Glazed Sea Bass & Sugared Asparagus with Sauce Vierge

March 15, 2014 — Leave a comment

Staring at the contents of the fridge, and the sea bass fillets that were supposed to be used in yesterdays recipe, inspired me to come up with another quick, colourful and easy fish dish. The flavours here are really great, and work really well with each other – the sweetness and heat of the glazed fish softening the acidity of the sauce vierge and the saltiness of the anchovies within it. Then the slightly sweetened, glazed asparagus brings everything together in one blaze of tasty glory.

Glazing is a great technique to bring all sorts of foods to life and add a supreme, slightly smokey sweet flavour kick. Don’t worry if some of the fish looks a slightly blackened and “burnt” – this is supposed to happen (within reason), and is just some lovely caramelisation of the sugary glaze. Also Stripping the skin from the lower sections of the asparagus gives them a luscious tender quality, and also makes sure they soak up loads of flavour from the pan. Similar to the previous salmon dish, this makes a great mid-week, after work dinner, or a light, lazy lunch in the spring and summer. The colours from this dish really leap out at you and somehow seem to make those intense flavours even more intense. The sauce vierge (or green sauce) from this dish also makes an awesome accompaniment to pretty much any grilled or pan fried fish dish, and can be kept, in an airtight container, in the fridge for up to 5 days afterwards. And remember people – the better the source of your fish and ingredients the better the dish will taste. Anyway – just cook this one… its frickin awesome.

INGREDIENTS

For the chilli, lime and brown sugar glazed sea bass:

2 large sea bass fillets

4 tbsp soft brown sugar
2 limes, juiced
1 finely chopped chilli (you can cheat by using pre-chopped in a jar, but don’t)
200ml red or white wine vinegar
2 tbsp shaosing rice wine
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 small glass cider

For the Salsa Verde:

1½-2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 small handful capers
6 anchovy fillets
2 large handfuls flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked
1 bunch fresh basil, leaves picked
1 handful fresh mint, leaves picked
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
8 tablespoons really good extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

For the Sweet Asparagus:

8 asparagus
salt
butter
chilli/lime syrup (from fish) to glaze
1 tsp sugar

Preparation Method:

For the Salsa Verde:

Finely chop the garlic, capers, gherkins, anchovies and herbs and put them into a bowl.
Add the mustard and vinegar, then slowly stir in the olive oil until you achieve the right consistency.
Balance the flavours with freshly ground black pepper, a bit of salt and maybe a little more vinegar.

For the glazed fish and asparagus:

Preheat the grill to hot and put a baking tray under it (choose a good strong one that won’t buckle).
Make the glaze by mixing all the ingredients together. If it tastes too sweet (some limes are sweeter than others), add a splash more of red or white wine vinegar.
Heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar is completely dissolved, about 3 minutes. Pour the sauce into a small bowl.
Rinse and dry the asparagus. Cut off the bottom 1/4-inch of the stalks. Using a vegetable peeler, or small vegetable knife, gently remove the tough green skin covering the lower third of each stalk. You can use the discarded parts and any other leftover asparagus as a base for a soup if you want.
Cook in salted boiling water (10g salt per litre of water) for about 1-2 minutes. Once cooked, refresh in iced or cold water to ensure that the asparagus does not lose its colour. Do this as soon as you’ve taken the asparagus out of the hot boiling water.
Brush the skin side of each sea bass fillet with olive oil.
Brush the flesh side with the glaze, keeping 1 tsp back. Season well. When the tray is hot, carefully slide it out and put the sea bass fillets on it, skin-side down.
Then slide back under the grill and cook for 4-5 minutes or until the fish is cooked through. The timing on this will depend on the strength of your grill and how far from the heat your tray is.
While the fish is cooking, finish preparing the asparagus.
Melt butter in a large skillet and add asparagus. Dip the asparagus in the chilli/lime glaze. Sautee over medium-high heat, sprinkle with a small amount of sugar – just enough to dust all the stalks. Sautee until the asparagus beings to blister, around 2-4 minutes (if you like it on the softer side, sautee it longer). Serve immediately.
Transfer the cooked fillets onto warmed plates and top each with the sauce vierge, and place the asparagus beside the fillets to serve.

MUSIC I COOKED TO:

Pepper Seared Salmon with Lemon and Spring Onion Vinaigrette & Chive Crushed Potatoes

March 13, 2014 — Leave a comment

So this was a bit of mid-week inspriration and improvisation, but it seems to have worked. It is pretty quick and easy to put together in discreet stages which makes it good for people that hate multitasking. It also makes it a great mid-week evening meal, thats pretty light and healthy (apart from the copious amounts of butter in the potatoes). The dish has a multitude of great, strong flavours – though none to overpowering (go easy with the chilli though as adding too much will kill everything else). Make sure you don’t skimp on the butter and chives in the crushed potatoes as otherwise they’ll end up being blander than a party political TV broadcast. Also the vinaigrette gives this dish a nice sweet, acidic undertone and adds some much needed moisture, which stops the dish being too dry and stodgy. The Salmon in this dish could easily be swapped out for pretty much any other fish that does well being pan-fried… Just make sure you adjust the cooking times accordingly. Sea Bass and Mackerel were options I considered eventually being decided by what was in the fridge. So here it is, a slightly spicy, fresh, zesty, colourful and easy Salmon dish to knock up should you wish –

INGREDIENTS

For the Salmon:

2 large salmon fillets
1 bunch of spring onions
1 handful of coriander leaves
2 limes
2 red chillies
olive oil
salt
fresh ground black pepper

Lemon, Spring Onion Vinaigrette:

60ml red wine vinegar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 heaped tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsps chopped chives
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
150ml extra vrigin olive oil
50g of sliced spring onions

Crushed Chive Potatoes:

8 new potatoes
1 bunch chopped chives
100 g butter (melted)

Preparation method

Cover the potatoes with salted water and simmer until cooked (approximately 30 minutes).
Crush with a fork and add butter into the centre of the potato. Cover the butter with crushed potato and leave to melt. Once the butter has melted stir and crush the potatoes until the butter is evenly distributed. Add the chives and stir in, then set aside. Be carful when crushing the potatoes to not be too vigorous and to leave them some texture – these are crushed potatoes, NOT mashed.
Whisk together the red wine vinegar, mustard, honey, lemon juice, chives, and salt and pepper, to taste, in a medium bowl until combined. Slowly whisk in the oil until emulsified. Stir in the spring onions and set aside.
Just before cooking the fish, pick the coriander leaves from their stalks and chop them finely.
Heat a non-stick frying pan on a high heat and add a generous film of olive oil.
While waiting for the heat to rise, cut the limes in half, squeezing the juice over the chilli along with two tablespoons of olive oil.
Toss well, adding the coriander and half of the spring onion.
Season the fillets of Salmon with salt all over, then press into black pepper and place them in to the hot pan, skin side down.
Sear the fish on the skin side until crisp, which should take about 2 minutes. Be careful not to burn them though.
Squeeze a little lime juice over the fillets then turn them over carefully, be gentle and confident or you’ll break the fillet. Turn the heat down to medium and cook the fish for another 4 minutes.
Add HALF the spring onion/chilli/coriander mixture and fry it off for 30 seconds, then carefully lift the fillets out on to a plate lined with kitchen paper.
Place a salmon fillet on the plate then scatter the rest of the spring onion and chilli mixture over the top.
To serve, spoon potato into centre, sit Salmon fillet next to it, spoon over a little vinaigrette.
You could finish with a good pinch of mustard cress as a garnish around the plate (but I forgot!). 🙂

MUSIC I COOKED TO:

EASY BOOZY BEEF STEW WITH DUMPLINGS

March 6, 2014 — Leave a comment

So… this is my first post in what I hope will be an informative, useful and, most importantly, tasty recipe and food blog. Hopefully I can bring you guys out there reading good hearty, well cooked, interesting food using interesting and delicious ingredients. Anyway – without any further ado, here is the first recipe – EASY BOOZY BEEF STEW. I chose something fairly simple and straight forward for the first recipe so I could explore how the blog is best photographed, written up and put together. I was unsure how much of the process to document and if you think there is too much or too little let me know. Now… I use the word ‘boozy’ in the title because the stew contains some ALE, some RED WINE and also, a little unusually, a splash of Chinese RICE WINE too. In fact this whole stew, whilst predominantly remaining a traditional, deep, bold beef stew, is slightly influenced by the fact I’m half Chinese on my mothers side. Therefore the ingredients include what may at first glance appear to be a couple strange and incongruous items. The first of which is the Shaohsing Chinese cooking wine – which I believe adds a aromatic, pleasantly sweet, and nutty taste element to the dish. The second is a small amount of light soy sauce which adds a nice earthy, depth to the sauce and of course a little salt and umami flavouring. Obviously everyone knows a good stew is perfect comfort food for a cold winter evening, but its also great because its simple and low on stress – throw everything in a pot and wait for the the awesome flavours to mingle and develop together over time. And whats more pretty much any root veg can be substituted/added to the mix. And the addition of the wholesome, fluffy dumplings will give you that great cosy, warming feeling. So here it is – what I believe to be the ultimate, meat-melting, hearty, slightly-sweet, tangy beef stew.

INGREDIENTS:

For the beef stew:

2 tbsp olive oil
25g/1oz butter
750g/1lb 10oz beef stewing steak
2 tbsp plain flour 2 garlic cloves, sliced and chopped
175g/6oz baby onions, peeled
150g/5oz celery, cut into large chunks
150g/5oz carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks
200g/7oz Potato, peeled and cut into large chunks
150ml/5fl oz red wine
150ml/5fl oz Shaosing Dark Cooking Rice Wine
½ litre/17fl oz real ale or bitter
500ml/18fl oz beef stock
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp fresh lemon thyme leaves
3 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
3 tbsp chopped fresh flatleaf parsley
Worcestershire sauce, to taste
1 tbsp red wine vinegar, or to taste
salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Dumplings:

125g/4½oz plain flour plus extra for dusting
1 tsp baking powder
100g duck fat
pinch salt
just enough water to make a thick dough

Preparation method

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
For the beef stew: In a large casserole/oven dish, heat a tablespoon of the olive oil until shimmering. Trim any excess fat from the meat.
Pat dry the meat with kitchen paper and fry the beef until browned on all sides. Stir in a large splash of the Shaosing rice wine.
Sprinkle over the flour and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.
In a separate frying pan add the butter, garlic and all the vegetables (apart from the potatoes) and and cook over a moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened. Drain any excess oil. If very oily remove the contents of the pan and pat with kitchen towel to absorb the oil.
Add the vegetables to the meat pan.
Stir in the wine, Shaosing wine, stock and herbs, then add the Worcestershire sauce and red wine vinegar, to taste. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Then add the honey and stir it in.
Add the ale and simmer on a medium heat for 10mins.
Cover with 2 layers of foil (or a lid obviously), and transfer to the oven and cook for about two hours, or until the meat is tender.
After an hour add the peeled potatoes to the broth.
For the dumplings, sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.
Add the duck fat and small amount of water – just enough to form a thick dough. If you’re not sure err on the side of caution you can always add a little more.
With floured hands, roll spoonfuls of the dough into small balls – don’t make them too big as they will expand in the stew.
After two hours, remove the lid from the stew and place the balls on top of the stew. Cover, return to the oven and cook for a further 20 minutes, or until the dumplings have swollen and are tender.
If you prefer your dumplings with a golden top, take the foil off and bake in the oven until they’re browned off.
To serve, place a large spoonful of dumplings and potatoes into each of four serving plates and top with the meat and vegetables from the stew. Sprinkle with some chopped parsley.