At Christmas time, when there is a surfeit of rich flavours and complicated dishes, sometimes all you want is simple, honest food.  For that reason, Robin Tarver, head chef at the Royal Exchange, shares his ultimate recipe for a British classic – shepherd’s pie – and Bruce Wilson, head chef at Paternoster Chop House, dishes up his grandma’s rice pudding.

What makes one food more comforting than another? It isn’t only about depth of flavour – in fact, rice pudding’s comfort lies in its very blandness. A comforting recipe needs to be soothing in its simplicity, while the texture needs also to invite easy eating – no one would ever call cracking lobster claws comforting. Both these recipes fit the bill in being one-pot dishes that result in meltingly soft lamb in one and oozing creaminess in the other.

Choose your lamb carefully…

This is all about taking time and care over familiar dishes that then genuinely surprise with their luxury. Of course, experiences of shepherd’s pie can range from boring to downright horrible and greasy, but Robin’s recipe shuns ready-bought mince to favour high-quality lamb shoulder, which is diced and cooked slowly until tender with herbs, red wine and winter vegetables.

“What makes this dish a British classic is the combination of excellent quality lamb, reared in the UK, one of our staple crops – potatoes – and store-cupboard essentials,” says Robin. “The slow cooking of the lamb lends the dish to a chilly wintry afternoon, when you can put the dish on to cook and rest up for a couple of hours with the Sunday papers or go for a bracing walk, then settle down for a hearty, warming meal.”

Shepherd’s Pie by Robin Tarver at the Royal Exchange Grand Café

(Note: The flavours in the meat will continue to develop overnight so this recipe is even better re-heated the next day.)

Ingredients:

1 lamb shoulder (boned and cut into 2-3cm dice)
salt and pepper
glug of olive oil
5 sticks of celery, diced small
2 onions, diced small
3 leeks, diced small
8 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
half a bottle good-quality red wine
2 x 400g tins good-quality chopped tomatoes
4 bay leaves
1 bunch of rosemary (well tied with string)
2 lamb stock cubes
1 pint water

Method:

Season the diced lamb. Heat olive oil in a heavy-based oven-proof pan and fry the diced lamb until nicely coloured then remove from the pan and drain away any excess fat.

Fry the diced vegetables in the same pot (without washing to retain the lamb flavour). When lightly coloured add the red wine and reduce by half.

Add the chopped tomatoes, stock cubes, bay leaves and rosemary.

Return the lamb to the pan and pour in enough water to almost cover it (approx one pint depending on the size of your lamb shoulder). Cook in the oven at 150ºC for about three hours or until very tender.

Place the mixture into pie dishes/dish and top with mashed potato and some cheddar or Gruyère cheese then cook at 180ºC until golden brown.

Memories and lashings of cream…

There are rice puddings and then there are rice puddings. This recipe falls into that latter category by virtue of its out-and-out luxuriant creaminess. It also has a wonderfully simple method, which you can rope your kids in to help with.

“Rice pudding is a dish very close to my heart; my mum was brought up on it and she has passed it on to me,” says Bruce. “I have grown up on it and loved it. Now my children make this rice pudding with me and love it. These are the sorts of memories that make up a memorable dish; not just that it tastes good, but that you associate it with a special time in your life and that makes it comforting.”

Rice pudding by Bruce Wilson at the Paternoster Chop House

“First you must find a standard-sized coffee mug, you know, your morning coffee mug, not the massive ones you get in Starbucks. This is your measuring vessel and if you need to make more you just find a bigger mug.” Bruce

Ingredients: (enough for 4-6 hungry adults)

½ mug pudding rice
½ mug golden caster sugar
½ mug double cream
3½ mugs whole milk
seeds scraped from 2 vanilla pods or ½ capful vanilla extract

To finish:

4 large good-quality, free-range egg yolks
100ml double cream

Method:

Preheat the oven to 140ºC and prepare a circle of baking parchment to fit the circumference of an ovenproof pan. [A skillet or wide shallow saucepan is best for this.]

Put all of the ingredients (apart from the eggs and cream ‘to finish’) into the pan. Heat slowly, stirring continuously until the mixture comes to the boil and has thickened slightly.

Place your circle of baking parchment over the pan and cook in the oven for one hour.

Remove from the oven and leave to stand for 20-25 minutes – this will allow the rice to absorb more liquid. Whisk the eggs and cream together and fold into the rice pudding. Allow to stand for a further two minutes then serve with lashings of fruit jam and more double cream.

Further information:

Robin Tarver's shepherd's pie is on the menu now at The Royal Exchange Grand Café and Bruce Wilson's rice pudding is served up at Paternoster Chop House.