Kitchen Exotic

It’s funny how many of one’s friends assume that life is an endless bonanza of culinary gems. But for me, like most other people, food isn't always high on the list. We have gastronomic gloom chez nous too. The slough of creative despond settles over my kitchen. It’s the price of the journey towards creativity. A dip into unfocused susbsitence eating. I even found myself wandering round M+S foodhall the other day, looking for 'more than just food' that would comfort me through the wilderness. Wondering if a weeks worth of packaged meals would turn back on the light above my hob (which incidentally has mysteriously snapped out too). Fortunately for us all, I was spared and fled at the discovery of a ‘gastro-pub’ range. Food is now marketed by the kind of place it is served? Perhaps Jamie Oliver’s employers Sainsburys should start a range of healthy eating for kids called ‘school dinners’.

I think my style of cooking is uncomplicated. It relies on what’s there, in the fridge. That in turn depends entirely on what I’ve fancied buying and is seldom based on any planning of what I will cook. For me it’s what makes cooking fun. So that when you are feeling creative, the therapy is in the making something completely new. However of course, I do have a tin or two of baked beans in the cupboard for these dull days when life’s vicissitudes have made it necessary to fall back on nostalgia food. Which I love.

Waitrose have a sustainable fishing policy. So if I cant get to one of my favourite fish shops, at least you know you’re supporting good practice. My branch often stocks Barramundi, the antipodean favourite. Though god knows about the food miles. Any way it’s a freshwater species that has all the meatiness and flavour of monkfish with a bold silvery tiger stripe.

Roughly chop some garlic and a fennel bulb into 2cm squares. Braise it in olive oil and fresh groundpepper. That means cooking slowly and gently until soft, letting it slightly burn. Slice your barramundi fillets into strips and pop into the pan. As they curl in the heat, add green peppercorns, big sprigs of dill, capers and squeeze over a lime. Dash over the whole some anise or vermouth and reduce. Serve with a hot potato salad.

TENDER WORDS

Tender (2009) tells the story of Nigel Slater's love affair with his garden in Islington and the many seedlings he has raised in his box-hedged vegetable patches. It’s a magnificent volume, like a medieval knightly treatise with pictures of his Eden, its produce and many of the recipes he has created from them.

23 May, 2010

FOOD FROM THE HEART

Cooking is a basic human instinct. We’ve been eating, chopping, shaping, flavouring, enticing ingredients into something delicious since time began. But as the way many of us live has changed, the basic skills we require to cook, are no longer valued and it’s often easier to let others take control of what we eat.

21 April, 2010

IN A RIGHT FISH STEW

This week we had sustainable fish stew. It’s a quick and easy way to feed a gang of hungries on a Friday night and doesn’t need much else but some good bread and wine. Like all stews, you need balance, rich liquid and a range of potent flavours steaming from your pot.

15 March, 2010