Utterly butterly

Sometimes all a dish needs to make it pop, come alive and generally look a little more special than the normal is some flavoured butter. These are easily whipped up by mashing herbs, spices or citrus into softened butter, then chilling the butter again, but they seem very exotic, the sort of thing that should sit on its own little plate, with a tiny silver knife, on a white tablecloth in a posh restaurant. Melted over food they add flavour, fat and all round awesomeness, bringing the dry and mundane into the world of the moist and fun immediately. Plus they last a very long time in the fridge, always a bonus.

Prawns with orange saffron butter
From Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume

This recipe was supposed to be served with a swede and tahini mash, which sounded great. Lacking swede I decided to substitute carrots, and thought my beautiful purple carrots would be just the thing. Alas, after boiling the water was a vivid indigo and my carrots had turned a sort of murky brown colour, and still didn’t mash properly. I think I might just stick with swede next time.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon gin
4 threads saffron
Zest and juice of half an orange
1/2 teaspoon ground sumac
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon chopped chives
1/4 teaspoon ground garlic powder
50g butter
250g king prawns, shelled and deveined

Method
1. In a small bowl stir the saffron threads into the gin and leave to infuse for 3 minutes. Add the orange juice and zest, then stir in the sumac, cumin, chives and garlic powder. Beat in the softened butter; it will separate out, and then, when it is well mixed, come back together again. There may be a little liquid left in the bottom of the bowl; this is fine. Take the flavoured butter out of the bowl, plop it onto a piece of clingfilm, and roll it into a log. Twist the ends tightly closed and refrigerate for 3 hours, or freeze for an hour.

2. Heat a frying pan and add about a quarter of the butter. When it starts to sizzle, add the prawns. Toss to coat in the butter and cook over a high heat for 2-3 minutes. Add another quarter of the butter to the pan, allow it just to melt, and then serve the prawns, with the remaining chilled orange butter on the side. Serve with green leaves and swede and tahini mash.

Serves 2. I served this with a lovely Traminer from Bulgaria. Research suggests this could either be a Savagnin, or Gewürtztraminer. Alas, my Bulgarian isn’t good enough to permit me to discover which, and even if I could read all of the bottle, I suspect it still wouldn’t tell me. Either way, the fruity and strong floral notes matched the orange and saffron very nicely.

Duck and cover

So I finally tackled the second of my 2011 food resolutions; clearly I’m going to be squashing the other three into the tail end of the year. As I suspected, cooking duck was not especially difficult. In fact the hardest part of the whole shebang was tracking down said duck and then figuring out what to do with it. I did have some cherries which would have made a nice sauce but in the end I settled for a very simple braise which let the duck taste, well, ducky, rather than fruity, accented with a simple but rich sauce (mainly from all the fat which oozes out of the duck during the cooking. It sounds grim but tastes fabulous).

Braised duck leg with broad beans
Duck recipe adapted from BBC; bean salad adapted from The Times

Ingredients
2 duck legs
1 shallot, diced
1 small carrot, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 sprig thyme, leaves only
1 tablespoon tomato puree
100 ml red wine
400ml chicken stock

Salad
500g whole broad beans, removed from their pods (roughly 250-300g once podded)
100g green beans, trimmed and halved
3-4 spring onions, white and green parts, chopped
1 tablespoon mint leaves, chiffonaded
1 tablespoon light olive oil

Method
1. Heat a large saucepan until very hot. Season the duck legs with salt and pepper and place, skin side down on the saucepan for 2-3 minutes until the skin is deep brown and crisp. Turn the legs over, cook for another 2-3 minutes on the other side, then remove from the saucepan and set aside briefly.

2. Scoop out all but a teaspoon of fat from the saucepan and discard. Return the saucepan to a medium high heat and add the shallot and carrot. Cook for 2-3 minutes, or until softened, then add the minced garlic, thyme and tomato puree. Cook for a further minute, then pour in the red wine. Stir, to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the saucepan, then return the duck legs to the pan.Cook over a medium-high heat for 7-8 minutes, or until the wine has reduced by about half, then add the chicken stock. It should roughly half cover the duck. Leave the mixture to simmer for 90 minutes, by which time the sauce should have reduced down nicely to about 5 tablespoons of rich, glossy liquid.

3. Meanwhile, pod the broad beans and boil in lightly salted water for 5 minutes. For the last minute, add the green beans. Drain, then mix in the spring onions, mint and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Season well with salt and pepper, toss, then serve onto a plate, with the duck legs and sauce on top.

Serves 2. I paired this with a Beaujolais grand cru, figuring that the fresh cherry flavours in the wine would match the duck well. Although it wasn’t a bad match, the meatiness of the duck did overpower the light, fresh flavours of the gamay slightly; I think next time I would choose a slightly more full-bodied wine though.

The handover

Alas, the season for asparagus is drawing to a close. The Boy is probably pretty pleased, having eaten asparagus at least twice a week now for the last 6 weeks. That’s one of the downsides of eating more seasonally, you have to make the most of food when it’s in season, and then, when it’s out of season, you mourn it for a whole year. Still, no time to be sad as now it’s June cherries are in season. And apricots. And broad beans. And real, flavoursome tomatoes. Oh the joys. But before I get onto those I held a last hurrah for asparagus, a fresh but warming soup to cheer up dinner time when it’s hurling it down outside.

Asparagus and pea soup
Adapted ever so slightly from Tartelette

Ingredients
250g asparagus spears
100g frozen peas
1 teaspoon butter

Method
1. Snap off the ends of the asparagus spears and snap the spears in half. Place in a saucepan along with the peas and about 250ml boiling water. Bring to a simmer and cook for 3-5 minutes, or until the asparagus is just tender.

2. Remove the soup from the heat and using an immersion blender puree it. Return to a low heat and add the butter and plenty of salt and black pepper. Stir well and serve with herbed soda bread.

Serves 2. Since asparagus is a known “wine-killer” (see also artichoke, cruciferous vegetables and Asian food) I paired this with a lovely light riesling from Dr Loosen. Riesling goes with pretty much everything, see, and why more people don’t drink it I will never understand.

Not very British

I thought about making something that was red, white and blue. And debated over a truly British dish, one that celebrates the English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish. I ummed and ahhed and then decided I don’t give a damn anyway, judging by most weddings in that family it’ll fall apart soon enough, and besides, surely I should be more focused on the weddings of my nearest and dearest, who I actually care about and don’t have such sticky-out ears or terribly vapid grins. So here is my royal wedding celebration dish, and not British at all (except for the potatoes, and well, I suppose chicken is quite a British food). This is perfect for a dinner party, or probably even a wedding; most of the prep can be done in advance. All you have to do on the day is turn the oven on, cook up the potatoes and serve. Fit for a (future) queen, or even someone you know.

Orange and mustard chicken
From Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume

Ingredients
Marinade
Zest of 1 orange
1 1/2 teaspoons wholegrain mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons dark brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
90ml orange juice
4 chicken breasts
2 tablespoons light olive oil

Salad
2 oranges, supremed
1 avocado, diced
200g green beans, trimmed and blanched
100g spicy leaves (I used a mixture of rocket and watercress)

Dressing
Zest of 1 orange
1 1/2 teaspoons wholegrain mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons dark brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
4 tablespoons orange juice

Method
1. To make the marinade whisk together the orange zest, mustard, sugar, vinegar and orange juice in a large bowl. Lay the chicken breasts in the bowl, fully submerged in the marinade and leave in the fridge overnight.

2. Remove the chicken from the marinade and lay in a large baking dish. Sprinkle with coarse salt and drizzle with a couple of tablespoons of light olive oil. Bake the chicken in the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until cooked through. Remove the chicken from the oven halfway through baking and baste with the juices in the dish, before returning to the oven to finish cooking.

3. To prepare the salad supreme the oranges. Dice the avocado, chop the green beans and toss in a large bowl with the salad leaves.

4. Whisk together all the ingredients for the dressing. Pour this over the salad, toss together, and arrange the salad on the plates.

5. Serve the chicken alongside the salad, with buttered new potatoes.

Serves 4. I served this with Poacher’s Blend white wine, a sauvignon blanc with a splash of riesling which balanced the slight heat from the mustard very well.

Pomegranate molasses

This was my first use of the bottle of pomegranate molasses which has been sat in my cupboard calling to me for weeks now. I’m thinking of creating a cocktail using it, it’s such a fabulous ingredient. Sweet and sour at the same time, thick and syrupy and sweet and just when you think it’s going to become sickly it stops and turns into a fabulously sour, fruity concoction. Marvellous, it should be added to everything. Here it’s added to pomegranate juice and garlic to make a lovely marinade that slowly permeates the lamb, plus a glaze to caramelise on the outside of the kebabs when you grill them. Sweet, but not too sweet, it’s all offset by the sour, but not too sour (though really quite spicy) relish. Make enough to put with burgers too if you’re having a big bank holiday BBQ.

Pomegranate-glazed lamb kebabs and spiced pomegranate relish
From Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume

Ingredients
Marinade
200ml pomegranate juice
3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
4 juniper berries, crushed
10 pink peppercorns, crushed
2lbs lamb (I used leg fillets), trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes

Relish
Arils (seeds) from 1 pomegranate
1 orange, supremed
4 spring onions, white and green bits, finely diced
2 tablespoons fresh mint, finely chopped
1/2 red chilli, finely minced
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon paprika

Glaze
4 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon honey

Method
1. Make the marinade by whisking together the pomegranate juice and pomegranate molasses in a large bowl. Add the crushed garlic cloves, juniper berries and pink peppercorns and put the prepared lamb chunks into the marinade. Toss to make sure they are all well coated then cover the bowl and leave to marinade in the fridge overnight. It will smell very garlicky. Don’t worry, the end result won’t be.

2. Combine all the ingredients for the relish in a bowl. Season with salt and toss, toss, toss. Set aside for at least an hour if possible, so all the flavours can infuse.

3. Prepare the glaze by stirring together the pomegranate molasses, lemon juice and honey. Drain the marinade off the lamb and divide the lamb chunks evenly between 8 skewers. Lay the skewers on a baking sheet and brush with the glaze. Cook under a preheated grill for 10-15 minutes, brushing with more glaze each time you turn the skewers. The glaze, being very high in sugar, will make a damn mess of your baking sheet and is likely to burn on the outside of the lamb if your grill is turned up too high as well. Don’t worry though, the lamb inside the crispy, glazed exterior will be beautifully tender.

4. Serve the lamb with the pomegranate relish, with a side of potato moutabel and a simple tomato and red onion salad.

Serves 4. I paired this with a lovely 2004 rioja, Pagos de Tahola Reserva, quite smoky, it enhanced the grilled flavours very nicely.