Ingredient: garlic
Venison Pie
I am seeing venison more and more on the shelves, Norwich market nearly always stocks it and farm shops often have a stock in their freezers. It’s a similar price to beef and cheaper cuts offer tender, quality and rich tasty dishes making it perfect for old fashioned pies and casseroles.
Dynamite Tomato Ketchup
This will sort the men from the boys.
Homemade ketchup is really easy to make, this has the edition of fresh red chillis giving your senses that dynamite effect. There’s no need for fresh tomatoes, tinned plum tomatoes give fantastic flavour with out the preparation plus you get the juice. Most chefs will swear by tinned tomatoes over fresh in sauces and hot pots, they offer much more flavour than the average imported greenhouse grown tomato especially this time of the year.
Hummus
Who doesn’t like hummus these days – a smooth and creamy flavoursome Middle Eastern dip, perfect with any bread, splurged in to falafel wraps or if your a foodie diva serve with Ras AL Hanout Lamb.
Falafel – Chickpea Fritters
Falafels are a chickpea fritter from the Middle East often served in wraps with hummus or tahini* or served in a tomato sauce like meatballs. Falafel takeaways are hugely popular in Amsterdam, served in pitta bread with salad and sauce. Find them in Norwich – Moorish, Ruth’s or Falafel and Friends on the market. (All listed on my directory)
Whole Roasted Herby Chicken
Roast chicken has got to be one of the finest comfort foods around, the house smells amazing, you are drawn to the oven to peek inside and the sizzle makes your mouth water. As well as enjoying roast chicken on the occasional Sunday I also like it mid-week with salad, pickles and a few warm Jerusalem Artichokes tossed in olive oil and garlic. Herby chicken is a perfect family dinner you could even cook some diced potatoes, sweet potatoes and parsnips in the tin around the chicken for a complete meal.
Slow Cooked Belly of Pork – on a bed of vegetables in it’s own sauce
My mum used to make me this dish when we came home from London for the weekend after an exhausting week working as a chef. We would walk in and the whole house would smell divine and boy did we have a treat ahead of us – tender slow cooked belly of pork that fell off the bone, covered with tons of the crispiest crackling, all casseroled on a bed of good old English root vegetables, oozing with flavour and all bathed in sauce from heaven. This dish takes less than 15 minutes to prepare but 6 hours of slow cooking in the oven, giving you time to build up an appetite.
Buy half a whole pork belly on the bone, a Two kilo piece cost me £6.20, making the total dish price £2 per person. Harvey’s sell organic, Hazels will get it in for you if not in stock and most local butchers will sell locally reared pork. Ask the butcher to cut the fat of the pork in one piece but keep for making the crackling.