Summer dreams, ripped at the seams…

I’ve been feeling the heat this week – I just can’t quite seem to cool down, so I last night I thought I’d go for something fresh, Summery and of the sea.

Chargrilled Tuna with Oregano Oil & Beautifully Dressed Peas & Broad Beans

Scotch Stovies

What are Scotch Stovies? They are my new favourite way to eat potato. Where have they been all my life? They’re a mushy potato and onion mush, but they taste French and cheesy. I realise that’s a terrible description, but it’s the truth!

On a low heat, I sautéed a finely sliced onion, a big knob of butter and some fresh thyme leaves until they were soft and yellowing. I added some peeled and cubed potatoes and a cup of water, turned the heat up to medium, put the lid on and left them to simmer for 15 or so minutes. All the water gets soaked up, but it just keeps sort of bubbling away and when you stir them, the onion (which has continued to brown underneath the taties) adds a chewy/crispy/salty flavour to the mushy potatoes. It’s hard to describe, so here’s a picture…

Meanwhile, I crushed sea salt and fresh oregano leaves in a pestle and mortar then added some lemon juice and a few tablespoons of olive to make the oregano oil. I brushed one side of a fresh tuna steak then lay it oily side down in a very hot pan. I quickly brushed the other side and then turned it over and turned the heat off. I had absolutely no luck finding broad beans, so I substituted with yellow beans – long ones – instead. Boiled quickly with the peas and then drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice. I tore the tuna into chunks and lay it over the bean salad and served it up with the Scotch Stovies.

When I chose these two recipes before heading to work in the morning, I had to say, it wasn’t a choice that had me daydreaming about my dinner all day, but when I sat down in front of the tennis to eat dinner last night, I can’t tell you how pleasantly surprised I was. It was the perfect Summer evening dinner. The rich potatoes – unbelievable – were perfectly complimented by the lemony light tuna. I loved it.

Xx

A muscly debut. But no beard.

On Tuesday night, Ween came over for dinner. And even though she is partly responsible for the Gossip Girl twilight zone, she did very kindly provide a distraction for several hours!

Mussels Steamed with Fennel & Crème Fraîche

I’ve never cooked mussels before, which I am slightly embarrassed about, because now that I’ve done it, I’ve realised how easy it is. And not just the cooking part, but the purchasing part.

Off I went to the fish shop, fear building in my veins – what experience awaited me this time?

FSL: Can I help you?

Me: Yes, I’d like some mussels please?

FSL: One?

At this point, I nearly collapsed. Was she serious? Did I want one bloody mussel? Of course I bloody didn’t! Then I realised that she was pointing at the one kilo bags of cleaned, de-bearded and vacuum packed mussels.

Me: Oh… Yes… One please.

Insert sigh of relief here.

And so off I trotted home with my mussels, all ready to go.

I squeezed in a quick episode of GG before Ween arrived, then hit the kitchen.

An onion and a fennel bulb, chopped finely and sweated in the pan with some thyme and dried chilli. Then I threw in the mussels, a big glass of white wine and the sour cream. Lid on and simmering away for 5 minutes. All done. Served with some crusty bread and a glass of white wine.





Seriously, how easy is that?? I never knew. And now that I do, I figure I can buy those ready-to-go bags of mussels and try any combo of flavour I like. Too easy.

Xx

PS – OMG! I’ve done 84 recipes! While I’ve been living it up on the Upper East Side (sort of…), I’ve breezed past the half way mark without even noticing!

Onion bhaji & juicy juicy mangoes.

On Monday night, I went to Bollywood.

Roasted Chicken Breast with Lemony Bombay Potatoes
Indian-Style Broccoli with Spiced Yoghurt

OK, so of course I didn’t really go to Bollywood, but my apartment smelt very like an Indian restaurant.

I’ve cooked curries before, but not from scratch. Not using the spices to make the paste. Just using the paste from a jar. And don’t get me wrong, they’re easy and tasty, but this Indian feast was a flavour sensation.

The Bombay potatoes had lemon zest (hey, come on now, don’t be harsh. They really do use lemon a lot in India & Jamie isn’t just infiltrating in any way possible…), turmeric, cumin and chilli. Mixed with some garlic and olive oil, tossed with slices of red capsicum and the par-boiled cubes of potato, then the chicken breast, this bright yellow concoction went into the oven for 30 minutes and the wafting smells were mouth-watering.

Meanwhile, I quickly tossed some fennel seeds, cumin and cardamom seeds scraped fresh from the pod, in a hot frying pan. While warm, I used the pestle and mortar to grind them up and then stirred them through natural yoghurt with a squeeze of lemon.




The whole thing was delicious and now that I have all these spices in my cupboard, I have no excuse not to attempt some more Indian home cooking. Plus I kind of liked eating fluro yellow food – bizarre but fun!

Xx

PS – I love onion bhajis and I love saying onion bhajis, so that’s why they’re in the title.

PPS – One of my favourite lines from a movie is from Bend It Like Beckham, when they’re fitting her for a sari and the grandma says she’ll make a dress that will turn her “mosquito bites into juicy juicy mangoes”. Hilarious.

A teenage exile & a green breakthrough.

I’m sorry I’ve been a little quiet over the past week. It’s not that I haven’t been busy in the kitchen, it’s more that I haven’t had a chance to sit down and write about it. And for this I’m blame a bunch of spoiled teenagers from the Upper East Side...

Apparently I was missing out on the phenomenon that is Gossip Girl, so Ween lent me the DVDs for season one and two and I’m ashamed to say that since last Friday, I have been at the bottom of a Gossip Girl hole. My entire weekend was spent – apart from a few meals out with friends – on my couch, watching Gossip Girl. Not to mention that this week – apart from work and a night at the theatre – I’ve spent my spare time on the couch, watching bloody Gossip Girl. Like many of the Gossip Girl characters, I find myself with some sort of addiction. I want my life back, dammit.

However, my last meal before I went into an unexpectedly self-imposed teen-angst lockdown, was something of a breakthrough.

Spinach and Goat’s Cheese Risotto

I’ve made risotto so many times before, but this time, on a cruisey Friday night in, I thought I’d actually follow the recipe for basic risotto and I actually learnt something.

The key is in the heat of the stove. I’ve always had the heat to high previously, which required constant stirring, a high level of attention and in the end, I think, created a rather gluggy risotto. But I’ve now realised that if you have the heat at a medium level, you can actually multi-task in the kitchen while the risotto cooks. Overall, it takes a lot longer to actually cook, but in the end, it’s worth it.

So, on this occasion, when the basic risotto was done, I added the steamed (with garlic and nutmeg) spinach, which I’d finely chopped into a sort of paste and stirred through, along with some crumbled goats cheese.




It looked good – white speckled with bright green – and it tasted fabulous. The nutmeg in the steamed spinach was a subtle but very welcome flavour.

It was shortly after this green & ricey breakthrough, that my life entered a downward spiral…

Xx

My friend Spud.

Tonight was a meat and veg night. I just really felt like a steak, so I chose a few veg recipes to back it up.

Baked Potato Stuffed with Bacon, Anchovy and Sage

Cheesy Peas

I had to tunnel out the middle of the potato – it would have been a lot easier if I had an apple corer, as Jamie did, but it was kinda fun creating the tunnel. I felt a bit like a handyman woodworker. I then lay a sage leaf, an anchovy fillet and a thin slice of garlic onto a piece of bacon, rolled it up and stuffed it right down the tato-tunnel. Pricked a couple of times with a fork, rubbed with oil and sea salt and into the oven till cooked.

Just before the potato was ready to go, I cooked my steak and boiled the peas. Once cooked and drained, I stirred a bit of butter and some grated parmesan through and served it up.

You really can’t go wrong with steak, potato and peas. Three of my favourite things. But there’s nothing wrong with tarting it up a bit and Jamie’s done a damn fine job. Cheesy peas might just become a staple. Squishy green balls of goodness make me happy, so does my friend Spud.

Xx

Distracted by a potato peel pie.

I’ll keep this short, because my whole night is running late. I have been a little distracted. By people who love books and a book about them. Yesterday I started reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and tonight I finished it. I couldn’t put it down, so when I came through the door after work tonight, I couldn’t cook my dinner, I had to keep reading. What a beautiful book, filled with wonderful characters who made me laugh and cry, more readily than I’ve done in some time. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

But a girl’s got to eat, so after whiping away the last of the tears and chuckling to myself still, I headed into the kitchen.

Spicy Pangrattato Risotto

I met a hurdle almost immediately. Instead of reading my shopping list and going to the supermarket on my way home, I was rushing home to read my book and forgot to buy an onion. The first ingredient in a risotto and I was without it, but after my reading session it was too late to head to the shops, so I made do without. A simple and basic risotto made, I sprinkled the pangrattato – lemon zest, dried chillies, garlic, anchovies & bread whizzed into bread crumbs and pan fried til crispy – over the top. Done. How easy is that? And Jamie didn’t lie when he said it was easy and tasty. It was the fluffy vs crunchy thing that really did it for me, plus the slightly tangy, slightly salty bread crumbs with a kick. Yum. Topped off the night nicely.

However, Jamie did lie when he called the salad I made for my lunch on the weekend simple and tasty. A big fat lie and a real disappointment.

Warm Grilled Peach & Frisée Salad with Goat’s Cheese Dressing

Grilled peaches, served warm on a bed of curly endive – seems tasty enough. Again with the soft vs crunchy theme. But it was the dressing that I couldn’t stomach. It sounded good on paper – goats cheese, walnut oil, S&P, lemon juice and grated parmesan – but like the Summertime pasta done some months back, it all went wrong. It was just not a pleasant combo of flavours and it was too rich and creamy. Not even the juicy peaches or crunchy lettuce could save it, so unfortunately it met a similar fate and half of it ended up in the bin. I hate food wastage, but I hate feeling forced to eat something I’m really not enjoying more. But at least it doesn’t happen often.

Xx

PS – did you know I’m almost half way through my experiment?!!!!!

The way it was at school…

There’s nothing like a bit of a blast from the past.

Prawn Cocktail

It’s been such a long time since I had a Summer holiday, so I was pretty pumped about a short break down the south coast. Bawley Point, just north of Bateman’s Bay, was my family’s Summer holiday destination for many years when I was a child. Filled with lots of great memories, both Charlie and I were excited to go back there.

After a day at the beach and with instructions from the gang to create a seafood feast for dinner, we set off for the fish shop in Ulladulla. Lucky’ Seafood came highly recommended by all the locals and apparently also highly recommended by someone not so local. On the back wall of the shop, was a big thank you note from the master of seafood himself, Rick Stein. Not a bad endorsement when buying our dinner eh?

Unfortunately, as expected, without pre-ordering we couldn’t get a whole lobster, so we had had to go with plan B – the prawn cocktail.

Jamie spices up his prawn cocktail with a pangrattato, which is essentially a fancy way of saying a bread crumb sprinkle – made with bread crumbs, S&P and some oil, pan fried quickly together. With the sauce made from tomato sauce, mayo, a splash of Worcestershire sauce, squeeze of lemon and some S&P, we peeled the prawns and were ready to go.

Jamie serves up the PC on plates, but Charlie wouldn’t have a bar of it – “When we had prawn cocktails at school” he said “they were always served in a glass”. Firstly, he makes a very good point – I’ve never seen a prawn cocktail that wasn’t served in a glass. Secondly, what a fancy school – I certainly never had prawn cocktails when I was at boarding school! And thirdly, if one is going to give orders, perhaps one could help a little in the kitchen! So he did. Finely chopping the lettuce, Charlie neatly popped it in the bottom of each glass. We then fanned the avocado slices around the glass, followed by the prawns, the sauce and lastly sprinkled with the pangrattato.

An absolute classic, it didn’t disappoint. The prawns were fresh and tasty and the bread crumbs added a crunch that really complimented the creamy sauce.

OK, so it’s not lobster as promised, but you have to admit that a prawn cocktail suits a summer holiday at the beach pretty perfectly.

Xx

Oh la la. Can you smell ze garlic?

It’s New Years Day, you’re feeling very average and yet excited about the dawning of a new year all at the same time. What do you eat?

Fabulous Fish Stew

I knew that Charlie and Tove would be craving lots of seafood during their summer trip home, so I had already planned to cruise through plenty of the seafood recipes when we head down the coast next week, but as I nursed a sore head yesterday, I decided we needed a hearty NYD dinner, that was simple but tasty. Thank you Jamie.

I was not so forthcoming with thanks when I headed to the fish shop however. Now there’s a sentence we’ve heard before… It’s new years day, it’s summer, people are on holidays and entertaining left, right and centre and yet apparently it’s not the time to be fully stocked with seafood at the fish shop. So unfortunately Jamie’s fish stew was missing a few ingredients – clams and mussels - but no biggie really.

The stew is to be served with aioli, so I made that first with mayo, a good few cloves of crushed garlic, a squeeze of lemon juice and S&P seasoning.

The simplicity of the stew was its appeal when choosing what to cook and when it came to cooking it, it didn’t disappoint. A few more cloves of garlic, finely sliced, thrown into hot oil, followed by a few chopped basil leaves and stalks, a big glass of white wine and two tins of plum tomatoes. Brought to the boil, I threw in the seafood – salmon, blue eye, snapper and prawns – gave it a good stir and left to simmer for 10 minutes.

Served with a dollop of aioli on top, crusty bread, some basil leaves and a sprinkle of parmesan, it was the perfect dinner to cure a new years day hangover. Or accompany some new years drinks…

Xx

PS – I’ve a new love for aioli. It’s so easy to make, but it really can change the whole outcome of a meal.

PPS – Am planning to give another lobster recipe a go next week, when we’re down the coast. Fingers crossed for a coastal fish-shop-lady with a willingness to assist or else it could get messy!