Hogs pudding & potato pie

The cooked pie mix here can be made in batch and divided and frozen, to be reheated whenever you need to. Since its already cooked you only have to warm it up, and add to a pie case. The shortcrust pastry is nice, but isnt set in stone. You cna use puff pastry if youlike to create more portable slices. You can even use a suet pastry and steam the little beggars in puddings.

SERVES 5

0.5 Kilo of new potatoes, scrubbed and sliced finely
4 onions thinly sliced
1 kilo of Hogs Pudding meat (can be obtained from local butchers - usually comprising various cuts). Failing this you can use a standard sausage meat for a more economy version.

Make 500g of short-crust pastry, roll into 10 cm discs then crimp, glaze and bake

Stew off the onions, once soft

Break up the Hogs pudding into the onion mix and cook out

Steam off the potato slices

Once the potatoes are soft add to the hogs pudding mix

Reheat the mix and place in dish to with baked lid top.

Bake in oven at about 180C until the pastry is golden brown.


Accompanied by either onion marmalade, jus lie, white onion sauce or Madeira sauce. A standard gravy will suffice also.

Whole sea bream / sauteed new potatoes & shallots / chilli butter / sea asparagus

image courtesy of robin1clark.files.wordpress.com

*Part of the sizzling staffordshire menu series*

I'm very very fond of sea bream. Back in the day we used to use guilt head bream, but any sea bream will do for this recipe where necessary. You can even use whole seabass as a substitute, although the fish will be a good deal sweeter. It all depends on your preference.

We used to use this dish as a healthier alternative to fish and chips, with a spicy edge. The sautee'd new potatoes are very enjoyable and a good "chip" substitute.The shallots give a nice sweetness, and the fact were going to slightly caramelise them first will work well with the sweetness of the spuds here also. The sea asparagus gives a nice touch too, its rather light, and goes pehnomenally well with almost all fish dishes. Last but not least the chilli butter gives us some nice texture and a spicy edge. Im confident you'll enjoy this one.

You will need (per serving)

1 whole sea bream / guilt head bream - gutted, descaled, fins removed and slashed 3/4 times accross the body.
1 portion (roughly 4 potatoes) of cooked new potatoes, skin on and halved vertically
2 shallots, peeled and halved
1 portion (roughly 80-100g) sea asparagus
1 portion chilli butter
tsp olive oil
tsp butter, salted
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
salt and pepper

The doing bit:

For the fish, once slashed brush with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Place under grill for about 8 mins per side, turn over the fish once one side is cooked and repeat. IN the last 2 minutes add the chilli butter.

For the accompmaniments:

In a saute pan, add a small amount of olive oil then add the shallots and saute until coloured. Add the potatoes and cook until potatoes are golden brown, keeping them moving roughly every minute. Add the bron sugar and allow to melt to coat the dish. Season with salt and pepper

For the sea asparagus:

In a pan add the salted butter until melted then add the sea asparagus. cook until tender and season with salt and pepper where required.

Assemble items on plate and devour.

Enjoy!

Confit duck legs / orange braised fennel / plum sauce

image courtesy of arm8.staticflickr.com

*Part of the sizzling staffordshire menu series*

This wonderful fragrant dish provides an uplifting tone and clean flavours for the palate to enjoy. t combines the tartness and sweetness of both the plums and the fennel, whilst providing a hearty middle ground with the confit duck legs. Its ideal as a main course or as a light lunch, depending on your serving size.

You will need (per serving):

2 confit duck legs
1 serving orange braised fennel
1 serving plum sauce

I would also recommend you serve with a potato dish such as pommes boulangeres to complete the main course for full satisfaction.

The doing bit:

Reheat the confit duck legs by searing in a pan, Add the fennel to the pan, cover loosely with foil and place in hot oven (roughly 200C) for about 10 mins until heated through.

In a seperate saucepan heat up the plum sauce.

Assembly, arrange fennel in crisscross pattern overlapping, serve each confit duck leg alternating gaps. glaze with sauce and decorate around with remaining sauce. Serve any potato or accompanying dishes seperately in a "help yourself" fashion..

Devour.