Read Online Good Cook by Simon Hopkinson - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Simon Hopkinson
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boiling water step remains the same for filleted fish, even though they may look just a little bit underdone in the middle, as the fish will continue to cook a little more, once in the oven. “A sweet dish with great charm,” a kind friend once said when I served it up to him.
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Put the kipper into a shallow dish. Boil a kettle and submerge the kipper in the boiling water. Leave there for 5 minutes, and drain. Leave to cool for a few minutes, then flake off most of the meat that is not too riddled with whiskery bones. Pile the kipper meat into the center of two lightly buttered, ovenproof dishes and set aside. Plunge the plum tomatoes into boiling water, leave for a few seconds, then drain and peel off the skins. Cut in half lengthways and arrange around the kipper meat, rounded side uppermost. Using a small saucepan, warm the cream and whisk into it the mustard, curry powder and a pinch of salt, to taste. Pour this over the kipper and tomatoes and bake in the oven for 10–15 minutes, or until quietly bubbling and beginning to nicely gild all over. Some bread is essential here, I think.
braised neck of lamb with carrots & pearl barley
serves 4
8 thick slices neck of lamb, approx. 1½ lb
salt and white pepper
2 large onions, halved and thinly sliced
7–8 smallish carrots, approx. 350g, peeled and quartered lengthways
14 oz smallish new potatoes, peeled
2 bay leaves
4–5 cloves
2 oz pearl barley
3–4 tbsp dripping or butter
1 heaped tbsp all-purpose flour
a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce (optional)
2–3 tbsp chopped parsley
A favorite childhood recipe, this one, and equally divided between both Mum and Dad, as the cooks who made it. We probably ate it at least once a month during the colder months, maybe more. That familiar, most savory and deep scent emanating from the bottom oven of the Aga when walking into the kitchen after a cold walk home from the school bus, was for this little boy, just the best smell in the whole world.
Occasionally—about twice a year, I reckon—Mum would mildly swear (“Blood and Sand!” was her favorite expletive), having forgotten to remove the freshly laundered washing from the drying rack, hauled up above said Aga, before she began to cook this marvelous braise. My brother and I thought this hilarious. Poor old Mum—and especially in the days before she had acquired a spin clothes dryer …
And, by the way, she always added plenty of ready-ground white pepper (there was no other, then) to her lamb neck. I still so do, for that authentic memory, but you don’t have to.
Note: if you wish to both be frugal and add extra flavor to the braise, then ladle off the surface fat (instead of using paper towels) from the settled lamb broth when it has finally emerged from the oven with the vegetables and meat together, and use some of the fat (instead of the dripping or butter) to make the roux with which to thicken the broth.
Preheat the oven to 325°F.
Season the neck of lamb well, particularly with pepper, and put into a shallow, lidded casserole (one that will transfer from stove-top to oven), so that the slices sit tightly, almost as one layer. Pour over approx. 1¼ pints of water, or to cover by about ½ inch. Slowly bring up to a simmer, and skim off any scum that forms on the surface; I find that a few sheets of paper towels laid over the surface does the trick. Cover the pot and slide into the oven. Cook for 1 hour.
Remove the casserole, lift out the lamb and put on to a large plate, for the time being. Add the vegetables to the pot, stir them around and, over a low heat, once more bring the (now) lamb broth and vegetables back to a simmer. Remove any scum, as before. Reintroduce the lamb pieces to the pot, tucking them in and around the vegetables. Add the bay leaves, cloves and also the pearl barley, sprinkling it in here and there. Cover and return to the oven for a further hour, turning the temperature down a little if the liquid
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Put the kipper into a shallow dish. Boil a kettle and submerge the kipper in the boiling water. Leave there for 5 minutes, and drain. Leave to cool for a few minutes, then flake off most of the meat that is not too riddled with whiskery bones. Pile the kipper meat into the center of two lightly buttered, ovenproof dishes and set aside. Plunge the plum tomatoes into boiling water, leave for a few seconds, then drain and peel off the skins. Cut in half lengthways and arrange around the kipper meat, rounded side uppermost. Using a small saucepan, warm the cream and whisk into it the mustard, curry powder and a pinch of salt, to taste. Pour this over the kipper and tomatoes and bake in the oven for 10–15 minutes, or until quietly bubbling and beginning to nicely gild all over. Some bread is essential here, I think.
braised neck of lamb with carrots & pearl barley
serves 4
8 thick slices neck of lamb, approx. 1½ lb
salt and white pepper
2 large onions, halved and thinly sliced
7–8 smallish carrots, approx. 350g, peeled and quartered lengthways
14 oz smallish new potatoes, peeled
2 bay leaves
4–5 cloves
2 oz pearl barley
3–4 tbsp dripping or butter
1 heaped tbsp all-purpose flour
a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce (optional)
2–3 tbsp chopped parsley
A favorite childhood recipe, this one, and equally divided between both Mum and Dad, as the cooks who made it. We probably ate it at least once a month during the colder months, maybe more. That familiar, most savory and deep scent emanating from the bottom oven of the Aga when walking into the kitchen after a cold walk home from the school bus, was for this little boy, just the best smell in the whole world.
Occasionally—about twice a year, I reckon—Mum would mildly swear (“Blood and Sand!” was her favorite expletive), having forgotten to remove the freshly laundered washing from the drying rack, hauled up above said Aga, before she began to cook this marvelous braise. My brother and I thought this hilarious. Poor old Mum—and especially in the days before she had acquired a spin clothes dryer …
And, by the way, she always added plenty of ready-ground white pepper (there was no other, then) to her lamb neck. I still so do, for that authentic memory, but you don’t have to.
Note: if you wish to both be frugal and add extra flavor to the braise, then ladle off the surface fat (instead of using paper towels) from the settled lamb broth when it has finally emerged from the oven with the vegetables and meat together, and use some of the fat (instead of the dripping or butter) to make the roux with which to thicken the broth.
Preheat the oven to 325°F.
Season the neck of lamb well, particularly with pepper, and put into a shallow, lidded casserole (one that will transfer from stove-top to oven), so that the slices sit tightly, almost as one layer. Pour over approx. 1¼ pints of water, or to cover by about ½ inch. Slowly bring up to a simmer, and skim off any scum that forms on the surface; I find that a few sheets of paper towels laid over the surface does the trick. Cover the pot and slide into the oven. Cook for 1 hour.
Remove the casserole, lift out the lamb and put on to a large plate, for the time being. Add the vegetables to the pot, stir them around and, over a low heat, once more bring the (now) lamb broth and vegetables back to a simmer. Remove any scum, as before. Reintroduce the lamb pieces to the pot, tucking them in and around the vegetables. Add the bay leaves, cloves and also the pearl barley, sprinkling it in here and there. Cover and return to the oven for a further hour, turning the temperature down a little if the liquid
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