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.

Grilled honey prawns with noodle salad

Serves 4

When I go comfort at home, there's often noodles in the mix somewhere. Now Christmas and New Year's out of the way, it's time to get the diet back on track as best as possible, and this dish (or variations of it) I could easily eat a couple of times a week without any hint of boredom setting in. The arame seaweed in the noodle salad adds a subtle texture and a depth of flavour. I've done this recipe with chicken before too, but I had it with some fat prawns yesterday and it was the business.

1 tblsp honey
6 tblsp soy sauce
6 tblsp sake
1 fat clove of garlic, finely chopped
Zest of 1 lemon, finely grated
4-6 big prawns per person, shelled and cleaned
2 tblsp sesame oil
30g dried arame, shredded
240g vermicelli rice noodles
2 large carrots, peeled
4 inner celery stems, trimmed
2 bunches of chives, roughly snipped
1 large handful of coriander leaves

Place the honey, soy, sake, garlic and lemon zest in a small saucepan. Simmer gently for 3 minutes or until the honey has melted. Leave to cool until tepid.

Place the prawns in a bowl and mix in one-third of the marinade. Add 1 tblsp sesame oil and leave to marinate while you prepare the salad.

Soak the arame in plenty of cold water for 10 minutes. Drain and place in a mixing bowl with the remaining marinade.

In the meantime, prepare the noodles according to the packet instructions — usually by soaking in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain and shake dry. Mix into the seaweed with 1 tblsp sesame oil. Slice the carrot and celery into matchsticks, about 5cm in length, and mix into the noodles along with the snipped chives and coriander leaves.

Preheat an oven-top griddle pan or non stick frying pan over a medium-high heat. Remove the prawns from the marinade and cook in the pan for barely a minute on each side, or until cooked through with no hint of pinkness. Put the noodles on a plate and top with the prawns.

Crème brûlée with raspberries

Serves 6

It seems for ever now that it's been impossible to avoid crème brûlée and fashion has fallen out of love with this simple little number. It adoms menus throughout the world and comes with every imaginable flavouring, some nice and some nasty. Don’t let this put you off, the fact is it makes a fine easy dessert, but raspberries are the only addition to the basic recipe that I'd really advocate.

400ml double cream
100ml milk
1 vanilla bean, split in half
4 medium egg yolks
3 tblsp caster sugar
1 punnet raspberries
Caster sugar for dusting

Heat the cream, milk and vanilla bean to boiling point in a saucepan. In a large jug or bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together, then whisk in the cream mixture.

Heat the oven to 180˚c/gas mark 3. Divide the raspberries between six ramekins, and then pour in the cream mixture. Place the ramekins in a roasting tray half-filled with hot water and bake for 45 minutes or until the custards have set.

Lift the ramekins onto a wire rack to cool. Just before serving, spread a thin layer of sugar across the top of each ramekin and caramelize with a kitchen blowtorch.

Cheese on toast

Serves 4-6

Last night was officially massive, we fed the best part of 2000 yesterday, and it all ended up with the cheese board getting massacred. Have to admit it that I assisted in this act of violence right at the end, but it was only to rescue a hunk of the Montgomery Cheddar for my late night cheese on toast. This, and a fresh bottle of bubbles at around 3am was the way I wanted to begin my new year without hesitation. Happy New Year one and all.

For the topping
50g unsalted butter
50g flour
250ml strong ale or stout
250g grated cheese (strong cheddar, ideally)
20ml Worcestershire sauce
10g English mustard
7g wholegrain mustard
1 egg yolk
Salt, pepper and fleur de sel

For the base
1 loaf of sourdough bread

Melt the butter and stir in the flour to make a roux. Heat the beer until hot but not boiling and gradually add to the roux, stirring constantly over a low heat, but taking care not to overwork. Melt the grated cheese in a bowl over a pan of boiling water and pour into the mixture; stir once to amalgamate, and then remove from the heat. Add the Worcestershire sauce, both mustards, the egg yolk, salt and pepper, then blitz in a food processor until emulsified (it will look matt and pale). Again, do not overwork. Check the seasoning. Allow to cool before refrigerating — it will easily keep for a week in the fridge.

If you have a char grill, preheat it now; or turn the oven to 225c/gas mark 7. Cut the loaf into 1in slices, allowing 1 or 2 slices per person. Brush both sides of the bread with melted butter and char grill or put in the oven for 5 minutes to toast. Melt 40g-50g of the cheese mix per slice, pour over the bread and cook at the same temperature for 4-5 minutes until golden brown. Sprinkle a few grains of salt crystals on top and serve, with some extra Worcestershire sauce and a few cornichons on the side. Bliss.

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...