Devilled Crab Gratin

Devilled Crab Gratin

         Some jobs in the kitchen just have to be done by hand, topping & tailing gooseberries, stoning plums for the freezer, shelling fresh peas, pricking sloes for sloe gin and picking the meat from a hole crab. There is nothing for it but to gather all you need sit down at a table and get on with it. Company of some sort is essential, ideally a real live person who will share the task or one engaged in other activities that you can chat to. Failing live company the radio will keep me entertained.

Of course the point of these activities is to end up with something delicious to eat!

Last night I took on the crab picking challenge and it was well worth it. The brown meat is essential to this dish as it gives a richness that can’t be achieved with anything else.

Crab meat and shells

and the rest.

2 crabs

2 small onions or 1 large one

50g butter

2cm piece of fresh ginger peeled

2 cloves of garlic peeled & chopped

1 dessert spoon of lime pickle

double cream

salt & pepper

fresh coriander chopped

grated cheddar

Pick the brown and white meat from the crabs.

Peel the onions and slice them very thinly, melt the butter in a pan over a low heat and add the onions. Cook the onions gently. 

Grate the ginger and chop the pieces of lime in the lime pickle. Add the grated ginger, garlic and lime pickle to the onions and continue cooking until the onions are soft.

Heat an ovenproof dish and preheat a grill.

Add the crab to the pan with the onions and enough double cream to loosen the mixture. Heat it all through and stir through the chopped coriander, pour into the warm dish and sprinkle with the grated cheese and grill until browned and bubbling.  

Leave to cool until the bubbling stops and serve with a green salad.

Let the bubbling stop before serving!

Serves 4 as a starter or 2 as a main course.

PS Add a chopped chilli if you want a really spicy version, but I like the crab flavour not to be drowned by the chilli.

Going a Little Potty!

        I love having a treat at the back of the fridge for the days I need a quick supper after a long day or to bring to work for lunch. Smoked mackerel pate is one I tend to fall back on. 

      

I have been reading the lovely "Kitchen Essays" of Agnes Jekyll first published in 1922 (the original articles were first published in The Times). The "Potted Shrimp" recipe is one recipe that caught my eye. I had had these recently in a restaurant, but they were seasoned shrimp in a ramekin topped with butter, chilled and then warmed to soften the bottom half of the ramekin. They came with crisp toast, as I scooped out the hard top layer of butter on to the toast added the shrimp, pressed down with the knife, the shrimp fell off and the toast broke.

       I knew this was not what it was meant to be. Lady Jekyll had the answer, 'pound' most of the shrimp with the soft butter! So I set about 'pounding' my shrimp, which in my case were defrosted Atlantic prawns. My mortar was on the small side so I moved to a bigger bowl and a fork and I achieved a coarse pate in no time.

     

Potted Shrimp or Prawns

Potted Prawns

125g of shrimp after cooking and shelling or peeled Atlantic prawns defrosted

50g soft butter

mace blade

lemon zest

clarified butter

salt and pepper

      Dry the prawns on kitchen paper. Save 10 or 12 whole prawns. Put the rest of the prawns into a bowl with the butter, a grating of mace, a teaspoon of finely grated lemon zest, a pinch of salt and a grind of black pepper.

     Mash all these together with a fork until combined. It should not be too smooth, then stir in the reserved prawns pack into ramekins and cover with clarified butter and chill.

Bring to room temperature before serving with Melba toast.

       If you prefer some dill or fennel could be chopped through instead of the mace. This is lovely for a picnic too.

Spread on crisp Melba toast

      This other recipe for a 'Mousse of Sardine and Egg' also caught my eye, I had a feeling it could be a fish paste and not very tasty, but I like it. It's not for people who like their fish not to taste of fish.

     

      The recipe recommends 'pushing' everything through a sieve, the egg went through easily enough but the mini processor was a godsend for the sardines! It is also recommended as an alternative to marmalade at breakfast time! That could be a shock to the unwary first thing.

Mousse of Sardine and Egg

The basic ingredients 

3 to 4 sardines

1tsp soft butter

salt pepper

1tbs lemon juice

2tbs cream

a couple dashes of tabasco

a dash of Worcester sauce

1 hardboiled egg

       Put everything except the hard boiled egg in to a mini food processor and blend Remove the blade from the processor and sieve in the hardboiled egg. Stir in to mix. Taste and adjust seasoning.

       Serve on crackers or with crudities. I spooned the rest into a small jar to be stored in the fridge.

Breakfast!

Spicing it up at Ballymaloe

      Yesterday was a beautiful late Summer's day and I was lucky to spend it at the Ballymaloe Fest  My husband Tom and I had been asked to give a talk on growing and cooking stuff from out garden. As we, and most people who grow veg have an abundance of courgettes at the moment we thought that using them would be useful.
     
     There was some discussion as to whether we were making pakoras or bhajis, but we found an expert who explained the difference. Bhajis are larger, round and mainly onion.
     We used a brand of curry powder which we like, but do play around with the spicing until you find a mixture that you like. If you are looking for spices have a look at our local spice company Green Saffron 

Spicy Sesame Salad 

  This salad is a favourite of ours, we sometimes have it as an accompaniment or we will add noodles and a some spicy grilled meat to make a main course of it.

Dressing

1tsp soy sauce

1tsp nam pla/fish sauce

juice of half a lime or 1tbs rice or cider vinegar

1cm piece of ginger grated

1 clove of garlic grated

½ a chilli chopped

1tbs sesame oil

4tbs sunflower oil

Salad

3tbs sesame seeds

4 handfuls of rocket

4 handful coriander leaves

12 large basil leaves

20 mint leaves

½ a cucumber

3 scallions or a shallot

To make the dressing put the soy sauce, nam pla/fish sauce, lime juice, grated ginger, crushed garlic and chopped chilli* into a screw top jar. Put the lid on the jar and give it a good shake. Add the oils to the jar and cover and shake well again.

Toast the sesame seeds on a dry pan until darker and beginning to release their aroma, leave to cool.

Wash the rocket and coriander and put them in to a large bowl.

Tear the basil leaves and finely slice the mint leaves and add them to the bowl.

Using a julienne peeler or a swivel peeler shred the half cucumber.

Trim and slice the scallions or shallot and add to the salad.

Mix together the salad and add the dressing and the toasted sesame seeds. Taste, season and serve.

*If you don't want the full spiciness of the chilli just put a slice of chilli into the dressing jar and bruise it with the blunt end of a wooden spoon and shake the dressing well and remove the slice of chilli before serving.

Courgette Pakoras

The amount of chickpea flour you need depends on how watery the courgettes are.

2-3 courgettes

1 onion

0.5cm ginger

1 large clove of garlic

2-3tsp curry powder

3-4tbs chickpea flour also called gram flour

salt & pepper

vegetable oil for deep frying

Grate the courgettes into a bowl. Peel the onion ginger and garlic and grate them into the bowl onto the courgettes.

Sprinkle on the curry powder, using as much or as little as you feel like. Stir well.

Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of chickpea flour and mix it in add some salt and pepper. The mixture should be fairly thick. If it isn't add more chickpea flour until it is.

Heat a pan with about 5cm of oil in it.

Test the oil with a cube of bread to see if it is hot enough. When it is cook dessert spoonfuls of the pakora mixture in it until golden.

Drain them on kitchen paper and serve with a cucumber raita. 

If you fancy some more heat, use a hot curry powder and add a finely chopped chilli.

 

Christmas Leftovers!

Just a short post about Christmas leftovers! 

We all love Christmas food on Christmas day! But after that it gets a bit boring? So here are three recipes I tried out at a cooking demonstration today. They seem to have gone down well with the group. Sorry there are no photos I always find it is too busy to take photographs at these events.

Smoked Salmon with Yogurt Pancakes

      This is a great way to stretch a small amount of smoked salmon around a large group. The yogurt in the little pancakes gives them a nice tang, as if they have been made with some sourdough starter.  

Pancakes

150g self raising flour

½ tsp salt

1 egg

150g yogurt

150ml milk

butter for frying

Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and add the salt.

Break the egg into the flour and start to whisk gently drawing more and more flour in until thick. Then add in the yogurt a spoonful at a time and whisk again.

When all of the yogurt is added in, whisk in most of the milk to make a thick batter.

Or put all the ingredients into a blender starting with half the milk, then the yogurt and the egg and blend till smooth. It will need to be thinned with the rest of the milk.

Make the pancakes by spooning 1dsp of batter onto the frying pan together to make a small pancake. Cook till dry on top and then flip over and cook until golden on the other side.

Add some more butter and continue to make the pancakes.

You can do 5-6 at a time on a large pan, keeping the earlier ones warm in a low oven until the rest are cooked.

1 shallot

½ tub sour cream

a bunch of dill

2dsp capers

lemons

smoked salmon

Very finely dice the shallot, chop the dill and capers and add them to the sour cream. Taste the sour cream mixture and season with pepper and lemon juice.

Top each pancake with a blob of sour steam and a twist of smoked salmon. Serve with lemon wedges and a grind of black pepper.

Cashew Nut & Brussels sprout Stir-fry

      This is great for unexpected vegetarians and is a different way to enjoy these seasonal mini cabbages.

1 large onion

2 cloves of garlic

2.5cm piece of ginger

1 chilli (optional)

1 red or yellow pepper

6-8 button mushrooms

10-12 Brussels sprouts

2tbs sunflower oil

2tbs soy sauce

1 tsp nam pla

50ml water

pepper

100g cashew nuts*

2 scallions

2tbs chopped coriander

Peel, halve and slice the onion thinly.

Peel and slice the garlic.

Peel the ginger and cut into small matchsticks.

Cut the chilli in half and remove the seeds and membrane slice very finely.

Cut the pepper open and remove the seeds and membrane, slice it into 1cm wide strips.

Slice the mushrooms.

Peel and finely slice the Brussels sprouts

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium to high heat. When the oil shimmers add the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli. Stir-fry for 2-3 minutes until the onion softens.

Add the pepper, Brussels sprouts and mushrooms.

Stir-fry for a minute or two and add the soy sauce, nam pla and water. Cover the pan with a lid and turn the heat down to low. Leave to cook for about 3 minutes.

Meanwhile toast the cashews on a dry frying pan over a medium to high heat.

Finley slice the scallions at an angle and mix with the coriander.

Take the lid off the vegetables taste and season with pepper and  add the cashews and stir them through. Sprinkle on coriander and scallions and serve with rice or noodles.

*If you are using salted roasted cashews rinse them in a sieve under the tap to remove the salt, then dry them with kitchen paper before heating then through on the dry pan.

Christmas pudding Sundaes

      The diet starts in the New Year!

Left over Christmas pudding

Butter

3tbs mixed nuts

1tbs oil

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1tbs sugar

Good vanilla ice cream

Whiskey

Dates

Whipped cream

Crumble the Christmas pudding into dessert spoonful sized chunks.

Heat the butter in a frying pan and add the pudding in a single layer. Toss and fry until hot through and beginning to take on some colour.

In another pan gently fry the nuts in the oil. When they start to take on a colour add the sugar and cinnamon stir round until beginning to caramelise and turn out onto a sheet of baking parchment to cool.

Put a scoop of ice cream into the bottom of a glass dish and add a layer of hot pudding, a dessert spoonful of whiskey and then some more ice cream and a some cinnamon toasted nuts. Decorate with whipped cream and a date or two.

Happy Christmas to one and all, and a peaceful New Year!

Spanish Sunshine!

Liquid Salad

The E-coli outbreak in Germany last week had even rational people like me looking warily at the organic Spanish cucumber in my kitchen. I did eat it, though I washed and peeled it. Very tasty it was too.

I was surprised to find someone at a school fete refusing any sandwiches that contained salad. This was on last Friday when most salad had been given the all clear. Some times we can be too cautious, or maybe she doesn’t like salad. I do not know, but I do hope this will make us all more aware of hygiene and food preparation.

In celebration of those gallant Spanish farmers I think we all should all go out of our way to help them along by eating Gazpacho at least once a week for the summer. So here is my take on this Spanish Classic. It may not be authentic but it is an original ‘vegetable’ smoothie and a great way to get some of your five a day.

Interestingly only the garlic and scallions are vegetables in this mix, all the other ‘vegetables’ are the fruits of their plants.

Gazpacho                                    

3 cloves of garlic

600g vine ripened tomatoes

1 a green pepper

½ a red pepper

1 a cucumber

4 scallions

1 thick slice of white bread no crusts

1tbs of sherry vinegar

4tbs olive oil

salt & pepper

½ -1 chilli

Some extra virgin olive oil for serving.

1 hard boiled egg

Peel the garlic and put into a blender with a good pinch of salt.

Halve the tomatoes, remove the green cores.

Remove the seeds and membrane from the peppers and cut into 3cm pieces.

Wash and peel the cucumber, cut it in half lengthways and remove the seeds from the centre.

Chop the scallions and finely chop the chilli if you are using it.

Add half the chopped vegetables to the blender with half the bread.

Put the lid on and blend to a smooth puree.

Pour the contents of the blender into a large jug.

Put the rest of the vegetables and breadcrumbs into the blender and blend to a smooth puree.

Pour into the jug with the first batch and mix well.

Stir in the vinegar and olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

If the tomatoes are not ripe enough add a little sugar.

Leave for a couple of hours in the fridge to allow the flavours to develop before serving.

Just before serving stir the contents of the jug really well and thin with some iced water if it is very thick.

Very finely dice some red and green pepper.

Peel the hard boiled egg and grate it

Pour the Gazpacho into soup bowls, sprinkle on some of the red and green pepper dice, grated egg and trickle over a little of the best extra virgin olive oil you can get.

Serves about 6

Sweet Treat

I made these spicy flapjacks to bring to the same school fete and promised the recipe to some friends. I had a great time using up some half finished packets of muesli and topping them up with rolled oats. 

One of the muesli's was a spicy granola from http://www.greensaffron.com/ , but it needed a little help.

These are more of a chewy muesli bar than a tooth shattering crisp flapjack. They provide great energy on a long walk or bike ride and are fine with a cuppa and a friend to chat to.

Spicy Flapjacks

4 cardamom pods

1tsp coriander seed

½ tsp grated nutmeg

6tbs sunflower oil

3tbs honey

160 g soft brown sugar

330 g Muesli or a combination of rolled oats, nuts seeds and dried fruit

Set the oven to GM 3/330˚F/170˚C.

Line a Swiss roll tin with baking parchment.

Put the cardamom pods into a mortar and pestle and lightly crush to release the seeds, remove the green husks and add the coriander seed. Crush all the seeds with the pestle.

Put the crushed spices and grated nutmeg into a saucepan and add the oil, honey and the sugar.

Warm the saucepan on a low heat. Mix with a wooden spoon and when the sugar has melted and is beginning to bubble add the muesli.

Mix in the muesli well and pour the contents of the saucepan on to the Swiss roll tin. Spread the mixture out well and smooth down with a spatula or the back of a spoon.

Bake in the oven for about 12-15 minutes. When they are done the edges will have darkened a bit, take the tin out of the oven and put on a wire rack to cool. 

While they are still hot mark into bars and leave to cool in the tin. When they are cold take them out of the tin.

Crab Custards

This is just a quick recipe as promised. It could be used as a Christmas dinner starter. Make it the day before, and let the custards return to room temperature before serving with a wedge of lemon.

200g crab meat

1 egg

2 egg yolks

250mls cream

50g grated Parmesan

pinch of salt & black pepper

Set the oven to GM3/ 170˚C and boil a kettle of water. Butter some small ramekins, this amount should do about 4—6 depending on size.

Put the ingredients into a bowl and whisk them together.

Spoon the mixture into the ramekins and put them into a roasting tin. Pour boiling water into the roasting tin so that it comes two thirds of the way up the ramekins. Place the tin in the middle of the oven and bake for 40 minutes. They are cooked when a skewer comes out clean when pushed into the centre. Take them out of the oven and let cool. They are best served at room temperature.