horseradish vodka, borscht and rabbit dumplings

There aren't all that many dishes at -10 c that cut the mustard, but horseradish vodka, borscht and rabbit dumplings seem to be doing the just just fine here in Kyiv. What a splendid place, even in the dead of winter, where the warmth of the people totally overcompensate for the lacking in the city's temperature. Where else are you welcomed with a glass of 40% proof horseradish to take the chill off I ask? Follow that up with a smoked plum beer and I'd eat a dumpling filled with anything whatsoever. Interestingly enough, these dumplings are so outright delicious, they're served only with some sour cream. No need for chilli, vinegar or soy here - they simply don't need any more flavour - properly rabbity good.

On the soup thing, this is where the source of internal warmth seriously lies. There are way too many variations of this burgundy coloured soup to even start dissecting, all of which reflect the Eastern European heritage of many Romany people. This one is, I hope, is in the Ukrainian style befitting the incredible hospitality of these brilliant people.

Borscht

 

Serves 6

 

1.2 litres vegetable or chicken stock
2 tblsp red wine vinegar
225g raw beetroot, peeled and grated
500g potatoes, peeled and diced
600g red cabbage, shredded
2 large tomatoes
1 bay leaf
2 onions, grated
4 tblsp soured cream
12 chives

 

Put the stock and vinegar in a large pan and bring to the boil. Add the beetroot and potatoes. Simmer for 15 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Add the cabbage and whole tomatoes.

 

Cook for about 10 minutes, until the tomatoes are soft, then remove them from the pan with a slotted spoon, purée them in a liquidiser or push through a sieve, and return to the soup.

 

Add the bay leaf and season to taste. Stir in the onions and cook for 20 minutes until the onions are soft. Garnish with a blob of soured cream and a few chives and serve.

 

 

Brussels sprout and goat’s cheese souffles

Serves 4

Sprouts aren't just for Christmas don't you know, and if you still have a few knocking around in the fridge, I strongly suggest a bash at this recipe. There may also be some reminders of vast clumps of cheese still hogging fridge space sinse the festive season, so for a bit of glam with leftovers, this is as good a place to be. This is for a twice-baked soufflé, which is a good starting point if you haven’t made many soufflés before. The sprout flavour is really nice and subtle and blends in beautifully with the goat’s cheese.
 

25g softened butter, plus extra for greasing
225ml milk
Half a small onion, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 star anise
4 cloves
25g plain flour
175g Brussels sprouts, trimmed
3 eggs, separated
100g soft goat’s cheese, cut into cubes
1 tblsp finely grated Parmesan
½ tblsp Worcestershire sauce
200ml double cream
50g Emmenthal or Gruyère cheese, finely grated

Preheat the oven to 170c/Gas 3. Brush the insides of four 150ml ramekins evenly with the extra softened butter, in upward strokes. Chill until ready to use. Pour 200ml milk into a pan and add the onion, bay leaf, star anise and cloves. Heat to scalding point, then remove from the heat and leave to infuse until cold. Strain into a clean pan and discard the aromatics.

Meanwhile, mix the butter and flour into a paste and chill for about 30 minutes. Cook the Brussels sprouts in a pan of boiling water for 3-4 minutes until tender, then drain and refresh in ice-cold water. Drain again, blend in a food processor with a splash of the remaining milk until smooth and set aside.

Place the pan of infused milk on the heat and gradually whisk in the butter paste, adding small pieces at a time, until you have a thick sauce. Season, then leave to cool for 3-4 minutes. Whisk in the egg yolks, goat’s cheese, Parmesan and Worcestershire sauce. Fold in the sprouts and check for seasoning. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and leave to cool.

Bring a kettle to the boil and have ready a deep roasting tray. Whisk the egg whites to medium-stiff peaks, whisk a third of them into the sprout mixture to loosen, then carefully fold in the remainder. Fill the prepared ramekins with the mixture and gently level the tops with a palette knife.

Immediately stand the ramekins in the roasting tin. Pour in enough boiling water to come halfway up their sides and bake the soufflés for 25-30 minutes. Remove the dishes from the water and leave to cool.

Just before you are ready to serve, heat the oven to 230c/Gas 8. Run a knife round the inside of each ramekin to loosen the soufflé. Turn them out upside-down on to individual ovenproof serving dishes and drizzle the cream around. Sprinkle the grated cheese on top and bake for about 8 minutes, until golden brown and bubbling. Serve immediately.

Roast duck, lemon and honey

Serves 2

As a Christmas time alternative to the predictable old turkey, why not try and get your hands on a small wild duck which will serve two nicely, but do try to choose a fat one as they are not always the meatiest of birds. Big meat eaters may want one each.

You will need some stock for this, ideally game or poultry, but I used a vegetable stock last time and it did the job well. As a side dish I would be tempted to serve a pile of lightly cooked spinach. It is very good with the sweet, slightly citrus gravy.

1 nice duck, about 500g or so
1 lemon
2 tblsp liquid honey
30g butter, melted
150ml stock

Set the oven at 200°C/gas 6. Squeeze the lemon juice into a mixing bowl, then stir in the honey. Add a pinch of sea salt and a generous grinding of black pepper, then put the duck in a roasting tray and pour over the honey and lemon and stock.

Brush the butter onto the duck, roast for about 10 minutes, baste with the pan juices, then lower the heat to 180°C/gas 4 and continue roasting for 30-35 minutes until the bird is golden. Its flesh will still be slightly pink.

Remove the duck from the roasting tin, pour the juices from inside the bird into the tin, then put it somewhere warm to rest. Place the roasting tin over a moderate heat.

Bring to the boil and reduce over a high heat for three or four minutes. Season carefully with salt and black pepper then pour over the duck and serve

Partridge with pumpkin and wild mushrooms

Serves 2

I had a terrific little partridge dish last week at Le Cafe Anglais at Whiteleys in Bayswater, really the first good robust bit of properly cooked game I've had this winter, the sacrifice taken for choosing to live in year round sunshine I guess. Our game season is frighteningly short, and all must be explored in this period, in the kitchen it has to be the time of year where bold flavours make their strongest appearances. The great thing about the little partridge is in the hands on picking and sucking of bones that is totally necessary to extract all the meat from its sticky little frame. This recipe suggestion is ideal for small game, the cooking in a parcel method rarely throws out a tough bird as the self basting process should knock that on the head, but if in doubt a couple of rashers of bacon wrapped around the beasts will do no harm at all.

2 oven-ready partridges
1 medium sized onion
60g butter
1 celery stalk
200g pumpkin
a few sprigs of thyme
50g fresh wild mushrooms such as girolles
80g small chestnut mushrooms
a little dry Vermouth and Cognac

You will also need a couple of sheets of greaseproof paper large enough to loosely wrap the birds.

Peel the onion and slice it into thin rings. Melt half the butter in a shallow pan and cook the onion till soft and tender, stirring from time to time. Meanwhile cut the celery into slices, add them with the thyme leaves to the onion and continue to cook till they have softened slightly. Peel the pumpkin and cut the flesh into small dice, about 1cm in diameter, then cut the mushrooms into bite-sized pieces, stir into the onion and continue to cook gently for another 8-10 minutes or so. The pumpkin wants to be just cooked but not mushy.

Lay the sheets of paper out and divide the mixture between them. Put the empty pan back on the heat, add the remaining butter, then, when it starts sizzling, put the birds in, breast-side down. Let them cook for a couple of minutes till their skin is golden, then turn and colour the other side. Lift the birds out and put them in the middle of the pumpkin mixture.

Pour over a couple of slugs each of dry vermouth and Cognac then pull the paper up around the birds and scrunch the edges together to seal. Lift the parcels onto a baking sheet and roast for 20-25 minutes until the parcel is golden brown and puffed up. The partridge should be golden and juicy.

Let the birds rest a little, 10 minutes if you can wait, and simply decant all bag contents onto a plate, juice and all. You will no doubt strt with a knife and fork, but I challenge anyone not to resort to fingers shortly thereafter.

The salt beef sandwich

Now I've played around with salting my brisket for up to 10 days in a variety of seasoning mixtures, but to be perfectly honest with you, doing it this way without the need for a lengthy marinading process yields just as good a result, just so long as you have cracking good rye bread, proper English mustard and a decent bit of pickle, you simply cannot go far wrong. Having just got back from a quick London trip, I must confess to not one, but two salt beef sandwich moments at Selfridges Brass Rail, the very best in a mid afternoon pick me up for the weary pre Christmas shopper. So, as terrific as they are on Oxford Street, at £7.50 a pop, and that's before a pickle and a drink, here's a way of re-creating at home while saving a bit to fill out the Christmas stockings a bit fatter.

1.5kg salted silverside or brisket beef
2 large onions
6 cloves
Small blade mace
¼ whole nutmeg
12 bruised black peppercorns

Place the beef into a pot that will allow room for the onions but still provide a fairly snug fit.

Leave the onions unpeeled, push the cloves evenly into them and tuck them down by the beef.

Put in the spices and peppercorns and cover the beef with warm water to cover by 1cm and bring to the simmer, cooking at a bare tremor for 3 ½ hours, skimming as necessary throughout the cooking time.

If the cooking water tastes really salty after the first 10 minutes, drain it and start again. The water should not boil at any stage, so cover the pot only when you are happy the pot is trembling and not bubbling.

Remove from the simmering liquid onto a warm plate and cover with foil untill the beef has cooled enough to handle and carve without the whole thing collapsing on you.

Slice generously, no need to be dainty here, whack between a couple of slices of rye bread, but for that matter any soft bread of your choice will be fine, and serve with as much English mustard as your nostrils can accept and something pickled on the side. Shopping interlude heaven...

Smoked salmon

Serves 4-6

I hear that Christmas is on the horizon, and with the sight of the rather predictable over priced and sweaty packets of smoked salmon flying off the supermarket shelves already in mind, why not do yourself a favour and give some thought to making your own this year... It is labourious, fiddly and can get messy, but as with many small things in life, personal triumph outweighs almost everything. I miss Christmas at home and will go to all lengths to make the big day as close to the real thing as possible, so indulge me why don't you...

10g fresh dill, chopped
2kg fine sea salt
1kg caster sugar
1 side good quality organic salmon, pin-boned and trimmed
1 litre (or enough to completely cover the salmon) good-quality olive oil (not extra virgin)

Mix the dill, salt and sugar together well. Using either a plastic container that is longer, wider and deeper than the salmon, or a piece of tin foil twice the length and width of the fish, sprinkle the base with a handful of the salt mix in a thin and even layer. Place the salmon on top, and then cover completely and evenly with the rest of the mix to ensure an even cure.

If you’re using a plastic container, cover it well with cling film or tin foil. Otherwise, fold your piece of tin foil around the salmon, covering it neatly, then wrap the whole thing in another sheet of foil. Leave to cure in the fridge for 36 hours.

Rinse the salt mix off the salmon and pat dry with paper towels. Then put the fish into a plastic container or a large, sealable plastic bag. Pour over the olive oil, completely covering the salmon, and carefully seal to prevent oxidisation. Leave for 24 hours.

Take the salmon out of the oil and wipe off any excess. Take 2 saucepans or loaf tins, put 40g of wood chips and 1 tea bag in each, and set alight. Once the wood chips have taken on a good flame, extinguish them by covering with a lid.

Tip the smoking wood chips into a deep metal tray and cover with a perforated tray, followed by a wire rack, upon which you place your salmon. For the smoker to work, all the smoke must be contained. To do this, cover and wrap the whole thing in tin foil. Leave until the smoke has died. Remove the fish from the smoker, have a little feel, check the smell and slice a little off if still unsure - it may need a second smoking, if so repeat the whole process once more. The reason we don't put more chips and smoke heavier in one hit is that we do not want to cook the fish with excessive heat.

Remove the salmon from the smoker and wrap in muslin cloth, and then leave in the fridge for 24 hours to mature.

When you are ready to serve, slice the salmon lengthways and serve it with soda bread and pickled cucumber, drained of juice and sprinkled with a little dill and fleur de sel.

Christmas pudding

I know, it's barely the end of Summer and we're still making the most of what sunshine is left... but trust me, if you haven't already made this year's Christmas puddings, now is the time to do so. This delicious recipe has the seedy crunch of figs, a sparkle from hand cut peel and a slight tartness from the apricots and orange zest

350g sultanas

350g raisins, or currants

150g dried figs, chopped

125g candied peel, chopped

100g dried apricots, chopped

75g dark glacé cherries, halved

150ml brandy, plus some for flaming

2 apples or quince

2 oranges, juice and zest

6 eggs

250g shredded suet

350g soft muscovado sugar

250g fresh breadcrumbs

175g self raising flour

1 tsp mixed spice

You will need two 1.5 litre plastic pudding basins and lids, buttered, two old sixpences or two old coins, scrupulously scrubbed, two circles of greaseproof paper, buttered, large enough to cover the top of each pudding, with a single pleat folded down the centre of each. Soak the sultanas, raisins or currants, figs, candied peel, apricots and cherries in the brandy overnight. The liquid won’t cover the fruit but no matter; just give it a good stir now and again.

Mix the grated apples, orange juice and zest, beaten eggs, suet, sugar, crumbs and pour in a very large mixing bowl, then stir in the soaked fruit and the spice. Divide the mixture between the buttered pudding basins, tucking the coins in as you go.

Cover with the greaseproof paper, folded with a pleat in the centre. Pop the lids on and steam for three and a half hours. Allow the puddings to cool, and then remove the greaseproof paper, cover tightly with cling film and the plastic lid and store in a cool, dry place till Christmas.

To reheat: steam the puddings for a further three and a half hours. Turn out and flame with brandy.