The Smell Of Smoked Mackerel

I love Smoked Mackerel, for breakfast, at lunch time or late at night, with bread and butter. The problem is though, that many people dislike it and particularly don't like the smell. The people I live with are of no exception to this rule. The smell is somewhat alleviated if you just eat them cold, straight out the fridge. The problem with that, for me, is the skin is really not very good and so I have to remove it. Also the flavours are not so developed when cold. The best way to eat this fish in my opinion, is to place it in a hot, dry pan, skin-side down for 2 mins or so; the skin crisps and the flavour of the hot fish is tremendous. The upshot of this method is, however, that it permeates throughout the place, making it smell like a Grimsby Smokehouse. Here's what I do:

• Take a pan with a lid and place over a medium / high heat, with no oil at all.
• Place the mackerel skin-side down in the pan and put the lid straight on top.
• Leave for around 1 minute, before lifting the lid and squeezing 1/2 fresh lemon over the fish, replacing the lid and removing from the heat.

The use of the lid obviously cuts down on the smell. The lemon acts in 3 ways: Firstly it neutralises the smell very well. Secondly it discourages the fish from sticking (since you're unable to move it around whilst the lid is in place) and thirdly, it really adds to the flavour of the mackerel.

Best enjoyed with sliced brown bread and butter.

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Spaghetti With Olives and Toasted Pine Nuts

This is quite a light and delicate spaghetti recipe that takes in all the usual Italian influences, with toasted pine nuts and black olives, topped with a sliced egg. Kind of reminiscent of Tuna Nicoise, this makes for a good quick lunch.

What's in it:

100g Dry Spaghetti
Black Olives (a generous handful)
1 tbsp Pine Nuts
1 tbsp Olive Oil
75ml - just under 1/3 cup Double (heavy) Cream
Fresh Parsley (chopped)
1 Egg (to finish)
Fresh Parsley (chopped)
Salt & Black Pepper

How to make it:

• Cook the spaghetti in a large pan of salted boiling water according to the packet instructions (around 11 mins). Add the egg to boil in the same pan for the last 7 mins.
  
• Lightly toast the pine nuts in a dry pan, over a medium/high heat for around 2 mins.
• Add the olive oil to the pan and reduce the heat slightly.
• half the olives and add to the pan with some black pepper and a small pinch of salt, for a further minute or so.
• Add the cream, lowering the heat so as to just allow the cream to bubble and foam gently, for a minute. Add 1 tbsp of the cooking liquor the spaghetti is cooking in, stir to emulsify with the cream, add the chopped parsley and take off the heat.
• Add the cooked pasta to the cream and olives, using tongs and allowing the water to drain as you do so.
• Fully mix the pasta and all other ingredients in the pan, with the tongs, over the lowest heat.
• Plate up the spaghetti and top with the sliced boiled egg, black pepper and a little more salt.

Enjoy. x

Easy Veggie Chilli

I used to be vegetarian. It was a 'studenty' thing I went through, when I first moved to Derby to study at university. I came to my senses of course, a couple of years ago. One of the things I used to make was this chilli with Soya Mince. I still make this from time-to-time and actually prefer it with Soya, as opposed to meat. It's certainly a healthier way to do it and in any case, I've never been keen on frying minced beef in a pan ; it turns grey and produces lots of liquid that you have to drain off. This is the ideal dish to eat after a long day protest marching to make drugs legal or even to have with you whilst chained up to a tree in an industry-threatened green belt area of the country....Whatever your 'bag' maybe, I think you'll agree it's a winner!

What's in it:

100g Soya Mince
400g Tin Chopped Tomatoes (drained)
400g Tin Red Kidney Beans (drained)
4 Shallots (finely sliced)
3 Cloves Garlic (chopped)
1 Medium Red Chilli (deseeded and thinly sliced)
1 tsp Smoked Paprika
1 tbsp Vegetable Oil
Fresh Chicken Stock
Salt & Pepper to season

How to make it:

• Gently sweat off the shallots with the vegetable oil in a deep pan, for about 5 mins. Add the garlic for a further minute, before adding the Soya mince, sliced chilli & paprika. Move around with a wooden spoon to incorporate all the ingredients for around 2 mins.
• Add in the chopped tomatoes, a ladle- full of stock and season with salt & black pepper.
• Simmer very gently with a lid on the pan for 15mins, periodically adding stock if needed.
• Stir in the red kidney beans and replace the lid for a further 10-15 mins.

So there it is. Very simple and very tasty. Probably not very Mexican though. I tend to try and incorporate smoked paprika into as many different things I possibly can and this is one dish where it compliments the other flavours very well.

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More Seasonal Pics......

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Boxing Day Seafood

So, another Christmas comes and goes in a blink. This year, amongst other things, Santa delivered me a shiny new digital camera and a new set of knives. He’s a clever boy. He always knows…He’s been doing this for me religiously - actually, probably not religiously if you think about it – for many years now. How does he always know?

Mine is one of those families that don’t cook a huge turkey on Christmas Day. It’s this idea that turkey is not the best meat; it can tend to be a bit dry and uninteresting at the best of times. Instead we have a rib of beef with all the trimmings and sometimes a small crown of turkey.

It is however Boxing Day when we really come into our own. This is the day I look forward to most. A more relaxed day by definition: less stress and expectation, less people to feed and less actual cooking.

So here, for all you keen readers, is what we had to eat this Boxing Day passed:

Breakfast:

Smoked Salmon with Scrambled Eggs on Wholemeal toast.

The Main Lunch:

Fresh Langoustines
Mussels in White Wine, Cream and Parsley Sauce
Fresh Lobsters
Shucked Oysters with Tabasco Sauce
Smoked Salmon
Fillets of Peppered Mackerel
Brown Bread & Butter
6 Bottles Chilled Muscadet

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"Boxing Day"

The day after Christmas, the Feast of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, is better known as Boxing Day. The term may come from the opening of church poor boxes that day; maybe from the earthenware boxes with which boy apprentices collected money at the doors of their masters' clients.

Nowadays, we often see, in certain families, gifts (boxes) given to those who provide services throughout the year.

Piglia e Fieno

My Italian really isn’t good and so I confess I did use an on-line translator to find the English name for this dish. It sounds so sophisticated in Italian doesn’t it? It actually means “Hay & Straw”. I assume this refers to the mix of green and white tagliatelle that is used in the dish.

Recipes like this make me smile. If I read back over previous posts, this one comes off as easily one of the more in-depth or even complex recipes, when you take the name of it at face-value. In reality, this really is simple. I found the recipe in an old book of my Mum’s last weekend, when we went to stay for a couple of days. Upon reading the list of ingredients and method, I felt this to be surely too basic, lacking in process and construction; lacking in flavour. Typically I immediately decided to tweak it and add more things. I substituted the fresh peas for broad beans and added capers, since I’m addicted to them at the moment. The former turned out to be a wise move, the latter ingredient tells a different story. I new it was an odd thing to put in but that really didn’t concern me. As I have said many times before: it’s good to throw things you like into a dish, particularly if you have them to hand and can substitute them for other ingredients you don’t have. In this instance however, I came a little un-stuck and so I don’t include or particularly advise the addition of capers in this recipe.

What You Need:

2 tbsp Unsalted Butter
200g / just under ½ lb Broad Beans (or fresh shelled peas if you wish)
100ml / 3 ½ fl oz Double (heavy) Cream
250g / ½ lb Fresh Green & White Tagliatelle
30g / 1 oz Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
Pinch Freshly Grated Nutmeg
Salt & Cracked Black Pepper

What You Do:

• Melt butter in a large saucepan. Add the broad beans and cook over a low heat for 2-3 mins.
• Add the cream and bring to the boil. Simmer for 1 ½ mins, until slightly thickened, before removing from the heat.
• Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, add the pasta and cook for 3 mins. Drain the pasta thoroughly and return to the pan.
• Add the beans and cream to the pasta over a low heat. Add ¾ of the parmesan and season to taste with salt and pepper and grated nutmeg.
• Use tongs or 2 forks to thoroughly mix the pasta and sauce, still heating gently.
• Serve in deep bowls, adding the remaining parmesan and any extra seasoning if necessary.

There we have it: A very simple dish that offers more return for your efforts than you might imagine. This is the kind of recipe suitable for almost anybody. It would sit well amongst the pages of a student cook book, whilst equally being at home to the busy housewife or husband who can only afford the minimal investment of time in the kitchen.

Review - Pizza Express

We don't get chance all that often to go out for dinner at the moment. The money is a little tight with the run-up to Christmas and I frankly don'’t have much spare evening time.

My good lady and I opted for Pizza Express last night. I always forget about this place for one simple reason: the name of it.

I remember the first time I went there was about 3 years ago, down in London, with my dear friends Hope Of The States. We met down there for dinner just before going to the NME Awards. I remember wondering why anybody would choose Pizza Express as a half decent place to go and eat. I thought it was like Domino's or Perfect Pizza. To me, that's what the name suggests - it just sounds like a fast food chain where you mostly get pizza to take-away, but that you can eat in there too.

I guess I'’ve never fully gotten over this idea and so I inevitably overlook the fact that there is one such establishment a mere 6 minutes walk from my humble abode.

This is what we had:

The Noci was particularly good. Alongside the hot, salty and savory flavours, there was also a sweetness in there. Quite possibly caramelised sugar. A great little appetizer to enjoy with a glass of cold Pinot Grigio before the mains arrive.

I invariably go for the Fiorentina pizza when I eat here. I love the combination of egg and spinach. This time I thought I might try something different, going for the Capricciosa (albeit not that dissimilar). Being a sucker for anchovies and capers I went for this and was not disappointed. I really like the thin crusts and the combination of toppings here was really very good; not too over-loaded, not too many salty anchovies - just right.

The salad (of which I had a little taste)
was really very good. The combination of texture with the almonds on top of the chicken was great. Also the aubergine which was thin crinkle-cut and char grilled, combined with the dressing of mustard, honey and lemon, made for a great salad.

Total cost of the meal (with bottle of wine) £32.75

This really is very inexpensive for the quality of food and good, straight-forward service. There's nothing here that's going to win any awards, but it's certainly great value, good food with minimal fuss.

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Cumberland Sausage Casserole

Oh how the time flies. A very busy non-food, music-week has passed since I last posted. My suspicions were right: the blogging has to take a back seat. Seeing the hit stats depresses me. I think I may take the counter off, so I can pretend that lots of people are still checking out this silly little page ‘o’ mine.

Days away from home = no food in the house and no cooking. Tonight’s hang-over inspired fare is the only thing vaguely worth writing about. I managed to piece together a kind of Italian influenced Cumberland Sausage Casserole type thing, with limited ingredients.

What I Used:

4 Cumberland Sausages
1 Onion (sliced)
1 Clove Garlic (sliced)
1 x 410g Tin Haricot Beans
Frozen Garden Peas (handful)
Balsamic Vinegar (a good slug, nearly ½ wine glass)
Passata (sieved tomatoes, about 1 pint)
Water (about 1 cup)
Cayenne Pepper (about ½ tsp)
Fresh Parsley (handful, chopped)
Fresh Basil (about 1 tsp, chopped)
Salt & Cracked Black Pepper

How I Made It:

• Take a pan with some olive oil, over a medium heat. Add the sausages and onions to colour for approximately 3 mins. Add the garlic for a further minute.
• Add the balsamic vinegar and let it cook down for about 2 mins.
• Add remaining ingredients, apart from the parsley and basil. Reduce the heat to a simmer; cook uncovered for 20-25 mins until reduced and thick like a sauce consistency. Stir every few mins.
• Remove from the heat and stir in the chopped parsley, basil, salt & pepper to taste.

And that’s all there is to it. I ladled the finished casserole into deep plates and finished with a few parmesan shavings. Ideally eat this with crusty bread. I didn’t because I didn’t have any.

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