The Charcoal Burner

A Sunday full of light and shade had shards of bright sunlight, a coffee for two, rehabilitation for the Dogg's muscle strain and an exotic new frittata. 

On the player was Jeff Wayne's Musical version of HG Wells' apocalyptic novel "The War of the Worlds". It is a piece that shows how brightness can rise ultimately from seemingly inevitable defeat and so is highly relatable for many of us today.

The ingredients to make this recipe are as follows:

4 Duck Eggs

100 grams of Kale

6 Basil Leaves

2 Tomatoes cut into half.

A pinch of White Pepper.

0.1 litres of Skimmed Milk.

Fifty Grams of Charcoal Cheese cut into small pieces.

The method to make this recipe goes like this:

1. Beat the Duck Eggs together in a measuring jug until they are fully blended. 

2. Fry the Kale in a frying pan in some sunflower oil on a medium heat for around 10 minutes stirring frequently to avoid it being burned. 

3. Add the Duck Eggs, Milk, Tomato, Basil and White Pepper. Split the Tomato evenly over the top of the Frittata.

4. Cook on the hob for around ten minutes using spatula to get under the Frittata to save it from sticking as it warms through. 

5. Scatter the Charcoal Cheese over the the Frittata.

6. Remove the frying pan from the hob, keeping the Frittata in there, and put it under grill on a low heat for two minutes prior to serving. 

The Kale was juicy yet crunchy while the Duck Eggs carry a richness and protein to fortify us through a wild March. The Charcoal Cheese meanwhile is like no cheese I've ever tasted with the charcoal itself being a good aid to the immune system. 

And Soup and I

Two soups eat as one

The ides of March was a time in the month that, when the Romans were around, was seen as a time to settle debts and the ides of March are seen in folklore to be a time of the year to be wary of. Yesterday seemed to live up to that at first as typhoon style rain battered the Western Wall of my house while I waited anxiously to go on a wander with the most irreplaceable part of the band.

To fuel us up for a walk in the hills in the west  I decided to prepare a bright Beetroot Soup. On the player was Yes' dynamic "Keys to Ascension" Box Set that covered several re-union shows the band had with star keyboardist Rick Wakemen and wonderful new studio tracks the were the best the band had forged since their seventies heyday. 

The Recipe

Three Beetroots, topped, tailed, scrubbed clean and then cubed.

The leaves and stems of the three Beetroots. 

Three Cloves of Garlic, topped, tailed, peeled thinly sliced. 

One Hundred Grams of Fresh Root Ginger, peeled and thinly sliced. 

One small Red Chilli cut into minute pieces.

Half a pint of Vegetable Stock

The Method

1. Fry the Beetroot Pieces, Beetroot Leaves, Stems, Garlic Cloves, Ginger and the Chilli in sunflower oil on a medium heat in a deep sauce pan for ten minutes stirring regularly.

2. Add the Vegetable Stock and simmer for one hour.

3. Blend and serve or put in a flask to take with you on a walk to keep you warm. 

The ratio Ginger and the Chilli made sure the heat of the soup was evenly distributed while the sweet, earthy taste of the Beetroot gave the recipe real body. 

We took the soup to a place out in the west where the skies were wild and the horizons showed us, wild, distant, untamed but somehow forbidden countryside. There we took our cups of soup and drank our health and to the future adventures and wild wonders that we would experience. 

Orange Spring

The sun was shining, the sky a relaxing blue glow as we finished a long walk at the end of February during a spell of fake spring. On the way to the walk I had picked up some chicken fillets from the local farm shop, where I had also been door-stepped by an old acquaintance who wore her surgical mask like a beleaguered bandido. 

I used the chicken fillets to make a new recipe that featured a healthy amount of fresh orange juice. The ingredients are as follows:

For the marinated chicken fillets:

Two Chicken Fillets.

A tablespoon of Dried Tarragon.

The juice of one Orange. 

For the Butter Sauce

The juice of one Orange.

One Hundred Grams of Unsalted Butter.

A teaspoon of Fennel Seeds. 

For the White Sauce

The grated rind of one Orange.

One Hundred Grams of Unsalted Butter. 

A tablespoon of Cornflour. 

A quarter of a pint of Skimmed Milk. 

As a side dish

A head of Brocolli and some Kale steamed for thirty minutes prior to serving. 

On the player as I started the work on this dish was Emerson, Lake and Palmer's grand and ambitious effort "Works Volume 1". It features everything from a Piano Concerto, lots of obscure love ballads, Jazz Jams and delicate classical interpretations to barnstorming prog rock. All conjured up by three blokes. There's not been a hit album like it since. If you fancy an adventure then check it out at: Emerson, Lake and Palmer- “Works, Volume 1”(full album 1977) - YouTube 

The first job was to marinate the Chicken by rubbing it in Sunflower Oil, the Dried Tarragon and Orange Juice and then placing it on a baking tray and leaving it to cook in the oven for thirty minutes on Gas Mark Five. 

Also steamed for thirty minutes at this time was the Broccoli and Kale. 

I prepared the Butter Sauce by melting the Unsalted Butter in a sauce pan and adding the Fennel Seeds and Orange Juice. Once the Butter had melted I left this to one side until it was time to serve the dish.

Next I melted the Unsalted Butter in another sauce pan, added the grated rind of Orange and the Corn Flour and stirred these all together to form a thick paste. Then I gradually added the Milk to the pan, while keeping it on a medium heat, and stirring it until I had a thick sauce.

I served the dish by putting the Chicken Fillets on plates and pouring the Butter Sauce over them. Next I added the Broccoli and Kale and poured the White Orange Rind Sauce over them. Chicken, Tarragon, Fennel and Orange are flavours that go together well as does White Orange Rind Sauce Broccoli and Kale. There was just the right amount of Orange Juice on the Butter Sauce and the Chicken Fillets and the White Sauce had the rich flavour of a fruity cheese. 

Thai-phew

When restaurants are closed during lockdown, albeit some are serving takeaways, it's easy to get uninspired with home cooking and stick to the same old recipes. At the end of January I revived memories of a lovely Thai meal I had on the birthday of someone who came from nowhere to be a cool and inspiring presence after the best part of twenty years away. 

The restaurant we went to was a small yet popular venue and I had to do my best with my powers of persuasion to get us a table for two at short notice. I remember consuming a lot of noodles with plenty of spice but most importantly I remember the dynamic company. 

With Kiss' heavy yet melodic "Alive 3" on the player I set to work. There's nothing like some pounding drums, the sound of a lively crowd, thrashing guitars and some chant-along anthems to power through a cooking session. 

The ingredients for the Thai Curry I chose to make are as follows:

 3 Sweet Potatoes , peeled, topped and tailed and sliced width-ways. Then steamed for around thirty minutes to soften them. 

Steamed Cod Fillet. If steamed from chilled steam for twenty minutes. If steamed from frozen steam for 30 minutes.

1 Diced Green Pepper

2 Shallot, peeled, topped, tailed and diced.

4 Kaffir Lime Leaves

1 small Red Chilli (optional)

200 gram Red Thai Curry Paste

Juice of 2 Limes

Six Fresh Basil Leaves

100 grams of Noodles

400 ml Coconut Milk 

110gram Fresh Spinach 

Sesame Oil to fry. 

The way this one is made is as follows: 

1. Start the Sweet Potato and Cod steaming for the suggested times shown above. 

2. In a deep frying pan or wok pour some sesame oil and warm it gently on a low heat. 

3. Add the Green Pepper, Shallot, Lime Leaves and Chilli (if using) and shallow fry for around fifteen minutes stirring regularly to stop the ingredients burning. 

4. Put into the pan the Lime Juice, Basil Leaves, Noodles and Thai Curry Paste. Stir all those ingredients together and fry for another twenty minutes until the noodles start to become soft. Be sure to keep stirring regularly to avoid the ingredients burning and sticking to the pan as before. 

5. Add the Sweet Potatoes and Cod once they have been steamed and stir in. Take the opportunity to gently slice the Cod with the stirring spoon so the Cod pieces are spread evenly throughout the curry mixture.

6. The Coconut Milk and Fresh Spinach. Simmer for around ten minutes until the Spinach shrinks a little and the Noodles are fully soft. Then serve.

What makes this recipe special is the mixture of the sharp Thai Curry Paste, Sourness of the Lime Juice and Lime Leaves and the richness of the Coconut Milk. It made sure that once again I was taken back to that evening where the light jumped out of the shadows and the evening was like a wonderful, crazy dream. 

Red, Dread, Redemption

 The first of the grains of snow appeared. Insignificant at first but soon they became thicker until a blizzard obscured the hills and thoughts of travel were shelved. It could have easily have been a metaphor for the recent turn of events where something that seemed that it might be manageable was turning into something that had the potential to stop me in its tracks. 

Back at the house the phone rang and news of the first of my family members to pass away from Covid-19 was passed on to me. She'd left the building a few years earlier through dementia, after once being an energetic individual who kept me on my toes and taught me how to tie my shoelaces as a schoolboy. 

A warming soup was needed with the mercury hitting the minus numbers. I plumped for a tomato soup recipe that included the following:

• Six Fresh Tomatoes cut into cubes. 
• Six cloves of Garlic diced carefully. 
• A teaspoonful of Paprika.
• A diced Red Pepper. 
• A small Red Chilli cut into pieces. 
• Eight fresh Basil Leaves.
• Four Hundred and Fifty Grams of Tomato Puree liquid.
• Two Hundred and Fifty Grams of Sun-Dried Tomatoes. 

The album on the player was Mark Knopfler's carefully-crafted 2012 double-album of folk-blues "Privateering". One song, which opens the second disc, the epic, string laden, Celtic-flavoured "Kingdom of Gold" sounded like it could have been the perfect send off for my late relative as she started off on the planet in a Fishing Town in North Eastern Scotland back in the early 1930s. 

The method for this soup is quite simple and goes like this:

• Steadily fry the Fresh Tomatoes, Garlic, Paprika, Chilli, Red Pepper and Basil leaves in some Olive Oil in a Le Cresceut with the lid on for twenty minutes on a medium heat. 
• Add the Tomato Puree Liquid and Sun-Dried Tomatoes and simmer for around fifteen minutes. 
• Pour the contents of the Le Cresceut into a blender then purify. 

There's something a little defiant about plucking fresh Basil and Chilli from one of my houseplants in the middle of winter when little should be growing. Both these ingredients added a real tangy freshness to the soup while the sun-dried tomatoes give a real rich and weathered taste to the whole soup. 

Just after finishing my first helping of the soup an e-mail was received. Maybe it was time for something new. 

Wrapped in Winter

Words had been exchanged, frankness hung in the air. Perhaps it was the impending mortality of some old friends of thirty years' standing that had fuelled the fire for some direct criticism of some things that seemed beyond my control. The next morning dawned with lying ice shelves, and buckets of Baltic Rain marring the trip to the Mall to get the weekly shop. 

While there I discovered two chicken breasts. The first was to be cooked for the Dogg's birthday tea while I decided to pep the other up a bit for a tea of my own. The weak winter sun, that had made my Cauliflower Seeds germinate and helped banish a portion of the unwanted lying snow, faded into an inky night.  

The album on the player was Scott Walker's first real foray into the world of the Avate-Garde with his 1995 record "Tilt". Unlike later efforts "The Drift" "Bisch Bosch" that veer towards loud sounding nothings, "Tilt" has enough melody, structure and cohesiveness to be compelling. It features the pleading, plaintive "Farmer in the City" and much industrial brightness plucked from the darkest corners of the psyche in all parts of the record. If you're feeling brave take a listen at: Scott Walker - Tilt (1997)Album - YouTube 

The ingredients to make the wrapped chicken recipe I tried out are:

One Chicken Breast

One hundred grams of Wensleydale and Cranberry Cheese. I sourced mine from the wonderful Stretton Hall Farm Shop. Check them out at: Stretton Hall Farm Shop | Facebook

Six Fresh Rosemary Leaves.

Three Slices of Parma Ham

One hundred grams of Walnuts.

One Carrot, topped, tailed and slice widthways. 

Quarter of a pint of Red Mine. I used a Chilean one called Casillero Del Diablo Merlot. 

The flesh of two Cox's Apples that's been cubed. 

I was inspired to make this from a wrapped chicken recipe two kind and generous fraternal friends served up during a visit to there's in brighter times. 

The method goes like this: 

1. Pre-Heat the oven to Gas Mark 5.

2. Fry the Chicken Breast in Sunflower Oil on a high heat on all sides for five minutes.

3. Stuff the Chicken with the Wensleydale and Cranberry Cheese and three quarters of the Rosemary Leaves. 

4. Wrap the Parma Ham round the Chicken to keep the filling in place. 

5. Place in a high-sided baking tray and decorate with the Cox's Apple pieces, Walnuts, Carrot and remainder of the Rosemary Leaves. 

6. Bake in the oven for thirty minutes. 

Cranberry Cheese with Chicken and Fresh Rosemary is something that goes together well as a complete flavour package. The Red Wine meanwhile gave a richness that coupled with the mixture of Carrot, Apple and Walnut made for a revitalising mid-winter meal. 

Oystercatcher

In the summertime we participated in the Eat out to Help Out Scheme and found a seafood restaurant off of a remote main road located in some countryside that gave the restaurant the remote feel of an American Diner on the highway. At that restaurant they have a wonderful range of Seafood and especially Oysters. A link to their website to see for yourself is at: The Mussel and Crab Restaurant, Tuxford 

One of our resolutions this New Year has been to practise more self-care and focus on a good quality of life. One way of doing that has been to replicate recipes from our favourite restaurants that we cannot get to at present because of the lockdown. 

In the last minute shopping carnage of New Year's Eve, I located a pack of Oysters in the fish vendor and elbowed my way through the dilatory throngs to the till before making my escape. A few days later, after a strange adventure in the secret garden of an old mining village, we decided to make a meal with the Oysters. The ingredients are as follows:

Eight Oysters

For the dressing:

One Red Chilli, we used one that was freshly harvested from the chilli plant in my indoor Greenhouse. 

The juice from a Lemon.

On the player was a record that is considered one of the best in Jazz; Miles Davis' 1959 collaboration with Gil Evans "Porgy and Bess". With its images of fishing and seafood in the titles to some songs it was a handy accompaniment to the food preparation. Why not check it out this piece of history at: Porgy and Bess (Miles Davis) - YouTube 

The first trick was to open the Oysters. This is a challenge and one that requires caution to overcome. The best approach is to find a soft area in the edge of the shells, thrust a sharp knife in and twist it to open the shell. If that doesn't work use some pliers to crush the shells to access the Oysters.

The next step is to clean the Oyster flesh inside and remove any shell fragments. Then serve the Oysters on a plate in individual half shells. 

The Chilli Dressing is made by removing the top of the Chilli and slicing it into small pieces. Add the Chilli pieces to a small serving bowl with the Lemon Juice.

The best way to consume the Oysters is to treat them as if you are drinking a shot of liquor. Add some relish to the shell containing the individual Oyster and then drink the Oyster and relish from the shell in one go. 

The sourness of the Lemon Juice coupled with the fire of the Red Chilli and rich moistness of the Oyster make this dish a wonderful luxury to start the New Year with.