Fish Pie Request

One of my new colleagues has decided to cook Fish Pie this evening. There are a million recipes for this dish and when it comes to comfort food this is right up there with Toad in the Hole. Fish and potato is a magnificent combination - just think about a well made Fishcake or Fish and chips for that matter!
Fish Pie is one of those dishes (like Spaghetti Bolognaise and Beouf Bouginogne) where everyone believes that they have the definitive version - the truth, of course, is that there is no definitive version only your version. So, for what its worth, here's mine:

Fish Pie

Small lump of white fish (Cod, Haddock, Pollock, Coley - whatever really).
Small lump of salmon.
A handful of prawns (North Atlantic and sustainable please - cooked or uncooked is fine, make sure they are defrosted).
Half a dozen large florets of Broccoli.
Couple of glasses of White Wine (or Cider).
Couple glasses of double cream.
Salt and Pepper
Two or three large floury potatoes
Little bit-o-butter

Peel and boil the potatoes. For the last 5 minutes of the potato boiling, steam the broccoli above the potato pan and then refresh under fast flowing water. When the potatoes are soft and tender mash them with the butter. Place aside both the broccoli and the mash. (Incidentally I use a whisk to do my mash - it seems to add a little volume and smoothness). Heat a pan with a glass of water and the white wine. When boiling add the white fish and salmon to poach (the time will depend on how chunky your fish is). When both fish are just becoming opaque take them out and allow them cool aside. Reduce the liquid in the pan until it is about half the volume then add the cream and gently boil to make a medium thick sauce.
Flake the fish, break up the broccoli into small florets and mix together in the bowl you plan to serve it all in with the prawns.
Pour in the seasoned sauce and smear the spuds over the top. Prettify the top if you must or even add a little cheese. Pop into the oven and bake till crisp and brown on top and bubbling underneath. Serve in bowls with a glass of the white wine you used earlier.

Slow, slow, quick quick, slow

I was unwell in January and had previously been given, as a present, a butchery course at Ginger Pig in Marylebone. I went, despite not feeling great, and was so very glad that I did. The evening was a pork butchery course in 4 or so hours. We had the opportunity, as a group to dis-assemble a half pig and then we each boned and tied our own Spare Rib Joint for taking home and roasting.
Predictably the pork was of the highest quality and the instruction from two Master Butchers. The evening finished with us tucking into a cooked joint of pork served with dauphinoise potatoes (followed by bread and butter pudding). We all went home with a huge lump of pig and a little more knowledge - it really was a super evening.
The way we prepared the meat was to take the skin off and score it cover the meat in sliced garlic and ground fennel seeds. The joint was then rolled with the skin back on and tied (using special butchers knots - I could tell you how but then I'd have to kill you) ready for roasting.FYI the piece of meat I brought home was 2.8 kilos and kept us in food for almost a week.
Yesterday I did a similar thing with a little piece of belly pork and it was wonderful. The Beautiful Wife summed it up when she said "It just makes the pork seem more porky". So here's the slow roast recipe.

Ginger Pig Pork

A piece of belly pork (no bones, skin taken off and reserved)
Ground fennel seeds
Finely sliced garlic
Salt and pepper

Cover one side of the pork with fennel and garlic, season well and poll with the flavourings on the inside. Place more of the fennel and garlic on the underside of the skin and wrap it round the roll of pork. Tie the joint and roast until the juices run clear (this will take slightly longer than you would think). Allow to rest before serving either as a Sunday roast or with dauphinoise potatoes.

This evening we had the closest I get to fast food. We had pasta pesto. The pasta was Benedetto Cavalieri from the very tip of the heal of Italy. I often buy this at Umberto's in Thame for people who insist that all dried pastas are the same. It really shows that pasta is not just a bland starch but has a flavour of its own and can have a texture which is quite delicious. The sauce was Umberto's fresh Pesto. Once you start eating real fresh pesto you will be spoiled forever - you will walk past the jars in the supermarket with a slightly snooty air about you.

Tuesday Toad.

It is the day for comfort food - throughout my working life, and even at school and university I've always had a problem with Tuesdays. I think it is because its a long way to the next weekend and it doesn't feel like a start (and I love stating something new - even a week). For me, one of the greatest of British comfort foods is Toad in the Hole. Opinion is divided as to what should be in the perfect toad and there is considerable evidence that this dish was origionaly made with lamb cutlets and not sausages but I love a good sausage and mine is always of the porky variety.


Now listen people and listen good - This is a classic, and with all classics, less is more! Don't mess with near perfection.

Toad in the Hole. (Serves 2)

6 good (and I do mean good - I use Newitts Gloucestershires) Butcher's Sausages. Plain Flour. Milk. 1 egg. Salt and pepper

Sieve about 6oz of flour into a bowl and add enough milk to make it the consistancy of single cream add the egg and beat in - DO NOT OVER WHISK - its not a merangue!

Gently fry the sausages, just to seal them then pop them in a high sided roasting tin with a little nugget of lard, dripping, or oil with a high burn point. Pop them in a hot oven and let them sizzle for about 5 minutes. The fat in the tin needs to be really hot, almost smoking. Pull out the tin and pour in the batter so that the edges sizzle and bubble a little. Then its back in the oven and enjoy the magic of a rising Yorkshire pudding. Serve when it is crispy on top and has a bit of fluff underneath. Make sure there is somthing green and squeeky to go with it (We had Spring Greens from the veg box) and lashings of onion gravy.

Fat Tuesday

Pancake day, Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras they all mean the same day but they all mean very different things. Pancake day: The day we looked forward to as there was always the challenge as to who could eat the most pancakes. Shrove Tuesday the beginning of the build up to Easter and the start of fasting for Lent. Mardi Gras: One hell of a party!
So here's an idea: If you wish to give up something for Lent give up something which is either bad for you, bad for the environment, or ethically suspect. You might want to give up any products from intensive animal rearing (yes, yes I know it will cost more but just eat less of it or buy less expensive cuts). Perhaps you could give up any fruit or veg which is out of season and, hence, probably air freighted round the world - you really don't need asparagus in March. Another idea is to give up throwing out leftovers - let's be honest you don't want to be friends with anyone who doesn't like bubble and squeak and yesterday's curry or chilli will be better reheated today.
Whatever you think today should be I hope you have enjoyed pancakes (with lemon and sugar not golden syrup) and that you feel as uncomfortably full as I do right now.
Just for the record, the Beautiful Wife and I both managed four and a half large pancakes each.

I went for breakfast at the Church today. Now, before you jump to the conclusion that the beautiful Victorian church in the village has been turned into a French Bistro, I must inform you that this is a monthly breakfast service where the village comes together and chats over a bacon sandwich and a coffee. This got me to thinking about the power of breaking bread together. Eating is such a basic thing, a simple necessity of life yet when people come together to eat the nourishment is so much more than the simple filling of bellies.
The slightly strange Mr Cameron talks about his Big Society where everyone takes control of their own community without assistance from any form of government. He has missed the point - its all about the Small society with people taking care of each other without it needing to be noticed as "voluntary work" or "doing something for the community".
The village in which I live has a host of children at present and we are planning a garden party for the royal wedding later this year. Now what sort of food will that need, I wonder?

"Please, Sir I want some more."

So what do I want more of and why?
Last night the wonderful Kate Humble finished her series on spices with her reports on Saffron and Vanilla. In the last two weeks we have brilliant hours with discussions on the production and history of Cloves, Pepper, Cinnamon and Nutmeg. The programmes have been a foody's dream. Kate is quite brilliant, like everyone's favourite older cousin. Her joy at seeing a Vanilla orchid, out of season, was infectious and her ability to enjoy the company of anyone she meets makes for superb viewing. Its programmes like this that make the licence fee worth paying. It's not often that I find myself taking notes in front of the telly.
This week's veggie box arrived today and contained Jerusalem Artichokes (which I love) and Chinese Leaf which I have no idea how to use in the winter.
So my plea to the BBC is that they make more of this series - I need to know about Cumin, Cardamon, Allspice, Ginger, Turmeric, Mustard....

I'm back and its the hungry gap.

First I must apologise for not having posted in a while. The truth is that I've been unwell and have had to concentrate on getting well though this has meant a great deal of cooking! I hope that leaving you all in the lurch 9 days before Christmas wasn't too much of a let down. I have also decided that my blog will focus on frugal cooking for a while - just to make this really difficult I do not intend to drop my ethical position on food production.
Right now we are in the middle of the "Hungry Gap" the period when home grown food is sparse and this presents an interesting set of problems to the food-mile conscious cook. Let's not panic and charge out to buy asparagus form South America and mange tout from Kenya. Let's revel in what we have: wonderful sweet roots asking for cumin and chilli, beautifully rich brasicas begging for bacon and butter, and leeks crying out for a cheese sauce.
I'd love to claim the recipe on the following link was mine but it came in a little booklet with my veg box this week - it was wonderful and, as with many curries, even better heated up a day later. I served it with cous cous.
www.abelandcole.co.uk/recipes/swede#recipe10
The other side of this time of year is thinking about what will grow in my "postage stamp" garden. This week I planted chilli plants in my hot box. The varieties are: Apache, Cheyene, Jalepeno, De Cayenne, Joe's Long (25-30cm long chillies!) and a "Hot stuff mix." On the basis that I'm still using last summer's dried chillies we should be full of heat through next winter.
I shall write again soon.