Something To Look Forward To

Something To Look Forward To – The Surrey Cook Book is the latest addition to Meze Publishing’s ‘Get Stuck In’ series of regional cookbooks, this time taking us through the enticing culinary landscape of Surrey. The journey unfolds through the beautiful Surrey Hills, an area renowned for its farming community and an array of local enterprises. The book brings together local restaurants, cafés, butchers, distilleries, vineyards and even family-run nursing home, complete with beehives producing its own honey.  This is a beautiful reminder that there are so many fabulous places for us to visit and enjoy once this dreadful Coronavirus has passed, and we are again free to roam and explore our surroundings with friends and family. The Surrey Cook Book retails at just £14.95 from most bookshops or online.

The Surrey Cook Book

I’ve chosen a couple of recipes from the book for you this week – a beef dish from The Red Lion in Shepperton and delicious cookies from The Cookie Bar in Hindhead. You can always halve the ingredients don’t forget. Hopefully, you have most of the ingredients to hand, or you can improvise, but do remember that many of our local shops will take a telephone order that you can drop round later to collect and minimise contact with others.  It is so important to support our local independent shops at this difficult time.

Slow-Cooked Short Rib and Salt-Baked Celeriac

This recipe takes a shoe leather-tough piece of beef and slowly transforms it into a succulent and delicious dish. Aged on the bone, marbled, and also known as Jacobs Ladder, this is one of our favourite cuts.

Preparation time: 30 minutes /Cooking time: 16 hours / Serves: 8

Ingredients

8 pieces of short rib on the bone, cut between 190g-220g (ask your local butcher)

For the marinade

700ml water

150ml light soy sauce

100ml apple juice

20ml mirin

20ml sesame oil

240g sugar

400ml good beef gravy

For the salt-baked celeriac

2 large celeriac (roughly 400g each)

525g plain flour

275ml water

8 egg whites

Method

For the marinade: Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan, bring to the boil, turn down and simmer for 10 minutes. Set aside

Sear the short ribs in a frying pan with a little oil until browned all over, then transfer them to a deep tray. Cover the meat with the marinade then tightly cover the tray with one layer of baking parchment and two layers of tin foil to keep the heat locked in. Cook the beef for 16 hours at 90°c in the oven (overnight might be the best time to do this, ready for lunch or dinner the next day).

Remove the beef from the tray and place onto a chopping board or large plate. Pour the sauce into a large deep-sided frying pan, bring to the boil and then reduce to a shiny glaze. Gently pull out the bone from each of the short rib pieces and place the meat in the pan, gently turning each piece to coat it in the sauce.

For the salt-baked celeriac: Wash the celeriac thoroughly, trim off any roots and slice a small slither off the base so they sit flat. 

Mix the rest of the ingredients together to make a paste. Line a tray with baking parchment, put two small dollops of the salt crust down for, ensuring they are wider than the celeriac base. Sit the celeriac on top and use the rest of the salt crust to completely cover them. Bake in the oven at 160°c for 2 hours 30 minutes, or until a skewer can penetrate through to the centre without resistance. 

To serve: A lovely sociable way of serving this for a dinner party would be to put the beef in a nice serving dish on the table with some fresh watercress on top. For the celeriac, use the heel of a knife to gently crack the salt crust, creating a lid, and place them on the table with a serving spoon. You can add any other sides of your choice, but a good horseradish is a must!

At The Red Lion, we allow the celeriac to cool so we can cut a nice big cube out, then fry this in a non-stick pan with butter until golden. We also serve the beef with buttered sprout tops, crushed carrot and swede, and horseradish. We hope you enjoy this simple but delicious dish.

White Chocolate and 
Raspberry Cookie

White Chocolate and Raspberry Cookie

Chunks of creamy white chocolate contrast beautifully with the sweet raspberries in every bite of these mouth-watering cookies.

Preparation time: 20 minutes / Cooking time: 12-15 minutes/ Serves 8

Ingredients

125g unsalted butter (at room temperature)

160g caster sugar

140g light brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

350g self-raising flour

½ level tsp salt

½ level tsp baking powder

125g white chocolate chunks

75g frozen raspberries

Method

In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter with the caster and light brown sugars.

Gradually beat in the eggs and vanilla extract, adding a tablespoon of flour with the egg to stop the mixture curdling.  Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt, and mix well.  Add the chocolate chunks.

It is best to chill the dough for approx. 2 hours before adding the raspberries. Wrap the dough in cling film and place in the fridge to chill.

Preheat the oven to 170°c/150°c fan/gas 4.  Line a baking tray with greaseproof baking paper.

Remove the dough from the fridge. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a 25 x 15cm rectangle.  Dot the frozen raspberries over the dough, then roll together from the longest edge into a sausage shape.

The best results for these cookies are when the dough is cooked from frozen, so if you have time, you can freeze the dough at this stage. However, if you can’t wait that long, cut the dough into approx. 1.5cm slices and place on the lined baking tray.

Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes if cooking from chilled (or if cooking from frozen, bake for 12-14 minutes).

Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, and then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

The Seasoned Gastronome

Twickenham & Richmond Tribune

For more recipe ideas visit here

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