The Eagle Cookbook - A Review.

Regular readers of my Blog may remember me mentioning The Eagle cookbook perhaps errr.....once or twice. It's been out of print for ages and it's probably one of the best recipe books I own. I've cooked from it a hell of a lot.
Well, it's recently been re-issued and updated. And, joy - I've been sent a copy to review.

Before I start- in case your not aware, The Eagle located in Farringdon Road, London is considered to be the pub that started the Gastro Pub revolution, I've eaten there quite a few times and the food is no-nonsense, Italian/Portugese/Spanish Peasant influenced type grub, very well cooked. The whole concept, including the interior, Victorian, battered, thrown together with mismatched furniture has been copied by countless gastro pubs all over the country. If your in the Farringdon area, it's well worth a visit - Their popular signature dish, the Bife Ana Steak Sandwich is incredibly good, it's the one item that's been on the menu every single day since the Pub opened, and I can highly recommend it. (Incidentally, the recipe for this is thankfully in the book, so you can have a go at re-creating it at home).

Which leads me nicely onto the recipe book...
It's all looking a bit slicker than my battered older edition.

The main difference between the New edition and the old, (apart from the original title 'Big Flavours and Rough Edges' being dropped), is a general slickness and tidying up, it looks beautiful and there's some fantastic food photography now (My old edition has lovely pencil drawings, and some photography, but strangely none of the actual food.... nice but a bit hard to interpret what the dishes are supposed to look like ). An equally important addition is some new recipes which, I've painstakingly tried to pick out....an easy task - Not!. The recipes aren't listed in the same order, and the Index in the old book is incredibly hard to cross-reference against. Here's a list, of what I believe are new recipes...

Pork and Bean Soup
Spicy Mussel Soup
Pasta & Pesto alla Genovese
Risotto Nero
Charmoula Mackerel (Provided by Sam & Sam Clark of Moro fame)
Esqueixada
Grilled Fennel Sausages, Lentils and Green Sauce.
Mutton Chop and Potato Hotpot
Braised Provencal vegetables
Sicilian Augergine Relish
Braised Puy Lentils
Celeriac Remoulade

So, I make that 12 new recipes in this edition - a couple of the dishes I actually cook regularly already (Pasta & Pesto Alla Genovese - my recipe here and the Grilled Fennel Sausages, which you can actually buy in G. Gazzano & Sons, just a couple of doors up from The Eagle - I posted about these before here).
I've also noticed at least one recipe I think has been dropped between editions - unless I'm going blind and missed it.
'Patatas Rettenos -Braised Wild Boar with Potatoes'.

I was also slightly disappointed to see that there's still no Portuguese custard tart recipe - the only dessert that The Eagle actually sells, gorgeous at around a £1 a go - although, perhaps a dessert section in the book with only one dish was considered a bit strange!

The recipes, especially the pasta dishes are really good indeed, I've tried so many of them with excellent results, in fact it'd probably be easier to list dishes I hadn't cooked out of this book, than the dishes I have, here's a few examples...

Spaghetti with roasted Fennel, Lemon and Chilli

Egg Fettucine with Ricotta, Peas and Smoked Pancetta.

Tagliata - Cut Seared Beef Salad.

If you own a previous edition, I'm not entirely convinced that it's worth shelling out more money for the re-issue, even with the 12 new recipes. Although, saying that, the new layout is nicer being much easier to read and there's the addition of excellent food photography (In fact, I was convinced that the Peas with Chorizo and Poached Egg recipe was a new addition - until I found it in my old copy, simply overlooked due to no picture of the actual dish).

So, in conclusion. It's fairly simple, I have no problem whatsoever endorsing this book, (I've been doing it for ages!) I absolutely love it. If you don't already own a copy, it's a must have.

Buy it.

The Eagle
159 Farringdon Road,
Farringdon
London.
EC1R 3AL

Telephone: 0872 148 4071

Big Thanks to Absolute Press for the review copy.

What I've been Cooking - July.

This post is a bit of an end of month roundup of the stuff I've been cooking the last few weeks, but haven't blogged.
July has seen me cook a disproportionate amount of recipes from the same book, that old favourite 'Big Flavours and Rough Edges' - recipes from The Eagle. There are so many good pasta recipes in it, and regular readers of Essex Eating will know I'm a big fan of pasta for midweek, apres work dining.


So, bearing that in mind, first up we have Penne with Artichoke Hearts & Greens. I really enjoyed this, first time I've cooked anything with Artichoke Hearts and I was quite shocked at the price - I had no idea they were so expensive. Garlic and Chilli are finely chopped and then left to sit in Olive Oil for 10 Min's, whilst the Pasta is cooking, the Chilli Oil is added to a hot frying pan, and then the chopped greens are added and stir fried for 5 Min's. The smell this generates is gorgeous, then finally the Artichoke Hearts are added and tossed in the oil. The Pasta is then combined with this and grated Parmesan. For the greens I used purple sprouting broccoli. A really nice, quick and fresh tasting meal - I'll be cooking this again.


Next we have Spaghetti with roasted Fennel, Lemon and Chilli. This was gorgeous, so much so that I've cooked it twice this month. The sliced Fennel is roasted in the oven cranked up to Max, with Olive Oil, Lemon zest and juice, 1/2 a finely chopped Chilli, Capers and Garlic - covered with foil for 20 Min's and then uncovered to colour for another 10 Min's. This is then tossed with the cooked Spaghetti, Parmesan and Parsley.
Lovely - so simple, but again really fresh and light tasting.

This is an interesting recipe - Pizzoccheri, apparently a speciality of Milan. It's Baked Buckwheat Pasta with Sage, Fontina & Cabbage.
I couldn't get buckwheat pasta, so the recipe suggested substituting for wholewheat Spaghetti. I also had a bit of trouble finding Fontina locally, so swapped this for Taleggio.
This is really a bit of a winter recipe - a real heavy meal of Potato, Cheese, Pasta and Savoy Cabbage. But it was very nice indeed. A couple of negatives, I'd say is that the recipe is a bit pan intensive - the Potatoes, Sage oil, Cabbage and Pasta need to be cooked in separate saucepans - so it generates a sink load of washing up. The other negative would be, this is so unhealthy - loads of cheese, loads of butter....you couldn't be eating this regularly if you want to live to a ripe old age.

Next we have Penne with Sausage, Tomato and Sage. I've cooked a very similar recipe from the River Cafe cookbook which also uses broken up sausages - this recipe is slightly different in that it's quicker to make, and the meaty tomato sauce, made up of plumb tomatoes is cooked in a frying pan with a lid on for 20 Min's (I don't have a lid so used a large plate) and breaks down into a thick sauce. Very nice indeed. My GF preferred this version to the River Cafe version, as it's "Less Spicy".

This recipe isn't from The Eagle cookbook, it's Nigel Slater and Graphic Foodie (mentioned in the same breath eh Fran!). I had leftover Taleggio cheese from the Pizzocheri dish, so cooked Slow-Fried Potatoes with Thyme and Taleggio from the excellent recipe book 'Appetite'. Again, another totally unhealthy dish, swimming in butter and cheese.....but wow, It's so good and to balance it out I cooked Graphic Foodies Italian Peasant style dressed Greens, of which I've said before and I'll say again are fantastic. One of the best veg dishes I've ever tasted.

Last but not least, we have a creation of my own, well sort of....it's the Bastard love child of a Jamie Oliver warm salad recipe, combined with a Moro recipe. This was really nice actually. We have Pancetta and Red Onion fried off, with Pinenuts, then mixed with salad leaves, warm Pearl Barley to bulk it out a bit and a dressing of Olive Oil and Balsamic, finally shaved Parmesan slices are scattered over the top. Compared to everything else I've been eating lately, this was almost virtuous.

Looking back now, I think it's going to have to be more salads in August!

More Free Abel & Cole - Chicken

So, Abel & Cole sent me a free organic chicken to review following up from the Organic vegetable box I was sent a few weeks back.

Now, once again, before offering up my opinion - I'll state my position on freebies. I positively embrace them! The fact that someone values my opinion on a product, or thinks my endorsement on this blog may enhance it's visibility in some small way is thrilling to me. But.....just because it's free, doesn't mean that If if the product isn't upto scratch that I won't say so. I will. In spades. I owe that to the people who read my Blog. So, to potential freebie senders, you pays your money, and you takes your chances. Can't say fairer than that.

With that said, lets move onto the free Chicken.

It arrived early the other morning, a polystyrene insulated box....surprisingly excited - I pulled off the lid to be greeted by a large organic free range Chicken (Just under 2kg) with giblets. Credit where credit is due, Able and Cole's packaging is excellent. The Chicken was surrounded by frozen gel packs - and I imagine it could have sat happily for hours unattended outside the front door.

But how to cook it?
In the end, I decided to roast it using a recipe from The Eagle's 'Big flavours and Rough edges'. Simply cooked with tarragon, Lemon, black olives and garlic in the manner of South West France.

At the end of the allotted cooking time, the chicken was well cooked, glistening and roasted a deep brown. It smelt lovely.
After resting, onto the carving. (Which I'm rubbish at - sadly being more hacker than surgeon). The chicken was beautifully moist.
I served it up with roast potatoes and Samphire pan fried with shallot and finished with a squeeze of Lemon. Incredibly, considering I live near the sea. (errr....the Thames Estuary, but close enough), It's the first time I've ever cooked Samphire, and I was really impressed. Excellent stuff.
I served all this with a gravy made from the provided giblets.

All in All, a fantastic roast dinner. Pretty good going for a Monday evening.

After letting that lot go down, I proceeded to carve the rest of the meat off the chicken for dinner the following night (More about that in a minute), and threw what was left of the sorry looking carcass into a large pot with chopped vegetables and herbs (Onions, Carrots, Celery, Thyme etc) and proceeded to boil it up to make Stock. There's something very satisfying about getting the absolute maximum out of your ingredients, and I can't recommend making stock from the leftovers enough. It's easy, takes hardly any effort and you'll be rewarded with pints of beautiful stock which freezes for up to 3 months. Just the thing for risotto or soup....Oh, before I forget, big thanks to Oliver Tring and The Ordinary Chefs suggestions via Twitter of putting the stock in my oven to simmer overnight. Saved me a late night there guys, many thanks.

The next night I decided to use my leftover cuts of roast chicken, in a baguette (Brought back from Paris and frozen....I bemoan the fact we can't easily get similiar fantastic bread in the UK - it's available all over the place in France!) with allioli (Garlic Mayonnaise for those not familiar), and boiled new potatoes with Tarragon and olive oil. Simple stuff, but really very tasty.

So, One Chicken - Two nights Dinners for two people, and a load of stock.

The verdict on the Chicken? Well - I was quite impressed, it tasted great and cooked well, was extremely moist and tender. There's no doubt in my mind that you can tell the difference between a Free Range Organic Bird and your run of the mill supermarket job. That is my considered opinion.

But, in the interest of fairness, I'll give you the opinion of my co-diner (The Girlfriend) which was rather less enthusiastic, stating that she couldn't tell the difference between this chicken and it's brethren with somewhat less in the way of organic free range credentials.
So there you have it. Opinions, everyone's got one.

The price for a bird which weighed in at just under 2kg was £12.81 which isn't actually that bad for a Chicken of this quality....(unless of course your my Girlfriend, who it seems is just as happy gnawing on a two for a fiver Tesco jobby).

Abel & Cole Organic Free Range Chicken
https://www.abelandcole.co.uk/chicken-whole-with-giblets-14kg-avg

This month's favourite pasta dish.

During the week, I eat a lot of pasta.
It's so quick and easy to throw something fresh together, it's filling and the variety of ingredients you can combine to make something new are practically endless.

As I've mentioned a few times previously on the blog, one of the best recipe books I own is The Eagle Cookbook 'Big flavours and Rough Edges'.......It contains some really nice, quick and unusual pasta recipes.
As far as I know, the book is still out of print, so if you see a copy - snap it up, it's excellent.

This recipe is featured in the book, and it was so nice - I cooked it for two consecutive nights running, and then again the following week. (Although it helped there was a 2 for 1 offer on fresh unshelled Peas at the supermarket). Which incidentally, while they're in season I urge you to buy and eat - it's almost calming, standing there shelling peas... and they taste fantastic.

Here's the recipe.....

Egg Fettucine with Ricotta, Peas and Smoked Pancetta.

Serves 4.

You'll need:-
200g shelled young peas (about 500g unshelled weight).
150g Smoked Pancetta or dry cured smoked streaky bacon, cut into strips.
50g Butter
400g Egg Fettuccine or Tagliatelle
150g Ricotta Cheese
2 Tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan Cheese.
A dozen Basil Leaves, torn as you use them.

Boil the peas in the salted water until just cooked (4 Min's), then drain.
Gently melt the pancetta with the butter for 10 Min's or until the fat has run and the pancetta has become crisp.

Add the peas to the pan and cook gently for a few minutes.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pan of salted water until al dente.
Drain and mix in a warmed serving bowl with the ricotta, Parmesan and torn basil leaves. (Personally, I reserved a little of the pasta cooking water and stirred it into the pasta at this stage to make it a little more 'silky').

Finally, reheat the peas and bacon, and pour over the pasta.

More Midweek Pasta.....

So, my 'The Eagle' cookbook, 'Big Flavours and Rough Edges' got another outing last night (Which although out of print right now, is being re-issued soon. Thanks for the info Goodshoeday).

I love pasta, especially for mid-week meals, it's cheap, quick and tasty, and there are some fantastic, and unusual pasta recipes in the book; (so I urge you to buy it when it gets re-issued). I decided to try 'Egg Fettuccine with Radicchio, Borlotti Beans and Pancetta' and, true to form it was excellent, I've yet to find a duff recipe yet.

To be honest, I was intrigued how it would taste with Radicchio - it's normally considered (In this country at least) to be a salad leaf, whereas apparently in Italy it's used in cooking much more robustly as a vegetable in it's own right. In any case, this all turned out to be academic as I couldn't get any. (Damn you supermarkets!!!) but luckily, the recipe suggested Chicory as a substitute...errrr..which I actually could get- luckily for this blogs readers, otherwise this post would be a bit pointless, anyway; Chicory is another kind of weird salad type ingredient I never know what to do with so I was still reasonably excited. (As much as one can be excited by Chicory anyway).

Here's the recipe - it was pretty good, the Girlfriend scored it an 8/10....and after my normal initial screaming fit and childish tantrum at her ungrateful score - I agreed. It was pretty damn good and I'll be cooking this again.

As the book is out of print, here's the recipe....

Egg Fettuccine with Radicchio, Borlotti Beans and Pancetta.

Serves 4.

You'll Need:-

1 small Onion Sliced.
5 Sage Leaves
Small handful of diced smoked Pancetta (Or smoked streaky bacon).
3 TBS Olive Oil.
1 head of Radicchio (or Chicory) cored and thinly sliced.
1/2 Glass White Wine.
400g Tin Borlotti Beans - drained and rinsed.
400g Egg Fettuccine (Or Tagliatelle).
4 TBS freshly grated Parmesan.

Fry the Onion, Sage leaves and Pancetta in the Olive Oil until they begin to brown. Add the Radicchio and cook for a minute or two until it begins to wilt. Add the wine and let it bubble and reduce a little before following with the beans. Keep warm.

Cook the Pasta in a large pan of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain very briefly and then mix with the sauce and Parmesan.

Last weeks highlights

I've recently noted that the first couple of weeks after pay day, I eat very well. Better cuts of meat, more experimentation with new recipes. On the flip side, in the last two weeks I revert back to old favourites, cheaper cuts, and the tried and tested budget recipes.

Last week was one of the 'flush' weeks, so a Sirloin Steak Salad featured on the menu, as did some experimentation with a Chicken and Basil dish, and a Portuguese stew, and finally I had my brother and his wife around for dinner Saturday evening, where; against all my dinner party good sense I cooked two completely new and untried dishes.

First up the Sirloin Steak.
It was from my local butchers, (the better, more expensive one). And was outrageously expensive, but it really was excellent steak, deep red and marbled throughout.
My new Eagle recipe book got another airing, and I used their recipe for 'Tagliata' which is an Italian cut seared steak salad.
The recipe combined boiled small waxy potatoes and a heap of rocket dressed with a tarragon, olive oil and balsamic dressing. On top of this, the seared slices of steak are draped artfully!
Very nice it was too, I was pretty impressed with this dish - simple, quick and quiet light. But I think I'd shop around for less eye wateringly expensive sirloin next time.

Next we have Chicken Breast with Pesto and Bulgar Wheat Salad. Bit of experimentation going on here, I had leftover Basil so made some Pesto, I cooked the chicken breasts in the oven for 25 Min's at 200c, I then covered the chicken with the pesto and put it back in the oven for 5 Min's. It melted and formed a perfectly even, and pretty attractive 'crust'. I combined this with a bulgar wheat salad (The recipe for which can be found in the comments section of this post).

I think this worked pretty well, the chicken coated with Pesto tasted great. My partner reckoned I put too much lime juice in the accompanying salad, at least, that's what I think she was saying whilst I screamed and shouted at her for being ungrateful and having the audacity to criticise my cooking.....just kidding of course, I always ask her opinion on what I've cooked and normally ask for a mark out of 10.....this scoring method normally produces air punches and undignified whooping on my part, but on the thankfully rare occasions my cooking scores low, it generates sullen looks and frosty silences which can make for some interesting evenings!


Next up we have 'Potaje de Garbanzos', a Spanish chickpea and chorizo stew. Again, this recipe is from my recently acquired 'The Eagle' cookbook and I really enjoyed it. I think I've cooked something similar before from one of the Jamie Oliver books. No photos of this dish I'm afraid. I forgot and stuffed the lot before I remembered, and in any case it wasn't the most photogenic recipe. But saying that, it was gorgeous - so much so, we'll be cooking this again this week. It combines chickpeas, spinach, chorizo, pancetta garlic and interestingly a chopped, hard boiled egg!


Finally we have Saturdays Dinner party menu. As I mentioned previously, I took a risk and cooked two untried dishes, and one I've cooked before. Of the three courses, two paid off, the third went a bit wrong, but I don't think anyone noticed.

For a starter I cooked 'Petatou' which is a French dish of potatoes, thyme, chopped olives and topped with grilled goats cheese.
This was gorgeous, really impressed with this recipe. (From Anthony Bourdains 'Les Halles' cook book). Only negative thing I'd say, the specified portions were massive, I'm hosting another dinner party this weekend and liked this so much, I'll be cooking it again - only this time in much smaller portions.


For the main I cooked pan fried cod fillet from the local fishmongers, with Garlic Pomme puree and porcini mushrooms. No photos of this dish I'm afraid. The reason being, I was so stressed out and flustered cooking it, I was worried it would get cold... so served it straight away.
With hindsight, the Garlic Pomme Puree is a simple enough recipe, but for a dinner party would benefit being at least partly made in advance. I left myself too much to do.....and by the time I got around to cooking the Cod (and subsequently realising that I couldn't fit all four pieces in one pan, so had to have two on the go.....and then setting the smoke alarm off for good measure!...I was falling to pieces, well, I think we've all been there.

Thank God I made the desert in advance. This was the dish that went 'wrong'. A white chocolate and lemon mousse, easy enough. But, when I added the white chocolate to the sabayon mixture, it seized and formed a solid ball. I ended up folding the double cream through the hardened white chocolate mixture and breaking it up as I went.....I sort of got away with it, but the lemon flavour didn't distribute through the mousse completely as it should. Oh well. I've since found out that white chocolate is notorious for seizing up and basically being hard to work with. Lesson learnt. Although saying that, everyone seemed to enjoy it, and my Girlfriend even asked me to make it again this weekend. (I'm not going to though, choosing instead to make a much less temperamental tarte tatin!)

Orecchiette with Butter, Sage, Garlic and Parmesan.

If you read my blog regularly, you may remember me mentioning that I bought a new recipe book the other week. I've been after it for some time. It's called 'Big Flavours and Rough Edges' - Recipes from the Eagle. It's out of print, and copies are changing hands for over a £100. But, I found a second hand copy - condition 'Average' for a tenner - and practically chewed the sellers arm off. Apart from a preface page being ripped, its perfect....and seeing as how all my recipe books get well used and spattered with ingredients anyway, who cares. It's got some amazing recipes in it - I recommend it.

The Eagle pub on the Farringdon Road is one of my favourite gastro-pubs, the first gastro-pub, the place that started it all in fact, and although probably no longer the best, it's easily still in the top five. They sell the most amazing steak sandwich (and that recipe is what I was after when I purchased the book), but it's another recipe from the book I'm going to write about.

Last night, I cooked Orecchiette with Butter, Sage, Garlic and Parmesan and it was gorgeous, so simple, quick and cheap! with a scant 4 main ingredients. It's surprising sometimes how some of the most simple dishes are the tastiest. I've never used the Orecchiette pasta shape before, the recipe describes it as 'a chewy type of pasta that looks like the name suggests, little ears'.

Anyway - seeing as the books out of print, and to get your hands on this recipe your either going to have to shell out a £100+ or be really lucky like I was, I'll give you the recipe to try for yourself.

Orechiette with Butter, Sage, Garlic and Parmesan.

Serves 4

75g Unsalted Butter
450g Orecchiette Pasta
2 Garlic Cloves, crushed but left whole.
20 or so Sage leaves, finely chopped
4 Tbs freshly grated Parmesan Cheese.

Clarify the butter by melting it over the lowest possible heat and then skimming off the bits that float on top. Gently pour the clarified butter into a clean pan, discarding the curds (or is it Whey?) that will have collected at the bottom. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling salted water until al dente, then drain.

Heat the butter with the garlic cloves and sage. When the garlic just begins to brown, remove it and throw it away. Mix the butter and sage with the orecchiette and Parmesan.