Mediterranean Steak

The last twenty-one days had seen things seesaw, personally, professionally and socially. Through all that  I'd fitted a lot of wonderful stuff in with great people, avoided being overwhelmed by the extreme heatwave and ridden the tide on a few other things that might have gotten the better of me a few years earlier.

Bank Holiday Sunday morning started with my phone beeping and slightly dazed I wandered out a walk with one of my oldest and best mates and our dogs. After enjoying that I headed home with a clearer head and a plan or two to keep ticking over.

As it was the Bank Holiday I had bought in some special meat to cook as my main weekend meal. I don't have loads of meat in my diet and, as those of you who read this blog regularly will know, my main meals are largely vegetarian and fish dishes. However I still think you can do some great meat dishes as a change from vegetarian food or fish.

I decided that to go with the Mediterranean Weather I'd make a Mediterranean dish in the form of a beef stew with pasta.

On the player was Neil Young's first class compilation "Decade". It is that rare "best of" compilation by a major artist that functions as a great album in its own right. It is chock full of classics and non-album rarities that span the first ten years of Young's solo career and membership of various bands. Musically it spans acoustic folk, hard rock, rock 'n' roll and some country music. Its wild range of styles perfectly mirrored the wide range of emotions I'd experienced in the previous three weeks. It was therefore a very appropriate choice of music.

When I need to get my head together I cook a big dish. So on this day I took a packet of beef chunks and fried them on a low heat in Rapeseed Oil in my Le Cresceut Dish for twenty minutes. I made sure that all sides of the chunks were slightly browned at least. I also put a couple of tablespoons each of Basil, Black Pepper and Oregano in with the Beef when it was fried.

After that I added two Carrots that I'd peeled, topped and tailed and then cut into batons. Also added at this time was a thinly sliced Garlic Clove, half a diced Onion, and three Tomatoes I'd quartered. I shallow fried these for around ten minutes.

After this I added half a bottle of Red Wine that had come to me from a grateful client. The other half was to be drunk steadily later that evening to help to unwind and rationalise a few recent events.

After simmering the food for another half an hour I added half a pint of vegetable stock and let the ingredients simmer, without allowing them to boil over, for another three hours.

In the last ten minutes of the cooking I boiled up some Tagliatelle and served it with the stew. It was still muggy in the house and outside too but when eaten with a glass of red wine the meal served to revitalise me considerably. The wine in the stew gave it a rich taste while the addition of the Tagliatelle helped me feel like I was in a warm part of Southern Italy.

Shadowy Beef: the stew sits on top of the Tagliatelle.

Chorizo Conundrum

"Every great decision creates ripples, like a huge boulder dropped in a lake. The ripples merge and rebound off the banks in unforeseeable ways. The heavier the decision, the larger the waves, the more uncertain the consequences." So says the Seventh Doctor, as portrayed by Sylvester McCoy, in the classic 1988 Doctor Who Story "Remembrance of the Daleks".

Admittedly the decisions the Doctor had to make in that particular story were sizeable compared some I've been faced with recently but all the decisions I'd made, after going through the pros and cons of each possible outcome scientifically, were eventually decided by gut instinct.

After a day in the garden, while my dog is on holiday, the back and the front now looked like they were owned by somebody. As the sun beat down the decking and flint chippings, freshly purged of weeds, made the back garden look a little like a Mediterranean Beer Garden; especially if you squinted and closed your eyes slightly.

That said I decided to make a Chorizo Frittata a dish that is common in the Mediterranean World. The soundtrack to cook to was appropriate for my current state of mind as it was the Rolling Stones' gritty and defiant 1978 comeback "Some Girls" which includes the disco funk of "Miss You" and the 'wanted man' anthem "Before they Make Me Run"

The Ingredients of the dish were:

Half a white onion diced up.
A clove of garlic diced up.
Two teaspoons of dried Basil.
Two teaspoons of Harissa.
One diced Tomato.
One Tablespoon of Red Wine Vinegar.
Four eggs that were beaten and mixed up in a measuring jug with three tablespoons of unsweetened  Soya Milk.
A pack of Chorizo.

The first job was to fry the vegetables, Tomatoes and spices in three tablespoons of Rapeseed Oil in a frying pan. I did this for around ten minutes on a medium heat until the Onion pieces were translucent and golden in colour.

I then added the Eggs and the Soya Milk mixture by folding it steadily into the frying pan with the slices of Chorizo which I distributed evenly throughout the mixture. I also used my spatula to bury some of the pieces deep within the mixture while leaving others on top of it.

I fried the mixture for about twenty minutes on a medium heat while periodically putting the spatula underneath it to stop it sticking to the pan and avoiding the underneath of it being burnt. After twenty minutes I served the Frittata on a plate with a side of lettuce.

Basil and Tomatoes are always a winning combination in any recipe and when coupled with Chorizo and Harissa it gave the dish a feel of warm Southern European days. The taste of the dish, together with the sun beating down into my dining room, took me back to my last holiday abroad, some time ago, in Fuerteventura where dishes and ingredients like this were commonplace.

Chorizo in the Sun; the Egg and Milk body of the Frittata shines brightly.

Tactical Trout

On Easter Saturday I'd spent a lot of time working on the garden as it was getting to the time of year where the plants come alive, the weeds grow and the lawn needs a lot of attention. Although I had a pretty quiet Easter Bank Holiday, I still had time to fit in a pub lunch, a visit from a colleague and an evening tasting home brew.

All that coupled with the work on the garden in quite warm temperatures meant that something quick but nutritious was needed. I'd not had any Trout for a time and with it being a bank holiday I decided to treat myself and pick up some quality Trout fillets from the local supermarket.

Prior to putting the Trout Fillets in the oven I coated them with Coriander powder and fennel seeds. I put a teaspoon each  of Coriander and Fennel Seeds on each of the Fillets and drizzled them with Lemon Juice.

I then wrapped them in a foil parcel, so as to keep the flavours in the Fillets, and then cooked them in the oven on gas mark 4 for eighteen minutes.

While and prior to cooking the Trout Fillets I sliced thinly two New Potatoes and stewed them in the juice of half a Lemon, a tablespoon of White Wine Vinegar, a teaspoon of Fennel Seeds and a teaspoon of Coriander in my Le Cresceut for twenty-five minutes on a medium heat. About five minutes before the end of the cooking I added a tub of Cress and stirred it in.

I timed the preparation of the New Potatoes so that they were ready at the same time as the Trout Fillets. The Trout was extremely flavoursome and when coupled with the New Potatoes it was a surprisingly light meal that wasn't too sour and was just the ticket after a warm day in the garden and taking in a long walk.

Coated in herbs- these ones added some unusual but pleasant flavours to the Trout and Potatoes

Turnip Winter

The Turnip Winter of 1916-17 is an infamous part of German History. It came about in the middle of the First World War partly because the British Navy were encircling the German Coast, which stopped food being imported by sea on any meaningful scale, and also because the Potato crop failed. This was partly because of the agricultural infrastructure being damaged by the war effort. The net result of this was the only other root vegetable widely available was the Turnip and by default it became the German People's choice of staple food.

One hundred years later in the winter of 2016/17 in less trying conditions, albeit the odd gun shot gets fired nearby to the neighbourhood now and again, I had found some Turnips at my local fruit and veg shop. I always prefer Turnip to its more popular cousin the Swede, as Turnip is easier to prepare and to cook. It is also less chewy and stringy.

On the evening of Friday 10 February I set to work making a soup to last me over Valentine's Weekend. I topped and tailed, peeled and cubed two Turnips and then topped and tailed, peeled and finely sliced a White Onion.

I then peeled and cubed two Potatoes.

I fried them in my Le Cresceut for twenty-five minutes on  a medium heat with a tablespoon of dried Tarragon, a pinch of Mustard and a pinch of White Pepper.

After the twenty- five minutes were up I added half a pint of Chicken Stock and simmered the ingredients on the hob for another twenty-five minute period.

After that I took it off the hob and left the contents of the Le Cresceut to cool down overnight. The next morning I blended them and later with my lunch warmed them through until the broth bubbled lively. It made a filling and delicious dish to compliment my Saturday lunchtime Cheese and Biscuits. Next day I blended it and it was delicious.

Although I enjoyed the soup and the sour taste of the Turnip, mainly as it had the edge taken off it by the Tarragon and Mustard, if I had to have it with every meal it would get very tiresome. Indeed it must not have been easy for those civilians who had to live on it during that winter one hundred years earlier. A small reason, to go with the many much larger and more significant ones, as to why wars should be avoided at all costs.

Root love: three types of root vegetable form the core ingredients of this soup.