Mustard Chive Sauce

 
 

Now this mustard chive sauce is not the sort of sauce we should have often.  It is laden with cream.  But as a special treat with thinly sliced corned beef it was spectacular.  And it was good cold the next day on sandwiches as well.

 

So you take half a strained cupful of the liquid you have cooked your corned beef in.  (This has had cloves, cinnamon stick, peppercorns, bay leaf, golden syrup, mustard powder and white wine as well as the water).  I would usually add carrots and baby onion as well which would make the sauce even better.

 

Put it in a pot with a cup of cream (full strength runny cream – the sort you can whip).  Bring it to a boil and then simmer until it has reduced by about one third.  I found this took about 10 minutes or so.  And even then it felt runny – but the next day was quite thick.  I think some of the fat from the corned beef gets into the stock and gives the sauce that extra flavour oomph.

 

Stir in to your sauce 4 tablespoons of Dijon mustard and 3 tablespoons of finely sliced chives.  Simmer for one minute more and then taste to see how much salt and pepper, if any, is needed.

Mustard and parsley sauce using Greek Yoghurt

As you know I often use crème fraiche in my sauces etc instead of cream.  I wanted to see what I could do with Greek yoghurt.  A little googling suggested that it would split in a sauce unless you stabilised it.

I lightly whisked together the Greek yoghurt (plain) with an egg white, a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and a ¼ teaspoon of cornflour (corn-starch). 

This was then heated very gently and Dijon mustard was added.  Right at the end I added chopped parsley.  It was an ok sauce (and I guess, healthier) but a bit more fussy to make than I would like.

Rack of Lamb with Mustard Sauce

The inspiration for this Rack of Lamb with Mustard Sauce came from a Martha Steward recipe I found online – but I'm 'channelling' her because, of course, I didn't do it as per her recipe.

What you'll need:

Rack of lamb – preferably spring lamb

Oil for searing

Salt and pepper

For the sauce:

White wine – I used a sauvignon blanc

Chicken stock – I used a concentrated pase

Dijon Mustard

Hot English Mustard

Maple Syrup

Pomegranate juice

Salt/pepper

Cream

Martha's recipe called for pomegranate molasses – which I didn't have but I substituted the pomegranate juice and the maple syrup.

The first step in cooking the lamb is what will make the most difference to the outcome – let it come to room temperature before cooking – if your fridge is really cold like mine this could take over an hour.

Heat your oven to a moderate to low temperature.

Then heat a pan up til it is smoking, add the oil and sear the lamb on both sides until it has a nice colour – about 1 minute on each side should do it.  Make sure you've got your extractor on or your smoke alarms will go off!

Pop the lamb into a roasting pan with a smidgen of the wine, cover loosely with foil and cook it in the oven for about 20 to 30 minutes depending how pink you like it. 

While this is cooking, pour any excess oil out of your pan and put it back on the heat (moderate this time) and add your white wine – about a quarter of a cup.  Stir with a wooden spoon so all the brown bits stuck on the bottom come off into the sauce.

Add in your chicken stock and mustard.  Whisk it while adding so that there are no lumps.  Add a couple of teaspoons of maple syrup and about ½ a small box of pomegranate juice (be careful to taste as you go because it is quite sour).  Then simmer it quite quickly so that the sauce reduces to a thick glossiness.  Take it off the heat, taste to see what salt and pepper is needed.  If it's too sour add more maple syrup.  If it's too sweet add more pomegranate juice.  Finish with a good splash of cream and stir through.

The resulting lamb was gloriously tender and the sauce was unctuous – tasting not of mustard or of pomegranates but as something in its own right.

Chicken & Lentils – One Pot Wonder

This Chicken and Lentil dish was pretty simple to make and very tasty.  I recommend it to you – with your own tweaks, of course.

Ingredients:

Oil

Chicken breast

½ can of lentils

Pickle juice – a splosh

Cream – say 100 mils

Paprika – to taste

Dijon mustard – 1 large spoonful

Salt and pepper

Tomato paste – 2 teaspoons

2 slices of ham

Small amount of onion

Cream cheese – 1 tablespoon

½ red chilli for garnish

Method:

Cut up the chicken into serving sizes – I left mine a bit largish.

Dice some onion

Heat your frypan, put in the oil and then fry off the onion for a little while.  Add the chicken and cook it on each side for a minute or two.

Slice up your ham into strips and add it to the chicken along with all the other ingredients.  Stir until the chicken is cooked through.  If it gets a bit thick just add a little water or cream.

Garnish with some red chilli.

Mustard Chicken Salad Revisited

This is a salad I made using the leftovers of Dijon Chicken Breasts. 

I started with a large platter and put a bed of shredded lettuce onto it.  As you can see I put a rough circle of thinly sliced zucchini (courgette) around the edge of the platter.  We quite like raw zucchini – do you use it that way too?

To the platter I added, chopped up chicken leftovers, tomato, cucumber, a lobe of a yellow bell pepper (capsicum), some croutons I had roughly chopped a bit, and a small amount of finely chopped shallot.

I sprinkled some scallions (spring onions) over the top as well as some finely chopped chilli for garnish.

The dressing was simple – I just warmed the leftover mustard sauce from the Dijon Chicken Breasts and drizzled it over the salad at the very last minute before serving.