Reds Barbecue

I'm a southern girl and I believe anything past Birmingham is the North. So you can imagine my surprise when my mother informed me that she was moving to Leeds. Would it not be closer for them to travel to France? My mother has lived on the south coast for nearly all of her life, so this was to be a big change and a chance to experience a whole new area with new culture and new traditions... and pie barms. 

This was 18 months ago, so as you can imagine, I have visit Leeds now a couple of times and the city itself is a very vibrant and exciting place, with one of the best shopping areas I have ever come across. There are also plenty of culinary treats to try (Shears Yard and Friends of Ham are highlights), so on this particular visit, Rob and I tried out Red's Barbecue. 

As London barbecue fangirls, we were reticent about the North's take on our favourite food. But Red's didn't disappoint. The whole style behind Red's as a concept is very exciting - using barbecue as a 'religious' experience and quoting from 'The Good Book' was something I've never seen before and gave it a different edge.

I started with the Bourbon Cask Smoked Manhattan made with Wild Turkey Rye (recommended for bourbon lovers!) and chilli chocolate bitters smoked in bourbon soaked oak. This was a fantastic start to our meal. My cocktail was brought in a decanter, filled with smoke and poured out in front of me. I wasn't expecting this level of theatre from a casual barbecue restaurant, so the pleasant surprise put me in a fantastic mood. The drink itself was delicious, sweet and smoky.

To eat, I went for the Jacob's Ladder Beef Rib - my personal favourite, accompanied by Sweet Potato fries. The beef is smothered in their Unholy Barbecue Sauce, which was 'divine'. The meat fell off the bone and had an incredible depth of flavour. The fries were crispy, sweet and salty and were the perfect tools to try out the varied range of sauces on offer!

Unfortunately we were too full for dessert, but I will definitely be returning to Red's on my next trip to the city centre. A must try!

Easy Weeknight Puttanesca

Is anyone else still feeling a little bit lazy post Christmas and wishing they'd done a little more lying around and a little less doing "stuff"? The return to work has definitely been a shock to the system for me and I'm lacking any kind of energy in the evening to cook. 

The temptation to order pizza is growing greater but with this date night standard pasta recipe, you'll be glad that you got.off the sofa. Plus you won't have those greasy cardboard boxes to deal with.

Fresh Pasta with Puttanesca Sauce

This recipe is sans olives. I would recommend including a handful of chopped black olives at the end.

Serves 2

Ingredients:
Fresh Pasta (type and amount is to your discretion)
2 cloves of Garlic, crushed
5 fresh Plum Tomatoes, chopped into chunks
1 tin of Plum Tomatoes
100ml Red Wine (I recommend a Sangiovese)
5 tinned Anchovies, finely chopped
1tbsp Capers, finely chopped
1 Shallot, finely chopped
A Hunk of Butter
1tsp Dried Oregano
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method

Heat a saucepan, add your hunk of butter, crushed garlic, anchovies, capers and oregano. Stir for a few minutes until the mixture gains colour.

Add your shallots and fresh tomato and turn down the heat. You want to sweat these until soft in the already fragrant mixture.

When the shallots and tomatoes have softened, add the red wine and increase the heat. You want to boil off the alcohol content aggressively for a minute or so.

Now add your tin of Plum tomatoes and simmer for ten minutes until you've got a luscious, thick ragu-like sauce. Add any salt and pepper at the end of the cooking process.

I served mine with a fresh garden salad (dressed with olive oil), garlic ciabatta.... and the rest of that Sangiovese!

Venison with Fondant Potatoes, Chard and a Red Wine and Blackberry Jus.

This is a great, easy weekend dinner. Venison is a pricey meat but it's worth it for a once in a while treat. Perfect with a tangy, berry sauce, some fresh spring greens and potatoes. This sauce was created using freshly foraged blackberries from Richmond Park.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 2 Venison steaks
• 2 Large Desiree or King Edward Potatoes
• 250g Butter
• 1 Fresh Sprig of Thyme 
• 2 Cloves of Garlic
• 1 Shallot
• 400ml beef stock
• 200ml red wine
• 1 tsp redcurrant jelly 
• 50g blackberries
• 4 Stalks of Chard

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Add the red wine, half the beef stock, shallot, redcurrant jelly and blackberries into a pan. Reduce slowly until it's a luscious, thick sauce. Put to one side.

Peel your potatoes and cut the ends off. Cut in half width ways so they are flat ended tubes. 

Melt 150g butter with a splash of oil in a pan. When the pan is very hot, add your potatoes and brown the ends. This should take about 5-6 minutes. Add the thyme, garlic and the other half of the beef stock. Transfer the pan to the oven and cook for 15 minutes.

Melt the rest of the butter into a new pan. Make sure it's not too hot. Add your venison steaks and sear on either side. Cook the steaks on a low-medium heat for 12 minutes to achieve an medium/rare consistency. Keep coating the steaks in the melted butter to keep them moist. 

About 2 minutes before your steaks are cooked, cook your chard in boiling water for a few minutes. 

Plate the greens and potatoes, add the steak on top of your greens. Pour over your jus and enjoy.