Salmon Escalopes in Champagne Sauce

A long time ago, before Rick Stein was invented, I was lucky enough to eat at his Seafood Restaurant. I remember the plates were huge (or maybe I was just smaller then?) and the food, of course, was simple and very delicious. The Salmon dish I chose was unlike anything I had ever eaten before and it had a huge effect on me.

Before we left I bought a copy of the chef's new book, my only regret is I didn't have the balls to ask him to sign it for me!

SALMON ESCALOPES IN CHAMPAGNE & CHIVE SAUCE

(Rick Stein)
Serves 4

750g/1.5 lb Salmon Fillet

Sunflower Oil

Salt

25g/1oz Butter

1 Small shallot

100ml Champagne

1 Pint Fish Stock

100ml Double Cream

Fresh Chives

Caster sugar

• Melt the butter in a saucepan and gently soften the chopped shallot. Add the Champagne and boil for a couple of minutes, add the sugar and stock. Reduce by about three quarters.
• Add the cream and boil until thickened.
• Take your salmon fillet and place, skin side down, on a chopping board. Remove any bones with tweezers or fine pliers.
• You want to slice the fillet at a slant, about a 45 degree angle, towards the skin. You need about three slices per person so you are aiming for twelve equal slices.
• Brush each Escalope with a little sunflower oil, season lightly with salt and place on an oiled baking tray.
• Preheat the grill to it's highest setting. Warm four (huge) plates. Warm the sauce and stir in 2tsp finely chopped chives (more or less to suit your taste)
• Place the salmon under the grill for a minute to cook through and transfer to the warmed plates.
• Bring the sauce to a boil, stir in a knob of butter and spoon over the fish.

Spaghetti Bolognese

We all have a memory or two about the food we ate in our childhood, not always good memories (I used to think the rubbery tubes poking out of school liver was macaroni!). A sudden smell or unexpected taste can set your heart racing and whisk you at speed to a place hidden deep within your memory. You are overwhelmed. You breathe in the smell again, taste the food again hoping to conjure up whatever it was that had just filled you. But it has gone. Sometimes you do remember and are able to capture that memory and keep it; a forgotten ice cream flavour, a sandwich cut a certain way, the art of forcing jelly between your teeth, dark brown sugar melting onto semolina (you only eat the bit with the sugar on!)...everyone has something. Spaghetti Bolognese is one of mine.

When my mother was a young bride she was given a Bolognese recipe by a friend's Italian mother. I guess in the sixties Bolognese very exotic and a young bride cooking it for her new husband may have been considered a little frivolous. But she cooked it, he loved it and so she carried on cooking it, she cooked it for me, for my brother M and then little brother G. We would all be overcome with excitement when, returning from school, discovered we were having Spaghetti Bolognese for dinner. At some point a ritual developed, I'm sure the result of sibling rivalry; we couldn't start eating until we had forked through the sauce and picked out all the mushrooms, counted them and a winner declared. These fungal prizes would then be displayed around the edges of our plates and eaten last of all. This meal was never eaten without Dried Parmesan in it's cardboard tube, the lid with it's plastic disc which could be twisted to deliver either a pathetic sprinkle or a truckload.

As with any popular recipe there are probably thousands of variations and nuances, each undoubtedly as good as the last. This is my favourite Bolognese Sauce recipe because of it's familiarity and the memories of the five of us sitting together and really enjoying the same meal time after time. It is very rich and tomatoey, if colours had a flavour this would definitely be red!

BOLOGNESE SAUCE

Serves Five

500g Minced Beef

1 Onion, finely chopped

142g Tin of Tomato Puree

1 litre Carton Tomato Juice

100g Button Mushrooms (or more!) wiped

• Put the minced Beef into a saucepan and brown. Drain off any excess fat.
• Add the onion and cook together for a few minutes.
• Add puree, mix into the beef and onion.
• Cover the meat with the Tomato Juice (you may feel that you don't need to use the whole carton).
• Add the mushrooms. Season
• Simmer for 2 1/2 - 3 hours
• Adjust seasoning.

My First Cookery Book

I can still vividly remember being bought this book. I was ten years old and, probably due to my gender, had been allowed to accompany my mother and our neighbour Sheila on a shopping trip to SavaCentre. It was like being taken to another country as far as I was concerned, I mean we had to drive there! It was an epic journey out of Faversham and towards London, I think somewhere in my little head I thought we actually were going to London. But, in reality, it was thirty miles down the road to Gillingham.

Sheila lived down the road from us, she was one of those rare people who are almost angelic, you naturally felt happy and safe around her, she was just a very kind and happy soul. I remember that she was always smiling. My brothers and I loved to go and see her, we would ride our bikes down to her house and she would tell us stories, make us ice-cream sodas and feed us Wagon Wheels and Milky Bars. She loved children and would have been a wonderful mother, but life had denied her that wish. Even in my childish naivety I could sense a deeply buried sadness within her.

One day we went to see her. Her husband told us she had gone away on holiday and not to worry. All of the adults who lived in our road started to speak in whispers, we knew that we shouldn't ask.

Sheila had been suffering from cancer for a long time and, one day, simply didn't have the strength to smile anymore.

Sheila bought this book for me, that evening at the supermarket. I saw it on the shelf and must have taken it down to have a look. Sheila took it from me and winked. I'm sure that mum must have protested as mothers do, but that book was mine, I treasured it, reading it over and over, imagining what the food would taste like. It is quite amazing that it has travelled these thirty years with me and I still haven't cooked anything out of it!

Oat Cookies

I have made literally thousands of these simple cookies over the past four years while working at the school. I remember eating them when I was a student there in the eighties, except then they were covered in chocolate. Up until two years ago we were allowed to put a single Smartie in the centre, but then the government decided that was far too unhealthy and so the frivolous chocolate treat had to go. But, even striped of their chocolate fig-leaf, these cookies are delicious, they taste crisp and golden.

OAT COOKIES

Makes about 18

225 g Butter

225g Caster Sugar

225g Plain Flour

225g Rolled Oats

140g Golden Syrup

1/2 tsp Bicarbonate

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

Preheat the oven to 180/350/gas 4

• Cream the butter and sugar together.
• Sieve the flour, bicarb and baking powder and add to the sugar and butter along with the syrup and oats.
• Beat this all together until evenly combined.
• Roll into balls the size of a walnut and flatten lightly onto a lined baking tray.
• Bake for about 12-15 minutes until golden, leave to cool slightly on the tray before removing to cooling rack.

Welsh Rarebit

I love melted cheese. Two of my most favorite meals eaten out were the cheese and mushroom crepes at Beau's Creperie and the cheese and ham toasted sandwiches in Riceman's Restaurant, sadly both eateries no longer exist.

Macaroni Cheese, Lasagna, Fondue, Cheese Omelette...anything with even a hint of melted cheese has to be at the top of my list of Comfort Food. I had over-stocked with cheeses this Christmas, a deliberate move on my behalf, I still had a chunk of Brie sitting in the fridge so I made a warm cheese dressing for a salad we ate on Monday (just melted some de-rinded brie into a couple of tablespoons of milk), it was delicious. There was still a small jug of the cold sauce left so I toasted some bread, spread it with Dijon mustard and the rest of the solidified Brie dressing, returned it to the grill to heat and bubble. I ate this whilst watching the snow, feeling very warm and cosy.

Mushroom Soup

Snow Day! One of the few benefits of working in a school are Snow Days, and today was one. I slid into work for seven this morning and was home again by eight. Even fearless G hadn't left and was waiting for the sun to come out and hopefully melt some of the ice that was glazing the surface of our town. It was below freezing, snowing hard and I was in the mood for soup.

MUSHROOM SOUP

Serves four

1 Small Onion, chopped

1lb Mushrooms, stalks removed, caps finely sliced

Butter and Oil

2 1/2 Pints Chicken or Vegetable Stock

Small bunch Parsley, Stalks too

Salt & Pepper

1 tbl Flour

Lemon Juice

Cream

• Melt about a tablespoon of butter in a large pan, add a little oil. Add the onions and cook down gently until softened.
• Add a tablespoon of flour to the onions and combine
• Add the stock and blend with the flour, add mushroom stalks, seasoning and parsley, simmer for about 20 minutes
• Strain the soup, pressing all of the juices out of the onions and mushroom stalks. Return the strained liquid back into the pan.
• In another pan melt another tablespoon of butter and some oil, when foaming add the sliced mushrooms, seasoning and about a tablespoon of lemon juice. Turn the heat down, cover and leave to cook down for about 5 minutes.
• Pour the mushrooms and their juice into the soup. Add cream to taste, adjust seasoning, heat through and serve.

What To Do With Pork Chops?

Three pork chops, an onion and a tired apple were the starting points of tonight's supper. I was missing some cider to make a sauce so I sent R a quick text asking her if she would pick up a carton of apple juice on the way home (she's got another three weeks before she can legally buy cider!). To be honest I wasn't feeling too well and didn't feel like eating, let alone cooking. The following ingredients were what I had to hand, but you can use any mustard, cream, juice or seasonings that you like (orange and ginger? Pear and Perry?).

Pork Chops, Onion and Apple

serves 4

4 Large or 8 Small Pork Chops

1 Medium Onion, finely sliced

1 Green Apple, sliced

Salt & Pepper

Dijon Mustard

Sour Cream/Creme Fraiche/Cream

Apple Juice/Cider

Few Sage leaves, chopped

Vermouth

• Heat a teaspoon of oil and a teaspoon of butter in a saucepan and add the onion and apple, turn the heat down low and cover. Stew for 25 minutes until the onion is golden and almost melting. Set aside.
• Meanwhile remove any excess fat from the chops and place between two sheets of clingfilm. Flatten to about a centimeter using a whatever comes to hand!
• Season chops and set aside.
• Have a plate warming in the oven.
• Heat a little oil in a frying pan and brown the chops, about 3 minutes each side, remove to the warm plate. Continue until all the chops have been browned.
• De-glaze the pan with a splash of Vermouth (R hadn't returned from college with the apple juice so I had to improvise with the only suitable liquid in the house!). Stir to dissolve all the cooked meaty bits into the liquid.
• Once the alcohol has burnt off add some apple juice/cider, a teaspoon of mustard, the cooked onion and apple, sage and a tablespoon or two of cream. Stir to combine, adjust seasoning and warm.
• Return the browned chops to the pan and heat through.
• Place chops on a warm platter, pour a little of the sauce over, put the remaining sauce in a jug and serve.

Chicken Soup

G will hate supper tonight, the only form of meat will be the essence of yesterday's chicken flavouring our soup! I am gradually modifying G's default setting that prevents the male brain from acknowledging a plate of food unless it contains meat!

The whole point of making the soup tonight was to use up yesterday's carcass and have a very cheap meal, but I ended up spending £20 and getting really frustrated at the supermarket's new display. . . Easter eggs! We've only just taken a breath from the pressure of Christmas!!

Chicken Soup

1 Chicken Carcass

Carrots

Parsnips

Spring Onions

Black Peppercorns, 10-12

Parsley

Sea Salt

Put the chicken in a large pan and just cover with water, I've found through experience that it's best to use less water to help concentrate the flavour, so if necessary break the bird up a little so it can fully submerge

Bring to the boil and simmer for about an hour. Strain and return the liquid to the pan, add the carrots, parsnips (I don't bother to peel, just wipe if dirty), parsley, spring onion, sea salt, peppercorns. You can add whatever root vegetables you like, this is just what I had available.

Pick any pieces of meat from the carcass and add that too.

Simmer for an hour, taste and adjust seasoning. Strain through a sieve and return the broth to the pan. It does seem a waste to throw out the flavouring ingredients, but by now they are pappy having given up their flavour to the soup, their job is done.

Heat the soup and serve.

I Hate Roast Potatoes

Nothing seems to arose so much shock and disbelief as my swift rejection of roast potatoes with my Sunday Lunch. To be honest the Sunday Roast is my least favourite meal, maybe because of it's association with the end of the weekend, hair-wash night and the return to school?

Give me a potato in any other form; mashed, boiled, gratin, gnocchi, chipped, rosti, dauphinois, sauteed or even raw and I am a happy girl. I can appreciate the roasted potato looks glorious, burnished with gold and streaked with marmitey edges, almost tempting me to take a bite. . . and I always try one, maybe it will be the one that wins my heart? But, no, it's the same disappointing bland, dry texture and taste hiding within that cunning disguise.

BUT in my only defence of the roasted potato, Bubble and Squeak would not be the same without it's mandatory inclusion of leftover roast spud. All the vegetable spoils of lunch are tipped into my Bubble and Squeak box and deposited in the freezer. For best results there should be about half potato to whatever mix of other vegetables you like, I give it all a quick blitz in my Magimix and then fry or bake until crispy.

Smashed Chicken Night

Every other Saturday G's two boys come and spend the weekend. Needless to say these weekends are very 'male' with virtually 24 hour football related viewing or playing. Along with the predictability of the entertainment there is also the predictability of the food - sausages or chicken.

It is a sad reflection on today's society that a lot of children are missing out on one of the most fundamental and basic rites of life; sharing, eating and enjoying food, good food, fresh food, lovingly prepared food. Parents too career obsessed to worry about feeding their own children, relying on the cornucopia of the 'happy food' that lives in the freezer department and is magically awoken by the microwave. These children become suspicious of anything that isn't heralded by a cheeky pirate or a friendly tiger, they won't eat anything unless it comes in a box, is nutrition-free or is passed to them through a window. It's not just our 'boy weekends' that always frustrate me, it is also cooking in a school kitchen that highlights the fact that each generation is slowly erasing inquisitive hunger from it's instinct.

After that little rant I shall return to the recipe. Armed only with chicken breast fillets (the more flavoursome parts of the chicken would be sniffed out and rejected by O & G so it has to be the breast) I am making Smashed Chicken. It's simple, nothing new or exciting and is very cheap. But most of all, the boys actually eat it.

I haven't given quantities here as I always make it 'by eye' it is so simple. I always have breadcrumbs ready blitzed and in the freezer.

Smashed Chicken

plenty for four

4 Chicken Breast Fillets

Plain Flour

Seasoning

Spices (optional, but I always throw in a large pinch of Cayenne Pepper, Smoked Paprika, Chilli Powder, Salt & Pepper plus anything else that takes my fancy)

2-3 Eggs, beaten

• Trim the chicken, slice off the small fillet and then slice up the breast into piece about 2-3cm wide and the width of the fillet, you should get about 5-6 pieces of chicken (including the small fillet) from one breast
• Lay a length of cling film across your work surface, onto this place the chicken pieces with space around them. Cover with another length of cling film. Using a meat mallet or rolling pin bash the chicken firmly, but not too harshly that the chicken rips. You want to flatten the chicken to escalopes about 5mm thick.
• Have ready three bowls; one filled with flour, one with beaten egg and one with seasoned breadcrumbs and the spices of your choice.
• Have a lined tray ready onto which you will place the prepared chicken.
• First take an escalope and dip into the flour to coat, then into the eggy bath onto which will stick the final coating of spicy breadcrumbs. Place on the lined tray. Repeat until all the naked chicken is clothed.
• Heat some oil in a frying pan and fry each escalope until golden and crispy, these are so thin that the chicken only takes a couple of minutes to cook.
• Keep everything warm in an oven whilst you finish cooking in batches. Serve on a huge platter with lots of salad and jacket potatoes or wedges.

One day I am going to replace the chicken with pork and see if they notice. . .

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese

I was just going through an old cookery file and, what joy, I found this postcard. It was given to me by my dear friend J. I had obviously put it in a safe place during my escape from the 'married house', now Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese and I are reunited! Happy New Year!