The Smiths once sang that "rain falls down on a humdrum town". The days before Remembrance Weekend 2019 neatly fitted that particular bill as I piloted the freshly MOT'd and serviced Panda through storms and floods and along roads linking several forgotten ex-mining villages.
On the evening of Remembrance Friday a trip to a local venue to see a first rate Rush tribute band with equally first rate company was equally dark and damp, but certainly much more enjoyable than the drives through floods the previous day.
By the time the weekend proper had rolled round and the parents had dropped the Dogg off at mine thoughts turned towards making some seasonal comfort food. My mind turned back to my childhood and dark November Nights after tricky days at school where I would often binge on bonfire toffee while watching Champions' League Football on the TV. It's funny how certain flavours and tastes stick in your mind from days gone by. The burnt and earthy taste, punctuated with shards of sweetness, of that bonfire toffee was something I wished to replicate.
This said I decided to make a type of Parkin that would resurrect this taste of the past. On the player while making this recipe was Kiss' 1975 breakthrough live album "Alive!". Kiss' first three albums are a marvellous mix of catchy, hard rocking numbers that cover a surprising amount of different territories. However at the time of their release they barely sold enough to recoup their advertising costs. "Alive!" changed all that, sold millions and set them on the road to stardom. The performances, which take the pick of the tracks from the first three albums, sound fresh, energetic and have lots of warmth.
So to the recipe. When I do baking I tend to divide the ingredients up into "dry" and "damp" ingredients:
Damp Ingredients:
200 grams of Golden Syrup.
85 grams of Treacle.
200 grams of Unsalted Butter, melted in a saucepan.
1/8 of a pint of Whisky. The whisky used was a supermarket own brand blend. My followers from the Highlands will be pleased to know I didn’t waste a genuine single malt on this recipe.
1 beaten Egg.
Dry Ingredients
200 grams of Self-Raising Flour.
100 grams of Ground Almonds.
1 tablespoon of Ground Ginger.
100 grams of Oats.
Method
1. Stir together all the Dry Ingredients in a mixing bowl until they are combined.
2. Add the Melted Unsalted Butter, Whisky and Egg and stir into the Dry Ingredients until you have a thick paste.
3. Stir in the Treacle and Syrup.
4. Place the mixture into a greased baking tin that is too high sided.
5. Bake for one hour in the oven on Gas Mark 3 (170 degrees) for one hour. Then bake for a further half an hour on Gas Mark 5 (190 degrees). Pierce with a skewer to ensure it is cooked and not runny in the middle.
6. Remove from the tin, leave to cool then cut into cubes prior to serving.
The combination of the Treacle and Whisky in this recipe gave it the tar-like and fiery taste I was looking for and the Syrup and Ground Almonds made it sweet and almost taste like freshly produced fudge. A baking project to bring back long lost memories.
At the end of September I joined the parents on their tour of the South West Coast. While there the Dogg and I uncovered the mysteries of an Island containing much War History, two prisons and lots of quarries. We also discovered lots fine seafood including oysters and crab.
Perhaps the most remarkable dish we discovered however was at a pub hidden in a valley near the South West Coast Path where we helped my mum celebrate what she reckoned was one of her most memorable birthdays.
That area of the South West Coast has numerous links with the Smuggling Trade of years gone by and the name of this pub referred to these often romanticised links.
The pub in question served me a tandoori Hake on a bed of Potatoes, Shallots and Spinach. It was that dish that inspired me to make recently my own take on this recipe which used fresh Cod Fillets in lieu of Hake.
The ingredients were as follows:
Two Large Cod Fillets.
Two tablespoons of Turmeric.
Two tablespoons of Fenuguk
Three Carrots, peeled, topped and tailed and cut into baton shapes.
Three Shallots, peeled, topped and tailed and cut into halves.
One White Potato, peeled and cut width-ways into circles.
One White Onion,peeled, topped and tailed and cut into pieces width-ways.
Five Lettuce Leaves.
On the player was one of the discs of Fleetwood Mac's Epic collection of Live Radio Broadcasts known as Gold Dust Radio 1975-1988. The collection showcases a number of incarnations of the band and illustrates that whoever was in the band at the time each gig was recorded, they were always a top drawer live act.
The method to make this dish is:
1. Marinate the Cod in the Turmeric and Fenuguk using Olive Oil to bind the spices to the Cod and a plastic brush to ensure the Cod is covered in the mixture.
2. Steam the Carrots and the Potato for twenty minutes.
3. Fry the Shallots and Onions on a medium heat in Olive Oil in a Le Cresceut Dish for ten minutes until they are translucent. Stir them regularly to stop them sticking to the bottom of the dish.
4. Add the Carrots and Potato ,once they have been steamed, and fry the ingredients for a further five minutes.
5. In the meantime wrap the marinated Cod loosely in foil to form a parcel and cook in the oven for twenty minutes on Gas Mark Four.
6. Place the Lettuce Leaves on a plate. Add the Shallots, Onion, Carrots and Potatoes by placing them decoratively atop the Lettuce. Then place the Cod Steaks on top of everything else.
This dish was a clash of exotic near eastern flavours with the Cod while the fresh vegetables were more at home on a traditional Sunday Roast Menu. Either way this contrast made this a varied an enjoyable dish that revived memories of some wonderful adventures on the South West Coast.
