Purple Sage and Butternut Squash Soup

It was the first Saturday in August and the month of my Birthday. A lot had happened in the year since my last Birthday had taken place. Some things I could have predicted, others I couldn't have. That's life though. You just roll with it and find the way to make the best of it always. 

Plans had changed on this particular Saturday as the anticipated game of Cricket was cancelled at the eleventh hour. Instead Dogg and I went searching for exotic butterflies and found colonies of Common Blue and Small Copper in a new part of the local area.

On our return home it was time to make a Soup to keep me going through the weekend. I plumped for a variation upon a traditional Butternut Squash Soup Recipe.

On the player was Robert Wyatt's "Rock Bottom". This mournful record was produced by the former Soft Machine Drummer after a life-changing fall had left him partially paralysed and unable to drum. He therefore had to re-model his career on his hypnotic, high- pitched voice. The challenges he must have faced put what I had faced in my personal life in the last year into context and made me realise they weren't glitches at all. 

The ingredients for this soup were as follows: 

One Butternut Squash, cubed, peeled & de-seeded.
Six Spring Onions topped and tailed but not cut up.
One White Onion peeled, topped, tailed and sliced thinly.
Two teaspoons of Paprika.
One clove of Garlic, topped, tailed and then diced.
Seven leaves of Purple Sage.
Half a pint of vegetable stock
Three ounces of grated Parmesan Cheese.
Four leaves of Purple Sage to Garnish.
Pine Nuts to Garnish.

The method was as follows:

1. Sweat the Squash Pieces, Spring Onions, Garlic, White Onion, Paprika and Seven leaves of Purple Sage in Olive Oil on a medium heat in a Le Cresceut with the lid on for thirty minutes. Stir regularly to avoid ingredients sticking to the base of the Le Cresceut.

2. Add the Stock and simmer for a further half an hour with the lid off the Le Cresceut.

3. Take off the heat, leave the ingredients to cool and then blend them.

4. Return the Soup to the Le Cresceut and warm through.

5. Serve and add to the serving bowl the remaining four leaves of Purple Sage, the Pine Nuts and Parmesan Cheese to decorate.

This soup was certainly a rich one thanks to the taste of the Parmesan, Purple Sage and the Pine Nuts. All these ingredients gave the flavour of the healthy but bland Butternut Squash a real boost also.

Salmon Sunday

Spontaneity can take you to new and unexpected places. The penultimate Friday in July featured a planned trip to  re-branded local pub with a very close friend that was followed by a post-pub coffee and his parents that featured some very life-affirming conversations. Then, as my plans for cricket and live music faded the following day a chat over the fence while weeding yielded an extremely enjoyable barbecue at the house of my neighbour.

I wasn't done yet. On the Sunday the Dogg and I searched for, and located, a rare Wall Brown butterfly at two separate sites. At a nearby beauty spot we then stumbled upon one of my oldest friends, his energetic and extremely intelligent son, other half and lively Labrador Dogg. We had a good chat, took in the views from one of the highest hills in the area and enjoyed a short wander.

That afternoon I followed my maxim of having some Sunday fish to help focus my mind to tackle the week's challenges. The fish dish today was inspired by a Salmon Dish I tasted at a Rotary Meeting the week before that utilised a Lemon, Chive and Butter Sauce to dress the Salmon.

I had concocted a suitably mellow Sunday playlist that featured the likes of Talk Talk's peerless 1991 album "Laughing Stock" introduced to me by a friend who is following his dream as a talented Hockey Coach and competitive player. However the record on the player while I prepared my Salmon Dish was the Lightening Seeds' 1994 effort "Jollification".

Although the band is best associated with the hit football song "Three Lions", which has been launched back into the public consciousness recently through England's excellent World Cup run, this album is a gem. I acquired it second hand for £0.40 and it may have been one the best bargains I've ever found. Its mix of upbeat, jangly pop with a spot of sampling is irresistible and standout tracks include "Marvelous", which was featured in a car advert in the 1990s, and "Lucky You" but in truth every number is a great song.

The salmon dish featured the following ingredients:

Two fillets of Salmon.
Four Shallots, topped, tailed, peeled and sliced thinly.
Two teaspoons of dried Dill.
Ten Ounces in total of fresh Peas and Broadbeans.
Five Ounces of Unsalted Butter.
A large leaf of Fresh Sorrel shredded into small squares.
One Avocado, peeled, de-stoned and cut into cubes.

The way I made this dish was as follows:

1. Put the Salmon on some foil on a baking tray.
2. Put two of the sliced Shallots evenly on top of the Salmon and spread one teaspoon of Dill evenly on the top of the Salmon.
3. Wrap the foil loosely over the Salmon and cook it the oven for twenty-four minutes on Gas Mark Four.
4. While the Salmon cooks steam the Peas and Broad Beans for twenty-four minutes until tender.
5. With about fifteen minutes to go until the Salmon, Peas and Broad Beans are ready, melt the Butter in a saucepan, add the other two sliced Shallots and the Sorrel Leaf pieces and a teaspoon of Dill. Simmer on a medium heat for seven minutes to ensure the Shallots are cooked.
6. Add the Avocado pieces to the saucepan and cook on a low heat for a further three minutes with the other ingredients in the sauce.
7. Add the Salmon to a plate, cover with the sauce and serve with the Peas and Broad Beans.

The Salmon proved to be rich but nutritious and the sauce added a richness and flavour that was enhanced by the Sorrel and Avocado.The Peas and Broad Beans meanwhile carried a freshness that cannot be found in their frozen counterparts.

#PurpleMac

Some say fish is brain food. I think there's some truth in that and I often cook a fish dish for Sunday Lunch or Tea to help focus my mind prior to the tackling the intellectually challenging job I do during the week.

The middle Sunday of the month was one where I followed this approach. It had been another enjoyable weekend that featured the fourth game of my comeback to competitive cricket, having not previously played the game competitively since August 2013.

On the player was one of several new records I had acquired recently. My music is very important to me; in fact it is one of the things that makes me get up in the morning. I find that listening to a great album can make a tricky day better, turn a mediocre day into a good one and a good day into a corker of day.

I recalled buying a magazine produced by the Observer in 2004 that listed the 100 greatest British Albums. Reading it all those years ago had turned me onto the Smiths, Nick Drake and John Martyn. I decided to return to that list again to acquire a few albums by artists not already in my large collection. For those of you who are interested a link to the list is at: https://www.theguardian.com/observer/omm/idx/0,,1242360,00.html

The album I had acquired from this list was Soul II Soul's outstanding 1989 "Club Classics Vol 1". It is a distinctively British take on Soul and R 'n' B with hints of dub and shades of rap thrown in. The key track is the propulsive "Keep on movin" a number that is an excellent motivational piece.

So as to set myself up for the week I decided to make a light dish featuring pan-fried Mackerel and some light, fresh ingredients to dress it. I'm quite particular about what seafood I have in my diet as studies have confirmed that a lot of sea-going fish are riddled with plastic and therefore you as consumer are essentially eating this plastic, a habit that is clearly not healthy.

I chose the Mackerel as I knew it was sourced in this country under circumstances that meant it would have no exposure to plastic pollution. The ingredients to the recipe were:

2 Fillets of Mackerel.
2 fresh Beetroot, topped, tailed and then boiled in a pan of water for 90 minutes and left to cool in the fridge overnight.
0.1 litres of zero-fat Greek Yoghurt.
The juice of 1 Lemon.
1 teaspoon of dried Dill.
1 Fennel Bulb, topped, tailed and sliced very finely.
The fern-like fronds of the Fennel Bulb.
7 Slices of Cucumber.

I made the recipe by following the method below:

1. Make the dressing by slicing the Beetroot into quarters and add it to a serving bowl.
2. Add the Lemon Juice, Dill, pieces of Fennel Bulb, Cucumber Slices and stir these together thoroughly with the Beetroot pieces.
3. Add the Greek Yoghurt and stir this thoroughly into the mixture.
4. Cover the bowl and leave in the fridge while you prepare the Mackerel.
5. Fry the Mackerel in a frying pan covered with Olive Oil. Fry it on a medium heat for seven minutes on each side.
6. When the Mackerel is ready place it on the plate and top it with the dressing from the fridge and the fronts from the Fennel Bulb.

The taste of this recipe was just what I was looking for on a warm Sunday Evening in the middle of a heatwave. The Mackerel had a taste that made me think it had been prepared by being grilled over a campfire on the shores of a Scottish Loch, while the dressing combined the earthy flavours of the Beetroot with the aniseed flavour of the Fennel and the Yoghurt, Cucumber and Lemon added a welcome freshness to the meal.

Sesame Salmon with Oriental Sweet Potato Mash

The  heat continued during a week that also featured a memorable and inspirational meet up with a friend I first met at uni nearly seventeen years ago. It was our first meet up for nearly five years. Having been energised by some positive, different and innovative perspectives forged during our meeting, I decided to try a new twist on a traditional fish dish.

I first became aware of Salmon as a viable main course dish through adverts on the television during the early nineties for recipes involving Salmon Steaks served with a side of Watercress and Yogurt complimented by Roast Potatoes. My usual method for preparing Salmon often revolved around this type of recipe.

However for today's blog recipe I gave proceedings a more Oriental Twist by making a Salmon Fillet with Sesame Seeds, Broccoli Shoots and Sweet Potato Mash.

Partly as the result of a wonderful trip to the North Country towards the end of June for a friend's birthday party, I had been motivated to acquire a number of albums by artists whose work I was largely unfamiliar with. One of the albums in question was Nic Jones' final album from 1980 called "Penguin Eggs". Jones was a dyed in the wool traditional folk artist whose career was sadly cut short in 1982 by a near fatal car crash. At least "Penguin Eggs" saw him take an extended sabbatical from the music business on a real high.

The pick tracks on the album include "Canadee I-O", the arrangement of which Bob Dylan borrowed for his take on the song on his measured 1992 record "Good as I been to You". Other top drawer numbers include "The Humpback Whale" and "The Little Pot Stove".

The ingredients for this dish are as follows:

Ingredients for the Sweet Potato Mash 

1 Sweet Potato with the skin kept on but any crunchy bits cut out.
A palm sized piece of fresh Root Ginger peeled and then diced.
A Red Pepper, de-cored, de-seeded, topped, tailed and sliced thinly.
5 Spring Onions, topped, tailed and sliced thinly.
1 Bird's Eye Chili cut into very small pieces.
1 tablespoon of Sesame Seeds.
1 tablespoon of sweet Soy Sauce.
Sesame Oil to fry the above ingredients.
1 teaspoon of Honey
1 Lime cut into 5 slices and de-seeded.

Ingredients for the Sesame Salmon 

1.Fillet of Salmon
5 shoots of miniature Sprouting Broccoli.
1 teaspoon of Sesame Seeds.

The method to make this recipe is:

Sweet Potato Mash 

1. Shallow fry in a Le Cresceut in the Sesame Oil on a medium heat the Ginger,  Pepper, Spring Onions and Birds Eye Chili for five minutes.

2. Add the Sweet Potato Pieces, Soy Sauce, Sesame Seeds, Lime Pieces and Honey and mix these together with the other ingredients.

3. Sweat all the above ingredients on a medium heat for twenty-five minutes in the Le Cresceut. Do make sure to stir them regularly to avoid them sticking to the bottom of the dish and burning.

4. Remove the Limes and mash the other ingredients together.

Sesame Salmon 

1. Cover the Salmon Fillet in the Sesame Seeds and wrap it loosely in a foil parcel with the Sprouting Broccoli.

2. Bake in the Oven on Gas Mark 5 for 23 minutes.

I served the meal by using the Broccoli  to frame the Salmon Fillets and I book-ended them with the mash. The Sesame Oil gave the mash a taste of nuts while keeping the skin on the Sweet Potatoes gave it a very flavoursome texture. The Ginger, Lime and lone Chili blended well too.

The Salmon meanwhile had its usual damp and lush taste that was enhanced by the Sesame Seeds. Some like their Salmon fried or grilled, however I find this makes it too dry and it loses the great taste it retains when cooked in the oven.

The Broccoli I used came from Kenya and was more tender and had a tasteful, salty flavour that our native Broccoli often lacks. It added yet another new and innovative taste to the dish.

Frame by Frame- the Salmon Fillet is framed by the Broccoli Stalks

New York Thymes

It was a Wednesday. In fact it was the Wednesday of the first week that I had allowed myself to take off work since Christmas. The week off had included a very enjoyable adventure to the North, a buffet that featured exotic Hummus, an evening pint in the local watching the sun go down and a tactical Trout that broke up a walk deep in the country.

In among all this I decided it was time to make some new recipes for the blog and I settled on making some New York Style Meatballs with a twist. The twist was the Meatballs in question were vegetarian. However the sauce, with its proliferation of cheese, owed a serious debt to the famous Italian-American recipes made in New York.

The ingredients for this dish were as follows:

6 Vegetarian Meatballs, to be cooked from frozen.
A tablespoon of Oregano.
A tablespoon of Chili Powder.
A tablespoon of Smoked Paprika.
A teaspoon of Tomato Puree.
A tablespoon of Dried Thyme.
A tablespoon of Malt Vinegar.
2 Garlic Cloves, topped, tailed, peeled and finely sliced.
2 Shallots, topped, tailed, peeled and finely sliced.
3 Spring Onions , topped, tailed, peeled and finely sliced.
A tin of chopped Tomatoes.
Seventy Fives Grams of Mozzarella Cheese.
A tablespoon of grated Parmesan Cheese.
Seventy Five Grams of Penne Pasta.

On the player was Eurythmics' second effort from 1982 "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" . Apart from the famous title track, the record is a veritable cornucopia of memorable electronica with the dynamic opener "Love is a Stranger"just pipping the title track as the best song on the album.

For this dish I couldn't use my Le Cresceut as it was engaged in the preparation of some Red Cabbage Chutney, of which more on a future blog entry. Instead I started by frying the Herbs, Tomato Puree, Spices, Vinegar, Garlic, Shallots and Spring Onions on a medium heat in Olive Oil in a frying pan for around fifteen minutes. I stirred the ingredients well to blend them together and to stop them sticking them to the pan.

After twenty minutes was up I added the Vegetarian Meatballs and fried them with the other ingredients for around another fifteen minutes. I turned them regularly and kept stirring them into the other ingredients to get them thawed out quickly. While I was doing this I simmered the Penne in boiling water for around twelve minutes. It was then drained and set to one side.

After the meatballs were ready I added the tin of Chopped Tomatoes to the frying pan and stirred them in. This stopped the other ingredients  sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning. Next I added the Parmesan and, after first cutting it into pieces, the Mozzarella. Once these had melted into the mixture it was time to serve the dish.

The melted cheeses naturally made this dish very rich, while the Paprika and the Herbs plus the Vinegar ensured it was very flavoursome. It was also surprisingly light for a hot summer teatime.

Part 1- frying the vegetables, herbs, spices and meatballs. 

Part 2- adding the Chopped Tomatoes and Mozzarella 

Part 3- after melting in the Grated Parmesan, the dish is served with the Penne Pasta.

Spanish Omelette Incident

On a recent Friday Night I sat quietly in the car as the early evening sun beat down. I was half-reading a slightly insipid Doctor Who Novel from 1996 and half nursing a headache, which was improving gradually thanks to a couple of tactical Paracetamols. I was wearing my best suit and bow tie as I was about to go to a black tie dinner with a colleague and her daughter. The dinner was a charity one featuring top professionals from the worlds of law and medicine. Despite being fully sober throughout the event and handicapped by nursing a possible chest infection, I entertained and spent quality time with many people. I also threw a few "innovative" shapes on the dance floor. It was a late finish to the evening but totally worth it.

The next day featured the arrival of some of my oldest friends from uni days. The lack of hangover also meant I was able to put on a buffet and some home cooking for us and we spent a very enjoyable day catching up, taking in a sun-shiny walk in the park and adjoining fields. It was a day of relaxation and self-care for us all, something we were all in need of for different reasons.

When Sunday teatime rolled round the weather had caused the temperature to rise to tropical levels and I decided I didn't want anything too heavy. That said I followed the route of many in the Mediterranean and made a Spanish Omelette.

The record on player was Miles Davis' early classic "Birth of the Cool", while not having the innovation and bit of some his later albums, there is still enough here to enjoy and even a track or two to boogie to.

The ingredients for the Omelette were as follows:

Two medium sized New Potatoes, scrubbed thoroughly and sliced very finely width-ways.
Two Shallots, topped, tailed, peeled and sliced finely.
About eight ounces of Fresh Basil, shredded into medium-sized pieces.
A teaspoon of Dried Oregano.
Two Eggs, beaten.
100 millelitres of Almond Milk.

The way I made this one was as follows:

1. Fry in Sunflower Oil in a frying pan the New Potatoes, Shallots, Basil and Oregano for twenty minutes on a low heat turning regularly to ensure the ingredients don't stick to bottom of the frying pan.

2. Meanwhile stir together the Eggs and Almond Milk in a measuring jug with a whisk. Then add them to the frying pan.

3. Fry the mixture on a lowish heat for the next fifteen minutes until it begins to solidify.

4. Keep the Omelette in the frying pan and put it under the grill under a low heat for five minutes to make it go solid on the top.

After I'd done all the above it was ready to serve. Potatoes in Omelettes is a common recipe used in Spanish Omelettes while Oregano and Basil are common ingredients in such Omelettes. This one was surprisingly filling and the Fresh Basil made it exceptionally flavoursome and light but effective meal on a hot day.

With the Omelette removed from the frying pan, there was still a further half to remove.

Bread of Wine

Another part of the Bank Holiday Sunday Cooking Project was to make some homemade bread. I was partly inspired by the tale of a former judge, which he told at a Rotary Meeting somewhere in the North. He had started his working life as a Master Baker,careful how you pronounce that, before studying law at night school as a mature student, qualifying as a solicitor and then blossoming into a judge. Apparently, although I never recall this when I was before him, he had his baking certificates displayed in his Court next to his legal qualifications.

On the player was Roy Orbison's final and best album "Mystery Girl" which has a host of star collaborations including production by Jeff Lynne and writing credits from Bono and the Edge on the hypnotic and wonderful title track. The album took me back to days playing cricket in the countryside for a local village team as a ten year old and listening to the album on a tape in my Dad's battered old Fiat Uno as he transported me to and from the cricket ground.

The Ingredients for this pleasant bread were as follows:

14 Ounces of Wholemeal Bread Flour.
1 Teaspoon of Yeast.
10 Fresh Rosemary Leaves.
A quarter of a pint of Bordeaux White Wine.
A teaspoon of Nigella Seeds.

The Method was as follows:

1. Stir the Flour, Yeast and Rosemary Leaves together in a mixing bowl.

2. Gradually add the White Wine stirring it in slowly and then combine all the ingredients together until they form a soft ball that can be easily manipulated.

3. Knead the dough together into a flat circle.

4. Leave to rise in a warm place for an hour.

5. Top with the Nigella Seeds and then bake in the oven for twenty-five minutes on Gas Mark 6.

I served this bread with some Unsalted Butter and it was a perfect adjunct to the Beetroot Soup my parents had for starters and the Provencial Stew that was the main course and the subject of last week's blog post. Would the retired judge and former baker have been proud of this bread? I have a feeling perhaps the answer would be yes.

Side of bread- some of the bread freshly out of the oven and festooned with Nigella Seeds.