Moules Marinieres

The summer's gone, time to face the facts. However as one door closes another opens as some of the best food is now available as the night's get longer. Root vegetables ideal for warming winter stews are now being pulled from the ground and game season has started. Also they say (I'm not too sure who these 'they' people are but they seem to know a lot) never buy/eat mussels unless the month has an 'r' in it's spelling. Mussels like cold water and grow nice and big as the winter draws in. As we are in our second month with an 'r' in it's spelling I felt it was time to share my Moules marinieres recipe. If  you're lucky enough to live on the coast and get to pick your own make sure you do it away from any built up areas, mussels are the sea's filters so you wouldn't want to eat anything nasty. This recipes originates from Belgium, the original recipe does not have cream in it but I like a splash to make the sauce nice and thick. When buying mussels if you can get them already cleaned then great. If not then make sure you pull the little 'beards' of each one and make sure you take off any barnacles etc. from their shells. Discard any that don't close when you give them a tap with the back of a knife, they will be dead. Before cooking give them a nice purge in some fresh water, when the water running off them is clear then they are ready for the pot.

Moules Marinieres

Ingredients (serves 2)

3 kg mussels
1 glass of good quality white wine (if you wouldn't drink it then don't cook with it!)
3 garlic cloves crushed
1/2 an onion finely diced 
1/2 pint double cream
1 tsp butter
1 spring onion sliced for a garnish
Lemon wedge
Splash of olive oil

Method
Get a sauce pan hot, add the olive oil and then the onions. Fry for a minute then add the garlic, fry for another minute then add the mussels and give them a good stir. Next add the white wine (careful of the steam!) give it all a good stir and put a lid on the sauce pan. Let it all cook for about 2 minutes shaking the pan (with your hand on the lid!) every now and then. After 2 minutes has passed with your hand on the lid make a small crack between the pan and lid and pour out the cooking liquid leaving a little bit behind. Then pour in the double cream and the butter and bring back to the boil. When the cream comes to the boil it's ready, garnish with the chopped spring onion and serve! Discard any that haven't opened and enjoy!

Pan fried Bream on chilli and chorizo risotto

Last weekend I catered for a party in the Costwolds and on my way there I decided to give Stroud market a go and see how much of my ingredients I could get from it. Well it turns out Stroud market is a bit good and I managed to get most of my ingredients from Gilt headed bream to various cured meats and locally produced cheeses. I liked it so much that I got some ingredients for myself and here's what I did with them.

Fillet of bream on a chilli and chorizo risotto with beer battered scallops and balsamic reduction

Ingredients: (serves 2)
1 whole bream scaled and gutted
8 scallops (roe removed)
1 cup of risotto rice
Splash of white wine
1 pint of fish stock (or cube, see below if you want to make your own)
10 slices of chilli and garlic chorizo
1/2 red onion finely diced
1/2 green chilli finely chopped (seeds removed)
1/2 green pepper sliced
3 garlic gloves finely chopped or through a garlic crusher
1 knob of butter
Beer batter (lager mixed with self raising flour-the consistency should be thick enough to cover the back of a spoon)
1/2 pint of vegetable oil
Balsamic reduction
Salt and pepper for seasoning.

Method
First remove the two fillets from the bream. You can ask your fish monger to do this for you but ask for the carcass if you want to make your own stock. To make a fish stock fill a pan with cold water add the fish and any root vegetables you have to hand, a few garlic cloves and fresh parsley if you have any. Slowly bring the pan up to simmering point and simmer very gently for about an hour. Strain this through a very fine sieve or muslin cloth if you have one. To get perfectly clear fish stock freeze it then defrost it through a muslin cloth.
To make the risotto firstly fry the slices of chorizo with a little olive oil then add the rice making sure that each grain get covered in the olive/chorizo oil. Then add the onions, garlic, chilli, pepper and white wine. Simmer the wine so it burns off it's alcohol. Pour in the fish stock and let it simmer, when the rice is cooked add the butter, season and set aside with a lid on it. Dip the scallops in flour then into the batter, in a sauce pan carefully heat up some vegetable oil. Season the fillets of bream and heat up some butter and olive oil in a frying  pan. When it's bubbling cook the bream, skin side up first. Cook for about 2 minutes on each side spooning the oil from the pan over the fillets as you cook them. As they are cooking test the heat of the vegetable oil by dropping a bit of the batter in, if it starts bubbling then it's ready. Cook the scallops for about a minute then drain on kitchen paper. To plate I used a circular cake cutter for the risotto, then placed the fillet on it, poured some balsamic reduction around the risotto and placed the scallops on that, as you can see from the photo! Give it a go and bon appetit!

Fillet of Haddock with cauliflower puree, dauphinoise potatoes and an oyster and chive cream

This recipe is a bit more hands on, but well worth the effort. Make sure your fish and oysters are nice and fresh.

Ingredients:

(serves 2)

2 fillets of haddock

4 live oysters

1 red onion diced

8 florets of cauliflower

500ml double cream

2 garlic cloves crushed

250g butter

200ml white wine

2 spring onions sliced

Salt and pepper

Flat parsley leaves

Method

Firstly trim your haddock into nice sized fillets. Place the trimmings in a pan with water, skin of the onion and any other bits you may have lying around that would be good for the fish stock. General rule for stocks are vegetables that grow under ground are good. Simmer the stock VERY gently otherwise it will become cloudy. Simmer for no more than an hour then strain through a fine sieve.

Slice the potatoes quite thin, put them into a sauce pan, cover with cream add 1/2 the onion and some garlic. Season and simmer gently for 10 mins (this gives the dauphinoise a head start before you put them in the oven). Pre heat your oven to 220c and put the potatoes in (make sure your sauce pan is oven proof!)

Bring the cauliflower to the boil in some salted water and continue to boil till tender. Drain then put them in a blender with a nob of butter and a splash of cream, season then blend till fine. Pass through a fine sieve and return them to the sauce pan.

In another sauce pan melt a knob of butter and add the other half of diced onion. Fry for a minute then add the garlic and shucked oysters. Fry for 30 seconds then add the white wine, simmer the wine until the alcohol burns off (about a minute) . Add the double cream, season and leave to simmer very gently.

Now would be a good time to check the potatoes, if a knife sinks through them then they're done. Cover with foil and leave them on the side, they will retain their heat.

Heat a frying pan with a splash of oil and a knob of butter. Season the haddock and fry skin side down for 30 seconds, carefully turn over fry for another 30 seconds then into the oven for 5 minutes.

While you're waiting heat up the cauliflower, check the sauce for seasoning and get your garnishes ready (sliced spring onion and parsley leaves). Arrange as per the photo, serve and enjoy!

Salt and pepper Calamari

Ingredients:

(Serves 4)

3 squid hoods cleaned and turned inside out

Plain flour

Salt and pepper

1/2 tsp paprika

Oil for frying

Sweet chilli sauce (for the dip)

Method

Put the flour in a bowl and season with the salt and pepper and add the paprika. Slice the squid hood into rings and pat dry with kitchen paper. Put the rings in the flour and mix so they have a flour dusting. Then put them into a sieve and shake so any excess flour comes off. Heat the oil in a pan (it's hot enough when you drop a cube of bread in it and it starts to fry). Fry the dusted rings for 30 seconds (no more) and drain on kitchen paper. Serve immediately with the dipping sauce and a wedge of lemon. Serve and enjoy!