while working on the Treehouse, so here is the result of my final Urban foray in London and it goes a little something like this:

On the one hand, the stinging nettle is one of Mother Nature’s greatest gifts. On the other, it is the possibly one of the most annoying, frustrating plants growing today: It is all in the eye of the beholder.

In my toddling days, I learnt to give stingers a wide berth, I also learnt that the application of a split dock leaf was more than ample treatment to combat the throbbing infliction dealt out by this fairly innocent looking plant. As I have grown I have come to appreciate this plant for all its many uses: as a vegetable, a source of twine, a weapon (especially on country walks with friends) and most recently, as an ingredient for turning water into something a little more grown up…beer.

Bresaola: Home-curing for idiots.

Between making plans to live up a tree for 6 months (which you can follow on this here very blog and Twitter), I have been finishing up my city days playing about with a few preservation techniques that might come in handy in the woods, as lack of fridge/freezer will prove a problem.

As you may have guessed, Mr Fearnley-Whittingstall has proved himself a fine source of inspiration over the years; he may very well be the man responsible for many of my culinary adventures here and there. He is a good fellow and even let me into his kitchen once, in my drunken state, to help make crème brulees for all his other guests. Trusting to say the least…

Easter Eggs.

 

“What the hell have rabbits got to do with eggs and Easter?”

“Not sure…” Clare was obviously as perplexed as me by the strange choice of characters for Easter advertising campaigns.

“Why do Rabbits deliver eggs when they don’t even lay them? Do they steal them from chickens?”

 This conversation was going nowhere clearly…

Easter traditions state that Fish should be eaten on good Friday and Lamb on Sunday. I can’t help but think that the new lease of life in spring, all the lambs leaping about in the fields, are then being eaten as a classic Easter dish is a bit tight. Personally, I believe that eating Rabbit would be more appropriate, but maybe not if you have children eagerly awaiting a visit from the Easter bunny.

Home smoked Garlic & Salt.

 

When man first realised the benefits of smoking, an entirely new sect of food preservation and flavouring suddenly hit the gastronomic world, little did primitive man know just how important the discovery was…he was probably still excited over the invention of the wheel.

None the less, early man was clearly partial to a smoky flavour; otherwise the discipline wouldn’t have survived (although the use of smoke in preserving was way more important). How could bacon ever be as good without a little smoke blown up its backside? The Scottish economy would suffer without it’s most famous export- both of the above are products of cold smoking, but what of hot smoking? A small hot smoker may cook a couple of trout to perfection in 10-15 minutes but it isn’t a tool for preservation. This useful bit of kit is great for cooking meat and fish to scoff immediately, but what else can you do with it?

 

Ring of fire...

I am obsessed with all things chilli. It was something I was aware of, but I didn’t understand the scale of my ‘problem’. Yesterday I was cleaning out the condiments cupboard and realised just how many weird and wonderful sauces I had accumulated, the fridge too, had more jars of pickled chillies than is necessary for any household.

Wild Stinger Pesto.

 

Whilst I still haven’t given up my urban roots just yet, and still enjoy eating them whenever possible (I couldn’t resist a little Hugh Punly-Whittingstall action- I do apologise), I thought I would take the opportunity, with all this fine weather we are having, to go and see if the London larder had swung open its doors for business.

Often I have found Battersea park to be a mixed bag in terms of wild food: Good for squirrel fishing, bad for mushrooms, good for elderflower, bad for chestnuts etc, etc. But there is one time of year that the park does come into it’s own, and that’s right about now- spring. I always find Sussex has a slight delay on London, whilst the hawthorn leaves are beginning to show themselves up here, the radioactive-free countryside has still to get its first smattering of green.

Yule Blog: Christmas with the family.

Less than a week after I had been sewing up my 3- bird roast, I found myself doing it all over again, but on a slightly smaller scale. Christmas at home is always a relaxed affair: just my Mother, Brother and I. I had made a list of all the bits that we fancied eating over the Christmas period and marched around Chelsea fighting off other last minute shoppers over who would get the last smoked ham.

The Train down to Sussex was a lot different from my usual journeys. Getting the mainline train south on Christmas eve is a mixed bag, stressed out families with screaming kids, suitcases and bags of presents, people stuffed into every possible corner- and yet above all this tension, there was a mellow festive cheer that danced throughout all the carriages, no one seemed to bother exchanging snide comments- it was Christmas.

 

Christmas Tucker: The Three-Bird Roast…

Just thought I would post up this little gem from the archives (I believe it was 3 years ago whilst living in Londinium), since life has changed so dramatically over the last 2 years- I thought I would whip out this one- I must admit it was certainly a high point in my culinary past and worked out much better than hoped! Well worth doing if you have to lay out a big spread and here is how to go about it....

 

Christmas is about eating…lots. So there can be no better centrepiece to a festive feast than a huge bird-within-a-bird-within-a-bird. A bunch of friends received invites a week or so in advance and all that was asked for was £10, a bottle of plonk and a secret Santa present. I found that this supper-club approach to weekend revelry could be a taste of things to come for the New Year. Obviously I love cooking, especially when it comes to sharing it with friends, so naturally Clare and I thought we could cook up quite a bit with £100 in our pockets as we waited for the bus to the mupersarket.

Throwing in whole birds makes things a little more expensive. Good turkeys cost more than I expected, especially if it’s a Kelly Bronze Turkey, whole ducks and wine for mulling easily cleared half the budget! But the vegetables won’t cost that much will they? Don’t get me wrong; I admire those producers that take the time to carefully rear their crops, be it organically, bio-dynamically or otherwise.

But I am not one of these people who fill their baskets with everything organic, far from it, a good grope of a red onion or bunch of celery tells me everything I need to know. I am sure if I had the money to buy everything organic I probably would, but I don’t. Enough on shopping and food politics…

Stock.

 

The foundation of any good kitchen rests upon laying down some damned fine stock: the base for an infinite amount of sauces, broths and stews. Quick fix solutions come in the form of cubes or powder, but these will never do the real thing justice. Few things are more satisfying than skimming the fat off a simmering stock pot and I take great pleasure in knowing that whilst the stock market is all over the place, the stock in my freezer ain’t going nowhere. 

 

 

I always make my stock the way Marco Pierre-White does (I do find it ironic that he is the face for Knorr stock cubes!), I read a great recipe some years ago in one of his books under the aptly named ‘basics’ section:

 

• 2kg of roasted veal bones
• A couple of raw chicken carcasses
• Classic Mirepoix with a twist (1 red onion, 1 leek, 2 celery, 2 carrots)
• A squeeze of tomato puree
• Bouquet garni (sprigs of lemon thyme, rosemary, parsley and 3 bay leaves)
• 1 crushed bulb of garlic
• A good twist of black pepper
• ½ bottle of Red wine

 

 

 

Roasting the veal bones is a great way to add some serious body to your stock, as this melts all the marrow from within the knuckles (get your butcher to saw up the bones).  Of course stock wouldn’t be stock without the dog ends and roughly chopped chunks of onion, celery and carrot. My favourite kitchen smell is always kicking off a demi-glace; gently sautéing these three in a pan IS the essence of cooking for me.

Once the veal bones have been roasted, place them in a stock pot (make sure you get all the good bits off the roasting tin!) along with all your vegetables and the rest of the ingredients, apart from the red wine. Top up with cold water until everything is covered. Bring to the boil and then gently simmer for up to 5 hours, topping up with water every so often. Skim off any foam or oily-looking fatness that hangs around on the surface. Once you feel you have simmered enough, put the stock through a strainer into a fresh saucepan. Bring to the boil, reduce by half, add the red wine and boil again. Bag up or box the gravy and stick in the freezer until it’s time comes (I like to freeze mine in ice cube bags).

 

From here you are very near to having some incredible gravy for your roast. Boil up again, add some dried ‘shrooms and thicken with a roux (2 tbsp of butter, 2 tbsp of plain flour, melt butter in pan, add flour, whisk till combined, add to stock).

 

With the gravy in the bag, or more accurately the freezer, I can get on with more pressing issues: What birds and how many? I felt that a 10-bird roast was a little extreme for 10 people, perhaps 5? Or 3? I was extremely pleased to realise that there was some control, whatever my buddy Nick shot the weekend before would make the final cut, as well as determine the amount of birds within birds. 

 

 

 

As luck would have it, super sharpshooter Nick turned up at my door the Sunday night before with 6 pheasants…three birds it is, with a few pheasant breasts for a game terrine. During my research on the ‘net, I came a cross an American phenomenon called a “Turducken”. This was not the latest box office smash hit from Warner Brothers (imagine the voice-over guys with the deep, throaty voices doing the trailer- you must see this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQRtuxdfQHw) 

 

Only in America would they name a 3-bird roast (turkey, duck and chicken) in such a way! On British soil it is more commonly known as a royal roast. After careful consideration I decided on a 6lb Turkey, a 2lb Duck and a 1lb pheasant; three quite different flavours and three slightly different shades of meat. On paper, the royal roast seems like the gastronomic equivalent of climbing Everest (or at least K2), when in reality it is much simpler; time and patience are the only things to worry about.

 

Having a steady hand and a sharp knife for boning the birds is a key element to building this roast. Firstly bone out everything from the duck and pheasant, with the turkey you just need to remove the torso. By leaving the turkey’s legs and wings intact, this will help the final product keep its shape once it is bound and trussed. As you can see from the pictures below, once the turkey was opened up and a layer of stuffing and a little seasoning was applied, the duck was placed on and the process repeated itself, likewise with the pheasant. 

 

 

On goes the first layer of stuffing and the duck (above).

The stuffing goes on the duck (above).

The pheasant goes on (above).

All layers and stuffing in place (above).

A bit of nip & tuck, turkey surgery.

 

Sewing the turkey back together was a tad fiddly; I had no butcher’s twine or needle. Improvisation came in the form of plain string and a cunningly fashioned piece of coat hanger, which was actually quite effective. Once trussed, I turned over my creation and stood back to admire my handiwork.

 

“That wasn’t actually too bad.” Said I, with a satisfied grin on my face.

 

 

Clare, ever the voice of reason, gave it a prod and said: “Yes, but you haven’t cooked it yet…”

 

 

Thanks love!

 

By careful consideration of poundage/temperature/time, I calculated that this beast would need about 4 hours in a preheated oven at 180C and then at least an hour of sitting time before taking it to the table. As long as it went in at 3.30pm, it would be ready for main course. “Turduckant Royale” done.

 

 

A Christmas feast wouldn’t work without all the trimmings, and we had them all. In typical hunter-gatherer fashion, I took charge of the meat and Clare took care of the vegetables. Mini sausages wrapped in bacon, swede and broccoli mash, roast potatoes in goose fat, honey roasted Chantenay carrots and parsnips and finally red cabbage parcelled up in white cabbage leaves. 

 

 

Even the cranberry sauce was homemade (225g of fresh cranberries, 150g sugar, 125ml water: 10 minutes). Unfortunately when it came to the main, we had had a couple of hours of aggressive pickling (mulled wine, champers and more wine) during a quiz, my dainty little cabbage parcels were forgotten about in the oven and never graced the table!

For our starter, the extra pheasants Nick had shot had been given the lazy treatment (pluck breast area, cut out breasts, discard bird); a few breasts and the livers from all the birds were saved and formed the foundation of a game terrine (see chicken terrine blog under meat for recipe). 

 

I love making terrines, the satisfaction of the bricks and mortar building technique, surrounding it with streaky bacon and then finally, once cooked, cutting through it to reveal the patchwork of breast meat and forcemeat peppered with capers. Amazing. We ate this with some freshly baked black olive bread and it went down a storm, perhaps even better than the roast…

 

There was little room left for Christmas pudding, but Clare had made some Rocky road, which was very well received. Cheese was washed down with Port followed by numerous rounds of charades and a few more drinks. On the whole it was a glorious evening, a few cheesy Christmas tunes and almost a dozen stuffed guests.

 

Christmas is the time for getting together with friends and porking out on rich food and drink. The three-bird roast was the terrific climax of all the roasts I have eaten this year, and there have been many. Even though I still have leftovers coming out of my ears and it’s a race against time to make use of them and fill the freezer with pies etc. for January, I will definitely do it all over again next year, perhaps 5 birds? Where exactly I will be doing it is anyone’s guess…perhaps in Sussex, maybe in a tree house…who knows.

 

 

January and February are probably the two most miserable months of the year in my book, but while we have the holiday season lets make the most of it. Next year will see this blog rising to new levels of culinary extremes, lashings of wild food and perhaps a few other ideas I have up my sleeve.

 

 

A Couple of things do remain to be said, I can’t thank all of you enough for taking the time to drop in and read some of my rambling entries and I hope that you have had the chance to play around with some of the recipes or at least learnt something new. So to one and all, I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, get stuffed! I know I will…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gentleman’s relish.

 

As I sat nestled in the most enormous armchair in a quiet pub somewhere in Fulham, I turned to Nick and said quite innocently “I made some gentleman’s relish today.” His reply wasn’t quite what I expected.

 “How many gentleman did you use?”, I couldn’t help but have a mild chortle.

Mulled wine & Mince pies: Christmas preparation.

I do love this time of year. This is where Christmas really begins; the month of December brings with it a flurry of festive goings on. Despite the lack of snow and talk of people being more frugal than ever this year, on the streets of London there is still Christmas cheer in the air.

During this build up, and partly due to the lack of wild food around, I will be doing a bit of this and that to make my Christmas (and hopefully your’s too) as good, if not better, than any other. Over the next few weeks I will be putting together a series of things I feel make the ultimate Christmas feast, culminating in a huge 5-bird roast with all the trimmings for some lucky friends. My regular game donator Nick will be providing all the necessary birds. I must confess, of late I have been considering going for a 20-leg (number on each beast) roast which would include a squirrel, hare, rabbit and lamb (not a whole one) trussed up in a rolled sirloin…hmmm, despite the conflicting flavours it would be something to talk about!

 

In a bit of a pickle...

 

It hard to say which absolute genius was responsible for inventing the sublime art of pickling.  An hour or so of research drew the rather vague conclusion I was expecting; archaeologists & anthropologists believe that by 2040BC, the Ancient Mesopotamians were into their pickling. Regardless of being able to take my hat off to anyone in particular, all I can say is thank goodness someone did!

Pickling evolved more out of necessity than anything else, as a method of preserving food when it was available for the future. Ancient peoples palates were no doubt blessed and cursed with the same tastes for different flavours as us. Hence pickling must have become a favourable way to process foods because they were enjoyed as well as preserved.

Pumpkins aren’t just for Halloween.

Why ruin a perfectly good pumpkin? Every Halloween you see 100’s of ‘Jack-o’-laterns’ in peoples windows and porches each emitting a faint eerie glow through sketchy-carved out features, not that I am one to poo-poo a time honoured tradition. When it comes to the end of October I feel pumpkins should be purchased in pairs, not because they are particularly sociable vegetables, because one can be carved out and the other can be used for filling your belly.

 

As I remember I used to be a bit of a dab hand at carving pumpkins, I loved drawing as a child and to be able to put a scary face on a vegetable was something you don’t get to do everyday. The only down side I found with carving a mean looking pumpkin and sticking it by the gates was that no-one would get to see my handiwork (not at the end of a half mile driveway on the forest anyway).

 

 

The pumpkin’s association with Halloween was conceived in North America around the 1860’s and in folklore terms it had something to do with warding off demons. Cinderella used to get the fairy godmother to turn a pumpkin into a carriage when she went for a night on the town and even Harry Potter is quite partial to pumpkin juice or three.

 

 

Rosehips: The Winter Warmer.

At this time of year the hedgerows are peppered with pockets of bright red rosehips, gone are the pretty pink tinged flowers of summer and in their place is small oval capsule bursting with Vitamin C.

For years I have noticed the rosehip, yet rarely have I bothered to take the time to harvest it. I think this may have been due to fact that I like to harvest a morsel that can be enjoyed as part of a meal, something I can use in the solid sense and gorge myself on, rather than processing into a healthy liquid to aid me through winter.

 

Did you say Crab-apples or Crap apples?

 

 

Unfortunately for the poor Crab-apple, I have taken to calling them crap-apples over the years, call me childish if you will, but they are crap apples: Never one to please you on an autumn stroll, a crab-apple straight of the ground won’t do much for your taste buds, that tart sharpness is better put to use in the kitchen with a few store cupboard staples, than wolfed down straight off the tree.

In the same way as hawthorn berries, crab-apples pack a lot of pectin, especially in the skin. It is for this reason crab-apple jelly is the most obvious choice when converting this fruit into something edible. Surely there can be other uses for them than just jelly? After having a good think about it, I decided there were.

 

Campfire bread: Dampers.

It’s pretty tough to find a foodstuff in the wild like bread; it’s actually nigh on impossible. A bag of flour is one of the most useful additions to your camping larder and I rarely spend a few days in the woods without it. Not only is it packed with carbohydrates, something often scarce in the outback unless you want a diet of roots.  These particular dampers pictured where made earlier this summer by the girlfriend and I, at a stopover on Dartmoor, before heading north for some surf.

 

What’s wrong with Perch? The most underrated fish in the UK.

Yet again, our European counterparts are all over it like a fat kid on a cupcake. There is much talk in the UK of eating what’s fresh, local and in season. Somehow, somewhere along the line we are still consistently missing the best of it. The Perch is very rarely covered in English culinary circles, the only time I have seen them on TV was in the form of that pathetic attempt at a wild food program; ‘The Wild gourmets’. Whilst watching the equally disappointing Guy Grieve & Thomasina Miers desperately flailing a rod around for the best part of a day, they pulled out one tiny perch and put it back again. Well done! Sadly their banter was shockingly bad. I’m not quite sure what that program was trying to achieve, as far as I know (judging from its ratings and reviews) it didn’t achieve a lot! As for their book as a comprehensive wild food guide...you would be better off with a copy of the London paper, or you could buy the book just in case you ever run out of loo paper.

Enough of talking crap TV. The Perch is the star of this show; quite why we, as a country don’t eat more I cant understand.  This beautiful fish was a massive part of my early fishing days, I often used to head to a stream above Weir wood reservoir in Sussex armed with a hand line, float and pot of worms. It was an absolute joy to spend long summer days pulling out hundreds of them as well as the odd wild card of bream or trout.

 

So what the hell did I learn from Shipwrecked 2008? Probably the best Fish dish in the world!

I don’t think many people would say no to a three month break in the Cook islands…FOR FREE! The only problem was that I had to partake in Shipwrecked 2008, What!? I didn’t even apply! But I was “headhunted” to be the resident survival expert on the Third island. Fair enough, better than being on the other two, with all that screaming, arguing, overplayed emotion and bog standard week-by-week format. The third island offered some sort of adventure. Fun and games come and go, but real experience? Having your own desert island you can turn into what ever you want?  Hell yes! I wasn’t footing the £2000/week rent! I was going to make this place amazing with the help of my like-minded islanders. But enough of that crap, lets talk fish. 

 

 

 

The best thing about the South Pacific is the abundance of piscine quality, as long as they don’t have ciguatera its ok… 

Of the two incredible fish tastings out of three months, the first had to be the most dangerous, the venomous stonefish.

 

 

 

 

 

“The Stonefish is the most venomous fish in the world. Its dorsal area is lined with 13 spines that release a venomous toxin from two sacs attached to each spine. Its venom causes severe pain with possible shock, paralysis, and tissue death depending on the depth of the penetration. This level can be fatal to humans if not given medical attention within a couple of hours.” Thank you Wikipedia, in short this is not the kind of fish you want to chow down on. But quite honestly, that craving for flesh of some sort when you are starving makes you do some interesting things. The stonefish was a bastard to deal with. Firstly we had to catch it. Me, J-bone and Mike were on an afternoon stroll with the spear and stumbled upon one of these spine-packed-full-of-poison buggers, right near where we had are daily bathing sessions, in conclusion it had to be dispatched.

 

 

After a few failed attempts at spearing its cartilage clad head, we opted for the tail section and were gloriously rewarded with a stonefish on a stick. The typical dose of Cook islands dispatch- a machete to the head, and it was all over. This was one aspect of Polynesian culture I really warmed to; there is no namby-pamby “ooh but you might hurt it…what about how the animal is feeling?” I don’t give a fuck (pardon my French) I’m starving! This regrettably, is a fundamental problem with our culture and even though I sometimes buy my meat from the supermarket, I am well aware of where it’s come from.

 

After cutting out the fishes spine, removing venomous spines by means of a stick and a meat cleaver, removing its extremely ugly head and skinning it we were left with what could only be described as far as look and texture went, a monkfish tail. Now, stonefish, if you are lucky enough to come across one without stepping on it, are in fact a bit of an underground Pacific delicacy, according to some of our local boatmen. I wholeheartedly agree, it was amazing, we did boil it for at least 20 minutes (just to be on the safe side) and used my luxury item of curry powder to turn it into a meal, a fish that meaty could have come off the arse of a cow!

 

 

Speaking of Cook Island delicacies, the most incredible fish dish I have ever had, and will ever have, hands down is Ika mata. Imagine going to a restaurant, being told you can have anything off the menu after three months of hunting your own food and living off rice (and losing one and a half stone in the process!) I don’t think I have had a more memorable dish.

 

 

Technically, this is a Cook island version of ceviche. But it is sooooooo much better! If you are having some people around this summer for a bit of munch, then (you wanky ‘foodies’ out there take note) serve your guests this.

 

 

Ika Mata.

 

 

 

 

.Slice the fish into small cubes about 2cm squared. (For the UK use any sort of whitefish, sea bass is best). 

 

 

.Marinade with the juice of 3 Limes, (the juice must just cover the fish cubes) for about 3-4 hours. 

 

 

 

 

.Once the lime juice has soaked into the fish, the fish will turn to a white color and has ‘cooked’ the fish. Ceviche! 

 

 

.Add finely chopped shallots, carrots, red & green peppers and salt and pepper. 

 

 

 

 

.Mix well and pour over about 3-4 tbsp of coconut cream.

 

 

.Serve on a nice crisp bed of salad leaves, preferably if you grow your own and so you should!

 

 

So, did I learn anything from going on Shipwrecked 2008? Of course, the best fish dish on the planet and that was after eating 3 months of coconuts as snack food. You would be an absolute fool to be reading this and not try it for yourself, hake, coalie and mackerel are all good, sustainable options and they are all very well priced. If your feeling a bit pimp then hit Sea bass, it’s the best. This is certainly a very unique dish, you wont have had anything quite like it before. I could eat it every day, I wish I had then maybe I wouldn’t have lost so much weight! (see below!)

 

Jerusalem Artichokes

Jerusalem Artichokes.

It is that time of year again in which this hardy perennial has begun to show its face again. The supermarkets are beginning to stock them, but those of you who look to search them out have, like me, been munching on them since the end of November. The odd thing about this vegetable is it looks like a cross between sweet potato and galangal (a type of ginger), tastes like Globe artichoke and is related to the sunflower. That is one confused root vegetable! The name comes from the Italian word for sunflower; ‘Girasole’ which has over the years become Jerusalem. The plant is native to North America where the tuber like roots were often used in the past as a staple in much the same way as a potato. The native Americans often referred to them as sun chokes. The girasole was brought over to Europe in the 1600’s and introduced to France by Monsieur Samuel de Champlain. The plant itself acts in much the same way as weeds due to its hardiness and unless controlled can spread. So for this reason growing your own is remarkably easy.

There are so many different ways in which this wonderful vegetable can be transformed, mashed, roasted or pureed; it’s really all down to personal preference and experimentation. So I will give you mine, which makes for a superb, yet different starter.

Jerusalem artichokes with balsamic and Portobello mushroom.
Serves 4
• 1 Jerusalem artichoke finely diced
• 4 Portobello mushrooms
• Half a lemon
• 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
• A few sprigs of thyme
• Salt & pepper
• Butter for frying

Method: Once you have peeled and finely diced your artichoke, melt some butter in a pan and add the artichoke. Fry on a low heat for 5-10mins until softened, add the thyme, lemon juice and balsamic and salt and pepper and reduce on a high heat, when you reduce a liquid fast the flavours will remain strong and intense. After a few minutes of reduction remove from the heat and pour over your Portobello mushrooms, these should then be seasoned and placed in the oven at 190C for 10 minutes.

This is such a fantastic combination of flavours owing to the nuttiness of the artichoke, the beautiful flavour of the mushroom nicely cut by the balsamic. A simple starter which does confuse a lot of people and they will be bound to ask what the artichoke is…it’s in season now so don’t waste time, their not around for long!

Papster's Sun blushed tomatoes: The English way!

I simply had to put this up, my friend Justin (the papster) told me about this. So as you can see all, credit goes to him! As we are not a country that can rely on sun, a cheap way of creating the condensed flavour you get from sun blushed toms is to simple and effective. first line a baking tray with rocksalt, take a pack of cherry toms cut them into halves and place on top of the salt and blast in the oven on 200c for 5-10 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave them in over night, the next morning chuck them in a jar with some good olive oil and enjoy! The flavour will be more intense than your usual tom and slightly salty, most of the moisture would have gone. Remember to keep the salt and use for the next 10+ batches, because you will do them again.

Chatney: worth talking about!

Chutney: The ideal Condiment.

Chutney is super. You cannot deny it. We all eat it in some form or another. The most common I suppose being mango chutney or Branston pickle, as well as other forms like lime pickle and piccalilli, we are all over it. Chutney has been around for hundreds of years, making its way to Europe in the 1600’s as a luxury product from East Asia. It is the Asia’s answer to the South American salsa in the way it is used.
Chutney is essentially made from fruit or vegetables reduced down with vinegar, sugar and spices. Naturally the vinegar acts as a preservative, often lemon/lime juice is also used. So this blend of sweet, sour and spice makes chutney an incredibly versatile addition to any kitchen and can be used with meats, cheese, fish, curries…the list is endless!
Traditionally, chutney is laid down at the end of summer when your garden should be jam packed with produce. I had planned to use the remainder of my toms and courgettes but had a brief sojourn in the Cooks islands for 3 months hence, my chutney making is a little late! Making a chutney is very much a labour of love and you really can use whatever you fancy in the veg and spice department, as long as you have a form of vinegar and sugar. I would say it is probably a good idea to make your first batch based on a recipe. For that there is a superb little book I would highly recommend, made by the infamous Mrs B; Mrs Beeton’s jams, pickles and preserves. Once you have mastered your first batch you can mix & match your own ingredients.

This recipe below is one I concocted as a perfect partner to cheese. I love chutney with a nice chunk of cheddar and a couple of good friends of cheddar are celery and apple, so in they went. As far as the spices went I know that apple and cinnamon are also pretty good mates. Chilli is a must to pack a little punch and a little smoked paprika to give it a more mature finish. To give it more of a country appeal and to maximise the apple hit I used cider vinegar. That was the basic train of thought when I was writing my list of ingredients!

• 1kg courgettes
• 1kg tomatoes
• 500gs apples (Coxs! Peeled, cored & diced)
• 500gs onions
• ½ packet of celery
• ½ packet of radishes
• 1 green chilli
• ½ red chilli
• 500gs sultanas (leave whole)
• 500g of light brown soft sugar
• 650ml of cider vinegar
• ½ tsp of smoked paprika (la Chinata)
• 1 tsp of salt

The spice bag:
• 30g of ginger, chopped into pieces
• 2 tsp black peppercorns
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 cinnamon stick

The method:
To begin with, which is a bit of a bugger, finely chop all the ingredients. This will take a while, so put on your favourite tunes and chop away! You could put it in the food processor but I feel you have more control over the size of the bits if done by hand, it looks better when potted and its much more satisfying.

You will need a big saucepan for this (something I should have thought about!), ideally stainless steel to prevent it sticking and burning. Put all the ingredients in the pan and add the vinegar and sugar, give a good stir.
The spice bag can be made from a bit of muslin or dish cloth with all the ingredients tied up inside, chop the ginger into small chunks and break the cinnamon stick up a little, once made drop it in the pan.
Slowly bring to the boil and gently simmer for 2-3 hours. Keep an eye on the pan and stir every 10-15mins. After 2 hours give it a taste to see if it needs any seasoning or a little more heat, Tabasco is a great way of cheating in a little extra kick. A good chutney should have reduced to a thick, dark finish. A good rule of thumb to see if it is ready comes from Hugh F-W; run a wooden spoon through the chutney and if it parts to show the base of the pan, the chutney is ready. Quite. My batch took about 3 hours till it was ready. Allow it to cool then you are ready to bottle it up.

When it comes to bottling up make sure you have already sterilised the jars you wish to use. Do this by placing them in a pan of water, bring to the boil and allow to cool. Place the jars upside down on a clean towel to dry out.

Spoon your chutney into the jars and seal immediately. The chutney should be left for a minimum of two weeks to give it a bit of time to mature and let the flavours to marry and mingle. You could eat it straight away but if you can bear it, leave it for a few months. Good things come to those who wait!

If you find yourself with a bit of spare time give this recipe a go. The results are incredible and to me it is the best chutney I have ever tried, not just because I made it, it is really good. Branston can kiss my backside, they can also kiss yours if you take the time to make it! You will find it hard to buy chutney again…I know I will. Feel free to share the wealth if you can with family and friends as great presents, after all it is Christmas. Chutney…done.

Monsieur d'escargots ? ils sont magnifiques !

Snails, frog’s legs, onions and garlic…I don’t think you could ever make the mistake of linking the above with any other country than France. Yet French cuisine is revered the world over so they must be on to something. Why have the French become known as frogs? Who first coined that phrase? But then we British are described as roast beef! Do we smell of gravy? Do we taste of beef? I think not. Xenophobia has for some strange reason decided to look to the food that we consume to mastermind such witty pet names for one another. Frog’s legs or “la cuisse de grenuille” has been a firm favorite of mine since the age of five. My parents would take my brother and I down to a wonderful restaurant in the valley below our chalet in Switzerland called La Catogne. The dish I would always have would be frog’s legs coated in garlic, smothered in butter and lemon with handfuls of parsley mixed in. I couldn’t get enough! But anyway this is meant to be about snails.

The common garden snail (Helix aspersa) or as the French call them; le petit gris, is viewed by many as a garden pest and rightly so, the little buggers had a proper go at some of my lettuces but seemed a lot more keen on the pak choi, which they really hammered. Over the channel, it’s a different story snail farms are rife and the Frenchies consume a whopping 30,000 tons of snails a year! You would be hard pressed to find them for sale in this country, but there are about 3 snail farms practicing the art of Heliciculture. One in South Devon, the king William pub in Yorkshire and l’escargot anglais in Herefordshire.

Snails and Romans were particularly fond of each other and with spread of the Roman empire we saw the spread of snails as food. The snail’s sex life is also rather interesting. All snails are male until they mate, snails have a sort of penis just below the eye and two snails will come together and join their wedding tackle for up to 10 hours of seminal fluid exchange, by the end of which one will be inseminated and lay up to a thousand eggs. These are also known as snail caviar and seen by many as a delicacy in its own right.

So it was with a little knowledge of these slow moving creatures and some intense anger at finding them decimating my veggies that I set about venturing into the garden with a torch under the cover of darkness to procure myself some Escargot. After about a week I had about 14 and revenge was immanent.

Snail preparation:
Once you have a batch of snails they need to go into rehab. Sort of. They need to be purged of all unpleasant goods that may be in their gut. To do this you must feed them on a one-item diet. Lettuce, carrot shavings or cabbage leaves are fine and they will need to be purged for 3-5 days. Best to store them in a well-ventilated plastic container with a lid. After this you must starve them for 48 hours, which reduces the amount of slime although this is not necessary.

Cooking:
The classic French way is probably the simplest method of cooking snails. The method I went for was to boil up some well-salted vegetable stock and pop in all the snails and let them simmer for 10 minutes. Once drained and cooled the next stage is to remove them from their shells, this is actually, in the same way as skinning an eel, quite a gleeful experience. It is as they say all in the wrist; get yourself a skewer and dig it into the snail and twist slowly out until you get a nice morsel of snail meat.

To finish them, chop up a couple of cloves of garlic, half a shallot and some parsley and chuck them in a pan along some butter and a splash of white wine and gently fry them for a few minutes. To serve, simply place on a few fresh salad leaves with a little seasoning. Il sont Magnifiques!

If you have a garden or know someone with one then you are more than likely to get your hands on some snails. If you are a keen gardener then I can think of no better way to deal with a snail problem. I like to think of eating snails as just another product of my garden that can be harvested at regular intervals. If you have never tried snails, you don’t have a leg to stand on or to put in context a shell to hide in…if the French can manage 30,000 tons I’m sure you can manage at least a few.

Ready-to-eat pickle.

Anything that’s been pickled is guaranteed to reel me straight in hook, line and sinker. I have a true love for gherkins, pickled onions, pickled chillies, pickled eggs and banderills…the list is endless. So it came upon me one evening whilst eating crackers with cheddar and Branston pickle and a suggestion from my brother, that I felt it was time to bring my own meagre offering to the table. I cannot claim all the credit for this recipe, a certain Mr Norrington-Davies brought it to my attention in his cook book “just like mother used to make.” The method and pickling ingredients are the same, but I have played around with some of the ingredients to which I devoted an entire afternoon to taste and work out which veggies would most fit the bill, and which flavour combinations would work best. Of course if you have a fetish for carrots like Uncle Monty, then you can just use carrots as applies to any other veggie fetishes you may harbour…

The best thing was I was able to use up some of my own produce from the garden, the kohlrabi and radishes were a dead cert and although I did think about the carrots, they were far too small to warrant using. The trick to making the instant pickle is to chop all the ingredients as small as possible, perfect to put on top of crackers and eat along with curries, drop into soups or even have with a terrines. When I say ready-to-eat I mean it. Once this is cooled it is ready to go, but it certainly benefits from a couple of weeks maturing in the fridge. If you find yourself with a few less than fresh veggies in the back of the fridge rather than throw them, make yourself a pickle.

This recipe will make approximately 1 large jar.

Vegetables: (all to be diced finely)
• ½ cucumber
• 1 red onion
• ¼ celeriac bulb
• Handful of radishes
• 2 carrots
• 1 long sweet pepper
• 1 parsnip
• 2 kohl rabi (golf ball size)
• 50g salt
• 1 tbsp peppercorns

For the Pickling mix:
• 300ml white wine vinegar
• 200ml malt vinegar
• 250g caster sugar
• 1tpsp salt
• ¼ tsp turmeric or cumin
• 2 cloves
• 4 bay leaves
• ½ Scotch bonnet chilli finely chopped
• ½ tsp of coriander seeds

Method:
This really could not be easier…unless you got someone else to do it all for you…but then where’s the fun? First put all the pickling mix in a saucepan with 500ml of water and simmer until all the caster sugar has completely dissolved. Put all your finely diced veggies in a large bowl and pour the pickling mix over them so that they are completely covered.
Once the mixture is cooled, there you have it, pickle! Put it into your large jar and make sure the liquid covers the veggies just. Will keep up to 6-8 weeks in the fridge that is if you haven’t eaten it by then.

So simple and quick, well worth making and great for the summer. I would love to hear from any of you who take the time to have a go and tell me what you put in yours, or even your methods of pickling, other than drinking copious amounts of booze! As the summer draws to an end in the next couple of months my pickle production will turn into full on chutney-making, when I make the first batch, you’ll be the first to know…

The Home made Terrine: Make one Today!

I always regarded a terrine as something that was made by snooty French chefs. These artistes would not bare the thought of an Englishman taking on, nay even attempting something as sophisticated as the art of terrine making. In reality a terrine is fairly simple and has been a staple of British farmhouses for years. So if you fancy something very tasty and an imaginary one fingered salute to our cousins over the pond, set aside a little time and get stuck in!
The name ‘Terrine’ comes from the authentic earthenware dish in which a terrine is cooked. Nowadays they come in metal too. Traditionally, a terrine is a rougher version of a pate with pieces of meat integrated along with livers and sausage meat…not a million miles from a meatloaf. If I were writing this in November I would be making this with game, there is no better place for pigeon, rabbit and pheasant to come together along with their livers and tingle the taste buds. But as it is high summer and scarcely any game is knocking about, chicken is always readily available along with their livers and will just have to suffice.

A terrine can be a truly wonderful thing, best for starters if you have a few friends for supper or pack it up with some homemade bread and become the envy of your workmates at lunch! Even as gifts the terrine comes into its own, I must admit when I did my placements at Olive & Good Food magazine they were gratefully received and gone in a matter of minutes. I definitely try to make one at least once a month, each one following this recipe but in true gastronomic guerrilla fashion I like to tweak the ingredients slightly. Once employing gherkins (a typical accompliment to this dish) as a would-be ingredient, I feel it worked perfectly…but not everyone likes gherkins…crazy folk! The key is to mix and match and I will continue to do so until I find the one that really cuts the mustard, but until then this recipe will certainly fill that void.

As Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall describes the terrine ‘its like building a wall, all you need is bricks and mortar.’ And I quite agree. To make a terrine the dish needed must be about the size and dimensions of a normal brick. The best bit about this recipe is all essential flavourings including the sorrel come out of the garden. The ingredients are as follows:

• 2 chicken breasts
• 300g of streaky bacon (to line the tin)
• 500g of sausage meat (or a pack of good sausages split and cleaned out)
• 175g of chicken livers finely chopped
• 1 egg
• 2 handfuls of breadcrumbs
• 2 tbsp of capers
• 1 handful of small sorrel leaves
• 2 finely chopped garlic cloves
• Thyme, sage, parsley finely chopped, about ½ a cupful
• Splash of white wine
• Splash of whisky or brandy
• Salt and pepper

First of all cut your chicken breasts into thin strips and fry them till browned with a little seasoning. Remove from heat and leave to cool. Preheat the oven to 170C/gas mark 3

For the forcemeat (which consists of everything else apart from the bacon and the sorrel) mix in a bowl till everything is combined. Next comes the architectural part!
Get your streaky bacon and line the tin with both packs so it overlaps and hangs over the side of the tin. First to go in is a layer of forcemeat, followed by a layer of chicken. Next lay the sorrel over the chicken so when cooked a thin seam will be visible once sliced. Another layer of forcemeat and then chicken followed by a final layer of forcemeat on the top. Once all the forcemeat and chicken have been used up, fold over the bacon at either end of the tin and then the sides. For a final flourish a few bay leaves laid on top can make for good presentation although this is not necessary.

Cover the tin with foil and place in a roasting tin half filled with warm water, put it on the middle shelf of your oven for 1 ½ to 2 hours. Test with a skewer to see if it is ready, if it comes out very hot it is ready, if not give it a bit longer. Once out of the oven stick a brick or something of similar weight on top to compress the terrine and then leave to cool overnight if possible.

There you have it! A chicken terrine. I like to bake some bread to give my guests a genuine homemade experience. Serve with nice crusty bread, butter and some chutney or even a little mustard and of course the mighty gherkin. Personally I like to have it with a few fresh salad leaves and a little horseradish, but that’s because I LOVE horseradish.

I would urge you (as I so often do!) to have a go at creating a terrine as soon as possible, if not now wait a few months and once the shooting season begins have a word with a regular gun on a shoot and try to secure a couple of birds. There really is nothing more satisfying than bringing a terrine to the table and the first slice will ensure you will be making these till the cows come home…and if they do why not chop them up and add them to the mix?

Pimiento de padron-the Russian roulette of tapas.

After ten days in Mallorca and many meals later, one thing I must say is that mallorcan gastronomy ain’t up to much…don’t get me wrong I did have some superb meals, one very memorable meal was a El Molino in the town of Pollenca on the North shore. The food was outstanding, but the chef was English and had received his training throughout the west end at various restaurants including the ivy, it was Mallorcan cuisine done well.

The one thing I did enjoy thoroughly was the tapas, who doesn’t? One thing I had not had before was Pimiento de Padron, small chillies fried in olive oil and rock salt and served hot, truly outstanding. These chilli peppers are named after the town of Padron near Galicia in Spain. In the 18th century Franciscan monks from Mexico brought these little green peppers to Europe, each year they have a festival of pimientos to celebrate an important part of their heritage. Everywhere in Mallorca and Spain we went you can always get them and as you can see I had to go to the supermarket to get my extra fix! They couldn’t be easier to make and the most intriguing or if you like, off putting thing about them is the fact that 1 out of every 5 could be really quite hot. The majority are fairly sweet and well balanced as with normal peppers, but this makes the whole process rather like a culinary Russian roulette.

I am not sure whether it is possible to buy these peppers in farmers markets, but as I understand the 2007 season in fair-weather nation has sadly come to a close. You can obtain them from a farm in based in Hampshire over the Internet at www.ukpeppers.co.uk. If you ever come across these peppers it is so worth buying a bunch, as they are a superb quick snack.

Rocket Pesto

Pesto… if you dig about in your store cupboard or somewhere near the back of the fridge you will most certainly find, if not it has probably graced your kitchen at some time. Pesto is originally from the city of Genoa in the Liguria region of northern Italy and has been around since Roman times. In its original form it consists of basil, garlic, parmesan, olive oil and salt & pepper. That said the amount of variations that have cropped up over the last few centuries is staggering. The most common being the original green pesto, which now contains pine nuts and red pesto made from sun dried tomatoes.

For a number of years now I have been making my own pesto, it couldn’t be an easier base recipe and allows you to add or take away whatever you want. Variation is key, after some time you will settle upon what your preferred taste is in much the same way you would over a type of cocktail or sandwich.

Right now in the garden I have a real abundance of the peppery little salad leaf. I am a massive fan and it is one of the easiest salads to grow, there is only so much that can go in salads so I decided it was time to make some rocket pesto. As I said I have come by my preferred pesto mix and it doesn’t contain pine nuts, I think maybe because if the original recipe didn’t, why should mine!

Rocket pesto:

• Bunch of fresh Rocket
• Small block of parmesan (30-40g) grated
• 2 cloves of Garlic
• 4-5 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• Salt & pepper

Finely chop all the ingredients, you can blend it but I find that chopping by hand gives a much more raw texture and looks way more appetising. Mix well in a bowl with a fork and that’s pretty much it. The best ways to eat your pesto as I am sure you all know, is to drizzle over pasta or use it as a dip for some nice crusty bread. Don’t be afraid to mix and match ingredients, pesto doesn’t have to be basil based. You can even make it half way between pesto and a salsa verde by adding a bit of mustard and some capers. The beauty of pesto is that there is no set recipe for it. Having said that I think I’m going to go and eat some I just made and photographed for this very entry!

Elderflower cordial: thirst quencher

Since I was a nipper, I can vaguely recall my mother making this and it was a sure taste that summer was hiding around the corner. She also made it into wine, regrettably I was too young to sample it at the time! It is still a firm favourite and easy to make. The only problem is whether you make little or a lot and in turn with the seasons only available as long as the elderflowers. If you can make enough to last a year- well done! Otherwise you will have to shell out silly prices for the tiny bottles in the supermarkets.

Although the elderflowers have reached their peak there are still some around, so go and get your hands dirty and enjoy the fruits of nature. I was recently informed by Barney, one of the food editors at good food that they are best picked after rain. A quick trip to Battersea park and I had more elderflower heads than I needed, I bet they would taste better from a field deep in the country but urban foragers cant be choosers. The aroma that the dainty little flowers gave off when I stuck my head in the bag was quite something. I must admit now that my cordial did not go as planned due to adding too much sugar and no citric acid. So I had to drink 2 litres in about 4 days! I have amended the recipe so that it should come out absolutely bang on. This recipe is adapted from the River cottage cookbook, it didn’t work for me first time around so after a few adjustments I came up with the one below.

• 40 fresh elderflower heads
• zest of 2 oranges and 2 lemons
• 1kg of golden caster sugar
• 250ml freshly squeezed lemon juice (4-5 lemons)
• citric acid or tartaric acid

Makes 2 wine bottles worth.

Method:

Pick off all the flowers, you don’t have to be too anal about this just remove as much green stalk as possible. Put them in a large bowl with the zest from the oranges and lemons. Cover them in about 2 litres of boiling water, cover and leave to soak for 4 hours or overnight.

Strain the liquid through muslin or like I did, an old pair of tights! Mesure the amount of strained liquid and add 250g of sugar to every 500ml of the liquid. Place in a pan with the lemon juice, if you are using it the citric acid (this acts as a preservative and allows the cordial to keep for up to a year). Heat the mixture slowly and stir till the sugar has all dissolved. Simmer for a further 5-10 minutes, once it is cool strain it again and pour into clean, dry bottles (screw top or cork). You now have your ‘spring in a bottle’ to enjoy at your leisure, just mix as you would any other cordial, best drunk over ice after a hot, sticky commute across the city!

Tabasco & Worcester sauce: Two of man’s finest achievements.

I doubt there is an adult in the world who has never tasted these two fantastic creations. Where would we be without them? Oysters would not benefit from the piquant hit of Tabasco, cheese toasties wouldn’t be the mouth-watering adventure Lea & Perrins have made it, and no bloody marys that’s as damn sure as mustard. Without these two condiments life would be dull, of course we would no doubt have an alternative, but that doesn’t bare thinking about. School followed by University is often when we have the values of these sauces bestowed upon us and I for one began my affair with them early, an affair that will certainly last forever.
Tabasco:
I always presumed it was from Mexico…its not. As it says on the bottle it is from Avery Island in Louisiana. It was developed by a genius called Edmund McIlhenny in 1870. Legend has it he obtained some hot pepper seeds from a traveler who had recently arrived in Louisiana from Central America. He then began experimenting with sauces and came up with the winning formula. On how it is manufactured according to the Tabasco website:

“It's still made from tabasco pepper mash that's been aged up to 3 years in oak barrels, mixed with high-grain all-natural vinegar and a small amount of Avery Island salt. This unique aging process delivers unmatched concentration and piquancy - not just heat or bite.”
TABASCO®

Even the bottle is unique as young Edmund originally bottled the sauce in old cologne bottles, which are the same design now, this is the reason it comes out in drops.
So there you have it, a few facts about the little sauce we all love so much.

Worcester sauce:
The base ingredient of this sauce which many do not realise is anchovies. Again, a great story behind this one too, according to the history books this sauce began in the 1800’s. Lord Sandys, a nobleman, arrived back from Bengal with a recipe he had got his hands on, he passed it on to two chemists John Lea and William Perrins in the hope that they could put it together. They did and found it disgusting, so they put the bottles of sauce aside somewhere deep in their cellar. A few years later they were having a clean out and came across the bottles. They had a quick taste before chucking them and were amazed at the flavour, which had developed from maturing. It was bottled and sold and the rest as they say is history.

These two sauces are so versatile and can be used in just about anything, its all a case of personal preference. I like to have Tabasco, lime and salt & pepper with my avocado- amazing! But a good partnership of these two is formed in a fantastic warm drink I often take with when night fishing; the Bullshot.

Bullshot:
1 pint of good quality beef stock
100ml of Vodka (or more if you like!)
a few dashes of Tabasco
a few dashes of Worcester sauce
a dash of bitters
salt & pepper.

Serve warm and add as much Tabasco as you can take! This drink really does create a lovely warming effect and the only contender is maybe a hot toddy. My final word on these two sauces is to say if someone doesn’t have one of these two in their store cupboard…I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them!

Italian Mozzarella burgers.

Italian Mozzarella burgers.
(Makes 4)

I am sure I am not the first person to put cheese in the centre of a burger and I’m sure I won’t be the last. The reason this burger works so well is down to the texture when you bite into it and the fact you don’t need to put cheese in your bun! This recipe has been given an Italian twist, but another variation is to use substitute the beef for pork, use chopped apple and leeks in your mixture and replace the mozzarella with cheddar to get a uniquely English burger. With a summer full of barbecues and entertaining, it would be foolish to not make these burgers at least once and it will be nice surprise for your guests when they take their first bite!

• 500g beef mince
• 1 sm Red onion
• 1 Egg (free range)
• Mozzarella (ball)
• Sun dried tomatoes (handful)
• Basil (handful)
• Salt &pepper
• Butter
• Splash of red wine

Finely chop the red onions and fry them up with some butter in a pan. Once softened, take them off the hob and let them cool down for ten minutes.

Next finely chop the basil and the tomatoes and mix them in a bowl with the mince, onions, egg, salt and pepper and a splash of red wine. Once they are all combined make 4 large patties and flatten them out so they are twice their final size.

Slice the mozzarella into discs 1.5cm thick, then place in the middle of the patties. Fold the sides of the patties over the mozzarella and shape into burgers.

Finally barbecue or fry up for 8 to 10 minutes on each side. The final result will be a nice, gooey cheese centre once you bite into your burger!