Smoked Mackerel Pate

Tweet

I'm a huge fan of Felicity Cloake regular column in the Guardian. 'How to cook the perfect...." I've used several of her recipes and they've all worked out very well. She cooks and reviews several chefs recipes for well known dishes. Then she creates her own 'perfect' recipe based on her results. I can only imagine what her home life is like "Hi family, this week we're eating only salad nicoise" in her attempt to test a range of different recipes and create her own.

I made this great smoked mackerel pate over the weekend. I'm in the process of a long move - so my kitchen things are in storage. I think the pate works quite well in these nice tea cups I got in the second hand shop!

Her recipe is over here. 
I followed it pretty closely - except I didn't use a blender as I prefer a coarser pate. The horseradish and dill off set the oily fish beautifully. A great dish that comes together very quickly. A great starter for a dinner party you can prepare the night before. Serve with homemade brown bread.

Salmon with Fennel and Sesame Bulgur Wheat

Tweet

A Store Cupboard Supper

So just back from my holidays it's time to get back to some good simple eating and balance out some of the boldness from my time away. This is a store cupboard meal as I had some salmon and peas in the freezer. It's super fast to prepare and delivers a good bunch of flavours from a limited amount of ingredients.

Ingredients (Serves 1)
1 small piece of salmon
1/2 cup of bulgur wheat
1/2 cup of frozen peas
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
1 teaspoon of fennel seeds
1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon of vegetable bouillon
Fresh coriander or flat leaf parsley

Place the salmon on a greased baking tray and pop under the grill. Grill for about 5 minutes each side until cooked through. Make the bulgur by boiling twice the quantity of water as bulgur in a pan. Add the bouillon and bulgur and cook for 10 minutes until tender. Add the peas for the last two minutes of cooking, I just popped them in straight from the freezer.

In another pan dry fry the fennel and mustard seeds. When they begin to release their fragrance pop them into a pestle and mortar and give them a quick grind. Return them to the hot pan along with the two oils, allow them to infuse a little over a medium heat being careful not to burn them.

When the bulgur is ready stir through the oil and spices. Serve the salmon over the bulgur with some freshly chopped coriander or parsley.

Salmon Yakatori

Tweet

The Salmon of Knowledge

So this is my first proper cooking after finishing the course. I spent a good week eating mostly vegetables and drinking plenty of water. Then my wonderful friend Kate bought me a flight to Madrid for my birthday, so off I went to relax and soak up this beautiful city with it's wonderful art, architecture and tapas! The culinary highlight of the trip was a visit to The Mercado de San Miquel just off Calle Mayor. If you are ever in Madrid I urge you to check it out. It's housed in the old fish market. Under the ornate metal arches are housed vendors of every kind. You can stroll around collecting small dishes from an array of delectable treats. Everything from caviar, Spanish cheeses and ham, to churros and fantastical chocolates. There are great wines and prosecco for sale by the glass. I could have spent all day there, gently grazing. The best thing about Spain is the portions - allowing you to tailor your meals to just how hungry you're feeling - not a bad idea?


Back to the point in question. After completing my course I was hoping that all my new skills would transfer to my kitchen - with it's significantly more humble set up than the spacious Cooks Academy. This salmon yakitori was delicious when I prepared it during the course. Could I recreate at at home. The answer was a resounding yes - phew well that's money well spent so!

Ingredients
4 Salmon fillets - skin removed
Sunflower Oil
Marinade
100 ml Soy Sauce
200 ml of sherry (Sake if you have it)
2 tbsp of caster sugar
Salad
1 tbsp Mirin (or red wine vinegar)
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 red chili finely sliced
1/2 cucumber - julienned
2 carrots - julienned
Coriander finely sliced

• Mix together the marinade ingredients in a large bowl. Pop in your salmon fillets then refrigerate for a few hours, or overnight if you're highly organised.
• In a large bowl place your cucumber and carrots. Then combine the other ingredients for the salad dressing. Pour over and set aside for 20 minutes before serving.
• Heat the olive oil in a large non stick pan. Remove the fillets from the marinade and pat them dry on some kitchen towel. Keep the marinade liquid.
• Fry your fillets for around 4 minutes on each side - time is dependant on the thickness of your fish. Don't forget to cook the presentation side first as this always looks prettier!
• While the fish is cooking - add in the marinade liquid - this reduces down pretty quickly.
• Stir the chopped coriander through the salad before serving.
• On your plate - put a small mound of the pickled salad. Top this with the cooked salmon and then spoon some of the reduction of the salmon fillet. Garnish with a sprig of coriander or some fried ginger.

Enjoy! 

Cooks Academy Week 4

Tweet

It's the final countdown!

General School Shots - I'll miss this place

Monday

So this is the last post for this series. Can't believe it's the last week, though to tell you the truth I'm knackered and judging on today the rest of the class are pretty tired too. I won't start into my conclusions and summaries until the end of the week.

Today we made ice-cream in the manual method, even though there were a few ice cream machines on hand too. I'll see how it came out tomorrow. The rich chocolate ice-cream we made was just that - cream, sugar syrup, chocolate and some eggs! Licking the spoon was amazing, frozen it will be divine I'm sure. So any doubts about the fat content of ice-cream is long gone

We prepared a lemon tart, my pastry was a little dry and crumbly, must be brave and add more water. I'd even practised over the weekend, practice pastry! Didn't bake the case blind for long enough so it was a little soggy - all good constructive criticism.

This dish could prove to be 'very important'

Steak with Bearnaise sauce was up next, sauce Bearnaise requires plenty of whisking. The steaks meanwhile were cooked to perfection by my pattern and they were delicious - score! Though I forgot to add the chopped tarragon to the finished sauce. You can never read the recipe too many times it seems.

We got to sample the pork and chicken terrine that was made on Friday over lunch as well - now I can say I'm a fan of terrine, really nice recipe spiked with bright pistachios. 

I called the afternoon demo - Masterchef afternoon - as two of the contestants favourite desserts were up, Chocolate fondants and Tarte Tatin. Chocolate fondants should have a slightly gooey centre and be served straight away. Tarte Tatin comes with serious burns potential due to the high volume of liquid hot caramel you'll be throwing around. You have been warned! 

We were also shown how to bone, butterfly and stuff a leg of lamb, and prepare a salsa verde to serve with it.

Tuesday

The day of roasts. Now you know how a roast Sunday lunch with your parents is the best lunch ever. Well the second best lunch ever is 6 different roasts with your Cooks Academy class mates! We all prepared different roasts and sides today. Racks of lamb, rack of pork, lamb shanks, roast beef on the bone and we made moussaka (not too sure how that fits in?) There was also tarte tatin and thin apple tarts.

This disappeared fairly speedily

Every meat was also served with appropriate sides and a few big bowls of roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings and gravy. I was in heaven. The meat was great quality and all very well cooked - aren't we all getting very accomplished.

I did manage to burn my first ever bechamel sauce - very embarrassing! I've made it many is the time before.

Thin Apple Tart

The afternoon lecture was from a butcher with over 50 years experience. He brought in an entire half pig and showed us the various cuts and demonstrated some of the most effortless and impressive knife skills I've ever seen. I learned a lot about how animals are raised, slaughtered, bred and processed. I didn't know that every carcass leaving the slaughterhouse has to be inspected and approved by a veterinary surgeon.

WE learnt some very important fundamentals on how the animal is treated prior, during and after slaughter relates to the quality and tenderness of the meat. You'll be pleased to hear that a happy relaxed pig will make for more tender meat!

When the entire pig had been divided up - there was very little waste. Skin and some big bones. In all there were four and a half trays of meat to one and a half trays of 'waste'. When the cuts of meat are being made there are small bits of meat (maybe the size of a small fist) that don't get used up - these bits of meat would go into sausages along with a lot of meat from the fore shoulder, not scrapings from the floor!

He did tell us that all pork in Ireland is raised indoor (the vast majority of it) which I didn't realise, as well as most chicken too. Not sure where I thought they were hanging out..... hmmmm that's embarrassing too! 

I'd highly recommend attending a butchers demo like this as you'll really get an appreciation for the different cuts and techniques used, it's an incredible skill. I know I'm more determined to use some different cuts of meat in the future and to think about whereabouts they come from can determine how they are to be cooked. I'm loosing the power to articulate things now because I'm tired - will try to add more on the butchery section later!

Wednesday

All in a mornings work

Sole (flat fish) to be filleting. Now I found this easier than the round fish in week 1 - maybe because I'm more confident. The bones are found in a very definite area in the centre of the fish.

Crispy Sole was prepared by dipping in egg then breadcrumbs and lightly frying. These were beautiful served alongside some minty pea puree - a definite for the future. Though you get surprisingly little meat from a big flat fish.

Seared tuna and avocado salsa was a tasty dish, love avocados, love tuna - enough said.

Fresh and Healthy - will make this again

Also made in the class were tarte with pate sucre (very hard apparently) rhubarb meringue and more that I've forgotten but eaten!

First thing this morning we also had to make our pastry for Fridays exam - and I'm nervous! Haven't taken any exams in years - I'm likening it to stage fright, which I do get!

The afternoon saw us cover tempura batter, squid and rocket salad, calamari and finally an entire lobster - wow! It was a first for me - very tasty still not beating my Galway Crab Claws though! Now home to study for tomorrows theory test - I think if we fail this then we haven't been listening much - all common sense questions I hope.

Thursday

Was feeling pretty sick and rotten today - but came in because we had our theory exam. Cooked chowder, made bread, and practised our fish filleting. Had a bit of a feeling sorry for myself break down - handled very well by my partner and tutor - who sat me down and made me tea! Sorry guys  and thanks much appreciated.

Had a food costing lecture which was invaluable to anyone starting into a food business, including formulas to calculate what to charge for your product.

Afternoon was our theory exam - a little harder than I had expected. Included theory, health and safety, ingredient recognition and menu planning.

Home to bed

Friday

Practical Exam day. We had to prepare lemon tart and sea bass with beurre blanc, roasted potatoes, carrots and spinach. I bet any professional are laughing at this now. Proved a pretty busy morning for me - though thankfully avoided any major catastrophes. I did spill some of my tart as I put it in the oven - but I got a slice out for presentation ok. Made me think a lot about working as a professional and the pressures that kitchen staff must be under. PRESSURE!! I held up fine though - thank god I didn't have to do this yesterday.

Anyone for Sea Bass and Beurre Blanc?

By lunchtime I was glad to be finished. We all ate our sea bass and swore never to make lemon tart again!

Valentine Themed Presentation

There was a presentation with glasses of prosecco. We all received our certs - of varying levels - distinction, merit and pass! I won't tell you what I got - you'll just have to guess. With that we said our good byes to our tutors and went off for a few well deserved pints.

Somehow I feel it's a bit too soon to write  conclusion to the course, I feel a little too close to it to stand back and anaylse my experiences. There is no doubt I learned a hell of a lot of skills, and picked up heaps of valuable advice on all subjects that we covered. Always rest your meat - wrap fresh herbs in kitchen towel and put in tupperware in the fridge - how to fold a meringue without breaking it - I could go on and on.

I have an extensive shopping list of things I need to buy for my kitchen (prob not a good thing) I will confidently tackle fish, shell fish and sauce unlike before. I have cooked far more desserts than I have in the last 3 years, I'll confidently take on any kind of sweets from now on.

I'm pretty happy with the photos that I've taken of the food we've produced, though I at no time wanted to get in any ones way and impare their enjoyment of the course, so for those reasons there's maybe a photo or two less than I would have wanted.

Over and out!!! 

Squid and fennel with squid ink pasta

Tweet

Rings of gold

In Venice there is an annual tradition which dates back a thousand years in which the Doge would every year throw a gold ring into the lagoon to symbolise the city's Unique relationship to the sea, in fact, its metaphorical marriage to the sea. Of course Venice is unique, its a city in the middle of a sea, built upon thousands and thousands of wooden poles driven into the lagoon mud. It shouldn't really exist but it does, and that is what gives the whole place its magical and otherworldly atmosphere.

This extra special relationship the Venetians have to the sea carries through to their food of course, and this dish is inspired by some squid ink pasta with black squid in sauce that I ate at a restaurant called Ai Beccofico in campo Santa Stefano in December. Apparently it is a signature dish of Venice, where Colm and I went for a few days holiday. Though it was my third visit, it felt like a different place without the hoards of summertime tourists. Despite it being FREEZING, It was my favorite visit as the city was amazingly quiet and at times swathed in freezing but very picturesque fog. It was great to see actual Venetians going about their daily business, including buying fish from the mind blowing selection at the Rialto Fish market, where I shopped for our dinner. Self catering is great sometimes!

I bought this squid from an asian fishmonger in Dublin town. It looked so pretty that in my excitement I forgot to ask the fishmonger to clean and skin the squid! I learned the hard way that squid have weird cartilage bones that look exactly like the clear plastic from a biro! I couldnt find squid ink anywhere, but I did manage to get the black squid ink pasta from Fallon and Byrne. Im sure Little Italy in Smithfield or any good Italian Deli would also be able to oblige

Ingredients, serves 3-4

2 squid, cleaned & skinned
1 large bulb of fennel
3 shallotts
2 cloves garlic
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 glass white wine

1 handful flat leaf parsley

Black pasta made with squid ink

Parmesan cheese

Start by chopping the squid into rings and separating the tentacles ready to be cooked. Then chop shallots and garlic and cooking them in some olive oil in a frying pan. Add the chopped fennel and cover the whole thing with a lid to soften the vegetables. Cook for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, put your pasta on to cook. When your pasta is almost done, add the squid to the fennel and onion in a medium hot pan and fry very quickly, about 2 minutes only. Then add the white wine and lemon juice and bring it up to a simmer for 1 minute, stiring continuously. Drain the pasta and throw it into the pan with the squid and fennel. Mix it around, throw in a handful of chopped parsley and serve with the parmesan cheese and some sprigs of the fennel leaf that sometimes escapes the chop!

Connemara Adventures

Tweet

The Wild West

False Bay

The world of Lola-lu’s Kitchen has been quiet online of late, but having been busy this summer with work (both of us) we’ve been taking our holidays late. Lola was off on a Las Vegas California adventure - while I headed to the Wild West (of Ireland!)

Here’a few food highlights from my travels in the van with Delo from around Connemara and Mayo. We’d the most amazing time, staying in some beautiful remote spots with the most incredible views. Travelling in September found some of the more popular spots quite deserted.

We caught and cooked some fish (not the tastiest fish, but we caught it, so by god we ate it!) We gained some fishing advice from an old fisherman on the pier, which gave us the boost we needed after fishing fruitlessly for several hours.

The Old Fishing Hole

Success!

Getting accustomed to cooking in the dark!

The Connemara Smokehouse  - sitting on the farthest reaches of Ballyconnelly. Populated with a healthy population of seagulls. They run tasting tours with advance notice. The place has a puzzling small chimney for a 'smoke' house! We just called in on Monday morning and bought some fresh organic smoked salmon, which we had for breakfast on brown bread with coffee. It was divine – a lovely subtle smoked salmon that melts in the mouth. They also have a special smoked tuna – maybe not ideal for breakfast but I’ll pick some up next time I’m there.

Breakfast is served

Smokehouse View and the Sea

After a long cycle the following day we bumped into the old fisherman unloading a small currach on the pier, having spent several hours at sea that morning.  I asked him if he’s had a good day and his response was “ah everyday is a good day for me now’ which was just such a wonderful sentiment – expressed so genuinely. After a little chat he asked would we like some crab claws. Of course we said yes and he produced a large crate of crabs and gave us a huge pot full of claws for our dinner, and looked for nothing in return. So happily we set off from the pier and off to False Bay – a spot where my mum used to take us to play in the waves, with huge basket of tuna and egg sandwiches!

False Bay - Ballyconnelly

We parked up for the night in beautiful sunny solitude. After  a swim in the waves we settled down for the night. We had ‘Chilli con Sausage’ for dinner. Like chilli con carne – but with sausages instead of mince.

Van Cooking

Van Cooking

Van Drinking

Cooking

Long Distance Cooking

Chilli Con Sausage

After a nice long evening with a fire and a clear sky. We set a pot of crab claws boiling on the fire. After boiling for about 15 minutes, we set about the them. Words will fail me when I try to describe how amazing these were. Wonderful and tender and buttery, melt in your mouth. We added not a thing to these, and I’m pretty sure they couldn’t be improved on in any way. Thank you lovely fisherman, I’m pretty sure this is a food experience I’ll never forget.

Clab Claws by Day

Clab Claws by Night

We stayed with Delo's relations on their farm in Moycullen in  Galway. They have tons of chickens and we ate some of the most delicious eggs, bright orange yokes, and tasted incredible. Renewed my ambition to own my own chickens asap - they'll love my little balcony honestly!

Freshest Scrambled Eggs

Omie Island - Access via sandbank. Minutes later up to our axels in sand with the tide rising! Not funny, got towed out by some friendly druids, not a happy 20 minutes of my life

After nearly loosing Mister (the van) in the sea – we wished him a happy 40th birthday with  a lovely apple cake from Walsh’s Bakery in Cliften, Galway. This is an incredible shop with a huge variety of breads and cakes. We sampled some great bread rolls, a baileys éclair (amazing!) this cake and a good hearty farmhouse loaf. I would highly recommend a visit if you’re in the area, a really top class bakery. 

Spiddal

Front View - Spiddal

Killary Harbour View Mayo - nice spot!

View from Diamond Hill - Connemara National Park

Then as part of Cliften Arts week there was a performance, with glass seahorses suspended from a crane, and about a hundred kids all dressed in costumes of lights. There was dancing, fire juggling, fire hula-hooping, a fire breathing horse, and then a parade of multi-coloured castle towers! An amazing night for a birthday. 

Cliften Arts Week

Detail of Glowing Castle Tower

Master of Ceremonies

Smoked Mackerel Kedgeree

Tweet

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

This is a traditional english breakfast dish but I just ate it for dinner and it hit the spot nicely! There is no need to be pedantic about what time of day things should be eaten, I always think!

You can make this with any smoked fish but if its raw fish make sure to poach it in milk for 8-10 mins previous to adding it in to the rice.

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 smoked mackerel fillets

2 eggs

1 medium onion

2 cloves garlic

1 inch piece ginger

1 yellow or red pepper

1 red chili

1 teaspoon garam marsala

1 teaspoon curry powder

160gr basmati rice (I used wholemeal/brown basmati, but you could use white just as well)

1 bunch fresh coriander or dill

begin by washing the rice thoroughly

Then boil it according to the cooking instructions on the pack. Wash the eggs, then, using the tip of a very sharp knife, drill a small hole in the end of each egg. This will stop them cracking when you drop them into boiling water. When there is 10 minutes left to go on the rice, add the eggs in their shells to the rice and cook the rice and eggs together (just handier this way!).

Chop the onion, garlic and chilli finely, and grate the ginger. Saute everything in a frying pan until the onion is soft and transluscent. the add the spices and the chopped pepper.

When the rice is cooked, remove the eggs and set aside. Add the drained rice to the frying pan with the onion etc in. Stir well. Flake the mackerel fillets into chunks and remove the skin. Add this to the rice mixture and stir well.

To serve, peel the shells off the eggs, cut them in half and put them on the plate as a garnish to the kedgeree. Chop the coriander of dill and sprinkle this over just before serving.

Yet another breakfast/brunch treat! We must have a brunch party soon to try out all these recipes on real people!

Rainbow trout with herby salad

Tweet

Wow, the weather today is fantastic AND I have a day off work! That never happens! So I went to the Phoenix Park and cycled around the park for 2 hours on my old lady raleigh bike, a massive sunny smile on my face listening to summery music on my ipod. Bliss!

After all that exertion I definitely needed something healthy but satisfying so I stopped in to Fresh and bought a nice fillet of rainbow trout.

The garden has gone into overdrive so I used a handful of mixed herbs to dress the accompanying salad. Fresh, zingy, healthy and delish!

For the fish:

2 sprigs dill

1 clove garlic

1 teaspoon fennell seeds

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

1 glug olive oil

Mash the seeds with a pestle and mortar. Place the fish on a large piece of tin foil. Chop the garlic VERY thinly and sprinkle half it over the fish. Add the sprigs of dill and the ground seeds. Drizzle over the olive oil. Bake at 170c for 10 - 15 mins.

Meanwhile make the salad.

Get a large handful of whatever herbs you have to hand (I used dill, rocket, rosemary and sage but you could include parsley, chives, basil, coriander, whatever you have, really)

Chop the herbs very finely and place them in a bowl. To this add about 4 tbsps good oil and a squeeze of lemon, to taste ( roughly half a lemon), salt and pepper. This is a delicious fresh dressing which can be used on loads of different salads.

Baked white fish with tomato and olive sauce

Tweet

Big fish, little fish (cardboard box)

Ok, I know this pic doesn't look great, I just couldn't get a good image of it and was way too hungry to faf around. I just ate this for dinner though, so trust me, it was delicious.

This is based on a recipe my mum often uses. You can do it with any white, non oily fish. In this case I used haddock, which is meaty and substantial, and delicious.

Ingredients:

1 red onion, finely chopped

1 large clove garlic, sliced

about 15 good quality large green olives, sliced

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1 fillet of white fish per person

Begin by making the sauce. Saute the onion and garlic until they are soft, add the olives and tomatoes and cook gently for a few minutes until the sauce is reduced. you can add some white wine now if you like.

Place the fish in a baking dish and top with the sauce like this

Bake in a hot oven for about 20 mins.

Serve with brown rice and veggies for a really healthy dinner or you could have it with spuds or just a nice salad and some crusty bread. Its very easy to make, really healthy and totally yum!

Barbequed Salmon Parcels with Fresh Peas, Tarragon & Cream

Tweet

Postman Pat would be proud!

Oooooh fresh peas in a pod - I just love these, reminds me of visiting my granny as a kid in the peak district in England. We go to a 'Pick Your Own' where we would pick our own raspberries, gooseberries, strawberries and peas. Mum used to joke that they should weigh us on the way out, and charge us for all we'd eaten while there....

I digress, because I'm in France not England

Here's a recipe

2 pieces of salmon
2 sprigs of tarragon
A good dash of cream
Salt & Pepper
Peas in a pod - 20 pods or so

Make a square of tinfoil, make it pretty large. Place on your salmon, tarragon - and season. Sprinkle over your peas - fresh from the pod, add a dash of cream. Fold up the tinfoil to allow some air to circulate in and around the top of the fish. Barbeque for 10 mins. Carefully open the parcels.

This would also work wonderfully in a nice hot oven. Eat with spuds, or bread and preferably sun, and some nice white wine or Brittany speciality - cider, think less Bulmers and more sparkling apple wine