I’ve been watching the Great British Menu
and I’m not sure its doing me any good.
I do enjoy the program, as it portrays an edge of the restaurant trade from which I am mostly excluded by budget. However, today its got to me. Tonight’s tea was Deconstructed Shepherds Pie, followed by Flash Frozen Cream on Ginger Beer Kulfi with Kiwi Fruit.
I’ll ‘deconstruct’ later- but we had ‘instant pizza’ for lunch.
These are cooked under the grill, and can be done in ten minutes including preparation.
I just use a ‘wrap’ or tortilla type bread as the base and smear on some tomato puree along with a sprinkle of mixed herbs and some finely chopped garlic. Today the ‘stuff in the middle’ was red onion and cherry tomatoes- but its the cheese topping that makes a pizza. This is topped with some emmental for flavor and mozzarella for the look and stringy texture. Grill the whole concoction for five or six minutes, until the cheese bubbles and browns. Throw on some fresh rocket, and eat instantly!
Ok— on to tea and the main course. ‘Deconstructions’ were all the rage last year, so I decided to do it with Shepherds Pie.
The restaurant menu would read something like ‘Herb Roast Shoulder of Lamb on a bed of Savoy Cabbage topped with a Oat and Potato Cake with Garlic and Onion Gravy.
The lamb is balanced on a bed of garlic cloves, then sprinkled with salt, oregano, and rosemary. I cook it at gas mk6 for 20 min per pound plus 20 min, which usually gives pink in the middle, but well done at the edge, which suits our divided tastes on rare meat.
The cabbage is simplicity itself, but the potato cakes are more involved. You start with mashed spuds, and you need to get as much water out of them as you can. I wrap the mash in muslin and twist it tight, put a sieve over a pan, and weight the wrapped mash down in the sieve with something heavy, like a pestle. I leave it draining for about an hour.
Next you blend two cups of mash, two cups of dried oats and a cup of flour with seasoning and butter, leave the mix for about half an hour, then using a floured board mold the mix into four burger-like patties. Press in some breadcrumbs, and fry in about a centimeter of oil for about 7 minutes each side. It is a fuddle, and there is a lot of experience goes into getting them right, but have a go— they are worth it.
The sauce or gravy is the meat juice mixed with the garlic puree harvested from under the lamb together with a fried onion and some stock.
Dessert was fun too. I made Ginger Beer Kulfi with the ice-cream maker earlier in the week. My machine makes six portions, and was the first batch out of the freezer we used tonight.
We made two discoveries. Firstly, Ginger Beer Kulfi is an excellent addition to Kiwi Fruit. Secondly, we poured double cream over the kulfi, as soon it came out of the freezer. Whilst we were waiting for the mix to soften, the cream froze into a delicious coating over the frozen yogurt. Thank you for reading. I’m going to stop now, as I have some Tea and Orange wine to sample. I made that too, and once the recipe is ready, I shall be sharing that too!
