Dine on the Rowe, Beverley, East Yorkshire

That most elusive of meals out: a really genuinely good roast dinner. I can't recall eating one where I didn't pick over something on the plate and think how much better I could have done it myself.

It's not that I'm that great a cook, just that pubs and restaurants always seem to cock up at least one component, be it lumpen, dry Yorkshire puddings, dessicated meat or soggy veg.

I thought that Dine on the Rowe might have been the one to confound expectations, and in some ways it was. The roast platter was a sizeable feast for four, much of which was very good. Lamb and beef were the highlights, both accurately cooked, blush pink inside and with lovely marmitey pan bottom crusty bits on the edges. So far so good alongside proper, well-made gravy, a decent Yorkshire pudding and a dish of very cheesy gratinated broccoli.

The potatoes weren't so good. The roasts looked and tasted like the 'chuck 'em in the deep fat fryer for an even crisp coating' variety, which I don't think really works. You just end up with an extra chunky chip with a mealy middle. The second bowl of potatoes appeared to be boiled and partly roasted herbed new potatoes all mushed up before they were really ready. They didn't get eaten.

The third of the meats was belly pork, which I think had also seen the inside of the fryer. It was cut into thin strips, the result being lovely crackling but dry, overcooked meat. The rest of the vegetables were fine.

I enjoyed the meal, particularly the meat, but other things were disappointing given the wait of almost an hour and the higher end price tag (£13.50 per person for the shared roast). We were looked after very well while waiting though, and service was good throughout.

It's a nice restaurant, comprising a few small rooms in what looks like a converted house in the centre of town. I'd like to return to try the regular menus as there's definitely some skill in the kitchen, but I wouldn't bother with the roast again. If you don't know Beverley I'd recommend a visit there too, it's a lovely market town with lots to see and do (and has the added bonus of being very handy for Hull!).

6/10

12-14 Butcher Row
Beverley
East Yorkshire
HU17 0AB

http://www.dineontherowe.com

Two lamb curries

I'm really going to have to fight the urge to have a moan again. If people aren't stealing things from me at the moment (passport, driving licence, phone et al) I'm breaking my own things by dropping them (another phone) or having things taken from my grasp at the last moment just when all the arrangements have been made (a house). And it's raining. Woe is me.

I will fight the urge. No more complaining. This is a food blog, not a lifestyle complaints blog, and I'll never win any awards if I carry on like this. That, in case you were wondering, was a not very subtle hint.

*Shameless self promotion alert*. I'm very lucky to have been shortlisted in the category for 'Best food and drink blog' at the Blog North Awards, so on the off chance you like what you read here, your vote would be greatly appreciated. Failing that I'd recommend that you take some time to read some of the other blogs on the shortlist, there are plenty of talented people in the North sharing their words and thoughts.

Back to the real point of this post. If your spirits are down and it's pissing it down, what better remedy than to cook a curry. This is really just the one curry, split in half at the last and customised two different ways for a slightly different finished article.

Both versions are gently warming, aromatic rather than fiery, and richly satisfying with either rice or bread. The aubergine version has a smokier taste, the chickpea one is nutty with a pleasing tang and sweetness from the addition of tamarind.

This takes around 3 hours from start to finish but you'll only actually be doing anything for half an hour or so. It might look like a lot of ingredients and effort, but it really isn't. For the most part it's a case of throwing stuff in a food processor and leaving a pan to simmer.

Serves about 4-6 people in total

Base ingredients
2 onions
tin tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato puree
900g lamb shoulder
bunch coriander leaves
vegetable oil

Wet curry blend
8 cloves garlic
1 or 2 long green chillies
2 thumb sized piece of ginger
stalks from a bunch of coriander

Dry curry blend
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 dsp cumin seeds
3 cardamom pods
1 stick cinnamon
2 cloves
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp fenugreek seeds

for the aubergine version
6-8 baby aubergines
1 tsp cumin seeds
oil and sea salt

for the chickpea version
400g tin chickpeas
1 dsp tamarind sauce

What to do

1. Peel and quarter the onions, then chuck them in a food processor and blitz until finely chopped. Put them in a large pan to sweat on a low heat with a splash of oil.

2. Roughly chop all of the wet curry blend ingredients, then chuck them in the food processor and blitz into a loose paste with a splash of water.

3. Put all of the dry curry blend ingredients in a dry frying pan and heat over a medium heat until they start to brown just a little and become aromatic. Tip them into a spice grinder or pestle and mortar, leave to cool for a few minutes then grind to a powder.

4. Trim and chop the lamb into bite sized chunks. The onions should have started to soften by now so remove them from the pan, turn up the heat and throw in the lamb to brown it.

5. After the lamb has browned for a few minutes remove it from the pan and put it with the onions. Put the pan back on the heat and throw in the wet curry blend. Fry, stirring so it doesn't stick, for a minute or two. Add more oil if it needs lubrication.

6. Throw the dry curry blend ingredients into the same pan and fry for another minute or two, then add the onions and lamb back into the pan, and fry for another couple of minutes.

7. Pour in the tin of tomatoes plus one empty tin's worth of water, then add the tomato puree and give it a good stir. Bring to a gentle simmer, put a lid on the pan, and leave it be for a good two hours. Give it a stir after an hour or so if you feel like it.

8. After two hours the sauce should still be quite runny but the lamb should be tender. At this point set the oven to maximum heat, prick the aubergines then give them a coating of oil, sea salt and a teaspoon of cumin seeds.

9. Split the curry into two separate pans, half in each. Put the aubergines into the oven, roast the hell out of them until the edges are slightly blackened and the innards mushy. This will only take ten minutes or so.

10. Into one pan of curry put the chickpeas, drained of all the can juices, and a spoonful of tamarind sauce (you could make tamarind juice up yourself from pulp, but I find this works just as well). Bring it to a gentle simmer with the lid off for about twenty minutes.

11. Bring the other pan of curry to a gentle simmer as well, and keep it bubbling gently with the lid off. As soon as the aubergines are ready chuck them straight in.

12. The curries are ready to serve as soon as the sauce has reduced to your liking. Garnish with coriander leaves and eat with rice and breads.

Good things to eat [Volume 11]

A few more things I've been enjoying recently but haven't written about elsewhere.

Plum puddings

Not plum puddings in the Christmassy sense, plum puddings meaning any dessert made from plums. After last years magnificent damsons I'm on the look out for anything vaguely plummy. Damsons themselves are yet to appear but I've made a couple of lovely puddings with some Victoria plums and some cheap and cheerful purple supermarket plums of unknown variety.

The secret is in the cooking. Neither variety of plum was that exciting to eat alone, not juicy or sweet enough to give much pleasure. But slowly baked under a thin, crisp topping the juices ran and the flavours came alive.

It's far too early for a full-on crumble and custard is out of the question, so I just make enough topping to barely cover the fruit. A large knob of butter rubbed into a tablespoon each of oats and flour and a dessertspoon of sugar.

Think of it as a late summer plum crisp, and serve it warm rather than hot with a dollop of thick, cold cream or vanilla ice cream (or even better, both). Heaven.

Lamb from Rivelin Valley farm shop

As with the plum puddings a slow roast shoulder of lamb smacks of autumn, conjuring up images of pillowy piles of mash and jugs of gravy. It doesn't have to be that way, have it with roast new potatoes and minty summer veg and you've got a splendid Sunday dinner for August.

The lamb on this occasion was from the farm shop in the Rivelin Valley, and I'd thoroughly recommend it. There was real depth of flavour to the meat, quite strong and very slightly gamey. The farm shop is one of the more basic survivors, there's no plush barn conversion tea room or any other frippery, just fine produce.

Proper jerk

Jerk how I love thee. Proper jerk is one of the finest foods known to man. It really is. Sadly there's a lot of crap out there sold in the name of jerk, so you might have been given the false impression that it's just another chilli sauce and grilled meat combo, caribbean Nando's if you like.

Jerk chicken, or whatever other meat you choose to jerk, is so much more than this, it has real complexity of flavour from the marinade, allspice and scotch bonnet chillies being the dominant forces. It's a hot, smokey, fruity, spicy, lip-tingling thing of wonder.

The jerk in the photo was just such a thing, marvellous it was. I bought it at the Bristol balloon fiesta, a huge event with dozens of food stalls, of which this jerk stall was the least professional looking by a country mile. Mis-spelled menu scrawled by hand in felt tip, a makeshift counter made from an assortment of camping furniture and a great big fuck-off kettle drum barbecue.

These are always the best places for jerk, it's usually better to shun anywhere that looks vaguely professional (especially any upmarket caribbean restaurants, which are all expensive and boring) and make a beeline for the most ramshackle stall or a takeaway carved out of the front room of a terraced house.

Custard tarts from Ho's bakery, Leeds

I'm not always sure what to make of Chinese baked goods. If I'm in the mood I quite enjoy the sweet, doughy buns stuffed with all manner of bits and bobs, roast pork being a particular favourite. I do have to be in the mood though, sometimes they just seem a bit weird to my British palate. I always bite into them half expecting jam or that fake cream stuff they love at Gregg's or anything other than pork.

I do love the custard tarts though, especially when they're done as well as those at Ho's bakery in Leeds. They're really delicate with a wobbly, barely sweet filling and light, flakey pastry. I could eat half a dozen.

Kebab week: Köfte

It's all very well talking about chicken and chickpeas, but I haven't done kebabs justice until there's some lamb involved. There are endless variations on the grilled, ground lamb theme. Every country and region from the Balkans to Central Asia has it's speciality.

I ended up making a bit of a hybrid, Turkish-style kebabs with Greek and Middle eastern accompaniments. The kebabs are closest to Köfte with a bit of Adana kebap thrown in for good measure.

The spicing is quite gentle with these; cumin, garlic and just a hint of chilli supporting the flavour of the meat rather than taking over. The parsley adds a bit of freshness and lightens things up a bit.

I served them plated up Turkish style on a bed of bread with salad, but also with tabbouleh, hummous and tzatziki. Some grilled onions and charred peppers would have been good too.

Makes 4 skewers, enough for a large meal for two

For the kebabs

1lb (450g) ground lamb
1 scant tsp salt
2 tsps ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 large clove garlic, finely chopped

For the tabbouleh

4 large handfuls flat leaf parsley
1 small clove garlic
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp cooked cous cous
salt and pepper
extra virgin olive oil

For the tzatziki

150ml thick yoghurt
quarter of a cucumber
1 clove garlic
juice of half a lemon
salt and pepper

Salad, bread and hummous thinned with lemon juice to serve

1. Mix all of the kebab ingredients together in a large bowl, then form the mix around kebab skewers. Put them in the fridge to firm up for half an hour.

2. Make the tabbouleh by chopping the parsley and garlic finely then mixing it up with the lemon juice, zest and cous cous. Add salt, pepper and olive oil to taste.

3. Make the tzatziki by finely chopping the cucumber and garlic, then mixing it up with the yoghurt and lemon juice. If it's still a bit thick add a splash of water. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Grill the kebabs under a hot grill until a bit charred on the edges and just done on the inside. About four or five minutes on either side should do it.

6. Warm two pitta breads under the grill on top of the kebabs so they absorb some of the juice.

7. Prepare two plates with salad and tabbouleh, then sliced pitta bread, then the kebabs, then the tzatziki and hummous.

8. Eat immediately.

Fazenda, Leeds

Meat. More meat! More meat! The battle cry remains the same, the venues change. From time to time the lifelong (well they haven't ditched me yet anyway) friends I met at University and I like to meet up to drink, make merry and eat a lot of something large and meaty.

It might be in curried form, it could be Chinese or perhaps a barbecue. In days of yore the cry originated in the kebab shops of Hyde Park, the meat of dubious quality, foot long strips of it stuffed in budget pitta and doused in hot sauce.

Nowadays I wouldn't touch that stuff. Honest. Well alright I might if you plied me with enough booze first. But it's a very rare occurence. I like to think our palates have developed, become refined over the years, learned to appreciate subtle tastes and quality. In practice it's probably just that we can afford to spend more than £3.50 on dinner.

Last Saturday we tried something a little different, a visit to Leeds' one and only Churrascaria, a Brazilian barbecue restaurant. Fazenda is a Rodizio, a Churrascaria where the meat is grilled in huge chunks on giant skewers which are then fetched to your table where the flesh is sliced directly onto your plate. This continues indefinitely using a beer mat traffic light system. Leave your mat on green, and hey presto. Meat! More meat! Flip to red and they'll stop.

If you like meat this seems like a very good idea. If you don't I wouldn't bother.

In practice it's not always such a good idea. I've got history with the Rodizio. Some years ago I spent a few weeks in Brazil (and its equally meat-tastic southern neighbour Argentina), the final week of which was in Rio where I did literally nothing but eat meat at a Rodizio and drink Caipirinhas. Alright not quite literally, but that's the abiding memory. Presumably I was lying on the beach with the meat and booze sweats inbetween times.

After the excesses of Brazil I didn't go near another Rodizio for another few years until a couple of very underwhelming experiences in a London restaurant. Meat that was mostly overcooked and poor quality, the best cuts showing up far too infrequently. Compared to the generosity and quality we'd experienced in Brazil it was a waste of time.

Fast forward another couple of years to Fazenda. Would it be like a true Brazilian Rodizio, or would it follow the annoyingly common British approach to this sort of thing (i.e. offer all you can eat, hide behind a gimmick, then don't worry about the quality because they'll be queuing out the door anyway)?

Thankfully it was much more like the true Brazilian experience. Meat! More meat!

Did I mention the salad bar? While the meat and various other sundry items (chips, beef empanadas, pao de queijo) are fetched to you, the salad bar is self service. I was quite impressed with the salad bar at Fazenda. Plentifully stocked, good quality, a selection of cold cuts available as well as green stuff in case unlimited hot sliced meat just isn't enough.

The bread from the salad bar was good but the pao de queijo (little cheesy rolls) were a bit chewy and rubbish. I liked the beef empanadas though. Good and meaty. Always makes sense to commence an all you can eat meat barbecue meal with some little meat pies.

And then the meat began to arrive. Beefsteak in a multitude of ways. Rump and tail of rump and picanha, or cap of rump, the King of the Rodizio.

Even a bit of fillet, and then some ribs. None of it was overcooked, everything ranged from medium through to rare, no well done steak in sight. Not the best beef I've tasted, but decent stuff and handled well.

There were sausages, Brazilian style chorico and black pudding, both delicious these. The black pudding was a soft squidgy delight, more like a French boudin than a British pud.

Lamb was over marinaded in a slightly artificial tasting minty sauce, but was beautifully cooked within, pink and tender.

There was chicken, no breasts I'm pleased to say, but crispy skinned thighs and also hearts. I had high hopes for these after enjoying them on holiday last year, but sadly they were like rubber balls.

Meat! More meat! It continued until closing time, we dined late, the beef getting ever rarer as time progressed. The final skewer was blue, virtually raw, I think they'd doused the flames but brought it to us anyway.

Finally spent, my faith in the Rodizio restored, we headed off, fortified for the rest of the night.

It's a fun evening a meal at Fazenda, but not a cheap one. On a weekend night the all you can eat Rodizio will set you back £28 (weeknights and lunchtimes are cheaper). By the time we'd quaffed a load of drinkable but unspectacular Malbec our bill topped out at £44 per head including well earned service (we worked those meat waiters hard). The meat was good but not excellent, so if you want to stuff your face I'd go here, but if you want a genuinely fine piece of meat I'd go elsewhere.

7/10

Waterman’s Place
3 Wharf Approach
Granary Wharf
Leeds
LS1 4BR

www.fazenda.co.uk

Shepherd's Pie

This is a fantastic Shepherd's pie. It takes a bit of time and effort but the results are worth it. Instead of mince it uses roughly shredded meat from a lamb shoulder cooked on the bone. The shoulder is marinated in garlic, rosemary and thyme then cooked in a casserole on top of a sauce of onions, wine and tomatoes. It's a win-win situation, the juices from the meat flavour the sauce and the sauce keeps the meat moist and tender. The meat is then pulled from the bones and added to the sauce and the whole lot is crowned with mash.

Think rich, succulent herby shreds of meat topped with fluffy, buttery potatoes and doused in smooth, savoury gravy. Wonderful.

This recipe should serve four, or three comfortably, or two proper fatties. It takes over three hours to cook but you won't be actually doing anything for much more than forty minutes of that.

What you'll need:

750g lamb shoulder
1 large onion
3 cloves garlic
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 large glass red wine (about 200ml)
1 large glass water (about 200ml)
1 stock cube
1tbsp plain flour
loads of butter
fresh rosemary and thyme
freshly ground salt and pepper
Worcestershire sauce
olive oil
a big handful of mushrooms

What to do:

1. First prepare the marinade for the meat. Roughly chop about 1tbsp of fresh rosemary and about half a tbsp of fresh thyme. Peel and roughly chop 3 cloves of garlic.

2. Place the garlic and herbs in a mortar with about 1 tbsp of butter, a splash of olive oil and a generous grind of salt and pepper. Give it a good pounding with the pestle to mix everything together and release the oils from the herbs and garlic.

3. Stab the meat a few times with a knife to allow the marinade to get inside, then smear it all over the meat. Ideally you'd do this the day before, in practice I did it immediately prior to cooking it.

4. Chop the onion and then put it in a heavy bottomed casserole (the type with a lid that you can put on the hob) on a moderate heat with a generous splash of olive oil. Let the onion sweat without colouring for around 10 minutes. Open the wine and set the oven to 175 degrees C.

5. When the onions are soft throw in a level tbsp of flour, stir and fry for a minute or so.

6. Slowly pour in a large glass of red wine and bring to the boil, stirring constantly as it bubbles and thickens.

7. Pour in a glass-worth of boiling water and keep stirring. Crumble in the stock cube, empty in the tin of tomatoes, stir and simmer for a couple of minutes. It should have the consistency of a thin gravy.

8. Put the meat on top of the onion sauce mixture, put the lid on the pot and place it in the oven. Leave it alone for an hour.

9. After an hour has passed chop a big handful of mushrooms then remove the pot from the oven. Taste the sauce and add a splash of Worcestershire sauce and more salt and pepper if it needs it. Throw in the mushrooms then return to the oven for another hour.

10. Halfway through the second hour peel and chop the potatoes, then put them on to boil in a large pan. When they are done drain them, then mash with a splash of milk and loads of butter.

11. After the second hour has passed remove the pot from the oven, take out the meat and set it to one side to rest for a few minutes. Adjust the seasoning in the sauce, then strain off about half of the remaining liquid from the pot to use as gravy, leaving behind all of the solids and enough liquid to make a thick sauce.

12. Shred the meat from the bones using a knife and fork, then shred it a little bit more using two forks. Place the meat in the bottom of your pie dish.

13. Pour over the remaining sauce mixture, then cover with the mashed potatoes. Scuff up the mash with a fork so that you'll get a nice crispy finish. You could add cheese but I don't think it needs it, the lamb is rich and fatty enough and if you've made the mash properly it's full of butter anyway.

14. Put the pie in the oven and bake at the same temperature (175 degrees C) for around 40-45 minutes.

15. Serve immediately with peas or greens, the rest of the gravy and the rest of the wine.

Lamb with broad beans, peas and rocket

A perfect summer recipe. Imagine eating this outdoors in dappled sunlight on a warm June night, glass of wine at the ready. Wishful thinking. I actually ate it indoors, wearing a jumper, gazing out the window at the persistent rain. It was still delicious though. Rich, fatty meat offset by fresh, green, vibrant flavours. It even looks pretty, which is unusual for anything I cook.

What you will need (per person):

2 fat lamb chops (fillet or steaks would work just as well)
a small handful of peas
a small handful of broad beans
a small handful of rocket leaves
1 clove of garlic
Fresh mint
Fresh chives
olive oil (preferably both not EVOO and EVOO)
white wine vinegar
salt and pepper

What to do:

1. Pod and shell your broad beans, and pod your peas (frozen peas will do for this, but the beans need to be fresh).
2. Finely chop the mint and chives (about a tablespoon of chives and a dessertspoon of mint per person).
3. Season the chops with salt, chop the clove of garlic in half.
4. Heat some olive oil (preferably not extra virgin) in a shallow pan over a medium heat, add the halved garlic clove and then the chops.
5. Fry the chops until the fat has browned nicely and the insides are still nice and pink. Mine took around 7 minutes, but this will depend on their thickness.
6. When they are done, transfer the chops to a warmed plate and cover loosely with foil.
7. If there is more than a tablespoon or two of fat left in the pan pour off the excess. Discard the garlic.
8. Return the pan to the heat, and throw in the peas, beans and a tablespoon or so of white wine vinegar.
9. Fry for a minute or so, then throw in the mint, chives and rocket.
10. Fry for another minute or so, then plate up, placing the chops on top of the greens. Dress with extra virgin olive oil, and season with salt and black pepper.
11. Serve immediately.

The quantities suggested can easily be multiplied for more people. The only thing I wouldn't change is the garlic. You only want the merest hint of it, so one clove should suffice for 3-4 people.

If you need some carbs I'd suggest some boiled new potatoes. I had a few jersey royals which were very disappointing. I haven't had a single decent one this year, they all seem to go from rock solid to burst and floury in an instant. Has anyone else had this problem? Apart from that this was a great dish, and in fine weather probably another one for the barbecue.