Prawn, samphire and roasted pepper pasta salad

A summertime supper dish. I love samphire (or 'Hampshire', as predictive text prefers) with fish, with all its salty, mineral flavours. You can eat it raw, but it's also really nice just quickly steamed.

Serves two

Handful of samphire
200g raw prawns
A roasted sweet red pepper, cut into chunks
Cherry tomatoes, halved
Pasta, cooked and cooled
Handful of rocket

For the dressing:
Juice of half a lemon, olive oil, sea salt

Steam the samphire and prawns together for just a few minutes, until the prawns are done. Meanwhile, toss all the other ingredients together with half the dressing. When the prawns and samphire are done, add them to the dish and drizzle over the rest of the dressing.

New look, new format!

I've redesigned the Raw Prawn a bit. Got a posh new header thing, courtesy of Stewart Harris Designs.
And I'm going to post recipes in a less formal way - that way I can post stuff even if I can't remember what quantities I used (I never measure anything unless baking). So I'll post up the general idea of a dish - I'm sure you can work it out...

Spiced sweet potato wedges

An ideal accompaniment to the baked haddock and spinach dish below!

Serves two

2 medium sized sweet potatoes, cut in half then twice lengthwise, to get about six wedges out of each potato

A couple of lugs of groundnut oil

For the spice rub:
2 tsp fenugreek
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
pinch cayene pepper
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
Pinch Maldon sea salt

Parboil the potato wedges for ten minutes or so until just cooked. Set aside.
Meanwhile, put all the spice rub ingredients in a mortar and pound with a pestle until well crushed.
In a baking tray, put the cooked sweet potatoes, the oil and spice mix. Rub them all over until well coated with the oil and the spices, then bake at 200C for 25 minutes or so until crispy.

Smoked haddock baked with spinach and almonds

We're getting autumnal now, and this is a sort of autumn warmer supper dish.

Serves two

2 fillets of undyed smoked haddock, ideally quite thin (this would also work well with plaice fillets or other flatfish)

For the stuffing:
two or three big handfuls of spinach, wilted under boiled water
tablespoon of capers, rinsed
two tablespoons of flaked almonds, lightly toasted in a dry pan
splash of cider vinegar
a lug of olive oil
grated nutmeg
white pepper

Preheat the oven to 200C. Prepare the stuffing, squashing the excess water out of the wilted spinach, chopping roughly, then putting into a food processor. Add the toasted flaked almonds and all the other stuffing ingredients, then blend to a rough paste.

Lay one of the fillets on a board and spread spinach paste all over. Lay the other fillet on top, then slice lengthwise to form two portions. Place the fish portions on a piece of lightly buttered baking foil, and wrap loosely. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until done. Serve with lemon.

This dish goes really well with baked sweet potato wedges, which you can do in the oven at the same time (the wedges will need to go in first for five or ten minutes), and some stir-fried kale.

Sing for your supper! The Prawn Song...

Food and music collide! A group of enthusiastic Canadian foodists have made a nice little film about their fishing trip to catch Spot Prawns, native to British Columbia, and used they one of my February Album Writing Month ('FAWM') songs on the soundtrack.
The song appears at about 5'20'' - but it's well worth watching the whole film!... http://vimeo.com/43839814

Read the full article.

Stuffed fried chillies

We love to watch a spaghetti western on a Sunday evening, and it's nice to have food that fits the fake Mexican vibe.

Makes six to eight, depending on the size of the chillies

6 or more medium sized mild green chillies, or you can use small sweet peppers for a milder dish

For the filling:
2 tbs cream cheese
1 can tuna, drained
two handfuls grated cheese (Montery Jack, Cheddar or Emmental work well)
1 tbs chopped chives

For the batter:
two eggs
plain flour
salt and pepper to taste

Vegetable oil suitable for shallow frying

Slit each chilli down one side lengthways, and put them in a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat for about ten minutes, shaking and turning them occasionally. When the skins have started to blister, put the chillies into a plastic bag, tie the top (those sealable food bags are handy for this) and set aside for twenty minutes. They'll steam in the bag.

While the chillies are steaming, mix all the filling ingredients together in a bowl. You want quite a sticky filling, which helps the chillies keep their shape and won't leak out.

To make the batter, separate the egg whites and yolks. In a large bowl, whip the whites until quite stiff, then fold the yolks in. Get another bowl for the flour, seasoned with salt and pepper to taste.

Take the chillies out of the bag. The steaming will have loosened the skins a bit, so peel off the loose chilli skins, then carefully open each chilli and take out the seeds and veins. Fill each with the cheese and tuna stuffing, making sure there aren't any air pockets left.

Heat a large deep pan filled with enough oil to shallow fry the chillies in. Roll each chilli in the seasoned flour, then dip in the whipped egg so all the surface is covered. Fry the chillies in the hot oil for a few minutes, turning once or twice, until they're golden brown.  Drain the excess oil off on kitchen paper, and serve immediately.

Spaghetti with baby octopus

An Italian-inspired weekday supper.  My friend Jay gave me a jar of baby octopus in oil for my birthday, and this is what I did with some of them (to prevent myself just eating them all out of the jar!)

Serves two

Half a jar of baby octopus in oil
1 brown onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, bruised
1 small chilli, cut in half and seeds removed (optional)
A handful of baby plum tomatoes, sliced
1tbs capers
A handful of flat leaf parsley, torn up
Juice of half a lemon
1 glass of red wine
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 bay leaf
Olive oil and 10g butter
Half a teaspoon of Gentlemens Relish or a couple of anchovies
150g spaghetti

Heat a pan, and add the butter, a splash of olive oil and the garlic. When the butter starts to foam, add the chopped onion, garlic and the chilli, if using. Stir well, and cook covered on a low heat for a few minutes.
Add the anchovy or Gentlemens Relish and the bay leaf. Cook for another ten minutes or so, adding the wine once it gets a bit dry, and before it starts to colour. Add the tomato, parsley and capers and cook for another few minutes. If the tomatoes are a bit sharp, add a bit of sugar if necessary.

Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti according to pack instructions. When cooked al dente, remove the garlic, bay leaf and chilli, and mix the drained spaghetti in with the sauce. Add the octopus with some of its oil and the lemon juice, and mix well.
Serve with mixed salad - ideally a mix of green and reddish leaves, to match the colours of the octopus and sauce.

Mushrooms on toast

This is a quick light supper dish, that you could adapt at as starter.

Serves two

1 onion, chopped
125g mushrooms, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
Olive oil
10g unsalted butter
Pinch each of dried oregano and thyme
A dash of soy sauce
75g grated cheese (mixture of parmesan and manchego, or whatever is to hand)

4 very thick doorstep slices of wholemeal bread, crusts cut off

Mix the chopped mushrooms and garlic with a splash of soy sauce, and let the flavours mingle.  Put a frying pan on a medium heat, and add the butter and a lug of olive oil.  Add the onion and cook stirring for a couple of minutes until it starts to colour.  Empty the onion into a food processor.
Add the mushrooms to the pan and cook for a few minutes until reduced in size and coloured.
When the mushrooms are done, put them into the food processor with the onion, bread crusts and half the cheese, and blitz to make a rough paste (optional - you could add a dash of truffle oil to the mixture).
Meanwhile, toast the bread under a moderate grill (brush the bread with some olive oil first if you like).
When the bread is lightly toasted, top each slice with a quarter of the mushroom mixture and a sprinkling of the rest of the cheese.  Pop back under the grill for a couple more minutes.
When done, plate up and garnish with a bit of seasonal salad leaves to serve.

nb, if doing this for a starter, reserve few cooked whole mushroom slices before the rest go into the blender, and put a couple on top of each finished piece of mushroom toast as garnish.

Linguine with mussels, saffron and chilli

I made this dish whilst down in Cornwall recently. It's basically moules marinere served over pasta.  A great quick supper.
Serves 4

1kg live mussels
pinch of saffron
Handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, torn up
1 white onion, finely chopped
1 red chilli, finely sliced
1 glass white wine
350g linguine pasta
olive oil, butter

Clean and de-beard the mussels, discarding any that don't open when tapped.
Heat the pan, and add a lug of oil and about 10g butter. Add the onion and fry until softened, then add all the other ingredients (except the pasta).  Cook covered for about 4 minutes or until the mussels have opened (discard any that have not).
Meanwhile, cook the linguine according to pack instructions. Dish up the pasta into warm bowls, and pour the cooked mussels and most of their cooking liquor over the top. Serve immediately with a chilled white Sauvignon Blanc.

Mushroom and gruyere parcels (the return of)

This is an improved version of an earlier recipe (which I shall keep up here as a 'quick' version - this one takes longer to prepare).  These are great party food, and are popular at our Silent Film Club nights. 'The first rule of Silent Film Club is you do not talk about Silent Film Club...'!

Makes about 24 mini parcels

300g fresh mushrooms, sliced
10g dried porcini mushrooms
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, bruised and chopped
150g gruyere cheese, grated
handful of fresh chives, chopped
1 pack ready rolled puff pastry
15g unsalted butter
couple of dashes of soy sauce
olive oil
juice of half a lemon
1 beaten egg to glaze
salt and black pepper to taste

Rehydrate the dried mushrooms in just enough cold to cover an hour beforehand.
Heat a frying pan and add a lug of oil.  Fry the chopped onion over a medium-high heat until starting to caramelise.  Empty the fried onion into a bowl and set aside.
Turn the heat down a little and put the butter into the pan.  When foaming, add the chopped mushrooms and a dash of soy sauce. Cook, stirring frequently, over a medium heat until the mushrooms start to give up their moisture.  When they've started to colour and have reduced in size to about two thirds of their original volume, empty them into a bowl (with the onions) to cool. Depending on the size of your pan, you'll probably have to cook the mushrooms in a couple of batches.
Into a food blender, place the garlic, the onions and fried mushrooms, the rehydrated mushrooms and most of the hydrating liquid (leave the last bit as it will have sediment in it).  Pulse a few times in the blender until the mixture has a thick tapenade-like consistency.  Add the cheese, chives, lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.  Mix well.
Cut the pastry into about 24 squares and put a spoonful of the mushroom mixture onto the centre of each. Fold the corners up carefully to make each a little parcel (they may open up as 'crowns', but will still taste lovely). Brush with the beaten egg, and bake in a pre-heated oven (180 C) for about 25 or until golden brown.

(If you have any mushroom mixture left over, it goes well stirred through pasta.)