Fennel, feta and pomegranate salad

I am delighted to report that I got the Ottolenghi cookbook for Christmas. I'd wanted it for ages actually - I really love the whole mediterranean/middle-eastern-y hybrid. And everything always looks so utterly gorgeous, just bursting with amazing colour as well as tonnes of flavour and vitamins!

So just what I needed post-xmas-binge and in possession of a draining head cold that just refuses to budge. Urgh.

This is slightly adapted from the original in terms of quantities to suit what I had in the fridge at the time - plus I didn't have any tarragon so used some coriander, but I'm certain tarragon would've been nicer.

Fennel, feta and pomegranate salad

1 fennel bulb very thinly sliced - use a mandolin if you have one but mind your fingers.

1 pomegranate - relieved of its seeds

A pack of good feta cheese crumbled

Handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley and another of coriander

Juice of half a lemon

Drizzle of olive oil

Teaspoon of Sumac (you know, that dark slightly sour tasting middle eastern powder made from a crushed berry) plus a little more to finish the dish.

Not much to say except mix everything together and sprinkle with a little extra Sumac when serving.

I think I'll finish by saying that my MASSIVELY patriotic Scottish mother also bought me some cookbooks for Christmas. She bought me 3 Scottish cookbooks and presented them to me proclaiming that she couldn't understand why I had so many foreign cookbooks and yet none from my homeland... Who knew there were 3 different recipes for something called "Mince N Tatties"? Not me.

Hmm.

Mini Christmas: Saltimbocca, balsamic red onions with white beans followed by Vacherin. And no smoking.

In our house we have an annual event called Mini-Christmas. Because The Boyfriend and I can't always spend Christmas Day together, we have our own advance mini celebration complete with presents, carols and festive food. Last night I excitedly raced home from my last day at work for a week (in a very non-frugal taxi...oh sod it, it's Christmas) for our evening of pre-Christmas festivities.

Of course, for me, part of the excitement of this event is the food. This year's feast was slightly hampered by a broken oven, so I had to pick something to cook which I could make on the stove-top or under the grill. Hmmm. No 3-Bird Roasts for us then.

I liked the idea of doing something poultry-ish and needed something quite light as I splurged on a baby Vacherin from work to have afterwards - more on that later.

So I thought I'd try Saltimbocca which literally translates as "jumps in the mouth" and is a traditionally Italian dish although variations are made all over Europe. It's very simple - basically an escalope of something (chicken, turkey, pork, veal even - I found some nice free range wiltshire chicken in Waitrose which wasn't hideously expensive) sprinkled with some sage leaves and then layered with a piece of cured ham to cover the sage leaves and affixed to the escalope with some cocktail sticks. You then simply pan-fry quickly on both sides until cooked through and serve it with some lemony pan-juices which I made by deglazing the pan with a little white wine, the juice of one lemon and a small knob of butter. We had the Saltimbocca with some balsamic red onions and a scoop of mashed white beans.

Simples.

And then afterwards we broke out a wooden box of good Vacherin Mont D'Or which is a really creamy, gooey, rich cheese made from the milk of cows who have spent the summer munching away in alpine meadows!  Sounds delightful frankly. Anyway, they're at their best just now so give one a try if you can. You can bake Vacherin in the oven to make a sort-of-fondue in its own little box - but we just had it at room temperature scooping it up with bits of baguette, little cornichons and pieces of pear.  It was a million calories a mouthful but a really special treat.

Post present opening and replete with mountain cheese.... for first time in ages I really felt like having a ciggie just to round things off. However, given my addictive and obsessive love of smoking (which, incredibly, I have managed to stave off for two and a half years!) I cannot be trusted to have just one so we finished with a couple of squares of dark chocolate instead.

Pretty good actually - and, even sans Marlborough Light, a merry Mini Christmas was had by all. Or both anyway.

Chicken livers with raisins and pinenuts in dessert wine

Just a very quick post to tell you about an accidentally yummy supper.

I'm a massive chicken liver fan - they are super-cheap and delicious - and, as I hadn't had a chance to go food-shopping recently, I defrosted a pack last night, thinking that I would decide what to do with them while I was at work. But Christmas has well and truly arrived at the shop and we were so busy that I had no time to think about dinner until I was on the tube on my way back home tonight. Hence the recipe below is actually barely a recipe! But despite the minimum of thought and preparation it was really delicious. We'll definitely be having it again.

Chicken livers with raisins and pinenuts in dessert wine 
Pack of chicken livers
Handful of raisins or sultanas
Handful pinenuts
Slosh of dessert wine (I used some leftover Tokaij but you could use anything - Vin Santo, even sherry)
Stock cube
Some good bread, rubbed with a garlic clove and a little olive oil
Green salad to serve

Get your griddle pan on the heat. Pour a little boiling water over your raisins. Crumble a stock cube over the soaking raisins, stir and set to one side.

Then trim the chicken livers of any weird-looking or green-ish bits. Melt a little butter in a frying pan with a glug of olive oil. Throw in the livers and brown them on a high heat for a couple of minutes. Then slosh in your wine - allow it to bubble up and deglaze the pan a little and then add in your raisins and stock and reduce for a couple of minutes.

Slice the bread thickly, rub with a garlic clove and drizzle with olive oil. Griddle the bread on both sides. When the chicken liver sauce is a little thicker, add in the pinenuts then pour the livers and a big spoonful of the raisin and pinenut sauce onto the toasted bread. Serve with a green salad.

Incidentally I made a salad dressing for our green leaves with a glug of olive oil, a splash of white wine vinegar, a teaspoon of creme fraiche and about the same of dijon mustard. It made a nice sharp contrast to the rich, sweet chicken livers. Just so you know!

Fish soup with all the accessories.

Today was my day off and I had to do that most draining domestic task - waiting at home for someone to turn up with a replacement debit card. It's something that's made doubly irritating by the vast window of opportunity for delivery - anytime between 9am and 5pm. Surely they could confirm whether it's morning or afternoon? Just the vaguest indication would help. Why is this not possible? Does the delivery driver navigate from address to address led by primal instinct and the forces of the lunar tide, never knowing where the pull of the Thames will take him? Here's a thought - why not try using an A-Z and a wristwatch?

And breathe.

Anyway, I was determined to be prepared for a day of incarceration and, despite getting in from work at gone midnight last night, I dragged myself out of bed super-early. I fell into Tesco for some waiting-at-home provisions, procured a vat of coffee and was back home long before my 9am vigil began.

You know where this is going...

I spent the day not having a shower in case I didn't hear the doorbell, not talking on the phone in case they were trying to call me. But, of course, it got later and later. Finally, with a heavy heart and a familiar, defeated feeling I phoned the delivery company to be told that they'd attempted delivery at 11.35am but there was no one at the address.

Yes. Of course. Or just maybe your delivery driver had endured such a tough morning riding around sunny London, eating crisps and texting his mates and just couldn't be bothered to walk up to the door and actually ring the bell in the traditional fashion. ARGHHHHHH!

The red mist descended and the murderous impulses swelled. I needed something to distract and calm me - I turned my attention to dinner. Something soothing and warming was required. Something that required the involved and sustained use of knives.

Fish soup then.

Basically this is my version of a fish soup with all the trimmings - chunky pieces of fish with, a sprinkling of chilli, lashings of pernod and those lovely French toppings - a really good spicy mayonnaise and gruyere-laced croutons. Although it's a classic Marseille dish, I actually first had proper fish soup in The Witchery in Edinburgh - a lovely restaurant/hotel almost in the grounds of the castle. It's a beautiful place for a special treat - the menu is really amazing with lovely bistro-type food all made with Scottish produce - and the wine list is a frankly intimidating leather bound Doomsday Book. With chapters and everything! Well worth a visit if you find yourself in Edinburgh on payday.

Anyway, their fish soup was a much fancier, smoother, veloute type of soup but my lower budget chunky stew version is pretty tasty.

And with lots of veg to viciously chop, it's perfect for eliminating homicidal tendencies.

Fish soup with all the trimmings 

Soup
Whatever sort of fish you have in the fridge/freezer - ideally a couple of types. I had some Sea Bream fillets, some chunky pieces of salmon and some prawns.
Slosh of Pernod (or Ouzo would be fine)
Fennel seeds
Couple of chillis
Carrot
Celery
Onion
2 cloves garlic
A tin of tomatoes
Some fish stock or white wine
Whatever fresh herbs you have - I had fresh rosemary and bay leaves and then finished the dish with some fresh parsley before serving.

The rouille (yes I know it's not an authentic rouille but I wouldn't mention that just now if I were you as I'm still quite angry) 
2 egg yolks
2 cloves garlic
Plenty of good olive oil - basically as much as the egg yolks will absorb
Pinch of saffron
Smidgeon of cayenne pepper


Croutons 
Half an old baguette sliced into thin rounds
Some gruyere-type cheese (I work in a cheese chop so got the most delicious 24 month aged Comte D'estive but, obviously, I'm showing off)

On a low heat, sweat the onions, chilli, celery, carrots and herbs in some butter until nice and soft, add the fennel seeds and continue to fry on a low heat for another couple of minutes. Slosh in some Pernod  and reduce for a few minutes. Add a tin of tomatoes, another tin of water or fish stock and a final tin of white wine (use the empty tin of tomatoes to measure the stock and water - also uses up all the tomato residue) and then leave to simmer for half an hour.

In the meantime, slice the baguette thinly and toast on one side only. Flip over and sprinkle generously with the cheese. Set to one side.

For the rouille, mash the garlic cloves, saffron and a little salt in a pestle and mortar. Separate two egg yolks and add to the garlic mixture. Whisk the egg yolk/garlic mixture with a small whisk to blend both. Then add the olive oil literally drop by drop to begin with, whisking all the time. It's a slow and wrist achey process but you'll see when it starts to actually look like a mayonnaise - like the piccie below.

When your rouille is done, add your pieces of fish to the soup - keeping the heat down very low. You know how it works - any larger pieces should go in first and smaller pieces later so they're all ready at the same time. After a few minutes your fish should be poached to perfection. At the very last minute grill the cheese side of the croutons.

To assemble, pile fish and soup into bowls and top with a generous spoonful of the rouille and a couple of croutons. Sprinkle with any remaining cheese and tuck in.

Mostarda - my new 'must-have'.

When I gave up my old job one of the things I knew I wouldn't be able to afford in in my new life was regular trips to nice restaurants. Although we mainly kept it local and didn't really go anywhere super-fancy, we did eat out pretty regularly and I do really miss that. But there's no need to break out the violins because we had a massive stroke of luck a few weeks ago when The Boyfriend was given a lovely "thank you" present from his office for some above-and-beyond work he'd done. He was told he could take me out for dinner wherever we wanted. Massive hoorah!


So we excitedly booked a table at L'Anima - the slick Italian near Liverpool Street where ex-St Alban chef Francesco Mazzei has received glowing reports since opening in Autumn 2008. It's more sleek and whispery than our usual sort of restaurant to be honest - but the food and wine was absolutely perfect. I had an amazing slow-roasted pork belly dish with something called N'cantarata Sauce - which was a delicious mixture of honey, paprika & spices. The Boyfriend had an amazing liquorice sabayon for pudding - not something I would have chosen but it was fantastic. And instead of a pudding I had Taleggio cheese with Fig Mostarda. I'd never heard of it before but Mostarda is a jammy, spicy, mustardy preserved fruit. It was amazing - sinus-clearing like mustard but still sweet and unmistakably fig-ish. It was a delicious accompaniment to the rich creamy Taleggio and I vowed to get my hands on some.


Which I have just done! I bought some Pear Mostarda today but you can get also pumpkin, pepper, green tomato, prune - all sorts. And, because I simply couldn't be bothered to cook tonight, I've just devoured some with some squidgey, rich taleggio and half a good, crusty baguette. I can't recommend it highly enough - it's like a mellow, sweet wasabi that goes really well with cheese. Traditionally italians eat mostardo with bollito misto - a boiled meat dish - but I can imagine it would also work really well with a rich chicken liver pate or some charcuterie.


So, no recipe today, just wanted to let you know about my new discovery and encourage you to try it if you can. I bought mine from La Fromagerie but I reckon you would be able to get hold of it at any good Italian deli.

Not just rib eye steak. This is a frugal £5 M&S rib eye steak...

This is just a very quick post to tell you about something I did with some marked-down rib-eye steak that I found in Marks and Spencer. Yes, I know I shouldn't really buy food in M&S if I am being truly frugal but I passed one on the way home, it was raining, we had nothing in the fridge...blah, blah, blah.

Anyhoo, the fact remains, Marks and Spencer were selling two rib eye steaks for £5 which I think is ridiculously good value.

Steak with spicy noodles 

A couple of steaks

Some dried egg noodles

A big knob of ginger

2 cloves of garlic

Some fish sauce

A dessert spoon of peanut butter

A handful of fresh chopped coriander

Any leftover vegetables - spring onions, radishes, carrots, mange tout, green beans, peppers, shredded cabbage are all good

Heat your griddle pan until smoking. Griddle the steak for a few minutes on both sides - until it is as "done" as you like it - and then put it aside to rest while you make the noodles. I soaked dried noodles in boiling water for 5 minutes and then grated a big chunk of ginger, mashed a couple of cloves of garlic and fried both on a low heat for a few minutes in a frying pan along with a good glug of fish sauce, a desert spoon of peanut butter and the juice and zest of two limes. Then I added some leftover chopped vegetables to the frying pan - carrots, green beans and spring onions - and stir fried them quickly, adding finely chopped coriander and the cooked noodles when they're ready. Have a little taste and add more lime juice or fish sauce if it needs it. Slice the steak into strips and pile onto the noodles and finish with a little more fresh coriander.

Well, maybe Dervla Kirwen wouldn't come over all breathy about it, but I thought it was very tasty, pretty healthy and super-speedy supper.