Cox Apples, Gorgonzola, Alexanders and Spiced Walnut Salad

This is another recipe using Alexanders. I talked about these in the last recipe I posted, so if you are unaware what they are I sugest you read this link Wild Boar and Alexander Stew.
For this salad I have lightly sautéed them and added the alexanders to a salad loosely based on the Waldorf, less creamy and more sweet, spicy and textural in flavour.

4 cox apples
250g gorgonzola
400g alexanders, washed
70g rocket, washed
70g walnut halves
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon chilli flakes
1 white onion
25g butter
1 lemon
Sea salt to season
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Method:
Heat a fry pan over a medium heat and add the cumin seeds, when the seeds become fragrant add the chilli flakes and toast for a further 10 second. Pour spices into a pestle and mortar and ground into a powder.
Peel and finely dice the onion. Melt butter in the same fry pan over a medium heat then add the onions. Stir and cook the onions until they become soft and translucent. Stir the ground spices into to the onions then add walnuts and toss around pan until walnuts are start to toast, lastly squeeze in the juice of the lemon and season with salt. Remove the walnuts from the heat.
Thinly slice the whole alexanders including leaves. Heat a pot over a high heat and add olive oil and alexanders, season well with salt. Cook the alexanders until just tender, then remove from heat.
Peel the apples and grate, place the grated apples in a large bowl with rocket, alexanders, walnuts and gorgonzola torn into smaller pieces. Using clean hands mix all ingredients together until evenly incorporated. Serve the salad as soon as possible.

Polenta Slice with Burnt Pineapple, Pancetta and Blue Sauce

Photo courtesy of Photography by Sadiq

Polenta is traditionally an Italian dish but I've tweaked around with the flavours a little. The sweetness and the caramelising of pineapple bounces nicely with salty pancetta and creamy blue sauce over a set polenta. A fun alternative for a dinner main.

Polenta:
250g coarse polenta
675ml water
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
25g butter
50g grated parmesan

1 pineapple
24 slices of pancetta
2 red chillies, diced
1 small bunch torn coriander leaves

Blue Sauce:
200g gorgonzola
75ml double cream
100ml buttermilk
1 teaspoon dijon mustard

METHOD:
Start by making the polenta, place water in a large heavy-based pot and put over high heat and bring to the boil. Add the polenta and salt, turn down the heat to medium and stir with a wooden spoon. After about 4-5 minutes the polenta will thicken and will resemble mashed potatoes. Remove from heat then stir in butter and parmesan until well incorporated. Line a 30x20cm (3cm high) tray with parchment paper and pour in the polenta and evenly smooth out. Leave the polenta to cool for about 2 hours before cutting.
To make the cheese sauce place the gorgonzola and cream in a saucepan, put over a medium heat, stir the sauce until the cheese is almost melted. Remove sauce from heat and pour in a food processor with buttermilk and dijon, blend together until smooth.
Lay pancetta on a baking tray and cook at 180ºC for 4 to 5 minutes. Top and tail the pineapple then slice off the skin by sliding a sharp knife round the edges. Slice the pineapple into quarters lengthways then remove the core. Cut each quarter into 1cm thick slices lengthwise place a fry pan over high heat. Once the frying pan is hot and smoking a little grill each slice of pineapple on both sides until it starts to brown and go a little black.
To construct slice the polenta into 8 pieces and lay on a serving platter or individual plates. Layer each polenta slice with 2 slices of pineapple, a good spoonful of blue sauce, 3 pieces of pancetta and finally garnish with a sprinkling of chillies and coriander.

Slow Roasted Beef with Black Mustard Leaf, Pear and Gorgonzola

With a bit of patience you can pull off this ridiculously tasty salad. However first you need to source black mustard leaf which can be a wee bit tricky if you don't have access to a wholesale fruit and vegetable supplier. I recommend you buy a book on foraging and picking your own in a local reserve/park or going online and see if there's a stockist who will deliver, its well worth the hassle. Black mustard leaf when eaten has a intense horseradish like heat that turns into a pleasant lingering bitterness and complements beef, pears and blue cheese.
Acquiring black mustard leaf might be tricky but it's waiting for the beef to slow roast and the jus to reduce that will test your patience, this will give you plenty of time to knock back a bottle of red and read 50 Shades of Grey.  

1.5kg beef shoulder
750ml water
2 tablespoons sea salt
1 teaspoon ground pepper
2 firm pears
200g gorgonzola
60g rocket washed
40g black mustard leaf washed

250ml red wine
50g butter

METHOD:
Place beef shoulder in a deep roasting pan with water and sprinkle over the salt and pepper, cover beef and place in oven to slow roast at 140oC for 2 1/2 hours.
Once beef has cooked pour the roasting juices into a container and place in fridge to cool for half an hour or till the fat has solidified. Leave the beef to stand and cool at room temperature.  Once fat has solidified strain the beef juices away from the fat, place beef juices in sauce pan with red wine and place over a high heat and bring to the boil. Once Jus is boiling turn the heat down to medium and leave to simmer and reduce till a quarter of its original volume. In the mean time core the pears and slice into thin strips. Cube butter and once the jus has reduced stir in butter till just melted and remove from heat.
To construct the salad you can either make individual plates or one large platter, first lay down some rocket followed by slice's of pear. Using 2 forks or clean fingers pull the beef apart and place over salad, then tear black mustard cress and crumble gorgonzola over top of salad. Lastly drizzle over the jus and serve as soon as possible.

Cheese, Wine and Cracker Salad

A carry on from the previous recipe of Cheddar and Mustard Crackers, I've combined all the elements of a late Friday afternoon celebration into a salad that can be eaten anytime (almost). Of course you don't have to make my cracker recipe and to save time you can buy luxury savoury crackers from Waitros or M&S. However making your own fresh batch of crackers is slightly more therapeutic and rewarding.

2 firm pears
100g cheddar and mustard crackers
70g gorgonzola
70g baby red chard washed

DRESSING:
250ml white wine
1 dried red chilli
1 garlic clove
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon salt

METHOD:
First make the dressing buy finely slicing garlic and placing in sauce pan with wine, chilli, mustard seeds, bay and salt. Put sauce pan over high heat and bring to the boil and reduce by half, then remove from heat and leave to cool.
Core and thinly slice the pears, now you're ready to construct the salad, you can either make individual salads or one large platter. First lay down some baby red chard followed by slices of pear, then crumble the gorgonzola and crackers over top of salad. Lastly break up the dried chilli in the reduced wine and stir, then spoon dressing over salad and serve as soon as possible.

Poached Crudite Vegetables with Gorgonzola Dressing

Crudite is traditionally raw sticks of vegetables served with a creamy dip. I've messed with the concept a little and poach the vegetables slightly in vegetable stock, still a little crunch but also delightfully seasoned and finished with a peppery chicory and gorgonzola.  

2 large carrots
4 sticks celery
2 red peppers
1 large red onion
2 chicory
2 liters vegetable stock

DRESSING:
250g cream cheese
100g gorgonzola
100ml buttermilk
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 sprig oregano
1 green chilli

METHOD:
Put stock in large pot and place over a high heat, bring to a simmer. In the mean time peel carrots and top and tail, wash celery and cut into 4's, slice peppers in half and remove seeds and stalks, peel onion slice in half and top and tail. Slice carrots and celery into 2mm batons, cut off the bottom and top of peppers and trim the membrane and slice into 2mm batons, lengthways slice red onion.
Once vegetable stock is simmering add celery and poach 2 minutes then using a sieve scoop out the celery. Next add carrots to stock and cook for 10minutes till tender and once again sieve out, then add red peppers and onion to stock and cook for about 7 minutes.
Once vegetables have been poached cut chicory in half separate the leaves and wash. To make the dressing place all ingredients in food processor and blend together for 2 minutes.
To construct salad you can either make a large platter or individual plates, lay chicory on base followed by criss-crossing the poached vegetables, finally drizzle over gorgonzola dressing and serve.

Boisterous Salad

The summer tease is well and truly over and it seems winter is here for at least another week. Forget the diet and open a bottle of port or red and make my new boisterous salty, creamy and bitter salad! 

200g puy lentils
150g pancetta
150g gorgozola
2 white chicory
2 wet garlic
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 bay leaves
Sea salt and cracked pepper

METHOD:
Wash puy lentils under cold running water, place in large pot and fill with water. Add bay leaves and a good pinch of salt, place over a high heat to simmer for 30 minutes till tender.
Cut the pancetta into 5mm strips and cut stalk tops off the wet garlic and place both ingredients on a baking tray. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil over garlic and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, cover tray with foil and place in pre-heated oven set at 180oC for 30 minutes.
Cut chicory in half remove the core and pull leaves apart, wash chicory under cold water and gently pat dry. Once lentils are cooked drain and cool with cold running water and place in a mixing bowl, season lentils with a pinch of salt and a good crackling of pepper and drizzle over olive oil, mix together.
When the pancetta and garlic has finished cooking  remove foil and leave to cook for 10 minutes before handling.
Cut pancetta into 5mm cubes and peel off the outer skin of wet garlic and pick off the whole clove segments of garlic.
Now its time to construct the salad, roughly tear half the chicory leaves over a large platter and sprinkle a couple handfuls of lentils over chicory. Evenly distribute half the garlic and pancetta over lentils and lastly break small piece's of gorgonzola over top, repeat layer and serve with in 2 hours.

Broccoli and Gorgonzola Gnocchi

Not the most attractive of dishes but bloody tasty and a great way to reintroduce broccoli and blue cheese to fussy eaters.
Years ago I lived with my friend Miriam who is a vegetarian and was never a fan of smelly blue cheese till one day I cooked her this meal for dinner. Ever since she has dreams of broccoli and gorgonzola gnocchi and requested that I type up the recipe. This is purely a treat meal and I wouldn't recommend eating every week as you'll see your waist line grow rapidly. Making gnocchi is a semi labour intensive duty and if you're not committed to doing all the chore's feel free to use pre-made gnocchi from the supermarket instead.

GNOCCHI€€:
1kg desiree potatoes
300g '00' grade flour
1 egg
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon cracked pepper
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

SAUCE:
1 large broccoli
1 shallot
2 cloves garlic
1 red chilli
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and cracked pepper to taste
200g gorgonzola

METHOD:
To make the gnocchi place unpeeled potatoes in a pot and cover with cold water then place on high heat and bring to a steady simmer and cook potatoes till tender about 30-40 minutes then drain. Using a tea towel hold the potatoes while still hot and peel the skin off with a sharp knife then using a potato ricer mash the potatoes. If you don't have a potato ricer use a sieve and press the potato through with the back of a spoon. In a large mixing bowl mix the potato, 2 handfuls of flour, egg, olive oil, salt and pepper together then roll the dough out onto bench top and tip the remaining flour over and around the dough and knead till all the flour is incorporated into the dough. Cut the dough into 4 and roll one of the quarters out to a long snake shape till bout 2cm thick then quickly cut into 2cm pieces and repeat with the 3 remaining balls.
To make the sauce cut off 2cm from the base of broccoli and discard, then cut broccoli into smaller piece's, peel and slice the onion, roughly chop the chilli and garlic. Place sauce over a medium heat then add the olive oil, onion, garlic and chilli and cook till the onion softens then add the broccoli. Saute the broccoli for about 5 minutes then add a dash of water and cover and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove the cover and start bashing up the broccoli into a rough pulp then season with salt and pepper.
Bring a large pot of water to the boil and add 2 teaspoons of salt, place the gnocchi on a chopping board and slide it into the boiling water, cook till gnocchi floats to the top then drain 3/4 of the liquid. Add the broccoli to the gnocchi then break up the cheese and add to the pot and stir gently till a creamy sauce forms around the gnocchi then its ready to eat.