Recipe development in action : Smoked Haddock Chowder

It had been some months since I last cooked my Smoked Haddock Chowder.  Now I wouldn't go so far as to say that I'd forgotten how to do it, but I definitely needed to have a look at the recipe on Rhubarb & Ginger here.

A quick squizz down the recipe reminded me of how it went, what the ingredients were and I was away.  Or so I thought.

It is amazing how, when you've been cooking something for long enough that you don't need the recipe to follow, how you can often develop that recipe just because you're not restricted by following the steps!

I suddenly found myself creating what was the same soup, but in a significantly quicker and less involved way - and without the butter!  All of which resulted in a slightly healthier, delicious end product with no adverse effects from the new method.

I also left out the frozen peas, as I felt that they added a certain amount of unwanted water to the mix.

So, in order that I don't forget what I did (which is always possible) and to pass on to you this new, quicker, way of creating what has become a family favourite - here's how it goes!

January 2019 and here's the latest incarnation of this recipe.  Yum.

SMOKED HADDOCK CHOWDER  (serves 4)

Ingredients :

a small glug of rapeseed oil
3 rashers of streaky bacon, fat removed as much as possible and chopped finely
1 onion, finely chopped
1 medium potato, peeled and cut into 1cm dice
1 leek, quartered, then sliced finely
2 pints full cream milk
200ml fish stock (I used Essential Cuisine fish stock powder, mixed with hot water)
a generous pinch of cayenne pepper
freshly ground black pepper to taste
3 tbsp plain flour
140g tin of sweetcorn
500g smoked haddock fillets, skin removed and cut into large chunks
sea salt to taste
2 tbsp finely chopped parsley.

Method :

In a large, deep saucepan, gently heat the rapeseed oil and add the bacon pieces.  Fry until the bacon is cooked through, but not crispy.

Add the onion and potato and continue to fry until the onion is transparent and the potato is beginning to take on colour.

Add the leeks and continue to cook until softened.

Place the flour into a small bowl and wet it down with as little of the milk as it takes to achieve a wet, lump-free paste.

To the pan, add the stock, cover the pan and bring to a lively simmer.  Cook on until the potato is cooked through and the leek is tender.  Add almost all the remainder of the milk (leave around 2-300ml), the cayenne and black peppers plus the sweetcorn.  Before heating through, add the flour paste and stir through.

Increase the heat under the pan and, continuing to stir, heat until the soup has thickened significantly and is simmering nicely.  You can add a little more milk as the soup thickens, if you feel it is required.  You can't leave the soup from this stage, without removing it from the heat, or you'll find it stick and burn at the bottom of the pan.  So watch it like a hawk and stir, stir, stir!

Once the soup is the consistency you want, taste for seasoning (remembering that the fish will add salt) and adjust if necessary.

Stir through one tablespoonful of the chopped parsley and add the chunks of fish.  Reduce the heat to a minimum.  From henceforth in, stir very gently, so as not to break the fish too badly.  Allow to cook for another 3-4 minutes and test your fish chunks.  Once they fall apart and are done, you are ready to serve.

Sprinkle each bowlful with a little of the remaining parsley and serve with warm crusty buttered rolls.

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Cauliflower Cheese : making my mouth water!

You know what the best thing is? I've got half left for tomorrow!

You know how I said that hubby would be making a Vegetable curry on Monday?  Well, I was beset by a sudden raving lust for Sweet 'n' Sour Pork Balls whilst at work on Monday and, as a result, we wound up having a Chinese Takeaway.

Very nice it was, too!  We tried out "Canton" in the Ashley Road, Upper Parkstone, for the first time and apart from their getting Son & heir's rice wrong (should have been fried, instead he got steamed) which wasn't a critical error, everything was blinking gorgeous - especially the Beef Rendang.  I think we'll be going back there again!

So.  That left a whole cauliflower sitting in the fridge, looking all sad and unloved, without a curry home to go to.  Now I have added a curry to the menu list for this week (see next blog post!) but its ingredients aren't best palled up with cauliflower, so that wasn't any good.

Neither hubby nor son & heir will countenance cauliflower outside of a curry, so it's not even as though I can just include it in the vegetable rota.  So, there it sat, looking increasingly forlorn.

Fast forward to my sitting in the car waiting for hubby to return from the Dry Cleaners, when a huge great Cauliflower Cheese thought hit me.

Now I absolutely adore Cauliflower Cheese and will happily eat one for breakfast, given the chance.  Hubby and son, see above comment about not countenancing.  However, what I did know was that hubby was keen to try making a roux-based sauce, so that he can be armed and dangerous with regard to making a Lasagne, or even a Moussaka.  I am finding that, these days, I just don't have the legs to be able to cope with the amount of time that they take to prepare and so we haven't had one for ages.

I put the suggestion to hubby upon his return and he was keen for the Masterclass.  So, just before lunchtime today, we made a joint effort of a Cauliflower Cheese - and boy, was it good.  In fact, my mouth is watering at the very memory - as it did a moment ago when I sorted out the photographs for this blog post.  God, it was good.

I dug everything necessary out when I was putting the shopping into the fridge and we got started.

All ready to go in the oven

I began by removing all the green leaves from the cauliflower (well, all the gnarly ones, anyway!) and cut it into quarters, then into bite-sized florets.

Next, we par-boiled the cauliflower for around 3-5 minutes (and five sticks of Tenderstem Broccoli, which also needed a home to go to, had 2 minutes), then drained and placed in the oven dish.

In the meantime, hubby had got started with the sauce.  He firstly melted the butter, then added the flour and stirred while it cooked gently until it had lost its sandiness and was feeling smooth.

Next, he began adding the milk, a little at a time.  We used full cream in this instance, as hubby had inadvertently picked up a pint of it instead of our normal semi-skimmed, the previous day.  He began stirring with a wooden spoon, but soon swapped to a hand whisk to ensure no lumps survived.  Once the sauce had bubbled (just a simmer, no frantic boiling) and thickened, he added loads of black pepper, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard and a tablespoon or so of double cream.  He mixed that all in and allowed it to thicken some more.


Next, we added the grated cheddar cheese and allowed it to melt into the sauce.  Then we tasted and added a little salt.  It's important not to add salt until after you have added your cheese, just in case the cheese is terribly salty!


If you find that your sauce is too thick at this stage, it is easy to stir in a little additional milk.  Far easier to do it that way, than to try thickening it!


In fact, hubby's sauce was absolutely perfect for the job and it poured over the cauliflower in ribbons of thick cheesy loveliness.  I topped off the dish with a handful or two of breadcrumbs taken from my favourite bloomer loaf, and a grating of Grana Padano cheese - just because I could.


Then, it went into the oven for some 25 minutes or so, before devouring half of it for lunch.  Hubby and son & heir both tried a piece of cauliflower and decreed it to be "not half bad!" - which was what I'd been trying to tell them for years.

I was chuffed to bits with my "leftovers lunch" - and pleased for hubby that his first go at a roux-based sauce came out so well.


We've agreed that I'll make a Cauliflower Cheese the next time we have a piece of roast bacon for Sunday lunch - which is quite something, for two cauliflower-phobes!  It really makes you wonder why we're growing dozens of the flipping things out there in our vegetable patch!


CAULIFLOWER CHEESE (feeds 2 for lunch or 3-4 as a side dish)


Ingredients :


1 cauliflower head, cut into same-sized pieces

25g of butter
3 tbsp of plain flour
1 pint of milk
freshly ground black pepper or
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp double cream
150-200g Mature Cheddar cheese, grated
sea salt
a handful of breadcrumbs
enough Grana Padano, or Parmesan, or Cheddar, to grate over.

Method : 

1.  Place a saucepan of salted water on to boil and pre-heat the oven to 220deg C/180deg fan/gas 4.

2.  Remove all the green leaves from the cauliflower and cut it into quarters, then into same-sized florets and once the water has boiled, par-boil the cauliflower for around 3-5 minutes, then drain and place in a deep oven dish.

3.  In a small saucepan, melt the butter, then add the flour and stir while it cooks gently until it had lost its sandiness and is feeling smooth - around 2-3 minutes.


4.  Begin adding the milk to the butter/flour mixture, a little at a time.  Make sure to stir like crazy, so that no lumps survive.  The sauce will begin to thicken and once your favoured thickness has been achieved, stop adding the milk unless it thickens further and you need to let it down a little.

5.  Once the sauce had bubbled (just a simmer, no frantic boiling) and thickened, add black pepper to taste, the Dijon mustard and double cream and stir to combine.


6.  Next, add the grated cheese and allow it to melt into the sauce.  Check for seasoning and add a little salt if necessary.  If you find that your sauce is too thick at this stage, stir in a little additional milk.


7.  Pour the cheese sauce over the cauliflower, taking care to cover each floret.  Then sprinkle the breadcrumbs over and finish with some grated cheese of your choice.


8.  Place into the oven for some 25 minutes or so, until browned on top and bubbling.


9.  Serve whilst still piping hot.


Gorgeous!

Honeycomb Mould : a light and delicious dessert mouthful

Not my photograph : borrowed from t'internet

Honeycomb Mould was a long-lost dessert from my childhood.  I can remember my Mum making it to go with our dinner on Sunday.  She would rope me in to help and I can remember doing a lot of stirring and making sure nothing boiled over.

Although I could remember the dessert, I couldn't really remember what it tasted like.  All I knew was that I liked it - I remember that much!

So when I tripped over a recipe for Lemon Honeycomb Mould, of course it had to be done.

Regrettably, I don't have a photograph of the end result.  This is largely because we were all too keen to eat it and I plain old forgot, but also it is because it didn't look terribly pretty as I don't have a jelly mould (yet) in which to put it.  Consequently, it was made in a Pyrex pudding basin - which left something to be desired where the aesthetics were concerned!

The moment I took the first taste, the flavour brought sensory memories rushing back.  All of a sudden, I was 12 again.  I was also surprised at its delicacy and creaminess, considering there is no cream other than that contained in the milk.  The texture is deliciously foamy and light - and we all came back for second helpings.

This is definitely a dessert that will feature in my son's memories of "dinners with Mum & Dad".  :) 

26 July 2015 : Well, time has slipped past without my making another of these gorgeous desserts.  However, my Mum was coming over for dinner at the weekend and I thought it would be nice to give her a little bit of dessert nostalgia.  I even remembered to take a photograph. 

She loved it.  In fact, we all liked it - even my hubby who can be quite sensitive to the textures of food.  He liked the light and airy nature of the dessert and particularly liked the contrast between the fluffy honeycomb part and the more lemony jelly part.  It certainly does stand the test of time, this recipe!

HONEYCOMB MOULD 

Ingredients :

600 ml full fat milk (I used Jersey milk)

zest of 1 lemon, half thinly pared, half finely grated

4.5 sheets of leaf gelatine

2 eggs, separated

40g caster sugar

2 tbsp runny honey.

Method :

Pour the milk into a saucepan and add the lemon zest.  Heat the milk in the pan on a low heat until it is steaming hot, but not boiling.  Remove from the heat, cover and leave to infuse for 10 minutes.

Place the gelatine sheets into a bowl of cold water, to soften.

Lightly whisk the egg yolks, sugar and honey together in a bowl until pale in colour.

Remove the pared lemon zest from the milk and reheat the milk to boiling point. 

Slowly pour the milk into the egg yolk mixture, whisking all the time.  Return the mixture to the pan, pick up the gelatine from the water, allow the worst of the water to drip off and add to the custard mix, discarding the water.  Cook the custard over a low heat, stirring continuously, until lightly thickened.

Allow the custard to cool, stirring frequently to prevent a skin forming.  (A good way is to put some cold water into the sink and stand the saucepan in it).

Whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl until they stand in stiff peaks, then gently fold them into the custard.

Pour the mixture into a wetted 1 litre mould.  Chill in the fridge overnight until set.

To turn out the honeycomb mould, quickly dip the mould, right up to the rim, in a bowl of hot water.  Place a serving plate on top then invert the mould and the plate together, giving the mould a sharp tap.  Grate a small amount of lemon zest over, to decorate.

Chill until ready to serve.

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