Recipe of the week

Game Casserole with Herb Cobbler 4portions

Ingredients
400g mixed game (from any good butcher)
30ml vegetable oil
120g button onions
120g button mushrooms
30g plain flour
30g tomato purée
100ml good red wine
500ml stock
1 bayleaf
1 sprig of thyme
1 small bunch of parsley stalks
Salt and black pepper



Method
1 Heat a thick bottomed frying pan with a tiny amount of oil until it is smoking add about a half of the game at a time and fry quickly to a deep brown colour (this is essential), when it is brown place into a deep casserole that can go into the oven. Sprinkle with the flour, stir in,
add tomato purée.
2 Now whilst the pan is still hot deglacé the pan with half of the wine, when all of the of the brown colour has been taken up by the wine pour in with the meat and stir in.
3 Reheat the pan add some of the oil and fry the button onions to a golden brown add to the casserole.
4 Reheat the pan with the rest of the oil and fry the mushrooms quickly, add to the casserole.
5 Deglacé the pan with the remaining wine and add to the casserole.
6 Add the stock to the casserole and stir in well,(don't worry if it looks a bit thin at this stage.)
7 Add the thyme, bayleaf and parsley to the casserole place on the lid and place in a moderate oven 160c-180c for at least 2 hours or until the meat is tender.


And now for the Herb cobbler!
250 g Self raising flour
90g Suet
Salt and pepper
100ml cold water
And a tspn. of each of the following:
Chopped parsley
Chopped sage
Chopped chives

Method
1 Mix the flour, suet, chopped herbs, salt and pepper together lightly trying not to break up the suet.
2 Add most of the water , again mixing lightly until all ingredients are just gathered together, Do not over mix !
3 Break into 8 even balls and drop onto the top of the casserole when the meat is tender and replace in the oven for a further 15-20 mins.

Serve with a good red wine or good local beer.

Team news

A lot of the team are back at university now, Becky, Amy, Dan, Georgia, Laura and Jenny.

Tasha is starting at Bournemouth on a catering diploma course and both Sam and Warren are carrying on with their qualifications, so good luck with your studies to all of you.

Its all change for two of our longest serving staff Leslie is off to Australia in January and Angela has started a new job this week at Broad chalke school as kitchen manager, good luck to both of them.

Welcome

Welcome to our new blog from the team at Forkingout, we look forward to reading your comments, we are new to blogging and would value any tips. An update will be posted at least every week with stories and pictures of the business and the team as well as a seasonal recipes from one of us and a chefs tip.

Autumn arrives

Yes the season of mellow fruitfulness is here and with it comes those seasonal favourites; crunchy walks in the woods, mushroom hunts, picking cob nuts and foraging for sweet chestnuts and when you have worked up an appetite come home to all those hearty game stews, wild mushroom tarts, wholesome puddings made from golden apples, and roasting chestnuts.

Its a time of year that gives us a chance to draw breath and take stock (literally)between the frenzy of Summer and the festive season. In the Kitchen its a time to make pickles and chutneys from the abundance of apples and pears we have given to us from staff and acquaintances.

In the office its a time to revue menus, "what sold and what didn't"? prices, " we decided that with the current climate to hold last years" and the web site which lead this year to the blog.

Autumn is also the beginning of the cycle for the Wedding side of the business, with loads of enquiries coming in this week and loads of menu packs going out. We have also met with Brides and Grooms to confirm menus and details for the big day and in the next few weeks we will start our first menu tastings of the year.

Decorating, but not cakes

This week we have started a makeover for the office, at the weekend the ceiling got re-plastered (made a bit of a mess), but once we have finished painting and laid a new floor it should look quite impressive.