Hal Al

2011, Chef Kath

INGREDIENTS:

• cumberland sausages
• soya milk, sweetened
• apples
• red wine, Spanish
• value baked beans

METHOD:

Soya milk should be added carefully to hot red wine so as to carefully control the curdling process

Open the packet of sausages carefully with kitchen scissors and place the contents on a chopping board. Pick the straightest sausage and set it to one side. Then chop the remaining sausages into small spheres. Put a frying pan on the heat, and put the sausage and balls in to cook. Turn these occasionally to stop them burning too much. While the sausages are cooking, take one of the apples. Cut the top off, and then cut the base section into a decorative flower, scooping out the centre where the core would be to form a bowl. Do not cut through the bottom of the apple. Cut serrations in the edge of the apple cup to make the petals of the flower. Then take the top of the apple and decorate this with similar serrations, forming a lid to the apple flower bowl. Retain the stalk, which will provide a handle for the bowl. Cut a second apple into thin crescent-shaped slices. Colour the apple slices and the apple flower bowl lid by soaking them in a little red wine. Set all the cut apple pieces aside until the final preparation stages.

Pour the rest of the red wine into a small saucepan and put on the the heat. Divide the soya milk into two parts, gradually adding one of these to the wine, stirring gently so as to control the curdling process until the mixture achieves a thickened cconsistency and vibrant, yet blotchy, pink colour. Bring to the boil and then stir in the baked beans. Turn the heat down and allow the mixture to gently simmer while it thickens. Remove the sausages from the pan and aloow to cool slightly so that they can be handled easily.

Chef Al judges Hal Al, while Chef Kirsty watches on in case first aid is required. Chef Al's expression is even more glazed than the apple flower bowl

Take a plain serving plate and using the set-aside section of the soya milk, pour a thick pool of this carefully onto the plate. Arrange the sausage pieces in the liquid to resemble a palm tree shape, using the complete sausage as the palm tree trunk, representative of the man-made palm islands off the Dubai coastline. Place two apple slices at the top of the tree shape. Place the apple flower bowl in the centre of a second serving dish and carefully fill with the baked bean mixture, allowing the liquid to glaze the apple surface and seep over the sides and into the base of the dish. Stand the apple flower lid on top, a bit like an umbrella.

Serve while giving an explanation of the man-made geography of the Dubai coastline.

Note: despite its name, this dish is not strictly halal, mainly because of its substantial pork sausage content. In no way has Hal Al been endorsed as suitable for consumption in accordance with Islamic tradition. Ready, Steady, Chuck! apologises for any disappointment or inconvenience that this may cause.

Al: "Although I feel honoured to have one of the other Chefs name a dish after me, I can't help feeling disappointed that it's this one."

Kirsty: "It tastes a bit like sangria baked beans."

Andy: "It looks like it's made with the things you get given in jars after an operation."