Pisces or "Two Fish Dishes"

       My zodiac sign is Pisces, two fish swimming against each other, and I am very indecisive. I've started teaching an evening cookery class for adults, very different to taking children's classes. I'm being pulled by these two different classes, but I am getting there. This week the adults are making these fish dishes, they are quick and do not need much added to them, perhaps a salad or more vegetables cooked quickly while they bake.

Gremolata Crumbed Hake

Gremolata Crumbed Fish With Roast Tomatoes

      I freeze the heels of the bread and they make great breadcrumbs whizzed up in the Magimix, you can even add the garlic and parsley while making the breadcrumbs to save time.

Per person

handful of breadcrumbs

1tsp of grated lemon zest

½ a clove of garlic very finely chopped
2tbs of chopped parsley
squeeze of lemon juice

salt and pepper
1tsp olive oil
1 portion of white fish, hake, whiting, cod or haddock 

6-8 cherry tomatoes

Heat the oven to GM7, 220 ̊C and line a baking dish or tin with baking parchment.  

      Mix together the breadcrumbs, lemon zest, garlic, parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper.  

      Place the fish on the parchment skin side down and cover the top of each fillet with a layer of the breadcrumb mix. 

      Dribble the olive oil over each one and add the tomatoes around them. 

      Bake in the hot oven for about 20-25 minutes, more if the fillets are very thick. Serve with a wedge of lemon. 

Soy Ginger Salmon

Soy Ginger Salmon 

      This is a cheats version of "teriyaki" dish without the sugar, soy sauce, ginger and scallions are staples in my larder. By the time the oven has heated up the topping is mixed and while it is in the oven I steam some asparagus or sauté some spinach with more ginger and some garlic. All done in under half an hour.

Per person

1 portion of salmon

2tsp soy sauce

thin slice of ginger chopped

chilli, a few slices or a some dried chilli flakes optional

1 scallion sliced

a squeeze of lime juice

pepper and salt

Heat the oven to GM7, 220 ̊C and line a baking dish or tin with baking parchment.

      

      Place the salmon onto the baking parchment, skin side down.

      Mix together the soy sauce, ginger, chilli, scallion, lime juice, a pinch of salt and some pepper, spoon this mix over the salmon on the parchment. 

       Bake in the hot oven for 15-20 minutes. Serve with a wedge of lime. Steamed asparagus or some wilted spinach is perfect with this.

Ballymaloe Gardenfest 2016

Binning the bagged Salad & growing your own in a “fish crate” 

sized space

Ballymaloe Gardenfest 2016 Talk by Johann & Tom Doorley

Tom’s/Rowley's Dressing

Mustardy!

We like to use a mixture of oils, extra virgin olive oil for salads, light olive oil and sunflower oil for cooking and mayonnaise and toasted sesame oil for added flavour. These are our favourites, but feel free to experiment with the recipe.

smashed clove garlic

100ml olive oil 

3tsp* Dijon mustard (*2 heaped & 1 not so heaped)

3tbsp red wine vinegar

Put the garlic into a jar and add the rest if the ingredients, cover with a tight fitting lid and give it a really good shake until it forms a thick sauce. Pour over salad leaves and toss & serve.

My sister Madeline and her daughter Holly are "Brown Envelope Seeds" in west Cork, they do 4 salad mixes for the 4 seasons. 

Charlotte’s Dip

Our daughter au paired in France and this was a family favourite with her host family, even with the three little boys she looked after.

In a bowl whisk together 1dsp soy sauce

and 3dsp of made mustard, while whisking trickle in 

100ml light olive oil mixed with 50ml sesame oil until thick.

Toast 3tbsp sesame seeds in a dry pan and serve with the dip and crudities, Charlotte liked to include blanched calabrese in the vegetables, but carrots, radishes & cucumber are the main ones we use.

“Fly Away” is the carrot of choice for us.

Mayonnaise

All you need for Mayonnaise 

The quality of the egg makes a huge difference to the mayonnaise, proper free range with thick, dark orangey yolks are best.

1 egg yolk

¼ tsp dry mustard

pinch of salt

lemon juice/vinegar

150-170ml oil (about 100ml sunflower & 50ml EVOO)

pepper

Put the egg yolk, mustard and salt into the bowl of a food processor and add a squeeze of lemon juice to dissolve the salt. Run the processor and start adding the oil a little at a time and then in a thin stream. 

If the mayonnaise becomes very thick add more lemon juice or if it is too runny don’t add all the oil. Taste and pepper and add more salt and lemon juice as you see fit.

We sometimes flavour our mayonnaise with crushed garlic or chopped herbs or a spoonful of harissa or chopped preserved lemon skins.

Pickled Radishes

Ready to slice.

Mix together

12-16 radishes very thinly sliced

a peeled slice of ginger cut into matchsticks 

a small chilli very thinly sliced

4 peppercorns

1tsp salt

And leave for 5-10 minutes stirring once or twice. 

Pack the radishes into a sterilised jar* and pour over the liquid and add 50ml of cooled boiled water and 50ml of vinegar, mix gently and leave. We sometimes add a few nasturtium seeds or buds too.

These are pretty much ready to eat after an hour or two and will keep in the fridge for a week at least.  

*Nutella jars are good as they have plastic lids.

Pickle jar

Summer Arrives!

      Summer has arrived with a bit of a heatwave and we've been enjoying BBQs with our Aldi Pizza oven and some Irish lump wood charcoal from The Irish Artisan Charcoal Company. 

      I have to admit we got both of these as gifts, my husband Tom who is connected with Aldi on the wine side was given the Pizza oven to test and due to a modicum of interaction and retweeting with Colin on Twitter he very kindly gave me a bag of charcoal at Litfest.ie in May.

Fuel!

      I put the oven together, it was relatively easy and when I looked at it I felt it was a bit low so I put it up on two cavity blocks, much better for our backs.

The cat inspecting the new addition!

        Now what to cook? First up some mini pizzas on the pizza stone, these will need a bit of practice as we got the bottoms to be crispy bit there wasn't much browning on top, but we will persevere. Then we removed the pizza stone and BBQed some free range pork chops and roast peppers, much more successful. The next night we spatchcocked a chicken and seasoned it with the Bharat spice mix below, this was a great success and it was as good cold for lunch next day.

         We had, well Tom had used different fuels apart from the charcoal the first night. He'd had some trouble getting the charcoal started, but Colin came up with a good tip, dip strips of the paper bag the charcoal came in in vegetable oil and add that to the kindling. With the last of our charcoal we cooked these burgers and an aubergine for a tasty supper on a warm evening. 

BBQ, burgers and aubergine slices.

Spicy Lamb Burgers

This recipe is one I have developed for the Summer cooking camps I do at Brennan's in Cork, it makes 6 small burgers and while it has spice it doesn't have heat, feel free to add chilli if you like things hot.

500g minced lamb

1 clove of garlic

1 small onion

2tsp baharat spice mix

1tbsp pinenuts 

1tsp salt

1tbsp olive oil

      Place the minced lamb in a bowl.

Peel the garlic and the onion and grate them. 

Add the grated garlic and onion and then the spices, pine nuts and salt.

Mix well and divide the mixture into six, shape each sixth into a burger and leave to rest on plate.

Brush the top of the burgers with oil.

Heat the grill for 5-10 minutes and then grill the burgers for 4-5 minutes on one side and turn them over and brush the other side with oil and for another 4 minutes.

Make sure they are cooked through and serve.

      These are even nicer cooked on a BBQ, timings will vary depending on the heat of your BBQ. A great accompaniment is aubergine cut into 2cm thick slices and brushed with oil and grilled on each side with the burgers.

The spices

Baharat spice mix

1tsp black peppercorns

1tsp coriander seed

2cm cinnamon stick

½tsp cloves

2 allspice berries

2 tsp cumin seeds

1tsp green cardamom pods

½tsp grated nutmeg 

      Put all the spices in a spice grinder or a mortar and pestle and grind to a powder.

Store in an airtight container for up to 8 weeks. Makes about 6 teaspoonfuls.

This is based on a recipe from "Jerusalem" by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi 

With tzatziki and salad.

Beetroot Tzatziki

Depending on the beetroot this can taste quite sweet.

1 small cooked beetroot

¼ of a cucumber

½ a shallot

1 small clove of garlic

12 mint leaves

¼ of a lemon 

salt & pepper 

125g thick yogurt

      Grate the beetroot onto a plate. 

Cut the piece of cucumber in half and scrape out the seeds with a teaspoon, grate the flesh onto the plate.

Peel and finely chop the shallot and the garlic and add to the beetroot and cucumber.

Roll the mint leaves up and very finely slice them across the roll, add to the plate.

Season the vegetables on the plate with the lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Put the yoghurt into a bowl and add the vegetables stir to mix well.

Taste and add more seasoning if you think it needs some.

Evening light!

Let us hope the good weather continues, it sure puts everyone in better form! 

To Chew or Not to Chew?

Bite and Chew!

        I suspect that at some stage in our lives we have all been told “Don’t wolf your food! Chew!”. Or an elderly childless relative has reminded an impatient gobbler at the table to “Chew each mouthful 32 times!” or risk indigestion. 

        With the increase in people making protein shakes, smoothies and ‘juicing’ and the availability of the ready made versions I wonder if we are forgetting how to chew? 

        Would you actually eat a banana, an orange, 2tbs milled linseeds, a scoop of protein powder and a tub of yoghurt if it was laid out in front of you? 

But when it is all whizzed up into a smoothie it is all too easy to glug down. 

        This could become a problem, as the machine has done the chewing for you, there is very little saliva mixed into the smoothie which will affect how it is digested in the stomach. Or if you make it earlier in the day for a quick boost later on, the enzymes in the fruit will start to break down the nutrients in the smoothie.

        Then again if this is the only way some people will eat fruit and vegetables, a shot of juice or a smoothie might be the way to go, but they are missing out on the satisfaction of a well deserved break and nourishment while chewing their way through their snack or meal. Having foods in smoothie form may also lead to eating more, due to lack of satiety.

        Chewing is good for us, by chewing we start the digestion process mixing the food with silva which contains enzymes that break down the food and makes it soft and wet. 

Chewing exercises our jaws and strengthens the bones that hold our teeth in place.

Chewing slowly, brings out the flavours of the food, hopefully adding to our enjoyment of the it. The more slowly we eat the sooner we start to feel full, as the brain takes 20 minutes to register what is in our stomachs.

        The Edwardian Chew-Chew diet was based on the philosophy of Horace Fletcher 1849-1919. It can be summed up in his catchy phrase “Nature will castigate those who don’t masticate!”

He was quite keen on people chewing 100 times a minute, but was happy enough to encourage an average of 32 chews per mouthful of food.

He also felt that meals should be enjoyed and mealtimes sociable, encouraging his followers to only eat when hungry, eat what they enjoyed, chew well and stop eating when “the appetite begins to slack up a bit,”

All this takes concentration, being “mindful” even, while eating. 

        The recent trend for chefs to create purées and foams to add to their dishes that include cuts of meat cooked sous vide or long and slow. This food requires little or no chewing to reduce it to a paste before swallowing. While these beautiful plates of food are delicious, each element is carefully chosen to enhance the others on the plate, I fear we may be turning them into flavourful pap for the toothless. While I don't want tough meat I am prepared to chew to break down my food.

        In our fast moving world where time is money and not a minute should be wasted on something as mundane as refuelling the body, perhaps it is no bad thing to take some timeout to chew. 

Maybe while you were reading this you were eating something? Any left? Take a small mouthful and chew 32 times………………………….. 

Well, any difference? 

It’s worth trying even for one mouthful and then maybe another?

        Eating is necessary, so why not take pleasure in it too, sit down, relax and chew!

Happy Birthday to both my Grannies!

          

           March isn't always a good month to have a birthday in if you are a mother, as Mothering Sunday falls in it. Both my Grandmothers had their Birthdays in March. My paternal Granny, Helena on the 1st of March and my maternal Granny, May on the 14th. They were both born in 1884, these photos were taken in 1953 at my parents wedding when they were 69. May died in 1968 and Helena in 1977 just before her 92nd birthday.

Helena 

May

           I didn't have much time with them as I was three when May died and 11 when Helena died, but I do remember her quite well.

Winter Salads

       I always think of salads as summertime food, I find it hard to summon enthusiasm for them in the winter. They are cold and should come with a dose of heat and vitamin D from a sunny day! 

Having thought about a bit more I am slowly coming round to winter salads and these two are becoming my favourites. 

       The first makes use of oranges very much in season at the moment, I made my marmalade a while back and the blood oranges are now in the shops, and fennel available for most of the year.

The second salad is a bit of a salmagrundi, using Asian flavours and as much chilli heat as you like.  Both of these go very well with duck, the acidity cutting the rich fattiness. The second is good with crispy, spicy belly pork added. 

      The important thing is to make sure the ingredients are not straight from the fridge and have time to warm up to room temperature before you eat the salads.

Orange and Fennel Salad

      This is so simple I almost didn’t write it down, I love the scallion in it but it can linger on the breath!

1 orange

salt

¼ of a lemon 

¼ of a bulb of fennel

2 glugs of good olive oil

the white of a scallion or 2 optional*

Cut the skin off the orange and slice it into rounds and lay them on a plate and sprinkle with a pinch of salt.

Slice the fennel as thinly as possible and spread over the top of the orange slices, squeeze over the lemon juice and pour over the olive oil. Leave to stand for 30 minutes at room temperature.

* Finely slice the white of the scallion and sprinkle on with the fennel.

A Warming Salad

      Roast beetroot is nicest in this, but the vacuumed packed cooked beetroot will be fine, it also gives a little colour to the dressing.

1 small clove of garlic

juice of half a lime

1tbs soy sauce

2tbs olive oil

1tbs sesame oil

0.5cm ginger

¼ to 1 chilli

a piece of cucumber

1 cooked beetroot

¼ of a red pepper

1tbs sesame seeds

lettuce

2 scallions

salt & pepper

Grate the garlic clove into the bottom of a salad bowl and add lime juice, soy sauce and the oils.

Peel and cut the ginger into fine matchsticks and finely chop the chilli, use as much or as little chilli as you wish or leave it out and add some chilli oil to the dressing.

Deseed the cucumber and cut into thin batons, cut the beetroot into small cubes and the pepper into thin strips. Add all of these to the salad bowl and mix well.

Toast the sesame seeds on a dry pan until they are just turning darker and sprinkle over the salad. Very finely slice the scallions and tear the lettuce into bite sized pieces and add to the salad. 

Toss before serving and taste adding salt and pepper if necessary.