Black Pudding, Pear, Potato and Ricotta Salad

I say salad, but this is a full-on, whole hearted meal that not only will leave you full of food, but also full of flavour. My previous post told how I was enjoying trialling some produce from Laverstoke Park Farm, and the recipe today includes the Black Pudding and Buffalo Ricotta from there. I have added quantities for ingredients as a guide, but I'm one of those 'choose as much as whatever as you'd like' sort of people, so feel free to go ahead and change!

Black Pudding, Pear and Ricotta Salad

Ingredients: Makes one large salad - serves two happily.

For the salad:
Bag of rocket leaves
12 baby new potatoes, halved
2 large pears, cored and wedged
2 thick slices of Laverstoke Park Farm black pudding, cubed
leftover bread (nice crusty loaf works best) torn into chunks
ricotta

For the dressing:
1/2 lemon, juiced and skin torn and squashed
1 garlic clove, crushed
black pepper
small handful roughly chopped fresh mint
several small whole mint leaves
extra virgin olive oil
red wine vinegar

Method:

Add the potatoes and all but one of the pear wedges to a roasting tin.
Make the dressing - combine the garlic, black pepper, lemon juice and skins, chopped mint, 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil and a splash of red wine vinegar.
Pour over the potatoes and pears and roast in a hot over until the potatoes are crispy and the pears are soft...around 20-30 minutes.
Meanwhile, fry the cubes of black pudding. Once beginning to crispen up, add the torn bread. The black pudding should produce enough oil to fry the bread in too without the need to add more.
Remove the potatoes and pears from the oven and drain off the juices and dressing into a small bowl. Add another 2 tbsp olive oil and a splash a red wine vinegar to the juices and stir to combine. Taste and adjust flavours as desired.
Once the bread has begun to turn to croutons, add the few whole mint leaves to the oil to crispen up.
Slice the remaining pear wedge thinly.
In a large serving bowl, combine the rocket, potatoes, pears, black pudding and croutons. Blob little bits of ricotta all over. Top with the crispy mint leaves, thinly sliced pear and drizzle over the new dressing from the small bowl. Grind some fresh black pepper over the top.
Eat warm.

I hope you like this - don't be put off by the long list of ingredients for the dressing - you'll have most in the store cupboard anyway. And once you've started the recipe, all else can be done whilst the potatoes and pears are in the oven.

Disclaimer: The products I received were complimentary for review and recipe development purposes. All opinions given are my own, honest and truthful.

Black Pudding & Buffalo Cheeses!

I was lucky enough to have recently been sent some delicious goodies from Laverstoke Park Farm to try out and see what I could do with! If you don't already know, Laverstoke is "2,500 acres of bio-dynamic and organic farming in Hampshire ... owned and run by ex-racing driver and Formula One World Champion Jody Scheckter. He wanted to create a farming environment that would follow nature as closely as possible, combining 21st century science, together with the most environmentally friendly farming methods available," with a view to creating "Better tasting, healthy food.
Without compromise." 

The cheeses are all produced from the milk of the Asian water Buffalo herd who graze freely on organic pasture, full of 31 different herbs, grasses and clovers. Meanwhile, their kitchen is one of the few in the UK who use fresh pig’s blood in their black pudding. This is made using a rare Scottish Hebridian style recipe that uses medium sized oatmeal as opposed to fat additives and has no added nitrates, preservatives or colours. Even reminding my 6 year old it's prime ingredient was fresh pig's blood, didn't put her off - she just loves black pudding!

I began my recipe ideas by trawling the internet to see more traditional pairings and recipes for the cheeses I was sent: Buffalo Mozzarella and Buffalo Ricotta. And also for the Black Pudding. Then I narrowed down what I'd like to do with it and began devising my own! Obviously, crusty bread is a big winner with both cheese and the black pudding, so that features heavily, but also the freshness and cleanliness of ripe, crispy fruit, such as pears and apples works well with both and cuts through the creaminess of the cheese. I always feel ricotta needs a little help to encourage the flavours to come through and develop too, so tend to add black pepper, thyme, lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil to this. In fact, a very simple recipe is to do just that and smear onto hunks of sourdough!

A quick idea is to add a big dollop of the ricotta to tomato based stews. This was the first thing I did as I was part way through cooking a sausage, chorizo, mushroom and paprika stew type thing when the produce arrived and I just couldn't resist adding a mild creaminess to it. Simply fry off chopped sausages and chorizo with olive oil. Add mushrooms, smoked paprika and a tin of chopped tomatoes. And, as usual, a pinch of sugar to counteract the acidity form the tomatoes. Bubble until thickened. Take off the heat, season well and add a large spoonful of ricotta, stirring through before serving. 

Black Pudding Huevos Rancheros

This very British take on a classic Mexican egg dish is very quick and easy, especially for a weekend brunch. 

Ingredients: Serves 4 as a small brunch portion

Half a red onion, sliced

2 crushed garlic cloves

Small piece of chorizo - cubed

Small piece of Laverstoke Park Farm black pudding - cubed

flat tsp smoked paprika

Can of chopped tomatoes

half tsp dried oregano

pinch of sugar 

4 eggs

 

Method:

Fry black pudding and chorizo in a tiny little bit of olive oil over a high heat.

Sprinkle over smoked paprika and toss in the pan for half a minute.

Add sliced red onions and crushed garlic. Keep the ingredients moving and fry until beginning to soften. Turn heat down lower and leave.

Once softened, add can tomatoes and dried oregano and a pinch of sugar. Keep simmering to reduce liquid. 

Once at your desired consistency pour into one large of 4 individual oven dishes, top with egg and bake until white is cooked and the yolk still runny.

Serve with crispy dippable bread.

Disclaimer: The products I received were complimentary for review and recipe development purposes. All opinions given are my own, honest and truthful.