Author Archives: Christian Gott

Spicy Pumpkin Soup – the perfect Halloween Recipe

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As Autumn is slowing creeping up upon us shops are displaying their Halloween goods and every supermarket is piled high with pumpkins. The tradition of pumpkin carving comes of course from America, but its origins go much further back. The Celts first carved faces into hollowed out turnips and put in a small candle to light the way home for friendly spirits. These carved vegetables were eventually known as Jack O’Lanterns by the Irish descendants of the Celts who had a legend about a farmer making a bargain with the devil himself that left his spirit unable to enter either heaven or hell and so he was forced to wander the earth for all eternity.

 

Pumpkins are versatile seasonal ingredients that can be used in a number of dishes such as soups, salads an as really tasty side dish as well as the classic spiced pumpkin pie at American Thanksgiving. The outside skins can be quite tough, so you will need a good sharp knife and to be careful. If you don’t feel that happy tackling a whole one you can buy prepared fresh or frozen squash in most supermarkets as well as many of the other ingredients. Pumpkin flesh tends to be a little sweeter and has a higher moisture content so makes excellent soups and purees, the flesh from squashes is a little firmer and great for roasting or adding to curries and stews.

Pumpkin, Chilli and Ginger Soup

This is a brilliant warming soup to serve right through Autumn and the Winter months. You can substitute the cream with Crème Fraiche and omit the butter and substitute creamed coconut for a Vegan alternative. Most supermarkets stock frozen garlic and ginger they taste great and save on wastage.

1 medium Pumpkin, about 1kg weight, peeled and deseeded

700 ml hot Vegetable stock

150 ml Thick Jersey Cream

2 Onions, peeled and sliced

2 large Carrots, peeled and sliced

2 cloves of Garlic, crushed

1 large Red Chilli, sliced

A 4 cm piece of Ginger, peeled and grated

Juice and zest of 1 fresh Lime

4 tablespoons quality Olive Oil

2 tablespoons Butter

2 tablespoons Plain Flour

Jersey Sea Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper

 

Heat your oven to 400 F / 200° C / Gas Mark 6. Mix the pumpkin, onion, and carrots in the olive oil and place in a large, deep roasting tin with half the olive oil. Bake in the oven for thirty to forty minutes, stirring a couple of times to help the vegetables cook evenly until they are caramelised and cooked through.

Melt the butter in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, then add the garlic, ginger and chilli cook without burning for a couple of minutes then add the flour and stir. Add the roasted vegetables and the vegetable stock and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for twenty minutes stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. When cool puree with a stick blender or in a food processor until smooth and pour into a clean pan. Add the lime juice and zest and the cream and reheat with boiling, check the seasoning and serve. Can be made in advance and stored in the fridge for three days without the cream.

Spaghetti with Parma Ham and Roasted Garlic

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I love garlic, I adore garlic, I cook with absolutely loads of garlic. I could actually employ a full-time garlic peeler, knee deep in discarded garlic husks. A manager I worked with regularly joked I could not cook a dish without garlic, cream and alcohol, including the desserts. BUT I LOATH BURNT GARLIC. I jump up, gesticulate, shout and scream at the number of cookery programs where poor, innocent, sweet, comely garlic is tossed into woks and pans of smoking hot oil.* I am pretty certain every single person who utters the frankly unbelievable phrase ‘ it doesn’t have garlic in it does it, I really don’t like garlic ‘ is the result of a traumatic exposure to such cooking travesties. Burnt garlic is a cheek sucking, eye-watering experience of such awful culinary disgrace.

Hence roasted garlic, I swear all the disbelievers could be converted with this delicious way of cooking garlic. The slow roasting with just a little oil highlights the natural sweetness and tempers the harsher raw flavours. I first encountered roasted garlic when I worked as a manager at the Bel and the Dragon, Cookham served with rustic, crusty bread and olives and olive oil, the garlic squeezed out and spread on the bread as a kind of pungent pate. Wow!

I keep some roasted garlic cloves covered in oil in the refrigerator now handy for lots of cooking especially this simple full flavoured lunch or supper dish. Post the Christmas and Boxing Day excesses I think it is nice to have something really tasty and easy to cook. The Parma ham and roasted garlic can be cooked in the last few minutes of your pasta cooking. The chilli provides a little bite but is not there to overpower this wonderful dish, however, if you want to add a little extra go for it, one of the joys of cooking is experimenting.
* Just add the garlic later during the cooking process when the heat is lowered or with more ingredients that dissipate the heat. The garlic cream rum babas were perhaps a little ahead of their time.

 

Spaghetti with Parma Ham and Roasted Garlic serves 4

 

50 to 65 gr Spaghetti per person ( I grab a generous handful but I’m greedy )

2 large heads of roasted garlic ( see below )

16 slices Parma Ham

1 small medium Chilli, de-seeded and very thinly sliced

6 to 8 tablespoons quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil

A small handful of curly Parsley, thoroughly washed, dried and chopped

Sea Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper

½ a Lemon

for the roasted garlic

Garlic bulbs

Olive oil

A few sprigs of Rosemary and Thyme

Sea Salt and roughly ground Black Pepper

Preheat the oven to 400F/ 200C/ Gas mark 6. Remove the tops of the garlic bulbs, place on to a baking tray. Sprinkle liberally with olive oil, the herbs and plenty of salt and pepper. Roast for twenty-five to thirty minutes until the bulbs are soft. Cool and squeeze out as required.

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Add the spaghetti and cook for eight to ten minutes until ‘ al dente ‘ or with just a little bite left in the pasta. The old student technique of seeing if sticks to the wall is not necessary, just remove a little of the spaghetti and bite between your front teeth. While the pasta is cooking gently heat the olive oil in a medium sized heavy bottomed frying pan. Add the chilli and garlic, sauté for two minutes. Add the ham and season, cook for a minute. Squeeze in the juice of half a lemon and stir in the parsley. Drain the spaghetti and stir thoroughly into the frying pan, ensuring all the spaghetti is coated with the oil, chilli and parsley mix. Plate and serve with a little extra chopped parsley.

 

Classic Fruit Cake

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It is time if you are so inclined to start preparing for Christmas and making your Christmas cake and Christmas pudding. There are a number of great Christmas bakes from around the world such as Weihnachtsstollen or Christstollen or simply Stollen in Germany, the familiar dome shape of Panettone from Italy or the French Bûche de Noël or Yule log, a rich iced chocolate cake. In the United Kingdom we traditionally celebrate with a decorated spiced, fruitcake.* The cake is normally covered with a layer or marzipan then fondant or royal icing and decorated with Father Christmases, red-breasted robins, bows, bells, holly, and other Christmas symbols.

This is my goto recipe for fruitcake, rich and flavoursome enough for a christening or wedding cake or a Christmas Cake, it is sturdy enough to carry the weight of marzipan and icing and be used in tiers. It is a real family favourite and we bake at least one a month, it is a great match for a nice crumbly cheese like Wensleydale or Caerphilly, which is a proper nod to my Yorkshire ancestry. I haven’t specified the dried fruit you can use a mix of raisins, sultanas, currants, cherries, apricots, cranberries, prunes or figs and you can omit the nuts if you prefer and add an extra eighty grams of flour. I use raisins, sultanas, lots of cherries and dried mixed peel.

The secret to a rich, delicious Christmas cake alongside a generous mix of seasonal spices is to feed the finished cake. In the run up to decorating your cake you can add a couple of spoonsful of whisky, sherry or brandy to the cake to really keep it moist.

*Dundee Cake is a lighter fruit cake made with currants, sultanas, mixed peel and almonds and flavoured with whisky. It was popularised by a Scottish marmalade company called Keiller’s, who first mass-produced the cake commercially in the mid-nineteenth century and claimed to have introduced the name ‘Dundee cake’. It is normally topped with rings of blanched, whole almonds.

 

Classic Fruit Cake

750 gr Mixed Dried Fruit

200 gr Self Raising Flour

250 gr soft Unsalted Butter

250 gr light Brown Sugar

100 gr Ground Almonds

75 gr Flaked Almonds

5 large free-range Eggs

1 tablespoon Black Treacle

1 teaspoon Ground Ginger

1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

½ teaspoon Ground Nutmeg

A generous pinch of Ground Cloves

½ teaspoon Baking Powder

1 teaspoon Almond extract

100 ml Brandy, Whisky or Bourbon

Zest and juice of 1 Orange

Zest and juice of 1 Lemon

 

Buttered, lined, deep twenty-centimetre cake tin

Put the dried fruit, zests and juice and alcohol into a large bowl and leave for twenty-four hours stirring occasionally. Heat oven to 150C / 300 F / Gas Mark 2. Put a damp cloth onto the work surface and place your largest mixing bowl on top. Add the softened butter, sugar, treacle and almond essence and cream together. Crack the eggs one by one into a small bowl to check they are fresh, then combine and whisk together. Sift the flour, spices and baking powder into another bowl.

Add the egg mix in batches and beat into the butter and sugar mix. Add a couple of tablespoons of flour with each batch to prevent the mix from splitting. When all of the egg is mixed in add the remaining flour and spice mix and fold together until thoroughly combined. Add the soaked fruits and flaked almonds and gently stir together. Tip the cake mix into your prepared cake tin, and tap on the work surface to knock out any pockets of air. Place in the centre of the oven bake for an hour, cover the top with two layers of baking paper and turn the oven down to 140C / 275 F / Gas Mark 1 and cook for around two and a half to three more hours or until a wooden skewer inserted in the cakes centre comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool. To feed your cake poke holes in it with a skewer and spoon over tablespoons of your chosen alcohol, wrap in fresh baking paper and tin foil and place in a biscuit tin or plastic tub. Feed the cake with two tablespoons of alcohol every fortnight, until you marzipan it before icing.

My Murgh Makhani – National Curry Week

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We are if you are unaware in a celebratory culinary alignment of epic proportions it is National Curry Week, Seafood Week, Chocolate Week and National Porridge Day. “Go on”, I hear you cry, “You’ve had all year have you come up with a recipe combining all of these?”

Well no. We had porridge for breakfast, big bowls made with creamy Jersey milk and I can hear all you spurtle welders screaming, yes made with milk.* Chocolate, I have two daughters so I could use Willy Wonka’s chocolate fountain, seafood I will save for the weekend so supper this rather chilly, wet evening was a suitable curry, one of my favourite curries in fact, Murgh Makhani or Butter Chicken. This week I have soaked lentils, pounded garlic, ginger and cinnamon sticks, roasted coriander, mustard and fennel seeds and even opened a jar of the now infamous, homemade chilli and lime pickle. I love cooking curries and balancing the complex flavours of the spices.

*The spurtle is used to stir proper porridge made with rolled oats, salt and water only. I worked for a two times winner of the Golden Spurtle but that as they say is another story.

In the meantime, if you don’t fancy cooking or you fancy celebrating the up and coming Diwali here is a list of some award-winning restaurants I can personally recommend if you want some amazing authentic Indian cooking.

Trishna – is the baby sister of a world-famous seafood restaurant in Mumbai and specialises in its own unique take on the coastal cuisine of south west India. It has a Michelin star and serves incredible food in a relaxed environment in London’s Marylebone village.

The Chilli Pickle – serves a menu with dishes from across the Indian sub-continent inspired by the travels of the two ex-pat owners. Having moved from the famous Lanes it is now housed in the Brighton MyHotel. A well lit modern designed restaurant is home to some astounding cooking.

The Cinnamon Club – is the original London restaurant of Chef Vivek Singh, he now has his own celebrity superstar mini-empire including The Cinnamon Kitchen and Cinnamon Soho. One of the first chefs to blend Indian recipes with classical western techniques the Cinnamon Club has won numerous awards and plaudits.

Also look at Veeraswamy, the UK’s oldest Indian restaurant, Tamarind, Benares, and Gymkhana, all Michelin starred brilliant restaurants, they do some wonderful, good value, set menus but best not call them curry houses.

 

And so to Butter Chicken does not have a pedigree stretching into the dawn of history, it is believed to have been created in Peshawar and after the British partition, the chef moved to a New Delhi restaurant. A customer wanted a meal late in the evening and marinated chicken, ready for the Tandoor oven, was tossed with tomatoes, butter and spices and the Murgh Makhani ( butter chicken ) was born. While the dish looks similar to a Chicken Tikka Masala, it is more flavoursome with more depth of spicing in the rich tomato-based sauce. The Tikka Masala is Britain’s most popular curry and is believed to have been made originally with Campbell’s Condensed Tomato Soup and to have originated in the hallowed curry houses of either Birmingham or Glasgow.

The chicken, either on or off the bone, is marinated in yogurt and spices but the secret of a true Murgh Makhani is Qasuri Methi or dried fenugreek leaves. The chicken is best cooked in an extremely hot oven, a Tandoor ( if you have one ) or over coals or on a char grill to add an authentic smoky flavour before finishing in the sauce and serving. So, you can fire up the BBQ.  Garnish with green chillies, sliced hard boiled eggs, coriander leaves, raisins and toasted almonds.

 

Murgh Makhani ( Spiced – Butter Chicken ) serves 4 – 6

for marinated chicken

1.5 kg of Chicken pieces, skin removed or 1 kg chunky diced Chicken

Juice of 2 Limes

150 gr fresh natural Yoghurt

1 medium sized red Chilli, very finely chopped

2 tablespoons Coriander Seeds

2 tablespoons Fennel Seeds

1 tablespoon Cumin Seeds

1 tablespoon Fenugreek Seeds

6 Cloves

8 White Peppercorns

¼ Stick of Cinnamon

2 Bay Leaves

8 Cardamom Pods, crushed and seeds removed

½ teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

Sea Salt

Vegetable Oil

 

for butter sauce

75 gr Butter in small pieces

3 tablespoons Clarified Butter or Ghee

2 medium Onions, peeled and finely chopped

8 Cloves of Garlic, peeled and crushed

3 centimeter piece of Ginger, peeled and crushed to paste

4 tablespoons Tomato Puree

8 fresh Tomatoes, de-seeded and roughly chopped

200 ml Pouring Cream

2 tablespoons Kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)

¼ teaspoon Turmeric Powder

Juice of 1 fresh Lemon

Sea Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper

Coriander leaves to garnish

 

 

Toast the spices, excluding the chilli, cardamom and cayenne pepper by heating them in a medium sized, heavy bottomed frying pan, stirring occasionally, until they colour slightly. Place in a small food processor or coffee grinder with the cayenne and cardamom seeds and reduce to a powder. Mix half of your spice mix with the chilli, lime juice, and yogurt and in a large glass or ceramic bowl stir in the chicken. Cover, refrigerate and allow to marinate for at least two hours. Larger chicken pieces benefit from marinating an extra couple of hours.

 

Preheat your oven to 425 F / 220 C / Gas mark 7. Drain off any excess yogurt mix from the chicken and set aside. Place the marinated chicken pieces on an oiled baking tray and cook for fifteen minutes for diced chicken or twenty-five minutes for the large chicken pieces. The chicken can brown well, almost char in the oven as this improves the flavour of the finished dish. At the same time as the chicken is cooking heat the clarified butter and a little more oil in a large casserole, add the onions. Sauté the onions for 15 minutes until golden brown in and then add the ginger, garlic, remaining spice mix and the turmeric. Cook for two more minutes, stirring to prevent sticking and burning.

 

Add the tomato paste, tomatoes, kasuri methi, cream and any remaining yoghurt marinade to the pan and mix together. Place in the chicken and simmer for ten to fifteen more minutes till the chicken is tender and the sauce has reduced and thickened. Do not boil as the sauce will split. Finish the sauce by correcting the seasoning and immediately before serving stirring in the lemon juice and butter pieces. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with Naan bread and rice.

Kebabs

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You may have already consigned the BBQ to the back of the shed for the year, let’s face it summer has been a bit of a wash out, and hung up your apron but you can still achieve some excellent results under the grill. In a restaurant one of your goals is consistency, you want a dish your customers can enjoy again and again and recommend to all their friends. This is one of the reasons we follow recipes. As someone interested in food, and you are reading this article, you will probably look at a recipe then like me tweak a little ingredient here, adjust an amount there. I am going to make a wish and hope you change the following recipe(s) totally, utterly and completely. Just think of them as the loosest of culinary guidelines. There is an almost infinite opportunity to mix and match textures and flavours and experiment to your heart’s content.

Kebabs

There are a couple of rules, first please if you are using wooden skewers soak them in water overnight as they have a tendency to burn, especially over a barbecue or char-grill. The second is not so easy and requires a little experience. Cut up your ingredients so they will cook at the same time. What do I mean by this? A large wedge of onion will not cook as quick as a king prawn so separate out the layers. Courgettes, mushrooms and bell pepper all add colour and flavour but need to be quite large pieces if mixed with small pieces of chicken or steak as the denser texture of the meat takes longer to cook. If you want to make a seafood kebab try wrapping scallops in bacon to protect them from the searing heat of the grill and add flavour. Finally, not a rule but a top tip, a good marinade will add a ton of flavour but be careful, sugary marinades can burn and are better brushed on the food in the latter stages of cooking.

Chicken and Vegetable Kebabs                                                      makes 8 kebabs

2 large Chicken Breasts cut in two-centimetre chunks

1 large Courgette, washed and cut into slices

1 large Red Bell pepper, cut in chunks

1 large Red Onion, peeled, quartered, and parted in layers

16 large Button Mushrooms, wiped

Quality Olive Oil

Sea Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper

8 skewers

Thread the meat and vegetables on the skewers. Place on a baking tray, drizzle with oil and season generously. Cook on barbecue or under a medium to high grill turning regularly for around ten minutes until cooked. There that is it the easiest recipe I will probably ever post.

Now let your taste buds run wild, here are a few suggestions;

King Prawn and Rump Steak ( Surf’n’turf )

Monkfish, Prawns and Scallops wrapped in Bacon

Chicken Tikka

Lamb with Garlic and Thyme

Mediterranean Vegetables

Cajun Tuna

Sweet and Sour Pork with Bell Pepper and Pineapple

Marinades 

Marinating your meat and fish for a couple of hours will add multiple layers of flavour and you can brush the kebabs with the marinade during cooking. Remember that if you use a sweetened marinade to lift the kebabs a little higher on the barbecue or turn the grill down a fraction as they will easily burn over a high heat.

Quick Southern Barbecue – 4 tablespoons Tomato Ketchup, 4 tablespoons Vegetable Oil, 1 tablespoons Sherry Vinegar, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce, 1 tablespoon Dark Brown Sugar, 2 Cloves Garlic, peeled and pureed, 1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika, ½ teaspoon Hot Pepper sauce, ¼ teaspoon Black Pepper

Greek Style – 4 tablespoons quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil, freshly squeezed juice of two Lemons, 2 tablespoons Honey, ½ teaspoon freshly chopped Oregano, ½ teaspoon freshly chopped Rosemary, ½ teaspoon freshly chopped Thyme, ¼ teaspoon Sea Salt, ¼ teaspoon Black Pepper

Asian – 4 tablespoons Vegetable oil, 2 tablespoons toasted Sesame Oil, 2 tablespoons Rice Wine Vinegar, 2 tablespoons Light Soy Sauce, 2 cloves of Garlic, peeled and pureed, 1 large piece of preserved Ginger, finely grated, ¼ teaspoon Chinese 5 Spice, ¼ teaspoon Black Pepper

Sweet ‘n’ Sour – 4 tablespoons Tomato Ketchup, 4 tablespoons Pineapple Juice, 2 tablespoon Honey, 1 tablespoon Sherry Vinegar, 2 cloves of Garlic, peeled and pureed, ¼ teaspoon Sea Salt, ¼ teaspoon Black Pepper

Fiery – 8 tablespoons quality Olive Oil, 1 small hot Chilli, finely chopped, 2 cloves of Garlic, peeled and pureed, 1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika, ½ teaspoon hot Pepper Sauce, ½ teaspoon Sea Salt, ½ teaspoon Black Pepper

National Beer Day

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It is National Beer Day, well across the pond in the USA it is, but I rarely need a reason to celebrate with a beer or cooking with one. Don’t be afraid to cook with beer, the Belgium’s have made an art of using beer much as the French would use wine. I think almost all aspiring food led pubs have included deep-fried fish in a beer batter or a steak and ale pie on their menus at some stage, and very nice they are too, more recently beer bread, ice cream and beer can chicken recipes have become popular with cooks and foodies. Virtually any recipe that calls for a liquid of any sort can be substituted with beer.

As a marinade for meat, fish or seafood, beer penetrates, flavours and tenderizes, it is less acidic than wine so the food can be left in the marinade longer, without cooking, and so increasing the flavour. In roasting or braising, beer used to baste the foods or as an ingredient in the basting sauce imparts a rich, dark colour as the sugar caramelise.

Beer is often thought of as a poor relation to wine but it is a complex drink made with up to twelve main ingredients, without including many additional aromatics. This leads to an incredible range, with around one hundred and thirty different styles of beer available to cook with and match with your food. So how do you pair food and beer? As with choosing a suitable wine you should try to complement with, contrast with or cut through the food flavours.  Complementing matches similar flavours like the slightly sour, dark crust of a pizza can be complemented by the traditional toasted malt flavours of a Pilsner style lager. Pilsners also complement spicier foods and drink well with Mexican style salsas.

If you want to try contrasting the food and beer flavours try a really good quality dark chocolate with a glass of Belgium cherry or raspberry Kriek, fruity lambic beers originally brewed by monks. The last way to pair beer is cutting, in which the carbonation levels of the beer, can lift flavours and cut through rich creamy dishes, try a really hoppy English style IPA with a chicken korma. Beer and cheese are perfect companions, the famous Welsh Rarebit is little more than melted cheese and beer on toast and Beer and Cheese Soup is delicious. In batter a live ( not pasteurised ) beer can be substituted for yeast and water in the result is a crisp flavoursome coating for deep-fried cod, salmon, and squid.

 

As the choice at first might feel a little confusing it really is down to your own palate, treat blonde/golden beers and lagers as you would white wines and the darker, stronger bitters and porters as reds. As with wine when you boil and reduce beer you will increase some of the flavours and loose others, you will also evaporate off all of the alcohol. If you are using beer as a substitute for stock remember reducing a strong, intensely hoppy beer will leave a bitter residue. A sweetish mild or stout with little hopping will produce a fine gravy. A top tip is to reserve a little beer and add it when the cooking is finished to lift and enhance the beer flavours. A final note never cook with a beer you would not drink.

 

Light Larger style beers – are ideal for batters as the carbonation produces a light, airy result and the sugars caramelise to a deep golden colour.

IPA Indian Pale Ales – When pairing IPA with food there are three flavours to match your food to; the bitterness,  the herbaceous hoppy notes and the rich caramel. Hoppy flavours are great with spices and at the opposite end of the flavour profile light fruits. Bitterness amplifies salty and umami flavours and has a cooling effect making a terrific match for spicy Asian cooking. The caramel flavours will compliment inherent sweetness in a dish like caramelized onions or the crispy skin of roast chicken. The hop acids and carbonation make IPA’s great palate cleansers to take on even the fattiest deep-fried dishes.

Traditional Ales – use in bread, pies and stews, the Belgium classic Carbonnade Flamande is very similar to a Beef Bourguignon with beer substituted for wine.

Stouts and Porters – Stout is often used in rich flavoured mustards and steamed steak and oyster pudding is a classic made with Guinness. Porters are dark brown in colour, sometimes almost black in the heavier roasted versions, their depth of rich flavour, medium body and lower level of bitterness mean they are a perfect match for grilled and barbecued food ( be it burgers, steaks, chicken, any kebabs or even seafood) will pair perfectly with a porter where the roasted notes in the beer really match up with any charred and caramelised flavours produced when cooking.

Pilzners – Pilsner is perhaps the most versatile beer to match food with. It has the strength of flavour to pair with Mexican, Thai and other fiery Asian foods, but it won’t overwhelm more delicate dishes like shellfish or fresh goat cheese. It’s great with burgers or barbecue and perfect with pizza. The hops and carbonation work to keep your palate clean and it can also be a wonderful accompaniment to very light desserts. 

Wheat Beer – traditionally used in Waterzooi, a fish stew from the Flanders region of Belgium thickened with egg yolks and cream and the favourite of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, born in Ghent. Wheat Beer is also ideal for batter mixes.

Speciality Beers – fruity lambic beers in chocolate cakes and puddings and raspberry or sour cherry kriek beers with roast duck and fowl.

This lovely recipe pairs two fantastic flavours with fresh mussels and is perhaps my favourite of all the mussel dishes I regularly cook. There is something about the combination of the pungent braised chorizo and aromatic, slightly bitter, beer with the cooking liquor of the mussels which creates a wonderful broth in which to dip great chunks of freshly baked crusty bread. For the beer I would naturally recommend Liberation IPA here in the Channel Islands but Adnam’s Broadside, Fuller’s London Pride or Moorland Old Speckled Hen all give great results.

 Mussels and Chorizo 

Mussels with Beer and Chorizo Sausage                            generously serves 6 people

2 kg fresh Mussels
140 gr Braised Chorizo
A good sized nugget of Butter
A slug of quality Olive Oil
6 large Shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
3 cloves of Garlic, peeled and crushed

300 ml of deep flavoured Beer
2 tablespoons Tomato Puree
A good handful of Parsley, washed and finely chopped
The juice of 1 freshly squeezed Lemon
Freshly ground Black Pepper

 

Allow 500 gr to 750 gr of mussels per person for a generous portion. To prepare your mussels first rinse them in plenty of cold running water and throw away any mussels with cracked or broken shells. Give any open mussels a quick squeeze, if they do not close immediately, throw away as well as they are dead and not to be eaten. Then using a small knife scrape the shell to remove any barnacles or dirt and pull out any beards by tugging towards the hinge of the mussel shell. If you intend to cook later that day, store in a plastic container in the bottom of your refrigerator covered with a damp tea towel.

In a large, heavy bottomed pan melt the butter and add the olive oil. Add the shallots and sauté for about ten minutes until they are soft and gently coloured. Turn up the heat and add the garlic, tomato puree, chorizo and a generous few turns of the pepper mill. Stir well and cook for two minutes. Pour in the beer, stir and bring to the boil before tipping in the mussels. Cover with a tight fitting lid and steam for five minutes until the mussels are all open. Remove the lid and simmer for two more minutes to slightly reduce the cooking liquor. I like plenty of the cooking juices to mop up with lots of crusty bread. Finish the mussels with the lemon juice and lots of parsley and serve.

Seafood Tarts

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Spring is in the air so I have a doozy of a recipe for you today, Seafood Feuillettes, deliciously tasty, puff-pastry cases full of delicious seafood in a creamy vermouth sauce. Now before we start I don’t want you to panic at the thought of puff pastry, I’m going to put up my hands up right now and admit straight away few of us are lucky to have the time and patience to perfect the technique of making puff pastry at home, even after hours of practice I struggle to get an even rise and perfect bake. The solution, used correctly the bought-in product is practical, versatile and very labour saving. Rich, buttery and flaky, ready-made puff pastry can top a rich fish pie, enclose marzipan and fruit for a luxurious dessert or make simple crisp cheese straws to nibble.

Seafood Tart

Puff pastry can also be used to make savoury hors d’oeuvre or bite sized appetisers. The most famous of these being little-stuffed Vol-au-vent cases topped with a little lid or delicate Crolines, small lattice topped parcels. My recipe today is how to make the third, great little tartlet case that can be used in a savoury starter, light lunch or filled with whipped cream and fruit as a simple, elegant dessert.

Feuillette Pastry Tarts
I have used many fillings in Feuillettes, roasted Provençal vegetables topped with whipped Goat’s cheese and a little rocket dressed with sea salt and Balsamic, creamy garlic mushrooms or a seafood medley as well as fruit purées and Confectioner’s custard, glazed poached peach halves and raspberries.

Puff pastry ( ready made or homemade )

Egg wash

Preheat your oven to 400F / 200C / Gas Mark 6. Roll out your pastry on a lightly floured work surface. Cut into squares 4 by 4 inches for a large case 1 1/2 inch squared for smaller bite size tarts.

Tart 2

Carefully cut  two L – shapes into the pastry like the picture above. Make sure to you leave to small pieces of uncut pastry to hold the edges together. Egg wash the pastry square the fold over the cut pastry strips.

Tart 3

Egg wash the tart case again including the sides of the pastry. Dock or prick the center of the case with the tines of a fork, this will prevent the center rising. Transfer to a non-stick baking sheet and chill in the fridge for 15 minutes to relax the pastry. This will help prevent the pastry from shrinking. Place in your heated oven and bake for between 10 to 20 minutes depending on the size of your feuilette, until crisp and golden brown. Remove to a wire rack and cool. You can make your cases ahead of you needing them and store in an airtight container.

 

For the Filling

 

6 -8 Gamba’s or large Shell on Prawns

500 gr Fresh Mussels Fresh Clams

500 gr Fresh Clams

12 Scallops

6 large Banana Shallots, peeled and finely diced

3 cloves of Garlic, peeled and crushed

A small handful of fresh Dill

200 ml thick double cream

50 ml of Vermouth ( White Wine is a great substitute )

25 ml Olive Oil

25 gr Butter

Juice of one fresh Lemon

Sea Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper

In a large, heavy-bottomed pan ( with a tight fitting lid ), melt the half of the butter and add half of the oil. Over a medium heat soften the shallots for ten minutes without colouring. Add the garlic and cook out for two or three minutes stirring continuously. Tip in the mussels and clams and add the Vermouth place on the lid add steam the shellfish for five to six minutes. Carefully holding the pan with a heat proof cloth remove from the heat. Place a colander in a large glass bowl and tip in the mussels and allow to cool. Reserve the cooking liquid to be used to make the final sauce.

When cool pick the majority of the mussels and clams from their shells leaving a handful for garnishing. Carefully pour the cooking liquid through a fine strainer into a small pan and place on a medium heat. Bring to a simmer and reduce the volume by half. Add the cream and simmer for a couple more minutes before seasoning with a generous grind of pepper. Melt the remaining butter and oil in a large heavy-bottomed frying pan and saute the gambas, over a gentle heat, for three minutes before turning up the heat and adding the scallops, turn over the prawns and the scallops as soon as they are brown. After two more minutes remove from heat, squeeze over the juice of one lemon and keep warm.

Heat the mussels and clams gently in the sauce. Take care not to boil or the shellfish will toughen, add the remaining lemon juice and finely chopped dill, taste and add more pepper if required. Place a warm pastry case onto a deep lipped plate and carefully spoon in the picked mussels and clams. Add a couple of scallops then fill with sauce and top with the prepared lids or a large prawn. Spoon around a little extra liquid and the retained shellfish in shells and sprinkle with a little extra dill to garnish.

 

Treat your Valentine – Jersey Oysters Blonde and Blue

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If you intend to spend an amorous evening tomorrow with your Valentine you may indulge in an abundance, nay a veritable feast of aphrodisiacs, chillies, chocolate, figs, avocados, bananas and pomegranates to name but a few. There is, however, one foodstuff that features in web searches, recipe books, and people’s imaginations more than all the others put together and this is, of course, the oyster. Now here in Jersey, we are lucky to have Royal Bay of Grouville oysters which are delicious, but why are they considered to be such an amatory stimulant.

Most people think that since Giacomo Casanova, the Italian adventurer, author, and perhaps more famously renowned lady’s man was said to consume fifty oysters a day for breakfast they perhaps had some magical quality.* This has been put down to the zinc levels which handily for you lusty feeling folk are highest in early spring. Then in March 2005, a group of American and Italian researchers presented a paper to the American Chemical Society following a study into molluscs, such as clams and mussels, that were rich in a series of rare amino acids that triggered increased levels of hormones in mice. There was a huge interest in the research but really no proof of the effect from eating oysters directly, in fact, Nancy Amy, a nutritionist, and toxicologist at the University of California provided another theory “There’s an amazing placebo effect with aphrodisiacs,” she said. “It’s very culturally specific and there’s no scientific evidence, but if you think it’s going to work, then there’s already a 50 percent chance that it will.”

*Casanova retired from adventuring and took up the position of librarian to a Bohemian Count, perhaps he relished a quieter life but it somewhat dispels the image we have of shy, retiring bookworms.

Oysters are eaten raw traditionally with lemon, tabasco or a spoon of migonette, a mix of very finely diced shallots, cracked black pepper and wine vinegar or lightly baked or grilled. There are a number of classic grilled oyster recipes such as with garlic butter, oysters Rockafeller with spinach and pastis, oysters Kilpatrick with Worcestershire sauce and crisp bacon. Alternatively, oysters can be deep-fried in in tempura batter or covered in breadcrumbs for the Southern favourite oyster Po’boy.

So while I cannot guarantee that this recipe will have you swinging from the lampshade in leopard skin briefs it’s really rather nice and tasty and uses some really nice Jersey ingredients. The oysters are gratinated with a crisp mix of fresh herbs, savoury biscuit crumbs, and Jersey Blue soft cheese which creamy and slightly tangy taste accentuates the salty ozone flavour of the Jersey oysters. The very light continental style beer, Liberation Blonde provides the base for a refreshing dressing to the baked oysters and chilled is an ideal accompaniment. You can substitute these with a local cheese and beer of your choice and you won’t be disappointed.

grilled-oysters

Grilled Jersey Oysters ‘Blonde and Blue’                                            serves 2 or 3

12 Jersey oysters

Classic Herd organic Jersey Blue cheese or similar such as organic blue veined Brie

50 ml Liberation Blonde ale

25 ml quality White Wine Vinegar

80 gr crushed Water Biscuits or plain Cheese Crackers

2 medium Shallots, peeled and finely chopped

2 generous pinches of Cayenne Pepper

1 teaspoon each of the following, finely chopped Chives, Chervil and Parsley

 

If you have a friendly fishmonger you can ask him to shuck or open your oysters for you before taking them home to cook and serve. If not you first need to open your oysters and loosen them from their shells. Set each opened oyster down on a small mound of rock salt, on a baking tray. Remove the rind from your cheese and finely dice, divide evenly onto the oysters. Mix the herbs with the finely crushed biscuit crumbs and sprinkle over the cheese topped oysters.

For the dressing simmer the chopped shallots with the white wine vinegar, cayenne, and a little water until the shallots start to soften but retain a little bite. Evaporate almost all of the liquid. Chill. When cold add in the Blonde beer. Grill the oysters for 3 to 4 minutes under a medium grill until the cheese starts to bubble and the crumb mix browns. Serve topped with a little dressing, extra chopped herbs and the remaining dressing as a side.