Skeppshult

Gill Meller's Grilled Asparagus with Morcilla and a Fried Egg

Cooking asparagus in a heavy cast iron grill pan must be one of the best ways to treat this wonderful seasonal vegetable. All the natural sugars in the spears begin the caramelise which intensifies their flavour and character. Morcilla is a traditional Spanish blood sausage, but if you can’t get hold of any, you can use black pudding or chorizo.

Serves 2

Ingredients

10 – 12 spears of asparagus

250g of morcilla or black pudding

2 fresh organic eggs

The leaves from 4 – 6 stems of thyme roughly chopped

A good pinch or two of chilli flakes

2 Tbls of EV olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

If you plan to cook this dish over an open fire, make sure the fire is nice and hot before you begin.

Snap or cut the woody base from each spear, then place the tender asparagus on a plate or board. Trickle the spears with 1 Tbls of olive oil and season with sea salt, freshly ground black pepper. Sprinkle over half the thyme leaves and half the chilli flakes. Tumble the asparagus through the seasoning and thyme. Set your rigid grill pan down over the heat and when it’s super hot lay the asparagus down in the pan. Cook the asparagus for 2–3 minutes on each side, or as long as it takes to char and soften the spears nicely. Keep warm on a serving plate.

Cut the morcilla sausage into thick rounds. Set a smaller pan down over a high heat and add the remaining olive oil. When it’s hot, add the slices of blood sausage and cook for a couple of minutes on each side, until they are beginning to crisp round the edges. Lift the sausage out of the pan and arrange it over the grilled asparagus.

Return the pan to the heat and carefully crack in the eggs. Sprinkle their tops with the remaining chilli flakes and thyme leaves and lightly season. Cook the eggs to your liking, lift them out and set them down with the asparagus and the morcilla sausage.

Serve at once with some good crusty bread.

Lucie's No Knead Cast Iron Pot Bread

I had never made bread before and was, to be quite honest, terrified of the idea. Since learning that I could bake beautiful bread in my beautiful Skeppshult pot I have almost entirely given up buying bread!

Makes 1 Small Loaf

1 active yeast packet

1 teaspoon of brown sugar

1.5 cups of lukewarm water

1/2 tablespoon of salt (plus some for sprinkling on top)

3.25 cups of plain white flour

Polenta for sprinkling

The first step is to activate the yeast - in a large mixing bowl place the yeast, sugar and lukewarm water - I am never quite sure what constitutes as lukewarm, but my description would be the temperature of bath water after an hour-long soak! Whisk the mixture and you should start to see bubbles forming, if you don't see this, the water was likely too warm and has killed the yeast.

Add the salt and using a fine sieve, add the flour one cup at a time. Once combined, the dough should be sticky, but not wet, adjust with a little milk or water if too dry and add a little flour if too wet.

Leave the dough to rise in a warm space and cover with a tea towel for three or more hours.

Once the dough has risen, place your Skeppshult pot, lined with baking paper, into the oven as it warms. Temperatures vary oven to oven, but I would suggest heating to between 210 and 220 degrees.

When the oven has reached temperature, take the pot out and sprinkle the bottom with polenta - this is not essential, but it helps prevent the dough from sticking and its a nice touch on the crusty bottom.

Now it is time to transfer your dough from the mixing bowl to the pot - do this slowly and with a wooden spatula. It will be sticky and it will be a challenge, but persevere. Once in the pot, sprinkle with salt and place the lid back on. Bake for around 30mins.

Check the bread has started to rise after the initial bake and then remove the lid and put back in the oven for a further 10 to 15mins.

Your end result should be the most delicious, dense white bread. 

Perfect to enjoy with salty butter and jam!

Gill Meller's Honey and Butter Pancakes

I felt compelled to share my tried and tested recipe for these light and fluffy pancakes, with lots of honey and butter.

Makes 6 – 8

Ingredients

250g self-raising flour
Pinch of sea salt

1 heaped teaspoon baking powder

1 Tbls of soft brown sugar

2 Organic eggs

About 200ml of whole milk

15g of butter

To serve

25g of salted butter

Runny honey for trickling

To make the batter, place the flour into a large mixing bowl with the salt, baking powder and sugar. Crack in the eggs, then add the milk. Use a whisk to give it a good old mix.

Melt the butter in a crepe pan set over medium–high heat. Pour the bubbling butter into the batter and stir it through to combine. Give the pan a quick wipe with kitchen paper, so any residual butter doesn’t burn. Add
a smallish ladleful of batter to the pan. (you should be able to do a few at a time) Cook them for 1–2 minutes, until the undersides are golden, then use a spatula to flip each pancake over and cook the other side for 1–2 minutes until that side is golden too. Remove them to a plate or plates, while you repeat the process with the remaining batter.

To serve, pop the butter in a small pan set over a medium heat. When it’s bubbling away pour the butter over the pancakes followed by a liberal drenching of runny honey. Serve at once.