RUNNING WILD

IN THIS EXTRACT FROM WILD DELICIOUS BY AMBER ROSE, WE CREATE A SPRING PLATTER FULL OF FRESH FLAVOURS & SIMPLE, NATURAL INGREDIENTS.

Our extract from Wild Delicious by Amber Rose pulls together a platter bursting with spring flavours

MY APPROACH TO FOOD and recipes reflects the delicate balance of life. I love wholefoods and was brought up eating from the garden, the orchard, the sea, the farm and the wild. My mum grew almost everything: vegetables, fruit, nuts, grains and seeds. Everything she couldn’t grow, she made, by nurturing the animals that gave us butter and cheese, honey, milk and meat.

The rest came from the wild. We picked wild mushrooms in autumn on cold misty mornings, and wild blackberries from the tangled brambles on forgotten hillsides. We gathered shellfish, seaweed and wild greens, totara berries and flowers, mosses and lichens, leaves and bark. My brothers hunted for wild goat and boar, deer and ducks. All of which we ate. Nothing went to waste; if there were leftovers, they were fed to either the pigs or the chickens, which in turn gave us meat and eggs. It was, and is, the cycle of life, carried out in a wholesome, respectful way.

My food journey began when I was very young, helping my mum in the gardens and in the kitchen. My brothers and I received a food education like no other. It started with the collecting of seeds, then the planting of seeds, the growing of the fruits and vegetables, the harvesting, the pickling, bottling, preserving, drying, fermenting, cooking, baking and, of course, the feasting. That isn’t where it ends, though – then there is the processing of the scraps and the leftovers, the feeding of the animals and the composting. Then the compost goes back into the garden to grow the seeds; this is the balance, the cycle, the circle, the whole story.

NUT & SEED CRACKERS WITH KALE

MAKES APPROX 20 CRACKERS

These easy-to-make grain-free crackers are a great thing to have up your sleeve. Once you’ve made them the first time, you can play around with different herbs and flavour combinations.

½ cup pumpkin seeds, finely ground into flour

½ cup sunflower seeds, finely ground into flour

1 cup almond flour

1 large organic free-range egg

½ teaspoon sea salt, plus a little extra

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, handful fresh mixed greens, e.g. kale, parsley and coriander, all stalks removed

Preheat your oven to 170°C.

Place the pumpkin-seed, sunflower and almond flours in a food processor and add the egg, salt and pepper. Pulse until a dough forms. Scrape the dough out onto a clean, dry surface and cover it.

Very finely chop the greens, then knead them gently into the dough until thoroughly combined.

Place the dough between 2 sheets of non-stick baking paper and roll it out as thinly as possible, ideally 1.5mm thick. Take off the top layer of paper and sprinkle the dough with extra sea salt and pepper.

Slide the bottom sheet of baking paper along with the dough onto a baking tray, and pop it in the oven for 12-14 minutes. When the edges are nicely golden, remove from the oven and carefully transfer to a rack to cool and crisp up. Break up into crackers before transferring to an airtight tin or jar. These are best eaten within 3 days.

CULTURED BUTTERS & TRUE BUTTERMILK

MAKES APPROX 1KG BUTTER AND 1 LITRE BUTTERMILK

Cultured butter has a unique, tangy flavour that gets more intense the longer you culture it for. Seasoned with smoked salt, spread thickly onto freshly baked sourdough, it is out of this world.

Cultured butter is butter but better – believe it or not, that is actually possible. I adore butter. It’s been given a bad rap in recent decades, but traditional cultures say otherwise. The key is to make sure that the butter you are eating comes from grass-fed cows, living a normal outdoor lifestyle; organic is best, and then biodynamic takes it one step further. In the past, before we all had fridges, people had to culture their foods to preserve them. Ordinary unsalted butter lasts only a week, at most, out of the fridge in warm weather, while cultured butter can last for years. An added bonus is that cultured butter is packed absolutely full of healthy immuneboosting probiotics and enzymes. It has a unique, tangy flavour that gets more intense the longer you culture it for. Cultured butter seasoned with smoked salt, spread thickly onto freshly baked sourdough, is out of this world.

BASIC RECIPE

2 litres cream

1 cup milk kefir or 2 tablespoons kefir grains a few ice cubes salt, to taste (optional)

YOU WILL NEED clean, dry glass jar with a well-fitting lid

To make basic cultured butter, pour the cream into the jar. Stir in the kefir, cover the jar, and set aside in a cool place (not the fridge) out of direct sunlight. Leave the cream for at least 24-48 hours, until it has set and become sort of solid – it should not pour if you tilt the jar. You can culture the cream for quite a long time, but it can become cheesy-tasting after 4 or 5 days; I culture mine for between 1 and 3 days to get the best flavour. It won’t go off, as it’s teeming with good bacteria that keep it fresh and edible.

When the cream has set, place the jar in the fridge to chill for several hours, together with a large bottle of cold water.

Next, scrape the chilled cream into a large mixing bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer) and whisk until it eventually separates into butterfat and cultured buttermilk. This may take a while!

Using a slotted spoon or clean hands, bring all the butterfat together into a large lump. Drain off the buttermilk into a lidded container and place it in the fridge. You can use it in pancakes or simply drink it – it’s delicious and exceedingly good for a healthy gut. Kids love it, too.

Fill a clean bowl with some of the chilled water, and add a little ice to help it stay cold. Hold the butterfat in the water and massage it, using your thumbs, to thin it out. Fold it over, and continue massaging and folding until most of the buttermilk has come out. Tip the water out, and repeat with fresh water until the water remains clear when you massage the butterfat. If you’ve used kefir grains, this process allows you to separate them from the butter – they’ll just gradually pop out as you massage the buttermilk out.

When you are sure that there is no more buttermilk remaining, add a few pinches of salt, and massage and fold the butter until the salt is well incorporated. Let it sit for an hour or so on the countertop, and then squeeze it to remove any moisture. The salt will help draw out any last little bit of buttermilk, which will help it to stay fresh for longer.

Divide the butter into four portions. Wrap each in baking paper and pop in the fridge. Take a lump out as you need it, and store it in the cupboard so you don’t have to use hard butter on your bread. It will keep for weeks out of the fridge, as the live culture in the kefir keeps it from spoiling.

VARIATIONS

SALTED SAFFRON BUTTER

¼ teaspoon saffron threads

1 teaspoon flaky sea salt

Stir the saffron into the cream before culturing it. Use the flaky sea salt at the end in place of the regular salt.

GREEN HERB BUTTER

2–4 tablespoons freshly chopped green herbs, such as dill, parsley, coriander or chives

Add the herbs together with the salt at the end.

NASTURTIUM BUTTER

2–4 tablespoons chopped nasturtium flowers

Add the nasturtium flowers together with the salt at the end.

HONEYED BUTTER

2–3 tablespoons raw honey salt, to taste (optional)

Beat the finished but unsalted butter with the honey until well mixed, adding a little salt if you wish.

SMOKED SALT BUTTER

1-2 teaspoons smoked salt

Smoked butter is incredibly easy to make, as long as you have a cold smoker. Simply place the butter in chunks onto a piece of baking paper, and pop into the cold smoker. Smoke for 10-15 minutes. Alternatively, you can smoke flaky salt and add it into the freshly-made butter. This method produces a slightly more subtle variation.

TWO SOFT CHEESES: CHÈVRE & FAISELLE

MAKES APPROX 700G CHÈVRE OR FAISELLE

Chèvre is surprisingly easy to make; and faiselle, which has a softer flavour and lovely textural layers that form as it sets in its moulds, is even easier!

Chèvre is one of my all-time favourite cheeses – so tangy and yet so creamy, it’s wonderful plain, or with added herbs or with cracked black and pink pepper. It’s also surprisingly easy to make; and faiselle, which has a softer flavour and lovely textural layers that form as it sets in its moulds, is even easier! You can use raw goat’s milk or pasteurised goat’s milk from the supermarket, and you can split the batch in two to make half chèvre and half faiselle (just remember to halve the salt for the chèvre). You can also use cow’s milk for faiselle. The kefir adds the necessary cultures to make this recipe work. Rennet is available at most supermarkets, though you might need to ask where it is. Look in your local pharmacy or brewing shop for a small dropper or syringe to measure it with – the amount you use does need to be accurate. You can find cheese moulds online or in some homeware stores. I was lucky enough to have a friend who is a wonderful ceramic artist make my pottery ones! You’ll also need a kitchen thermometer reading 0–100°C and, if making chèvre, 1 square metre good-quality muslin cloth.

4 litres goat’s milk

60ml milk kefir

1½ml liquid rennet, measured with a syringe or dropper

1 tablespoon good-quality fine sea salt (for the chèvre only) chopped fresh herbs, such as chives, parsley, dill,

tarragon (optional) freshly cracked pepper (optional)

Pour the milk into a large pot. Over a low heat, gently warm it to around 32°C, stirring occasionally to stop it catching on the bottom. When the milk has reached the desired temperature, turn off the heat and add the kefir, stirring gently in a figure of 8 motion to mix it in thoroughly. Don’t stir vigorously, as you could damage the milk. Add the rennet and stir again, gently but thoroughly, for about a minute.

Cover the pot and let it sit at room temperature for 24 hours. During this long fermentation period, the curd should form, shrink and sink to the bottom of the pot. Now you can turn the curds either into faiselle or chèvre. If making faiselle: Place a draining rack over or inside a roasting pan (or a similar container). Ladle the curds into cheese moulds, forming layers of curd, and transfer the moulds to the draining rack. At first the whey will drip out of the bottom quickly, so after they have settled a bit you can top them up with more curds. When the moulds are full, let them sit for at least 6 hours, or overnight, to allow the rest of the whey to drip out. When the curds hold their shape when you tip them out, the faiselle is ready. Store it in the fridge, in its moulds, with the moulds sitting in a container to catch the drips. Eat it within a few days. The longer you leave it, the drier it will become.

If making chèvre: Drape the muslin over a colander, with it hanging over the sides, and set the colander over a large bowl or pot. You could use the pot you made the curds in, to save on washing up. Ladle the curds into the lined colander and allow them to drain for at least 6 hours. You can leave them sitting over the pot, or you can hang them. Do this by gathering up the sides and corners of the muslin and tying them to a wooden spoon, then lie the spoon across your deep bowl or pot.

Just make sure that the bag of curds stays above the rising level of whey in the bowl or pot; it needs to drain freely. Another trick I use is to pull out a kitchen drawer and tie the muslin bag to that, popping a bowl well clear underneath to catch the drips.

After the 6 hours, transfer the bag to a clean bowl, open up the muslin and sprinkle the sea salt over the curds. Mix it in, thoroughly, with your wooden spoon. Gather up the corners and sides of the cloth again and hang it over a bowl for another hour or two.

After this time, if the cheese feels quite dry then it is ready to eat. It will be quite crumbly – if you want it more creamy, stir it really well to break down the clumps. You’ll need a bit of elbow grease for this – you almost need to whip it before it turns really smooth. I like it both ways. You can now eat the chèvre as is; it will be simple and sublime.

Alternatively, you can add a few chopped fresh herbs and cracked pepper, either stirring them in or pressing them into the top. You could also divide it in half and season half with herbs and keep half plain.

Keep your freshly made chèvre in the fridge; it will stay fresh and good to eat for at least 2 weeks.

SAFFRON & VANILLA HONEY

MAKES APPROX ¾ CUP

Amazing drizzled over goat’s cheese on a slice of the freshest sourdough. Also wonderful on pan-fried pears with freshly whipped cardamom cream.

¾ teaspoon saffron threads

1½ teaspoons vanilla extract (not essence)

¾ cup clear runny honey

Place the saffron threads in a small bowl, pour over the vanilla extract and allow these two ingredients to become acquainted for about an hour.

In a small saucepan, gently warm the honey over a medium to low heat. When it is warm but not hot, gently tip the saffron/ vanilla mix into the honey and stir until thoroughly combined. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the mix into a small jar or bowl, cover and allow to sit for at least an hour before using.

This dish is so colourful and beautiful, yet so simple. The beetroot is sweet, tender and crisp, and the chèvre is the exact opposite – creamy, tangy and soft.

ROASTED BONE-MARROW PÂTÉ WITH PINK PEPPER SERVES 8-10

Pâté is hands down my favourite, and I’m happy to have found a great way to eat this nutrient-dense food. Combining the liver with roasted bone marrow adds even more nutrients and packs it full of healthy fats. Served on crackers or sliced green apple, it makes a perfect snack or little starter; you could also serve it with little pickles, or fermented garlic and turmeric probiotic pickles.

2 large beef marrow bones, each approx 15cm long,

cut by the butcher into halves lengthwise

250g unsalted butter, softened knob of ghee or extra butter

3 shallots, peeled, finely chopped (or ½ smallish red onion) 3 fat cloves garlic, peeled, finely chopped

450g chicken, duck or goose liver

1 teaspoon finely chopped thyme leaves

60ml brandy

½ teaspoon ground ginger sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon pink peppercorns

Preheat your oven to 220°C.

Place the marrow bones cut side up in a large roasting pan, and pop in the oven to roast for 20 minutes. Allow the bones to cool a little, then scrape the marrow out into the pan. Transfer the marrow and the rendered fat (tallow) that’s collected in the pan to a bowl, and pop it in the fridge until needed. This can be done ahead of time. You need about 100g of this roasted bone marrow.

Place 160g of the softened butter in a small saucepan over a medium to low heat. After about 10 minutes it should have separated, with milk solids floating on top and at the bottom, and clarified butter in the middle. Use a slotted spoon to lift off the top solids, then pour the clarified butter into a clean glass or bowl, leaving the milky solids at the bottom. Discard all of the solids, and set the clear and golden clarified butter aside.

Heat a little ghee or a knob of butter in a large frying pan over a medium to low heat. Add the shallot (or red onion) and garlic, and gently fry for 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until soft and tender. Transfer the mix to a plate, wipe the pan clean, turn up the heat and then throw in the liver and thyme leaves, in a single layer in the pan. Cook for a couple of minutes on each side, until lightly coloured but still pink in the middle. When ready, carefully scoop the liver from the pan and set it aside to cool slightly.

With the pan back on the heat, carefully pour in the brandy. If you’re using a gas stovetop you can flame it until the alcohol cooks off. Simmer for a minute or so – it should reduce nicely in this time – then remove from the heat and pour into a food processor or high- speed blender. Add the shallot mix, ginger and liver, and blitz until you have a smooth puree. Lastly, add the remaining softened butter and 100g of the roasted bone marrow. Continue to blitz or pulse until the pâté is smooth, then taste and season thoroughly with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Transfer the mixture into 2 or 3 small serving dishes, leaving a bit of room at the top. Make sure that the edges of the dishes are clean above the pâté, to allow the clarified butter to make a nice seal. Sprinkle a few pink peppercorns into each dish and spoon over the clarified butter. Leave to set in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

The pâté will taste beautiful straight away, but it’s even better if the flavours are left to develop for a couple of days.

If the butter seal isn’t disturbed, it should keep as long as

2 weeks in the fridge. Serve with some sliced green apple, sourdough or some of my nut and seed crackers with kale.

FERMENTED GARLIC & TURMERIC PROBIOTIC PICKLES

MAKES 4 X 500ML JARS

Fermented vegetables are easy to make, and you can use absolutely any combination you like – this recipe is just a basic guide. Carrots and cauliflower are my favourite, with a few added spices such as a clove of garlic and some coriander seeds. Fermented radishes are good, too, as are plain carrot sticks – great for kids. Fresh turmeric can be found at farmers’ markets and Asian food stores, as well as in some supermarkets these days, but if you can’t find any, just use the dried powder or leave it out.

enough vegetables to fill your jars, for example:

1 head cauliflower, cut into bite-sized chunks, baby carrots, baby beetroot, radishes, baby turnips, fennel

1½ litres cold rainwater, spring water or filtered water

(unchlorinated)

2 tablespoons sea salt

4 cloves garlic

4 teaspoons finely grated fresh turmeric your choice of spices, for example: black peppercorns, pink

peppercorns, coriander seeds, fresh or dried bay leaves

YOU WILL NEED

4 x 500ml jars with well-fitting lids, clean and dry (no need to sterilise)

As necessary, wash, peel and remove any dirt or dead leaves from the vegetables, then cut into halves or slices. There is no need to peel if you are using tender baby veg. Pour the water into a large jug, add the salt and stir to dissolve.

Fill the jars with the vegetables, packing them in quite tightly, and add 1 garlic clove and 1 teaspoon of finely grated turmeric to each jar as you go, along with any or all of the recommended spices. You don’t need much spice – ½ teaspoon per jar (or 1–2 bay leaves) would be plenty. Fill the jars with the salt water, fit a lid to each jar, and then leave to ferment on a shelf at room temperature for at least 2 weeks.

You will need to ‘burp’ the jars each day for the first 7-10 days, to release any pressure that might build up as the vegetables ferment and the liquid fizzes. The smell that is released is not too pleasant to start with, but I promise you the pickles will end up tasting amazing. When the jars aren’t fizzing so much, you can leave them alone for the remainder of the 2 weeks. When ready, pop the jars into the fridge to chill. Keep in the fridge and eat within 6 months.