Sunday, August 23, 2009

The cupboard is bare...

The young man has been in Scotland - staying with a mate's family and taking in the Edinburgh Festival. The wife has been back in London - at work...

Meanwhile I've been using up all those bits and pieces left over from earlier shopping. The pieces are usually a perfect size for one and so often they get thrown out at the end of the summer because I never cook for one. But this year, with a week or more on my own, I've had a chance to use them up.

Without the family it's harder to motivate my self to cook with much complexity. I really do need the enthusiastic eaters if not complementary words to justify the time and effort to devise, shop for, prepare, cook and serve those dishes. If we were in town and the wife was travelling, (as she does frequently), I'd probably eat simply without much cooking. With the deli nearby this is easy to do. But what with the variety of left overs in the freezer and a bit of support from 'S' I've been currying, braising, baking and cheating bits of lamb and pork whilst reading, sailing and walking.

I've mentioned various curries and the fun I've been having with Atul Kochhar's book so no need for more Indian here...

But how not to spend too much time with that nice leftover piece of monkfish that I froze? This is one I've been cooking for years and years. We found it first in a magazine - I still have the clipping here but I can't tell which magazine it might have been or who wrote the piece. Whoever it was they credit Anna Del Conte for the inspiration.

In the magazine it's called 'Fish fillets with potatoes and pesto' Looking at the piece again (after many years) I realise how much I've changed the recipe since we first discovered it. But the essential thing about the magazines recipe is that it uses ready made pesto.

When I cook this in London I make the pesto myself (as Anna Del Conte would have one do). The big difference between the mag and ADC and the way I prepare it now is that I use a coriander pesto. As you can imagine, this is simple to make if you can get enough coriander but it does take a bit of time.

Here in Devon coriander can be a bit thin on the ground. So what with the reading walking and sailing and the lack of Coriander I made it this week with a ready made Coriander pesto. It's OK though because it was locally sourced! I used Tideford Organics Coriander and Chilli Pesto. Diana Cooper, Tideford founder, says
"Practice makes perfect!
Some recipes can take a bit of time to develop. Call us feeble but there are only so many times you can taste chilli before your taste buds tell you where to go. After 17 attempts and plenty of ice cold beer, we finally got it cracked. Our lovely Coriander Pesto with Chilli has just the right amount of fire provider that won't leave you breathing through your ears...Yummo!"
And she's right. The chilli is perfectly balanced and this pesto tastes much less salty than most pre-prepared pestos. If you don't have the time or the coriander - it's perfect for this dish.

In London I use Hake for this dish but it's also perfect with monkfish - which is what I used here

Fish & coriander pesto with potato scales (for two)

400g fish (monkfish or hake) cut into good bitesize pieces
1 bottle Tideford Organics coriander and chilli pesto
2 medium maris piper potatoes
Light olive oil
Salt & pepper


Put the fish into a shallow baking dish. Spread the pesto on top so that the fish is covered. Cover with cling film and leave to marinade for an hour.

Cut the potatoes into 2mm slices long ways. Par bake these in light oil for about 10 minutes at 180° until they're just beginning to brown. Drain onto kitchen paper.

Layer the potato slices on the fish so they just overlap like scales.

Bake for 12-13 minutes at 180°

Serve with a sharp salad.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Size Matters

I've always loved this pan. I bought it in the market in Taroudant (Morocco) about 25 years ago. It took about 45 minutes to haggle down the price. I've always used it for Paella. It's the perfect size...At least, it's the perfect size for two adults and a child.

It's a copper based pan - hammered by hand and tinned inside. I like the artisan feel it has. I feel it's a one-off, hand made and unique. It gets hot quickly. It sautés fish really well.




Onions too, and green peppers and just add the rice to coat the grains with oil.







...But using a recipe size for two adults and two teens it leaves something to be desired. Volume. I'm going to have to bring my 32cm pan next year.




Paella de rape con Azafrán

For two adults and two teens

7 tbspns olive oil
500g monkfish in 3cm chunks
2 Spanish onions chopped finely
2 green peppers chopped finely
5 garlic cloves chopped finely
1/2 tspn fennel seeds
800ml fish stock (we used the turbot stock)
1 tspn saffron
250g calasparra rice
100 ml white wine
1 small bunch parsley roughly chopped
1/2 tspn sweet smoked paprika
4/5 small piquillo pepper torn up
1 lemon in 4 wedges
seasonings

Quickly saute the monkfish in 2 tblspns oil until 1/2 done. Set aside (with any juices) and wipe the pan. Soften the onions and green peppers in the remaining oil for 15/20 minutes. Add the garlic and fennel seeds, turn down the heat to med and cook for another 10 minutes until there is some colour and the onions are sweet. Whilst this is happening boil the stock and add the saffron. Allow to steep off the heat until the onions are ready. Add the rice to the pan and allow the oil and onion mix to coat the rice.

On high heat add the wine and after a minute add the hot stock. Add the parsley and the paprika and season with salt and pepper. Once mixed in do not stir again. Turn down the heat to med and simmer until the rice is just covered up but not quite ready then push the monkfish pieces into the rice. Cook for a further 5 minutes. Take off the heat and cover with foil. Leave for 5 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle with the rest of the parsley and the torn up piquillo peppers. Serve with a wedge of lemon.

Charlie's Lobsters


We've always bought our lobsters live, taken them home, and cooked them. But now lobster is a commodity. Like sugar, coffee and cocoa prices vary according to supply and demand. Commodity traders try to buy cheaply and sell expensively by being able to access stock when supply is short or demand is high. Of course sugar, coffee and cocoa are quite easy to keep. But lobster? Do you feel like buying lobster futures?

Over the time we've been here Charlie Yeoward has gradually increased his presence in the harbour until today Yeoward and Dowie is the predominant company. From new boats to yard services and from marine fuels to Dory hire the business is comprehensive. And they control the majority of deep water, tidal and pontoon moorings in the harbour. They also sell crabs and lobsters. In the absence of lobster off the boat we've always bought our crabs and lobsters from the yard.


Now Yeoward and Dowie have gone into the lobster business big time. They buy lobster wherever they can whilst it's cheap and hold them in suspended animation at 4°C - there to lie until the price is right. Visiting the yard I was proudly shown Charlie's 'revivicator' - a large white anonymous-looking cabinet from the outside. But inside are trays and trays of heavy lobsters, their claws ensnared, awaiting market movement.

Time will tell whether this is the right time to go into lobster futures. Certainly the US lobster market is deep in the doldrums but with the world beginning to come out of recession and the inevitable closed season approaching perhaps this will be another Yeoward success?

But as we are here and our need is now we do not feel the need to ask Charlie to revivicate one for us. We'll stick to local lobsters living and prepare them for ourselves.

A fishy tale of two high streets


When we bought our cottage in Devon in 1993 Fore Street in Salcombe was really rather different. One by one as the leases came up or the freeholders have realised the opportunuty the shops have converted to either nautical fashion brands or lifestyle boutiques.

Fore Street outfitters have had more then their fair share of success on the UK high street. Crew Clothing, Quba Sails and Jack Wills started as Fore Street retailers and have been built into national brands. But their impact on the tiny main street in Salcombe has been enormous. Even the estate agents are being outbid. Jack Wills now occupies three shops...





About 10 years ago I remember the local hairdresser telling me that she could make more money selling sandwiches between April and October than she could perming and setting the local barnets all year round. Thus the hairdresser's shop became the 'Salcombe Yawl' sandwich shop and she winters in Spain. The local supermarket - the largest retail space on Fore Street - is now Fat Face. An early retail lease casualty in the mid nineties was the local fishmonger - This is now Ocean Spirit.

All was not lost however since in 1997 'Big Dave' opened Catch of the Day in Fore Street Kingsbridge. We've been shopping there ever since.

Big Dave is passionate about fish. For years he was a crab fisherman based at Hope Cove. Some of my earliest memories of Hope are of buying crab straight off the boat. South Devon brown crab is currently a completely sustainable resource - merited green 'fish to eat' by the MSC as a result of the Devon Inshore Potting Agreement. Dave hung up his sea boots and opened Catch of the Day just as the Plymouth Trawler Agents Association were transforming Plymouth fish market.

South Devon has always been renowned for its 'day-caught' fish -with fish being caught, landed and sold within a 24 hour period. Dave buys on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mostly from Plymouth and occasionally from Looe. The shop stocks what's fresh and available and charges fair prices for the fish. The fish is always in superb condition. He will also buy to order if I want a big fish or a particular fish. Over the years he's bought me exceptional Turbot and enormous Monkfish and Hake. And he always stocks Samphire in season. What more can one want from a fishmonger?

Dave also smokes fish and is the originator of the 'Salcombe Smokie' - smoked local Mackerel with a delicious and delicate flavour - as well as Salmon, Trout, Haddock, Halibut and Cod's Roe. A tell-tale stream of whitish smoke from the specialist chimney at the side of the shop shows Dave has his smokery smouldering. Various smoked products are available by mail order all over the country and feature on the menus of the best of the local restaurants...

Idyllic! I sense you thinking...but all is not well. It takes Dave 70 hours a week to buy, transport, prep, set out, sell and smoke his wares and maintain his shop and smokery. His wife works all the shop hours as well. Approaching the age where he wants to work less hours the business has been on the market for two years. Alas there are no takers. Nobody, it seems, wants to be a fishmonger today. Meanwhile Morrisons have opened up a wet fish counter serving less fresh and similarly priced fish - but in a location with a car park. Dave bought a twelve year lease on the shop in 1997 and it's up. They plan to walk away from the business leaving the town without a dedicated fishmonger. Kingsbridge is not Salcombe and there is no competition for leases on the high street - evidenced by the proliferation of charity shops from one end of town to the other.

Meanwhile Dave still has a few fishy ambitions and plans a to sell fish in Salcombe in the future. A van outside Charlie Yeoward's boatyard on Thursday, Friday and Saturday with a lesser stock is the future according to Dave in this telling tale of fish and British high streets.

Fore Street Web Cam

Count the Fat Face shoppers...











Web cam credit: Salcombe-Lets

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Nada!

The young man and the wife have gone. There are no music videos on the TV. Radio 1 is not playing. The Ipod dock is nowhere to be seen or heard. No Lily Allen, no Florence, no La Roux. Nobody asks what we're doing today. No tidying is happening anywhere in the house. I do not need to go shopping. There are no meals to plan. And the sun is shining...



I have cooked enough of Atul Kochhar's lamb with green chillies to last for three days and there is plenty of salad and fruit so I do not need to cook anything. Nada! I take a chair outside and drink up the silence...

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Family Supper

I am up (reasonably) early. It's raining. For breakfast entertainment I look at the 108 hour Atlantic weather map on Windguru and count fronts. There's a low mist in our valley.

The mist persists all the way to Kingsbridge but I am at the butchers by 9.30. I've ordered two lamb legs and a shoulder. The butcher is going to butterfly the legs. But Mr Darke hasn't arrived with the lamb. We phone him and he's still about 15 minutes away. Since I'm parked on the free parking on Fore Street I have 30 minutes. Better get going.

I walk down the hill towards The Old Bakery. The air is wet and there's a drizzle. Giorgio is baking us a Baklava. When I arrive Giorgio is in a daze. He went to Catalunya over the weekend and spent Saturday evening at elBulli in Roses with 5 of his mates. He has experienced nirvana or something like that...Adria's first principle is that:
"Cooking is a language through which all the following properties may be expressed: harmony, creativity, happiness, beauty, poetry, complexity, magic, humour, provocation and culture."
This is all very well and under other circumstances I'd be fascinated. But I've already seen the traffic warden looking at his stopwatch and I have 17 for supper. I ask Giorgio to cover the Baklava as it's raining outside. I pick up the Baklava and promise to return his baking tray the next day.

Walking back up Fore Street carrying a well-used baking tray roughly covered in foil I get odd looks from the passers-by. Going into Alan's Apple I get more odd looks. I set down the tray and set about picking up the final bits that I need.

I've been buying parsley and mint since last Thursday. Every time I see either of them I've bought all I can. In London I can buy large bags of both but here it's packed in tiny little bags. I have plans for an industrial sized Tabouleh and need a pound of parsley and four ounces of mint. Building this up out of 15g bags has been a labour of love. Fortunately I am able to get the last supplies required from Alan. I walk up to the car and put the herbs and the baklava in the boot.

21 minutes gone. Has the lamb arrived? Walking back to the top of the hill the traffic wardens (yes, there are two) are still comparing stop watches. At Lidstones the lamb has arrived. It is already split and by the time I arrive three butchers are working on the limbs I intent to take away. I don't have time to bone everything nor do I have a mallet here so they are boning the legs and hammering them flat for me. I look at my watch.

With the lamb finally done and paid for I accelerate out of the shop and down the hill. The wardens are in conference about the car one above me. I have taken 33 minutes but there is no ticket. I toss the meat into the coolbox in the boot, give them a cheery wave, and pull out into Fore Street. It's still raining.

In Kingsbridge the mist has lifted but as I head back to Salcombe it's clear that there is still mist at the coast. When I arrive back there's still a thick mist in the valley. The wife goes out to meet a girl friend. Fortunately I have 'S' to help in the kitchen.

We plan a simple supper but because of the numbers there's still a lot to do. After cutting up the Rhubarb she gets to work on the tabouleh. Dicing 1 1/2lb cherry tomatoes, and fine chopping 1 1/4lb herbs takes the best part of 90 minutes and the whole tabbouleh takes over two hours. This leaves another hour or so for her to make the flat bread dough and the focaccia dough.Meanwhile I sort out the meat. The butterflied legs will be spiced and left all dayto marinade then (I hope) barbequed. I plan plain leg kebabs for those who don't want spice and a Kofte for those that don't fancy either of those. Kofte and Kebab can be cooked inside if necessary.

Each leg needs more trimming to remove surplus fat from the skin and I tidy up the shape. I use the big pestle to grind 10 tablespoons of cumin seeds, paprika and salt and paste this over the cut side of both of the legs and sprinkle them with wild thyme. I turn the leg trimmings into similarly sized cubes and marinade these in yoghurt and garlic. The I turn the shoulder into Adana kebab (recipe here) using both the slicing knife and the magimix gently. It takes more than an hour to finalise the meat.

The next task is to to prep the other salad. This is a delicious Ottolenghi concoction of chargrilled asparagus, cougettes and haloumi dressed with basil oil. I've already started the tomatoes as these need to be oven dried. 1lb tiny cherry tomatoes are halved and dressed with olive oil, salt and pepper and dried on baking parchment for an hour or so at 150. By the time the meat is done these are ready and are taken out to cool. But I still need to char grill 36 asparagus spears and 4 courgettes sliced thinly long ways as well as 16 slices of haloumi. The Risolli griddle is fantastic or this but I could really use three of them and three big gas rings. It takes another hour to do all this, make the basil oil and assemble the salad.
Two industrial sized salads, 3 meat preps, 2 bread doughs later we move on to the smaller tasks. Crushing the garlic for the yoghurt dressing and assembling this, folding cream into the rhubarb and chilling it and a myriad of other small culinary endeavours. It is soon 2.30 and the wife returns from her coffee morning. Time to clean up. The wife supervises cleanliness and tidyness and at 3.00 it is time for 'S' to leave. We are 'en place'.

The young man is going to the Isle of Wight again tomorrow to stay with a mate (it's Cowes Week). The wife will drive him to Lymington and put him on the ferry to Yarmouth. Then she will go on to London and work 2 days before driving another mate of the young man's from London to Lymington, picking up the young man and ferrying them both back to Devon. All this means that, if I am to stay in Devon, we need to hire a car for me as she will take the tractor.

I've arranged to pick one up in a village just outside Totnes so we need to do that pronto as it is less than 2 1/2 hours 'till dinner guests will arrive. I drive us all to the garage to find that they have reserved me a hot Kia. After completing the paperwork I wind up the elastic band on the 'Picante' and wonder what the funny lever sticking out of the floor in the middle is for. On the way back every time I want to turn right the windscreen wipers turn off. When I want to turn on the windscreen wipers the car indicates right. I resolve to learn Korean as soon as I return. 25 minutes later we are all back at the cottage in our various vehicles and the Kia didn't need any more winding. It's still drizzling.

5.oo: guests in an hour. I make up the barbecue in the drizzle. The wife and son lay the table. Then at 5.30 I turn my attention to the flat bread. I can cook two at a time. They take 4-5 minutes. I need 16. Five eights are forty. No time to loose.

I'm halfway through the baking when the first people arrive. It's 'A' my first cousin once removed and her husband 'Aa' and their two children. I have never met the children - they are both under two - but they must be my first cousins twice removed. This means my father is their great great uncle. It all gets a bit confusing but I think this means that the children are the young man's third cousins. (You might be able to work it out using this). Anyway at least I get a bit of help with the baking. 'Aa' glazes' the flat bread whilst the young man watches them in the oven and yanks them out when they're ready putting two more in their place. This is good as we still have to bake the focaccia. I have a moment to go out in the rain and light the fire.

Everybody else arrives within 15 minutes. It turns out that some of them have been on the beach at Hope Cove. I had forgotten what it is to have todlers. The house is soon filled with childish laughter and the inevitable childish crying. We break out the picture jigsaws and mini jenga and my cousin does a passable imitation of being a grandfather whilst the other two cousins try to look great auntish. One of them has become a grandmother this week. Since my two older cousins are a year and two years older than me and we have a fourteen year old I begin to wonder about the maths. I was convinced I was still a teenager.

By now the wine and conversation is flowing, the bread is baked and the fire is hot. I have decided to sear the legs on the fire then finish them in the oven at 240. I brave the rain to put the first leg on as the wife starts to rearrange everything into a buffet line.

The first leg is soon seared and replaced on the fire by the second but not before I cause a grand conflagration of lamb fat. The young man puts out the resulting fire with a bottle of Evian...Meanwhile I cook the Adana kebab and the plain kebabs on the Risoli. After a day of prep the cooking is brief indeed and all the meat is soon cooked, rested and ready to be served. A long line forms at the counter.

We can manage 12 round the two tables and there are three arm chairs. Amazingly this seems to seat everybody eventually. Much wine has now been consumed (and not all of it by me). Our conversation ranges across cricket and helicopters, the fire department and schools, children and parents and much else.

All too soon it's time to return to various hide outs in the South Hams. We see everyone out to their cars in the rain.

It's good to get the family together...

Another night off


Sunday

We are just three once more...the wife, the young man and I. It's still raining...we go to the Winking Prawn again...I admire the shade of pink that Mark's wife has selected for the van in the gathering gloom.

Busy tomorrow.

Do the Turbot!

Saturday

Big Dave has come up trumps and we have a goodly turbot. Given the lack of Turbotiere I need to turn it into tronçons. Here we go...

Clean the fish through the gills - do not damage the skin.

Remove the frills with shears








Remove the head - you may need to bash the cooks knife through the backbone with a rolling pin.







Remove the tail. Divide the fish into two about the backbone. Try to give each half a piece of backbone. A little more bashing is probably required.






Cut the halves into neat tronçons weighing around 200g.








Supper for 8

Stir-fried clams with ginger and garlic

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Roasted tronçons of turbot with a sauce vierge
Crushed potatoes

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Salad

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Cheese: Beenleigh Blue, Ticklemore Goat, Capricorn, Keen's Cheddar

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Summer berries and ice cream

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Hotel Chocolate hand-piped chocolates

K.I.S.S. Food

Thursday 30th

Given the number of people now coming on Monday and the continuing lethargy we decide to Keep It Simple (Stupid) and also rehearse Monday which is now definitely going to be meat...

But first the young men urgently need an urban experience. We go to Plymouth and they indulge in retail therapy in H&N. On the way we stop at Riverford's Yealmpton outpost and buy two racks. The weather is brilliant.

By the time we return to the cottage the weather is not brilliant. My thoughts of testing the barbecue are dashed as a light drizzle develops. Never-the-less we prep as if we were going to use the charcoal. I grind cumin and add sweet paprika and salt and a little dried thyme.

We divide the racks into individual chops, melt some butter and brush them, then sprinkle the spice mixture on. They marinade like this for 30 minutes.











'S' has already made a flat bread dough and has left it to prove. We roll these out and glaze them with yoghurt then sprinkle a few black onion seeds on them.

Ready to go...

We heat the Risoli gridlle as hot as we can (on the LPG) and the oven to 275.

The flat bread takes 3-4 minutes in the oven










The chops get a minute on each side on the risoli grill



Serve with rocket and tomato salad. That's it!