Penne with smoked mackerel and chargrilled peppers

A summer warmer, if that's possible. Serves two, suitably equipped with a bottle of rosé.

2 smoked mackerel fillets (the unpeppered ones work best), skinned and chopped into big chunks
1 brown onion, sliced
2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 tsp capers, chopped
handful of fresh basil leaves, torn up
1 garlic clove, bruised
Olive oil
1 tsp light muscovado sugar

160g penne pasta

For the chargrilled peppers
2 bell peppers, opened out, flattened and torn into strips
1 tbs groundnut oil
Maldon sea salt
pinch of cut, dried lemon grass
juice of half a lemon
olive oil
sprig of rosemary

First, put a cast iron griddle on a high heat. Rub the strips of bell pepper with groundnut oil, salt and cut lemon grass. When the pan's really hot, lay the strips inside-face down and grill for a couple of minutes, until nice charred stripes have appeared. Turn the peppers over and grill the outer skin side for just a minute. When they're done, chop roughly into inch squares, and transfer to a bowl with some olive oil, lemon juice and the rosemary. Mix well and leave to one side.

Heat a big lug of olive oil in a pan with the bruised garlic clove. When the garlic's turned golden, discard it. Add the onion and cook for a few minutes until just starting to colour (you can add a splash of white wine vinegar at this stage, and cook for another half minute, depending on the acidity of your lemons and any salad dressing you might be using). Add the tomatos and muscovado sugar, and cook covered for a few minutes. Uncover, add the capers, and reduce for a few more minutes. When it's thickened nicely, turn the heat down a bit, and add the peppers (with as much of the oil and lemon as you like - but discard the rosemary sprig), mackerel and basil. Mix together well and cover for about half a minute.

At the same time, get a big pan of salted water to the boil and cook the penne according to the pack instructions. Drain, add a splash of olive oil and salt, toss, then put on the plate with whatever salad you like. Any liquid left, add to the sauce.

Spoon the mackerel and pepper mixture on top of the drained pasta. Garnish with some spring onion chopped diagonally if you like.

Raw prawn origins?

Well, ain't Google handy? I found a discussion about the origins of the phrase...
http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/20/messages/791.html

Seared tuna steak with red onion and tomato compote

For the compote:

1 tomato, sliced, marinaded in balsamic vinegar and cayenne pepper
1 large red onion, finely sliced
3 cornichons, chopped
1 tbs black olives, chopped
2 tsp capers, chopped
1 garlic clove, bruised

1 tuna steak
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
half tsp fennel seeds
half tsp mustard seeds
sea salt
1 tbs groundnut oil

10g unsalted butter
Olive oil
chives, chopped

rocket, watercress, baby spinach or similar

This is one of those whatever's-in-the-fridge ones.

Melt the butter and a splash of olive in a large pan with the garlic clove. Cook on a medium heat until the garlic starts to colour. Add the sliced onion and sweat down. Add a splash of water, stir well, scraping up any caramelisation off the pan and into the liquid. Cover and simmer for a few minutes on a low heat, until most of the liquid has evaporated. Discard the garlic and add the tomatoes. Stir and cover again for a few minutes. Uncover and simmer gently on a very low heat. Toward the end of the cooking, add the olives, capers and cornichons.

Get a cast iron griddle pan really hot. Use a pestle to crush the spices in a mortar, and add to the groundnut oil. Coat the tuna steak in the spiced oil, and lay it in the hot pan. Cook until just done (rare is the only way), turning once.

Serve with the salad and a couple of spoons of the compote. Sprinkle the chopped chives over the top to finish.

(Quantities as for one portion, exactly how I made it!)

Welcome to my kitchen!

Hi! I'm Stewart, this is my online kitchen. I'm going to share recipes for stuff, dishes I love, dishes made out of whatever's in the fridge that I'd forget about if I didn't write them down, and random experiments in cookery.
I'm a 'vegaquarian', so it's all veg and seafood. I don't know if 'vegaquarian' was a word before, but it is now.