Cornwall Living
A spoonful of wonderful
A collaboration between Rodda’s and Cornwall-based Chef Emily Scott, results in some tasty recipes for your Easter celebration.
Rodda’s sources its milk from over 40 farming families located within a 30-mile radius of its Creamery in Scorrier, the foundation of all Rodda’s products for the past 130 years. Famous for its exceptionally delicious, Cornish clotted cream, Rodda’s has teamed up with Chef Emily Scott to create some wonderful dishes to celebrate Easter, perfect for sharing with friends and family. Using fresh seasonal ingredients, these dishes are designed to bring people together with food, creating memorable moments which reflect the seasons.
“What better way to celebrate with loved ones over the Easter weekend than enjoying these special dishes bursting full of springtime flavours, which have been beautifully created by Chef Emily Scott,” says Nicholas Rodda, Managing Director of Rodda’s. “Emily’s sumptuous dishes are traditional yet timeless and show exciting new ways in which our Rodda’s Cornish clotted cream can be enjoyed. These special recipes are perfect for sharing and can be passed down through generations, helping to recreate those moments that matter year after year.”
Just imagine tucking in to a slow-roasted lamb shoulder with paprika, garlic and thyme served with gratin of dauphinois with wild garlic and Rodda’s Cornish clotted cream! Followed by a Rodda’s Cornish clotted cream vanilla seeded panna cotta with roasted rhubarb, served with Cornish fairings sandwiched with ice cream made from Rodda’s clotted cream, and you have an Easter feast fit for a king!
“It is wonderful to be working with Rodda’s again and being inspired to cook and create with their amazing Cornish clotted cream,” adds Emily. “Spring is one of my favourite times of year, from the first snow drops, to the pretty yellow primroses that signal that the long Cornish winter is coming to an end. Lighter days and new energy – a green light for so many ingredients that I am happy to see again. Sea beets appear, wild garlic is found on a woodland walk, blossom blooms and seas of bluebells make their annua display. Enjoy the abundance of wonderfulness before the mellow, golden summer arrives. Cook for the ones you love and be inspired by my recipes.”
Online exclusive recipes
Rodda’s Cornish clotted cream vanilla seeded panna cotta with roasted rhubarb, served with Cornish fairings sandwiched with ice cream made from Rodda’s clotted cream.
This recipe is one of my favourites. Rich and creamy yet with a lightness to it that is unexpected. The perfect wobble is necessary and the vanilla seeds against the white of the background is so pretty. The panna cotta is so delicious, cool and soft that I think the sweet, sharp orangey rhubarb is the perfect accompaniment. Rhubarb and ginger are a wonderful pairing and fairings sandwiched together with ice cream made with Rodda’s clotted cream has all the nostalgia and magic of time spent in Cornwall. This pudding would work also with strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, and plums.
Spiced ginger biscuit with a moreish crunch. Cornish fairings, a holiday in Cornwall would not be the same without them. Spiced crunchy biscuits, I have added desiccated coconut to mine which gives a little more texture to the biscuit. Eaten straight from the oven they are chewy and if you allow them to cool, perfect for dunking in a strong cup of tea or sandwiched with ice cream for all the nostalgia.
Ingredients – rhubarb compote
1kg rhubarb
zest and juice of 2 oranges
1 vanilla pod, split lengthways,
125g caster sugar
Ingredients – panna cotta Serves 8
700g Rodda’s Cornish clotted cream
250ml Rodda’s Cornish milk
1 vanilla pod (bean), split
2 1⁄2 sheets of gelatine, soaked
150g icing sugar, sifted
Ingredients – Cornish fairing Serves 20
60g Rodda’s Cornish butter, softened
125g plain flour
50g desiccated (dried shredded) coconut, plus extra for dusting
2 level teaspoons baking powder
1 + 3/4 level teaspoons bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1 tablespoon ground ginger
60g caster sugar
75g golden syrup
Ingredients – Rodda’s clotted cream ice cream
1 can sweetened condensed milk
600g Rodda’s clotted cream
1 vanilla pod, scrape vanilla from the pod
Method – rhubarb compote
Preheat the oven to 120°C (100°Cfan/225°F). Wash the rhubarb and cut into uniformly sized pieces and arrange in a baking dish. Sprinkle the orange zest and juice, the vanilla pod and the sugar over the rhubarb. Gently cook in the oven for 45 minutes until the rhubarb is tender but still holding its shape. Allow to cool before serving. This compote will last up to 2 weeks in the fridge or 6 months in the freezer.
Method – panna cotta
Immerse the gelatine in a small bowl of cold water and leave to soak. For the panna cotta, add half of the Rodda’s clotted cream, all of the milk and the split vanilla pod into a heavy-based pan and slowly bring to just under a simmer. Do not boil the water, just warm enough to allow the gelatine to dissolve in the Rodda’s clotted cream (if you heat the clotted cream too much it will separate when setting). Remove from the heat and leave to infuse for 10 minutes. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining Rodda’s clotted cream with the icing sugar. Return the infused clotted cream mixture to the heat to warm through. Remove the gelatine from the water, squeezing out any excess liquid, then add to the warmed clotted cream and stir to dissolve. Pour the infused mixture through a fine sieve onto the cold clotted cream and icing sugar and stir well. Pour into small espresso mugs, then chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or overnight. To serve, top with the rhubarb compote, an extra spoonful of Rodda’s clotted cream and eat with the Cornish fairings sandwiched with the clotted cream ice cream.
Note: Another variation is to pour the panna cotta mixture into a cooked sweet pastry case, allow to set and then arrange the rhubarb on top. The light, biscuity pastry against the creamy cooked vanilla is glorious.
Method – Cornish Fairings
Preheat the oven to 150°C (130°C fan/300°F)
Add the softened Rodda’s Cornish butter to a mixing bowl, then add all the dry ingredients except the sugar and mix together. Stir in the sugar and golden syrup and combine to form a dough. This can be frozen at the stage, for another day.
Roll pieces of the mixture into 16g balls (about the size of a large grape) and place on a baking sheet. Gently press your thumb in the middle of each ball of dough. Make sure they are spaced well apart as they will spread out during cooking. Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes. Remove and let cool.
For the ice cream sandwiches allow the ice cream to soften ever so slightly, place a spoonful in the middle of a biscuit and then place another biscuit on top, gently squeeze together and smooth around the sides. Repeat with other biscuits. Place back in the freezer until ready to serve.
Method – Rodda’s clotted cream ice cream
Put the condensed milk, Rodda’s clotted cream and vanilla into a large bowl. Beat with an electric whisk until thick. Place into a loaf tin, cover with cling film and freeze until frozen. I can never resist giving it a stir every 30 minutes (no ice cream maker required).
Slow roasted lamb shoulder with paprika, garlic and thyme served with gratin of dauphinois with wild garlic and Rodda’s Cornish clotted cream
I prepare the lamb with garlic, paprika, lemon and thyme the night before, this marinates the lamb which gives it a delicious flavour. Lamb shoulder has more fat, which in turn gives more flavour, but a leg of lamb works perfectly well too. I love to serve the lamb to the table; it makes a wonderful centre piece to carve in front of everyone.
Gratin of dauphinois is all that is comforting. Layers of potato interleaved with Rodda’s Cornish clotted cream, a hint of wild garlic and nutmeg. A dish that does nothing more than bring you together with people you love. Wild about wild garlic, to me it is an essential Springtime ingredient foraged from woodlands. It has a subtle fragrance and works in pesto, risottos, pasta, and here in this delicious dauphinois. Spinach is a perfect replacement if you are unable to find wild garlic.
For the lamb (Serves 6-8)
Ingredients
1 whole garlic bulb
100g thyme leaves
2 tbsp paprika
4 tbsp olive oil
50g Rodda’s Cornish butter
2.25kg whole shoulder of lamb,
1 lemon skin on,
250ml water,
Cornish sea salt, freshly ground pepper
Broccoli spears and minted peas to serve
Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C (140°fan/320°F)
Peel half the garlic cloves, then lightly crush them in a pestle and mortar with some sea salt. Mix in the thyme leaves and paprika. Gradually add the olive oil until you have a thick paste. Melt the butter in a small pan and add it to the paste.
Put the lamb in a deep sided roasting tin and rub it all over with the spice paste, then season with sea salt and black pepper. Add whole sprigs of thyme, the remaining garlic cloves still in their skins and place the lemon halves beside the lamb.
Cook uncovered in the oven for 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and pour in the water and use a ladle to baste the lamb with the cooking juices. Cover the lamb with foil and return to the oven for 3 hours, basting the meat every 30 minutes. For the last 15 mins remove the foil and if the juices are evaporating quickly, add a little more water.
Remove from the oven, cover in foil and allow to rest for at least 15 minutes before carving. Serve with creamy dauphinois, broccoli and minted peas.
For the dauphinois (Serves 8)
Ingredients
1.2kg waxy potatoes, peeled (Desirée potatoes work well)
100g wild garlic, stalks removed (raw baby spinach is a perfect alternative)
300g Rodda’s Cornish clotted cream
150ml crème fraiche or Rodda’s double cream
900ml Rodda’s Cornish whole milk
2 bay leaves
1 whole nutmeg
1 clove garlic, cut lengthways
50g Rodda’s Cornish butter
Cornish sea salt, freshly ground black pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C (140°C fan/320°F)
Butter the sides and bottom of an oven to tableware dish. Wash the wild garlic leaves and set aside, if flowering, reserve the flowers for decoration (if wild garlic out of season spinach is a perfect replacement) Place the Rodda’s clotted cream and crème fraiche in a bowl and stir together until combined, add a pinch of sea salt, black pepper and a grating of nutmeg.
Peel the potatoes. Cut the potatoes into 2 1⁄2 cm slices and place in a heavy bottom pan and cover with milk, add a good pinch of sea salt, and grating of nutmeg, 2 bay leaves and one garlic clove peeled and cut lengthways, bring the milk to the boil and cook the sliced potatoes for 10 minutes (be careful the bottom of the pan can catch). Discard the milk, garlic and bay leaves and carefully layer the potatoes in the dish alternately with the wild garlic. Making sure the top and bottom layer is covered by potato. Season each layer with sea salt and pepper.
Now pour the Rodda’s clotted cream mixture over the potatoes making sure the top layer is just covered. Finish the top off with some grated nutmeg. Bake in the middle of the oven for 1 hour at 160°C (140°C fan/320°F) or until golden brown and a table knife passes through with ease.
Allow to rest. Delicious to eat with a leafy salad on its own or served as an accompaniment with my slow roasted lamb.
Emily’s note: A mandolin is a useful tool here to slice your potatoes (just be careful). If you want to enrich it even more, grate 100g of Comté or Gruyere over the top before baking.
RODDA’S
