I really mean it about the blender

I tend to focus almost exclusively on flavour in my cooking.  The picture below will show you why - my presentation leaves a lot to be desired.  As far as I'm concerned if it's mostly on the plate then that's good enough.  I don't expect it to be there long.

This isn't so much a recipe as a collection of three, really nice things on a plate.  But the combination of flavours works brilliantly.  And in someone else's hands would probably look stunning as well.

Scallops with peas and slow-roasted tomatoes.

For two people for a decent sized starter you will need:

4-6 fresh scallops, depending on their size.  I really wouldn't bother with frozen, their flavour is seriously compromised and this dish needs full-flavoured shellfish to stand up to the other flavours on the plate.

For the peas:

200g frozen peas

100-150ml vegetable stock

1 shallot, finely diced

olive oil for frying

A handful of slow roasted tomatoes from here.  If they're in the fridge take them out as soon as you start cooking and allow them to get to room temperature.

Chilli-infused oil for dressing.

In a small saucepan, gently fry the shallot in the oil until translucent and sticky.  No crunchy bits please.  Then add the peas and enough stock to almost cover them.  Simmer until the peas have just warmed through and then remove from the heat and leave to cool.  Once cool enough to be safe to handle (you decide - you're a grown up) place in a blender and blend until it's as smooth as it's going to get.  A food processor probably won't do this - you'll just end up with finely chopped peas and you don't want that because you're about to....Pass the pea puree through a sieve back into the saucepan.  Give it a good press to get as much through as possible.

If you used a food processor you now probably have a sieve full of chopped peas and a saucepan with some pea juice in it.  No, I don't know what you're going to do with them.  I suggested you use a blender.

Assuming you used a blender you should have creamy pureed peas in the saucepan.  Depending on the thoroughness of your blender you can either add more stock or gently simmer to reduce until you have a consistency like loosely whipped cream.  Season to taste and keep warm.

When ready to serve sear the scallops on a hot frying pan or griddle.  In my experience scallops are one of those things that if you're worrying are possibly a little under-done then they're probably perfectly cooked.  You're looking for some colour on the outside and just warmed-through on the inside.

Arrange artfully on a plate and creatively drizzle the chilli oil.  Try and do something a lot better than this:

In someone else's hands this combination of colours would look sensational.

(And, yes, I know I said 2-3 scallops per person but I didn't get this size by sticking to portion sizes)

Better than snot and pips

These are going to be used in the next recipe but they're such a revelation that they deserve a post of their own.  Unless you grow your own or buy direct from a farm it's likely that the fresh tomatoes you get are a disappointment in the flavour department.

Or, as a friend of mine once described them, "all snot and pips".

So if you fancy making tomato a central powerful, flavour in a dish you can't really go much better than these little lovelies:

Slow roasted tomatoes.

You will need:

Tomatoes (duh).  I prefer to use baby plum tomatoes but any small to medium-sized variety will do.  Smaller is better and I wouldn't bother with full sized plum tomatoes or bigger.  They'll just take too long and be disappointing.  As to how many?  Depends on the size of your roasting tin and your patience.  I always do enough to fill my largest roasting tin one layer deep because once done, I can always find a use for them.

Olive oil (garlic-infused if you fancy it and depending on what you're going to use them for)

Salt and pepper

Patience.

Wash, dry and slice the tomatoes in half.  Choose the direction of slicing so that you achieve the flattest result.  (At this point I was going to try and spell this out in geometric terms but then I woke up again at the keyboard and deleted all that nonsense.  Work it out for yourself).

Lay out in a non-stick roasting dish, cut-side up in a single layer.  If you're a bit unsure of the non-stickiness of your dish lightly oil it first.  It doesn't matter if the tomatoes start off touching each other as they'll shrink quite quickly.  Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil.

Place in a fan oven at 75°C.  No, that's not a typo.

Depending on the size of the tomato it will take about three hours for them to halve in size, start to look a bit wrinkly and intensify in flavour.  If you've gone for bigger tomatoes then this could well take a lot longer.  The key is to experiment and find a flavour and consistency that works for you and what you're going to use them for.

Once you're happy that they're now intense little flavour-explosions, turn the oven off and leave them inside to cool down.  Once cool they can be stored in an airtight container in a fridge for about a week.

Try not to keep "sampling" them.

A simple recipe that really shows them off:

Per person:

75-100g of spaghetti, cooked until al dente
A small handful of slow roasted tomatoes
A tablespoon of chopped fresh herbs (basil, flat leaf parsley, chives, oregano are all good)
A tablespoon of freshly grated parmesan
Olive oil (a generous drizzle)

If they're in the fridge, allow the tomatoes to come to room temperature while the pasta is cooking.  When it's ready, drain, return to the hot pan, mix the whole lot together and let the heat wilt the herbs and warm the tomatoes.  Be amazed at how these simple flavours combine with almost no effort at all.

Superfluous cornflour.

Roasted cauliflower chowder.

This was originally going to be cauliflower and sweetcorn chowder but the flavour of the cauliflower came out so well I skipped the sweetcorn. Made it for the first time last night and it seemed to go down very well.

You will need

One large cauliflower, leaves removed and broken into small florets
A generous amount of ground cumin. If you can freshly grind the seeds it's definitely worth it as it adds a lot of extra texture and flavour.
Olive oil.
One large carrot, two sticks of celery and two banana shallots all scrubbed and coarsely diced.
About 400g of waxy potatoes (Charlotte or similar), scrubbed and diced into about 1cm cubes
Half a litre of vegetable stock
About 250ml of milk
Salt and black pepper.
Some cornflour, just in case.

Put the cauliflower into a roasting tin, generously cover with the cumin and olive oil. It's worth drizzling, seasoning, turning in the dish and then adding some more oil and cumin. Grind some black pepper over the top and then roast in a moderate (160° fan) oven for about 30 minutes. Keep checking and turning - you want plenty of brown bits but no black bits.

While the cauliflower is roasting put the carrot, celery and shallot into a large heavy saucepan with some more olive oil and gently fry. You're looking for the veg to get sticky and translucent but not brown and crunchy.

Once the cauliflower is nicely browned add it to the saucepan together with the stock. Bring to a simmer and cover. After about ten minutes the cauliflower should be completely cooked through and you can mash it into the soup. How mushy you go is up to you, I prefer the texture you can achieve with a potato masher (or fork if you're a bit of an obsessive). I wouldn't blend or liquidise this as that's starting to get to baby-food consistency but if that doesn't bother you then knock yourself out.

Once mushing (or blending if you must) is done, add the milk and potato and bring to a gentle simmer. Once the potato is tender (probably about another thirty minutes) season generously with salt and black pepper. This will probably take more salt than you'd expect to bring out all the flavours so don't be shy.

At this point I expected to have to add some cornflour to thicken the soup but it wasn't necessary. If you think yours could use it then throughly mix some cornflour with milk and add a little at a time, stirring continuously. Allow it to cook through completely before checking the consistency to see if any more is needed. No-one sane likes soup with uncooked flour in it.

This might require some oven-juggling

It's been a bit of an emotional wringer of a day but thanks to the kind support of my friends and family it hasn't been as bad as it could have been.

So when I tell myself "I'll just have something simple for dinner tonight" we all know that's bollocks, right?

So here's my recipe for trauma-comfort-cooking: Sausages with mixed, pancetta-roasted roots and crispy sweet potato wedges.

You will need:
About 300g each of celeriac, beetroot and carrots. Scrubbed, peeled and cut into 3cm pieces
A large bunch of sage (freshly picked from the garden if you're smug like me).
150g of diced, smoked pancetta
Olive oil (the good stuff - green & grassy).
Half a dozen good quality sausages of your choice.
250g of mushrooms of your choice - brushed or wiped, DO NOT rinse (they turn into little sponges and suck up twice their body weight in water).
2 medium sized sweet potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1-2cm wide wedges
1 tsp of ground cumin
2 tablespoons of semolina flour
Salt & pepper (do people really need to be told to add salt & pepper these days?)

Mix the celeriac, beetroot, carrots, sage & pancetta in a big roasting pan with olive oil, salt & pepper. Put in a medium-high oven (175 fan) for about 40 mins until the roots are just going from crunchy to chewy (40 mins ish).

Mix the sweet potato wedges, olive oil, salt, pepper, cumin & semolina flour in a bag or bowl. Arrange evenly on a baking sheet or tray, with gaps between, and roast in the same oven until crunchy and chewy (20-30 mins).

Put the sausages & mushrooms in a roasting dish with a little oil and roast in, yes, the same oven for about 20-30 mins.

This might require some oven-juggling but the roots will happily sit under foil while the sausages & sweet potatoes are cooking.

Serve with a martini (Chase vodka thank you).

Don't even think of attempting this with tinned sweetcorn

This has been working quite nicely recently: Crab & Sweetcorn Chowder.

You will need:
One stick of celery, one onion, one large carrot and one large clove of garlic, all chopped as finely as you can.
Light olive oil, about a tablespoon.
A knob of butter (the only time "knob" is acceptable as a unit of measurement).
Two cobs of sweetcorn, kernels stripped (hold the cob on end and run a sharp knife vertically down it to strip the kernels. Then pick half the little buggers up off the floor and hope no-one noticed).
A heaped dessert spoon of plain flour.
About 300 ml of milk.
250g of small new potatoes cut into 2cm pieces.
One dressed crab (from a proper wet-fish shop or stall, don't bother with supermarket pre-packaged stuff, it tastes of nothing. And if you attempt this with tinned crab meat you'd be better off adding the tin, it'll have more flavour.).
One bunch of flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped.

Gently fry the celery, onion and carrot and garlic in the olive oil for as long as you have the patience. Ideally at least half an hour. The vegetables should be frying enough to sizzle quietly, shrink & become soft & translucent but they shouldn't start to brown or char.

Add the butter and when it has melted add the plain flour. Stir & cook the resulting roux for a couple of minutes and then add the milk. Make sure you incorporate all the flour from the bottom of the pan. Heat through until the flour is cooked and the mixture has thickened. You're after a consistency like thin cream so add more milk if necessary.

Add the sweetcorn, potatoes, crab and parsley and simmer gently until the potato is cooked - about half an hour should do. Check the seasoning and add salt. If the chowder is overwhelmingly sweet from the corn keep adding salt until the flavour of the crab starts to come through.

Don't even think of attempting this with tinned sweetcorn

Nothing more unsettling than pork that's been through a blender

There's a definite autumnal feel in the air this evening. So that naturally means roasted root vegetables. I got a lovely bone-in halibut steak from the fishmonger this morning so, I give you, halibut with chorizo & roasted roots. (This barely qualifies as a recipe, it really is "cut stuff up, cook it, eat it")

For two hungry people (and some leftovers) you will need:
About 400g each of celeriac, beetroot and small waxy potatoes (Charlotte do nicely).
150-200g of spicy cooking chorizo
Decent tasting olive oil (the flavour's a feature in this dish)
A bunch of sage
A couple of halibut steaks (any other firm white fish will work too - hake, cod if you must)

Peel the celeriac & beetroot and cut into 3cm pieces
Spend about 20 minutes doing a Lady Macbeth impression to get the beetroot stains out of your hands (they will come out - just be patient).
Freak out that you've probably just stained most of your kitchen pink. Then wipe down and relax. Mix yourself a therapeutic Martini.
If necessary, cut the potatoes to be the same size as the other roots.
Put the celeriac, beetroot and potatoes into a roasting dish large enough for them to lay in a single layer.
Tear the sage leaves into large pieces and scatter over the veg.
Season with a very generous quantity of salt & pepper and then drizzle the oil over. Don't be stingy, the celeriac will suck it up and if you paid attention to the ingredients and got oil that tastes great it's an important part of the dish.
Mix it all through in the roasting dish and put in a hot oven (180 degrees fan).
If you used your hands to mix it up do the Lady Macbeth thing again.
Test the veg after about 20 minutes. It should be starting to colour and just getting to the chewy stage. If not, give it another five minutes and test again.
Peel the chorizo and chop into 2cm chunks.
When the roots are just going from "crunch" to "chew" scatter over the chorizo and return to the oven for another 5 minutes.
Season the halibut steaks, place on top of the roots and roast for 5 minutes on each side in the oven.

Serve on a plate.

If you have any leftover root veg & chorizo this makes a great soup: Pick the chorizo out. Simmer the veg in a decent stock for 20 mins and then either mash with a potato masher or put through a blender (I prefer the texture of mashed - blended reminds me of baby food). Either eat the chorizo while you're waiting for the soup to cook or float a couple of pieces in a bowl when you serve it.

Don't be tempted to leave the chorizo in and then put the whole lot through a blender. There is nothing more unsettling than pork that's been through a blender.

Still a bit nutty

Winter has arrived overnight in Suffolk so I think a recipe is in order.

This is a lamby, peppery, stew/risotto made with spelt, a grain somewhere between barley and rice. If you get it from a supermarket it's likely to be pearled which is just right for this dish.

Ingredient-nazis will twat on for hours about how spelt is a "genuine" ingredient with "heritage" and has miraculous digestive powers. I'm using it because it's got more flavour than rice, barley and potatoes and the texture is exactly what I want from a dish like this.

For six hungry people or "a pot-full" for eating & re-heating you will need:

2 banana shallots, 2 large sticks of celery and 3 large carrots, all cleaned & chopped into bite sized pieces.

Olive oil for frying.

2 leeks, trimmed, cleaned and chopped into thin slices.

800g-1kg of a cheap cut of lamb cut into bite-sized pieces. I really mean it about the cheapness. I used blade-end of shoulder, it's mostly fat & gristle and it's ALL FLAVOUR. Don't bother with lean, expensive fillets. And don't worry about the fatty bits, they'll fit right into the end result.

500g of celeriac, cleaned, peeled and cut into small chunks

1 litre of lamb stock

Half a cup of spelt, rinsed thoroughly.

In a large pot gently fry the shallots, carrots & celery until translucent. At the same time, brown the lamb in small batches and add to the pot. Add the leeks and continue to fry until they've wilted down. Then add the stock, reduce to a very gentle simmer and then cover and leave for at least two hours.

Check the meat (and start fiddling with the seasoning from this point onwards). Once it's tender and the fat has rendered down add the celeriac and spelt. Simmer gently with the top off for about another 40 minutes until the spelt has cooked. Continue to fiddle with seasoning. As for when it's done? You choose - you can go for "still a bit nutty" or "cooked all the way through and creamy". It's all good.

No tinsel, reindeer or Christmas pudding involved

By request, a quick recipe. Note, it's not a Festive Recipe. There's no tinsel, reindeer or Christmas pudding involved.

This makes the most of the subtle, peppery flavour of celeriac. One of my favourite veg. It works well as a nice simple starter or you can add some fried, smoked pancetta and make more of a meal of it.

Celeriac veloute.

You will need:
One shallot, one stick of celery and one large clove of garlic, all coarsely chopped.
Olive oil for frying.
About 500g of celeriac, scrubbed, peeled and cut into small chunks.
500ml of vegetable stock.
Double cream to taste (50-100 ml is plenty)
Some flavoured oil to serve - garlic, chilli or truffle infused all works well.

In a heavy saucepan large enough to hold all the ingredients gently (I mean it) fry the shallot, celery and garlic in the oil. You definitely don't want them colouring, be patient and fry them for about 30 mins until they're sticky and translucent but not brown. If they go brown and crunchy start again (I mean it).

Add the celeriac, turn down the heat and cover and sweat the veg for about 5 minutes. Again, it shouldn't be colouring.

Add the stock, cover and simmer gently until the celeriac is cooked through. Leave to cool for a while and then whizz the whole lot up in a blender or food processor. Once it looks smooth pass it through a sieve or chinois to get the gritty bits out.

Return to the saucepan, warm through and check the seasoning. This is the point to start adding salt. You'll need more than you think but try and stop just before it tastes of salt and nothing else. Before serving add cream to taste (about 50-100 ml is more than enough). Serve garnished with a few drops of the flavoured oil.

If you want to ramp this up a bit you can add some grated parmesan, either as a garnish or stirred through. Fried smoked pancetta (in little cubes) or bacon lardons work well too. But on its own, you'll get the full flavour of celeriac.

Don't try this with spinach

Haven't done a recipe in a while so here's a particularly January-friendly one. If you've been trying to be good and reverse the damage of December then kale or greens might have featured heavily in your diet recently and you might be dreading the sight of the things by now. This is a really nice way to make the best of them: Warm salad of potato and winter greens.

You will need:
About 200g of small, cooked new potatoes cut into bite-sized pieces
A red pepper, de-seeded and chopped into thick strips
2 large handfuls of greens rinsed & shredded into thick ribbons. I used one handful of kale and one of sprout tops.
Olive oil for frying and dressing
Lemon juice
1 tsp of ground cumin

Heat a large wok to its hottest. Meanwhile liberally dress the potato pieces with olive oil, salt and the ground cumin.

Stir fry the potato pieces, moving all the time, until they're nicely coloured. You probably won't be able to get them to go crispy and they won't stay crispy so don't worry.

Once the potato has some colour add the pepper and continue to stir-fry.

Once the potato and pepper both have a nice range of colour - some black bits on the pepper skin, some brown bits on the potato, reduce the temperature and then add the greens. Add more oil if things start to stick and stir-fry at a lower temperature until the greens are cooked but still have plenty of bite.

When you're happy everything's cooked the way you'd like add a large squeeze of lemon juice and check the salt. Just before serving add a generous dressing of olive oil. Carry on fiddling with salt, oil and lemon juice until you're happy with the flavour.

Makes a great side dish for fish but also a lovely main topped with an egg. Any greens will do including cabbage, spring & winter greens, chard etc. Don't try this with spinach unless you want to wring it out and start all over again half way through.

You can't whack this together

I've tried making shepherd's pie with all sorts of cuts of lamb and a lot of them turn out tasting of very little. Whatever lamb mince is made from it's definitely not the part with the flavour. So this recipe is the result of a lot of experimentation and a fair amount of disappointment. This could equally be called a hotpot recipe - I'll leave it to culinary philosophers to debate the difference. I prefer the sliced potato top as you get texture and flavour that's practically impossible to achieve with mash.

Two warnings:

This takes a long time. You can't whack this together when you get home from work, it's a weekend/lazy day recipe that rewards long slow cooking.

It makes deliberate use of a fatty cut of meat and the fat is an integral part of the recipe. The potatoes are almost confit and won't work without it. If you, or someone you're cooking for, has a panic attack at the sight or taste of anything other than lean (flavourless) meat then don't attempt this.

You will need:

A whole shoulder of lamb, boned (keep the bones), cut into 3-4 cm chunks. Don't trim the fat or skin off.
Two leeks, finely sliced and thoroughly rinsed.
About 300g of carrots, cut into 2-3cm chunks.
Four banana shallots, peeled and coarsely diced.
Four cloves of garlic, peeled and flattened with the blade of a knife.
Three large sticks of celery, scrubbed and coarsely diced.
One litre of good quality lamb stock.
About 300g of celeriac, peeled and thinly sliced.
About 300g of floury potatoes, thinly sliced.
A drizzle of olive oil.
50g of butter, diced into small cubes.
Lots of salt & pepper.

Pre heat your oven to 200C.

Put the lamb bones, leeks, carrots, shallots, garlic and celery into a roasting pan, season and drizzle with the oil and put into the oven.

While the veggies are in the oven brown the lamb in a frying pan in small batches. Browning adds flavour so don't skimp on this bit. Blackening also adds flavour but not the kind you're looking for so don't over-do it. Keep checking the veggies and give them a stir if they're starting to colour. Again - brown bits are good, black bits are bad.

Once the meat is browned and the veggies have had a chance to get some colour add the meat to the roasting pan, season again and pour over half of the lamb stock. Cover the pan tightly with tin foil, return to the oven and turn the temperature down to 130C.

This will need about 3-4 hours for the meat to cook through, the chewy bits to render down and the flavour to develop.

Once the meat is cooked take the pan from the oven, remove the bones and layer the potato and celeriac on top in alternating layers, finishing with a layer of potato. Season, dot with the butter and pour over the remaining stock. Return to the oven uncovered and raise the temperature to 160C.

This bit takes about an hour or two depending on how you prefer the finished article. As the potatoes cook press them down gently so the stock flows up to cover them. As the stock is absorbed the lamb fat will confit the potatoes. It's up to you how long this bit goes on for - I'm a fan of crispy potatoes and not so much gravy so I tend to leave it for about an hour and a half.

This will feed six hungry people with leftovers.

No, I will not share

Essay writing appears to require constant grazing so just a simple supper this evening. But this is definitely quality over quantity.

(And no, I will not share my no-fail-Hollandaise recipe).

Garlic crushers are the work of the devil

Been a while since I posted a recipe but I think this one's worth the wait. Possibly a bit more suited to cold comfort-food weather but hey, I was promised thunderous downpours today and it's not my fault if it turned into a balmy evening instead. I give you:
Smoked haddock and chorizo dauphinoise.
For this, you will need:
500g undyed smoked haddock (the good stuff, do not skimp on this bit)
150g diced chorizo
1kg floury potatoes, scrubbed and finely sliced (don't use a mandolin, they're only designed to take your fingers off).
2 cloves of garlic, flattened and chopped*
250ml milk
100 ml double cream
Freshly ground nutmeg (about half a nut)

Preheat oven to 150C

Put the chorizo in a heavy bottomed saucepan and sweat the oil out for about 10 mins.
Add the haddock and cover with milk. Bring, very VERY gently to a simmer and once the fish has cooked through (in no time at all), cover, turn off the heat and set aside to infuse for about 30 mins.

Strain the fishy, spicy milk into a bowl and set the fish & chorizo aside. Stir the potato slices into the milk, add the nutmeg, cream and a generous twist of black pepper. Flake the fish from its skin.

In a large gratin dish layer potatoes, fish & chorizo until the dish is full. Then pour the milk/cream mixture over the top until it's just under the rim of the dish. Place in the oven, periodically pushing the potato under the sauce. It'll be done in about an hour, you can keep it in there for longer if you fancy caramelised, crunchy bits (and who doesn't?).

Serve with some punchy greens: wilted spinach, steamed Cavolo Nero or (and this is what I'm having) griddled English asparagus.

*Garlic crushers are the work of the devil. If you want to add garlic to a dish: separate the cloves, crush flat with the blade of a knife, peel the papery skins off, cut finely across the fibres.

Not quite right yet

Scallops with cucumber chili and lime. Not quite right yet but getting there.

Crying in the bathroom

Autumn arrived in Suffolk today. Possibly my favourite season for food: all the stuff that needs to be used up from summer plus all the winter root veg, brassicas and older cuts of meat that are coming into season. (However the first person to mention "mellow fruitfulness" in a comment gets unfriended because, comeon, I know you're all better than that).

So, given that autumn was a surprise, here's a simple transitional recipe: Pasta e Fagioli.

You will need:

One large shallot, two sticks of celery and two medium carrots, coarsely chopped
Two cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped (don't crush, really, why would you?)
150g of diced, smoked pancetta
Splash of white wine (we know where the rest's going....)
500 ml chicken or veg stock. The best you can get. Stock cube's OK if that's all you've got, but the better you can get, the better the results will be.
500ml Passata
One 400g can of Cannellini beans, drained
About 100g of small pasta. Something like baby macaroni (Chifferi Rigati). But try and avoid the really tiny stuff like Orzo. Again, not a problem if the best you can manage is big-ass macaroni, rigatoni or fusilli. It's a soup, not brain surgery.
Olive oil for frying.
Salt and pepper for making a scale model of the Chinese Wall. Or possibly seasoning.

In a large saucepan, gently fry the shallot, celery and carrot in the olive oil for about half an hour. Gently means sizzling and going translucent and sticky. It does not mean going brown and crunchy.

Add the garlic and pancetta and continue to gently fry for another twenty mins. Then: Turn the heat up, keep everything moving and watch for some brown bits to start to appear. Once they do, and immediately if it all starts sticking, add the white wine and combine everything from the base of the pan into the body of the dish. Keep stirring until nearly all the wine has evapourated and the sauce is looking oily and shiny again and then add the stock, passata and beans. Stir eveything in again to make sure you've got all the bits off the bottom of the pan, reduce the heat and very gently simmer for another thirty mins.

When you're nearly ready to serve add the pasta. Start checking the seasoning. Keep stirring, adding salt and pepper, simmering and testing until you're happy with the pasta (insert middle class comments about al-dente here). Serve and thank God we live in a country with proper seasons.

Alternatives: You can leave out the pancetta if you don't eat things with faces. But if you do you've just removed bacon from a dish so I think you should probably spend some time thinking about what you've just done.

I really like adding a dried chilli to the soup while it's simmering. Because I'm a horrendous middle-class foodie-hobby-cook my favourite is a smoked, dried Ancho chilli, simmered until it's soft and then chopped into the dish. Followed by some crying in the bathroom the following day.

Bare minimum washing up

I haven't done a foodie post in a while. Mostly because I've spent the summer teaching myself sous-vide cooking and if I started a post with "first, vacuum seal your meat" I'd deserve every bit of scorn.

However, tonight, the slight turn in the weather has inspired an easy but special weeknight recipe: Sea Bass with chorizo (this works with any firm white fish but sea bass is what I've got). You will need:

500g baby new potatoes cut into bite-sized pieces
300g chorizo, skin removed and cut into bite-sized pieces
one red pepper, de-seeded and chopped into, yes, bite-sized pieces
two boneless sea bass (or other white fish) fillets - either whole or cut into strips
Half a teaspoon of ground cumin
Half a teaspoon of ground coriander
Olive oil (the good stuff)
Half a fresh lemon
Salt & pepper

Heat the oven to 200 degrees C fan (other styles of oven are available, I have fan).

Put the potatoes into a roasting tray with generous amounts of olive oil, salt and pepper and roast for about 20-30 mins until they are colouring and almost cooked through when tested with a knife. Add the chorizo and red pepper, swirl around and return to the oven for 15 mins. Meanwhile, season the fish fillets with the cumin, coriander, salt and pepper. If you're serving this properly on a plate then leave the fillets whole. If you're going for watching-TV-friendly bowl food then cut into thick strips. Once the red pepper has some colour on the edges lay the fish on top of everything else and return to the oven for ten minutes or until it has a little colour. Once you're happy with the colour, squeeze the juice from the lemon over.

To serve: There's lots of tasty oil at the bottom of this dish and you can either serve with crusty bread for dipping OR you can crush some of the potatoes with a fork to soak it up. Whatever you do, don't ignore the oil It's got the best bits of the olive oil, chorizo and fish in it together with the lemon juice. It's almost the best bit.

And this dish creates the absolute bare minimum washing up. You're welcome.

Shamelessly smug

I've never cooked baby back ribs before. These puppies have spent 10 hours slow cooking and then a quick finish off in the oven to caramelise the glaze.

I was hoping for leftovers....that might not be happening now. And I might need to enrol on an emergency weight-loss programme tomorrow.

Double podding is borderline psychotic

Fresh broad beans are just starting to appear in the shops. This recipe really benefits from the tiny beans that you probably wouldn't buy normally. It also shows you just how deceiving senses can sometimes be, this will smell like the smokiest haddockiest food ever while it's cooking but when you come to eat it it will have a subtlety of flavour that will surprise you.

Smoked haddock and broad bean tagliatelle.

For four people you will need:

One undyed smoked haddock fillet (mine was about 400g)
About 500ml of milk (see later)
2 medium shallots, 2 sticks of celery and 1 medium carrot all scrubbed and finely chopped
Olive oil for frying
Two cloves of garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
75g of smoked pancetta cut into small cubes
250g of closed-cup mushrooms, cleaned and finely sliced
One heaped dessert spoon of plain flour
A very large knob (phnarr) of butter
50g of freshly grated parmesan (if you even thought of using that pre-grated stuff please un-unfriend me now. I mean it. Begone.)
500g of fresh young broad beans in their pods
300g of tagliatelle
Salt and freshly ground pepper (Do I have to?)

Start by putting the fish, skin and all, into a saucepan and then cover with milk. The amount you need will vary according to circumstances, I needed 750ml but 500 ml might do it. Bring to the boil and then immediately reduce to a gentle simmer for five minutes before turning the heat off and leaving to infuse.

While all that's going on very gently fry the shallots, celery and carrot in the oil until they start to become sticky and translucent. Try and avoid brown bits. Definitely avoid crunchy bits. Add the sliced mushrooms and garlic and continue to fry until all the liquid from the mushrooms has evapourated and the hiss of steam has started to turn into the snap and crackle of frying again. Add the pancetta, continue stirring, and a minute or so later add the butter.

At this point remove the fish from the milk and set aside to cool. For goodness sake don't pour the milk away.

Once the butter has melted stir in the flour and cook for a couple of minutes while it all thickens up. Start to add the milk a little at a time, giving the sauce a chance to thicken each time. Once the sauce has reached the consistency of double cream give it a chance for the flour to thoroughly cook through and then add the parmesan, salt and pepper. Leave on a very low heat to contiunue to cook through (no-one sane likes floury sauces), stirring occasionally. If you have some milk left over don't throw it away. If you can't think if an amusing practical joke involving haddocky milk then you're not the person I thought you were.

Pod the broad beans (I really can't be arsed with double podding and with beans this size it would be borderline psychotic behaviour but if you fancy it go for it.) and gently flake the cooked haddock from its skin. You don't want fish-mush, firm chunky flakes are what you're aiming for here. Cook the pasta, keeping the sauce at barely-simmering throughout. Once the pasta is ready, stir the fish and beans into the sauce and drain the pasta. Once the beans have barely warmed through stir the sauce through the drained pasta and if it's all gone a bit too thick add a little of the reserved milk until you're happy with the consistency. Serve, enjoy, and wonder how long it's going to take for the smell of smoked haddock to disperse from your kitchen.

Pale, watery and smells faintly of farts.

Everyone knows cauliflower right? Pale, watery, smells faintly of farts. Not if you roast it. Then it's nutty, sweet, juicy and about as far away from the price you pay for the cheese sauce as you can get. And it loves a bit of cumin and lemon juice. Had this tonight with stir fried mushrooms, sprout-tops and mixed grains. If you fancy it, you will need:

For the roast cauliflower:
One large or two small heads of cauliflower, leaves trimmed and broken into large florets
A generous teaspoon of (preferably freshly) ground cumin
A really generous dressing of olive oil
Salt, pepper and the juice of half a lemon

For the stir fry:
Half a cup of brown rice or mixed grains, cooked until tender and then rinsed (I used a mixture of rice, spelt & quinoa because I'm in some sort of world's-most-middle-class competition and I won't beaten. And it tastes really nice)
300g of mushrooms, cleaned and coarsely chopped
one head of sprout tops, leaves separated and stalks finely sliced
one inch of fresh ginger, one shallot, one red chilli, two cloves of garlic, all finely chopped
Two eggs
Soy sauce
Fish sauce
Sesame Oil
Juice of half a lemon
Olive oil for frying

In a roasting tray toss the cauliflower, cumin & olive oil until the florets are well coated. Season with the salt & pepper and put into a 175C fan oven for ten minutes.

In a large frying pan, shallow saucepan or wok fry the mushrooms, ginger, shallot, chilli and garlic in the oil, on a medium heat, until all the water from the mushrooms has evaporated.

Go back to the cauliflower, squeeze over the lemon juice, generally throw around the roasting pan a bit and return to the oven. Brown bits should be starting to appear.

Back to the wok: Add the sprout tops and increase the heat. Once the sprout tops have wilted add the grains and increase the heat to "really really noisy". Keep stirring. Once you can smell the grains crack the eggs on top of the frying grains and leave for a bit to start to set. Once they've started to set, break up and stir through the grain mixture. You should be stirring bits of cooked egg through, not stirring raw egg into your grains.

Check the cauliflower. If it's starting to go from "brown-bits" to "black bits" you should remove and keep warm. If not, leave it in there. It'll only get better.

Finally at the wok: Add a dash each of soy sauce, fish sauce and sesame oil and the lemon juice. Stir through, let it reduce a bit and then check the seasoning. Adjust to taste with soy sauce for salt and a bit more lemon juice if you need.

Finally, get the cauliflower from the oven and serve on the stir-fried grains. I promise you won't miss the meat.