Droolworthy recipes from the Taste of London chefs.
With the festive season just around the corner, Taste of London has teamed up with four top UK chefs to share some seriously delish dishes – we won’t lie, we’re in food heaven right now.
Duck Egg En Cocotte With Wild Mushrooms And Gruyère Cheese By Daniel Doherty, Duck & Waffle
Preparation time: 10 minutes Cooking time: 30 minutes Serves: 2
Ingredients
Butter, for greasing 1 tablespoon olive oil 2 shallots, finely chopped 1 sprig of fresh thyme ½ a garlic clove 1 bay leaf 1 handful of wild mushrooms, roughly chopped into 2cm pieces ½ a glass of white wine 150ml double cream sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 2 duck eggs 2 slices of sourdough bread 20g Gruyère cheese, grated 3–5 truffle slices per person
Method Butter the insides of two 100ml ramekins or individual cocotte.
Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and cook the shallots with the thyme, garlic and bay leaf until softened. Add the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes more, then add the wine and simmer until reduced by three-quarters. Add the cream and continue to cook until reduced by half, then season with salt and pepper.
When ready to serve, preheat your oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.
Place half the sauce in the bottom of each ramekin, removing the thyme and bay leaf, then crack a duck egg in to each. Top with the rest of the sauce, and place in the oven for 3 minutes.
Toast the bread and cut into soldiers. When the 3 minutes is up, or the whites have started to form, add the cheese to the ramekins and cook for a further 4–8 minutes, depending on how you like your eggs cooked.
Garnish with the truffle slices and eat straight away with the toasted soldiers.
Recipe from Duck & Waffle: Recipes and stories by Daniel Doherty
Pork, Quince And Chestnut Casserole With Watercress Mash By Sophie Michell, Pont Street
Preparation time: 20 minutes Cooking time: 1 hour Serves: 4
Ingredients
Pork, Quince And Chestnut Casserole
2 tbsp olive oil 750g/1lb 10oz diced pork 100ml/3½fl oz/scant ½ cup white wine 2 onions, cut into wedges 2 quinces, peeled and sliced 250g/9oz tinned or vacuum-packed chestnuts 1 cinnamon stick 500ml/17fl oz/2 cups vegetable stock 1 sage sprig, leaves picked, plus extra to serve
Watercress Mash
600g/1lb 5oz potatoes, peeled and cubed 1 tbsp olive oil 150g/5½oz watercress, roughly chopped sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large frying pan over a high heat. Add the pork in batches, season with salt and pepper and sear until seared all over and browned. You want a good colour, as it adds flavour later. It will take about 15–20 minutes to sear all the pork. After the last batch is done, remove the pork from the pan and then pour in the wine and deglaze the pan for about 4 minutes, swishing the wine around and scraping the bits of pork off the base. Leave to one side.
In a separate saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over a medium heat. Add the onion and quinces and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, then add the chestnuts, cinnamon stick, pork and deglazed juices. Add the stock and sage leaves and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 1 hour, or until the pork is tender. Season with salt and pepper.
About 30 minutes into the cooking time, put the potatoes in a large saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down to low and simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes until cooked through. Drain off the water, then add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil and the watercress to the pan and mash with the potato. Season with salt and pepper, then serve with the casserole, sprinkled with sage leaves.
Recipe from Love Good Food by Sophie Michell
Gasconnade By Pascal Aussignac, Club Gascon
Serves: 4 Ingredients
1x50g can anchovies in oil, drained 3 fat fresh garlic cloves 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 sprigs of fresh thyme 1 leg of young lamb (about 1.5kg) Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Method
Pat the anchovies with paper towel and cut the fillets lengthways. Cut the garlic cloves lengthways also, then in to slices.
Heat the oil in a small pan with the thyme sprigs for about a minute, then remove.
Using a sharp pointed thin bladed knife, make several stabs over the leg. Push an anchovy fillet and garlic shred in to each hole, then place the leg in a small heatproof ovenproof dish. Wrap loosely with foil on top and chill for about 12 hours.
When ready to cook, heat the oven to 190°C/gas mark 5.
Pour the thyme oil around the leg and draw up the foil to seal. Cook in the preheated oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, uncovering two or three times and spooning the cooking juices over. Check the meat is just cooked by piercing with a thin bladed knife. Lightly pink juices should run out; if the juices are quite bloody, then allow another 10-15 minutes.
When cooked, remove the pan of lamb from the oven and allow to stand for 15 minutes. Place the lamb on a warmed platter and carve.
Put the pan with the roasting juices back on the hob and stir in 2-3 tablespoons water. Heat until bubbling, scraping the pan bottom with a wooden spoon to deglaze. Bubble for 2-3 minutes and season lightly then strain into a small jug. Pour over the lamb.
Seven Hour-Braised Shoulder Of Lamb With Onions, Thyme And Balsamic By Tom Aiken, Tom's Kitchen
Serves: 4
Ingredients
Braised Shoulder of Lamb
1 shoulder of lamb, around 2.5kg in weight 150ml olive oil 20g fresh thyme 2 garlic bulbs, peeled cloves Sea salt and black pepper 8 medium onions, peeled 350ml balsamic vinegar
Mashed Potato
2l water 12g salt 200g butter 150ml milk 600g peeled potato, cut in 1/4’s 12 turns of milled black pepper
Method
Place a large casserole pot onto a medium gas, adding the oil.
Season the lamb and place the shoulder in to the pot once the oil is hot (be careful adding the lamb as it could spit). Colour for 3-4 minutes each side until nicely caramelised and then remove the lamb and put to one side.
Add the onions and colour for 4-5 minutes still on a medium heat, stirring now and again. Add the garlic and thyme, then place the lamb back on top.
Place into the oven at 110°C and cover with a lid cooking for 2-2.5 hours, then take out the onions once they are soft. Carry on cooking the lamb for another 2.5-3 hours.
Add the vinegar and carry on cooking without the lid so the vinegar reduces as the lamb cooks, basting the lamb every 30 minutes, being careful not to reduce it too much.
Cook for a total of 6-7 hours until the lamb is nice and tender, then add the onions and garlic back at the end and reduce the vinegar to a nice thick consistency.
Place the cut potato into the cold water with 10g salt in a pan, place on to the heat and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat down and simmer for 30 minutes then tip the potatoes into a colander to drain really well.
Place the potato back in the pan and dry out on a low heat for 1 minute, then add the butter, salt, pepper and the warm milk while you mash the potato.
Tom Kerridge, Pascal Aussignac, Mark Hix and Sophie Michell will join a host of other chefs at Taste of London: The Festive Edition, Tobacco Dock, 19 – 22 November. Tickets from £15.
Words by Ashleigh Houlton