Baked rice pudding with clotted cream and poached damsons
You can make a perfectly good rice pudding in a saucepan, but making it the traditional way, slowly, in an oven that is barely on, send waves of comforting milky aromas through the house. The plums add a touch of sharpness into the blanket of creaminess. The clotted cream is sheer decadence.
Serves 4
60g short grain pudding rice
3 tbs demerara sugar
a bay leaf
a vanilla pod
1l full cream milk
150g clotted cream
For the plums:
400g damsons or other dark plums sugar to taste
Set the oven at 140C/gas 1. Put the rice in a baking dish with the sugar. Add the sugar, bay leaf and vanilla pod to half the milk and bake for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and stir in the remaining milk and the clotted cream. Return to the oven and bake for a further hour. Stir in the clotted cream and continue cooking for a further hour.
To make the damson compote (or indeed any plum compote) put the fruit into a stainless-steel pan with the sugar (I work on a level tablespoon per 100g of sour fruit, less for sweeter plums). Add 2 tablespoons of water. Put over a moderate heat and watch carefully. When the fruit is tender, leave to cool. (Anything left over will do nicely at breakfast.) Serve the rice pudding with the stewed damsons.
Pumpkin cottage pie
As perfect as mashed potato is for topping a classic shepherd's, fish or cottage pie, it seems odd that so few other vegetables have ever got a look in. I sometimes use parsnips instead of potatoes but this time decided to lighten up the classic dish with pumpkin instead.
A good firm pumpkin or butternut squash with quite dry flesh is best, and I find it better to steam than boil (you get a firmer mash). The trick to success is to buy really good beef and let it brown thoroughly in the oil before stirring it.
Serves 4
medium onions -3
olive oil - 3 tbs
minced beef - 1kg
tomatoes - 350g
thyme - a few springs
3 bay leaves
2 glasses red wine
For the pumpkin mash:
1kg pumpkin, or butternut squash
a thick slice of butter
Peel and slice the onions. Warm the oil in a large, heavy based saucepan and add the onions, leaving them to cook slowly till soft and golden. Add the minced beef. Leave to cook, breaking it up occasionally, but not stirring too often, till it is brown all over. Roughly chop the tomatoes, stir them in together with the thyme and bay and continue cooking till the tomatoes have started to collapse a bit. Season generously with salt and black pepper. Pour in the wine. Partially cover with a lid and leave to simmer very gently for a good 30-40 minutes till rich and thick.
While the meat is cooking, cut the pumpkin or squash into large pieces, de-seed and peel. Place in a colander over a pan of boiling water, cover with a lid, and steam for 20-30 minutes till tender to the point of a knife. Mash thoroughly with the butter. Set the oven at 200C/gas 6.
Check the seasoning of the beef and tip into a baking dish. Spread the pumpkin on top and bake for 35-40 minutes.
Sausage and two root 'mash'
The red and golden root vegetables make a good mash to go with sausages, but sometimes I want something slightly lighter and brighter tasting. Grating the vegetables and tossing them in hot butter or olive oil provides something of their flavour but with less heaviness.
Serves 4
8 plump, juicy butcher's sausages
a little oil or pork dripping
a few sage leaves
For the mash:
3 medium sized beetroots
2 medium sized golden beetroot, carrots or small swedes
a little butter and oil for cooking
a tablespoon snipped chives
Put the sausages into a roasting tin, rub them all over with oil or dripping then tuck in a few sage leaves here and there. Bake till the sausages are deep, walnut brown and sizzling. Meanwhile peel and coarsely grate the root veg.
When the sausages are almost ready, heat a little butter and oil in a shallow pan and drop in the shredded roots and the snipped chives. Toss gently in the hot fat till they are tender but still have a bit of a crunch.
Season then serve with the hot sausages and a slick of mustard.
Fish fingers Nigel Slater-style
I love a fish finger, but what can be even better is a thicker, juicier version made with more interesting fish. Smoked haddock is my first choice here.
Serves 3 (makes 6)
400g potatoes
600g smoked haddock
2 bay leaves
a small onion
8 peppercorns
milk
150g fresh white bread
2 eggs
a little flour
a thick slice of butter
a little oil for cooking
a lemon
Peel the potatoes. Cut them into large chunks and boil them in deep, salted water till tender enough to take the point of a skewer.
Meanwhile, place the haddock in a saucepan with the bay leaves, peeled and thinly sliced onion, and the peppercorns lightly cracked. Pour over enough milk to come halfway up the fish then top up with enough water to cover it. Bring it to the boil, then lower the heat and cook for 8 or 10 minutes, till the flesh falls easily from the skin. Make the bread into fine breadcrumbs, a matter of seconds in a food processor. Beat the eggs lightly in a shallow bowl. Cover a plate or shallow dish thickly with flour.
Drain the cooked potatoes and mash them with the thick slice of butter. Remove the fish from its milk and seasonings, discard the skin and add it to the mash, season with salt and black pepper. (At this point you can add some chopped parsley if you wish, a touch of lemon juice or even some tarragon if the mood takes you.)
Line a square cake tin or deep baking dish with clingfilm then fill it with the mixture. Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for an hour.
Cut the mixture into six large 'fingers'. Roll each one first in flour, then the beaten egg, then the breadcrumbs.
Lower them into a shallow pan of hot oil set over a moderate heat and cook for a few minutes on each side till golden. Check that they are hot right through and serve, two per person, with a thick wedge of lemon.
