Nigel Slater's Chicken Thighs with Fennel and Leek

Nigel Slater's recipes always seem really simple and earthy; this is the first one I have tried and I was really impressed. The fresh flavours of the fennel and leek really lift the chicken and create an amazing flavoured sauce cooked down in some stock. I added a spoonful of crême fraiche at the very end, just to thicken the sauce ever so slightly but it's completely up to you if you want to keep things simple. Some people aren't too keen on using chicken thighs but cooked in the right way, they really can be delicious. They are also a lot cheaper than the breast meat and don't dry out so quickly!  One more tip, don't go too mad on the lemon juice, you want the dish to be on the right side of tangy and fresh.

Ingredients Serves 1 

2 chicken thighs  | 1 small leek and fennel bulb  | 1/2 lemon | 250-300ml chicken stock | handful finely chopped parsley | salt and pepper to season | spoonful cr ême fraiche (optional) 

Season your chicken thighs and brown off in a large shallow pan. Meanwhile slice your leeks into rings (make sure they are washed properly) and add to the pan. 

Slice your fennel bulb and again add to the pan stirring for about 5 minutes to soften, making sure the heat isn't too high that the vegetables burn. 

Add your chicken stock  and a good squeeze of lemon juice to the pan and cook for a further 25 minutes letting the stock simmer down. If you don't think there is enough liquid you can always add a splash of water accordingly. After 25 minutes, check your chicken is cooked through by slicing into the thickest part of the meat. 

If so, place the chicken to one side, add the parsley and cr ême fraiche and stir. Serve immediately placing the chicken thighs on top. Serve with bread, floury potatoes or rice to soak up that lovely sauce! 

Toad In the Hole: Suffolk Sausages in Yorkshire Pudding

This January my Instagram and Facebook feeds have been bombarded with pictures of fridges filled with salad, fruits and vegetables. Don't get me wrong, out of any one in the family, I eat the most green foods, often having a salad in place of their traditional Sunday fry-up... But carrot sticks alone are not going to get me through the winter! As the most depressing month of the year, I want to be eating glorious comfort food, that doesn't hurt my purse.

This recipe for Toad In The Hole is lovely eaten by itself but also nice with green beans, mash and gravy. For the Yorkshire pudding, I turn to Delia, who's recipe I will insert below; for the sausages, of course I turn to Andrew's! I've tried the supermarket ones that are made using artificial skins and they're just not the same, with either no flavour or too much fat. AND for this week only, all Andrew's sausages are 10% off! 

Heat your oven to 220C, then add a dish with sausages and a splash of cooking oil to the oven.

Now make the batter for your Yorkshire pudding. You will need:

75g plain flour - 1 egg - 75ml milk - 55ml water - salt and pepper to season 

Such a small amount (very cheap!) will make enough for four people, so just double and split between two dishes if you would like to make for a larger amount. 

Delia then says: "Make up the batter by sifting the flour into a bowl and making a well in the centre. Break the egg into it and beat, gradually incorporating the flour, and then beat in the milk, water and seasoning (an electric hand whisk will do this in seconds.)" 

The time it takes to do this will have left about 10 minutes for the sausages to start cooking and the pan to get really hot. The heat really is the secret behind a well risen Yorkshire pudding. The batter needs to start sizzling the minute it hits the pan. 

Once you've poured the batter over the sausages leave for 35 minutes until well browned and risen. Serve with gravy for a no nonsense cheap meal or with a few extra vegetables if you're feeling too guilty! 

For more about how Andrew's sausages are made, and another easy sausage recipe click here. 

Christmas Dinner

Happy Christmas everyone! I'm sure none of you will be reading this on Christmas Day but hope you all enjoyed your meat and had a lovely time with friends and family. I was lucky enough to have two special Christmas dinners, one with friends at Lola's gorgeous Suffolk cottage which included a delicious St.George's chicken with pigs in blankets, and Abi's homemade sage and onion sausage meat balls. The second was Christmas day which I also ended up cooking as everyone else fell asleep. It was only the four of us, so we had a turkey crown without the legs and I made Abi's sausage meat balls as they were so delicious the first time!

Giving the girls some tips for carving the chicken, pretending I'm a domestic goddess when it always goes wrong at home. 

Couldn't keep them away from picking at the yummy bits left on the carving board. 

Our beautiful roast with all the trimmings was delicious.

At home, I put herbs and streaky bacon on the turkey crown. It looks more like a dinosaur, I got carried away, but it tasted delicious! I also put some water in the bottom of the pan while cooking so that the onion, garlic and carrots didn't burn. If the water evaporates you can always add more throughout the cooking. It helped me make a delicious gravy at the end too! 

These are the stuffing balls inspired by the ones my friend Abi made at the weekend. I added 500g of sausage meat to some finely chopped sage and onion and breadcrumbs. Instead of normal breadcrumbs I used croutons and bashed them with a rolling pin in a sandwich bag, mainly because it was all I could find in our cupboard, but I think it made making breadcrumbs extremely easy. Abi's top tip is to sprinkle the breadcrumbs on top for an extra crispy outside. Baked for 20-30 minutes. 

 I added some honey and thyme to some cocktail sausages because quite frankly by that point I was sick of looking at pigs in blankets. Baked for 20 minutes. 

Wishing you all a very happy new year, 

L x

Christmas Madness

Today has been such an overwhelming day, and I feel like I have to share it because I don't think anyone could ever imagine what can go on in a little high street butchers shop! Today and tomorrow are the two days that customers collect their orders for Christmas. For the 12 days previous all the butchers have worked without a single day off, starting at 6/7am and some days not coming home until 9pm in order to prepare and allocate every single meat order. I have no idea how they keep going, I am in awe of how physically hard they work.

7am. There were already a few customers avidly waiting for the doors to open. I started making pigs-in-blankets with Beth fresh for the counter. I am so happy we managed to make these as I know in previous years people have asked me, and we just haven't had the time or staff to do so! I know having a nose around the supermarkets it is hard to work out where the meat for this sort of product comes from so it's nice that we could give customers something that they know is 100% a Suffolk product.

10am. I started serving customers, running up and down stairs like a mad woman to collect turkeys and different meat joints ordered. I love serving at Christmas because there is such a buzz and love thinking about all the gorgeous meals people are going to cook for family and friends. Arthur who helps filling up the counter went and took these pictures of the queue and shop early afternoon, and as customers kept telling me, the length didn't change much throughout the day.

 

3am. Dad finally noticed I hadn't stopped all day so I ran to Crabtree's for a coffee and cake, but when the queue's like it is, and knowing how hard the boys have worked for two weeks it's impossible to stop any longer than it is needed to wolf down a slice of Victoria Sponge! Late afternoon Jock, who is now retired but was my Dad's first employee, came in to give us a tin of sweets. At this point I was so tired I thought I was going to get emotional... It sounds so stupid but when the shop was established 20 years ago (it's nearly as old as me!) it was half the size it was, their was only Dad and Jock working in it in a dead high street, and some years my Dad was so overworked and physically exhausted we had no family life at all... So to then see the endless queue in a buzzing high street and Christmas cards thanking the butchers for the service they contribute to the high street makes my heart swell with pride. Knowing how important the shop is to the community makes all those years of Andrew's hard work and sacrifice somehow worth it.

Forerib of Beef with Roasted Potatoes and Carrots

Orders are coming in thick and fast for Christmas in the shop and what has really stood out is how much Forerib of Beef has been ordered this year. It really is a beautiful cut of beef, by far my favourite for roasting, so I thought that as so many of you will be cooking it this year I would show you how I like to cook it, and really how easy it is!

The Forerib has a really distinct flavour because it is left on the bone and has a nice coating of fat around the outside. I know a lot of people shy away from fat, but when it comes to meat, fat and bone really do equal flavour- the more the better. There is also a big difference between a healthy marbling of fat running through the meat and a coating round the outside, and then meat which is completely fatty and grisly. Luckily if you're shopping at a good quality butchers, you will get the former! Because the beef has a distinct flavour, I like to cook my roast potatoes and carrots in the pan so that they can cook in the meat juices for lots and lots of flavour. I then just serve with some fresh green beans so that the meal isn't too heavy.

Roasts are really easy to cook, because you have loads of time to spend on each individual component and don't need to be juggling a million things at once; so there is plenty of time to have a glass of wine and natter with friends in between things coming out and going in. All you have to worry about is your timings for which I work backwards. For example if I know when I want to eat, I know that I have to put the green beans on to boil ten minutes before the end, the carrots in the roasting tin 40 minutes before, and the potatoes in 55 minutes before the end. The gravy can be made at any point and kept warm on the hob. So so simple.

As for how long to cook the beef... For a medium roast- which really is best for beef, no one wants overcooked beef- cook for 20 minutes at 220C to really crisp up the fat on the outside. Then lower your oven to 160C and  cook for 45 minutes for every kilogram it weighs. For example for a 2KG piece,cook for 20 minutes at 220C and for 1 hour 30 minutes at 160C.

After roasting for twenty minutes I place the Forerib on 2 onions halved. This is because I like to cook the potatoes in a good couple of tablespoons of hot oil to get them really crispy... Placing the the beef on the onions just stops the oil running into the meat and making it greasy. Your oil will then be sizzling hot when you want to add your potatoes to the pan, and will really help to crisp them up. If the oil is too cold it will just seep into the potatoes instead of just sealing the outside.

While the oil is heating up and beef is cooking away, you need to peel, chop and par boil your potatoes. For slightly smaller roast potatoes than normal, which I prefer, bring to the boil in cold water. Then boil for 5-6 minutes. Drain away the water and, with the lid on the saucepan, shake well. This will make the potatoes really fluffy and eventually lovely and crispy. Keep the lid on the potatoes until you want to cook them, keeping them as warm as possible. You can also prepare the carrots at this stage. I don't so much par boil the carrots as to just let them sit in boiling water off the heat. This just softens them and helps them to roast all the way through.

When carrots, potatoes and beef are all roasting away nicely (you might want to add some fresh herbs in and around) you can concentrate on your gravy. First and foremost I have to admit I cheat and use Bisto Best (gluten free) as it is the easiest way to make sure you get a nice thick consistency... However  I always make sure I add my own flavours to make it taste that little bit more special.

So in a pan, sweat down some vegetables with flavour. I tend to use whatever is in the fridge, so here I used tomatoes, olives, mushroom and onion. However celery, carrot and garlic all work well. Then add a splash of water and a bigger splash of red wine and whack up the heat to get all those flavours working together. Adding a spoonful of redcurrant jelly or cranberry sauce also makes a big difference if you have any in. At this point make up your bisto gravy in a Pyrex measuring jug- 3 heaped spoons of powder to a pint of water- and add to the gravy. Lower the heat and let it do its thing until the dinner is done when you can just sieve into a gravy jug.

Then have a glass of wine from the bottle you've just opened and relax a bit, maybe giving the potatoes and carrots a little turn around. The final thing to do is to boil some green vegetables ten minutes before the end. You may want to time it that you take the beef out at this stage too and let it rest. Carving the beef is really easy. Just work your knife around the bone- the meat will be so tender that it really will just pull away from the meat. Then place the meat on its side, upwards, and take your time to carve slices onto a plate.

I hope everyone who has ordered Forerib this year really enjoys it! If you have any questions regarding cooking it please do email me lauren_rose1992@hotmail.co.uk and I will be happy to answer.

Sticky Sweet Chilli Chicken Wings

The thought of food excites me on the hour, but these... my god, you have to make them!! I knocked this recipe together because I didn't really have much food in, and had some sweet chilli sauce in the fridge. Chicken wings are also cheaper than chips, so this recipe makes for pure comfort food heaven without the usual guilt of spending money on a takeaway or not knowing where it has come from- I know mine has come from a happy farm in North Suffolk :) 

Ingredients 

4 chicken wings per person (it was one of those days so I went for 6) | good shake of soy sauce | 1 clove of garlic finely, chopped | very generous shake/squeeze of sweet chilli sauce 

Preheat the oven to 180C | Pour over the garlic and soy sauce and massage into the chicken. | Wash hands, pour over enough sweet chilli sauce to cover the chicken and again massage in. | Always add more sauce if you think the chicken needs it.

Place the chicken on a foil lined baking tray and place in the oven for 30 minutes. Turn after 15 minutes, adding a drop of sauce to the other side. This leaves plenty of time to prepare an accompaniment such as noodles or rice. I just boiled some rice and added some fried onion and mushroom, adding soy sauce and rice wine for flavour. If you're feeling guilty you could always make a little noodle salad, but where's the fun in that?

Remove from the oven and eat immediately. Apart from a fork for the rice, chicken that tastes this good should only ever be eaten with fingers, so get stuck in! These wings are very sticky so back-up kitchen roll is probably a good idea.

I am writing this as I wait for my girlfriends to get ready for a night out and am seriously contemplating preparing these for when I get in later! Hope you enjoy them as much as I do...

L x

Chicken Breast & Wing White Wine Casserole

For my fourth week of eating local produce I have chosen another relatively simple dish that is easy to adapt to the leftover vegetables you may have in the fridge. Chicken breast and wing portions are also much cheaper per kilo than a filleted chicken breast so aside from the bottle of wine, this meal makes a relatively inexpensive dish for the whole family. At Andrew's, we sell two kinds of chicken that are bred and reared in Suffolk: firstly an economical barn reared variety which is fed on a natural antibiotic-free diet and left to roam in a big lofty barn, and secondly the famous Sutton Hoo free range chicken which is slow grown, again on a natural diet, for a full delicious flavour. For this recipe I have used the barn reared variety as it is much cheaper and still rather tasty. 

Ingredients
1 Chicken Breast and Wing Portion Per Person | 1 Bottle of White Wine (I feel any will do but don't go too cheap!) | 1 Onion peeled and roughly chopped into segments | A selection of local vegetables (I have chosen local Trimley mushrooms and Suffolk carrots, I know lemons are by no means local but i wanted to use up what was in the fridge!) | A handful of sage - this is a great herb to have in the garden, I use it in a lot of cooking so is much cheaper than buying sage from a shop each time |

Preheat the oven to 180C | Add all the ingredients to a casserole dish, pouring over the bottle of wine last: this should just cover all your ingredients but if you don't think there is enough liquid just add a little water or chicken stock. | Bring to the boil on the hob to get the heat through your dish before placing in the oven, with the lid on, for an hour and a half | After this time move the chicken and veg to a heated serving dish and place the casserole back on the hob to reduce down the liquid to make a gravy, perhaps adding a stock cube to thicken if you would like | Serve with rice, crusty bread, or potatoes depending on what you fancy!

Mum's Sirloin Steak With Sautéed Potatoes

Whenever there's a special occasion in our house a request is always put in by someone for mum's steak and sautéed potatoes. It is simple, easy to make, delicious, value for money... the list goes on. And as you can buy both exceptionally good steak, and potatoes, from Suffolk I thought I would make it my third meal of eating local produce for September.

I've watched my Dad spend years tracking down the perfect beef supplier for him- from Aberdeen Angus in Scotland to Smithfield meat market in London- and although it has all been good it has been hard to find the perfect combination of beef that is well looked after, of a great eating quality, and from a herd big enough to be able to supply that consistently throughout the year. It turned out that the best beef was on our doorstep all along: our supplier Charlie sources the very best beef from Suffolk farmers that believe well looked after animals make the best beef. Once at Andrew's the beef is matured in carcass for at least 21 days before steaks and joints are cut and prepared daily making it even more delicious!

Ingredients
sirloin steak each (rump steak would be a very good cheaper alternative) | suffolk maris piper potatoes peeled and diced (a big handful per person) | sunflower oil (enough to shallow fry the potatoes in a wok) | green salad to serve

1. From cold water bring potatoes to the boil and simmer for five minutes, strain and set aside | 2. Heat a generous amount of sunflower oil in a wok, enough to just cover all your potatoes | 3. Add potatoes and cook for about 20 minutes until golden, turning now and again to stop them burning on the bottom |

4. Prepare your salad and set aside | 5. Prepare your steaks- anything from a light seasoning and drizzle of olive oil to rubbing in herbs and chilli powder, it's up to you! |

6. Heat a frying pan on a high heat and cook your steaks- I like my steak quite rare but for medium rare I would suggest 2-3 minutes each side for an average sized steak! | 6. With a slotted spoon remove the cooked potatoes to a serving bowl lined with kitchen roll to soak up the fat, then remove the kitchen roll before serving.

Dingley Dell Pork Sausages Braised in Aspall's Cyder

For the second week of cooking local produce I have chosen Andrew's pork sausages which are made onsite by Andrew's butchers, entirely of Dingley Dell Pork. Andrew's have bought Dingley Dell pork for many years and love that these Suffolk farmers are passionate about the same things we are: taste, provenance and welfare. I asked my brother Ben what makes Andrew's sausages so good and he said that not only does it take great pork but also an expert eye. Ben and the boys that currently make the sausages have been trained by Jock: an amazing butcher, now retired, who was my Dad's first employee when he set up shop nearly 20 years ago. He has taught them the art of mixing a perfect balance of fat and lean meat that makes the sausages full of flavour, perfect for taste, texture and easy cooking.

For this recipe I have used the Gluten Free sausage that's very similar to the Original Pork, however, there are also a range of herby sausages that would be perfect for this recipe such as the Toulouse, Pork and Leek, and Lincolnshire. I braised the sausages in the famous Suffolk Aspall's Cyder, with Suffolk red onions sliced, garlic, bay leaf, and thyme.

Method:
Heat the oven to 180C. Brown the sausages in a cassoulet dish with a drop of oil.

Set the sausages aside and soften the onion, browning without burning.

Put the sausages back in, along with the whole bottle of cyder, herbs and garlic. Wait for the cyder to simmer, place the lid on the cassoulet dish, and place in the oven for 30 minutes.

After this time remove the lid and let cook for a further 10 minutes in the oven. Remove from the oven and place on the hob. Remove the sausages and turn the heat up to let the sauce bubble away. At this point I made up some Chicken Bisto Best Gravy (I know it is cheating but it is gluten free and a great substitute for flour) and added to the liquid to thicken it. You may also want to add a teaspoon of sugar to cut through the sharpness of the cyder. Replace the sausages and serve on the table from the cassoulet dish, with mash potatoes and runner beans (both from Suffolk!) I also found a delicious Rosé wine in Waitrose that has been produced in Suffolk. I wasn't sure what it would be like but it had delicious apple tones to it that went perfectly with the dish!

I hope you enjoy this Suffolk meal as much as we did...
L x

Nedging Lamb with Suffolk Vegetables

This month Transition Ipswich have launched the 30-Mile-Food-Challenge, an initiative to get Suffolk consumers eating the best produce the county has to offer. I'm really proud of the work Dad has put in to now be selling so much meat bred in Suffolk, so I thought I would offer up four recipes over the coming weeks using as much local produce as possible.

One of the difficulties of selling local meat has always been that out of a small herd, as is often the case, naturally only a small percentage will be of the high specification that produces quality meat. However, we have been really lucky to meet some great suppliers this last year who help us source meat from a selection of high-welfare Suffolk farms. Such is the case with all of our lamb; in the spring and summer months we are able to offer the flavourful and tender Nedging Lamb, whilst looking to other local farms as the lamb gets older into the autumn. 

 I popped into the shop this afternoon to get a leg of lamb, garlic and rosemary from the garden in hand, for Dad to prepare this delicious roast for me. First he deboned and rolled the leg, making it easier to carve later. He then placed the sprigs of rosemary underneath the string like so: 

He then made some mini pockets in the meat with the tip of his knife and placed in chunks of peeled garlic.

We already debone and roll lamb leg joints for customers but we were discussing this afternoon whether we could sell them prepared with herbs and garlic. What do you think, is it something you would buy? Once home I roasted in the oven for approx 1 hour 40 minutes at 190C in a fan oven. I used a whole leg of lamb which would normally serve 6-8 people, but we have kept what we didn't eat for lunches during the rest of the week. 

 I served the lamb with a medley of Suffolk vegetables; in particular Suffolk Maris Piper potatoes  from Waitrose, which make the best roasties, and delicious fresh Runner Beans from Hollowtrees Farmshop, Semer. 

If you have any questions about how to recreate this meal at home please leave a comment below! 

L x