Set the table
Enjoy an Easter feast of wild garlic gnocchi, leg of lamb and prune and Armagnac parfait
Humans are such social animals. Whenever possible, we love to eat together; with work colleagues, with friends and loved ones. When we celebrate at highlights throughout the year, like birthdays, Christmas and of course Easter, it is almost always around a table with great food.
I couldn’t exist without a table, it’s the centre of family life. At home, ours is in the kitchen and is the place where people migrate to share happy (and sometimes sad) times. What we as a family crave, is to go and see the in-laws in Crieff, to sit around their table and eat food, talk a load of gibberish and put the world to rights, possibly with a glass or two of wine. Put simply, we want to hear and see someone opposite us chat, talk, laugh or cry.
I hope you all have a happy Easter and hope to see you at Cafe St Honore soon enjoying a very long overdue catch up or special occasion with friends or family around a table.
Wild garlic gnocchi
I like gnocchi, it is such a great dish and relatively simple to make.
Serves four
4 to 5 large, floury potatoes 250g plain flour, plus extra for rolling the dumplings
1 large egg a handful of wild garlic, finely chopped good salt and pepper
2 tablespoons of hard cheese like a Mull or Barwheys, grated a few knobs of butter
50ml extra virgin olive oil
½ bulb of fennel, shaved on a mandolin or thinly sliced with a knife a few salad leaves a few shavings of hard cheese like a good cheddar a drizzle of garlic oil or pesto oil to garnish, optional a few sliced radishes to garnish, optional
1 Heat the oven to 200C/gas Mark 6. Begin by baking the potatoes in their skins in the oven on a bed of salt until soft inside. This will take about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Allow to cool, then scoop out the flesh and mash.
2 Mix 500g of the mashed potato carefully with the plain flour, then add the egg and combine. Add the chopped wild garlic, season with salt and pepper and add the grated cheese. Mix well but be careful not to overdo it.
3 Roll the dough in a dusting of flour to make a long sausage shape about the width of £1 coin. Cut the gnocchi into 1-inch pieces, pinching each one as you cut.
4 To cook, place into a pan of salted, boiling water and cook until the gnocchi rises to the surface on a rolling boil. This should take about 2 to 4 minutes, then remove from the water and place onto a cloth.
5 Heat a non-stick pan and add half the olive oil and add the gnocchi. Then add the butter and colour the dumplings until they are golden and almost crispy. Remove from the pan and season.
6 To serve, place several pieces of gnocchi on warmed plates with a handful of good salad, some fennel and a few shavings of hard cheese. To finish, I like to use a drizzle of wild garlic oil or the oil from any pesto. Also use some sliced radish if you like.
Roast leg of lamb with Boulangère potatoes
I like using local, organic lamb or mutton from a butcher, farm shop or market stall. Here it is served with thinly sliced potatoes with caramelised onions, stock and a little rosemary.
Serves four
1 leg of excellent lamb, bone in
1 large onion, peeled and thinly sliced
1 bulb of garlic, halved a sprig of rosemary
4 or 5 medium-sized potatoes, washed, skins on
2 leeks with outer layer removed, cut into 2-inch pieces
500ml good chicken or lamb stock a few knobs of butter
25ml cold-pressed rapeseed oil good salt and pepper
1 Heat your oven to 200C/gas Mark 6. Firstly, rub the leg of lamb with half the rapeseed oil and sprinkle with a generous amount of salt and pepper. 2 Place about a third of the onion on a roasting tray with the half bulb of garlic and the rosemary. Place the lamb on top and add a small glass of water (c100ml) to the tray.
3 Place the tray in the oven and roast half an hour, then turn the heat down to 150C and cook for a further 45 minutes to an hour. After about 15 minutes add the leeks, season again and baste with the juices. Cook until the leeks are just soft (about 45 minutes), basting as you cook. Once it’s ready, remove from the oven and let it rest for at least 10 minutes.
4 Whilst the leg is roasting, fry the rest of the onion in the remaining oil for about 20 minutes on a low heat until softened and starting to brown. Season and keep warm.
5 Next, slice the potatoes. You want them to be very thin, so use a mandolin or slicer if you have one. Then start to assemble the boulangère. In a ovenproof dish, layer up the slices of potato and onion, pouring over the stock and seasoning each layer as you go. Add a few dots of butter on top and place in the oven for an hour to an hour and 15 minutes. Long enough for the potatoes to soften and soak up all the stock.
6 To serve, place the dish of boulangère potatoes on the table and carve the meat at the table, placing some leeks on each plate as you carve, and top with the cooking juices. A wee tip: if you like garlic, squeeze the cooked, roasted garlic bulb onto the lamb as it is resting, before you carve.
Prune and Armagnac parfait
I remember making this dish 30 years ago and it’s still as good now as it was then. If Armagnac isn’t your thing then use another alcohol like Drambuie or Glayva, even whisky would work.
Serves six to eight
4 egg yolks
125g caster sugar
100ml water
500ml double cream
3 generous tablespoons of Armagnac a handful of Agen (or any other type) of prunes, stones removed an extra 50g caster sugar and 75ml water to make a syrup
1 Bring 100ml water and 125g sugar to the boil in a pot then boil gently until it reaches soft-ball stage, or becomes syrupy and clear. This should take about 5 minutes.
2 Whilst the sugar is boiling away, whisk the egg yolks trickling the syrup in slowly and carefully – maybe get someone to help you! You want this mix to become very fluffy and increase in volume. It can take a good few minutes to do this.
3 Once this is achieved, leave it for a moment and whisk the cream to ribbon stage in a clean bowl. Then combine the cream and egg mixtures together, a little at a time. This is the base for the parfait.
4 Chop two thirds of the prunes and add them to the mixture alongside two tablespoons of Armagnac. Fold in gently, and try not to let any air escape.
5 Line a terrine mould or ice cream tub with cling film or parchment paper and fill with the mixture. Cover with film and freeze for at least 6 hours.
6 Whilst the parfait is freezing, make a syrup with the remaining Armagnac, sugar and water by bringing them to the boil on the hob. Allowing the syrup to cool then add the remaining prunes, whole, to the syrup.
7 This dish is best made the day before so the prunes really absorb the syrup and the parfait is properly frozen.