Monthly Archives:

June 2013

beetroot/ Gigha/ halibut/ recipe capriccio/ smoked/ tomato/ watercress

Recipe: Capriccio of smoked Gigha halibut

Smoked Giga halibut capraccio.
Smoked halibut is the star.

Social media can be a wonderful thing. It can bring together individuals and organisations that share common interests, but which might never normally meet. I have Twitter to thank for discovering Gigha Halibut – the Scottish company that farms halibut as sustainably as possible (see my previous post for more information on what they do so well). So, after a conversation via the ‘twitter-sphere’, I was delighted when I was offered some smoked Gigha Halibut to try.

Last Friday was filled with excitement and anticipation as I opened the package of smoked halibut, that had been dispatched the day before, from one of our smallest inhabited Hebridean islands. The enticing cream and golden-edged slices presented me with a dilemma, however. How exactly was I going to serve them?

Halibut is one of my favourite fishes to eat, but never before have I encountered it smoked. My first thought was to produce a posh take on kedgeree. Yet upon tasting a corner of a slice, it became obvious that these fish portions were too subtly delicious for that. The flesh was pearly, glistening and sweet – almost with a flavour reminiscent of scallops. It carried a beautiful subtly smoky accent, like a really good whisky. Hardly surprising given that the fish are smoked with chips made from the oak barrels sourced from Islay’s Kilchoman distillery.

Smoked Giga halibut capraccio.
Really tasty fish.

I had to use this exquisite seafood in a way that really showed it off. So I decided to prepare a smoked halibut capriccio, adding just a few seasonal vegetables to compliment the flavour of the smoked fish, and adorning it simply, with a lemon and olive oil vinaigrette. Radish and watercress provide a little fresh heat; baby beetroot, sweet richness; and the tomatoes subtle acidity. I’m afraid I couldn’t resist gilding the lily, by adding a few teaspoons of lumpfish roe for its salty taste and visual effect.

So what would be the bottom line? The dish was delicious, and that had very little to do with my concoction or preparation. This left me with a dilemma as whether to keep the fantastic Gigha smoked halibut my little secret, or share its brilliance with the rest of you. It was a close call…

This dish will serve four as a light lunch or starter, or two greedy boys/girls as a main (with bread and butter).


Ingredients

  • 200g of Smoked Gigha Halibut
  • A good handful of watercress
  • 3-4 radishes, finely sliced (use a mandolin if you have one, but watch your fingers!)
  • 3-4 young beetroot finely sliced (precooked organic is fine, but make sure they contain no vinegar)
  • 8-10 cherry or baby plum tomatoes, halved
  • Dill shoots, to garnish
  • Lumpfish roe to garnish (optional)
  • Juice of one lemon
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt and white pepper, to season


Preparation

  1. Remove the halibut from its packaging and place on a large plate or shallow dish. Pour over the lemon juice, so it covers the fish and leave for a couple of minutes. The fish will have been cooked by being smoked, but by marinating it in the lemon juice it will provide an element of ‘ceviche’.
  2. Pour off the lemon juice into a glass beaker and set aside. It will have taken up the smoky flavour of the fish.
  3. Finely slice the radishes and beetroot, and halve the tomatoes.
  4. Place the watercress on a clean large plate or shallow dish.
  5. Arrange the fish on top of the watercress and then place the vegetables on top of the halibut slices.
  6. Garnish with the dill and roe – if using.
  7. Add twice the amount of olive oil to the reserved lemon juice, season with salt and pepper and whisk to create a light vinaigrette. Pour over the dish, and serve.
June 28, 2013 By
0
aquaculture/ environment/ fish farming/ Gigha/ halibut/ salmon/ Scottish/ Sustainable

Sustainable food news: Farmed Scottish halibut and salmon – two very different kettles of fish

Farmed Gigha halibut.
Beautiful halibut.

I adore seafood. Nothing unusual with that, you might think, many people do. However, I was brought up in the very north of Birmingham – effectively as far from the sea as it’s possible to be, in the UK. Despite being fabled to have more miles of canals than Venice, Birmingham is well and truly land locked. Yet somewhat surprisingly, “Brum” has a terrific fish market – or at least it did when I was a youngster. A sizeable section of the old Bull Ring market hall was dedicated to an impressive range of fish stalls stocking a myriad of seafood, shipped overnight from the ports where these had been landed.

I think my regular visits to the fish market had a subconscious influence upon my choosing to study marine biology at university. And although I no longer work in that particular field, I’m still fascinated by all things marine-related, especially when these also involve food. So I was naturally intrigued when I discovered that there was a Scottish company farming and smoking one of my favourite fishes, halibut.

Fish farming is nothing new, of course. Globally, aquaculture (to give fish farming its Sunday name) is increasingly significant, accounting for 64 million tonnes of the 131 million tonnes of fish and shellfish consumed around the world in 2011. And aquaculture – and salmon farming in particular – is now big business in Scotland. Of the nearly 170,000 tonnes of finfish farmed in the UK in 2010, over 154,000 tonnes of this was salmon farmed in Scotland.

It may surprise you to learn that I tend not to cook or eat Scottish farmed salmon. This is because I believe that the way the majority of salmon is currently farmed in Scotland simply isn’t environmentally sustainable, for many reasons. The fish are reared in high densities in cages mostly sighted in sheltered sea lochs. The waste these produce can smother the seabed, impacting the plants and animals naturally occurring there. Because the fish are effectively factory farmed, they are highly susceptible to diseases and parasites, resulting in the chemicals used to treat these also contaminating the environment. What’s more, significant escapes of farmed salmon are not uncommon, and these can impact wild salmon stocks through interbreeding and disease and parasite transmission. And then there is the issue of catching industrial quantities of small, South American fish to turn into feed for salmon farms. Certainly the salmon farming industry seems keen to address these substantial environmental issues, but until it does this effectively, it’s hardly surprising that Scottish farmed salmon remains off my menu.

Yet not all fish farming exacts a high price on the marine environment, which is why I was so interested to try the halibut farmed on the Hebridean island of Gigha. In the wild – the waters of the Atlantic – stocks of Atlantic halibut are dangerously low. Yet the fish is so good to eat, it remains very much in demand. This has resulted in the establishment of Gigha Halibut, a company with an approach to fish farming that appears to be (nautical) miles away from much of Scotland’s salmon farming industry.

Calm Gigha seas.
Calm Gigha seas.

Firstly, the fish the farm produces are both organic and grown in large tanks on land, as opposed to cages floating in the sea. Flatfish, such as halibut and turbot, are ideally suited to being raised in large, flat tanks that are continually circulated with clean seawater pumped from nearby shores. This means there is practically no risk of fish escaping to the wild. Secondly, the fish are grown in comparatively low densities. As Guardian journalist, Alex Renton, found out this helps to keep them effectively disease free, negating the need to use chemicals or medicines. Thirdly all Gigha halibut are fed with a certified organic diet using 100% fish trimmings as a source of protein and organic vegetable products as a source of carbohydrate. There feed does not rely on industrial fisheries undertaken on the other side of the globe to produce fish meal.

The overall result of this approach to fish husbandry is that Gigha Halibut produces an excellent, sustainable, product. Certainly, the way the halibut is farmed, and the relatively small scale of production, means it will never be on sale for the bargain bucket price that industrially farmed Scottish salmon currently fetches. But for me – and for leading chefs such as Alain Roux, and Michael Smith from Skye’s The Three Chimneys – such is the taste and quality of Gigha Halibut’s fish, it deserves its status as a premiere product.

To discover exactly how good Gigha Halibut’s product is, be sure to check out my next recipe post, which is a capriccio featuring of their fantastic smoked fish.

Photographs courtesy of the Gigha Halibut website.

June 28, 2013 By
0
asparagus/ lemon/ parmesan/ pearl barley/ recipe/ risotto

Recipe: Cheering spears – Asparagus and pearl barley risotto

Asparagus & pearl barley risotto.
Flavoursome asparagus and barley.

Last Friday was a sad day for anyone who, like me, strives to cook with seasonal British vegetables. “How so?” you may ask. Well, it’s because 21 June marks the official end to the British asparagus season. I love cooking with, and eating, asparagus. In bunches, the bright green spears look almost like mini modernist sculptures rather than plants, and their sweet, earthy taste is completely unlike any other vegetable.

I always endeavour to make the utmost use of UK asparagus when it is available, as springtime recipe posts on Scrumptious Scran bare testament. At around two months, this vegetable’s season is akin to a culinary firework display – dazzling, but all too short. Maybe it’s pig-headedness on my part, but even though imported asparagus is now available year-round, my tendency is to avoid this. I simply don’t agree with flying food thousands of miles, just to ensure this is can be purchased when its UK equivalent is no longer in season. Plus, and I don’t think it is a psychosomatic bias on my part, but asparagus from South America just doesn’t seem to have the depth of flavour of that grown in Britain.

So, to mark the passing of the 2013 season, I decided to cook a dish that would be a celebration – or maybe a wake – for one of my favourite ingredients. My inspiration came from a dish I watched Suzanne O’Connor – Head Chef at The Scottish Café and Restaurant – prepare at the recent Slow Food event held at Edinburgh’s Summerhall. Suzanne cooked an original take on risotto, featuring peas, broad beans, mint and parmesan, but which substituted the quintessential Scottish ingredient of pearl barley, in place of rice.


So, behold my British asparagus and pearl barley “risotto”. The dish may appear quite simple, but I didn’t want anything to infringe upon the asparagus flavour its centre – rather the other constituents should complement this. So the creamy barley is cooked with home-made stock, and augmented with softened onion, a hint of citrus provided by lemon juice and zest, nutty savouriness from the addition of parmesan, and the grassy freshness of chopped parsley.

A fitting 2013 send off to this monarch of British vegetables, I trust you will agree. Roll on springtime 2014!

This recipe will easily feed four people for dinner.

Ingredients

  • 25g unsalted butter
  • 1 onion, finely chopped – I like to use sweet white onions in risotto
  • 275g pearl barley
  • A glass of dry white wine, 150-175ml
  • 1 litre of chicken or vegetable stock – homemade if possible
  • 2 bunches of British asparagus – 400 to 500g in total
  • A good grating of parmesan – at least 40-50g
  • 1 lemon, zest and juice
  • A bunch of parsley – a good handful – roughly chopped
  • A good grind of black pepper, and salt to taste (remember the parmesan will also impart salt to the dish)

Preparation and cooking

  1. Place a wide, not too high-sided, saucepan on a medium heat. Add the butter and melt until it begins to foam, before adding the onion. Fry until soft and translucent, stirring occasionally – this should take around 20 minutes, or so.
  2. Meanwhile, place the stock in a large saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer.
  3. Trim the ends off the asparagus and cut the spears into halves or thirds, depending on their length. Place these into the stock and blanch for 3-4 minutes until just tender.
  4. Remove and strain the asparagus, and place in a bowl of chilled water, to stop further cooking.
  5. Add the barley to the onion, and stir for a couple of minutes to ensure it is coated with the butter.
  6. Pour in the wine and stir until it is adsorbed by the barely – it will splutter and the evaporating alcohol may flare, so be careful!
  7. Add 1-2 ladles of stock to the barely, so the liquid just covers this. Simmer the mixture, stirring now and again, until nearly all the stock has been absorbed. It isn’t necessary to stir the barley quite as often as risotto rice, but do ensure it doesn’t catch on the pan bottom.
  8. Continue to add the stock a couple of ladles at a time. Nearly all the stock in the pan should be absorbed before adding the next batch of liquid. When practically all the stock has been added the barley should be creamy, but the grains still distinct and not broken down.
  9. Add the asparagus and stir into the mixture for 2-3 mins.
  10. Take the pan off the heat and then add the grated parmesan, lemon zest and juice and seasoning. Just before serving add the parsley and stir through.

Serve immediately, with extra parmesan available should diners wish to add a little extra.

June 25, 2013 By
0
Bite magazine/ Edinburgh/ wine

Bite Magazine review: Divine wine at Le Di-Vin

Le Di-Vin bar.
Great “Vin du Moment”.

I’m delighted to have been asked to contribute to Bite magazine – “your independent, local guide to eating and drinking in Edinburgh”. My first piece for them is a review of the smashing wine bar that is Le Di-Vin.  As an appetiser, I’ve posted an extract of this below, together with a link to the full version on the Bite website

Divine wine at Le Di-Vin

“Wine bar”. For those of us who grew up in the 80s this term evokes memories of venues packed with punters dressed like extras from Dynasty, glugging over-oaked chardonnay to a backing track by Sade. Fortunately, the modern incarnation is a lot more palatable, as a recent visit to Le Di-Vin joyfully proved.

Nestling in a former church building, Le Di-Vin is the younger sibling to next-door restaurant La P’tite Folie, both owned by Virginie and Ghislain Brouard.

Entering the bar it is apparent that wine is the star. A whole double-height wall is dedicated to a decorative pewter bar, backed by shelves of quality wines, expertly sourced from across the globe by Ghislain: 164 bottles to choose from. Yet a visit to Le Di-Vin is far from an overwhelming experience – quite the reverse…

Read the rest of the review here at Bite.

June 18, 2013 By
0
Chefs' Alliance/ Edinburgh/ review/ Scottish/ slow food

Review: West End Thrills – The Edinburgh Larder Bistro

Beetroot Soup
Beetroot and chard soup.

I have been inspired to go west. Following my recent visit to the excellent Slow Food event at Edinburgh’s Summerhall, I’ve realised I need to venture outside my east Edinburgh eatery comfort zone more often. My resolve to dine more widely stems from the realisation that Edinburgh has some great restaurants that follow the slow food ethos which I have yet to visit. So on Friday, I put my resolution into action when JML and I booked ourselves a table at The Edinburgh Larder Bistro (1a Alva Street, EH2 4PH) for dinner.

I had heard of this restaurant before, but it really popped onto my culinary radar when I had the opportunity to taste some great nibbles prepared by the establishment’s Chef – Finlay Nicol – at the Summerhall event. Nicol is a member of Slow Food’s The Chef Alliance, so it’s unsurprising to learn that the bistro serves a menu comprising of seasonal dishes, and works with local food and drink suppliers to ensure that these feature the best local, Scottish produce.

The Edinburgh Larder Bistro, occupies an expansive, slightly labyrinthine basement in Edinburgh’s West End. Unexpectedly, the venue also sports a bright conservatory area to its rear, which is where we were seated. Whilst the restaurant offers an impressive a la carte menu, we had taken advantage of a 5pm.co.uk offer and therefore chose our dishes from the slightly smaller, but no less impressive, pre-theatre menu.

Smoked Haddock Pate
Smoked haddock pâté.

To start, I went for the beetroot and chard soup. This was invitingly bright purpley-pink and packed with delicious flavours of earthy sweetness from the beetroot, married with the slightly astringent kick of the chard. A generous blob of crème fraiche placed in the centre of the bowl also added a nice creamy note when mixed into the rest of the liquid, and the only slight quibble I had with the dish was that I had to use a fork to help the lengthy shreds of shard leaves onto my spoon. JML’s opening dish was the pâté of the day, which smoked haddock and spring onion. He was served two generous quenelles of pâté, accompanied by an inviting, flower-adorned organic salad and slices of wholemeal toast. The pâté was obviously made with quality ingredients, and tasted of rich, yet subtle, smokey fishiness, which was complemented by a zing from the spring onion. The speed with which it was consumed certainly suggested it was a hit.

Pork Belly
Roast pork belly.

For my main course, I was initially tempted to order the beef cheeks. I’m a big fan of under-utilised cuts of meat, and beef cheeks – and for that matter, their piggy counterparts – are delicious when slow braised. I was a little disappointed, therefore, when our waitress informed us that in this instance the cheeks had been substituted with a pork belly alternative. Any disappointment soon evaporated however, when I was presented with a beautifully succulent and tender slice of pork adorned with crispy crackling and resting on a bed of sautéed new potatoes, greens and peas., all surrounded by a light, meaty broth. The meat was perfectly cooked and worked well with the rest of dish’s ingredients. To accompany my main, I also ordered a side of seasonal vegetables, which in this case consisted of sautéed lettuce and chard. This was nice enough, but having already consumed chard in my soup, there was a wee danger of overloading on this particular veg.

Tomato Tart
Roast tomato tart.

My dining companion’s main was a roasted tomato tart, with puy lentil salad and crowdie cheese. The Clyde Valley Tomatoes – which are grown just a short trip down the M8 from Edinburgh – used in the tart gave it a real richness of flavour, which was complemented by the creaminess of the crowdie cheese paired with it. The puy lentil salad was also a winner, combining seasonal leaves, earthy pulses and yet more delicious toms with a perfectly seasoned dressing. As a side, JML ordered “Beef dripping chips with Hebridean sea salt”. The golden brown chunks of potato that arrived were sensational, and amongst the best chips I have ever tasted.

Chocolate Fondant
Chocolate fondant.

Even though our dining special offer consisted of two dishes each and a bottle of house wine for £35 – which certainly represents great value – we couldn’t resist availing ourselves of the dessert menu. JML is a big fan of chocolate, so I wasn’t surprised when he ordered the chocolate fondant. This was spot on, quite literally oozing chocolaty richness. It was served with an intriguing carrot ice cream and terrific beetroot granita, which tasted “…just like frozen beetroot jam”. My espresso pecan tart with vanilla ice cream was also rich and tasty, with the flavour of the coffee coming through without overpowering that of the nuts. My only gripe was that the tart’s pastry base was bordering on being overdone, which called for some heavyweight spoon action to divide the pud into consumable segments.

Pecan Pie
Pecan & espresso tart.

All in all, we had great meal at Edinburgh Larder Bistro. The venue is relaxed and welcoming, service is very pleasant, and the food is obviously prepared with passion and attention to detail. What’s more, not only can you dine on really inviting, tasty dishes at this restaurant, but in doing so you will be supporting local producers and suppliers – the menu even lists and thanks those responsible for the ingredients the restaurant uses.

I might be an east-end boy at heart, but I shall certainly be going west again, if my initial experience of the Edinburgh Larder Bistro is anything to go by.

Food 7.5/10
Atmosphere 7.5/10
Service 8/10
Value 9/10

Ambience – Expect a venue with a bistro/brasserie ambience.

Edinburgh Larder Bistro on Urbanspoon Square Meal

June 16, 2013 By
0
Chefs' Alliance/ Feature/ food/ news/ Scottish/ slow food/ Sustainable

Sustainable food news: A quick post about Slow Food

A great slow food barley risotto.
A demo of cooking great barley risotto.

A passion about good food that is responsibly produced and sourced.  This is what has inspired me to write about the quality ingredients I buy, cook and eat. I am not alone in this dedication, I know.  Yet sometimes it can be tricky to engage with others who share a similar passion. Accosting  fellow shoppers at a farmers’ market to congratulate them on their purchases of organic rhubarb, or a sour dough bloomer risks offending middle-class sensibilities, after all. Of course, I’m parodying the image of those of us with an interest in sustainable food. However, there is definitely a need for a forum that easily allows people to exchange ideas and exuberance about the things they are growing, cooking and eating.

Yesterday I had the pleasure to participate in a great event marking the end of Slow Food Week 2013. For anyone not familiar with the slow food movement, please do have a look at their website. Fundamentally, their ethos is all about food being “good, clean and fair”. It’s an approach that encompasses care and, dare I say, passion – whether this comes from those producing the raw ingredients, or those serving the delicious dishes that are composed from these. What’s more, slow food is also about knowing the exact background of what is being served and eaten.

Let’s be honest, anonymous shopping is so easy these days. Swipe, beep, swipe, beep, goes the routine. And off home we go with our bags full of Chilean asparagus, Kenyan beans, and New Zealand hoki (it’s a fish, the stocks of which look increasingly threatened). There is usually no discussion in the generic environment of the supermarket as to the provenance or sustainability of the food we buy – bar the marketing blurb that “reassures” us that produce is “Scottish”, or “English”, or “British” – apart, of course, from when it frequently isn’t any of these things. There’s no real explanation about what’s on offer, other than a passing indication of country of origin, and maybe – if we are lucky – a diminutive name check for the producer. There certainly seems to be little genuine passion from big retailers about the produce filling the supermarkets’ aisles.  But it doesn’t have to be like this.

Mull cheese and smoked trout from Belhaven.
Cheese from Mull, smoked trout from Belhaven.

Yesterday, at Edinburgh’s Summerhall, knowledge and passion were in abundance. The event featured producers, suppliers and restaurateurs from across Scotland, each with stalls packed with (mostly) locally sourced ingredients and produce. All supporters of the slow food ethos, everyone had a story to tell, and every stall was a bit different. To be honest, such was the enthusiasm of all those involved for what they were doing, there was a danger of being slightly overwhelming – but not in a bad way. To taste such quality produce and hear about the connection those serving it had with what they were offering was inspirational. It was great to experience so much of that genuine buzz in one place, at one time.


I asked Neil Forbes – Chef/Proprietor of Edinburgh brasserie, Café St Honore – why he was at the event. “My gran’s soup”, he replied, somewhat enigmatically. He went on to explain that she used the best, freshest – and often home-grown – ingredients when she cooked it. That has influenced Neil’s take on food ever since. What’s not inspirational about those values?

Equally, chatting to Sascha Grierson about the organic meat company she, and her husband Hugh, run provided me with an interesting insight. “Sometimes, people ask about our marketing ‘department'” she laughingly said. “That would be me. And the accounts department, and I’m often the person on the stall at the farmers’ markets, too” Sascha explained. This emphasised that more often than not the organisations involved in the slow food movement are comparatively modest in size, and operate without the resources and infrastructure available to the large-scale food conglomerates. But speak to anyone involved in slow food and it’s apparent that they are people with a real devotion to what they produce and sell, and a genuine interest in the people they sell it to.  This is what drives their success.

Scottish Café & Restaurant produce & sustainability award.
Scottish Café & Restaurant produce & sustainability award.

I’d like to add how great it was to also speak to proprietors and staff from: Centotre, and the Scottish Café & Restaurant ; the Stockbridge Restaurant; the Cumberland Bar; the Edinburgh Larder; Mara Seaweed; 63 Tay Street Restaurant; The Monachyle Mhor Hotel; and the Roost; as well as representatives from Slow Food UK. Thank you all for putting on a truly inspirational event. It’s a pleasure to write about it and, in doing so, to try and inspire others to think about how and where the food they eat is produced and prepared. 

June 10, 2013 By
0
ham hock/ recipe/ salad/ Simon Howie

Recipe: Get the hock out! – Smoked ham hock and summer vegetable salad

Tasty smoked ham hock salad.
Summery ham hock salad – keep the BBQ in the shed!

This is really pleasant. The sun is shining, which makes for a lovely evening, and as I write I’m sipping a chilled glass of white wine. It would appear that summer has finally arrived, albeit several months behind schedule. The smell of barbecues drifting through the open windows of Scrumptious Scran Towers confirms this.

Got to love a BBQ… Well yes and no. Done properly, they are great. Tastily marinated meat and fish, succulently cooked; chargrilled vegetable kebabs with squeaky haloumi cheese; and on the side, bowls of new potatoes coated in thick mayonnaise, chives and parsley. All shared by friends and family lounging around in a garden full of chat and laughter.

Enticing though this scene may seem, it isn’t always easily achieved. Forward planning is absolutely key to the success of a good barbecue. There’s the preparing of marinades, combined with the hours these take to work their wonder on the meat or fish of choice. Then there comes the stress of ensuring the charcoal is at just the right heat so that the fare that is on offer doesn’t get burnt to a crisp, or worse still, is revealed as being still raw in the middle when bitten into. Is it such a surprise then, that sometimes when the sun is shining I yearn for tasty, summery food this isn’t such high maintenance?

A great example of this is an appetising salad with smoked ham hock, and seasonal vegetables at its centre. The hock is cheap, and a good quality one – such as the one supplied by Simon Howie, which I used here – will provide all the smokey, meaty flavour you would normally expect from something cooked on a barbecue. All that has to be done to prepare the ham is pop it in a pan of simmering water for an hour and half and then shred the tender meat from the bone. Stress free lazing in the sunshine can ensue whilst this preparation takes place.

When ready, by mixing the hock with the salty-savouriness of green olives; the sweetness of tomatoes, beetroot and smokey, roast yellow pepper; and the spicy kick provided by radishes and red onion you will definitely achieve a winning taste combination. A salad isn’t a salad unless properly dressed, of course, and to accomplish this I douse the ingredients with a vinaigrette which mixes extra virgin olive oil with sherry and balsamic vinegar, and a good measure of grain mustard. Combining the two varieties of vinegar brings both acidity and sweetness to the dressing, which is then underlined by the gentle heat of the mustard grains.

The ham hock may take a little while to cook, but it can be left unattended once at a simmer, unlike meat on a barbecue, and the rest of the salad ingredients literally take a few minutes to prepare. What can be better than a great tasting, stress free dish that allows for plenty of lazing in the sunshine?


The recipe serves up to four people as a lunch or light supper dish.

Ingredients

  • 1 smoked ham hock, on the bone
  • 1 small red onion, finely sliced
  • 1 yellow pepper, grilled until the skin chars, skin removed and de-seeded
  • 4 pre-cooked beetroot bulbs, roughly sliced
  • 4-6 radishes, finely sliced
  • 12 small tomatoes, halved
  • 12 pitted green olives, rinsed
  • 6-8 leaves of little gem lettuce, rinsed and roughly shredded
  • 1tsp balsamic vinegar
  • 2tsp sherry vinegar
  • 3tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • ½tsp grain mustard
  • Salt and pepper to season.

Preparation and cooking

  1. Place the ham hock in a large, lidded pan and cover with water. Bring the water to a simmer, and skim off any foam that rises to the surface, with a slotted spoon. Turn down the heat to low, place the lid on the pan and cook for around an hour and a half until the meat is “fall off the bone” tender.
  2. When the ham hock is cooked, remove from the pan to a plate, and allow it to cool before removing the skin together with any excess surface fat. Pull the meat off the bone and chop into smaller segments if necessary.
  3. Whilst the meat is cooling, grill a whole yellow pepper until all the skin becomes charred. Place in a freezer bag for a few minutes, which will allow the skin to be peeled away. Remove the stalk and seeds, but be sure to retain any juice from the pepper to add to the salad. Roughly slice the pepper flesh and place in a large salad bowl.
  4. Add the sliced beetroot, onion, radishes, tomatoes to the salad bowl, together with the whole olives and pieces of ham hock.
  5. In a small bowl, mix together the vinegars, oil and mustard – together with pepper and a small amount of salt (the olives and hock will add salt to the salad) – to form a smooth vinaigrette.
  6. Pour 2/3 of the vinaigrette onto the salad ingredients and mix to coat them well.
  7. Place the lettuce leaves on the serving plates, and pile the other salad ingredients on top of these. Pour over the remaining dressing and serve.
June 8, 2013 By
0
Feature/ food/ Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall/ John Torode/ news/ pork/ Sustainable/ The Pig Idea/ Thomasina Miers

Sustainable food news: A brilliant “Pig Idea”

A happy pig.
Out-of-date carrot – nice piggy snack (photo: James Perrin).

It may have escaped your attention, but today is World Environment Day – the annual United Nations-initiated celebration of positive environmental action. Whether we like it or not, food production has a considerable global environmental impact, resulting from energy consumption, habitat destruction, pesticide use, and so on. It’s therefore somewhat disturbing that around one third of all the food produced annually for human consumption – a staggering 1.3 billion tonnes – is either wasted or lost. Cue a new campaign launched to coincide with World Environment Day which sets out to raise awareness of food waste and the role pigs – yes, pigs – can play in addressing this.

The Pig Idea is calling for the many tonnes of food we waste each year in the UK to be put to a more productive use, instead finding its way onto the menu for one of our favourite meat animals – the pig. Initiated by Thomasina Miers – former Masterchef winner, cookery writer and restaurateur – and food waste expert, Tristram Stuart, the campaign is calling for a change in European law to allow for a return to the traditional practice of feeding pigs with waste food. Other high-profile supporters of the initiative – brilliantly describes as “Hambassadors” – include River Cottage supremo Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, and BBC Masterchef presenter, John Torode.

The team at The Pig Idea have today started the process of rearing eight pigs at Stepney City Farm, on a healthy menu of food waste collected from around London. From spent brewer’s grains, whey, unsold vegetables and bread, the food that would otherwise have been wasted will be collected and fed to the pigs. The Pig Idea campaign will culminate in a major food event in London’s Trafalgar Square in November, when some of the UK’s best known chefs will gather to offer thousands of members of the public their favourite pork dishes, using the pork reared by The Pig Idea team. This feast will highlight the current global food waste scandal, and illustrate that the solutions to this can be practical, economical and delicious.

Speaking at the launch of The Pig Idea Tristram Stuart, author and campaigner on food waste, commented:

“Humans have been recycling food waste by feeding it to pigs for thousands of years. Reviving this tradition will help to protect forests that are being chopped down to grow the millions of tonnes of soya we import from South America every year to feed our livestock.”

Thomasina Miers, Chef at Wahaca, the award winning sustainable restaurant, added:

“Cutting down rainforest in the Amazon to grow feed for pigs in Europe makes no sense. Let’s save all our delicious food waste and feed it to the pigs. Not only will we be saving the rainforest (and slowing down climate change) but we’ll be bringing down the cost of pig feed and pork. Let them eat waste!”

More information on The Pig Idea and how to support the campaign can be found at the initiative’s website – http://www.thepigidea.org.

Thomasina Miers with "Pig Idea" pigs.
Feeding time with Thomasina and Tristram (photo: James Perrin).


I know I am biased, but this campaign makes great sense in terms of tackling food waste and making food production more sustainable. It’s a simple, logical approach that should be rolled out across Scotland and the rest of the UK. What do you think?

All photos by James Perrin www.jamesperrin.com

June 5, 2013 By
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community/ Feature/ food/ healthy/ initiative/ Renfrew/ suppliers

Supplier spotlight: Something good in da hood!

"Food in da Hood" food van.
From this van will come great scran.

Good food doesn’t have to cost the earth. Some of the best things I have eaten have been put together using simple, healthy and economic ingredients. When many of us in the UK continue to feel a significant pinch on our finances – thanks to the global economic crash – and the prices of many foodstuffs are rocketing, it’s more important than ever that people have access to nutritious food that is not expensive.

Unfortunately, for far too many people in Scotland there remains a direct link between poor health and a poor diet: three quarters of the population consumes more than the recommended daily level of salt; and less than 25% of Scots consume the recommend five portions of fruit and vegetables each day (more info here). Part of the problem with Scotland’s diet stems from the fact that, whether as a result of time poverty or financial poverty, a significant proportion of the food we consume is pre-prepared and contains high levels of fat, sugar and salt. But things might soon be set to change in the Scottish region of Renfrewshire, thanks to a novel food project.

Food in the Hood is a mobile food initiative that aims to prepare, cook and sell home-style meals at tea time, to communities throughout Renfrewshire, using a converted van. The not-just-for-profit company hopes to take a share of the traditional takeaway market, by offering the same convenient service, but with a better product. Food in the Hood will prepare a menu consisting of favourite dishes – such as steak pie, chilli and vegetable curry – but cooked in the best possible way and using as little salt, fat and sugar as taste allows.

The initiative also intends to do more than just sell great food; it also hopes to change the eating habits of the communities it will serve as well as delivering other benefits. Not only will any profits be invested back into community projects, Food in the Hood is also intending to source much of its produce locally – from individuals, allotments and Renfrewshire organisations – and encourage “people in the community to grow for the community”. And of key importance, the intention is to keep the prices of the meals that are served as affordable as possible in order to ensure everyone can have access to good, healthy food.


The driving force behind Food in the Hood is Annette Currie, who has used her own money and cash borrowed from relatives to purchase a van and most of the equipment the initiative needs to get up and running. However, Food in the Hood still requires £3000 to complete the fit out and to market the project, and has turned to Crowdfunder in order to raise the remaining start-up funds by 13 June 2013.

Speaking about what has driven her to establish Food in the Hood, Annette commented:

“I enjoy cooking and after a camping/festival trip last September, where I cooked for 25 people for the weekend, I realised how much cheaper it is to cook for many. A few weeks later, after a chat in the kitchen with friends about the poor quality of takeaway food in our area and how sometimes you just want a home cooked meal (but can’t be bothered cooking), I looked into the viability of opening a takeaway.”

“The initial outlay and running costs of this approach were too high and it just seemed too risky – especially since a home-style takeaway has never been done before. So, my sister-in-law suggested using a van – which has lower overheads, less risk and means we can go out and find business.”

“The ethical basis on which Food in the Hood is built comes from my belief that businesses can make a profit AND benefit the communities they serve – effectively Conscious Capitalism. I really hope we can spread this message and get others to set up similar initiatives that provide healthy food and benefit communities across Scotland and even further afield.”

More information on supporting Food in the Hood through Crowdfunder.co.uk and the benefits associated with this can be found at:

http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/food_in_the_hood

June 3, 2013 By
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