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Coquilles St Jacques
Published on August 29, 2008
Last night our friend Paul came round for supper and brought with him a wonderful sack of fresh scallops, which had only been out of the water for a matter of hours. His generosity did not end there as he then proceeded to transform them into a mouth-watering spread of Coquilles St Jacques - as you can see from the photo above.
Paul's recipe is a closely guarded secret but if you fancy having a go yourself then give this simple recipe of mine a whirl and see how you get on:
You will need:
12 fresh scallops, removed from their shells (but you want the shells as well for later)
A small saucepan worth of white sauce
A small quantity of mashed potato
A glass or two of vermouth
The juice of one lemon
Some gruyere cheese
A teaspoon or two of smoked paprika
A handful of fresh parsley
Salt & Pepper
Now get stuck in:
• Once you've got your white sauce and mashed potato sorted kick off by frying the scallops in a large frying pan with a little butter over a medium heat for around 5 mins.
• Add the white sauce to the pan and turn down the heat, then add the vermouth and a little seasoning along with the lemon juice. Cook until warm, but do not allow to boil.
• Spoon the cooked mixture into the scallop shells
• Pipe the potato round the edge of the shells
• Sprinkle the top of each filled shell with grated gruyere, a bit of fresh parsley and a dusting of paprika
• Bake the filled shells in a medium hot oven (say 180oC) for around 10 minutes and voila you’re on a trip to the seaside!
Life's simple pleasures
Published on August 26, 2008
I love getting time to bake, it is so rewarding and easy. As long as you are careful with basic ingredients, it is almost impossible to mess up and there is nothing like the smell of fresh bread to really make a house homely. One of the most fantastic things about baking is that although making a loaf can take up to two hours, it is the mixing bowl and the bread tin that do all the hard work, they don’t even need any supervision! This means that one can go off and do some other things while the fermentation and baking processes are underway. If you follow the recipe below you only need to be actively involved for about 25 minutes.
Below is my recipe for a basic fruit loaf.
Ingredients:
500g Wholemeal Flour ( I use Doves Farm Organic, because it is excellent quality and seems good value for money)
1 teaspoon of caster sugar
½ teaspoon of salt
11 fluid ounces of warm water
1 teaspoon of quick yeast ( again I use Doves Farm as it doesn’t come in little sachets, which seem expensive and very over packaged)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 handfuls of mixed fruit
Here we go:
1. Simply mix the flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a large bowl
2. Gradually add the water and knead until the dough has begun to come together, this takes about 5 minutes)
3. Add the oil and continue to work the dough until it is smooth and all of the flour has been incorporated (should take about another ten minutes)
4. Cover with a wet tea towel and leave in a draught free place for about an hour or until the dough has doubled in size
5. After an hour, pop the oven on to pre heat to about 200 degrees.
6. Drop the dough on to a floured surface and “ knock back”. Essentially have some fun bashing the living daylights out of the dough for up to 15 mins. While you are doing this incorporate the fruit.
7. Place the dough in your bread tin, cover with a tea towel & leave for 30 mins
8. After 30 mins, dust the top with flour & pop in the oven until the bread has risen and the base sounds hollow when knocked!
Let me know you favourite bread recipes or any suggestions you may have on how I can improve mine on 020 8453 9898 or at charlie@bighams.com. Oh and the web address for Doves farm is www.dovesfarm.co.uk
The humble potato
Published on August 26, 2008
Whilst we may not have enjoyed our ideal weather in August, it is fair to say that my potato plants have loved it. As long as they are in well drained soil, the humble potato relishes rain and as we are all too aware August has certainly provided that.
Yesterday the sun peeped its head out from behind the clouds and I seized the opportunity to get out to the veggie patch and see what lay beneath the bright green foliage! This is always tremendously exciting, as potatoes can be very whimsical. Just because they have developed a fine canopy above ground there is no guarantee that they have been doing the business down there where it really counts. In order to get the best results with mine I chit them (leave the seedling potatoes in a sunny, spot inside a window or greenhouse until they develop stumpy, healthy shoots) in April and when healthy green shoots have developed I then plant then out.
April turns in to May, May to June, June to July and come the back end of August the shoots have grown, flowered and begun to die off and hopefully one’s patience is rewarded. I am told by better gardeners than myself, that if you are careful, you can harvest the outer, larger potatoes, while leaving the plant intact to produce more. But I’m afraid my enthusiasm to unearth the spoils means I rarely show this level of restraint.
Anyway I thought you might like a picture of the spoils. We had some last night, gently scrubbed and served with butter and dill. Why not let me know at charlie@bighams.com if you have a favourite use for yours?
Fresh crab extravaganza
Published on August 23, 2008
Yesterday evening I spent a joyous hour up to my elbows in crab shell, hammer in one hand and nutcrackers in the other. The reason, as you will see from above, was a bumper catch of delicious crabs from our lobster pot (the lobsters are still, unfortunately, eluding me).
To celebrate our first crabs of the year I knocked up a crab linguine which I thought was pretty tasty. In case you've got a few crabs knocking around and are wondering what to do with them here's my recipe (this will do enough for about 8 people):
The white meat from 6 medium sized crabs
A bunch of spring onions
A generous handful of fresh parsley
The juice of 6 lemons
Zest from half a lemon
A couple of cloves of garlic
One red onion
Salt & Pepper
One fresh red chilli
The secret in this recipe is the lemon juice and fresh chilli so don't be tempted to leave either of them out. I know it looks like a lot of lemon juice but trust me it works!
• So, first of all finely dice the red pepper, red onion and garlic. Cook in a little olive oil until nice and soft.
• Next add the spring onions, julienned red chilli and julienned lemon zest and cook for a further few minutes.
• Finally add the crab, lemon juice and seasoning and cook for a further five minutes on a low heat.
Serve with some nice linguine and maybe a fresh rocket salad.