Recipe: Sustainable White Fish Ceviche w/ Edamame (or Sugar Snaps)

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab

Ceviche is a great way to eat fresh fish, and in a time when sustainable harvesting habits are important, this technique and its flavours lend themselves very well to sustainable fish stocks. Ceviche has it's roots in Peruvian cuisine. For this dish I've taken a little Asian influenced cuisine too!

If you can't fine edamame, sugar snaps go well too!

ingredients (serves 6-8)

Whack the stone with a knife.

for the white fish ceviche  

1 lemons (juice & zest)

2 limes (juice)

100g coconut cream

1/2 thumb of ginger (peeled & finely grated)

15g chives (finely chopped)

15g coriander (torn)

350g white fish 1cm dice (pollock, river cobbler, bream, pouting or a mix)

1 avocado peeled, small dice (spray with lemon juice to stop oxidation)

1 tbsp fish sauce (season to taste)

for the edamame

500g edamame

smoked salt flakes (Maldon salt )

for the garnish

fennel fronds for garnish 

and some of the chives (or garlic chives if you can get them - supermarket)

Turn the knife to loosen & remove the stone.

method

ceviche

Prepare the ingredients. See ginger tip what could go wrong?

Mix the fish cubes in with the chopped herbs, store in a sealed container in the fridge for 2 hrs at least.

Infuse the coconut cream with the ginger in a pot: bring to boil then simmer. Reduce the mix by at least a 1/4. (A creamy consistency is required since the sauce loosens considerably when the fish and lime are mixed in.) Leave rest off the heat until required.

As your last guest arrives ceviche the fish with citrus 

Cut a grid into the avocado.

for 20min (15 - 45mins is fine).

edamame

Drop the edamame (shell on) into a pot of salted boiling water for 4 minutes.

Drain in a colander, and put into a bowl of cold water (so they retain their colour). Put aside until needed.

thinking ahead

Prepare all the ingredients but don't combine until your last guests arrives or not too long before otherwise the fish will be white all the way through instead of having a gorgeous translucent centre.

The edamame can be cooked early, refreshed and stored in the fridge.  Then heated in boiling water for 1 minute to serve hot when needed.

what could go wrong? (TIPS)

After peeling my ginger, only half of it is left!

And push out the pieces . . simple.

TIP: Try peeling ginger with a spoon, I know what your thinking but it works really well! Turn the spoon upside down and scrape it along the surface of the ginger - the skin will come away with very little effort, and very little waste!

My avocados look rank! 

TIP: coat them in a little lemon juice after you've cut them up to stop them oxidising.

My fish is cooked all the way through! 

TIP: Don't make the pieces too small, they will cook faster in the lime juice, and don't leave them in the lime for more than 45mins.

to serve

Add the edamame to some boiling water for 1 minute then drain through a colander, serve in a large bowl and sprinkle with smoked salt.

Drain the lime from fish and mix it with the coconut sauce and avocados, season with lime juice, and fish sauce to taste.

Place the ceviche into serving bowls, garnish with chives and fennel fronds, serve with chopsticks and a spoon. (that should entertain!)

techniques used

Ceviche, refreshing, peeling ginger

Recipe - Classic: Steak / Beef and Onion Pie (or Oxtail & Prune Pie w/ Red Cabbage)

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab




OK I'm going to have a rant for a moment. Something I've often been presented with when ordering a pie is some kind of china bowl or ramekin with a bit of pastry almost hovering on top, as if they had been combined by accident, having nothing to do with each other. It's as if a bowl of stew was being stalked by a bit of pastry that always wanted to be a pie but somehow never made the grade. As far as I'm concerned, if it doesn't have a pastry bottom it isn't a pie! (Ahem . . . . . with the small exception of my Christmas left over turkey pie!! That doesn't count - it's Christmas and it's left overs!!)

Anyway rant over . . . . .  and thoughts turn to PIE! Can't beat a good pie! Even better if it's got a bottom!! Not a soggy bottom, mind you, we can't be doing with that!!

 







ingredients (makes 2 pies)
for the oxtail & prune pureé filling
2.5kg oxtail
750g (10) med onions (peeled & cut into 6ths)
100ml extra virgin olive oil
20g thyme (bouquet garni)
8 cloves garlic (cut into 1/4s lengthways)
750ml red wine
20 prunes (pitted)
3L chicken stock
plain flour for dusting
cinnamon powder

for the pie case
2x 375g puff pastry (want to make your own? here's how)
1 egg (beaten)
splash milk

for the red cabbage & beetroot
600g red cabbage (sliced)
2 beetroots (peeled, then 1 cm cubes)
300ml water
600ml tawny port
50g salted butter (small cubes)

special equipment
rubber gloves for beetroot
stick blender
2x 23cm loose bottomed tin (circular)
 

oxtail & prune pureé filling
Trim all the excess fat off the larger pieces of oxtail.
Season and coat the oxtail in flour and fry off in a pan until golden brown, then add to the boiling pot.
Oxtail usually comes held together with a piece of butcher's string.
You can use this to make a bouquet garni with the thyme: take the thyme, fold it in half, tie it with the string and add it to the pot.Add the onions, prunes, red wine, garlic, extra virgin olive oil and pour in enough chicken stock to cover the meat by 1cm.
Bring to the boil and then turn the heat down to a simmer, leaving the lid off.
Top up with chicken stock occasionally to keep the water level above the meat.

The oxtail should be ready after about 2.5 hours. When it is, remove it with a slotted spoon into a tray and pick the meat off the bone, it should fall away with very little effort.

Remove the bouquet garni and dispose of it. Pass the stock through a sieve and return it to the pot, reduce until it is a thick sauce.
Once reduced, return the contents of the sieve and the picked oxtail to the sauce. Mix it together. That's the pie filling ready.


pie casing
Rub the pie tin with a little oil or butter so the pastry doesn't stick to it.
Line the tin with pastry - this is the base - then using a brush, paint the pastry with beaten egg. This water proofs your base so when you fill it you don't end up with a soggy bottom - no body want a soggy bottom! Now you could cover the pastry with oven proof paper and fill it with dry beans and blind bake it. or you can, as you can see from the pics, chuck it directly into the oven and bake it as is. 200C for 15mins. 15 minutes is enough to seal the pastry with egg and almost completely cook it.

assembly
Once the base is out of the oven, fill it with the (hot) spectacularly tasty filling. Add a splash of milk to the beaten egg and whisk it in, then brush around the edges of the pastry - so the top sticks to it. Place the pastry top on and trim it with a pair of scissors.
Throw it back into the oven 200C for 20mins.

red cabbage & beetroot in port reduction
Add the cabbage and the water to a pot with a lid and bring to the boil.
After 3 mins add the beetroot cubes and replace the lid.

After 2 mins more remove the lid and allow the liquid to evaporate until there is almost none left.
In a separate small pot (without a lid) bring the port to the boil and reduce by 3/4 to 150ml.
 



what could go wrong? (TIPS)
My reduction burnt! TIP: Watch anything you are reducing like a hawk. To begin with, it will seem like it will never reduce, but the more it reduces the faster it goes, and it will evaporate completely and burn if you don't keep an eye on it in the final stages!

I burnt my kitchen down! TIP: When reducing alcoholic liquids, be careful. Always keep the lid at hand so that if they catch fire, you can simply put the lid on to put it out. (or let it burn off carefully!)


to serve
Turn out the pie! Easy way to do this is to put the loose bottomed tin onto a tuna tin (better be line caught and not blue fin tuna!) and gently push down the rim of the tin revealing the fabulous pie . . . chef bursts into song with pride, and does a quick victory dance!! Cut up and serve immediately with some cabbage and beetroot!



thinking ahead
You can make the cabbage in the afternoon, and reheat it in minutes when you need it.

Recipe: Cambodian Seared Beef Salad with Lime, Coriander & Peanuts served with Chips (AKA Steak, Chips & Peas)

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab

This recipe is inspired by my travels in Cambodia. I can't claim to be able to get hold of any prahoc, but I can claim to have been exposed to a serene culture, with an amazing and, frankly, dark past. I have mixed memories of land mine museums, electric bicycles, and the most friendly population I've ever encountered on my travels. Recovering from a pretty grim past I found the Cambodian people really welcoming. What to see? Jungle, elephants, amazing stonework sculpture and temples.

We'll take you to the floating village - come with us!! - Little monkeys!

Angkor Wat popping out of the jungle - although I didn't know it at the time, this was to be one of the happiest holidays of my life!

That's an elephant's arse!! How did that get in there?

 

I have to be honest - the food in Cambodia was a pretty hit and miss thing! This one sticks in my memory, I tried to get the recipe from the chef, a little old Cambodian woman, but it was a hopeless task since we had no common language (except food) whatsoever. I had to do a little research to get it right, but it's pretty faithful! It's mostly about the sauce, great depth!

Just look at that, what a stunning view!

Prahoc is a fermented fish paste, made from mudfish & gourami, amongst other things. It is widely used in Khmer cuisine. Try finding that in the supermarket!! Tuk prahoc is a liquid made by adding prahoc to boiling water and leaving over night

I've used shrimp paste instead of prahoc, and in the photos some leftover ribeye roast beef. I used sirloin steak last time I made it for supper club. This is a gorgeous recipe, great summer food!

You can use whichever steak you prefer, for this salad, my preference is sirloin or ribeye.

ingredients (serves 4)
for the salad and chips
750g sirloin - seared and thinly sliced - raw in the middle
400g sugar snap peas (julienne - diagonal)
800g Maris Piper potatoes 

From bottom CW: garlic, shrimp paste, lime, palm sugar & lemon grass. Got everything but the shallot!!!

for the sauce

2 lemon grass (blended)
2 shallots (blended)
2 cloves garlic (blended)
50g palm sugar (blended)
3 limes (juiced)
3.5g shrimp paste (+50ml boiling water)

for the garnish
2 birdseye chilli (fine sliced rings)
15g coriander (chopped coarse, stalks ok)
70g peanuts (coarsely ground)
sprinkling of garlic chives (optional)

apparatus
heavy based pan
fine sieve

beef salad and chips
Cut up the sugar snaps in long diagonal strips, take off any tough stalky bits, of which there should be very few, and place them in a salad bowl ready to mix. Use your favourite method to make chips, I'd suggest a 10mm square cross section, the rest I'm leaving for another post! Put them somewhere where they will keep warm in a tray lined with kitchen towel.

Chips glorious chips . . . hot chocolate and biscuits?

For the photography, I used some leftover roast ribeye of beef and pan seared it. Very, very nice! (Video of how to roast ribeye coming soon) If using sirloin, remove the fat and cut it into 1.5cm (1/2 inch) steaks, and marinate them in a little of the sauce for a couple of hours.  Bring the meat to room temp before cooking: this way it's not cold in the middle after searing. Cooking the steak should be the last thing you do! When you're ready, bring a heavy-based pan up to a high heat, pop a glug of olive oil in with the steaks, make sure they're coated with it, season lightly and put in the pan. Turn them a couple of times, once they're golden brown it's time to whip 'em out.  Slice thinly across the grain, and serve immediately! The thinner you slice the faster the meat will go cold, so not too thin! Think of that gorgeous, steamy, beefy goodness!!

sauce (overnight infusion - or first thing in the am)
Bring the water to the boil in a pan and add the shrimp paste. Stir until dissolved, then leave to cool.
Once cool, add the sugar and dissolve.  Blend the rest of the ingredients and add them, then leave the mix in the fridge overnight. In the morning sieve the mix. It's now ready to use.

garnish

Now that's and explosion of flavours, sharp and light!

Personally, I don't mind a few chilli seeds in my salad. If you're not of that persuasion, cut the stalk end of the chilli off at it's widest point, roll it between your index finger and thumb to release the seeds, then slice it into rings.
Coarsely chop the peanuts with a knife or with a couple of pulses of your blender. Do not powder them! They contribute a great texture and flavour, if there are quarter peanut-sized lumps in there that's great!!
The coriander is fine torn by hand, stalks and all!!

thinking ahead
Make the sauce the night before, so those flavours really infuse with each other.

to serve
Place the steak on a bed of peas, dress with coriander, chilli and peanuts and sauce serve with bowl of chips (making sure your plates are hot!)

Thank you Cambodia!