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Jose Pizarro and Lawrence Keogh joined me last week to answer your questions on curd cheese, ostrich steaks and crumpets. I'll be back in the Saturday Kitchen studio after a brief break for the Commonwealth Games. Go to the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Food Q&A messageboard to ask me a question.Ìý

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Here's a summary of the questions answered in the video clip:

dawn_in_qatar: How do you make sun-dried tomatoes at home?
James Martin: I presume she means how do you make them in the oven. You could do them outside in Qatar!
Lawrence Keogh: I would cut them in half, lay them seed-side up on a wire rack, add a touch of rock salt, pepper, thyme leaves and a thin slice of garlic and then leave them in a low oven.
James Martin: If you’ve got one of those warming ovens for plates, it’s ideal to do in there.
Lawrence Keogh: You could add a pinch of sugar if you want to get them slightly sweet, but if you’ve got a nice ripe tomato, you don’t really need the sugar.
James Martin: Often you get them sun-blushed like that - not completely dry as they still retain a bit of moisture.
Lawrence Keogh: And store them in some olive oil.

lizzyla: Can I substitute curd cheese with ricotta in a recipe? I can't get Yorkshire curd cheese in New Zealand.
Lawrence Keogh: Ricotta should be fine.
James Martin: But making a Yorkshire curd tart using ricotta is a bit… [shakes his head]
Lawrence Keogh: For a Yorkshire curd tart you’re supposed to use liquid rennet to set it, but ricotta would be fine. What you can do with ricotta is spread it on greaseproof paper and put it in a low oven. This helps it dry out a bit more to become more crumbly.

Micky Most: Whenever I cook a stew in my cast iron pot I get a slightly bitter aftertaste. When I do the same stew in my stainless steel pots it’s fine. Any ideas what causes this bitter taste?
James Martin: The problem with a cast iron pan is that it gets really hot and it retains the heat, so you can end up burning your food and tainting it. Personally I’d just use it as a flower pot then!

Stuart McKenzie: My local butcher is selling ostrich steak. Could you please tell me the best way to serve them?
James Martin: I’ve just been to South African recently and ate everything from ostrich to to to this giant beaver-looking-rat-thing! I had giraffe… Do you get much use of ostrich steaks in Spain?
Jose Pizarro: Not at all! We just eat pork in Spain!
Lawrence Keogh: Ostrich steak is very much like venison. I’d treat it the same. It’s low in cholesterol too. Lightly grill it with rosemary and garlic...
James Martin: The secret is don’t over-cook it.
Jose Pizarro: I would do a marinade with some paprika, pimento and garlic. Pan-fry it and it’ll be lovely.
James Martin: Just don’t overcook it as it dries out!

Dream: Crumpets - I just can't do them. The mixture looks perfect, the outsides look great, but the insides are just a battery, yeasty, sticky mess, no matter how long they are left to cook.
Lawrence Keogh: You’re probably cooking them too fast.
James Martin: The idea is that it’s a wet batter and it should be bubbling. Cook it in a ring with a little bit of butter. Make sure it’s butter - you can use clarified butter, but it’s better off with plain butter. The secret is long, slow cooking. They do take about five minutes on each side, so it needs time to set in the ring. Cut around it with a little knife and turn it over. This stops the crumpet from falling over.
Lawrence Keogh: Don’t wash the rings; just put them in a pot of oil.
James Martin: I went to a factory where they make crumpets. They make 20 million crumpets a week. Not by hand of course. Quite fascinating really. Pointless information, but there you go!

James Martin is the presenter of ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One's Saturday Kitchen. Chefs Jose Pizarro and Lawrence Keogh joined him in the studio on Saturday 2 October.

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