HOT CROSS BUNS

Celebrating Easter

Glorious spiced fragrant hot cross buns, lightly toasted and topped with lashings of Cornish creamy butter, a wonderful way to celebrate Easter.  I have never made hot cross buns before but was surprised how easy and un-complicated these were, I love working with dough and I knew these were going to be good as the dough was gorgeous and light to handle.  These only take 10 minutes to make and 3 x 1hr proves I followed/tweaked a little from Paul Hollywood's good food recipe

10 minutes hands on / 3 x 1 hour proves / Baking 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

(makes 15)

500g 00 flour

10g yeast

1 tsp salt

100g caster sugar

300ml warm milk

80g butter melted

1 egg beaten

1 apple grated

Zest of one orange

1 tsp heaped ground cinnamon

100g dried fruit

25g mixed peel

100g plain flour

water

1 tbsp apricot jam

Place the flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a mixing bowl, warm the milk and butter together until the butter has melted.  Make a well in the centre of the flour and add the warm milk and the beaten egg, using a wooden spoon bring the mixture together to form a dough and knead for 5 minutes.  Place in a oiled bowl and cover the top with oiled clingfilm, not touching the dough, place in a warm place to prove for 1 hour.  Take the dried fruit and place in a bowl, add a fragrant teabag and pour over some hot water to soften the fruit.

Once 1 hour up mix in the cinnamon, apple, orange zest, mixed peel and dried fruit, (drain off the tea) and leave to prove again for another hour, the dough will be slightly wet and sticky that is good.

After this second prove, dust your worktop with flour and tip out your dough, divide the dough into 15 equal ish size balls and place on a greased baking tray with space around each bun to allow room for expansion, cover with oiled clingfilm loosely and again prove for another hour.

Now to apply your cross, mix the flour with some water to make a thick paste, fill a pipping bag and pipe on the cross.  Now they are ready to bake, 200 degrees for 18-20 minutes.  Once cooked glaze the top with some warm apricot jam, saw in half and pop under the grill to toast, load with way to much butter and I like to pop back under the grill for 30 seconds again to get the mound of butter melting from the top as the bottom will have soaked into the bun making these the best ever hot cross buns, eat immediately.

WILD ROASTED GUINEA FOWL PHEASANT PARTRIDGE WITH LYONNAISE POTATOES

Three Easy Sauces

Red wine and redcurrant reduction

Cider and pan juices with apple jelly

Black cherry and red wine reduction

Roasting old fashioned birds brings a wonderful sense of theatrics to the family dinner table it feels like a medieval feast, what’s more these birds are wild and taste how our food originally tasted before mass farming.  Guinea fowl is said to tastes how chicken used to and is truly a magnificent roast, very fresh and very tasty juicy meat, the same went for both the partridge and pheasant they were divine.  Simple to roast and on the table within 30-40 minutes.

Serve with a layered tray bake of Lyonnaise potatoes layered with caramelised onions and chicken stock.

Prep time 10 minutes / Cooking time 30-40 minutes

Lyonnaise potatoes 1 hour

Roasting Times

Or until thickest thigh juices run clear when pierced around 77-82 C / 180 F

Guinea Fowl 30-40 minutes

Pheasant 30-40 minutes 

Partridge 20-25 minutes

My Guinea fowl (2kg) and pheasant took 40 minutes and the partridge took 25 minutes, timings will be on the lower times if smaller birds.

Ingredients 

30ml olive oil (10ml each bird)

1 Guinea Fowl

1 Pheasant

1 Partridge 

Sea salt and black pepper

Mirepoix Ingredients 

2 carrots roughly chopped

2 onions not peeled and cut in quarters

1 rib celery roughly chopped

2 tbsp schmaltz (chicken fat)

4 sprigs fresh thyme

2 sage leaves

1 whole bulb garlic cut in half

6 juniper berries

6 black peppercorns

300ml water

Lyonnaise Potatoes 

1 kg Yukon gold or Maris pipers thinly sliced

2 yellow onions finely sliced

3 sprigs thyme finely diced

100g grated Parmesan + 50g for finishing

50g butter melted

1 ltr chicken stock

Sea salt and black pepper

Lyonnaise Method

Pre heat oven 220C / 450F.  Place the onions in a large pan with olive oil and butter and caramelise on a medium heat for 15 minutes, next get the Lyonnaise potatoes prepped and in the oven by placing all the sliced potatoes in a large mixing bowl, add the Parmesan, thyme, melted butter, caramelised onions and season to taste with salt and pepper, toss well and then layer in a deep roasting pan, pour in the chicken stock until level with the top layer of potatoes, sprinkle the reserved Parmesan over the top and place in the oven, turn the heat down to 200C / 400F and bake for 1 hour until fork tender.  Meanwhile at 20 minutes in…

Method for the Birds

Rub the olive oil over the three birds and season with salt and pepper, in a large roasting tin add all the mirepoix ingredients and toss in the schmaltz then place the Guinea fowl and Pheasant on top, place in the oven, after 15 minutes place the partridge in to roast, once cooked remove from the oven and transfer to a warm plate, cover in foil and leave to rest while you make the sauces.

Serve the birds whole on a large platter or chopping board and the whole tray of Lyonnaise for every one to dig in at the table.  I also serve broccoli and the creamy garlic (squeezed out of their skins) and carrots from the mirepoix.

Roasting Pan Sauces

Strain off all the cooking juices in to a jug and make a note of how many mls and divide by three, ie 600ml / 200ml for each sauce.

Red Wine Reduction

150ml red wine

4 tsp redcurrant jelly

1 tsp butter

Stock

Place the red wine in a pan and reduce by half, add the stock and reduce by one third, add the redcurrant jelly and butter, stir to combine, reduce further if needed then taste and season.

Cider and Apple Jelly

100ml cider

Stock

1 tbsp apple jelly

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 sprig thyme chopped

Place the cider and stock in a pan and reduce by one third, add the apple jelly, Dijon and thyme, reduce further if needed and season if needed.

Black Cherry Reduction 

150ml red wine

2 tbsp black cherry jam

Stock

Place red wine in a pan and reduce by half, add the stock and reduce by one third, add in the black cherry jam, reduce further if needed.