Holy Moly, Coley!

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Fish has been a hot topic of debate for the past few weeks due to Channel 4’s collection of The Big Fish Fight programmes that looked at the issues around commercial fishing and fish farming today. I felt both guilty due to my love of anything fish or seafood related, and slightly smug since I have been avoiding cod for years, I didn’t watch any of it as I’m not a big celebrity chef fan.

Instead I took the opportunity to read up on the subject, finding both Mark Kurlansky’s Cod and Tom Fort’s The Book of Eels, to be an excellent source of information without personality fighting the facts. I also took advantage of the fact that since the issue of fish was being talked about to try and see what types of fish are sustainable and where I could source them without having to get up and hit Billingsgate at 4am.

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One is fun!

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We are very excited to tell you that we are one today! And what better way to celebrate than a cake? A proper birthday cake in layers, filled with cream and fruit, but given the grown up twist you’d expect from such a stylish food blog! It just had to be a no-butter sponge with forced Yorkshire rhubarb and rose petals for us…

Despite my love of baking, I have never actually made a basic sponge layer cake before, so I immediately turned to a recipe for guidance and my eye was caught by Rachel Allen’s recipe for a butter-free sponge on page 42 of Bake. It looked like the perfect chance to test my skills and use the new fancy electric whisk I got for Christmas. Plus I’d forgotten to take the butter out the fridge to soften in advance…

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fore rib of beef

Forearmed and fore-ribbed: Christmas beef

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fore rib of beefAt the end of the festive season, on the twelth day of Christmas, it’s as good time as any to write up our Yuletide dinner… our first since starting the blog in early 2010.

With both of us back at the family home this year there’d been some debate about what the main dish should be. As a family we’re not traditionalists, and rather enjoy Christmas dinner being an excuse to indulge in a quality meal, regardless of convention. Last time it was a fantastic shoulder of lamb, and this we we plumped for forerib of beef, ordered a month in advance from McKee’s farm shop in the Craigantlet Hills above Belfast. This is beef from their own farm, and they’re proud of the provenence and hanging of their meat. Rightly so. Might you, we had a bit of concern that Northern Ireland’s coldest winter for decades could wreck havoc with the mission to pick up the joint, but it’ll take more than that to stop our family from a prime bit of beef. And this was one serious a cut of meat, clocking at a shade under 6kg. That’s a 50p piece next it in this photo.

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Sprout and about!

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Brussel sprouts appear to be the festive equivalent of Marmite…terribly British, extremely versatile and loathed and loved in equal measure. For most people it just wouldn’t be Christmas dinner without them, but I’ve rarely met anyone who seems utterly devoted to their green goodness, but I have a recipe that might change all that! Adorn your plate with the incredibly easy and utterly heavenly roasted brussel sprout this year!

Tossed in hot oil or goose fat for a more indulgent feeling, these much maligned veg become green goddesses. A crisp outside yields to a tender inner, packed with flavour and filled with goodness. The intense heat really brings out their flavour with no danger of them being soggy or with that bitter brassica bite.

It’s almost insulting to post a recipe for you as these are simply the easiest thing around. Peel off the outer leaves, season well with just black pepper and toss in hot oil or fat and roast whole in the oven for around 30 minutes at 180° until crisp and delicious. Sprinkle well with sea salt and serve immediately.

You can make these even more delicious by adding bacon or chorizo or roasted chestnuts or my particular favourite, a sprinkling of crumbled blue cheese in the serving dish. Just be sure to make more than you think you need because even the most ambivalent sprout eater will want seconds of these little stunners!

Christmas Chestnut Doughnuts

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I was invited to a festive soiree this weekend to get some Christmas cards prepared, drink mulled wine and generally get in the seasonal mood. I wanted to bring something Christmassy to this get together, but I couldn’t think what since I loathe mince pies with a passion and find the December obsession with dried fruit in general a bit hard to handle. Walking home from a shopping trip where I had picked up a can of purée de marron because it was such a nice looking tin, I saw a small child eating a doughnut and had a flash of inspiration. What about festive doughnuts stuffed with chestnut puree and sprinkled with nutmeg and cinnamon? Having never met someone who doesn’t like doughnuts, I decided with was a marvellous idea, because even if it went wrong, I would finally find out after 25 odd years of wondering, how they get the filling into a doughnut…

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