Pancetta Wrapped Coley with Beurre Blanc and fine beans

Coley is, unfortunately, an ugly fish. However, it has a great meaty texture and is a good alternative to Cod. When wrapped in pancetta, the grey colour is hidden and you have a great meal with a reasonably priced fish.

2 decent sized fillets of coley (skinned and pin boned)
4 rashers of pancetta
1 medium onion (thinly sliced)
2 shallots (finely diced)
1 lemon
50ml white wine vinegar
100ml white wine
100g unsalted butter from the fridge
2 handfuls of fine beans

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 6.
Check the coley fillets for any remaining bones. Stretch the pancetta out on to a board and place the fillets in the middle. Wrap the pancetta around the fish as tight as you can, so they end almost cylindrical . Add some olive oil to an oven proof pan and when it starts to warm, and the onion. Cook lightly for a minute, but don't brown. Push this to the side of the pan then turn the heat to medium - high. Grind some black pepper onto the fish and add to the pan. Brown the pancetta on all sides, add the fine beans to the onion, mix together, season, add a couple of dots of butter and put the pan in the oven.

For the beurre blanc, add a little olive oil and butter to the pan then slowly warm the shallots, cook for a couple of minutes. Now add the vinegar, white wine and juice of a lemon. Let this reduce till it's almost disappeared. Then slowly add the butter a cube at a time, mixing it well, until it is fully incorporated. Keep adding until it has the consistency of double cream.

Take out the coley (after about 5 minutes) and check it's done (it should be firm to touch.) Serve on warm plates with the beurre blanc around the food rather than over it. Good served with new potatoes.

Sauteed lambs liver and pancetta

My second post on liver and this one also uses pancetta. The pairing of rich liver with smoky pancetta just works so well. If you wrap these tight enough, they look like little sausages and taste amazing. This dish is part of an idea by Brian Turner and part of an idea by The 2 Hairy Bikers. This will feed two.

300g lambs liver (6 pieces of equal size)
6 slices pancetta
500ml chicken stock
Small glass white wine
Savoy cabbage sliced thinly
1 large or 2 small onions sliced thinly

Add half of the onion into a pan and add the chicken stock, let this simmer, you need it to reduce by half. Add the other half to a frying pan with a dash of olive oil, seasoning and a knob of butter and let it sweat down on a low heat. When this becomes translucent, take it out of the pan and set aside.

Wrap the pancetta around each of the pieces of liver, make sure it's quite tight. Add more oil and butter to the frying pan and give the liver a generous dusting of black pepper. Now saute the liver in the butter on a low to medium heat. Keep turning these regularly so all the sides get a nice browning. While this is cooking, lightly simmer the cabbage till it's al dente. When the liver is becoming firm to the touch (after about 5 minutes) take it out and place somewhere warm.

Add the onions back into the frying pan and raise the heat to medium, now add the glass of wine. Scrape the bottom of the pan. When the wine has reduced by half, add the chicken stock (minus the onion.) Let all of this reduce by half again, until you are left with a rich, slightly salty and tangy stock .Now add a couple of table spoons of tomato ketchup (Heinz of course.) The sweetness of the sauce works amazingly well with the iron tang of the liver.

Add the cabbage to the pan of sauce, then put on a warm plate. Add the pieces of liver and top with the remaining sauce. This goes great with buttery mash potato or just a bit of bread and butter.

Pork chops and potato rosti

Pork and cider is a marriage made in heaven. The potato rosti is Simon Rimmer's recipe.

2 Free range pork chops
2 Large potatoes
Fennel seeds
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 Medium onion, finely sliced
1/2 bottle of decent medium cider
200ml of chicken stock. 

Pre-heat the oven to medium (gas mark 5 or equivalent)

Boil the potatoes whole, in their skin, for seven minutes. Scrape the skin off and leave to cool. When you're able to handle it, grate into a bowl and mix with garlic and plenty of seasoning. Form into patties and chill in the fridge for about 20 minutes.

In a frying pan, soften the onion and set aside. Turn up the heat and add the pork (seasoned) and brown. Put on a baking tray in the oven. Turn the heat down and add the onion, fennel seeds and garlic. Brown softly and add the cider, turn up the heat. Reduce this by 1/3 and add the chicken stock. Reduce this until you acheive a good, thick consistency.

For the rosti, fry them in olive oil till they're browned on both sides. Put all the ingredients together and serve with broccoli or spinach.

Chicken liver, new potato and pancetta

This is an adaptation of a Nigel Slater recipe. It uses the cheapest of ingredients, offal, and yet has an amazing flavour. This is a recipe for 2.

200g Chicken livers
100g Pancetta, diced
300g New potatoes
150 ml Sour cream
Dill
Tbsp capers
Whole grain mustard
White wine vinegar
Rocket

Trim the chicken livers and put them in a bowl, covered in milk (this removes the bitterness.) Scrub the new potatoes clean and boil them in their skins till almost done. While they're still warm, break them up with a fork (don't mash, you still need large chunks.)
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When they've stopped steaming, fry them in olive oil about 5 minutes each side. Be rough with them in this stage because the more they break up, the better. In a separate pan fry some butter in a little oil and add the pancetta. When this starts to colour, add the livers and season (go easy on the salt, the pancetta will add a lot of this.) Cook the livers for a couple of minutes on each side, they should still be slightly pink in the middle.

Make a dressing with the cream, couple of table spoons of dill, tsp of grain  mustard , the capers and seasoning. Add the vinegar a little at a time till it achieves a touch of piquancy. Mix the rocket, potatoes, pancetta and livers and drizzle the dressing on sparingly.

The world's easiest chicken and chips

This embarrassingly easy and quick and yet it tastes amazing.

2 Free range chicken legs
2 Large  potatoes
Celery salt
Hellmann's mayonnaise

Turn your oven on to its highest setting. Cut the potatoes into long chips and mix them with salt and olive oil. Put a couple of slashes in the chicken and cover in olive oil and a generous amount of  celery salt and black pepper. Place in the oven and roast for about 30 minutes or till the chicken is crisp skinned and the chips are nicely browned. Serve with dollops of mayonnaise to dip your chips in; that's it.

Curried Lamb Burger

Using lamb mince is a much cheaper way to use this expensive meat.This should make four burgers.

500g lamb mince.
Crushed chilli as much as preferred
3 cloves garlic
Thumb sized piece of ginger
2 tbsp Garam Masala
3 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 onion, grated
Bunch of coriander, grated

Mix all the ingredients together, combining and seasoning well. Squash into thick burgers, put on a plate and chill; ideally over night. To cook, place into a pan, straight from the fridge, with a little oil. Fry till browned and carefully flip. When cooked through, remove to a warm place and rest for 5 minutes. Serve in a roll with shredded lettuce and hot mango chutney.

Speedy poached rump of lamb

This is an adaption of a Gordon Ramsay recipe; I was sceptical when I saw it, but it does work. This is for 2 people.

2 lamb rumps/chumps
Enough chicken stock to cover
2 sprigs of thyme
2 bay leaves
Tbsp coriander seed
Black peppercorns

Bring the lamb rump to room temperature and add to a pan with the chicken stock, herbs and spices and bring to a boil. Lower the temperature to a light simmer. Then poach the lamb rumps for 8 minutes. Take them out and let them rest in a warm place for 10 minutes. Reduce the stock to a decent sauce consistency.

Slice the rumps and serve with the sieved sauce and side orders of your choice; good with boulangere potatoes and green vegetables.