Recipe List
Beef: Ribeye, Tongue, Bone Marrow, Calf’s Liver
Chicken: Breast, Sausage Rolls, Crispy Skin, Barbecue Wings
Lamb: Fillet, Slow-Cooked Shoulder, Lamb Burgers
Pork: Slow-Cooked Belly, Honey-Glazed Bacon, Sausages, Crackling
Venison: Braised Haunch, Faggots, Croquettes
We source our ribeyes from lake district Farmers. Their beef is succulent, tender and full of flavour. We cook, and serve, the ribs with the bone on as we feel it adds even more flavour to the dish. On the board with the ribeye we serve beef in other guises – thin slices of pressed ox tongue, calf’s liver sautéed in butter, and rich, savoury bone marrow. The latter is an ingredient that has become a lot more ‘in vogue’ in the past year or two, which i’m glad about as it is such a unique ingredient.
Serves 2
Ox tongue
1 small ox tongue
4 bay leaves
100ml white wine vinegar
1 onion, peeled and quartered
2 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
1 carrot, peeled and cut across in half
1 leek, white part only, cut across in half
6 white peppercorns
1 tsp coriander seeds
¼ bunch of thyme
Ribeye
1 × 500g ribeye steak on the bone, about 4cm thick
50ml pomace oil
2 sprigs thyme
2 sprigs rosemary
1 bay leaf
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
25g unsalted butter
2 tbsp vegetable oil
80g beef trimmings or rump steak, diced
1 onion, peeled and diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 stick celery, diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
2 tbsp tomato purée
1 bay leaf
4 black peppercorns
250ml red wine
300ml beef or chicken stock
½ tsp salt
¼ bunch of tarragon
Bone marrow
1 tbsp vegetable oil
4 pieces bone marrow
Calf’s liver
1 tbsp vegetable oil
100g calf’s liver, cut into 3cm slices
a large knob of butter
To serve
olive oil
fresh horseradish
2 rashers bacon, fried until crisp
watercress
Scrub the tongue well with a stiff brush under running cold water, then place in a bowl of cold water to soak for at least 6 hours. Drain the tongue, transfer to a deep saucepan and cover with fresh cold water. Set on a moderate heat and bring to the boil, skimming off any scum that appears. Add all of the remaining ingredients for the tongue and simmer very gently for 3–3½ hours, until the bone at the end of the tongue can be pulled away easily.
Remove the tongue from the cooking liquor and peel off the skin. Trim off the gristle and root, then place the tongue in a dish. Cover with clingfilm and set aside. Strain the cooking liquor through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan and reduce by a third. Cool, then pour around the tongue. Cover the tongue with a plate and weigh down with tins of food. Place in the fridge to press for 3 hours. (This will make more than two servings, but the remainder can be kept in the fridge for up to 5 days.)
Place the steak in a plastic bag. Add the oil, herbs and garlic. Remove as much air from the bag as you can, then tightly wrap it in clingfilm. Leave to marinate in the fridge for at least 3 hours (or up to 72 hours).
For the red wine sauce, heat a saucepan over a high heat with half of the vegetable oil. Season the beef, then add to the pan and fry until dark golden. Remove and set aside. Add the onion, carrot, celery and garlic to the pan with the remaining oil and brown the vegetables. Add the tomato purée, bay leaf, peppercorns and red wine. Bring to the boil, then simmer gently until syrupy. Add the remaining ingredients and the browned beef. Simmer for 30 minutes, skimming regularly to remove any fat. Strain into a clean pan, then adjust the seasoning if necessary. Set aside, ready to reheat for serving.
To cook the ribeye, preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Heat a large, ovenproof frying pan with the oil from the marinade until almost smoking. Season the ribeye with salt, then brown on both sides in the pan. Add the unsalted butter as well as the herbs from the marinade. When the butter begins to foam, spoon it over the meat to baste. Transfer the pan to the oven and cook for 5 minutes. Turn the steak over, then return to the oven and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove the ribeye from the pan and leave somewhere warm to rest for at least 15 minutes.
For the bone marrow, heat the oil in a pan, season the marrow and brown well on each side. Leave the marrow to cook through for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, for the liver, heat the oil in another pan until almost smoking, season the liver and quickly brown on each side. Add the butter and finish cooking.
Slice the tongue very thinly (about 3mm), rub with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Slice the ribeye and arrange on a warmed board (reheat it for 5 minutes in the turned-off oven, if necessary). Grate some fresh horseradish on to the board, then add the ribeye bone, liver, bone marrow, bacon, sliced tongue and watercress. Serve with the hot red wine sauce.
This combines all of the best elements of chicken in one sharing board – tender breast, wings with a sticky glaze and juicy leg meat wrapped in pastry to create a chicken sausage roll. And there’s the crispy chicken skin too. Buy free-range, corn-fed chickens if possible, because they have a richer flavour and texture.
Serves 4
Barbecue chicken wings
50g tomato purée
1 tbsp black treacle
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp sweet smoked paprika
½ tsp hot smoked paprika
juice of ½ lemon
1 clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped
8 chicken wings
Chicken breast
2 boneless free-range chicken breasts, skinned (reserve the skin for the crispy skin)
1 tsp salt
50ml hot water
450ml cold water
1 tbsp vegetable oil
large knob of butter
4 sprigs thyme
150ml chicken stock
300g chicken leg meat (reserve the skin from the chicken legs for the crispy skin)
leaves from ¼ bunch of thyme
¼ bunch of parsley, chopped
¼ bunch of sage, chopped
1 medium onion, peeled and diced
1 tbsp soy sauce
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
¼ tsp curry powder
100g mixed mushrooms, sautéed in a knob of butter, seasoned well and chopped
50ml cream (single or double)
½ tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
320g all-butter puff pastry (thawed if frozen)
2 free-range egg yolks, beaten
Maldon sea salt
Start with the barbecue chicken wings. Mix together all of the ingredients for the barbecue sauce, adding a good pinch of salt. Pour half of the sauce into a second bowl, add the chicken wings and marinate for at least 4 hours, or overnight, in the fridge. Set the remaining sauce aside.
The next day, brine the chicken breasts. Dissolve the salt in the hot water in a bowl, then add the cold water. Submerge the chicken breasts in this brine and leave for 1½ hours. Drain and pat dry.
While the chicken breasts are in the brine, make the sausage rolls. Mince the chicken leg meat using a mincer or a food processor. Transfer to a bowl and add all the remaining ingredients except the pastry, egg yolks and sea salt. Mix well together.
Divide the puff pastry in half. Roll out one piece on a lightly floured surface to a rectangle 3mm thick. Spoon on half of the chicken mix and spread evenly over three-quarters of the pastry sheet. Brush the remaining quarter of the pastry sheet with egg yolk, then roll the pastry over the filling and continue to roll up to form a cylinder. Repeat with the remaining pastry sheet and chicken mix. Place the cylinders in the freezer for 10 minutes to firm up.
Brush the cylinders with egg yolk and sprinkle with sea salt. Using a very sharp knife, carefully cut each cylinder across in half. Arrange on a baking tray lined with baking parchment and set aside in a cool place.
For the crispy skin, remove any excess fat from the skin of the chicken breasts and legs, then spread out on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Season well. Set another sheet of baking parchment on top and then another baking tray, to keep the skin flat. Set aside.
When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6. Transfer the chicken wings to a baking tray and smother with the rest of the barbecue sauce. Bake for about 20 minutes, until crisp and cooked through. Remove from the oven and keep warm. Reduce the oven temperature to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. (If you have two ovens, you can cook the wings in one and the chicken breasts, skin and sausage rolls in the other, simultaneously.)
For the chicken breasts, heat an ovenproof frying pan with the vegetable oil and brown the breasts all over. Add the butter with the thyme and, when foaming, spoon the butter over the chicken for a few minutes. Add the stock and bring to the boil, then cover the pan with foil and transfer to the oven. Bake for 10–15 minutes, until the breasts are cooked through.
At the same time, bake the chicken skin for 10–15 minutes, until golden and crispy. Also bake the chicken sausage rolls for 15–20 minutes, until risen and golden.
To serve, carve the chicken breasts and arrange with everything else on a sharing board.
Lamb loin fillets are lean, tender and quick to fry, contrasting well with soft, succulent lamb shoulder that has been gently cooked for hours. The mini lamb burgers add a touch of fun to the board – they’re often the first things to go when we put them down on the Kitchen Table.
Serves 6–8
Slow-cooked lamb shoulder
2 onions, peeled and quartered
2 bulbs garlic, broken into cloves but not peeled
1 large bunch of rosemary
¼ bunch of thyme
1 × 1.5–2kg good-quality lamb shoulder on the bone
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
150ml white wine
500ml chicken or vegetable stock
Lamb fillet
4 lamb loin fillets, about 450g in total (ask your butcher for these)
50ml pomace oil
1 stalk rosemary
2 sprigs thyme
1 clove garlic, peeled and lightly crushed
300g lean lamb mince
2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 tsp thyme leaves
¼ onion, peeled and finely diced
1 clove garlic, peeled and finely crushed
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp tomato purée
1 free-range egg, beaten
½ tsp salt
vegetable oil, for frying
To serve
4 mini burger buns or 2 large buns, split open
2 tbsp home-made or good-quality purchased mayonnaise
1 tsp chopped mint leaves
1 tsp mint sauce
4 drops chipotle Tabasco sauce
Start the shoulder first. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6. Put the onions, garlic, rosemary and thyme in the bottom of a roasting tray. Score the fat of the shoulder with a sharp knife, making diagonal lines one way and then the other, to create a criss-cross pattern. Set in the tray on top of the flavourings. Rub the shoulder with the olive oil, then sprinkle with the salt and some pepper. Cover the tray with foil and place in the oven, immediately turning down the temperature to 160°C/325°F/gas mark 3. Cook for 3 hours, then remove the foil and continue cooking for 45 minutes.
While the shoulder is in the oven, place the lamb fillets in a shallow dish with the oil, herbs and garlic. Cover and leave to marinate in a cool place for 2 hours.
Mix together all of the ingredients for the burgers with some pepper. Fry a little of the mix to check the seasoning; adjust if necessary. Shape into four small patties, or two larger ones if you prefer. Keep in a cool place until ready to cook.
Remove the lamb shoulder from the tray to a semi-deep dish; cover with foil and set aside in a warm place. Pour the onion mix and cooking juices into a saucepan set over a medium heat. When hot, add the wine and cook until reduced to a syrup. Add the stock and simmer for 25 minutes, skimming about half the fat off the top (or more if you prefer, although lamb fat has incredible flavour). Check the seasoning and adjust if necessary, then pass the sauce through a fine sieve into a clean pan. Set aside.
Now cook the burgers. Heat a frying pan with 1 tablespoon oil, then fry the patties for about 10 minutes, until they are well browned on both sides and cooked through. Meanwhile, lightly toast the buns, and mix the mayonnaise with the mint, mint sauce and Tabasco.
When the burgers are nearly ready, heat a frying pan with some of the oily marinade from the lamb fillets. When hot, season the fillets well and flash fry quickly on all sides to brown well. Remove from the pan and leave to rest for a few minutes. Reheat the sauce for the lamb shoulder.
Place the lamb burgers in the buns, topping the burgers with the mayonnaise.
To serve, ensure everything is hot (you may need to reheat the shoulder in the oven for 5–10 minutes). Carve each loin into two; carve the shoulder; and cut small burgers in half and large burgers into quarters. Arrange everything on a warm carving board and serve with the sauce.
Pork belly has to be one of my favourite cuts of meat. When it is cooked slowly, to allow the fat to render down, the result is super moist and succulent. Baking the belly on top of apples adds another dimension, enhancing the sweetness of the meat while creating the basis for an apple sauce to serve alongside. Fantastic honey-glazed bacon and herby sausages are on the board too, and no roast pork dish is complete without the crackling.
Serves 6–8
Slow-cooked belly
1 × 400g piece pork belly
rock salt
4 Granny Smith apples
1 onion, peeled and sliced
¼ bunch of thyme
Home-made sausages
1 onion, peeled and finely diced
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed leaves from ¼ bunch of thyme
25g butter
300g pork mince
100g pork sausage meat
1 tbsp grain mustard
leaves from ¼ bunch of sage, chopped
¼ bunch of parsley, chopped
½ tsp ground mace
½ tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste vegetable oil, for frying
8 sausage casings (optional)
4 tbsp honey
1 tsp grain mustard
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 star anise, grated
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 × 200g boneless unsmoked bacon joint (ideally 5cm thick)
½ apple, sliced, to garnish
Rub the pork belly all over with rock salt, then cover and leave in a cool place overnight. The next day, rinse off the salt with cold water and pat the pork dry. Set aside.
To make the sausages, sauté the onion with the garlic and thyme in the butter until soft. Transfer to a bowl and add the pork mince, sausage meat, mustard, sage, parsley, mace, salt and some pepper. Mix well together. Fry a little of the mix to check the seasoning; adjust as necessary.
Pipe into the sausage casings. Alternatively, lay out a sheet of clingfilm on the work surface and place one-quarter of the mixture along the edge of it in a line 15cm long. Roll the clingfilm over the mix and continue rolling tightly to form a sausage shape, tying each end tightly. Twist in the middle to make two sausages. Repeat with the remaining mix. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil, add the sausages (in casings or clingfilm) and simmer for about 3 minutes. Drain and allow to cool, then keep in the fridge until needed.
Next cook the pork belly. Preheat your oven to 150°C/300°F/gas mark 2. Quarter and core the apples, then place in a roasting dish just large enough to fit the pork belly. Add the onion and thyme. Set the pork belly on top. Cover with foil and cook in the oven for 3 hours.
Remove from the oven and lift off the skin; reserve this. Transfer the pork to a carving board, cover with foil and set aside in a warm place.
Increase the heat of the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Place the pork skin on a baking tray and bake for about 10 minutes, until crisp. Slice the crackling into pieces. Set aside with the pork belly.
For the apple sauce, remove the thyme and any large areas of fat from the roasting dish, then transfer the apples and onion with the cooking liquor to a blender and blend until smooth. Adjust the seasoning and pass through a sieve into a saucepan. Set aside; reheat for serving.
To cook the bacon, mix together the honey, mustard, soy sauce, star anise and nutmeg and brush half of this liberally over all sides of the bacon. Set it in a small roasting dish, cover with foil and place in the oven to cook for about 10 minutes. Remove the foil, brush with the remaining honey mix and bake for a further 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook the sausages. Remove the clingfilm if you used it, and fry the sausages in a little oil for about 5 minutes, until golden all over and cooked through.
To serve, ensure everything is hot (if not, reheat in the oven for 5–10 minutes). Set the pork belly on a warmed board and carve into eight slices. Slice the bacon too. Add the sausages and crackling. Garnish the board with a stack of apple slices and serve with the apple sauce.
Haunch of venison is packed full of flavour and when braised it really is the perfect winter comfort food. Here the lean meat is served with caul-wrapped venison and bacon faggots, crisp venison croquettes spiked with port-soaked cranberries, and a rich cauliflower side dish.
Serves 8
Braised haunch of venison
1 × 1kg boned haunch of venison
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 carrot, peeled and cut across into quarters
1 leek, white part only, cut across into quarters
1 stick celery, cut across in half
1 onion, peeled and halved
2 bay leaves
10 juniper berries
2 cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
200ml red wine
200ml port
50ml red wine vinegar
2 tbsp treacle
1 litre chicken stock
1 litre veal or beef stock
Venison faggots
100g venison or pork liver
200g boneless venison meat
100g pork belly, cut into chunks
100g smoked back bacon, diced
1 onion, peeled and diced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
100g fresh breadcrumbs
leaves from ¼ bunch of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
leaves from ¼ bunch of thyme
25ml port
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
3 juniper berries, crushed
grated zest of ½ orange
1 tsp salt
caul fat, for wrapping
vegetable oil, for frying
Venison and cranberry croquettes
50ml port
50g dried cranberries, chopped
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, peeled and sliced
large knob of butter
250g cooked venison (from haunch of venison)
leaves from ¼ bunch of thyme
100g button mushrooms, diced and browned in butter
100ml venison sauce (from haunch of venison), warmed vegetable oil, for deep-frying
2 free-range eggs
100g panko breadcrumbs
50g plain flour
Cauliflower pudding
1 small cauliflower, about 180g, broken into florets
500ml milk
½ onion, peeled
4 cloves
50g unsalted butter
50g plain flour
50g Cheddar cheese, grated, plus extra for sprinkling
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
Preheat the oven to 100°C/215°F/gas mark low. Season the haunch. Heat a large flameproof casserole with the oil and brown the haunch evenly on all sides. Remove and set aside. Add the vegetables to the casserole with the bay leaves and spices, and lightly brown. Pour in the wine, port and vinegar and reduce by a third, then add the treacle and stocks and bring to the boil. Place the haunch in the liquid and cover the casserole with foil. Transfer to the oven to braise for 8 hours.
Remove the casserole from the oven. Lift out the haunch and wrap in foil; set aside. Pass the cooking liquor through a sieve into a clean pan and bring to the boil, then reduce by a third. Adjust the seasoning, if necessary. Break the venison down to large chunks and place in the sauce. Cool, then cover and keep in the fridge until needed.
Next make the faggots. Remove any sinew from the liver and venison, then cut into chunks. Mince together with the pork belly, bacon, onion and garlic using a mincer or food processor (take care not to purée). Mix in the remaining ingredients. Fry a small portion to check the seasoning; adjust if necessary. Divide the mix into eight portions and roll each into a ball. Wrap in caul fat and set aside in a cool place.
For the croquettes, bring the port to the boil in a small pan and add the cranberries; cover and set aside to soak. Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the onion, seasoning well. Cook until softened, then add the butter and continue to cook until golden and sweet.
Break the venison into small chunks and combine in a bowl with the onion, thyme, cranberries, mushrooms and sauce. Season well with salt and pepper. Press into a 3cm-thick layer in a deep dish lined with a double layer of clingfilm. Cover the dish tightly with clingfilm and place in the fridge to firm up for at least 3 hours.
Meanwhile, prepare the cauliflower pudding. Add the cauliflower florets to a pan of boiling water and blanch for about 3 minutes. Drain and refresh in iced water, then drain again and set aside. Put the milk in a saucepan with the onion studded with the cloves, bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Cover and set aside to infuse for 30 minutes.
Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the flour and cook for a few minutes, stirring. Pour in a little of the infused milk, whisking well, then add the remaining milk (discard the clove-studded onion). Cook over a moderate heat, stirring, until the sauce is thick and the floury taste has cooked out. Add the cheese and mix well, then season with the nutmeg, salt and pepper. Fold in the cauliflower. Transfer to a baking dish and sprinkle with extra grated cheese.
When ready to serve, preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4.
Heat some oil in an ovenproof frying pan and brown the faggots all over. Add 50ml of the sauce from the venison haunch and cover the pan with foil. Transfer to the oven to cook for about 20 minutes. Place the braised haunch and its sauce in a baking dish, cover and reheat in the oven for about 10 minutes. At the same time, place the cauliflower pudding in the oven to cook for 10 minutes. (If you like, finish off under a hot grill to brown the cheese.)
Meanwhile, fry the croquettes. Heat oil for deep-frying to 170°C. Lightly beat the eggs in a shallow bowl and put the panko crumbs and flour on two plates. Cut the croquette mix into squares. Dust each one with flour, shaking off the excess, then dip in beaten egg and finally coat in crumbs. Fry, in batches, for about 6 minutes, until golden all over and hot in the centre. Drain on kitchen paper.
To serve, arrange everything on a sharing board.
