The Sandrock - Winners at the Pub Food Awards 2007

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Thai Fish and Crabcakes

250g mixed brown and white crab meat
250g firm white fish such as cod, skinned and roughly chopped
1 egg
1 stem lemongrass, finely chopped
1 tbsp chopped coriander
1 tbsp chopped flat parsley
1 tbsp strong chilli sauce
2 lime leaves
2-3 bird eye chillies
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp fish sauce (nam plak)
1 tsp tamarind pulp
1 tsp demerera sugar

Blitz all the ingredients in a food processor until you have a coarse, loose, even mixture.

Heat some groundnut oil in a pan. Spoon the mixture into the pan in neat little mounds, about a dessert spoon each, shape neatly with a palate knife and fry until golden on one side and then turn to cook on the other side. When firm and golden on both sides leave to rest for 2-3 mins in a warm oven.

Tip: Do a small test cake to check the seasoning. Add demerera sugar to sweeten, Nam Plak for salt and chilli sauce for heat.

Home-roasted Gammon Ham with orange and cinnamon

We would normal be cooking a whole Gammon, but you could use any size as long as it has a good layer of fat around it.

1 x Large orange (sliced and each slice cut in half)
Half a tablespoon of cracked black pepper
Half a tablespoon of poppy seeds
one and a half tablespoons of cinnamon powder
Four tablespoons of honey
Half a pint of cider
15lb whole gammon

Wash the gammon in cold water to rinse off any salt and leave to stand until at room temperature.
Place the gammon in to a roasting tray and with a sharp knive make several incisions in to the fat on top of the gammon, but do not cut in to the meat, then pull the fat up with your fingers and use the knive to make pockets in between the fat and the meat, and insert the sliced and halved oranges. Spoon the honey on to the top of the gammon and spread evenly, then sprinkle the cracked black pepper and the poppy seeds on to the honey and lastly sprinkle a good, even layer of cinnamon across the layer of honey,pepper and poppy seeds. Pour the cider in to the roasting tray (this keeps the meat moist and the steam adds extra flavour). Then cover with foil and roast for 4 and a half hours. The cooking time for gammon is roughly 20 minutes per pound up to a maximum of four and a half hours.

Hot Cross Buns

3/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup milk
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup lard
2 1/2 tsp dried yeast
1/2 cup warm water
3 eggs
4 cups sifted flour
1/2 nutmeg grated
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 egg white
1 tsp cold water
1 cup currants

Frosting:

1 1/2 cups icing sugar
2 tbsps Marg
1-2 tbsps milk
few drops vanilla essence

Scald the milk in a saucepan, add the salt, sugar and lard and cool to lukewarm. Sprinkle the yeast on the warm water, stir. Add to milk mixture with the eggs, 1 cup flour and the spices. Beat with a whick until smooth. Stir in the currants and enough flour, little by little, to make a soft dough that us easy to handle. Beat well with your fist. Place in alightly greased bowl, cover and leave until it has doubled in size. Knock it back and turn onto a floured surface. Pat into 1/2 inch thickness and cut into 2 1/2 inch circles (use a small glass if you don't have a cutter.) Place about 1 1/2 inches apart on a greased baking sheet and allow to rise, about an hour, until doubled in size. White a sharp knife, make a cross into the surface of each bun, brush the top with the egg white and cold water mixed together and bake in a hot oven, around 200 degree, for about 15 minutes or until golden. Mix the frosting ingredients together. Cool the buns on a wire rack and fill the crosses with the frosting mixture either by piping or using a small spoon.

Note: cheap supermarket buns use a white paste of flour and water stuck onto the bun before baking.

Just in case you are interested, here is a little history, hot cross buns were thought to originate in pagan times as part of a spring festival, but they were hijacked by monks who, by adding the cross on the top, made them a symbol of christian religion. From then on they were baked every good Friday to celebrate Easter.

Beef Wellington

For the pastry the best cheat is to buy Sainsburys 'taste the difference' all-butter puff pastry (unless you particularly like making puff pastry!)One block will make two Wellingtons. Cut in half and roll into a rectangle about 7" x 10". For the filling you need a 5 - 6oz fillet steak per Wellington. Most people quickly sear the steak in a hot pan to stop it bleeding into the pastry but I think this makes the meat overcook so I pat it dry with kitchen paper. Place the steak at one end of the pastry leaving a 1" border. Top the steak with a thin slice of Pate, it is best to use a strong flavoured course pate (again, Sainsburys have some good ones, like
venison and Armagnac)Then slice up a flat mushroom and place neatly on the pate, top with a knob of butter, some freshly ground pepper and chopped parsley. Brush the egdes of the pastry with beaten egg. Now the only hard part.. fold the pastry over to make a pasty shape. It is best to push one hand up to the edge of the meat, under the pastry and stretch over gently, press it down all round and then use your thumb to make indentations all round to seal. It is best to trim the pastry AFTER sealing it down so that you achieve a nice neat edge. Decorate with pastry leaves, stuck down with
egg. Refrigerate until you need to cook it. It is best to cook from chilled as this ensures the pastry cooks evenly. Heat a baking tray in the oven at 200 degrees c or Gas 7 with a little oil, brush the Wellingtons with egg and place on hot tray and bake for 25 minutes until golden. If they start to brown before the time is up then turn the oven down a little as the centre
will not be cooked.