Carbonara Sauce

Carbonara is my favorite Italian sauce. Encapsulating my ethos of a simple dish using the finest ingredients prepared in a straightforward fashion to produce a stunning result.

It literally translates charcoal maker, so this is a charcoal makers sauce. One Italian food historian
claims that at the end of World War II, American soldiers befriended the locals and brough them fresh bacon and eggs. When asked to prepare a pasta sauce with this fare, carbonara was the end result. Perhaps the locals in question were in the business of making charcoal.

The key to success with this dish is to use the best ingredients you can find. A quality pancetta from your local Itailan deli (or better still Puddledubs if you live in Fife), free range eggs and a good quality pasta. Follow this rule and you'll make a dish fit for the Gods (Bachus would love it!).

Ingredients for 3 people

• 125g Pancetta or bacon pieces
• 2 cloves of garlic lightly mashed just breaking the skin which you discard.
  
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp dry white wine (optional)
• 4 egg yolks
  
• 2 tbsp freshly grated Romano cheese
• 25 / 1 oz freshly grated Parmia Regiano Cheese
• freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp double cream (optional)
• 1 tbsp finely chopped flat leaf parsley
  
• Fresh Pasta (the usual pasta for this is spaghetti, but I always prefer a tagliatelle)

Preparation

• In a bowl beat the yolks of the eggs together. Some recipes use the white too but I think the yolks on there own make a richer sauce.

• Mix in the cheeses, the parsley, a pinch of salt, the pepper and if used the cream.

• Cook the pasta as per the instructions with a pinch of salt and 1 tbsp of olive oil.

• While it is cooking, heat the oil in a pan and fry the garlic until it is golden, when you should discard it.

• Add the pancetta or bacon and fry until crisp

• If using, add the wine and cook for a couple of minutes till it evaporates. Take off the heat.
  

• Drain the pasta and tip into the pan with the bacon, stirring it together.

• Mix in the cheese and egg mix. The residual heat will be enough to cook the eggs.

• Serve with some garlic bread and eat with a big grin on your face.
  

Bread Sauce

There's never enough bread sauce, and I think Delia's recipe is one of the best. It reheats well and I think it suits cold meats of all sorts. I've modified it a bit, though, both to make better use of the onions and to ensure you have enough for the turkey (or goose or whatever) on the day, and for a couple of days afterwards.

Ingredients
2 large onions
lots of cloves - try 8–10 per onion half
2 bay leaves
black peppercorns
2 pints of full cream milk (although semi-skimmed will work)
4 oz butter
8 oz of breadcrumbs (some bread whizzed up in your food-processor is ideal)
4 tablespoons of double cream

Preparation
Start this the day before you need the sauce. Put the milk in a pan and add the bay leaves and peppercorns. Cut the onions in half and stud the round surface with cloves and put them in the milk. The onion will float flat side up so the cloves need to be on the underside. Warm the milk until it's about to boil and then remove from the heat, cover and leave it overnight.

The following day, remove the onions and bay leaves and keep them handy—chasing around after the peppercorns is a bit fiddly so I leave them in. Add the breadcrumbs to the infused milk and stir over a low heat for fifteen minutes or so.

Pick the cloves out of the onions and throw the cloves away. Carefully chop the onions; they'll be soggy with milk and very slippery and fry them gently in half the butter until they're as cooked as you like them, adding a twist or two of black pepper. Add them to the milk and breadcrumbs.

Beat in the remainder of the butter and the cream and season if necessary.

Pete Wright
Portsmouth

Cranberry Sauce

There's nothing better with your Christmas turkey than home made cranberry sauce.

Ingredients

• 225g (8oz) Cranberries

• 100g (4oz) Demerara (or other brown) Sugar

• grated rind and juice of 1 orange. Alternatively you can also use a fresh good quality orange juice here. Just add a glass full and reduce a bit more if the sauce is too thick. This year I used Tropicana Cranberry Blend, and the result was superb.
  

• glass of port (85-120 ml / 3-4 fl oz)

Preparation

• Put the cranberries, sugar orange rind, orange juice and port in a pan.
• Stir it over a gentle heat until the sugar disolves.
• Simmer for 5-8 minutes untill the cranberries are soft and the sauce has thickened.
• Allow to cool, then poor into a rigid container.

This sauce keeps up to a week in the fridge or for up to 2 months in the freezer.

When quality cranberry sauce is so easy to make, there's no reason to use the shop bought variety, other than a lack of cranberries that is.

Teriyaki Sauce

Teriyaki no Tare

Teriyak is the name of a grilling technique. Teri means glossy and yaki translates to grilling. The original version of teriyake no tare yaki no tare (teriyaki basting sauce) contained only shoyu (soy sauce), mirin (sweet cooking wine) and sometimes sugar.

Why use the sickly substance that passes for teriyaki sauce on supermarket shelves, when it is so easy to make the real McCoy yourself.

To make it you will need: -

Ingredients
200ml (1 cup) Mirin (sweet cooking wine)
100ml (1/2 cup) Shoyu (Soy Sauce)
1 1/2 - 2 tbsp Caster Sugar

Preperation

• Add the mirin to a pan and heat over a low heat for 1-2 minutes.

• Add the soy and sugar and simmer for another couple of minutes.

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

Variations

For variation you can add other seasoning to your sauce. Honey, grated ginger, grated garlic , chopped scallions, fruit juice, fresh or dried chilli or chilli bean sauce (toban jiang). Experiment to make your own signature teriyaki sauces.

Here's another varient that also includes sake (rice wine).

Ingredients

100ml (1/2 cup) Mirin (sweet cooking wine)
50ml (1/4 cup) Sake (Rice Wine)
50ml (1/4 cup) Shoyu (Soy Sauce)
2 tbsp Sugar

Preparation

• Heat the Mirin & Sake in a small saucepan over a medium heat for 5 minutes.

• Add the Shoyu & Sugar, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.

• Simmer over a low heat for 25 minutes.

• Let the sauce cool.It can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week.

So go ahead and make your teriyake. And remember, the baste is yet to come.

Roasting Meat

Last Sunday we had an awesome shoulder joint of Puddledub's Organic Pork (probably the finest pork in the world) and I need to yet again delve into my dog eared copy of Delia's "How To Cook Book Two" for the timings. To save time in the future and give me access to them on the road I've decided to blog them.

Beef

Pre-heat the oven to 230 C (gas mark 8, 450F)

Season beef, preferably sirloin or Wing Rib with salt and pepper with a dusting of flour and dry mustard

Roast for 20 minutes then drop the temperature to 190C (gas mark 5, 375F)

Continue to Roast at this temperature for 15 minutes a pound (450g) for rare, add 15 minutes for medium and another 30 for well done. Baste at least 3 times during this period.

Rest 20-30 minutes before carving (the meat not you, you should already have been sitting back with a glass of wine in your hand during the cooking time).

Pork (with crackling)

Pre-heat the oven to 230 C (gas mark 8, 450F)

Making sure the surface skin is dry rub with sea salt (preferably Maldon) and Roast for 25 minutes then drop the temperature to 190C (gas mark 5, 375F)

Roast at the lower temperature allowing 35 minutes a pound (450g). Don't baste or you won't have crisp crackling.

Rest 20-30 minutes before carving.

Lamb

Pre-heat the oven to 190C (gas mark 5, 375F)

After seasoning the meat with salt and pepper sit in a roasting dish on a bed of sliced onion and roast for 30 minutes a pound (450g) basting about 3 times during cooking.

Rest for at least 30 minutes.

Shrewsbury Sauce to accompany the lamb

2 tbsp plain flour
1 heaped tsp mustard powder
1 pint (570 ml) Beaujolais or other light wine
5 rounded tbsp quality redcurrant jelly
3tbsp Worcester Sauce
Juice of a lemon
Salt and freshly milled black pepper

Take 2 tbsp of the fat from your cooked joint and heat in a pan on low stirring in the flour and mustard powder.

Gradually add the wine to the resulting paste, a splosh at a time, stirring initially with a wooden spoon then switching top a whisk half way through.

Add the redcurrant jelly, lemon juice and seasoning whisking again until the Jelly has been dissolved. With the heat as low as it will go, and preferably with a heat diffuser sitting under the pan, let the sauce reduce for about 15 minutes. Your sauce can then be poured over your cooked lamb. Yum.

See also the post on Roast Chicken.