NOVEMBER: Seasonal foods and menu choice (From Worcester News)

NOVEMBER: Seasonal foods and menu choice

10:47am Thursday 12th November 2009 in News By Roni Skye

This month is great for lots of root vegetables such as parsnips, turnips and carrots which can be added to a lovely winter casserole to bulk it out and make it go further. Casseroles are great when you come in from the cold and want a good hearty meal. Game is still is still popular with goose and pheasant being a good choice this month. Clementines, Tangerines and Satsuma’s make an appearance in the shops this month with the run up to Christmas, together with Brazil nuts and Walnuts.

Foods for the month:

Meat: Pheasant, goose, duck, lamb, pork.

Fish: Scallops, sprats, skate, herrings, rock salmon, haddock, halibut, cod, coley bass, carp.

Vegetables: Beetroot, parsnips, carrots, turnips, onions, savoy cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, French beans.

Fruit: Almonds, chestnuts, nectarines, satsumas, clementines, tangerines, pears, pomegranates, pineapples, walnuts.

Menu (Serves 4)

Starter: Smoked herrings with horseradish sauce

Main: Veal Escallops with artichokes and lemon sauce

Dessert: Orange Crème Caramel

Starter: Smoked Herrings with horseradish sauce

Ingredients:

2 large Herring
4 tablespoons of double cream
2-3 teaspoons lemon juice
2 rounded teaspoons grated horseradish
1 teaspoon tarragon vinegar
sea salt and black pepper to flavour
caster sugar
½ cucumber

Garnish: Lemon slices

Method:

Fillet each herring into two halves, carefully removing the skin and bones (your fishmonger will probably do this for you). Cut the fillets into bite size pieces.
Blend the cream with the lemon juice, horseradish and vinegar and season to taste with sea salt, black pepper and caster sugar.
Cut cucumber into thin slices and place four on a plate and the base. Mix the herrings into the dressing and then place the mixture onto the centre of your four cucumber slices. Place a lemon slice on top and serve with fresh slices of brown bread and butter.

Main: Veal Escallops with artichokes and lemon sauce

Ingredients:

8 veal escallops (2 to 3 oz each)
Seasoned flour (with sea salt, black pepper and a little powdered English mustard)
2oz butter
1 rounded dessertspoon of finely chopped onion
12oz artichoke bottoms (can use tinned)
4 fluid oz dry white wine
½ pint of chicken stock
2 small lemons
¼ pint of double cream
salt and pepper

Method:

Coat escallops in seasoned flour. Heat butter in frying pan over a medium heat a fry the escallops for a few minutes until golden brown turning just once.
Add the onion and artichoke bottoms and pour in the white wine. Bring mixture to a simmering heat and then reduce heat. Add sufficient stock to cover the veal completely. Grate the rind of the lemon and place to one side.
Add just of lemons to sauce, cover the pan with a lid and cook over a low heat for 20 minutes or until the veal is tender.
Stir in the double cream and let it simmer for a further 5 minutes with out the lid on the pan until the sauce becomes creamy.

To serve:

Arrange the escallops in the centre of a warmed serving dish and serve with buttered noodles or fluffy rice, which is added around the outside edge of the dish. Pour sauce over the escallops and sprinkle over the grated lemon rind.

Dessert: Orange Crème Caramel

Ingredients:

Grated rind of large orange
½ pint fresh orange juice
2 eggs plus 3 egg yolks
2 level dessertspoons caster sugar

For Caramel:

4 oz sugar

Method:

Finely grate the orange rind and place into the orange juice and leave for a while.
Warm but don’t grease four ramekin moulds and now make the caramel.
Put the 4oz sugar and 4 dessertspoons of cold water into a heavy based small saucepan and place on a low heat until the sugar has melted and syrup is clear.
Now turn up the heat and boil briskly without stirring, until the caramel turns dark without burning.
Pour a little caramel into each of the ramekins, twisting quickly until all sides are coated, make sure you use oven gloves when you do this as moulds will be hot.
Heat the orange juice and rind in a pan over a low heat. Whisk the whole eggs the egg yolks and the sugar until creamy and when the orange juice is at the point of boiling, strain into the eggs stirring briskly. Pour the orange cream into the prepared ramekins and set them in a roasting tin with 1in of hot water.
Cover the moulds with buttered greaseproof paper and bake in the centre of a pre-heated oven at 350F, Gas Mark 4 for about 30 minutes or until completely set. You may need to adjust the heat in fan-assisted ovens.
Remove the moulds from the oven, leave them to cool and chill in the fridge for about 2 hours. Just before serving, unmould the crème caramels on to individual plates and serve with cream and garnish with strands of orange rind.