The Recipe Wheel

There are few things more satisfying or exciting as seeing a book come together. It never occurred to me how well a small, buzzy idea could evolve into a tangible object. My brain, there, in a book. After two years of brainstorming, drawing, painting, writing, cooking and reading over and over, The Recipe Wheel has taken on full, beautiful, book form.

It's moved from scribbling.

To stamping.

To testing, tasting and tweaking.

simple roast chicken

cavolo nero and pearl barley

rhubarb creme brulee

White loaf, molasses bread and soft white roll

To reading, and reading.

And, with the creative input of genius designer Will Webb, to crafting.

an early draft of the risotto wheel

the cover

It's finally here!

With any luck you'll enjoy reading and making the recipes, and you'll love, as much as I did, coming up with your own wheels. Post your ideas for wheel tangents, images of your recipes you've cooked, and illustrations with your own wheels on twitter, using #TheRecipeWheel.

Order The Recipe Wheel here, find a copy in Books for Cooks, pick one up in your local bookshop, or read more about it and buy from Waterstones.

PORK BELLY WITH RHUBARB

This is so bloomin' scrumptious it doesn't even need a write-up. Apart from to say that, though the pork weeps with fatty joy and the skin is crisper than a morning in March, it's the rhubarb that really makes it.

PORK BELLY WITH RHUBARB

NOTE: You need 5 minutes the night before to prepare this.

serves 2

ingredients

500g pork belly, boned, scored (you can ask your butcher to do this)

2 cloves garlic, crushed

4 leaves sage

seasoning

olive oil

1 1/2 tsp sea salt flakes

1 glass cider

1 carrot, roughly chopped

1 stick celery, roughly chopped

1 shallot, peeled and quartered

1 bay leaf

2 sticks rhubarb, chopped into 1inch batons

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp water

Overnight or at least 8 hours before:

Rub the sides and bottom of the belly with the crushed garlic, chopped sage, oil, salt and pepper, avoiding the skin completely.

Cover with cling film and leave to rest in the fridge.

4 and a bit hours before serving:

Preheat the oven to the highest it can go or to about 230C.

Rub the pork skin with a little olive oil and the sea salt flakes. Place skin side up on a grate over a roasting tray and place in the oven for 45 minutes until the skin is crisp and brown and starting to bubble and burst.

Meanwhile, pour the cider, veg and bay into another roasting tray.

When it's time to remove the pork, turn the oven down to 180C. Place the meat on top of the veg and cider. Cover the edges of the baking tray with foil, leaving the skin exposed, so that the cider can steam up through the bottom to make the juiciest of meat. The skin will continue to crisp and be pretty solid when you serve it. Cook for a further 3 hours until, when poked with a skewer, there is no resistance from the pork.

Remove from the oven and leave to rest, loosely covered with tin foil.

Throw the rhubarb, sugar and water into a saucepan and place over a medium heat until soft and stringy. You want it still to be sharp so it cuts through the salty pork.

Slice the pork into large squares and serve alongside the lovely, rosey rhubarb.

CRÈME DE LA CRÈME

WOOO. It worked! I think my guests were satisfactorily stuffed. A night filled with wine, chatter, heated debates - one too many glasses of cheap vino at this stage - and most importantly, good food. There was even mention of a Round Two.

STARTER: Grilled haloumi wrapped in pancetta, with a rocket salad and balsamic dressing.
(c/o mysterious flatmate - Rose Cottage's equivalent of the Stig).

"The starter was best", slipped politely into post-meal reflection by fellow Come Diner, Miss Mackenzie.

MAIN: Lemon marinated salmon with primavera risotto. A wee bit bony...but fresh and delicious.

and DESSERT: Rose-scented panna cotta with rhubarb compote.

Groans all round - and good ones, I think! Well worth re-creating this dreamy pud, so here's the recipe for your own indulgence:

The original recipe was taken from p. 36 of Stella mag last week, and adapted slightly for serving in wine glasses rather than from moulds.
SERVES SIX:

For the panna cotta:
150ml (5fl oz) full-fat milk
600ml (1 pint) double cream
3 strips lemon rind
6 small sheets of gelatine (or 3 teaspoons of powdered gelatine)
1 tsp rosewater
150g (5 1/2 oz) caster sugar
several good squeezes of lemon
groundnut oil, for greasing (I went without this and made the recipe in wine glasses).

For the rhubarb:
900g (2lb) rhubarb
300ml (10fl oz) water
150g (5 1/2 oz) sugar
good squeeze of lemon

Gently heat the milk and cream with the lemon rind and simmer until the mixture has reduced by about a third. Be careful not to let it boil.
Put the gelatine in a bowl and cover with water. Leave to soak for about 15 minutes.
Add the rosewater and sugar to the cream with just enough lemon to cut through the richness and stop the flower water being cloying.
Lift the wet gelatine our of the water and squeeze out the excess liquid. Add to the cream and stir to help the sugar and gelatine dissolve (the cream need to be warm for this to happen).

Lightly oil six little pudding tins or dariole moulds (or use wine glasses like I did - no need to oil them), with a flavourless oil such as groundnut, then ladle in the cream. Leave to cool then put in the fridge to set.

Trim the rhubarb and cut it into 4cm (1 1/2 in) lengths. Mix the water and sugar and heat stirring from time to time, until the sugar has melted. Add the rhubarb and poach gently until just soft (the rhubarb must not collapse).
Remove the fruit carefully with a slotted spoon, add a good squeeze of lemon to the poaching liquid and boil to reduce. It should be slightly syrupy and will become more so as it cools. Leave to cool, then pour over the rhubarb.

To serve (if using the moulds), unmould the panna cotta by sliding a knife down the inside of the mould, invert onto a plate and shake well.

Spoon the rhubarb around or beside the panna cotta (or on top of the panna cotta if using a wine glass), and decorate with rose petals.


I prepared these the night before the dinner party, in true Blue Peter fashion, and they were perfectly set. Although easy on how many you try...at least leave some the guests.

Definitely a wooer. And if you are on a budget - it cost around £25 to serve 7 diners. SUCCESS!