Smoked mackerel, capers & tomato spaghetti with pesto

I'm really quite proud of this little recipe, as it came about during one of our "staff meetings" when we were having a brainstorm about what we would actually like to eat as opposed to what we thought we should have to eat.  I can remember thinking, as we were contemplating complimentary flavours for it, that less is more and this was definitely one of those pasta dishes.

Now I know that smoked mackerel isn't to everyone's liking, but for this recipe I've used some honey smoked mackerel which is a lot milder in flavour than the peppered or just straight smoked versions.  I heartily recommend that you go for a sweeter type of smoked mackerel, as not doing so will affect the sweet/savoury balance.  If you just can't find any, don't despair, just add a half a teaspoonful of honey along with the tomatoes and you'll be fine.

Speaking of tomatoes, I recommend raspberry tomatoes if you can get them. They are really big, quite fleshy tomatoes with a gorgeously rich tomato flavour - and perfect for something like this.  I get mine from my local Polish delicatessen, so if all else fails, try your closest Polish shop or even an Ethnic shop if you have one.

The recipe doesn't have a sauce as such, as quite simply the extra virgin olive oil and tomatoes (devoid of seeds, but still full of juice) combine with the shallots, pepper and capers to make this dish anything but dry.  The oiliness of the smoked mackerel is tempered by the tomatoes but the secret weapon of the dish are the capers.  Every now and then your tongue trips over one and the intense flavour just wakes up your palate, all ready to again be soothed and comforted by the spaghetti and green pesto.

I hesitate to draw your attention to the fact, but this dish is also extraordinarily good for you. Nutritionally, I reckon it's probably one of the best I've come up with in some time.  But let's skip lightly over that and concentrate on how good it tastes, eh?  After all, I don't want to put anyone off it by shouting too loudly about how good it is for you.

As for the Cook's Tips, the recipe is so simple I don't have many.  Just to say to make sure that you have the spaghetti water boiling before you put the shallots on to cook, or you'll be waiting for the pasta while your tomatoes are cooking instead of heating up, which will spoil the texture if not the flavour.

Oh - and don't forget to rinse the capers.

So, onwards to the recipe!

SMOKED MACKEREL, CAPERS & TOMATO SPAGHETTI WITH PESTO   (serves 3)

Ingredients :

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 shallot, finely chopped
250g dried spaghetti
2 large full flavoured tomatoes, pips removed, diced
6 cherry tomatoes, pips removed, quartered
2 tbsp capers, rinsed of salt or brine
half a tsp ground black pepper
a good pinch of sea salt
4 honey smoked mackerel fillets, skinned, boned and flaked into small chunks
2 tbsp fresh basil leaves
3 heaped tsp green pesto, to serve
1 tbsp chopped parsley, to serve.

Method :

Begin by putting a large pan of water on to boil.

Next, heat the extra virgin olive oil over a low heat in a frying pan.  Add the chopped shallot and fry very gently until softened.

When the water comes to a boil, add the dried spaghetti and cook to manufacturer's instructions (usually around 10-12 minutes).

In the meantime, add all the tomatoes, capers, black pepper and sea salt to the shallots and just warm them through, without really cooking them.  They should be distinctly warm to the touch before the next stage.

Once the spaghetti is cooked to your preference, drain and return to the hot pan.

Add the tomato mixture, the flaked mackerel and tear the basil leaves into the pan.  Stir through gently and serve immediately with an extra splash of extra virgin olive oil.

Garnish with a good heaped teaspoonful of green pesto and a light sprinkle of chopped parsley.

Printable version

Chicken Piccata - one to split the audience!

The minute I saw the recipe for this Chicken Piccata on Foodista, I was intrigued.

I hadn't come across the recipe before, so I Googled it and found many very similar recipes - which proved it to be fairly authentic.  The photographs were interesting and although some differed slightly, the majority looked very similar.

All of this gives me confidence in a recipe, as if loads of people are cooking the same recipe in the same way, it has to be good!

It was a simple recipe, involving frying a chicken breast that had been tossed in seasoned flour with lemon zest, then making a chicken stock, lemon juice and caper sauce.  Tasty!

Or so I thought - and continued to think, once it was on the plate.  I loved it!

Hubby, however, found the entire dish "repellent" - I'm pretty sure that was his word for it.

Looking good!

Son & heir liked the chicken, but hated the sharpness of the lemon sauce.

I served it with mashed potato, carrots and broccoli - which seemed entirely reasonable to me.  However, hubby has a notion that lemon and potato should never be seen on the same plate (in fact - as we know - just plain old potato should never be seen on HIS plate! lol).  He didn't like the input from the capers either.

In the photographs of other people's versions, I noted that pasta ribbons appeared quite regularly.  I can understand that now, having eaten the dish, although if I ever made it again (which I won't ~grumble~) I'd be quite happy to have mashed potato.


I'd definitely say that this isn't a dish to be served to an almost-teenager who is going through a phase of being particularly picky about what he eats.  The combination of the tangy lemon and salty capers in the sauce was just a step too far, even though I added a half a teaspoon of sugar, to calm the sourness down.

All of which was a huge shame, because I found it to be completely delightful - and just the thought of it is making my mouth water.
However, as a dish for anyone who loves lemon and/or capers (like me), then fill your boots!

CHICKEN PICCATA  (serves 4)

Ingredients :

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin

3 tbsp plain flour

zest of 1 lemon, plus 3 tbsp lemon juice

pinch salt

pinch pepper

butter for frying

200ml chicken stock

150ml white wine

3 teaspoons capers.

Method :

 

1.  Combine flour, lemon zest, salt, and pepper in a shallow dish.

2.  Coat each breast with flour mixture.

3.  Shake off excess.

4.  Melt a knob of butter in a frying pan.

5.  Add the chicken breasts and saute; (turning once) over medium heat for 5 minutes or so (depending upon the thickness of your chicken) until cooked through.

6.  Remove chicken from the pan and reserve to keep warm.

7.  In the same pan, combine the chicken stock, wine, and lemon juice.

8.  Bring to the boil, stirring, until reduced and well combined.

9.  Add the capers, then serve with the fried chicken.

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Tuna & lemon pasta - one for when you're just too tired.

There are times in everyone's life when you're just too tired, or too sad, or just too meh! to cook, yet the desire for comfort food is warring with the desire to continue sitting where you are, quietly dissolving into further misery.

Well, this is the perfect recipe for one of those occasions - and what's more, quite apart from being so tasty it could bring a teensy glimmer of a smile to your face, it's good for you!

I have got to admit that I wasn't feeling either too tired, too sad or too meh! on Tuesday evening when I served this up for our dinner, but as a contender for "Pizza Tuesday" (when we're trying to ignite Son & heir's interest in foods other than those on his plate), it was perfect.

Son & heir, you see, has decided that tuna is one of those ingredients that shall no longer sully his particular plate.  "It's too dry!" he complained, the last time I served it to him.  (Although it would appear to be okay as tuna pasta bake.  Work that one out if you dare).

I'd bought him a Lasagne to have that night but he managed to finagle his way in to his friend's house where he had been invited to stay for tea, which left us to tuck into our pasta in peace.

Mind you, it wouldn't have been difficult to have made expansive gestures of delight and deliciousness over our plates of pasta, as the recipe really is quite lovely.  Hubby had only managed about 10 minutes of anticipatory napping, when the call to attention was made.  Quite literally, all you need to do is put four things into a bowl, two things into a saucepan of water - and you're done!  Just about enough time to warm up some plates.

TUNA & LEMON PASTA  (serves 2)

Ingredients :

350g pasta shells
200g pack trimmed fine green beans, cut into short lengths
200g can of tuna in olive oil
grated zest of a lemon
1 heaped tbsp baby capers
a generous pinch of chilli flakes
freshly ground black pepper
olive oil for drizzling.

Method :

1.  Fill a large saucepan with water, add a pinch of salt and put on a high heat to boil.

2.  Cook the pasta according to pack instructions.  (Usually around 8-9 minutes).

3.  With around 3-4 minutes to go, add the beans and cook until tender (or until the pasta is done.  If you're dubious about timing these two correctly, just cook the beans in a separate pan).

4.  Into a bowl, tip the tuna (including the oil) and flake the fish gently.  Add the lemon zest, capers, chilli and a good helping of pepper.

5.  Drain the pasta and beans, return them to the pan and toss in the tuna mixture.  Stir gently to combine.  If the mixture is looking a little dry, add a drizzle or two of extra virgin olive oil.

Serve on warmed plates.

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Rose Prince's Piquant chicken liver pots

See those pickled onions? Home made by Hubby!

I've been browsing through Rose Prince's "Kitchenella" cookery book, which I borrowed from the Library recently.  It's an intriguing book in that virtually all the recipes are not only "do-able" (which is the mark of a good cook book, in my eyes) but they are also right up there on the "good for you" front, too.

Because we have a certain amount of health issues in our little family, believe it or not I do try to balance our meals and provide dishes that are not only tasty and look good, but aren't too terribly bad for us either.  Rose Prince's book has been a bit of an eye opener plus an education in providing meals that are largely good for you.  I think I'll have to include this one on my birthday list!

I've wanted to make a pate for quite some time, but have always backed away from the recipes because of the degree of butter, cream cheese or cream - or all of them - that the majority of recipes demand.  Rose Prince's version, Piquant chicken-liver pots, does indeed use butter - 2 tbsp of it in the cooking and then more to cover, but aside from that it's just flavours and aromatics.

I pondered on the recipe for a week or so and decided to ask at Spring Fields Butchers whether they could provide chicken livers.  It turns out that they can, but they're frozen.  Well, the only other chicken livers I'm aware of are from Asda and they were frozen too,  so I bought some from the butcher and hoped for the best.

Cooling - little did we know

I began by slicing up the shallots - and managed to cut the quick of my finger on the plastic mesh of the bag they were in.  So, once my finger had stopped leaking, I tackled the chicken livers.  To be honest, apart from the "ewww!" factor, I don't know why I worried about not bleeding everywhere, because by the time I had finished, the place looked like an abbatoir.  The livers, once defrosted, had degenerated into a big bloody bowl full of wet slops with the whole livers doing their very best to evade capture.  Trimming them of their gristle wasn't particularly difficult - and I put them into some milk to soak, just in case there was any bitterness threatening.  I'd rather forget the state of some of the livers - and I don't want to think about what happened to the poor chickens to make them look like that.  So it was a very gory time spent sorting, chopping and trying not to breathe too hard.

However, once they were in the milk they became a lot more agreeable to deal with and once the worktop, utensils and my hands had been washed clean, it was fairly easy to forget how gross the last 15 minutes had been.

So that you can see the texture, under the butter

The cooking really couldn't get any easier - although I did have to bubble the wine for a bit longer than it said in the book, as I was very wary of having too much liquid at the end of the cooking process.  Because of that, I threw the wine in before the livers were quite cooked through and they effectively fried and poached, which prevented them from getting tough and over-cooked.

Every individual ingredient that was added completely changed the character of the pate, until by the time it was headed towards the blender, I was seriously doubting whether it would be edible.  The wine had resulted in the blend taking on an odd grey hue which didn't help with its appeal.

The recipe says to decant the lot onto a chopping board and chop until the liquid had been absorbed, but knowing how easily tired my arms get, I opted to blitz the lot.  Of course, as it blitzed, it changed colour again and began to look rather more like pate.

As I decanted the mixture into its individual pots, I steeled myself to have a taste, knowing that with it being still warm, it wouldn't reflect exactly the end result - but it would be a good indication of the way it was going.  I had a lick of the spoon - and all doubts vanished.  It was flipping gorgeous.

You really wouldn't believe it of him, would you

I pushed the three pots to the back of the worktop (more to stop them from being knocked onto the floor, than anything else) and left them to cool.

Upon returning to them - much later - the one at the front of the group had had a huge scoop shape removed from it.  *shock horror*  I went and checked with hubby (who had commented earlier that "that pate smells like dog food!") and no, he wasn't responsible.  Son certainly wasn't responsible as he was in bed.  That left one person.  Mr Jonty long legs, long neck and long nose, who had obviously had his huge snout in the nearest pot.  Honestly, it is aeons since that dog has counter-surfed - and it made me wonder about the "dog food" comment!  So, son and heir had a cheese ploughman's, instead of pate.  It's just as well he was happy with that.

PIQUANT CHICKEN LIVER POTS (serves 3-4, depending on the size of your pots)

Ingredients :

2 tbsp butter
6 shallots, finely chopped
12 chicken livers, trimmed of gristly and left whole
6-7 anchovy fillets
2 tbsp capers, rinsed
1 wineglass red wine
sea salt & black pepper

For the herb butter :
4 tbsp salted butter, softened
2 tbsp finely chopped flat leaf parsley
1 tbsp finely chopped chives.

Method :

1.  Melt the butter over a medium heat, add the shallots and cook for around 5 minutes until pale gold and sweet.

2.  Add the chicken livers and cook, stirring, until just browned.

3.  Add the anchovies and capers and cook for a further minute, then add the wine.  Allow the wine to boil for around a minute or so, stirring all the time, then season to taste.

4.  Allow the contents to cool for a moment or two, then tip into a blender and blend until you are happy with the consistency.

5.  Fill pots with the mixture, packing it down inside and leaving at least 5mm space at the top.  Allow to cool completely.

6.  To make the herb butter, mix the butter, parsley and chives in a bowl and spread a little on top of each pot to seal in the mixture below.

7.  Cool the butter slightly to serve, or cover with cling film and refrigerate.  Remember to remove from the fridge a half an hour before serving, to allow the butter to soften.

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Pasta Puttanesca with Tuna - at last!

You may be wondering why the addition of "at last!" in the title there.

Well, you see, I was beginning to think that I'd never get the chance of making this 'ere pasta dish.  The last THREE times it has appeared on the menu list, it has been bumped off for one reason or another.  I was beginning to think it was cursed - or that hubby and son viewed its inclusion on the list with such trepidation that they were going to all kinds of lengths to avoid having it.

However, it turns out it was just unfortunate circumstance that brought about its loss from the menu lists and we successfully ate it for dinner a few nights ago.

Now you may also wonder about the addition of tuna to the recipe, as I know that a strict pasta puttanesca is largely vegetarian (if you forget about the anchovies).  The trouble is, that my boys (both large and small) are committed carnivores.  If the meal doesn't include meat of some kind - and fish is included under the heading of "meat" for this purpose - then it's not "dinner".

So, having come across Delia Smith's recipe for straight Pasta Puttanesca and liking the look of it very much, I immediately began to consider what meat I could include and how it would go.  Should it be included in the recipe, or the recipe used as a side dish to the meat?  I considered bacon, but we've already got a number of successful pasta dishes that use bacon and I'd rather use something else.  Then, the anchovies raised their delicious little heads, which got me to thinking tuna.  Having re-read the method, it seemed entirely logical to include a tin of tuna right at the end when the sauce is pretty much made.  That way, the tuna wouldn't be broken up too badly.

I have to admit that I tinkered around with Saint Delia's recipe something awful (shallot, red pepper, wine, fish sauce, ketchup .. the list goes on) - but then considering the scrumptious dish that resulted, I'm not of a mind to apologise for doing so!  I think I can safely say that this is the first dish I've made, that I've been actively aware of the Umami (the fifth taste sensation) involved.

PASTA PUTTANESCA WITH TUNA (feeds 3)


Ingredients :

350g spaghetti or linguine (more, if you are hungry!)
3 drops olive oil
1 pinch sea salt

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 shallot, chopped fine
1 red pepper, seeds removed and sliced small
2 cloves garlic, grated
2 tsp fresh basil, chopped
150ml red wine
50g anchovy fillets, drained
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
50g pitted black olives
1 tbsp capers, drained
400g tin cherry tomatoes
1 tsp sugar
tin of tuna in spring water, drained
pinch black pepper.

Method :


1.  To make the sauce, heat the oil gently in a medium saucepan then add the shallot and red pepper and cook them slowly until softened.


2.  Add the garlic and basil and cook for 1-2 minutes.  Then add the red wine and allow it to bubble until reduced by approximately half.  This should only take a few minutes.


3.  Add the anchovies, fish sauce, ketchup, olives, capers and tomatoes and season with black pepper.  Do not use salt, as you've already got salt in the form of the anchovies and fish sauce.


4. Turn the heat down to low and let the sauce simmer uncovered for some 40 minutes, stirring from time to time, by which time it will have reduced to a lovely thick mass with very little liquid left.  Taste for seasoning and add the sugar if the acidity is too much.


6.  Add the tuna and a little extra basil to the tomato sauce and stir gently to combine.  Allow it a minute or two to heat through sufficiently.


5. While the sauce is reducing, cook the spaghetti or linguine to manufacturer's instructions, except adding the three drops of olive oil and making sure the water is salted.  Drain the pasta when there is still a little bite left in it and return it to the pan.  Aim to have the pasta ready when the sauce is finished.



6.  Serve on warmed plates with plenty of grated parmesan cheese and garlic bread.

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