Monday, August 30, 2010

Super fresh seafood goodness

Our latest batch of market freshness arrived over the weekend, and it was a real seafood special. On top of a pretty excellent veg selection and a tonne of blood oranges, it included fresh whole snapper and about well over two dozen mussels.

Our mussels disappeared in a frenzy on Saturday night, and then we had the fish and more mussels (courtesy of some Feedbag friends who felt compelled to share, bless 'em) again on Sunday night.

It was a big seafood weekend!

Mussels in white wine and tomato
I've never cooked mussels before. To be honest, I really don't care for them that much - I tend to find them a bit too seafoody, and often rather too chewy. But these mussels were sublime. I've never seen fresher, and these were a true pleasure to prepare and cook with. When it comes to seafood, you really want the freshest you can get.

ingredients
Two dozen mussels
Brown onion
Garlic clove
Bacon
Two tomatoes
Continental parsley
Two bay leaves
Sea salt
Olive oil
Butter
White wine
Spaghetti

Ingredients o' the sea!

You'll also want some fresh crusty bread for this one - trust me.

First order of the day - get your water on to boil. This dish requires tight timing and you'll want to let the pasta be nearly done before you get the mussels going. While waiting for the water to boil, though, you'll need to get to cleaning them, though.

Scrubbed, clean and ready to cook
Mussels, pre-cleaning.

We were lucky - our mussels were mostly beardless and not to encrusted, but your mileage may vary. Debearding is simply a matter of taking the hair-like fringe some mussels have tearing it off; removing any barnacle-type beasties requires a bit more scrubbing. Be careful during the cleaning - mussel shells have been used by coastal peoples as cutting and scraping tools since the dawn of cutting and scraping, and you can easily discover just why when you're scrubbing them clean.

And this learning will sting like a motherfucker. At this stage you also want to get rid of any mussels with broken shells, and any dead, open ones. Do check the deadness, though - rap the shell against a hard surface (without breaking it!) and see if the shell closes. If it does, the tasty mollusc is still good. If it stays open, bin it.

At the end of the process, you should have a bowl of shiny, clean soon-to-be-noms.

Your water should be well and truly boiling, now, so add about a third of a pack of spaghetti. Finely chop the onion, garlic and parsley, and heat up some oil in a large heavy bottomed pot. With the oil hot, melt some butter in it, and add the chopped ingredients and a pinch of salt. Sauté until the onion is soft and translucent, and add roughly chopped tomatos, bay leaves, and bacon.

Timed right, as the tomato is just starting to soften, your pasta should be just about ready. At this point, toss the mussels into the pot, and splash in the wine - about a glass or two, depending on how boozy you like your food. Put a lid on the pot, check the pasta, and - if ready - drain it.

Now, peer at the pot. You are, effectively, waiting for the literal watched heating device to boil. When you get that first gout of steam from around the lid you want to wait maybe a minute or so - what you're doing is steaming the mussels, and being tiny delicate little things it won't take long to cook them. Take the lid off, and if they're ready to go, they'll have all opened up invitingly.

Open sesame!

Toss the pasta into the pot and stir through, then plate up as you wish. Butter some fresh crusty bread, top up your wine (we had a lovely pinot grigio), and get ready to slurp and make a mighty mess.

Mussels in white wine

Like I said - I'm not usually a fan of mussels. However, after these mussels... all bets are off. These were practically falling out of the shell during serving, and were not at all rubbery; instead of being overpoweringly seafoody in flavour, were simply rich and full of freshness. And for all that it's a little tricky in the timing department, and takes a bit of time when it comes to the cleaning, it's another quick meal - a real good one to do for a crowd, too.

And boy, oh boy, is that sauce tasty - you will go through a whole loaf or baguette, and you will stand greedily over the pot sopping up all the juices you can...

Bready noms

... and you'll be happy. In your mouth.

Friday, August 27, 2010

It's odd that it's nearly three months months into this blog and have only written up one pasta dish - and a non-typical one at that!

My pasta habit, however, isn't what it it used to be. Time was, practically every second meal I cooked was pasta (and there was even a time where it alternated between pasta and risotto... ), but these days, especially with the excellent driver that is our Feedbag allocation, I cook much more widely.

But if there's anything in my repertoire that I would have to call a 'signature dish', it's pasta with any kind of red sauce. In particular, my evolution of Puttanesca.

Penna alla Puttanesca
Technically, this is not, in fact, a Puttanesca. Also known as Whore's Pasta for wholly historical and rather practical reasons, my version swaps out a few key ingredients based on the taste-buds of various flatmates. A proper Puttanesca features generous amounts of anchovies, and even capers. I omit the capers and add tuna instead of the furry fish.

And yeah, if you're thinking this is a backwards step out of flavour country, you're right. But anchovy isn't for everyone, and if you nail the other flavours you still get a good dish. I do make a proper Puttanesca when I can, however. Hmm... salty...

ingredients
Tin of tomato
One onion
Two cloves of garlic
Water
Tomato paste
Olives
Tin of chilli tuna
Basil
Sea Salt
Cracked pepper
Olive oil
Penne pasta
Parmesan to taste

Ingredients, plus my new favourite knife.

Couple of things to note. Take out the olives, tuna, and chilli and you've got an excellent base for a red sauce - in fact, ignore them completely in this recipe, or substitute for something else (like chorizo or mushrooms or... whatever) and that's what you'll get whatever kind of red sauce you want.

Secondly, the tuna. There's nothing wrong with good tinned food, and it can be a Gods-send to always have a couple of packs of pasta, tins of tomato and tuna in the cupboard. Of course, there's a mess of brands to choose from, but I find you can't go wrong with La Gina tomatoes(crushed, preferably) and Sirena tuna with chilli in oil. Saying it's arguably the best tuna in a can may not sound like much, but this is really good stuff, and going with the chilli variety makes this meal even simpler to cook, and provides two lovely chillis and a measure of oil suffused with that great flavour.

Chilli, oil, fish. Nom.

So let's get cooking.

First up, get a pot of salted water boiling for the pasta, and then slice up the garlic and onions. Add goodly splash of oil (I like oily pastas) to a pan and sauté until turning clear. Pop the tin of tuna, fish out the two chillis, and chop these up - add to the pan. Also add in some basil now - in this instance, I've used a jar of dried stuff.

Take a handful of the olives and either chop or add whole at this point. I prefer juicy kalamata olives (and, if you're interested, my favourite brand is Sandhurst), but this dish works just as well with green olives. Saute a touch longer, then drain most of the oil off the tuna, and flake out of the tin with a fork.

Pre-tomato

Saute a little bit more, and it's time to make this sauce start working. Add the tomatoes - take the tin, and half fill with water, adding it too. You can if you want substitute a measure of red wine if you want a punchy, boozy sauce - and there's nothing wrong with that! Add about a desert spoon of paste, stir it all up, bring to boil, and then let simmer away until the pasta's ready, and the sauce has thickened and reduced a bit. Add a bit more basil to the mix (adding herbs at different stages of cooking means you get that deeper flavour through all the ingredients, I find, while still keeping that fresher, stronger flavour hit).

Finally, drain off the pasta when ready, stir the sauce through, nom it all up.

Penna alla Puttanesca (kinda)

This is flavour country right here, even with the most basic, "I have nothing fresh and must eat!" version of the dish. And if you think it's good as is - and it is - with a little planning this can be a real winner. Get good fresh olives from the local deli; use fresh chopped basil, lovely and green and fragrant. Use the good olive oil you save for special occasions.

Or, assuming you've got anchovy-friendly people around, make the real thing. With some fresh crusty bread, oil for dipping, and a bright combat Shiraz, this is about the best way to spend an evening with friends.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Not dead yet, plus loving pork

I do kind of wish I was, though.

Dead, that is, not pork. We'll get to pork later, but for now, I'm stupidly, fiendishly busy. In fact, I've nabbed this time only because I'm waiting for a flight overseas (to Germany, where there will be beer - and sausage!). So yeah, dead - because I figure at least then I could fit in some time to write a bit more.

I've got a backlog of something like... a lot of meals to write up. But life's kind of kicking my arse at the moment, so things are going to be a little slow.

That said...

Two tasty things with pork mince
I'm enjoying bit of a pork renaissance* at the moment. After the last pork dish, I've really been hankering for that typically full and salty flavour, while at the same time wanting meals which are a) easy to cook, but b) still tasty and exciting enough to be worthwhile.

Combine simple Asian flavours with pork and you get exactly that.

First up, we have a very simple Pork and Green Bean stirfry, and then a special bonus round!

ingredients
Two handfuls fresh green beans
Handful of pork mince
Garlic
Ginger
Soy
Shallots
Rice

Stirfry ingredients

Dead simple, and as you'll find out, dead tasty.

First up, get the rice going in the rice cooker, and then heat up some vegetable oil in a pan. Saute, while stirring frequently, the pork mince. It may not seem like much mince, but it's not really the bulk of the dish - that's the beans. When the mince starts to cook, pour on a couple of tablespoons and soy, add in the garlic, ginger and shallots, and reduce while keeping on stirring.

When it's starting to cook down, throw on the beans.

Lovely simmering mince and crunchy beans

Stir through and just let sit simmering as the liquid reduces. You're kind of steaming the beans more than frying them - you want them to still have crunch, but to also pick up the flavours of soy and ginger.

You'll note I'm using a flat-bottomed pan, but this would really be best done in a wok. The pan works, though, so don't be worried if you don't have the right bits.

So with everything all nice and reduced, you should end up with a nicely sticky, almost caramelised sauce on the beans, and lovely, tasty bits of mince to add bite and flavour. Serve up the rice, toss the pork and beans on, and you're in happy town.

Pork and green beans stirfry

Soy and pork is a lovely combination, a double threat of salty goodness. And with all those beans and plain white rice, it's a pretty healthy meal too, for all that tastes quite serious. Even better, it's a fast cook - the stirfry takes about ten minutes tops. If you want a bit of bite, just add some sliced chilli.

Of course, the issue with using such a small amount of mince is you have most of a packet left over. Simple: get a nice fresh head of lettuce, some bean sprouts, onion and more shallots. Ideally some water chestnut too, but we didn't have any and things worked out fine.

Prepare the mince in much the same way, but add in a less soy, along with some oyster sauce. Add onions, water chestnut, and finally the bean sprouts (which should still have some crunch to them when done), and saute away.

Wash the lettuce, and slice the bottom off, then carefully peel away individual leaves. Place a pile of leaves in a bowl, put the mince mix in a bowl, and put on a bib.

Sang choy bow - which you've just made - is a messy but delicious dish. The crunchy lettuce makes a great partner to the pork, all clean and fresh and salty and rich all at once, with that great crunchy mouthfeel as well.

And, again, it's really easy to make - and technically, you don't even need plates to eat it off! The ultimate in convenience food.

One packet of mince and a handful ingredients - two quick and easy meals.



* You, in back - no sniggering at my pork renaissance!