Every day of the week I read expert advice. And usually that expert advice has changed from the last time I read it. You know the drill. Fat is bad/ fat is not bad - sugar is bad. In a few years sugar will not be bad (you read it here first). Running is good. Well running a certain amount is good. Running too much is bad. Cholesterol is bad. Well good cholesterol is good, bad cholesterol is bad. Dietary cholesterol is good/bad. To be honest I've lost track now.
My head does be in a spin.
Latest article I read is organic veg is better than conventional. I could have sworn I read a few weeks ago that the top boffins concluded there was no difference in nutritional value.
Can you believe anything they tell you? I'm beginning to think not. Actually I'm kind of glad I have never done what I was told.
I think the answer is to trust your own innate instinct. I trust mine. If I die in the next few years of a heart attack/stroke/cancer, then maybe you can say I should have listened.
I have never believed butter was worse than margarine.
I have never believed any rubbish about cholesterol from the time I read (years ago) that if you eat a low cholesterol diet your body makes it.
I learned the hard way that too much running was bad when I wasn't able to get out of the bath in my thirties, my knees were so f*cked.
I know it makes sense that vegetables and fruit that have not been doused in pesticides are better for you than those that are not. I don't need any boffin or any of their studies to prove otherwise.
I know that if something smells okay and looks okay despite a use by/sell by, it is.
I know that pink meat won't kill you if you are used to eating it that way (and this includes children).
The human race survived long before boffins had their heads stuck down microscopes so long they couldn't see the bigger picture.
The question has to be - who do we believe?
Friday, 1 August 2014
Tuesday, 29 July 2014
Pork Loin with Fresh Apricot and Walnut Stuffing
Until I started rearing my own pigs I had only ever experienced dry and tough pork fillet no matter how I cooked it. Pork fillet from an outdoor reared pig is a different animal. It is tender, moist and so tasty.
I had found this one in the depths of my freezer unlabelled and slightly freezer burned. Initially I thought it was a tongue. I defrosted it and shaved off the "burnt" bits. I rooted in the cupboards and made this stuffing from what I had to hand. My measurements are not exact but this doesn't matter.
Stuffing Recipe
2 heels of a granary style loaf crumbed
1 onion softened in a big knob of butter
A handful of raisins
2 fresh apricots stoned and chopped
A good big handful of walnuts roughly chopped
a few fresh sage leaves chopped
salt and pepper
This quantity made enough for two fillets but it's really handy to have one frozen for when you don't have time to faff around making stuffing. I rolled half up in cling film and froze. Soften the onions in the butter, add all the other ingredients. Cool. Slit pork fillet and stuff. Line a roasting tin with tin foil. Lay slices of prosciutto on base. Place the fillet on the slices and wrap the prosciutto over. Secure with cocktail sticks. Wrap the foil over and pop in a preheated oven at 180 fan for 45 minutes. Open foil and brown for the last ten minutes. Check with a meat thermometer. If it has reached 70 deg in centre it is safe. I cook mine to 68 but I know the source and so feel safe with it being slightly pink.
Allow it to rest for about 15 minutes. Use the meat juices that run out to drizzle back over the joint.
Sunday, 27 July 2014
Summer Fish Pie with a Potato Rosti Topping
You tend to think of fish pie as a winter warmer but I love it and wanted to make it more summery. I looked up a few recipes and patched this together from them all.
It is so good I think I will make it this way from now on. The rosti topping gives a lovely contrast in texture much better than the usual mash. By varying the vegetables included you can row with the seasons. For winter include a mirepoix. It is also a great way to disguise vegetables for small people.
For the filling:
500g mixed fish (cod, natural smoked haddock, salmon etc.)
200g of prawns, mussels or squid (adds interesting texture but is optional. If using frozen defrost and dry or they will make sauce very sloppy)
1 medium onion finely chopped
1 garlic clove crushed
1 stick of celery very finely chopped with a few celery leaves
half a fennel bulb finely sliced
A good handful of petit pois
tablespoon rapeseed oil
2 tbsp flour
25g butter
200ml milk
Half a lemon juiced
1 tablespoon cream
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
sprig fresh thyme
salt and pepper
Pour a small amount of milk in the bottom of a saucepan and add your fish (not the shell fish). Just cover with more milk and put on hob on a low heat until the milk becomes too hot to hold your finger in. You just want to flavour the milk not cook the fish. Remove the fish with a slotted spoon. Pour off milk and reserve. Set fish aside.
Using this pan add butter and melt, add flour and make a roux. Gradually add the reserved milk to make a thick sauce. Add the mustard, lemon juice, cream, a pinch of salt and a good pinch of black pepper. If you need to add more milk do but try to keep the consistency thick as when you add fish back it will loosen it up. Leave to cool.
Meanwhile soften the vegetables in another pan in the rape seed oil. Cover and cook on a low heat for a few minutes. You need to cook them as they won't cook in the pie. Season.
Cool the vegetables and mix into the fish, add the shellfish and the sauce and mix gently. Pour into an ovenproof dish.
For the topping:
4-5 large potatoes (waxy or new)
25g butter
zest of a lemon
5 tsp of capers
Cook the potatoes in their skins in boiling water for 10 minutes. Remove, cool and skin. Grate them coarsely. Melt the butter in a pan and add lemon zest and capers. Toss the butter mixture through the grated potatoes.
Pile it on top of the fish filling but don't pack it down.
Pop in a preheated oven at 180 deg for 45 minutes or until browned and bubbling.
Allow to cool slightly before serving.
Serves six very generously with maybe a portion for the freezer. It freezes beautifully and can be made in advance for a dinner party. Just don't add potatoes until about to put in oven.
It goes great with a chilled glass of Picpoul.
It is so good I think I will make it this way from now on. The rosti topping gives a lovely contrast in texture much better than the usual mash. By varying the vegetables included you can row with the seasons. For winter include a mirepoix. It is also a great way to disguise vegetables for small people.
For the filling:
500g mixed fish (cod, natural smoked haddock, salmon etc.)
200g of prawns, mussels or squid (adds interesting texture but is optional. If using frozen defrost and dry or they will make sauce very sloppy)
1 medium onion finely chopped
1 garlic clove crushed
1 stick of celery very finely chopped with a few celery leaves
half a fennel bulb finely sliced
A good handful of petit pois
tablespoon rapeseed oil
2 tbsp flour
25g butter
200ml milk
Half a lemon juiced
1 tablespoon cream
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
sprig fresh thyme
salt and pepper
Pour a small amount of milk in the bottom of a saucepan and add your fish (not the shell fish). Just cover with more milk and put on hob on a low heat until the milk becomes too hot to hold your finger in. You just want to flavour the milk not cook the fish. Remove the fish with a slotted spoon. Pour off milk and reserve. Set fish aside.
Using this pan add butter and melt, add flour and make a roux. Gradually add the reserved milk to make a thick sauce. Add the mustard, lemon juice, cream, a pinch of salt and a good pinch of black pepper. If you need to add more milk do but try to keep the consistency thick as when you add fish back it will loosen it up. Leave to cool.
Meanwhile soften the vegetables in another pan in the rape seed oil. Cover and cook on a low heat for a few minutes. You need to cook them as they won't cook in the pie. Season.
Cool the vegetables and mix into the fish, add the shellfish and the sauce and mix gently. Pour into an ovenproof dish.
For the topping:
4-5 large potatoes (waxy or new)
25g butter
zest of a lemon
5 tsp of capers
Cook the potatoes in their skins in boiling water for 10 minutes. Remove, cool and skin. Grate them coarsely. Melt the butter in a pan and add lemon zest and capers. Toss the butter mixture through the grated potatoes.
Pile it on top of the fish filling but don't pack it down.
Pop in a preheated oven at 180 deg for 45 minutes or until browned and bubbling.
Allow to cool slightly before serving.
Serves six very generously with maybe a portion for the freezer. It freezes beautifully and can be made in advance for a dinner party. Just don't add potatoes until about to put in oven.
It goes great with a chilled glass of Picpoul.
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