I was getting a bit sad as I was buffeted along by the crowds of pushers and shovers that descended upon Melton Mowbray Victorian market yesterday.  Even a cup of overpriced mulled wine failed to cheer my spirits (possibly due to the 10minute wait for half a cup of gritty, dodgy drink).  Then from the corner of my eye I spotted the Robert Bowring stall, and on it a large “pickled Ox tongue” and my mood was instantly lifted!

The Butcher had already cured the tongue so after a few rinses I popped it in trusty slow cooker with a quartered onion,couple of carrots, garlic cloves, celery sticks, peppercorns , bay leaves and thyme and left it to work its magic.

Whilst the tongue was gently poaching I raided the herb garden for the green sauce. Lots of parsley, some fennel fronds, some mint and as my garden is still full of nasturtiums a good handful of leaves went in for a bit of extra punch.  4 cloves of grated garlic, a tin of anchovies in oil and a tablespoon of capers were added and everything pounded together with zest and juice of an unwaxed lemon, a good couple of glugs of olive oil and salt and pepper completed the sauce.

I am also addicted to celeriac remoulade at the moment so made a batch of that too. Just use a V-Slicer to turn a head of peeled celeriac into matchsticks and combine with mayonnaise, your favourite mustard (I go for a mixture of hot english and a mellower Djion), salt and pepper and chopped parsley.

Once poached the skin was peeled off and the tongue thinly sliced and served on a bed of Green Lentils. I ended up stirring a spoon of the green sauce through the Lentils and eating the tongue with the remoulade, that combination was just so good!

My partner's plate (flower just to annoy him)