Celeriac Remoulade with Smoked Salmon

We have just spent a lovely few days with our friends in Lancashire, where we were treated to some fabulous meat dishes, including an amazing shoulder of lamb cooked for 21 hours.  But I find myself longing for some non-meat dishes, and the tangy spritz of celeriac remoulade did the trick.  Remoulade is really just a posh coleslaw, so don't be put off by the name.  There are numerous recipes on the web - the one thing I'd say is that some of them are a bit generous with the mustard.  This dish should have a refreshing bite from the Dijon, not a mule kick in the head.  I peeled and shredded half a large celeriac - try to get long elegant julienne matchsticks, a mandolin grater helps but patience and a sharp knife will do, too.  Blanch the strips of celeriac in a pot of boiling salted water for just 30 seconds or so, drain and refresh in cold water.  Drain again.  Now, either make your own mayo or get a jar of good old Hellman's - you need about  2 heaped tablespoons of it.  Put it in a bowl, season with a little salt, black pepper, the juice of half a lemon, a teaspoon of smooth Dijon mustard and half a teaspoon of wholegrain mustard.  Mix well.  If it is thick, thin it with a tablespoon of milk.  Adjust the mustard to your own tastes.  Now mix in a tablespoon of very finely chopped parsley, and fold the cool, drained celeriac through it.  Alllow to sit for an hour or so to develop the flavours, then serve with good smoked salmon, some freshly cooked beetroot and some rocket.  We were lucky to get wild River Lune smoked salmon from the Port of Lancaster Smokehouse and it was wonderful - tender, dry, delicate.  A fine supper indeed.

Baked Marmalade Chicken

This is a simple and tasty way of injecting flavour, colour and succulence into skinless chicken breasts, which can sometimes look a little like those defective silicone breast implants that keep popping up (out?) on the news at the moment.  It helps to start with good organic, or at the least, free-range, chicken breasts, on or off the bone.  For two, marinate in a mixture of a heaped tablespoon of good marmalade (preferably homemade), the juice of an orange (preferably Seville, but an ordinary one will be fine), a heaped teaspoon of wholegrain mustard, and two teaspoons of honey.  Let the chicken sit for at least an hour, overnight if possible.  The acid in the orange helps tenderise the meat and keeps it succulent.  Heat an oven to 200C and lift the chicken out of the marinade onto a small baking tin, lined with a bit of parchment (otherwise you will be scrubbing for weeks).  Drizzle the chicken with a little olive oil and some salt and pepper, and roast for 20 minutes (25 if on the bone) until just cooked and the juices run clear.  Whilst it is roasting, tip the marinade into a pot and reduce over a high heat until it is a thick sticky glaze.  Pour this over the chicken in the oven for the final 5 minutes of cooking to produce a golden, burnished, glistening finish.  Low fat and really tasty!

Cheese Palmiers

These have been around the scene since Delia showed us all how to make them in her Christmas book - the simplest thing in the world, but so good.  Infinitely variable, I used mustard and parmesan, but also regularly use slices of Parma ham along with the parmesan too, or with black olive tapenade and anchovies, or fresh pesto.  You simply spread your ingredients over a sheet of puff pastry, roll up from either side to meet in the middle, cut into slices and bake until crisp.  Hot and crisp from the oven, I challenge you to stop at one!  Great to keep, in the long un-sliced roll, in the freezer ready for Christmas and pre-dinner drinks.

Honey and Mustard Baked Pork Fillet with Parsnips [#223]

I love Donna Hay. I could so easily have made her the subject of the Challenge for the entire year, and might well do in 2011! Her recipes are elegant, simple, healthy and always work. This could scarcely have been simpler - pork fillet spread with grain mustard, honey and oregano, and roasted over chunky parsnips, which in turn absorb the fragrant juices from the pork, emerging tender and soft, not tough and charred, like roast parsnips often do. Loads of leftovers for tomorrow, too. We drank an Alsace Pinot Gris with this - crisper and less sweet than a Riesling, but still with enough fruit and honeyed sweetness to match the pork.

Potato, Onion and Cheese Pie [#204]

Memories of school lunches from Jo Pratt. However, we drastically cut the quantities of butter and cheese - 10g and 110g respectively, compared to the original recipe's 40g and 200g - she is a young lass and thin as a whippet, so it is alright for her, but not for lardy-arsed old birds in their late 40s, thank you! What's not to like in this recipe? Fluffy mash mixed with gently-sweated onion and a little milk and mustard, with grated cheddar and Lincolnshire Poacher cheeses stirred through, then baked until really golden-brown and crusty. Cheap as chips....erm, except not chips, but you get the idea! We are full as can be and warm from head-to-toe. How people can possibly choose to diet whilst in the grip of the coldest weather for 30 years, I don't know! Lettuce leaf and cottage cheese, anyone?

Just one more recipe........Parsnip Soup

I know. I need help. This is a Nigel recipe but from 'Tender, Vol 1' rather than The Kitchen Diaries. It is such a miserable, sleety night tonight, with a scything wind that chills to the bone, that we just had to have soup. Nigel reworks the classic Curried Parsnip Soup recipe by playing down the 'Indian' qualities, and going instead for chilli and mustard heat, softened with some cream at the end, and chunks of Gruyere cheese added at the last minute. We eschewed this (although will do it for lunch tomorrow with the leftovers), and instead made mounds of Gruyere toasted cheese sandwiches from some multiseed bread, to give us bulk and carbs. The nuttiness of the Gruyere works brilliantly with the soup. A lovely, lovely recipe, and we are as warm as ticks in a blanket. Thanks again, Nigel, you are a star. Of course, there is no official online presence for this recipe yet, but it alone is worth the cover price of this most beautiful book. No photo - the joy of parsnip soup is not in its appearance!

Hot and Sticky Quail (or Chicken) [#182]

As mentioned before, I have an aversion to eating whole little birds - so I followed Nigel's suggestion and used chicken instead. I used organic chicken thighs marinated in the spiky dressing of cayenne pepper, grain mustard, loads of crushed garlic, lemon juice and some light soy sauce. They were cooked under a hot grill for about 20 minutes and then served with stir-fried egg noodles and shredded vegetables. Delicious supper - easy recipe, quick and gutsy, and one to do again.

Celeriac and Walnut Remoulade [#179]

Nigel's recipe suggested using creme fraiche instead of the usual mayonnaise, which seemed a bit too rich and creamy to me, so I did half-and-half, using Hellmann's and half-fat creme fraiche instead. It needs a bit of poke, with Dijon and grain mustard, lemon juice and salt and pepper. It was very good, although next time I'll cut the celeriac even finer (I don't have a mandolin grater) to avoid having to chew QUITE so much! I served it with smokey applewood ham and lots of watercress for a healthy salad. We started with vegetable and barley broth to get some warmth into us!

Sweet and Sticky Chicken Wings [#166]

...or skinless chicken thighs in my case, as I'm not hugely keen on the skin and bones of chicken wings. Lovely, sticky coating of lemon, honey, mustard and garlic, and the chicken cooked to a glossy umber succulence. Nigel suggested a salad of beanshoots and cucumber to follow, so we went back to the May section of the Diary for a very nice Hot, Sour Beanshoot Salad (see next entry). Washed down with Vintage Somerset Cider, this was a yummy Saturday supper! One tip if you cook this - you should fastidiously and copiously line the baking sheet with foil, or else you will be washing up for a week.

Macaroni with Fontina and Mustard [#164]

Well, no Fontina sadly, so substituted it with Talleggio and grated Parmesan. The end result was a delicious, savoury macaroni cheese, just perfect for a 'dreich' night, as my old Mum and Dad would have said. Delicious contrast of the rich, bubbling sauce with the crisp freshness of the Pear, Fennel and Watercress Salad from the previous posting. Thanks for a great variation on Mac and Cheese, Nigel! Stop licking the screen.

Lamb Shank with Mustard [#154]

This recipe had been hanging round since the February section of the Diaries, an example of Nigel's obsession with lamb. As it was a bright but chilly September day, it felt fine to revisit this and get it out of the way. Nice and simple braise, I added carrots, because I love their flavour done in a casserole. We didn't serve mash as suggested, because we didn't have suitable potatoes, but nice plain steamed ones with butter and chives were just as yummy. One shank was plenty for the two of us, so I have another one, with all the remaining braising juices, left over for shepherd's pie tomorrow - yippee! One point - Nigel suggests cooking for an hour and a half - I doubled this time, to be sure of the delicious melting softness and breakdown of connective tissues that make for a lovely finish - I would suggest you do the same too! Surprisingly, there is no official online recipe for this - sorry. Just think onions, garlic, rosemary, bay, carrots, stock and red wine, with mustard stirred in at the end, and you are there.

Pan-fried Sausages with Cream and Mustard Mash [#152]

Phew! Racking the Nigel recipes up - this is the sixth in five days, and I only have 40 left to finish the challenge off. I was really late home from work tonight, a combination of having loads to do and also snarled-up traffic thanks to the combined efforts of Oxford's roadworks ("We're doing this for you" says the council - oh, ARE you now!) and the annual St. Giles' Fair which closes the city centre down. So, into the Co-op for some really nice red pepper and chilli outdoor-reared sausages (oh Mummy, look at those sausages gambolling in the field!), and Nigel's mustardy mash. Didn't use as much mustard OR cream as he does (half a pint of cream for mash for two!!!!) but it was very comforting with a big pile of runner beans. (I notice Nige's online recipe is more modest with the dairy and mustard - interesting...)

Baked Mushrooms with Tarragon Mustard Butter [#149]

I used little portabellini mushrooms for this delicious dish - although I am afraid I radically trimmed the amount of butter and mustard - 50g of butter instead of the suggested 125g and 1 heaped teaspoon of Dijon mustard instead of....wait for it....2 tablespoons. Just excessive, sorry Nigel! Lovely served with crostini as a starter, and we have leftovers too. I imagine this would work as a sauce for pasta as well. This was the first in a triple bill of wonderful, fragrant Nigel dishes this evening - it is on nights like this that I am so glad I am doing this challenge - I wish all of you could have smelled my house today!

Seared Beef with Mint and Mustard Dressing [#132]

We just got paid, so fillet steak it was! (Not the whole piece of fillet Nigel suggests in the recipe - too expensive and too much meat) The dressing was really the star here - a light, creamy mayonnaise flavoured with lemon, mustard and mint. As we had started the meal with tomato and fresh pesto bruschettas and will finish with pear and blueberry cake, we needed no potatoes with the steak, making do with a mound of green and runner beans, carrots and courgettes. Yummy with a bottle of Aussie Cabernet Sauvignon from the Margaret River (and classic mojitos to start). Hope you don't think we are lushes........

Cannellini Beans with Coppa, Spinach and Mustard [#125]

As usual, I took some liberties with this recipe. No coppa as I don't really like it - too fatty - so used some delicious roast gammon leftover from earlier in the week. Also, I used tinned cannellini beans 'cos life is just too short to soak and boil! Also, I just couldn't bring myself to use a whole TABLESPOON of Dijon mustard in a dressing for two people, so it was cut down to 1 teaspoon - perfectly nice with that, thank you. So, a nice easy salad, with great local spinach from the pick-your-own. We accompanied this with some delicious courgette and feta fritters, just because we are greedy and wanted something hot too. Well-seasoned with chilli, garlic, shallot, mint and coriander, we have loads left over for lunch tomorrow, including some for my mate Dibbles, whose magnificent courgette was used for the fritters.

Mustard Chops [#63]

This is a nice, simple treatment for chops - pork, in our case, rather than the lamb that Nigel suggested - what is Nigel's obsession with lamb? He does eat a lot of it, and there are around 16 recipes using it in the book, as opposed to just 2 for beef! Anyway, can't find a recipe online, but dead easy. Crush garlic - lots. Mix with grain mustard - lots, but probably not as much as Nigel suggests (1 heaped teaspoon, rather than a tablespoon - yes, a tablespoon!). Add the juice of a lemon and a good splosh of olive oil, and lots of salt and pepper. Mix, and pour over 2 large, fat pork chops. Leave for an hour or so, and then grill, basting with the marinade, until crustily brown but still juicy in the middle. Lovely served with spring greens and plump grilled mushrooms.

Chicken with Mustard Seeds and Coconut [#52]

Another example of Nigel's mastery of Indian and Asian flavours. I followed the recipe to the letter, but then added spinach and chickpeas to make it more substantial, and served it with naan bread. We have enough left over for work lunch on Monday. Instead of chicken on the bone, which always depresses me (I don't like my plate to look like a charnel house at the end of the meal), I used some big, meaty organic boneless chicken thighs, which worked a treat. Creamy and satisfying (even using half-fat coconut milk) this another one to make again.

Pork Chops with Mustard Sauce

Perfectly nice recipe, similar to ones that I have turned out time and again - essentially, sauteed pork chops, with a sauce made from the deglazed pan juices (with white wine), cream and mustard. I used considerably less cream than Nigel (which is turning out to be the norm!) - 30ml or 2 tablespoons, instead of the 225ml he suggsts in the recipe. His unusual touch (which isn't in this online version but IS in The Diaries) is some chopped cornichons, which add a nice crunch and piquancy to cut through the creaminess. Served with plain Basmati rice and some excellent Italian organic broccoli, it made for a nice Valentine's supper. Delicious bottle of slightly sweet La Couronne des Plantagenets Vouvray to accompany it.

Braised Oxtail with Mustard and Mash

With a face that only your mother could love, oxtail will never win any beauty contests, but it tastes and smells fantastic! Cooked Nigel's recipe with a whole bottle of claret last night. Will reheat it tonight with the mustard and some parsley added at the last minute, and will spoon it over billowing heaps of mash, with some Brussels Sprouts to add a green counterpoint of flavour and appearance. Such a chilly day, that I know this will warm the cockles. Got the organic oxtail from Feller's Butchers in Oxford's Covered Market - not cheap, but fantastic quality. PS: Eating notes - very rich and unctuous. We cooked it for a further one and a half hours today, and it probably needed it to fully tenderise the meat. The remains will make a nice Cottage Pie tomorrow. Served it tonight with a Hunter Valley Shiraz, whose rich, spicy notes matched the casserole perfectly

Smoked Haddock with Flageolet Beans and Mustard

A nice soothing dish, this, made with an immaculate piece of smoked haddock from the Port of Lancaster Smokehouse that has been sitting in the freezer. I'm afraid I did take issue with Nigel's method though! Firstly, it seemed a crime to me to bake the fish first for 20 minutes, and then again for 40 minutes with the cream and beans. Also, 2 x 400g tins of flageolet beans for 2 people seemed way too much, so one tin did fine. And 300ml of cream for 2 people is unconscionable - especially if those 2 people are in their 40s and 50s and not in the blush of youthly vigour if you get my drift! So I used about 100ml of cream which was more than enough, mixed with the drained beans, chunks of RAW skinned haddock, mustard and plenty of parsley and chives, then baked this for 25 minutes until rich and bubbling. Very nice served with toast - despite Nigel saying he felt this was inappropriate and insubstantial. Really, Nigel, you must have hollow legs, the amount of nosh you can put away! Do try this, though, it is very good and dead easy. Photo courtesy of http://www.cooksister.com/2008/04/smoked-haddock.html