Dinner Parties.
Serves 4-6.
Recipe by Sam Walby.
Italian meatballs are commonplace in this country, but unless you go to a Scandinavian restaurant you don’t tend to come across other types. Köttbullar are a homely staple in Sweden, usually made with a mixture of pork and beef mince. The Danish equivalent are frikadeller, often featuring a pork and veal blend. The Finns sometimes throw reindeer into the mix to make their equivalent, lihapullat.
This recipe is a bit labour intensive, and you need a decent blender to do it justice, but it’s a great one to cook for a few people because you can get 20-25 ping pong ball-sized meatballs out of 500g of meat. Köttbullar are usually served with creamy puréed potato, gravy and a dollop of lingonberries, but given their elusive nature in this country I’ve substituted them for redcurrant jelly. You could use cranberries if you prefer.
300g beef mince
200g pork mince
2 slices of stale white bread
1 onion, diced
1 egg
250ml whole milk
Butter
Nutmeg, pinch
Allspice. pinch
750g potatoes, roughly chopped
Redcurrant jelly
400ml beef stock
3tbsps cornflour
Sea salt and white pepper
Break up the stale bread and soak it in the milk. This gives the meatballs their famous soft consistency. Next, fry the diced onion in a generous dollop of butter until soft.
Take a large bowl and mix together the meat, fried onions, milk/bread mixture, egg, nutmeg, allspice, salt and pepper, and transfer to a blender. Give it a good whiz so that the resulting mixture is completely blended together. It should feel quite firm - firm enough for you to make a small ball using two teaspoons. Fry one in butter for 5-10 minutes until browned as a test. Taste it and add salt and pepper to the remaining mixture as you see fit. Shape the meatballs, placing them onto water-rinsed plates to stop them sticking. Brown them off in batches and then put in the oven at 180°C for around half an hour.
Boiled the chopped potatoes until soft, then blend with a splash of milk and a knob of butter until smooth. Season well. For the gravy, melt a knob of butter, slowly add cornflour and beef stock and simmer until thick. Serve with a dollop of redcurrant jelly.
Dukkah.
Recipe by Komal Khan.
Dukkah is great for serving with pitta and oil. Dip the bread into the oil and then into the dry nutty mix which will enable the crumbs to stick.
100g mixed nuts
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp dried mint
1 tsp za'tar spice mix
Dry roast the nuts and seeds in a frying pan. Crush them in a pestle and mortar or grinder. Combine with other ingredients, season and serve.
|Food and beer matching evening.
Reviewer - Kate MacCarthy.
Unless you've heard about via word of mouth, you are probably unaware of a great little restaurant in Sheffield called Barrett’s. Situated a little off the beaten track on Hutcliffe Wood Road, off Abbey Lane, the restaurant itself is small and feels a bit like someone's front room, but there is more space on the terrace outside and the six or so tables inside are well spaced. Having been a couple of times before and eaten some truly fantastic food, off we went again for a family meal for my dad's birthday, this time for a food and beer pairing event matching Barrett’s meals with a selection of ales brewed in Yorkshire microbreweries. As there are three women in my family who aren't great beer drinkers, we took along a bottle of Prosecco, for which we paid a few pounds corkage, but found that we actually enjoyed most of the ales on offer.
We were greeted by Adrian and Vicky Pettit, the husband and wife duo who run Yorkshire Ales and who were to guide us through the beer selection for the evening. The first course, served on an arty oblong of slate, was grilled asparagus and a poached duck egg, dressed with pea shoots and a lemon emulsion. This was paired with a crisp blonde ale from the Hop Studio which complemented the lightness of the flavours beautifully. The starter was mind-blowingly and set the standard for rest of the night. Following this came Barrett’s black pudding topped with scallops and a carrot purée. This was accompanied by Mallinson’s Centennial pale blonde, which had a slightly more bitter aftertaste but enough body to stand up to the black pudding.
The main was Moroccan spiced rump of lamb with crispy braised lamb belly and a chorizo mash, accompanied by Hawes Golden IPA brewed in the Yorkshire Dales. To the unseasoned ale drinker this was rather bitter, but to the specialist (dad), it was delicious and his favourite of the night. There followed a raspberry granita to cleanse the palette, coupled with a refreshing raspberry beer. A sticky toffee pudding complete with vanilla ice cream and a peanut brittle finished the meal, accompanied by Mrs Simpson’s Thriller in Vanilla. Although heavy and as black as Guinness, the distinctive vanilla flavour made it a perfect match. There was also the chance to try some local liqueurs and to buy some of the ales we'd sampled throughout the evening. The restaurant then slowly emptied of its customers, who were now better informed about Yorkshire microbreweries, pleasantly full and a bit fuzzy from all that ale.
At £40 per head for a five-course meal of some of the best food I've eaten in a long while, presented beautifully and accompanied by five unique local ales, the evening was both a treat and a bargain. It was great to support our region and quite amazing that we consumed almost exclusively Yorkshire produce all night. The restaurant itself has a welcoming family feel and the flavour combinations and locally sourced ingredients are arguably some of the best on offer in the city. There was also talk of a potential whiskey or cider pairing evening in the future...
Barrett’s offer an early bird menu from Wednesday to Friday, 6-7.30pm, and a 'bowl supper' which you can order and take home.
barrettsbistro.co.uk
yorkshireales.co.uk
White Chocolate and Raspberry Cheesecake.
Serves 10.
Recipe by Komal Khan.
2 large packets of ginger biscuits
Half a pack of butter, melted
600g soft cheese
300g double cream
4 eggs
1 vanilla pod, scraped
200g caster sugar
100g melted white chocolate
2 punnets of raspberries
Half a jar of berry jam
Preheat your oven to 160°C. Blend the biscuits and butter in a blender until it resembles sand that would build a great sandcastle. Spread this evenly over a large 22cm cake tin with a removable base and push down with a glass. Clean the blender and blend the rest of the ingredients, except the raspberries and jam. Blend until smooth and pour over the biscuit base. Get a large tray and fill it half way with water. Place your tin in this and then into the oven. Cook for one and a half hours.
In the meantime heat your jam and berries until the raspberries are slightly soft (around three minutes). Remove the cake from the oven and place a towel-wrapped plate on top to prevent cracking. Once cooled, slice into portions, pour over your berry sauce and serve.
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