Another Food Blog

For once I decided to follow the book. I dug out a rather good book on baked dishes and thought I’d have a go at the smoked haddock tart. I made the shortcrust pastry with 5 oz flour to 1 oz of goose fat and 1.5 oz of sunflower spread. That’s the normal 2:1 ratio of flour to shortening that I use, but I included a spoon of bran in the flour.

I did what the book said and pre-baked the pastry in a flan tin, pricked all over, and with a piece of baking parchment in place of baking beans. That took 15 minutes. Then I brushed the base with beaten egg and gave it another 5. For the filling I beat 2 large eggs with a mixture of crème fraiche and goat’s cream (about two-fifths of a pint altogether), then added a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, some freshly ground pepper, and 4 oz of grated cheese. I poured these over about 7 oz of skinned smoked haddock, cut into about half inch pieces and put onto the pastry base.

Finally I sprinkled chives on the top, and it went into the oven for about 30 minutes until the filling set and it turned a nice golden brown. I served it with chopped lettuce, raw red onion and cherry tomatoes. I was staggered by how good it was. Good heavens! It was totally brilliant – a dish to impress your friends with. And that was only page one of the book! This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship…

If you want to lift your spirits you should eat partridge or pheasant, says a new study. These two game birds contain high levels of selenium, which is said to induce good moods and combat depression. The survey was commissioned by the Countryside Alliance, which obviously favours hunting, shooting and fishing, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true.

Dietary experts say that the UK intake of selenium is about 0.39mg per day, well short of the recommended 0.7mg. The trace element is linked with an improved immune system, as well as with mood improvements. Its main source is from things like Brazil nuts, tuna, and dairy foods. I’m sure I get plenty of it, since I eat all of those. Brazils, my favourite nuts, have such high Selenium levels that the official health recommendation is to go easy on them. It seems that its abundance in the soil is what decides the levels there will be in food.

The same survey shows that game, including venison, is a good source of low fat protein, iron, and vitamin B. It’s also very tasty. Animals that work for a living evading predators tend to develop muscles with good blood supply, and that leads to spicier tastes than those which sit or stand around munching what they are given. This is why game is hung, so bacteria can break down the tough muscle fibres. It tastes sharper and tangier, and it’s good for you. Now there’s a thought to put you in a good mood.

Goose is a fairly easy bird to cook. When cleaning it out, I pull away lumps of fat by hand, heating them in a pan to make another jar of goose-fat. The bird itself does not need to be stuffed, though it can be. Basically the goose goes on a wire rack atop a deep tray, so the fat can run off and be collected. I pricked the goose skin repeatedly on both sides, and rubbed a little salt into it. Then it went into a 180 oven, with foil lightly covering the top. With a turbo-fan oven this risks being blown away so I have to fold it under the lip of the tray to keep it in place. The recommended cooking time is 30 minutes per kilo plus another 20. For my 5 kilo (11 lb) bird, that meant 2 hrs 50 min, but a skewer test after 2hrs 30 mins showed it done. The foil is removed after 2 hours to let it brown.

That’s it, really, except that you check it periodically to make sure all is in order. I have a squeezy bulb pipette I use to drain off the fat from time to time. The potatoes were pre-cooked for 8 minutes before being put in a tray and basted with fat on a shelf below the goose. At the last minute I decided to have sautéed peppers and onion as the vegetables. And of course, lots of Bramley apple sauce. You’ll see from the photo that there’s no gravy. This is a taste thing: I find goose so moist that with apple sauce alongside, it needs no gravy.

The goose was succulent, the potatoes crisp outside and soft within, and the peppers and onions pleasantly sweet. I drank Jacob’s Creek Shiraz rosé (at 12.5 percent) which had body enough to complement the excellent food.

The song tells of “chestnuts roasting on an open fire,” and that’s the way we used to do it as children. We’d cut a notch in the top and sit them on the bricks at the side of the fire, and then wait impatiently. Almost invariably we burned fingers, and sometimes mouths. Fireplaces are not as common now, so I use the oven. There was a microwave recipe which I tried, but it was a disaster. I stopped short of the recommended 2 minutes because steam was pouring from the microwave, but the two trial chestnuts came out smoking furiously and hard as bullets.

I pre-heat the oven to a hot setting, then I cut a notch on the point end, using adjustable pliers to hold them while I do so to avoid injury. They go in for about 20 minutes. When they’re done the outer shell separates from the nut, which itself looks slightly orange. It’s harder to get the shell and skin off when they are cold, so lots more opportunity for burned fingers. I use a drying cloth to hold them while I extricate the nuts. The pellicle (the fabric-like lining between shell and nut) should come cleanly away. If not, it can be scraped off gently. Then comes the reward – hot chestnuts eaten with salt. I don’t generally add salt to food, but chestnuts seem to demand it.

I ate six of them alongside a mince pie as I watched Carols from King’s on the TV. It took place only a few hundred yards away, but I’d have had to queue about 24 hours in the cold to gain admission to King’s College chapel. Maybe I’ll try for tickets next year.