Here are some of the recipes from the free cookery demonstrations at the 2008 Alnwick Food Festival.

MARTIN HUTTON, aka The Fat Lad Cooks

The Fat Lad Cooks recipes are ideally made with locally-sourced, fresh, organic ingredients, but if you wish to make these morsels with non-organic ingredients purchased through any high street supermarket, the taste will still be good but in my opinion not quite the same. I believe that everyone should experience a gastronomic adventure as often as possible, attend farmers markets, farm shops, local delis and even the by-roads and high roads to forage wild garlic (salads), nettle tips (for tea to drink and to gently scent hollandaise sauce for fish) and not forgetting the mushrooms (don't even attempt to forage these if you don't have a guide or access to experienced foragers) and fruits from hedgerow etc. After my début at last year's Alnwick Food Festival I have spent time “mooching” and cooking great local ingredients, grown or produced by passionate gastronauts and presented with pride!

Northumbrian Cheese and Onion Bread Bake, by The Fat Lad Cooks.

As promised to the “canny folk” on the vegetarian stand at the 2007 Alnwick Food Festival, here is the first of my two delicious veggie offerings, combining local cheese from Mark Robertson and his team of “cheese mice” from Blagdon and bread courtesy of Adrian Watson at the Café Royal Bakery. Vegetables and herbs are courtesy of Ken and Tracey Holland from North Country Organics. Milk and eggs and all other ingredients are all organic and purchased through local supermarkets.

Ingredients (provides eight generous portions)

1tbsp corn oil (rape seed can be used also)
1 large onion, finely chopped and 1 clove of garlic minced (you can use garlic puree if you wish)
½tsp thyme
125g vegetarian Cheddar cheese with a hint of nettle, grated
75g vegetarian Parmesan cheese, grated
1dsp freshly-chopped chives & fresh herbs (parsley & thyme)
16 slices of ciabatta bread, crusts on (that's a large ciabatta sliced equally, folks!)
3 medium free-range eggs
400ml skimmed milk
100ml double cream
Black pepper
A handful of mixed salad leaves per person as a garnish.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 100°C/375°F/Gas mark 5 and brush a 12'' round deep baking dish with a little oil.

2. Heat the remaining oil in a frying pan and fry the onions and garlic with the thyme over a gentle heat, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 minutes until very soft and just turning golden.
Mix the cheeses, parsley and the chives in a small bowl.

3. Put 8 slices of bread on the bottom of the prepared dish ensuring that they fit loosely (I hate precision cooking, as cooking should be from the heart…..Viva the Fat Lad Revolution.)

4. Cover with the onion mixture and half the cheese mixture.
Put the other slices of bread over and cover with the remaining cheese.

5. Whisk the eggs, cream and milk together in a bowl and season with pepper. Pour this over the bread and cheese mixture.

6. Bake for 30 minutes, or until puffed up and golden.

Allow the bake to cool slightly before you cut and serve.

(For that decadent touch, visit SpicyMonkey at the Alnwick Food Festival and grab a jar of lime pickle and place a dollop of that infectious zingy, tangy, limey, pickley, gooey pickle…(I know I get carried away, but try it and you will see)…… on the side of your plate.

 

Beef Wellington with a Madeira and Red Wine Sauce, New Potatoes and Roasted Heritage Tomatoes, by The Fat Lad Cooks

Where do I start? Most of you will have had a Wellington, and few of you will have made them. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present to you a guaranteed way to astound your dinner guests and give you a talking point for hours. I have chosen beef from Steve Ramshaw, vegetables, herbs, eggs and fruit from Ken and Tracy Holland at North Country Organics. All other ingredients have been foraged from a local supermarket (as I have already stated select the extra deluxe special for your range of products).

Ingredients (makes 4 generous individual Wellingtons)

4 portions of beef fillet - approx 228g (ask your butcher to trim up your steaks or they come ready prepared in your local supermarket. I wholeheartedly recommend you spend a little extra for the super-tasty extra-aged (you know the ones I mean) steaks.
A little olive oil
15g/½oz unsalted butter
Salt and pepper
114g/4oz chicken liver pate
4 shop bought pancakes
1 small egg, beaten

Mushroom Stuffing (Duxelle)
55g/2oz unsalted butter
150g/5oz shallots, peeled and finely diced
250g/9oz flat black mushrooms, chopped
3 tbsp double cream
Salt and pepper

Roasted Tomatoes
228g/8oz roughly diced mixed tomatoes
1 clove garlic
Thyme - just about a tbl spoon

1 packet shop-bought, ready-to-roll (all butter) puff pastry

Madeira and Red Wine sauce
½ wine glass of Madeira
1 wine glass of a good red wine (moo’s theory is anything around a fiver a bottle is great to cook with) and wine for the chef of course…. I feel the most inspired cooking comes when you are a little tipsy (ask Messrs Floyd, Stein and Alnwick’s own Sim!)
Tub of beef stock from your local supermarket
150g/5oz shallots, peeled and finely diced
28g/1oz unsalted butter
Splash of oil

Method
1. Heat the oil and butter in a non-stick frying pan, when hot add the seasoned beef and seal on sides. Remove from the pan and allow to cool.
2. To make the duxelle stuffing, in the same frying pan add the butter and when
hot and foaming, add the shallots and cook until softened and golden. Add the mushrooms and cook until all the liquid evaporates.
3. Add the cream, salt and pepper. Continue to gently heat until it has reduced to a thick purée. Set aside to cool completely.
4. Preheat the oven to 230C/450F/Gas8.
5. Roll the pastry to fit the 4 fillets of beef, lay a pancake on top, slightly overlapping. Spread a strip of chicken liver pate across the centre of the pancake - to the same width as the beef fillet. Repeat with the remaining 3 steaks.
6. Make a cut to about ¾ of the way through the beef fillet and fill with the cooled duxelle mix. Place the beef on to the pancake and envelope steak with pancake. Cut squares about 2cm’s out of each corner of your pastry, then Fold the pastry (cheffy characters I know make little leaves or a weaved thingy !!!) over the meat and then neatly fold the ends.
7. Brush the edges with a little water. Place seam side down on a large baking tray. Decorate the top with extra pastry if desired and then brush all over with the beaten egg.
8. Place it in the oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 190C/375F/Gas 5 and continue to cook for another 20 minutes, until the pastry is golden.
9. Cook your potatoes while the Wellingtons are in the oven, drain and add a little salt and pepper with a splash of rape oil. Put the lid back on to keep warm.
10. For your sauce splash a little oil in a pan and sauté your onions slowly till slightly brown, add Madeira and Wine and reduce till you have boiled away just a little over half the liquid.
11. Add stock and reduce again by a half.
12. Add butter to emulsify
13. Remove the Wellingtons from the oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes before wowing your dinner guests with this epitome of gastranomique brilliance.
14. Place your tomatoes, thyme and garlic in the pan that the Wellingtons have come out of and bake for 15 mins. Get a wooden spoon or spatula and taking care to not burn your pinkies (pan is hot when it comes out of the oven) mix well with a knob of butter getting all the burnt bits off the pan (those sticky bits are full of flavour)

Serve it up and wait for the wows, applause, offers of marriage and bribes for your recipe……

Smoked Haddock Risotto, by Iain Inkster

Ingredients
800g Craster smoked haddock fillet (undyed)
2 small onions (chopped)
2 sticks of celery plus some celery leaves
White of one leek (chopped)
Green of one leek (Sliced)
400g risotto rice
Olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
2 bayleaf
2 glasses of Vermouth or white wine
400g butter
Pinch of chopped parsley
50g peas
Lemon oil
1pt milk
1pt fish stock or water

Method
Heat the milk and stock in a poaching tray with bay leaves and one chopped onion, then add the haddock and poach for 5 minutes. Lift the haddock out and keep the poaching liquid.
In a separate pan, fry the remaining onion, garlic, celery and white of leek in olive oil and butter until softened. Add rice and stir for 1 minute. Add the vermouth or wine and stir as the alcohol evaporates. Add the poaching liquid, a ladleful at a time.
Turn the heat down to a simmer, keep stirring gently and adding stock until the rice is tender but not too soft. Taste to check the seasoning, take off the heat and flake in the fish. Add peas, green of leek, herbs and butter. Drizzle with lemon oil.

Fresh Lindisfarne Mussels Salad, by Iain Inkster

Ingredients
1kg Lindisfarne mussels
1 sprig thyme
2 sprigs parsley
5oz onion (chopped)
300ml fish stock
150ml dry white wine
115g lettuce leaves (lambs, rocket or little gem)

For the sauce
150ml double cream
1 dessert spoon Dijon mustard
150ml natural yoghurt
Chopped chives to garnish

Method
Check and wash the mussels, remove their beards and barnacles, discard any that are not tight shut.
Place the herbs. onion, fish stock and wine in a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Add mussels, cover with a tight-fitting lid and cook over high heat until the mussels have opened. Remove the mussels from the liquid and allow to cool. Discard any that are not open.
To make the sauce, strain the cooking liquid through a fine strainer and simmer to reduce the stock until it is a syrupy texture. Add the cream and the mustard and reduce again until thick. Leave to cool.
When the sauce is cold, add the yoghurt.
Remove the meat from the shells and mix into two-thirds of the sauce.
Arrange the lettuce on each plate, pile the mussels coated in sauce on the top. Pour a spoonful of the remaining sauce on top and garnish with chopped chives.