Madeira - more than just cake

I've had a holiday. In Madeira. My usual three aims of a trip abroad are meandering round cities exploring museums, churches and other places of interest, hiking and walking, and food. Ah, yes, food.

I was mostly disappointed in Madeira's culinary offering (the eponymous sponge cake is not actually from Madeira, by the way). I had quite a few meals best summed up as meh, not least because many local dishes were not very interesting and side vegetables were generally cooked to disintegration point.

The local scabbard appears abundantly on menus in a variety of styles. It's mostly served deep-fried in batter and served with banana, or cooked in a sauce with tropical fruit. The latter was how I tried it (no pic) - the fish was mushy and overcooked and hard to find under the creamy, gloopy sauce. I couldn't identify the fruit - it might have been mango, or apricot, or papaya. Who knows?

The other famous local dish is espetada - cubes of fillet beef barbecued on a laurel stick.

The first time I tried it, the meat was overcooked and sinuous. But then I found a decent restaurant (O Portao in Funchal) that served this - beautiful tender, rare beef, a chef sauce to a secret (I asked!) recipe that really zinged and crunchy veg. A win.

I also had the grilled limpets at O Portao, cooked with butter and garlic. Limpets also appear in risottos in Madeira, as with the fresh tuna I had in Seixal - if you like mussels, you'll like them.

I also tried the hunter's rabbit stew at O Portao - another winner. A whole small rabbit jointed and cooked in a piquant tomato-based sauce with rice, cabbage and veg. This was possibly my favourite meal, although the huge pub lunch of beef in Madeira sauce with chips was also pretty damn good.

Out and about, the best street food I had was in the hills above Monte, where a cook was baking flatbreads stuffed with chouriço on a metal sheet over a gas flame. Slathered in freshly made garlic butter, they made a filling snack for just €2.

The local poncha was disappointing - while called "rum", the alcohol content is a mere 25% and it's so sweet you don't feel like you're getting a hit of anything.

Much more interesting was my exploration of Madeira wine. A trip to Blandy's was on the cards - in 45 minutes I'd learned all about grape varietals, fermentation processes (very different to sherry) and styles. I'd always found Madeira wine to be too sweet so I was pleased to discover that the style made with the sercial grape is really dry.

And so to the real Madeira cake - the bolo de mel (literally honey bread), made from molasses from the sugar cane that grows abundantly on the island plus honey and fruits. Light, spicy and crumbly, it knocks spots off its imposter.

Beef rendang

I've rejoined the #foodiepenpals gang after a break last autumn. I was very happy with my matches this month and overjoyed when I learned my parcel would be arriving from the Netherlands courtesy of Dutch food blogger Eefke. I lived in Amsterdam for 9 years and while my spoken Dutch never rose much beyond basic I acquired a vast love for Indonesian food, which is as widespread in the Netherlands as Indian food is here (going out for a rijstafel [literally rice table] is the Dutch equivalent of us going for a curry).

I asked Eefke if I might have some Indonesian ingredients as a treat as it's extremely difficult to find them in the UK. I also asked her not to send me any stroopwafels or speculaas, as I'm not keen on Dutch biscuits. Her reply made me laugh - she was relieved not to have to send these as that was what she usually sent to other penpals.

The parcel I was sending was to another Mancunian, Kelly, who cooks at Earth Café in the city's Northern Quarter, so I offered to deliver it in person. It's always lovely to meet other foodie penpals, the more so as it's a rare opportunity. She gave me a free slice of the café's signature beetroot cake in return and it was really tasty - beets are quite sweet so lend themselves well to cakes and desserts.

My Dutch box, when it arrived, was wrapped in this gorgeous paper - all windmills and tulips in a typical blue and white Delftware design, hinting at the treasures inside.

Well, I was not at all disappointed! It was crammed with lovely Indonesian spice pastes, a crushed peanuts and spice mix, and a satay sauce mix. There was also a bag of emping melindjo - similar to prawn crackers, but made with the ground-up seed of a native plant (the rest of it is eaten as vegetable in Indonesia) and sprinkled on the side of a plate. One of the spice pastes was for rendang, so that was the first one I cooked.

Rendang is a hot, spicy dish of beef or sometimes chicken, cooked very slowly in coconut milk. You can't hurry a rendang - it needs a lot of time even though the prepping is very quick. The reward is a deeply flavoursome and aromatic curry with a sauce so thick you could probably plaster your walls with it.

Beef rendang

What you need:
300g lean stewing steak, in bite-size cubes
1 onion
200ml coconut milk
2 shallots, roughly chopped
1.5cm fresh ginger
1.5cm galangal
3 garlic cloves
1 stalk fresh lemongrass
2 small fresh chillies, deseeded
1/2 tsp turmeric
(OR 50ml readymade rendang spice paste)

What to do: 
Make the rendang paste: Peel the shallots, ginger, galangal and garlic. Take off the tough outer layer of the lemongrass. Roughly chop all these plus the chillies then put into a food processor with the turmeric and blitz until you have a paste. You may need to add a little vegetable oil to help it on its way. Use a tablespoon of paste to marinate the meat in a bowl - use your hands to coat the beef thoroughly. Leave it at least an hour, overnight in the fridge if possible.

Chop the onion very finely and fry it gently in a little vegetable oil until it starts to soften. Turn up the heat and add the meat, scraping all the marinade out of the bowl and letting it brown. Pour in the coconut milk then turn the heat down again and let it simmer very gently for 2-3 hours until all the liquid has evaporated and you are left with a very thick sauce coating the meat, which should be just about falling apart.

Serve with some plain basmati rice and a topping of Indonesian-style crispy onions.*

Cook's tips: 
If you can't get hold of galangal, just double the amount of ginger. Add an extra chilli if you want a lot of heat although my view is that rendang should be hot enough that you need a hanky for when your nose starts to run but it shouldn't be so hot that your mouth starts to really tingle. Leftover paste will keep in the fridge for a few days in an airtight jar but it also freezes well.

Crispy onions garnish just about every Indonesian dish that hasn't been topped off with satay or gado-gado sauce. You can buy them here in the supermarkets but they are really easy to make and won't have the additives that bought ones contain. Peel, quarter and slice an onion. Toss the onion first in a little beaten egg then some plain flour. Heat a couple of inches of vegetable oil in a deep pan and fry the onion in batches until deep golden brown. Drain well on kitchen paper and leave to cool.

You can make the onions while the rendang cooks. I don't advise using a deep-fryer if you have one as the oil gets really dirty. You can strain off the leftovers into a jar very carefully, leaving all the sediment and bits behind - it's fine for frying veg or meat in the first stage of cooking a dish.

Leftover crispy onions can be stored in an airtight container - they make a great topping for salads. If they go a bit limp, spread them on a baking sheet and reheat for 10 minutes maximum at 200C.

Meat loaf

Meat loaf is a British classic and was a childhood favourite for me. It's ridiculously easy to make and easy enough to make a small one. This makes about two portions - cold, the leftovers make a good sandwich filling for next day's lunch, but it also reheats well and you could even freeze it in slices.

What you need: 
300g minced beef
1 egg
2-3 tbsp fresh breadcrumbs
1 small onion
A pinch of dried mixed herbs
Salt and pepper
1 dsp tomato purée

What to do:
Heat the oven to 200C and line a baking tray with some tin foil. 

Grate the onion to a pulp using the coarse side of a grater, or chop very, very finely. Put it into a large mixing bowl with the mince and 2 tbsp of breadcrumbs. Season, add the herbs and tomato purée. Beat the egg and add a third of it to the mixing bowl. Use your hands to work all the ingredients together. If it looks too dry, add a little more egg. If too sloppy, add more breadcrumbs. You want a firm texture that you can shape, like burger patties. Form the meat into a brick, put it on the baking tray and bake for 30 minutes.

Cook's tips: 
This is one dish where I choose fatty mince rather than lean. The fat keeps the loaf moist while cooking. Too lean a cut and the loaf will be very dry.

I like to have a good heap of buttery mash on the side, plus some gravy - in my kitchen that usually means Bisto. I always make enough for leftovers so I can make fishcakes or bubble and squeak.

The greens on the side in the photo are kale chips. They are very easy to make - line a baking tray with tin foil, tip in the chopped kale and grind some sea salt over them.Drizzle with a little olive oil and toss with your hands to make sure all the leaves are coated. Bake in a hot oven (180-200C) for 8-10 minutes until crispy. For this recipe, that means I just pop in them alongside the meat loaf for the last 10 minutes.

If you end up with leftover beaten egg, it'll keep in a sealed container in the fridge for 2-3 days. You can use it up in an omelette or scrambled eggs, egg wash for pastry or even a cake if you're baking (an extra third or half an egg won't make any real difference to a recipe).

Pulled beef

Pulled meat is surprisingly easy to make - all you need is time to shove a roasting joint in the oven and leave it cook really slowly on a low heat for anywhere between 3 and 5 hours, until it literally falls apart when you jab a fork into it. The "pulled" refers to the strands of meat that are produced when the muscle breaks down completely.

Pork is typically used for pulling - this recipe for pulled pork is fairly standard in the ingredients it uses. I prefer to make a massive bed of sliced onions to put the meat on and I don't add extra liquid as the onions generate enough. What is important is a low oven of about 140C and ensuring the roasting tin is sealed with a tin foil cover to keep the juices in.

However, you can pull beef too. The best joint to use is brisket - it's traditionally pot-roasted as it needs a lot of cooking. And I do mean a lot - even after 3 hours, brisket will still be tough. On the plus side, it's ridiculously cheap. A slab of about 750g will rarely cost more than a fiver and it will produce 4 decent portions.

What you need: 
750g joint of brisket
Cooking liquid
Shallots
Seasoning

What to do: 
Heat the oven to 140C. Put the brisket in a roasting tin with a handful of unpeeled baby shallots. Season the meat and pour in about an inch of liquid. Cover with tin foil, making sure it's sealed tight round the edges of the tin. Pop it in the oven.

Check it after 3 hours - the meat won't be nearly ready but you may need to top up the cooking liquid. And don't be alarmed by the meat shrinking.

Put the meat back in the oven for at least another hour - I find 4.5 to 5 hours is about right. It's ready when you can shred it with a pair of forks.

Lift it out carefully on to a plate to shred it, then enjoy a portion with the vegetable and carbs of your choice. You can eat the shallots too if you prise the flesh out of the skins.

Cook's tips:
Choose a piece of brisket that has plenty of fat round the edge and also marbled through the meat - it helps to keep the meat moist and tender as it cooks.

If you use stock for the cooking liquid go for something not too salty. I usually make up some Marigold vegetable bouillon, but there's no reason not to use beef stock. Or you could throw in some cooking wine. If you use plain water, then toss in a couple of bay leaves and a bouquet garni, plus a few sprigs of fresh thyme if you have some.

What to do with the leftovers? From a 750g joint, you should have enough for 3 more meals. Pulled brisket is great in a sandwich for lunch with some horseradish sauce. It's also excellent in a fajita and as the meat in a small cottage pie (make enough mash for leftovers if you're having it with the brisket straight out of the oven). Cheap eats for half a week...

Brisket will dry out quickly after cooking - cover the plate of leftover shreds with some tin foil to keep the juices in as it cools. Then split it into portions and pack it into containers - the meat will keep 3 days in the fridge and it also freezes well. I usually add a little of the cooking liquid to each portion for extra moisture at this stage.