Summer Fennel. It's July. A balmy 17 degrees and cloudy with showers. The British summer is well and truly here. And with it comes our first crop of fennel. Fennel can be picked into Autumn but I think it is at it's best right now, chopped and eaten raw in a salad with a lemon dressing and some herbs. There are some great fennel recipes in Tom Hunt's book "The Natural Cook: eating the seasons from root to fruit", which takes you through the seasons with 26 different fruit and vegetables showing you how to use every part of an ingredient. I...
Salmon with Salsa Verde In my last post, I wrote about 5 ingredients that I couldn't live without. The list could've gone on, but for the sake of the 1 or 2 people actually reading this blog, I kept it short. However, I would like to make one amendment to this list and add my 6th ingredient... Capers. Little flower buds from the Mediterranean kept in salt or vinegar. They remind me of summer. Thrown in with parsley, lemon and butter and poured over lemon sole (or any fish really) is my favourite way to use them. Standard. Or there's something about...
5 Ingredients I Couldn't Live Without Ok, I probably could live without them but that would ruin my catchy title, wouldn't it? Well here they are... Preserved Lemons: I first made preserved lemons using a recipe from Ottolenghi's Jerusalem book. If you don't have the book you can find it online here. This is a good blog post by Alexandra Cooks giving two different methods of preserving lemons. I made Ottolenghi's as Christmas presents and kept a jar for myself. The flavour gets more and more intense the longer you leave them and a little goes a long way. They are amazing in...
Why We Like to Feel the Burn. Salt the Radish loves a bit of chilli. I came to the realisation last week that I cook with it a lot. I eat a lot of Asian food so that goes without saying but I also add it to salads, most rubs I make for meat and sometimes with breakfast. Hot sauce with eggs? Yes please. I'm not one of those people that likes it blisteringly hot, just a lovely mouth tingling background heat. I love the taste of chilli too, not the ridiculously hot ones of course, but the big green ones often...
Go To Work On An Egg Easter is over for another year. Everyone has had their annual binge on hot cross buns and chocolate eggs. Some may have enjoyed this more than others it seems. NHS Bosses in Middlesbrough had to ask people not to come into A&E if they had over indulged, as people were turning up to James Cook University Hospital complaining of stomach ache. People were told to "rest at home and drink plenty of water" with a silent undertone of "maybe try not eating so much next time". So we're all back on the diet. Switching up...
