I have always loved the Highland Show, and this year I shall be demonstrating for Quality Meat Scotland again, during its first two days, Thursday and Friday.
I am a fervently appreciative cook when it comes to Scottish beef, lamb and pork, but it grieves me that only the so-called prime cuts tend to be bought. In these days of the need for thrift, we have the potential to eat so well for a fraction of the
cost if we use far more of the animal in our cooking. In many cases this means a lengthy cooking time, (slow-braised oxtail, skirt or shin of beef, to give just three examples) but with offal it can mean fast food, because lambs' liver and kidneys are wrecked by lengthy cooking.
This year I shall be demonstrating lambs' kidneys, with a sauce which elevates them to a celebration main course. The other day, lambs' kidneys for a main course for the two of us cost me just 88p.
I will also be slow-braising ox kidney, which does need more cooking but which makes an equally inexpensive and delicious meal. Ham hock is delicious eaten cold with a shredded celeriac salad in a mustardy mayonnaise. The stock from the ham hock cooking can be made into a good lentil and vegetable soup – my ideal, when one meat does two meals.
The art of using leftovers is economic as well as being such a very good way to eat. Take a proper shepherd's pie, for example. Using leftover roast lamb offsets the outlay of buying a leg to roast. Economy need not mean dreary food – far from it – and the financial plight in which our poor country finds itself can mean re- discovering culinary highlights. For more on the Highland Show, see page 36.
HAM HOCK WITH CELERIAC SALAD AND MUSTARDY MAYONNAISE
SERVES 6
2 ham hocks, soaked overnight in cold water, the water drained away and the ham hocks immersed in fresh cold water
2 onions, skinned and halved
2 carrots, washed and chopped
2 sticks celery, chopped roughly
1 teaspoon black peppercorns, bashed in a pestle and mortar, or in a deep bowl with the end of a rolling pin
1 whole celeriac, or 1/2 celeriac and 3 beetroot
For the mayonnaise:
1 whole egg and 1 yolk
1 teaspoon caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
about 20 grinds black pepper
just less than 1/2 pint or 200ml olive oil
1 heaped teaspoon Dijon mustard
1-2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
Start by cooking the ham hocks – cover the pan and its contents with a lid, and bring the liquid up to a gentle boil. Simmer very gently (or cook in an electric slow cooker if you have one) for two and a half to three hours, checking the level of water in the pan from time to time. This should be no problem providing that the simmering is very gentle.
Take the pan from the heat and cool the contents. When cooled – and this is easiest done cooled rather than overnight-cold – remove the meat from the bones, discarding bones and skin. Put the pieces of ham into a bowl and cover.
Use the ham stock to make a good soup using onions, skinned and diced, sliced celery, fennel, diced peeled carrots, and about 8oz/225g orange lentils, all slowly simmered in the covered pan for about an hour.
Make the mayonnaise by putting the egg and yolk into a food processor with the caster sugar, salt and pepper. Whiz, adding the olive oil drop by drop, then in a slow thin trickle and, when it is all incorporated, mix in the Dijon mustard and a tablespoon of white wine vinegar. Taste, and add the second tablespoon if you think it is needed. Scrape the mayonnaise into a bowl, cover, and keep in the fridge for up to two days.
Skin the celeriac, and, if you are using them, peel the beetroot, then shred the vegetables as finely as possible into a mixing bowl. You may do this by coarsely grating them, or using the grating or slicing attachment to the food processor, or a special hand-held shredder. Stir in the mayonnaise, then, to serve, put a small mound of the salad on each of six plates, and divide the ham meat between them, putting the small amount on each serving of salad. If you like, dust with finely chopped parsley before serving.
LAMBS' KIDNEYS WITH PORT AND GRAIN MUSTARD SAUCE
Serves 6
18 lambs' kidneys – I allow 3 kidneys per person – each halved, and the core cut out (sharp scissors the easiest for this, it takes only a couple of minutes to core them all)
2 tablespoons olive oil
For the sauce:
2 medium sized onions, skinned and finely diced
1/2 pint/285ml stock
1/4 pint/140ml port
3 teaspoons grainy mustard
1/2 pint/285ml double cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
about 20 grinds of black pepper
Start by making the sauce – it can be gently re-heated. Put the diced onions into a saucepan with the stock and port and, over moderate heat, bring the liquid to simmering point. Simmer gently, the pan uncovered, for about 20 mins. Then stir in the grainy mustard and the cream, salt and pepper. Let the sauce bubble as you stir – the double cream will thicken the longer it bubbles.
To cook the kidneys, heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan and, when it is very hot indeed, fry half the cored kidney halves. As they cook they curl up – lift them from the pan on to a warm dish and cook the remainder. The cooking time should be fast – beware of over-cooking the kidneys, which makes them tough.
Mix the cooked kidneys and the sauce before serving. I like to serve this with boiled basmati rice and a green vegetable, such as purple sprouting broccoli, or stir-fried Savoy cabbage.
Shepherd's PieToo often people think that a shepherd's pie is made from raw beef mince – it isn't, that is a cottage pie. Shepherd's pie is made from leftover roast lamb. If there is not enough meat left over, make up the weight of meat given in the recipe by using more diced root vegetables, and more mashed potatoes on the top.
SERVES 6
3-4 tablespoons olive oil OR leftover dripping from the lamb roasting tin
2 medium onions, skinned and diced finely
2 carrots, and 2 parsnips, peeled and finely diced (use more of both if there is less meat)
1-2 fat cloves of garlic, skinned and diced
1 rounded teaspoon flour
11/2-2lbs/750-900g leftover roast lamb, whizzed briefly in a food processor, to break it down but not to pulverise it completely
2 tablespoons tomato purée
11/2 pint/900ml stock
2 teaspoons redcurrant jelly
2 tablespoons Worcester sauce
1 teaspoon salt
about 2 grinds of black pepper
mashed potatoes, to cover the pie
bits of butter, about 2oz/55g in total, to dot on the potatoes before baking the shepherd's pie.
Heat the olive oil or dripping in a wide non-stick sauté pan and fry the diced onions, carrots and parsnips for about five minutes, stirring from time to time. Then stir in the diced garlic, cook for a moment before stirring in the teaspoon of flour. Cook for a bit longer, then stir in the minced leftover lamb. Stir in the tomato purée and the stock, the redcurrant jelly and Worcester sauce, and stir until the mixture simmers. Season with salt and pepper and simmer gently, pan uncovered, for 15 minutes, then tip the contents of the sauté pan into an ovenproof dish and leave to cool.
When cold, cover with the mashed potatoes, forking them evenly over the surface of the meat. Dot the surface of the potatoes with small bits of butter. Bake in a hot oven, 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6, for 30-35 minutes, or until the potatoes are golden on top and the meat is bubbling around the sides.
