Rose-Hip Jelly

Photo courtesy of Photography by Sadiq

Here's another foraged recipe made using rose-hips and apples or pears all of which grow in an abundance during autumn months. This recipe is a great way to use up foods that are most likely growing on your street or in the yard. However if you can't be bothered making jelly you can always pop into Kaffeine and buy a couple jars to get you through the winter.

1kg rose-hips
4kg quince pears or crab apples
1 lemon
Granulated sugar

Method:
Place rose-hips and pears or apples in a large pot and pour in water until fruit is just covered. Put pot over a high heat and bring to a simmer, once simmering leave to cook for 20 minutes. Line a large colander strainer with muslin cloth and place over a large bowl of pot. Once the fruit is mushy and has started to disintegrate pour the fruit into the strainer and leave uncovered to drain for 8 hours or over night.

Remove the muslin and strainer and discard the pulp, then measure the liquid: for every litre you will need 750g sugar. Place liquid  sugar and juice of lemon in a large pot and place over a high heat, bring to the boil then cook for 30-40 minutes. Place a small sauce in the fridge to cool completely as this will be used to test setting point of the jelly. To see if the jelly is ready, pour a tablespoon of jelly on cold saucer and place back in the fridge for one minute, then run your finger through the middle. If the jelly wrinkles and doesn't merge back together, the jelly is ready.

Pour into sterilised jars and screw on lids while still hot, leave jelly to set for 3 days before using.

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.