Tuesday 20 November 2012

Curried Parsnip Soup and Ouseburn Open Studios

I'm going to be hanging out at Ouse Street Arts Club again this weekend, as part of Ouseburn Open Studios we are one of 8 venues opening their doors to members of the public. The Ouseburn Valley is the creative heart of Newcastle and on the last weekend of November the much-anticipated Ouseburn Open Studios event sees venues open their doors, offering a unique chance to come and see inside the studios of over 200 artists and designer-makers.


At the Arts Club we have set up an art-mini-mart with work to buy from the lovely Amy Dover, Laura Sheldon, Prefab77, Muro Buro, Bubblegum Vegas and Louise Green. There are some amazing prints framed and unframed, cards, T-shirts, ceramics, jewellery, dresses and tote bags for sale. Totally unique Christmas presents, I might have to do a spot of shopping myself... We also have a tiny pocket cinema showing a range of short films all weekend.

I will be manning the fort and also providing sustenance; Curried Parsnip Soup and Sausage Stew will be on hand to warm you up, with coffee from the Ouseburn Coffee Company by the cup and the bag too...


I discovered this parsnip soup last week when trying to decide what was a fitting end to the parsnips I grew myself this year. It is a simple yet delicious soup that will hopefully keep all the Open Studios visitors warm and full. A rich earthy parsnip soup with spicy curry and garlic, delicious.

Peel and chop 4 large parsnips and 1 onion and add to a baking tray with a big glug of olive oil. Add a clove of garlic still in its skin and 2 teaspoons of medium curry powder, along with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Then roast at 200°C for about 20 minutes or until golden and soft.


Then add the contents of the tray to 600ml of chicken stock, scraping everything you can out of the baking tray for extra flavour. Then simmer the roasted parsnip mixture in the stock for about 10 minutes. Allow it to cool slightly and check to see if it needs any salt or pepper then blend until it's smooth. I added a tablespoon of crème fraiche at the end for extra creaminess. These amounts will serve 2. The rich earthy parsnip is delicious with the spicy warm curry, just the thing to warm you up as winter approaches...

Monday 12 November 2012

Partridge in a Paper Parcel

Mr. Hedworth is a mean shot... this means that most weekends at this time of year there is a knock at my door late on a Saturday afternoon, and on opening I'm greeted by a hand clutching a brace of pheasant or duck, or if I'm lucky a partridge and occasionally what feels akin to winning the lottery a couple of woodcock... I love this time of year. I currently have two duck and two pheasant in the freezer and the same again hanging in the porch; god knows what my neighbours make of me... We ate two little grouse last week, with bread sauce and sauté potatoes and this week was the turn of the partridge. My second favourite game bird... the wonderful woodcock will always win...


Last year I made an Italian dish with the partridge, with a beautiful rich meaty tomato sauce, chestnuts and grapes, a delicious dish. This year I turned to Elizabeth David and a somewhat simpler dish that didn’t involve sieving sauces. Partridge en Papillotes, which involves searing the partridge in butter until crisp, then wrapping up in greaseproof paper with butter, bacon, thyme, salt, pepper and orange peel and cooking in the oven, simple but totally delicious. I made a sticky chestnut and pancetta lentil dish to go alongside and my very own home grown parsnips and beetroot roast until golden. I was so proud when I dug them up to find actual full grown vegetables!



Unfortunately I didn’t quite get my timings right, so we sat down to raw partridge the first time round; everything had to come off the plates, back into their parcels, back into the oven, whilst keeping everything else warm. It was a palava to say the least. Next time I'll just do what Elizabeth tells me and keep my own opinions to myself...

So start with your partridge, cut in half, you can ask whoever you get them from to do this for you, or go at them with a pair of shears like I did. Allow one bird per person, they look pretty tiny but you get a surprising amount of meat from them. Heat a knob of butter in a frying pan and when it is hot add the birds and pan fry them for 8 minutes, start skin size down, until it is crisp and golden, then turn them about half way through. When they are done season them with salt and pepper, some fresh thyme leaves and a few slices of orange peel and leave them to cool.




To make the lentil dish I slowly cooked diced onion, carrot and celery with a sprig of thyme in butter until soft, then added diced pancetta, a chopped clove of garlic and some diced chestnuts and continued to cook until sticky and delicious, about half an hour. I cooked lentils until they were soft in chicken stock and the liquid was all but gone, added some shredded cabbage to cook through towards the end then stirred through the sticky chestnut and pancetta mixture. This turned out to be a bit of a triumph, I'll definitely be making it again!

When the partridge has cooled cut a strip of greaseproof paper large enough to wrap it up, spread some butter where the partridge will sit, add a slice of bacon, then sit the partridge on top, making sure you put the orange rind in too. Fold the paper over the top of the meat and then fold over and over round the edge until the package is sealed. Then pop them in the oven at about 160°C for 15 minutes. When you get them out of the oven make sure you check them so you don't end up sitting down to raw partridge like I did! Let them rest for 5 minutes under tin foil before you serve.


I served them, eventually, with the pancetta and chestnut rich delicious lentils and my very own home grown parsnips and beetroot. The partridge were delicious, rich and gamey, especially the legs, the parcel was full of buttery juices to pour over the bird and you get lovely hints of thyme and orange. Long may the game season continue, I'm filling the freezer to keep me going...



Tuesday 6 November 2012

The Grazer's Joe Beef inspired Bonfire Supperclub as it happened...

'Come to a pop up feast in a shipping container' I tweeted and a day later 20 people were booked in to do just that. Who knew people were so keen to dine in a little metal box in the Ouseburn? It was a long time in the planning, thinking about menus, styling and imagining who might actually want to come. Much of the menu was inspired by Joe Beef, a Montreal institution I'm determined to one day visit, and my favourite cookbook of sorts right now; full of smorgasbords, home smokers, oysters and sausage martinis, right up my street...

Then suddenly there was a date set, the emails came in and Supperclub was launched. The Ouse Street Arts Club venue is a project imagined and realised by xsite architecture and friends as a 'meanwhile' use for a small derelict piece of land in Newcastle's Lower Ouseburn Valley. With cutting, welding, begging and borrowing complete it fell to me to host the first formal event of a curated programme for the space.





People began arriving just after seven, there was a bit of polite chatter which quickly passed as guests settled in. There is a lovely atmosphere at the Arts Club I really enjoy hanging out there; the fire was burning, music playing, hot toddies were on hand. A delicious cocktail of whisky, ginger ale, fresh lemon, orange, honey and cayenne pepper to warm the cold arrivals. It wasn't long before it was noisy and warm... My nerves lasted much longer than the guests, I was hugely anxious, probably until very near the end, I put it down to being the first event and hope that next time I might feel a touch more relaxed.





The table was laid ready with smorgasbord starters as people sat down; homemade salami, one red wine with walnut and the other garlic and fennel. They have been hanging in anticipation for the past month, and were delicious, rich and spiced, really good. There were pickled mackerel rollmops, sweet cucumber pickle and horseradish crème fraiche with lavosh crackers to dip. A dill and mustard potato salad and my new favourite discovery Beer Cheese. A Joe Beef recipe which blends, blue cheese, quark and cream cheese with beer, garlic and paprika, my only regret being that I didn’t make enough for myself this time round... but there is always next time...






TLI was a welcome arrival with the steaming pulled pork, after a quick pork run back to Jesmond; three shoulders of pork that had been cooking slowly for 9 hours. The locally produced meat from Freeman's butchers just fell apart, soft sticky and delicious. I calmed down a little at that point, perhaps the glass of red wine helped. The pork was taken to the table alongside secret recipe beans, my own special BBQ sauce, creamy coleslaw with apple and toasted pumpkin seeds and fresh white home baked buns. For all my planning I forgot to serve the cinnamon apple crisps, thankfully they worked out fine as a sweet crispy addition to pudding...




Loud laughter and chatter filled the shipping container, the windows had steamed up and the woodburner was puffing out wood smoke and keeping us all very warm. Pudding was a collection of Campari and Orange jellies, Pumpkin Spice Muffins and Chocolate and Chestnut pots with coffee and a splash more wine. We ended the night dancing round the fire in a shipping container watching fireworks over Byker and eating left over pulled pork. A pretty lovely evening all in all.

For info on further Supperclub events please see the Markets and Supperclubs page: click here.


Thursday 1 November 2012

The Grazer's Joe Beef inspired Bonfire Supperclub

I'm very excited for my pop up supper club at Ouse Street Arts Club this weekend. I've been testing recipes for weeks now, sauces, jellies, puddings, drinks... you name it... Getting up each morning to see if things have set or ruined over night; I started my day this morning with a little campari and orange jelly. I can't remember when I last had a normal meal that wasn't just an odd mish mash of things thrown together or put onto toast. It's very hard work trying to plan every detail and still go to work everyday, manically packing things into lunch hours and night hours, and I don't do very well without sleep... but... it's coming together and I couldn't be more excited. 

I thought I would give you a little sneak peek of the venue and the menu... I will be releasing dates for the next supper club very soon so if you didn't manage to get a place on this one there is still hope...





Click to enlarge the menu.