Henry salad

Warning: This salad is not for vegetarians. 

This is Henry.

Henry (right)

 
Henry had a very happy and, for pigs destined to end up on our plate, long life (3). 

Apparently he was especially partial to custard creams. I'd like to say the sausages made from him tasted of custard creams, but they didn't. They tasted of Happy Pig. OK, they didn't, they tasted of sausages. But very, very good sausages.

Last week was the first Salad Club of the New Year. Our lovely freelancer Janey Stapes offered me some sausages made from her parent's pig, Henry. Since I've been trying to convince Salad Club of the merits of sausage and pumpkin salad for some time, this seemed like the ideal opportunity to try it out on them. 


In the end, though, we made much simpler salad, with the sausages being the only ingredient that needed cooking.  

Henry (after)

Henry Salad ingredients

Serves 12-14

• 24 Henry sausages*
• 1 jar marinated grilled mixed peppers
• 1 large punnet cherry tomatoes
• 2 cans chickpeas
• 1 bunch basil
• 2 packs feta cheese
• 1 bag baby spinach
• 1 bag rocket
• Chilli flakes, to taste
• Toasted sesame and pumpkin seeds, a sprinkle each

 *If you can't get hold of Henry sausages, use top quality butcher's sausages. That is, buy them from an actual butcher's, not a supermarket. Or even better, from someone who makes sausages. 

Cooking with Henry

Gabi adds the finishing touches

It was thought that Henry, being an old (and happy) pig, may have turned a bit sinewy, and so rather than making him into chops and joints, he was made ENTIRELY INTO SAUSAGES! If I were a pig, that's the way I'd want to go.

This meant that Henry sausages had a very high meat content. It also meant he had a higher fat content than you'd find in most sausages.To remove some of the fat, I roasted the sausages on a grill pan at about 200⁰C in the oven . After 15 minutes I pricked the sausages to let more fat drain out, then continued roasting for another 20 or so minutes. There was a lot of fat. But we all know that fat means flavour. 

If your sausages aren't of such a high meat and fat content (ie normal sausages), you probably don't need to prick them, just roast for 30-40 minutes, turning once during cooking, till most of the sausage is browned.

How to make Henry sausage salad

I normally twist my sausages into half or 3rds before baking them for salads. That way you get lots of little individual sausages, each with its own skin, to bite into. Henry was having none of that, spilling from his casing when I tried to twist the links. Instead I cooked the links whoe then cut each sausage into 2, 3 or 4 pieces, just to give some variety.


All you need to do to make this salad cut the tomatoes in half, rip the basil into small pieces, and mix everything together with the oil from the marinated peppers.

Put more dried chilli flakes out for people to help themselves, along with the toasted sesame and pumpkin seeds.

Andrea, Sausage nosed Jane, Robbie

A vegetarian pie with winter salads

OK, so a cheese-filled pie is probably not the healthiest start to the New Year, but this was for a special occasion when my brother- and sister-in-law and nephew came round for an after Christmas dinner.

However, I'm a great one for winter salads, and the 2 below are a nice way of using raw winter veg. I felt a little smug about the amount of vegetables I'd bought so thought I'd take a picture. 

 Before

Thanks to Nigella we all know that a messaluna means 'half moon' in Italian and is a semi-circular double blade for chopping herbs.

 Messaluna pie ingredients

• 1 pack filo pastry (approx 300g)
• 5 eggs
• A 200g pack spinach
• 2 leeks
• 1 stick celery
• 2 small handfuls rocket
• 1 large red onion
• 1 bunch dill
• 1/2 bunch parsley
• 3 spring onions
• 150g ricotta
• 100g feta
• 75g cheddar
• Oil, for frying and brushing

2 things I forgot to put in this pie but should be added:

• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 small bunch chives or 1 tablespoon freeze-dried chives

  How to make vegetable pie

1. Chop the red onion and celery finely and fry gently in some oil for about 5 minutes till beginning to soften without browning.
2. Meanwhile rinse the spinach in water.
3. Heat a large pan and add the spinach. Keep moving the spinach round till it is wilted down to almost nothing. 
4. Tip out of the pan into a colander and allow to cool.
5. Put the spinach into a clean cloth and squeeze out as much liquid as possible, then chop finely.
6. Break the eggs into a large bowl and beat.
7. Crumble in the feta and ricotta into the eggs and grate in the cheddar.
8. Grate the lemon zest into the mixture. 
9. Add the chopped spinach and the rocket.
10. Finely chop the spring onions and add to to the egg and cheese mixture. 
11. If using, add the finely chopped chives and the dried oregano.
12. Chop the herbs and add these to the egg mixture.
13. Season well with salt and pepper.
14. Brush a baking tin which is slightly smaller than the sheets of filo pastry lighly with oil. I used a 30x20cm tin.
15. Lay a sheet of pastry in the dish so that the ends hang over the outside of the dish then brush lightly with oil. It doesn't matter if the pastry breaks; just patch it up so that the dish is covered.
16. Repeat till half the sheets of pastry have been used.
17. Pour the filling mixture into the pastry.
18. Fold the overhanging pastry from the pie bottom on top of the filling.
19. Top with the remaining filo sheets, brushing each with oil before laying the next on top. Brush the final layer of pastry with oil too.
20. Bake at 190 degrees C for 30-40 minutes or till golden. 

Serve with chilli jam.

After

Red cabbage salad

Do not be tempted to make a larger quantity of this salad as it takes a lot of chewing, so you will probably get bored halfway through your leftovers.

• 1/8 red cabbage
• 1 pear
• 1 small handful walnuts
• A few pieces blue cheese
• Walnut oil
• Lemon juice
• Chopped parsley
• 1 dessertspoon mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon yoghurt

To assemble the red cabbage salad:

1. Mix the mayonaise, yoghurt, lemon juice, walnut oil and chopped parsley in a bowl.
2. Shred the red cabbage finely and add to the mayo mixture.
3. Lightly toast the walnuts in a small frying pan over a low heat for about a minute.
4. Add the toasted walnuts to the cabbage.
5. Peel the pear and cut into thin slithers.
6. Add to the slaw and mix gently so the pears do not break but so everything is coated in the yoghurt mixture.

Leaf and root salad ingredients

• The rest of the rocket left over from the pie
• A handful watercress
• 1/4 grated raw parsnip
• 1/4 raw grated courgette
• A tablespoon sesame seeds, lightly toasted
• Olive oil
• Lemon juice

How to make leaf and root salad

1. In a bowl, dress the rocket and watercress with a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice.
2. Arrange on a plate, and top with the grated courgette and parsnip.
3. Sprinkle the toaste sesame seeds over the top. 

Salmon noodle salad

We've moved offices to the middle of the A4 and there's nowhere to go for lunch except the on-site cafe and the World's Biggest Tescos. Now lunch for free at work is not just a philosophy but a necessity. 

I've become Salad Director for our newly formed Salad Club. Even though I hate the use of capital letters in job titles I take this role very seriously.

Salad club: Kate, Peggy, Courtney, Yuki, Danielle, me. Not in the photo: Leanne (taking the photo), Erik

 

Its amazing how many contraindications there are with just eight people: onions, Kosher, coriander (afflicts a surprisingly high proportion of Salad Club members), salad-intolerence...

We settled on salmon noodle salad with coriander as an optional garnish. 

Salmon noodle salad ingredients

Serves 8

• Salmon fillets, x6, marinaded and cooked (see below)
• 1 cucumber thinly sliced
• Grated carrots
• Red and orange peppers, thinly sliced
• Cashew nuts
• Beansprouts
• Spinach, 1 bag
• Vermicelli rice noodles 
• Salad dressing (see below)

Salmon marinade ingredients 

Marinade the salmon in the following for 20-30 mins

• 1.5 JOT* (ginger, peeled and grated)
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped
• 4 tablespoons soy sauce (I used dark, as this was all I had, though light would be better)
• 2 tablespoons tamarind paste
• Juice 2 limes

*Jamie Oliver's thum, the IM unit for ginger. 

How to cook the salmon 

1. Heat the oven to the Magic Number (190C fan assisted). Bake the salmon for 10-12 minutes.
2. I'm a bit fussy about slimy fish. After 10 minutes I thought the salmon was a little too opaque so gave it a couple more minutes.
   Bear in mind though that it will cook a little more once out of the oven, and also in the lime dressing. 
3. Once cool enough to handle, gently break the salmon up and flake into pieces.
4. Store in a tupperware container overnight.

Salad dressing ingredients

Add the following to a screw-cap jar and shake well. You will need to give it another vigorous shake before serving.

• Juice 2 limes
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon chilli jam or sweet chilli sauce
• Dash fish sauce*

*only needed if it tastes a bit too sweet 

How to make salmon noodle salad

1. Tell everyone to assemble at the allocated time with their ingredients already prepared. 
2. Help yourself to everything, add a little dressing, and eat at a communal table. 

NOTES:

• It is every member of Salad Club's responsibility to bring and prepare their own ingredient. 
• The Director and Deputy Director of Salad Club are happy to give prep advice if needed up to 5 minutes before the arranged salad club time. 

Fish pie with a lie

I wouldn’t suggest you make this for lunch and heat it up in the office microwave, as somebody is bound to complain about the smell. But this dish does freeze well, uncooked – just cook it straight from frozen for about 50 minutes or until piping hot.

It’s the week before the clocks go forward and I want the comfort of mashed potatoes so its fish pie for dinner tonight. Since this recipe is an amalgamation of several fish pie recipes I think I can safely say it’s my own.

I normally use half fat crème fraiche but today I have some left over cream to use up. As I don’t have quite enough I will it mix some Philly and a little milk to thin the sauce. You can also make a béchamel sauce from melted butter, flour and milk but quite frankly I think this is too much of a faff for fish pie and reserve making a good béchamel sauce for a lasagne. But up to you. 

Fish for fish pie

A mixture of white fish and salmon gives a good balance and fishmongers often sell chunks of this as ready made fish pie mixes. You can use any firm white fish such as the much under-rated coley. Undyed smoked haddock gives a lovely depth of flavour. Today I am using hake which I have never cooked before but ate recently on a holiday to Spain and found delicious.

• I large salmon fillet
• I piece boned hake
• Optional: raw prawns, a handful, fresh or frozen*

*omit the prawns for a real pie with a lie but include for a more truthful pie.

• I medium onion, finely chopped
• I medium carrot, finely chopped or grated**
• I bag spinach
• A couple of medium-to-large floury potatoes (eg Desiree, Whites, King Edwards)
• I 200ml tub half fat crème fraiche
• Juice of 1 lemon

**grated carrot reduces the need for lying but you will probably need to lie if the carrots are chopped.

Optional fish pie ingredients

• A handful of grated mature cheddar
• 1 teaspoon English mustard
• About a dessertspoon of capers, chopped
• A few chopped gerkins/cornichon
• Mace – a pinch
• Nutmeg – about 20 gratings from a whole one
• A handful of chopped parsley

Some people put a hard boiled egg or two into their fish pie but this gives me the same queasy feeling I get the first time I wear flip flops each summer. But by all means add eggs if you want – you can boil them along with the potatoes to save on washing up.

How to make fish pie

1. Peel the potatoes and cut into even sized pieces. Put them in a large saucepan and cover with cold water. Add a little salt and bring them to the boil. 
   If you put floury potatoes straight into boiling water they will become soggy and disintegrate, so always use cold water. New potatoes, which are waxy, can be plunged straight into boiling water.
2. Reduce the heat and simmer the potatoes until cooked – about 15–20 minutes depending on the size of your potato pieces. Test with a skewer to see if done – when they are ready there will be no resistance when you push a skewer through.
3. Once cooked, drain in a colander. Meanwhile, put the empty pan back on the hob and allow any residual water to evaporate. Once the pan is dry, add the drained potatoes to the pan and let the water evaporate from these for a minute. Remove from the heat and mash with salt, pepper and butter. This needs to be done while the potatoes are still hot or they will become too gloopy. Add milk if needed to thin out the potatoes.
4. Make the sauce by gently frying the onion and carrot in olive oil over a low heat till soft ie about 6 or 7 minutes. I use a large Le Creuset sauté pan for this but a regular frying or sauté pan works fine.
5. Skin the fish. This is really easy, honest. All you need is a sharp knife and a bit of confidence. Have a look at this video to see how it’s done
6. Cut the skinned fish into large pieces and put in an appropriate sized dish. Some fish pies instruct you to poach the fish in milk prior to combining with the sauce and baking. This is not necessary since the fish will be baked in a sauce for 25–30 minutes. The only advantage to poaching your fish in milk is if you are making a béchamel sauce as the strained milk will give your sauce lots of flavour.
7. Add the prawns to the fish – they can be fresh or frozen but should be uncooked.
8. Add the crème fraiche or cream to the fried vegetables and stir through to coat the vegetables in a sauce.
9. If you want a cheesy sauce, add the grated cheese and stir into the sauce till it melts. Don’t be tempted to add too much cheese though or it will overpower the taste of the fish rather than compliment it.
10. Once the sauce has bubbled and thickened, remove from the heat, add the lemon juice and any of the other optional ingredients you want to use. You can include all of them if you wish – I often do, except for the egg. The addition of mustard enhances the flavour of the cheese which means you can use less cheese – it is added to cheese scones for this reason.
11. Rinse the spinach in water and add to a large hot pan. Keep stirring till the water evaporates and the spinach is reduced. Squeeze the spinach to remove excess water.
12. Assemble the pie by pouring the sauce over the fish and prawns.
13. Dot the spinach over the fish. Actually, I am not sure if this step is necessary – you can probably just layer the uncooked spinach directly into the pie. I will test this and update accordingly.
14. Spread the mashed potato over the fish sauce mix.
15. I often add another cheeky cheesy layer of grated cheese on top of the mash.
16. Bake at 220⁰C for 25–30 minutes. The top should be a lovely golden colour when done and the smell will be fantastic.

This dish already contains a good deal of vegetables but I like to serve it with some simple boiled frozen peas.

Pie with a lie

Oh, and the lie bit? My fiancé hates cooked carrots. When me and my friend Kerry cooked this fish pie for him once he asked what the orange bits were and I replied ‘prawns’. There were no prawns in that day’s pie.