Pan fried harissa hake with a chorizo hash

Ingredients for 4

Hake fillet (4)
4 tsp harissa
1/2 large chorizo ring
2 leeks (or 1 onion)
1/2 cabbage
4 large potatoes
Small bunch of chives
1 pickled beetroot
Olive oil, salt and pepper

Method

1) Cut the leeks, potatoes (I leave the skins on) and chorizo into 1 cm dice and sweat in 1 tbsp of olive oil, in a  large lidded pan. Season as and taste as you go.

2) Once the potatoes are soft (usually 15-20 minutes) shred the cabbage and add, and cook for another 5 minutes.

3) Whilst the hash is cooking season and coat the hake with olive oil all over and spread the flesh side with a thin coating of harissa.

4) In a medium hot frying pan, cook the hake skin side down until opaque 3/4 of the way through and then flip and allow to rest in the hot pan on the flesh side.

5) Serve a pile of hash and then place the hake fillet on top, garnish with cubes of pickled beetroot and chopped chives.

'Moroccan style' casseroled whole chicken

An easy recipe taking the flavours of a classic tagine and putting them into a simple casserole. Great for a last minute dinner party when you're short on time!

Ingredients (to feed 4-6)

1 free range chicken (the best quality that you can afford)
2 onions
2 preserved lemons (available in most supermarkets but if you have the time and inclination you can slit unwaxed lemons, salt them, cover them in juice and store for at least 3 months to make your own)
2 tsp dried ginger
2 tsp ground coriander
Handful of pitted green olives
Handful of finely chopped parsley
Salt, pepper, olive oil.

Method

1) In a large heavy based casserole heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and carefully brown the chicken on all sides before removing from the pan.

2) Thinly slice the onions and sweat until soft and translucent in the olive oil, add the ginger, coriander and the preserved lemons (cut into fine dice) and cook out for 1 minute.

3) Return the chicken to the casserole, add a small glass of water (around 100ml) and season, baring in mind that the preserved lemons can be very salty.  Add the chicken giblets if you're lucky enough to have them.

4) Put a tight fitting lid on the casserole and cook for 1 hour at 150C before adding the olives and parsley (add more water at this stage if the dish appears dry) and cook for a further 1 hour at 120C.

I serve this dish simply with bread but it also works well with rice or couscous.

Hake with chorizo and bean stew

This is another simple midweek dish, but it looks posh and can easily do a dinner party too...

Hake's fairly inexpensive in the UK and delicious, any white fish can easily be substituted.

Ingredients (to feed 2)

2 hake (or other white fish) boneless fillets
10 cm piece of chorizo sausage
1 medium onion
100ml dry white wine
10 cherry tomatoes
175g cannelini (or other white) beans, tinned is fine
Handful of purple sprouting broccoli or other green veg of your choice
Olive oil, salt and pepper
1/2 lemon
Small handful of parsley

Method

1) Slice onion thinly and sweat slowly in 1 tbsp good olive oil until soft and sweet, then add the chorizo, diced and allow to soften and give it's oil to the mixture.

2) Add the white wine to the pan and allow the alcohol to evaporate before adding the drained beans and cherry tomatoes.

3) Allow to reduce by half and the tomatoes to soften, add the parsley (finely chopped), taste and season with salt and pepper.

4) Steam or pan fry the green veg and season with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.

5) Check the fish fillets for bones. Oil and add nearly fully opaque on the skin side until nearly fully opaque, before turning over and finishing on the flesh side.

6) Season the fish, plate on top of the stew with the green veg and serve with a lemon wedge.

Beetroot salad

This is a very simple salad inspired by attempting to recreate those that I'd tasted in Marrakech, it's simple, tasty and a great way of filling up on super healthy beetroot. The other salad in this picture is my tomato, mint and caper salad (recipe in an earlier post).

Ingredients (as a side for 4 people)

4 medium beetroot
Small bunch of parsley
Juice from 1/2 lemon
Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp paprika

Method

1) Scrub but don't peel the beetroot, wrap in kitchen foil and bake in an oven at 180C for around 1 hour until soft.

2) Peel the cooked beetroot and chop into rough 1cm dice, allow to cool.

3) Chop the parsley and combine with the beetroot along with all of the other ingredients (olive oil and salt to taste) reserve the paprika to sprinkle on top to make it look pretty!

This salad will keep well in the 'fridge for 24-28 hours but tastes much better at room temperature, so take it out ahead of time.

Get in touch and let me know how you get on!

Scallops and cauliflower

This dish is still a bit of a 'work in progress' but here's the latest incarnation, it looks posh but really is a doddle!...  As ever, feel free to sub in ingredients and make the recipe your own (crispy bacon works particularly well in place of the salami).

Ingredients (to feed 4)

1 medium cauliflower
1 small red onion
l00ml cider vinegar
1/2 tablespoon caster sugar
Butter
White pepper
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Veg oil
12 king scallops (with or without roe, your choice)
2 cm piece of good salami (I use 'grasmere grunters' as they're local and great!)

Method

1) Prepare a pickling liquor by dissolving the sugar and a teaspoon of salt in the cider vinegar.

2) Chop 1/3 of the cauliflower very finely and dice the onion to the same size, add to liquor and pickle for 12-24 hours before draining.

3) Chop the other half of the cauliflower and add to a saucepan with just enough salted water to barely cover it and a large knob of butter.  Boil for 15-20 minutes until completely soft and then blend with a stick blender until smooth.  Season well with white pepper and lemon juice.

4) Chop the salami and then pulse in a food processor until it forms 'crumbs'.

5) Heat a dry frying pan until smoking hot and oil the scallops before adding.  Depending on size cook for 1-2 minutes each side until well caramelised and still just translucent in the centre.  Don't overcook!

6) To serve, spoon a circle of puree onto a warm plate and then place 3 scallops around the edge and a small pile of the drained pickle in the centre.  Season the scallops and then sprinkle the salami crumbs over the top.

Spiced Pumpkin Soup

One of my all time favourite recipes.  I'm not too big on hallowe'en but this just screams autumn and bonfire night to me...

This recipe's fairly forgiving, I've included a spiced vegetable stock but you can use any stock that you have to hand, or even a cube.  I usually use whichever pumpkin comes in my veg box, crown prince and red lantern give great colour, but butternut squash is always a good substitute.

For the stock
1 onion
1 head of garlic
2 large carrots
3 sticks of celery
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 star anise
1 stick of cinnamon
1.5l cold water

For the soup
2 onions
1 tbsp veg oil
1 large or 2 small pumpkins / squashes
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp garam masala
Salt to taste

Method

1) To make the stock, half the vegetables (wash but don't peel there's a lot of flavour in skins and the onions give it a good colour) and place all of the ingredients in a large saucepan.  Bring to the boil and simmer for 2 hours before straining.

2) Peel and slice the onions and sweat with no colour over a low heat in a large pan with the oil (5-10 minutes).

3) Dry roast the cumin and coriander seeds over a medium heat in a  frying pan until fragrant and then grind (skip this step and use ground spices if in a rush, but if you have the time you can taste the difference!).

4) Peel and deseed the pumpkin, cut into large dice.

5) Add the cumin and coriander once the onions have softened and stir, add pumpkin and stir to cover in the spice mix.

6) Add enough stock to just cover the pumpkin, put a lid on the pan, turn down the heat and simmer until the pumpkin is tender (around 10-15 minutes).

7) Blitz until completely smooth, adding a little water / stock if too thick.

8) Add garam masala and salt to taste, it may require a lot if you're using homemade stock, considerably less if using a cube.

To get all cheffy and ponce this one up a swirl of cream or yoghurt and some roasted pumpkin seeds on the top always look good.  A nice slice of homemade sourdough also goes wonderfully with the inherent sweetness of the pumpkin.

Enjoy, and let me know how you get on!

Barbecued mackerel

I love mackerel it's quite probably my favourite fish.  There is one caveat however, it has to be super, super fresh, if it's not super fresh, or if you have any doubt just don't bother.  This recipe can be used with any oily fish, it's great with herring or sardines (although the same freshness rule applies) or small, farmed sea bass and sea bream. I love to serve a whole fish with new potatoes and a char grilled salad (recipe soon to be posted!).

Ingredients (for 4)

4 very fresh mackerel, cleaned and gutted
4 cloves of garlic
4 sprigs of rosemary
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Directions

1) Take the mackerel from the 'fridge and season with salt and pepper inside and out.

2) Crush one clove of garlic (I'm using new season 'soft garlic' in the picture but ordinary garlic works just fine) and gently bruise the rosemary, place both inside the cavity of the fish.

3) Oil the outside of each fish sparingly and put onto a very hot barbecue or grill.  Even quite large mackerel will only a take a couple of minutes each side (do not overcook), obviously a largish bass will take a little longer.

I love the combination of smoke, oily fish, garlic and rosemary, it works well with added lemon and even mint for a north african / sicilian twist.