Just an update

It has been a long time since a posting here. Given up, chastened, diet victim, run out of inspiration? None of the above! I did some butterfly sprats the other day, lightly breadcrumbed just on the skin side then fried off on that one side only until almost cooked. Turned out well it was just the photo seemed inadequate not capturing their appeal. Then yet another variation on chickpeas this time with butternut squash, but hey you have had chickpeas more than enough and the photos were lousy. So still at it.

Just had a lunchtime dinner party with some ideas that might be of interest. No photos so you will have to use your imagination. Starter: filo pastry cases filled with chopped mushroom, spinach, feta cheese and bound with breadcrumbs and egg yolk served with length quarters of avocado in lime juice and stuffed with mashed avocado, hot bell peppers and crème fraiche. Stuffing was too sloppy, shall have to re-think.
Mains: Saffron, onion risotto rice with a medley of pan-fried fish. I had Red Mullet, John Dory, Monkfish and Salmon. Put Red Mullet fillets on at the very last moment so they do not get mushed up. Afterthought, John Dory was a step too far. Served with sautéed marrow, tomato with parsley and strips of fennel, carrot and courgette marinated in line, warmed then tossed in sheep's yoghurt. Pudding: A five layer torte filled with whole raspberries in a raspberry jam and whipped cream.
What do you think?

Stuffed Marrow Rings

This worked out well, tasted good and look fit for show.
Cut English marrow into sufficient 1" rings. Peel then scoop out seed core.
In a moderate pan with a little butter gently fry both sides of the rings, until they just take on colour, but do not over cook. Lift out and reserve.
Skin a large tomato, slice fairly thickly, so you can just handle them, discard the core.
Take young washed and spun young spinach leafs and finely chop. You will have to guess quantities depending on the number of marrow rings and their size.
Grate a Red Leicester cheese. You need roughly two thirds cheese to one third chopped spinach.
Assembly.
Place the marrow rings on a buttered grill pan. Press a tomato slice to the bottom of each ring. Now fill each ring with spinach and cheese, lightly pressing down, the spinach will collapse. Top with any remainder cheese.
Put under a 260°C grill for about 6 minutes, check marrow ring is now tender. Serve.
I know, no photo yet again, what am I like? But the red cheese against the spinach and lightly coloured marrow looked really inviting.

poached bream

Fillet sea bream. Take carcase put in a pan with water to cover, splash of white wine, onion, bay leaf, stick of celery, 1/2doz fennel seeds and simmer gently. In a large pan strain about an inch depth of the fish stock into the pan, bring to a barest simmer, just occasional bubbles breaking the surface. Put in one slice of lime and three to four sprigs of tarragon, slide in the bream fillets, skin down, hold down until relaxed and flat. Very gently poach in the broth, until the flesh just turns colour to white, do not boil or over cook. Carefully slide the fillets without breaking them out onto a plate and reserve keeping warm. Bring the pan up to a vigorous boil and reduce until thickened and reduce to just a cup full. Take off the heat, stir in two tablespoons of cream. Take reserved fillets, carefully turn over, remove skin then turn back and put on plate and spoon over the sauce. Delicious, the creamy sauce with a hint of citrus tang and tarragon compliment the buttery smooth and creamy fish, Divine. Yet again not photo!

Chick Pea medley - variation

So I prepare a lot of hummus and like to keep some of the chick peas back to serve as a vegetable. As a variation on my Sautéed Chick Pea  or my Chick Pea Medley try this one.

About half pound of chick peas and sufficient cooking liquor to cover. Prepare all in advance. Coarsely chop a medium onion and put into a pan with Tblspn of olive oil. Gradually turn up the heat as the onion sweats off, then take off lid and dry off, turning until the onion is golden, not brown. Heat to high.

1/8 tspn cumin, cayenne, 1/4 tspn coriander, 1/2 tspn paprika, turmeric, salt and pepper. Stir, throw in stalk of celery small chopped, and one red pepper seeded and coarsely chopped. Stir, than ladle in some cooking liquor, dry off, continue until all the liquor is used up then put in the chick peas, turn until dried off again. Stir, lower heat to a simmer, put in 1/2 dozen cherry tomatoes with cut cross tops, cover until tomatoes just begin to wilt. 

Put in 3Tblspn coarsely chopped parsley and the juice of a lime, stir and serve. 

 

There, remembered the photo this time, it tastes as good as it looks.

Sauteed Chick Pea

Take 200g of pre-cooked chick peas and their cooking liquor, set aside.

Evenly medium chop one large onion and sweat off in a pan over a gentle heat in 1Tblespn of olive oil and 30g of butter. Take your time. When soft and translucent turn heat up to medium, keep stirring occasionally until the onion is evenly golden brown You cannot rush this as you will end up with burnt bits.

Turn heat up to high and quickly put in 1/2tspn coriander powder, 1/8thtspn cumin and 1/4tspn of turmeric. Stir around and blend without letting it catch and burn. Put in the drained chick peas, stir around and coat them with the spices and onion. After a minute loosen with 1Tblespn of liquor, stir, dry off liquor, repeat a few times, turn down heat to very low, add a cup of liquor, cover and let barely simmer for 15 minutes.

Turn heat up to medium and drive off any remaining liquor, add eight coarsely chopped hot bell-peppers, 2 Tblespn of chopped parsley and the juice of 1/2 lime. Adjust seasoning and serve.

A very attractive colourful dish, mildly flavoured and with a sweet overtone.

Steamed Cabbage

This worked well for me. Another twist.
Half a head of a medium sized white cabbage. cut the half into six section along the core line,discard the outer leaf then very thinly slice radiating the cut around until the knife ends parallel with the core that is left.
Put into a steamer and steam for about 6 - 8 minutes, until the crisp edge has just gone, so still al dente.

Put into a bowl, pour over 1Tblspn of Rice Wine Vinegar, to taste. You might prefer Mirin which has a sweeter edge. A small handful of chopped parsley and three stems of basil, medium chopped so there are no large leaf segments. Fork well in and serve warm.

Twice cooked duck and apricot

Here is how I went about it.
Pricked a large duck skin all over. Put half a roughly chopped onion, five ready to eat apricots and a small bunch of oregano into belly cavity. Tied the legs to the body. 
Put duck into a large enough pan and place into a very hot 300°C oven. Watch carefully, turn around and turn over to crisp up and brown skin. Do not let burn.

Into the slow cooker pot, one small onion, one clove and one stick of celery all finely chopped. three inch strip of lemon peel, small bunch of oregano, not more than half a piece of star anise, eight ready to eat apricots, pepper, one cup of white wine and one cup of water. Be careful the flavourings are delicate, so do not over do it. Place duck on top, cover and on the low setting set for 3.5 hours.

Meanwhile, cut a dozen fresh apricots in half and remove stones.  Sweat off on a gentle heat half a medium onion finely chopped, without browning it. When transparent, raise temperature to high, add a cup of white wine, as it bubbles add the fresh apricots, cut face down. Leave, watch, gently shake until the juices have just about reduced. Kill the heat, cover and leave on the cooling stove.

Remove duck from slow cooker pan and put back into pre-heated oven at 300°C to crisp up skin, it will be done in just a minute or so, so watch it! Set aside to carve. It will be just barely cooked, still very moist, tender with a hint of blood still in the breast. Skin not coming out as crisp as I would like shall have to see if I can improve on this.

Serve with the slow cooker pan juices, take off fat first then just liquidise all apart from the oregano stems and the star anise. Put the fresh apricots back onto a high heat and with a Tblspn of Port bring back to the boil, then serve immediately without burning them. Two contrasting accompaniments to tender, juicy duck. Enjoy