Pickled Sushi Ginger

Having just bought a mandolin slicer after many years of suffering inconsistent thicknesses of my sliced ingredients (I know, a tragedy), I thought I'd put it to some use within a minute of getting it out of the box.

But what to slice? I didn't fancy coleslaw or home-made potato crisps for lunch.

After contemplating using my new purchase to shred some documents, I had a brainwave. Pickled ginger! I love sushi, and my own stocks of shop-bought pickled ginger are running low, so without needing any further excuses I ran down the road, leapt at my local greengrocery stall holder, bought a 'paaaaaahnd-a-bowl' worth of ginger and hot-footed it home.

After ten minutes of working out how to shred the ginger REALLY thinly, yet manage to avoid adding some fingertip into the mix, I set about the pickling liquor. White wine vinegar is too harsh and lemon juice too weak. So, with a quick rummage I came up with a bottle of rice wine vinegar - a perfect level of acidity and a bit Asian, to help keep some authenticity in the recipe. Perfect. I guessed that I would need an even ratio of sugar and vinegar.

Only one other thing: How to get the ginger to lose some of its own juice before pickling can commence. With all home pickling, you need to extract as much of the main ingredient's own moisture, in order that you retain maximum crispness and reduce bitterness. This principle hold true for all veggies - cucumbers, onions, courgettes, peppers etc.

So, with only a few ingredients and a sterilized jar, I set about doin' some picklin'. And what a fun half-hour it was. Truth be told, I haven 't yet tried eating the ginger. It needs about a month in the fridge to let the vinegar mellow out and the ginger to lose its raw taste. I'll let you know how it turns out. Oh, and don't bother trying to turn it pink like the shop-bought stuff. 99% of the time they use food colouring, unless the ginger is super young - which 99% of the time it isn't.

Cost wise, this comes in at £1.50 per kilo. The shop-bought stiff is a fiver for 250g. Cool.

Makes 1 kilo

INGREDIENTS:

1 kilo whole root ginger, peeled and very finely sliced
2 tablespoons of salt
150g sugar
150ml rice wine vinegar

Mix the ginger with the salt in a bowl and leave to stand for an hour. Drain and pat dry. In a microwave bowl, mix the sugar and vinegar and heat for a couple of minutes unto the sugar is dissolved. Transfer the hot liquid to a sterilized jar and add the ginger. Close and refrigerate fro a month to allow the flavours to develop. Serve with sushi, or cold meats and cheeses.

Marmalade

Having made Houmous at home, and decided that shop-bought is actually better, I thought I would change my luck and try my hand at some marmalade. The reason, is that Seville oranges happen to be available at my local Waitrose and knowing that they make the best marmalade and that they are rarely available in supermarkets, I thought I'd give them a go.

One problem: I have no idea what I'm doing.

So, using a little common sense and a load of blind luck; after using my potato ricer (basically a giant garlic press) to extract all of the juice and pulp from the oranges, and mixing in a load of sugar (no idea exactly how much) and boiled it until the mixture was thick and gluey, then it cooled down... Voila, marmalade. I am not kidding. Actual marmalade.

I chose not to make the type with the bits in, (a) because I'm not a fan of the bitter peel; and (b) because clear marmalade is more versatile in other recipes (like cakes etc), in case I found that I didn't like it that much on toast.

So, let's get down to what actually happened:

I bought a kilo of oranges. I cut them open and squeezed them to extract the juice. I found that about a dozen decent sized oranges yielded a measly half cup of juice. So I set to work with the potato ricer to get every last drop of nectar out of the pathetic dry fruits - and knew that I needed some pulp and pith etc to extract 'pectin', the mythical enzyme which turns juice to jelly.

When I guessed how much sugar I would need, I went to my sugar tub in the cupboard and saw it was a third full. So I dumped the whole lot into the saucepan. How much was in there? No idea, but it was about a third of a container that used to hold just under a kilo, so I would say 300g.

Then I boiled the mixture. For how long? Can't remember. But I do know I watched an episode of Iron Chef America while it cooked, which is 40 minutes without the fast-forwarded commercials - which means I cooked the marmalade for 45 minutes, including the time it took to find the episode and the remote control and sit down to watch it.

How did I know when it was done? I didn't. The mixture looked like a fairly runny orange syrup. When I put it into the sterilised kilner jar (by 'sterilising' I mean put into a hot oven for 10 minutes) and then allowed it to cool down, I had no idea if I was the owner of a jar of sweet orange juice or marmalade. I waited an hour or two until the jar was cool and then stuck in a spoon. A REVELATION! The best marmalade ever! Smooth, fruity, sharp/sweet in the right proportions, back notes of toffee. In a word... Marmalade.

Slight problem: A dozen oranges (£2) and 300g of sugar (50p ish) has yielded half a jar of marmalade - which means a whole jar would be a fiver (not including the cost of the jar, which in fairness I will re-use). But so what? The marmalade is home-made, and definitely tastes different to shop-bought, and another victory chalked up to 5% knowledge and 95% good fortune. A perfect ratio.

Do Do Do make your own. I know it's expensive and time consuming and you have to wash up a sticky pan afterwards, but it's so rewarding to know you can make really delicious stuff so easily. The half jar may have set me back £2.50, but at 10p a serving, it's still a Potless bargain.

Makes a half jar (200g approx)

INGREDIENTS

12 Seville oranges
300g granulated sugar

Extract as much juice and pulp from the oranges as you humanly can, and transfer to a heatproof pan together with the sugar. At this stage, you can cut up some of the peel (but none of the bitter pith) and add it to the mixture to make marmalade with bits in. Simmer the mixture on a low to medium heat for 45 minutes. The mixture should be runny but thick. Transfer to a sterilised jar and allow to cool. Spread onto buttered toast or use in cake recipes.

Seared Duck Breasts with Roast Duck Wings and Rhubarb Compote

Earlier in the week, I bought a large free-range duck to make for dinner with our friends Tanya and Ricardo, but then disaster struck - they couldn't make it. What on earth am I going to do with a whole 2.5kg duck, with only Mrs Ribeye and I to eat it?

Normally, I would say 'all the more for us', but with spring in the air and our summer holiday to Nice booked, we have decided to cut back on the grub in favour of being able to shoehorn ourselves into last year's swimwear.

So, I decided to make the duck into a two-meal bird.

Firstly, I made my Duck Confit, but because the recipe is a two day process, I couldn't eat it straight away. So, secondly, I decided to pan-sear the duck breasts and roast the wings for a bit of a gnaw. I ideally wanted to make that retro classic Duck a l'Orange (recipe to follow), but because I didn't have any Seville oranges, or even a normal orange plus a lime (which would have equally sufficed), I had to create a compote out of what would have been the Rhubarb Crumble and custard dessert ingredients destined for Tanya and Ricardo's cancelled dinner extravaganza.

The rhubarb sauce with the duck was incredible! Slightly sweet and sour, to offset the richness and gaminess of the duck and so easy to make. Simply roast the rhubarb in a hot oven with sugar and cinnamon for 20 minutes and break it up with a fork. Perfect.

I served the duck with Kai Lan (Chinese broccoli) in oyster sauce and a enjoyed a delicious carb-free meal. Oh, with the custard for dessert. Waste not want not.

A whole duck at my local Asian cash and carry (restaurant suppliers, but open to the public) cost me an incredible £4.50, and the rhubarb was 99p for a huge bunch, which meant that this entire meal only stood me in for £1.50 per serving.

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS:

2 stalks of rhubarb, cut into 4cm lengths
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
50ml water
2 duck breasts, skin scored at 1cm intervals
2 duck wings
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 teaspoon of thyme
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
Pinches of salt and pepper

Kai Lan in Oyster Sauce, to serve

Preheat oven to 200c. Place the rhubarb, sugar, cinnamon and water in a roasting tray and roast for 20 minutes. Remove the rhubarb from the oven and break it up with a fork and transfer to a serving dish. Coat the duck wings and the flesh side of the duck breasts in the oil, garlic, thyme and seasoning and place the wings in the oven to cook for an hour. In the meantime, sear the breasts, skin side down in a blisteringly hot pan. Transfer the breasts to the same pan as the wings for the final ten minutes of cooking time and then take all of the duck portions out of the oven to rest. After 10 minutes resting, cut the breasts into 1cm thick slices and serve with the wings, rhubarb sauce and Kai Lan.

Italian Beef Stew with Giardiniera

Giardiniera is my latest discovery. I love pickles. I love celery. I love Italian food. I love giardiniera. Serve giardiniera with this rich Italian beef stew to create a cacophany of flavours and textures. I've made enough of this delicious relish to eat it with every meal I make this week. Giardiniera with Lemon Drizzle Fairy Cakes? Why not?

Beef shin is £3.75 per kilo at my local Chinese cash and carry, in north west London. A completely delicious cut of beef, but needs long slow cooking. Don't worry about getting rid of all the fat and sinew - it melts into the sauce to create a fantastic flavour.

This whole dish tastes like a million dollars, but comes in at £2 per serving. Truly 'Wow'.

Serves 4

Italian Beef Stew

INGREDIENTS:

1kg beef shin, cut into 3cm dice
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 large onion, cut into 2cm dice
2 sticks of celery, cut into 2cm dice
1 large carrot, cut into 2cm dice
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
250ml red wine
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon each of dried oregano and dried basil
1 x 400g tin of chopped Italian tomatoes
400ml water
Pinches of salt and pepper

Fry the beef and olive oil in a large casserole pan, on a moderate heat, until the beef has browned and any liquid has evaporated. Add the vegetables and herbs and allow to soften. Add the red wine, tomatoes, water and salt and pepper. Turn the heat to very low, and cook until the sauce has thickened (3-4 hours approx). Serve with the giardiniera.

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Giardiniera

INGREDIENTS:

3 sticks of celery, very finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, very finely chopped
1 red chilli, deseeded and very finely chopped
1 teaspoon each of dried chilli flakes and dried oregano
50ml olive oil
25ml cider vinegar
Pinches of salt and pepper

Mix the ingredients together in a bowl and refrigerate to let the flavours develop (at least 2 days).

Christmas Chutney

Making presents at Christmas has become cool again. It was OK when you were 9 years old, when you made your non-smoking mum an ashtray. It wasn't OK for 2 decades after that, but now it's OK again. As long as you make people things which: (a) they can eat; (b) don't necessarily have to be eaten within a week; (c) they wouldn't generally make themselves, and (d) are packaged attractively in re-usable receptacles, like a kilner jar.

Chutnies fill all these criteria. And this chutney is so delicious and unique that your happy recipient won't even notice that it only cost you £1 per jar to make. The kilner jars will cost you an extra £2 each, which means you are still on budget.

Makes 8 x 250g kilner jars

INGREDIENTS:

8 large cooking apples, peeled cored and roughly diced
400g luxury mincemeat
500ml cider vinegar
750g demerara sugar
1 tablespoon of mixed spice
1 tablespoon of mustard seeds
1 tablespoon of black onion (nigella) seeds
1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper

Place all ingredients in a large pan or wok and cook uncovered, on moderate heat to start with, and then a low heat, until the apples have disintegrated and the chutney has thickened  and coloured to a demerara sugar colour (3-4 hours approx). Decant to the sterilised kilner jars and place the jars in a roasting pan, half filled with water. Place pan in preheated 140c oven and bake for 20 mins to create a vaccuum.

Tell your friends not to eat the chutney for two weeks, to allow the vinegar to relax and the flavour to mature. The chutney will then keep, unopened, in a cool larder for 6 months; or 6 weeks, in a fridge, after opening.

N.B.When your recipient wishes to open the jar, they must use pliers to pull the rubber tab jutting from the ring, which will release the vacuum (who knew?).

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How to Sterilise Kilner Jars

Dismantle the jars, by separating the rubber and metal parts, and place all parts directly on your oven shelf. Heat in a 140c oven for 30 minutes. Re-assemble the jars, making sure you do not touch the inside of the jars with your bare hands.