Sun-dried tomato and Parmesan bread

My wife (who is a bit pregnant wife with our 3rd child-3 weeks to go!) recently treated me to a night of home made tapas. I won't make you jealous with what we had but the day after the great feast we had some left overs. After making a few dishes my mind wondered off into bread making, shall I make something really 'out there' or stick to something people might actually like? Common sense prevailed so I decided on sun-dried tomato and Parmesan loaf. This recipe is very easy the only thing that you have to stick at is the kneading stage you must keep going for at least 10 minutes otherwise the final cooked loaf will be too stodgy.

Ingredients
(Makes enough for 4)
425g strong white bread flour
1 tsp salt
225 ml tepid water
Good sized pinch of dried oregano
40g finely grated Parmesan
50g chopped sun dried tomatoes drained
7g easy bake yeast

Method
Preheat your oven to 220 C then mix all the ingredients in a bowl (pouring in the water last) until it forms a rough dough. Tip out onto a floured surface and knead for at least 10 minutes until it becomes smooth and elastic.

Dough ball ready for kneading

Put the mixture into a greased oven proof bowl and poke it with a finger to make small indentations. Sprinkle with sea salt and brush with the oil left over from the tomatoes. Cover with clingfilm or a damp kitchen cloth and leave for 40 minutes in a warm place for it to double in size.

Ready for the oven

Bake the bread for round 30 minutes until it's golden brown. When you take it out of the oven tap the bottom of the bowl, if it sounds hollow then it's done.

Time to eat!

This bread is best eaten straight out of the oven but it will last for at least 4 days if stored correctly. Serve it with olive oil and balsamic or whatever takes your fancy. Enjoy!

Give it a try, you'll love it.

Salted trout

After a successful fishing trip with my eldest son (see my previous blog) we had 2 rather large trout to deal with. Here's one of the recipes that we used to enjoy these fantastic fresh water fish.
Before refrigerators salt was commonly used to extend the life of fresh produce, salting fish was widely used in northern Europe. In Sweden they came up with the idea of salting fish and burring it underground. The salmon version of this is known as Gravadlax, the lax part literary translated means salmon and the gravad  means 'buried'. I have been reliably informed by a Swedish friend of mine that the trout version is called 'gravadoring'. So here goes...

Ingredients:
2 trout fillets pin boned (all little bones removed)
Sea salt crystals
1 lemon zested
Dijon mustard
Chopped chives (or dill)
Bread to serve (I made sun dried tomato and Parmesan bread-blog to follow)
Wedge of lemon to serve

Method:
Pat dry both fillets with kitchen paper and lay one of them on a large rectangle of cling film. In a bowl mix together the salt and lemon zest and spread liberally over one fillet.

Top this fillet with the other..

Then wrap them very tightly in cling film..

At this point if we didn't have a fridge we would bury it under the cold European earth, but we do so into the fridge it goes for 12 hours to 'cure'. After it's done it's thing in the fridge unwrap it from the cling film and lightly wash the salt off. Pat it dry with kitchen paper an spread Dijon mustard over both fillets. Finely chop the chives/dill and sprinkle over the fillets.

Using a sharp knife slice the trout at around 45 degrees, serve with bread and a slice of lemon and enjoy!

Photo courtesy of my wife  

  

Non food related - Surf photography

John John Florence, Hossegor

I've always had a thing for surfing, it used to be one of my main hobbies. A few years ago my wife (she was my girlfriend back then!) and I went on a camping holiday to the surf mecca that is the southwest coast of France. Two weeks of sand, sea, surf, wine and great food was great but after surfing everyday my body decided it needed a break. I've always admired surf photography in magazines so I thought I'd give it ago. Luckily for me there was an international competition on and the surf was pumping! The photo above is John John Florence (so good they named him twice!) who went on to win the competition and is now a big player on the world tour and future champion.

The surf got a bit bigger!

I submitted a few of my shorts to a surf website called Magic Seaweed and would you believe it they made one of them their 'photo of the day'! Here's the link: http://magicseaweed.com/photoLab/viewPhoto.php?photoId=237746&photoOfTheDay

A couple of weeks ago my wife and I decided to brave our first camping trip with our two boys. On the beach I noticed a few mini waves were starting to break quite nicely over a sandbar. So I grabbed the camera waded out, got the camera down low and clicked away. Here's some of the better ones, great surf for ants!

Crystal clear water on the Dorset coast

Wall of water with steps!

Foamy barrel

One of the bigger ones

Triple overhead for ants!

I managed to take the pictures above without a water housing which was a bit risky but worth it I think.

Thanks for taking the time to have a look.....

Fishing for trout with my eldest son

We recently went on our first family camping trip to the sea side. My eldest son was desperate for a fishing rod so I gave in and got him a kids fishing rod. It was a bit rubbish and whilst down on the local pier we didn't catch a thing, no surprises there. So when we got home I promised him we'd do some 'proper' fishing. So a couple of afternoons ago we went to our local trout fishery, there were people there with their professional equipment, silly hats and camouflaged jackets. James and I turned up with his little fishing rod, a few hooks and a loaf of bread, we got a few looks but we were about to have the last laugh. First cast and boom! Line snapped! 15 minutes later and we had 2 rather large trout in our cool box! We didn't see anyone else catch anything and got back into the car feeling a bit proud of ourselves.

Trout!

When we got home I asked 'James shall we have fish for dinner?' 'The fish we caught? No way!'  Fair enough, so it was up to me and my wife to eat the freshest fish we've ever had in our house. I wanted a dish that would reflect the freshness of the fish and decided on Trout ceviche Oriental style. Here's the recipe:

Serves 2

2 fillets of trout (pin boned)

Juice of 2 limes

Splash of balsamic vinegar

Splash of olive oil

1/2 chilli

1 garlic glove

1/2 a bunch of coriander

Seasoning

A few lettuce leaves

8 cherry tomatoes

Blitz all of the ingredients in a food processor (except the fish, lettuce and tomatoes). Slice the trout into strips, cover the fish with the processed ingredients and leave for 20 minutes. Arrange some of the lettuce and tomatoes on a plate top with the fish and serve! Enjoy!