Hail Britannia: a Fish & Quips Extravaganza
Sam Breach, self-described English-girl-abroad and author of Becks and Posh, is hosting Fish & Quips, an online event designed to promote the idea that English cooking is not 
always a joke. I feel especially lucky and relevant since we spent 12 days in London last month, and as always, we found food. The feast you see above is representative of Borough Market’s exquisitely fresh purveyors, the luxe purveyor Harrod’s, and the cheese meca Neal’s Yard Dairy. I do regret not having a kitchen available while I was there. But we did manage to eat quite a lot of Wild Boar Pate from The Ginger Pig and the cheeses we picked up at the market and at Neal’s were worth the trip itself with fabulous textures and big classic flavors. I tasted a cheese called The Stinking Bishop…the name is appropriate and I think I showed good sense in not buying that particulary pungent fromage given the small size of our hotel room.
Our dining experiences in London certainly proved to me that English Food is no joke (but we did have fun). I heartedly approve of the Sunday Roast tradition. I ate delicious roast lamb and the potatoes…well they were the best. I really don’t know how they do it but they were unlike any I’ve ever had…they were crisp and golden on the outside and flaky and tender inside. According to Sam it is the English potatoes…check out her Sunday Roast.
We ate sushi, pizza, pasta, Indian cuisine, steaks, bangers and mash, fish and chips (of course), mussels, frites, pastries, macaroons, burgers, a “English breakfast”, Shepard’s pie, and chocolates. It was all befitting a world-class city and was consistently well cooked, well served, and delicious.
With fresh ingredients like the ones shown here I can’t imagine that English cuisine is a joke. Delicious, sumptuous, and satisfying…but not a joke.
Last week I tried my hand at Cottage Pie, which is Shepard’s pie made with beef instead of lamb. It turned out well and was flavorful and rich. GH certainly liked it and it heated up well for his lunch the next day. I thought it to be flavorful but heavy for a warm spring day… I could see really digging into it on a cold, snowy day.
Cottage Pie
1 large onion diced
2 pounds ground beef
6 large potatoes
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
Chicken Stock
Seasoning (I used a couple dashes of Maggi but Worchester seems to be the norm)
Preheat oven to 400º. peel and boil the potatoes until tender. Drain and mash/whip using a mixer. Add the butter to the potatoes and taste for seasoning.
Sauté the onion until it’s tender. Add the ground beef and brown it. If it’s fatty drain some of the fat. Add the flour to the beef and stir it in so that it is combined. Slowly add chicken stock, stirring until you have the consistency you want. Not too thick, not too thin. Add your seasoning.
Butter a baking dish and spread the ground beef evenly throughout the pan. Spread the potatoes evenly over the ground beef. Using a fork or a spoon create texture on the surface of the potatoes so they’ll brown well. Bake for 20-30 minuted or until golden brown.
Springtime Asparagus Risotto
At last…we’ve joyfully reached the end of a long week that included a semi-unseasonable snow fall that spawned a snowday and an emergency math tutoring session delivered by me, the infamous math idiot. But the tutoring session was successful and with a glass of wine I sat down 
yesterday to see what I need to write up and what I would cook for dinner. However, I’m easily distracted and tabbed browsing has destroyed my ability to stay on task. It is also true that when I sit down to write the requests for attention from the peanut gallery increase and the boys are drawn to me like bees to honey. But who can resist hugs from such lovable boys. That’s Alex to the left and he just turned 15 last weekend. He doesn’t look distracting with his Freddy Kruger glove on does he? Does the phrase “you’re going to poke your eye out” seem appropriate?
So I’m behind on my writing. I have a fish and quips post to write for Sam’s blog event and I’ve got a few others posts to put together plus a pile of cookbooks from the library that I need to work through. But this recipe is so seasonal that I’ll share it first. Really it’s nothing new, but it is a classic that when plated and served becomes a delightful and unique mouthful of flavors. I served it with Willowcreek Farm’s fresh kielbasa and it was the perfect accompaniment…light, zesty and springy…those sausages look so cute and tasty snuggled up to that serving of risotto.
Springtime Asparagus Risotto
1 cup arborio rice
5 shallots, chopped fine
12 asparagus spears, chopped into 1″ pieces
White wine
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
4 cups chicken stock
Salt
pepper
Toasted pistachios
Arugala
In a saucepan heat up the chicken stock and have a ladle handy.
In a heavy bottomed pan over medium heat add some olive oil and sauté the asparagus for 2 minutes. remove from the pan and set aside.
Add some more olive oil and sauté the shallots until they are soft. Add the risotto and sauté it until it starts getting a little color.
Add the white wine to the rice and stir with a wooden spoon. Continue to stir until all the wine is absorbed by the rice. I don’t measure the wine but I imagine its about 1/2 cup.
Once the wine is absorbed start the process of adding the stock. Add a ladle of stock, stir let it cook and combine, stir…repeat this process for about 20 minutes until your stock is all gone. Throughout this process you will probably adjust your heat up and down depending on the pan you use. The point is to have the rice not stick to the pan and to release its starches.
Once all the stock is complete add the cheese, stir to combine. At this point you might think that the risotto is a little loose…don’t worry. Taste for salt and adjust accordingly. Add the asparagus, stir to combine, remove from the heat and cover for 5 minutes or so.
Uncover, stir and serve. I like to plate this on a bed of baby arugala and add the pistachios. The cumulative whole is outstanding both visually and in taste.
Salmon and quinoa salad
Another delicious meal inspired by two of my favorite food blogs What We’re Eating and 101 Cookbooks. Lately the most difficult part of blogging and cooking is that I go out to the food blogosphere to find inspiration and I become distracted by all the pretty food. Food porn is a great way to waste time but I’ve got to write this up and cook dinner so I better get cracking…although I’ll admit that I’m definitely making that chicken that I just saw at What We’re Eating. I haven’t even taken the time to read the post…but the photo says it all. Plus I know I have a lot in common, taste-wise, with Amanda and Tyler. So look for some derivation of that recipe later next week.
Last night the boy’s dined on succulent Willowcreek Pork Shoulder, slow roasted and then pulled for BBQ sandwiches, but they have grown and their appetites are huge so I knew one roast would maybe feed the two of them but not all four of us. That’s okay with me because although I love BBQ pork I also love a good hit of protein from fish served on a bed of flavorful grains and veg.
The fish is Marinated Wild White Salmon from TJ’s and the salad uses quinoa as the grain and a flavorful array of herbs and veg. I tossed the salad with a blood orange vinaigrette and reserved some to drizzle on the fish…it was delicious and added just the right note of acidity. The nuts on top are Wild Chilean Avellanas that are roasted and lightly salted. The avellana is a hazelnut. But these are crunchier and sweeter…adding just the right addition to a perfect meal. My only issue is I’m still not very good at cooking the quinoa. I tried pouring boiling water over it to, covering it, and setting it aside for 30 minutes, but that didn’t work so I finished it off in the microwave for 3 minutes. That took care of it. I think I’ll check my Deborah Madison books to see what she says about cooking quinoa. The rest was easy, chop, whisk, grill, serve.
Quinoa Salad
1/2 an english cucumber, matchsticked
1 jalapeno, sliced thin
1 1/2 inch knob of fresh ginger, chopped fine
2 cups fresh cilantro leaves
2 cups fresh parsley leaves
A handful of grape tomatoes, halved
3 green onions, biased cut, thin
1 1/2 cup quinoa
Cook the quinoa. Sorry, but at this time I have no idea how to properly cook quinoa. Please let me know how if this is a skill you have.
Toss the quinoa until its cooled or alternatively plan ahead and chill it in the refrigerator. Add the veggies.
Blood Orange Vinaigrette
Juice 2 to 4 blood oranges depending on their size
Add olive oil to taste. I think it was about 1/2 cup
Salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Whisk until it’s cohesive. Reserve about 1/4 cup for the fish and toss the rest on the salad. Refrigerate while you grill the fish.
Grill the fish indoors in a really hot pan coated with canola oil. The outside grill is better but mine needs some repairs.
Once the fish is done plate the salad, add the grilled fish, spoon the reserved vinaigrette over the fish. Add the avellano nuts, a little sea salt, serve and enjoy.
