I haven’t written anything ‘foodie’ for a while, in fact I haven’t written much at all on this blog for a while as with good weather recently I found myself out and about with a camera and making time to put the results on grumpytykepix. But knocking together a meal with what was in the fridge last night, I thought it might be worth a post.
Steamed mixed vegetables in a tomato and lentil base, with plain rice
I’ve always enjoyed creating a meal with whatever happens to be around, using up all the bits and pieces left over from other recipes. I particularly like doing it for a vegetarian dish as without a bit of thought these can so often be rather boring. I got used to eating vegetarian (or more correctly vegan) on Wednesdays and Fridays when living in Romania, as usually on these days Romanian followers of the Orthodox Christian faith keep fast and so do not eat animal products. I don’t keep it now for any religious reason but I’ve found it advantageous to interrupt the meat a couple of days a week.
So, I found a handful each of green beans, sugar snap peas and ‘mange tout’, together with the remains of a cauliflower, a long red sweet pepper and half a can of chopped tomatoes in the fridge. There’s always an onion and garlic around, lentils, rice and pasta in the cupboard, and the usual herbs and condiments.
So, I boiled up a couple of handfuls of red lentils for protein – 10 mins fast, 20 mins simmer then strained. The finely chopped onion was sweated in olive oil then the tomatoes added and cooked for about 15 minutes with a low salt Kallo vegetable stock cube, freshly ground pepper and some parsley, oregano and a bay leaf. A splash of boiling water was added to keep it moist while cooking. Five minutes from the end the red pepper, cut into 1inch long strips, and two cloves of chopped garlic, were added to the tomato base. Meanwhile, all the other vegetables, cut into small (1 inch) pieces, were steamed for about 12 minutes, the tomato mixture taken off the heat then the lentils and the steamed vegetables carefully stirred in.
Pasta or rice was a last minute decision, either would be fine but I opted for rice – just plain boiled long grain with a little salt in the water. A crisp, chilled mixed salad and crusty wholemeal bread went with it perfectly.
My wife’s conclusion? “Delicious”, and it was. Very fresh tasting with the flavour of each of the individual vegetables coming through.
So yesterday was my birthday – don’t ask how old but it’s very. I got some real treats.
May 18, 2013
Mackerel simple – but something fishy in the spam
Posted by grumpytyke under Cooking, Food, Romania, Seafood, Uncategorized, Wordpress | Tags: Bridlington, Comments, cooking, Dijon mustard, Fish, Food, Kirkgate market Leeds, mackerel, Spam, Yorkshire |1 Comment
Some month’s ago I removed the requirement for me to approve comments before they appeared and until now that had not resulted in a lot of spam comments. Sadly, over the past couple of days this has changed and, from the content, I suspect that it is originating in Romania or with a Romanian. I don’t think it a coincidence that it has happened after commenting on a Romanian blog – though I’m sure that blogger has nothing to do with it. Most of these spam comments were on past pages with content about Romania. It’s simple enough to remove it and that I have done, but it’s a pain. For some reason they have not been picked up by the usually excellent spam filter; the spammer seems to be ‘commenting’ from Facebook, which I hardly use. I hope it will stop. Va rog, sa va opriti!
Mackerel – don’t overcook
However, I have a pleasanter fishy thing to blog about – mackerel. Among the cheapest of fish it is also a favourite for me and, I think, at its best prepared very simply. Those who follow this blog will know that I like cooking classic French cuisine, often a very complex and long-winded preparation, but for mackerel simple is super. So I thought I would share the way I do it, our meal last night, with you.
Too big for our 10 inch dinner plates, this fish takes about 14 minutes to cook. Very important not to overcook.
I have mentioned before that I am fortunate in having very good fish close at hand – in Leeds Kirkgate market where Marks & Spencer was born. Of course they would be even better straight from the sea and every time I eat them I remember childhood holidays in the Yorkshire east coast resort of Bridlington, getting up very early in the morning to go out on a small boat, line fishing, and returning with the boat full of mackerel just as most other holiday-makers were getting up.
The fish we had last night were large – way too big for the 25cm (10inch) dinner plate you see in the picture. We’re gluttons so had one each, but the only accompaniment was some crusty wholemeal bread.
As with pretty well all fish the only difficulty is making sure you don’t overcook them. At the size shown they take about 7 minutes a side under a hot grill (on a good summer day I’d do them over charcoal outside but this is a bit more difficult as you need more than usual separation between the coals and the fish, otherwise the outside can be overcooked before the inside is done). The meat close to the backbone should only just be cooked, still very moist and juicy and slightly pink.
I prefer the head left on but it can be removed for the squeamish. Make deep slashes, but not cutting right through, on each side of the fish. This helps them cook evenly. Rub the fish with oil then squeeze ‘French mustard’ (I use the best – Dijon) in each slash. No other seasoning at all; if you like things salty this can be added while eating but personally I prefer them without. Then under (or over) the grill, turning half way through. That’s it!
Gravlax, Scottish smoked wild salmon, monkfish tails or turbot – all wonderful – but none of them beat the taste of this simply prepared mackerel for me.