Week 32- Support Your Local Fisherman!

As dedicated blog readers will know, I live facing the ever-changing waters of the English Channel.

My morning view

I only have to look out of my bedroom window to see the fisherman at high tide laying their crab and lobster pots- and it's only a short bike ride to the fish shop to buy their catch.

I always like to look for their special offers- like lemon sole for £1 each (which will feature on another post soon)- and yesterday's bargain which was 10 freshly caught plaice for £2.50!

We had two for supper last night- and I made two into dishes for the freezer. The rest I cleaned and trimmed and froze whole in layers to make more meals as the autumn goes on.

So, today's menu is all about fish: a simple Fisherman's Salad to start, an even simpler tray baked plaice with crushed new potatoes, and a coconut rice pudding to finish (well, a fishy pud might not be that nice.) I did use local blackberries to make the coulis though.

For the salad, dress some mixed leaves with a lemon vinaigrette ( 2 parts olive oil, 1/2 tablespoon white wine vinegar, juice of half a lemon, a teaspoon of mustard, lots of salt and pepper and 1/2 tsp sugar all shaken up in a screw top jar). Add an assortment of flaked cooked fish- smoked salmon strips, cooked peeled prawns or crayfish tails, fresh anchovies, flaked cooked salmon or tuna- just little tastes of whatever you can spare. Simple as that.

Fisherman's Salad

For the main course, I am grateful to Hugh F-W for this recipe. Bring a pan of new potatoes up to the boil with some mint leaves, then drain, put back in the pan, dot with butter, salt and pepper and a handful each of chopped spring onions and chives. Put on a lid and leave to steam for a few minutes whilst you prepare the fish. Ask your fishmonger to trim the fish-  to cut off the head and sharp fins. You then just need to clean any blood from the top of the fish and pull away any innards that haven't come away with the heads. Only takes a few minutes under a running tap.

Now crush the new potatoes roughly with a masher or a fork and mix in the spring onions etc

Crushed new potato 'bed'

Lay in a baking dish with some cherry tomatoes, place your plaice on top, drizzle with olive oil, sea salt and the juice of half a lemon (zest as well if you want). Dot with some more butter, cover with foil and bake in a moderate 170 degree oven until the cherry tomatoes wilt down and the skin of the fish begins to blister but not crisp too much (about 15-20 minutes.) Simples.

Place your plaice on top

This is wholesome eating- I'm sure you could make it look pretty but I didn't try!

Tray baked plaice with crushed new potatoes

For dessert, I was using up some leftover coconut milk ( from a curried courgette soup I had earlier in the week, which in turn was using up some leftover courgette flesh from my cauliflower cheese stuffed courgettes!) I dare say those recipes will feature at an appropriate moment on the blog.

Place a cupful of rice in a saucepan (arborio is good, but so is plain old long grain), add a good 1/2 cupful of sugar, two teaspoons of vanilla essence, the coconut milk (I had 2/3 of a can left rinsed out with a little milk or water if you want to stay dairy-free) and 1 tsp of mixed spice. Bring to the boil and then turn down the heat to a bare simmer until the rice begins to show holes in its surface.  with a little icing sugar for sweetness.

Rice ready to rest

At this point, test the rice- if it isn't tender, add a tiny bit more liquid and allow to cook a little longer. If it is tender, you can do one of two things: you can spoon it into ramekins, top with grated nutmeg and place in the oven for a little while to develop a 'skin'. If you don't like a skin, just flavour it with whatever you like: nutmeg, apple, cinnamon, rum and raisins or fruit puree. I used stewed hedgerow blackberries

Coconut rice pudding with blackberries

I have deliberately made more rice pudding than I need as I have a cunning recipe for the leftovers which will feature next week. 

As for the other leftovers from today's meal: the leftover smoked salmon (can you believe there was such a thing?) went into a salad with the leftover new potatoes and a horseradish cream dip (creme fraiche and horseradish sauce mixed- scrumptious with salmon!)

Smoked salmon with horseradish and potato salad

And there's a freezer full of fish to think about too!

Week 31- Warming Things Up

What a difference a week makes. Last week I was basking on a sun lounger, seeking shade in restaurants and going to evening barbecues.

This week, a 10 degree drop in temperature, jumpers and jackets coming out of the bottom drawer- and rain!




Time to warm things up- figuratively speaking (as today's recipes all contain spices) and literally - as they are all made out of  re-styled leftovers!

Firstly I have made vegetable samosas, followed by a chicken and vegetable biriyani (two ways) and a ginger tiramisu for pudding.

Leftovers to be used up- cooked veg, chicken pieces, vegetable curry and rice from the freezer, ginger biscuits and apricot jam.

Samosas are a genius way of making about two tablespoons of leftover cooked veg (from Sunday lunch perhaps) feed 6 people as a starter. The only tricky bit is folding the samosa- and once you've mastered that you can soon get a production line going. If you don't want to waste any food, you can always practice using a square paper towel or napkin.

First, make your filling: I had some leftover potato and courgette to use up so that was my base. I fried some mustard seeds, garlic paste, chili paste and ginger paste together in a pan in some oil until the mustard seeds began to pop. Then I added a chopped onion and fried it until soft, then some frozen peas. I worked in a heaped tablespoon of curry powder and then added the potatoes and courgettes (cubed). A little splash of water to moisten and then the filling is ready. Leave it to cool a little before rolling into the samosas.

Cook your filling

For the pastry, I used spring roll wrappers (from the Chinese supermarket) but you can use filo pastry. (In both cases, keep the pack under a damp teatowel whilst you work.)

1. First, fold the edges in to the middle so you have an oblong, three layers thick.
2. Then place a heaped teaspoon of filling into one corner and fold over to cover like a little fat triangle.

Lay filling in one corner

Fold over one corner 

3. Brush the pastry with water as you go to help it to stick
4. Then fold the triangle back upwards, then downwards, then up again until the strip is used up.
5. Seal up, and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet
6. Brush with oil and bake in a moderate oven -180 degrees- until lightly browned. (Much nicer and healthier than fried!)
7. Serve with mango chutney to dip

Fold triangle again upwards

And down again until you reach the end of the strip

3. Brush the pastry with water as you go to help it to stick
4. Then fold the triangle back upwards, then downwards, then up again until the strip is used up.
5. Seal up, and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet
6. Brush with oil and bake in a moderate oven -180 degrees- until lightly browned. (Much nicer and healthier than fried!)
7. Serve with mango chutney to dip

Seal up by brushing with water

 Samosas ready for the oven

Vegetable samosas with mango chutney

I made the biriyani from some leftover vegetable curry and rice - and some marinaded chicken pieces. You can buy either these ready cooked and 'tikka' marinaded or do-it-yourself with some chicken breast marinaded in a tikka paste and then fried in the frying pan.

If you do it that way, lift the chicken out but fry some onion, garlic and ginger paste in the tikka spices in the pan, then add your cooked rice. Stir through quickly and add your vegetable curry and work it in, then add the chicken pieces.

When piping hot (because it is reheated after all), serve in bowls with a yoghurt and mint dip flavoured with a teaspoon of turmeric and some sambals of chopped tomato, cucumber and grated coconut, if you have it.

Chicken and vegetable biriyani

I also took some of the biriyani from the pan and spooned it into a blanched pepper which is then cooked in the oven (along with the samosas). It made a lovely lunch with salad. 

Biriyani stuffed pepper

If you don't have leftover curry in the freezer (and why not?)- I have a recipe for one here:

Use whatever vegetables you like in this veggie curry- I always like sweet potato, and something green like broccoli, beans or peas- but you can use anything, any combination of fresh, frozen, leftover, cooked or tinned. They all work well- even baked beans added in go well. First, fry some chopped onion until soft, add your prepared veg and a good tablespoon or two of curry paste.( I don't have a good enough palate to blend my own spices for indian curry so prefer to use a spice paste.) I use korma - and then mix in coconut milk and stock to make the curry- or rogan (as here) with extra chopped tomatoes and stock.
I put it all in a slow cooker (or casserole) for a good few hours until the veg are soft and the flavours have developed.

Sweet potato curry

Finally- pudding!

This is simple and delicious- and uses up half a jar of jam and biscuits which are threatening to go stale in the biscuit barrel.

Lay a layer of ginger biscuits in the bottom of a dish, moisten with some rum or fruit juice, spread with jam (I used apricot but lemon curd would be good too) and then spread on a layer of whipped cream. Continue to build layers like this and then sprinkle the top with a crushed ginger biscuit.

Chill well in the fridge before serving.

Ginger 'tiramisu'

So, a touch of colour and warmth to brighten up a wet week- a bit like this photo I took of the rain and mist rolling in over the Sussex Downs:

Week 28- Chateau Virant- cooking with wine

My summer in Provence continues- with more food and wine than you can imagine possible- and many delectable combinations of the two. Only fair to share with you.

At Christmas, my Provencal Pere Noel gave me a cookery book called 'Chateau Virant- Saveurs Provencales'- recipes using produce (wine, olive oil, mustard, honey, jams etc) from the local vineyard, just outside Salon-de-Provence. I took the book out with me this summer as I wanted  to try out some of the recipes - using the local wine itself.

First, of course, I had to go to the domaine and sample the wine.

Rosy cheeked at the degustation

Climbing at Chateau Virant

Other family members had other plans- as Chateau Virant has rocky outcrops much favoured by climbers. If you want to read more about these escapades - look at www.colinsclimbing.blogspot.co.uk

Suitably refreshed, I planned the menu: a courgette salad for entree, pork escalopes with red wine rice for main course and a fruit salad petillant for dessert.

These recipes use the Chateau Virant white wine, red and sparkling in that order. Plus of course olive oil and mustard.


For the starter- dice 4 courgettes and soften them with a clove of garlic in some olive oil. Cover with a glassful of white wine and simmer until all the liquid has been absorbed. Strain over a bowl and leave to cool. When cold, mix any juices from the bowl with olive oil, mustard and the juice of 1/2 lemon, along with some chopped mint.
Season well and serve- either as part of a mixed hors d'oeuvre- or on it's own with some salad leaves and bread.

Courgette salad

A similar process is used for the red wine rice which accompanies the main course. Allow 60g of rice per person. Soften an onion and some garlic in olive oil and add the rice, stirring util it becomes translucent.
Add a glassful of red wine per person and bring to the boil. As the liquid evaporates, add more water until the rice is tender. Cover with a lid and allow to steam for 10 minutes or so.

Red wine rice

When ready to serve, stir through some grated gruyere cheese.
I served this with pork escalopes- thin slices of pork coated with flour, egg and breadcrumbs and fried until golden and cooked through.

An accompaniment for pork escalopes

For dessert, I made a fruit salad with seasonal fruit- melon, raspberries and peach. I added a little mango (or orange) juice. Spoon into champagne flutes. Just before serving, pour over some sparkling wine or champagne. I served it here with watermelon sorbet.

Sparkling fruit salad with watermelon sorbet

You may need to sober up a bit before using up the leftovers- but there are plenty of uses for them.

Courgette and coconut soup

Coeur de boeuf tomatoes at the market

The courgettes can be pureed with some coconut milk for a scrumptious soup; the rice makes a savoury stuffing for the huge coeur de boeuf tomatoes which are in season here; and the fruit goes well in a jug for cocktails.

Stuffed tomatoes with rice and cheese

Cheers!

Week 2- Chinese New Year Frugal Feast

So, 2013 is the Year of the Snake.

What do you think the year has in store?

Snakes are notoriously duplicitous creatures - and the horoscope from Chinese Feng Shui experts for this year is that it might be good but it could be bad.

Thanks guys- all bases covered.

Time for a feast to celebrate the coming of the New Year- but we don't want it to be too extravagant as we now know that we don't know what the future holds.

It might be good or it might not be.

Hmm.

I'm also aware that some of you in other parts of the world have difficulty obtaining some oriental ingredients, so I've chosen dishes which are easy enough to make with store cupboard substitutes.

My three courses today are: hot and sour chicken and prawn soup, noodle spring rolls with dips,  slow cooked sweet and sour pork with chow mein and egg rice.

For the soup, I made a clear chicken stock the day before using a chicken carcass, leeks and celery. I stripped any remaining chicken from the bones to use in the soup.
I put the clear stock on to simmer and added 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, a dash of rice wine (or cider) vinegar, 2 tsp brown sugar and a finely diced chilli (or 1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes.) You can make it hotter and spicier to your taste. Into the soup, add 2 finely chopped spring onions, and some fine julienne of red or green pepper. Using a vegetable peeler, shave fine curls of carrot into the soup. Add the chicken and a handful of raw spinach (or bok choi or kale).

Hot and Sour Soup

Spoon the hot soup into bowls and add 2-3 cooked peeled prawns per person.

For Chow Mein- again, I made it the day before and then quickly refried it in a wok when ready to serve. I did this because I wanted part of the noodle/beansprout mixture to fill my spring rolls.

Chow Mein

Chow Mein couldn't be easier- fry a finely chopped clove of garlic and one onion in a little oil in a wok. Add vegetables of your choice- peppers, mushrooms, spring onions. If you want to make a chicken or beef Chow Mein you can add these at this point. Don't reheat any dish containing prawns though-serve these then and there.

Add a pack of fresh beansprouts (or a tin) and fry until soft (3-4 minutes). Sprinkle on 2 heaped teaspoons of Chinese 5 Spice powder (the 5 spices are cinnamon, cloves, black pepper, star anise and fennel seed so you can make your own if it is hard to find.) Now add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce. Moisten with a cupful of leftover gravy or stock. Soften two nests of medium egg noodles in boiling water, drain and add to the wok. Toss in the sauce until everything is fully amalgamated. Add more soy sauce or black pepper to your taste.

Put about 2 cups of the Chow Mein mixture to one side and allow to cool. This is your spring roll filling.

To make spring rolls (nems) you need won ton or spring roll wrappers which I bought at a Chinese supermarket - but as I plan to bake these as a healthier option rather than deep-fry them, you could easily substitute filo pastry instead.

The wrappers should be about 15 cm x 15 cm squares.Moisten these with water all over using a pastry brush. Place a heaped dessertspoon of filling in each one.

Fold over one corner to cover the filling.

Then fold in the sides, like doing an old fashioned nappy.


Finally roll up, and place on an oiled baking sheet, (covered with a damp tea towel until you are ready to bake).

Bake at 200 degrees for about 10 minutes until golden and then serve with dishes of soy sauce and ginger, or chilli sauce for dipping.

Spring Rolls

The next dish- slow cooked sweet and sour pork- is even easier!
I've used cubed pork shoulder steaks which are really inexpensive- but worth marinading overnight in a little sherry or sweet dessert wine before cooking. Allow 1 per person or 100g.

Fry the marinaded pork cubes briefly to brown them and place them in the slow cooker (or casserole dish) with 1-2 sticks of celery, chopped into 1 cm 'smiles', 1 red pepper- roughly chopped, 1-2 carrots in batons, 1 tin of pineapple chunks in juice (put 'em in juice and all), 1 cup of tomato juice or passata diluted with water to a similar consistency (you will need more liquid if you are casseroling rather than slow cooking), 1 tbsp rice wine (or cider) vinegar and 2 tsp of brown sugar.

Cook on high for 1 hour then on low for a further 4-5. (Or 1 hour in an oven at 180 degrees).

If the final result is a little thin, thicken it with 2 tsp of cornflour mixed to a paste with a little water. If it's too thick , thin it with a little water.

Slow Cooked Sweet and Sour Pork

Serve with the Chow Mein and egg rice (boiled rice with strips of omelette mixed in.  I don't fry it- it's healthier and not necessary.)

So, there you have it- my frugal February feast. It needs a bit of planning in advance- but the dishes are simple and easy to put together once the prep is done.

There won't be many leftovers- but they are just as nice eaten cold for your lunch box if there are any. The spring rolls freeze well too once cooked.

This much I know to be true!

Kung Hei Fat Choi (from me and the snake!)

(恭禧發財)