Bubble and Squeak

It seems only fitting to post one of my favorite English winter dishes after last week’s big snowstorm on the East Coast. Thankfully, NYC was mostly spared. I think one major natural disaster per year is one too many but I do love the snow… Until it gets slushy and brown, of course. Anyways, growing up in the London my mother made a version of this but it was a bit more Irish. If you’ve been making a lot of soups and stews then this is a great way to use up your leftover veggies.

Bubble and Squeak with Sausages and a Red Wine and Red Onion Reduction

1.5lbs of potatoes, I used Yukon gold and some red for color
1.5lbs mixed veggies, I used yellow onion, Brussels sprouts, parsnips, and carrots
2 cloves of garlic, minced
A couple glugs of olive oil
Some shaved Parmesan
5 or 6 good sized pork sausages, I’d recommend garlic and herb
2tbs butter
Rosemary, chopped
Two Bay Leaves
3 red onions, sliced
1.5 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup red wine
3tbs flour
Salt and Pepper

Slice up all your vegetables and potatoes and toss in a pot of boiling water for 20min or so.

Meanwhile preheat your oven to 375 degrees and put in an empty roasting pan to warm. Drain your veggies when they’re done and let them cool while you manage the sausages. Drizzle olive oil and chopped rosemary over the sausages. Remove the roasting pan from the oven and add in one tablespoon of butter and let it melt. Then add a couple of glugs of olive oil and rest the sliced red onions on top. Then place the bay leaves down and add the sausages on top. Seasoning salt and pepper and put in the oven for half an hour or so, turning the sausages after 15 minutes.

While the sausages are cooking get out a large stainless steel or cast iron skillet. Melt the remaining butter and add two glugs of olive oil to the pan over medium heat. Once sizzling add in your vegetables and garlic. Mash the mixture but be sure to leaves some chunks. Season with salt and pepper and smooth out like a pancake on top. Let it cook, browning on the bottom. Check it every 5 minutes or so and mix it up. The goal is to get some golden crunchier parts. When it’s close to done, after 30min or so, add in the shaved Parmesan (you could use some English cheddar here too- we just were out!).

Once the sausages come out remove them from the roasting pan and remove the bay leaves. Put the pan over two burners and add the chicken stock and red wine over medium heat, scraping the crispy onions off the bottom of the pan. Let it cook down for about 5-10 minutes. If it’s not thickening enough add a roux of butter and flour whisking in quickly so it dissolves; this should bring your reduction to the right consistency.

Serve sausages with a generous helping of the bubble and squeak and the reduction with onions on top.

Sausage and Tomato Risotto

I’ve just returned from nine days in Miami for Art Basel to a cool and rainy New York and I couldn’t be happier. Miami and sun is nice for a few days but I’d much rather have all four seasons. This recipe is one for the fall and winter. Nice and hearty without being too heavy.

Sausage and Tomato Risotto
1 16 ounce jar of passata
4 tomatoes, chopped
3 c water
1 tbs olive oil
3/4 lb hot Italian sausage, casings removed
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
Sea Salt and Pepper
1 c Arborio rice
1/2 c dry white wine
10 ounces of spinach
2 tbs basil, chopped
1/2 c grated parmesan cheese
2 tbs butter

In a saucepan add the chopped tomatoes to the passata over medium heat. Cook for 20 minutes then add the water to the mixture and bring to a simmer.

In a medium pan heat oil over medium heat and add the sausage, onion and garlic. Break up the sausage with a fork and then season with salt and pepper. Once the sausage is no longer pink and the onions are soft add in the Arborio rice and reduce the heat. Stir for 1-2 minutes until well coated then add in the white wine.

Once absorbed add in a cup of the tomato mixture. Stir the rice gently and as it absorbs the mixture continue to add more, one cup at a time.

The rice will continue to absorb all of the liquid and grow in size. Once it’s tender slowly mix in all the spinach and basil. Remove from heat and mix the butter and parmesan in. Top with fresh basil and parmesan.

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin pie (with what some might consider to be a little too much whipped cream on top) is my favourite part of Thanksgiving, but while there’s nothing quite like a rich, dense, spicy and just-sweet-enough-but-not-cloying slice; this dessert can sometimes be a bit underwhelming. I think you can see evidence of this tendency to disappoint in the countless recipes online for meringue or brûlée pie toppings, non-pastry crusts, and other ostentatious variations. I can’t help but feel these recipes are all missing the point: if the pie itself is well made, it doesn’t need to be gussied up.

My friend Elizabeth makes an amazing sheet cake, served cut into small pieces, called “pumpkin squares”. She guards the recipe closely, which adds to the mystique and aura that the cake already enjoys from its amazing flavour and moistness. I do know that one of the key ingredients is dried dates, which lend a treacly fruitiness that works incredibly well with the pumpkin. I’ve stolen this idea for my pumpkin pie, which features a thick date purée to lend some sweet complexity – though, much like the noble sticky toffee pudding, if you didn’t know it was there, you might not actually taste it. This recipe will probably leave you with a little extra purée, and I recommend spreading it on toast. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Ingredients:

Pie crust

Date purée:

1/2 cup chopped dates

1 cup water

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Pie filling:

1 can/scant 2 cups solid-pack pumpkin

1 cup heavy/double cream

3/4 cup whole milk

2 large eggs, room temperature

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup date purée

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/4 teaspoon salt

Put ingredients for date syrup in a saucepan and bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer and leave partially covered for 60 minutes. Purée using an immersion blender or food processor, then reduce over a medium heat for another 20 minutes (careful, because it will boil volcanically). It should be thick – “like a tapenade”, I was told – when finished.

Follow the directions for the pastry dough, then roll it out on a lightly floured surface to fit into a 9-inch pie tin. Crimp the edges decoratively and pierce the bottom all over with a fork, then chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 190°C.

Line pie crust with foil or parchment paper, then fill with pie weights/dried rice or beans. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 20 minutes, then remove the weighted foil/paper and bake for a further 5 to 10 minutes. Remove the crust and allow to cool (in the pan) while you make the filling.

Pour pumpkin into a large saucepan and cook over a high heat, stirring constantly, for 7-8 minutes until it has reduced and caramelised. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 2-3 minutes, then mix in the cream, milk, date purée, sugar, spices, salt and finally eggs (make sure mixture isn’t hot enough to cook the eggs). Pour into your cooled pie crust.

Bake pie on the middle rack of the oven for about 45 minutes, or until it passes the toothpick test. Put the pie on the wire rack and let it cool completely (I prefer to put mine in the fridge for a few hours, or even overnight, before serving). Serve with a heaping dollop of sweet whipped cream, and some PX sherry (or a strong Christmas beer).

A food filled break: Part 1

I’ve just returned to New York after 2.5 weeks off. I was very lucky to get this large chunk of time and I spent the beginning of it an Atlanta visiting William and then the last part of it in London with my parents and William. Alex came down from Scotland for a visit as well. What’s enclosed here is a post I toyed with titling: 5 days with William’s blender. After some serious research (more than I would ever do), William purchased a beautiful Breville blender and proceeded to make MANY recipes that required it. Here are just a few things we created during my time in Atlanta. Alex will post a wonderful fish taco recipe we make in London next for Part 2.

Arugula Salad with Sausage and White Beans

This is what sparked the purchase of the blender in the first place. A delicious salad from a favorite starter cookbook, Cook’s Illustrated The Best 30-Minute Recipe, that I gave to William to foster his desire to cook more.

Pesto

I harvested a good deal of William’s basil to make some homemade pesto. We put it on everything… bagels, toast with d’affinois cheese, salmon, grilled cheese with sautéed shallots… everything!

Milkshakes

I mean, what else could you possibly want to do with a blender? Ours had fresh peanut butter, coffee and cookies ‘n cream ice cream. William did make some kale, strawberry and avocado smoothies but I “failed” to document them (I also “failed” to eat them).

Beef Teriyaki

Another recipe from the Cook’s Illustrated book! This one didn’t require the blender. I’ll give full credit to William on this one as it’s not something I would have leaped at instantly but it was delicious.

Smitten Kitchen’s Broccoli Slaw and Pesto Crusted Salmon

William’s brother made the slaw for their family a few months back and I guess he’d been craving it…next thing I knew we were at Whole Foods for the 3rd day in a row. He was right to do it- it was delicious. Wonder how long it’ll take him to buy a food processor now…

There were also plenty so soft scrambled eggs with sautéed shallots, spinach, roasted garlic, etc but no photos to share. Now to go on a diet post-vacation… my turn for kale smoothies.

Kale, Prosciutto and Asiago Ravioli

First ECK post from the new kitchen! Yes, we’re all excited aren’t we? Even more exciting…It uses my new pasta roller attachment for my kitchen aid!

I had some friends over on Thursday night with the goal to make some delicious ravioli. What resulted was a delicious meal and many bottles of wine. It was hot and we needed some rosé to cool us off. I made the pasta dough from the same Marcella Hazan recipe I’ve shared before. I did double this recipe in order to feed a party of three.

Kale, Prosciutto and Asiago Ravioli
pasta dough, kneaded and divided into 12 sections
1/2 lb of thinly sliced prosciutto
1/3 lb of kale, sauteed with olive oil and garlic
1/2 lb of grated asiago
olive oil
garlic
salt and pepper

Prepare all of your filling ingredients and have them lined up and ready to go. Spread flour across your work surface before you begin handling the pasta. Keep your pasta dough, when not in use, under a damp dish towel. Fresh pasta will dry out fast but this should help keep them moist.

Take one section and begin to feed it through the pasta roller. Start on the widest setting and continue to feed it through multiple times, folding it between each feed; this will knead the dough more. Once the dough is looking smooth reduce the setting to the next narrowest. And continue to feed through but this time do not fold.

After the dough has gone through the roller continue to change the settings to make the dough thinner until you’re happy with the results. Lay the dough down on your floured surface. Trim the edges to shape your ravioli; I did not have a ravioli cutter so I just worked with a knife. I also cut the piece that would be folded over the filling a little larger to avoid tearing in the dough.

This is where my friend Peter helped me. While I was feeding the dough through he was the filling maker. Wrap the kale and asiago inside the prosciutto and then coat the edges with egg (I was out of egg and used a butter olive oil combination) and close them pressing on the edges.

Then put them in boiling water for about 5 minutes. Fresh pasta cooks fast so keep a close eye! Top with your desired sauce, I made some fresh tomato sauce as it helped balance the saltiness of the prosciutto and asiago.