Experiment - Recipe: Isle of Man Queenies w/ Crispy Mackerel, Riceballs and Avocado & Courgette Salad

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab

Quite regularly I find that I haven’t made any real plan for dinner, and I have lots of bits left over to use up. Now sometimes you’re dead in the water and you know you’ve got to go get some core ingredients. But often there’s a bunch of leftovers that can be turned into something else. 

It’s probably worth accepting right from the start that these experiments aren’t always going to work out! That said you can usually get something edible . . . ahem, or not! I was pretty pleased with this one!

The afternoon I made this dish I happened to be reading Luiz Hara’s Nikkei Cuisine which is where the inspiration for the mayoneizu came from. I made it as close as I could to his recipe. (with what I had to hand that is - it has a couple of adaptions!!). I definitely recommend this book! As far as cookbooks go it’s a breath of fresh air! The recipes are a fabulous marriage of cultures (Japanese and South American), both of whom’s cuisine I love! 

I think on this particular occasion I had some left over tomato rice and some red pepper velouté from a roast pork dinner the evening before. A bit of smoked mackerel . . . this is what I made:

ingredients (serves 4)

for the rice balls (makes 20-30)

600g tomato rice (cumin, onion, tomato, arborio)

125g mozzarella (torn)

3 spring onion (chopped)

4 chestnut / white mushroom (diced, sautéed)

100g red pepper velouté (or red pepper soup)

180g cooked ham (diced)

10g mint (chopped)

egg (to coat)

milk (to coat)

bread crumbs (to coat)

for the courgette & avocado salad

1 avocado (diced)

2 courgette (shredded ~200g)

10g pickled ginger (chopped)

10g coriander (chopped)

10g mint (chopped)

1/2 lemon (juice & zest)

20g sugar 

20ml groundnut / vegetable oil

for the crispy mackerel 

2 sides smoked mackerel

oil for frying

for the scallops 

24 queen scallops 

butter

for the mayoneizu (makes ~400g)

400g mayo

5g dashi powder

2g smoked garlic

5g sugar

3g msg

5g mustard

1g salt

15g lemon juice (1/2 lemon)

for the spicy plum sauce

40g plum jam

20g chilli sauce

20g red wine vinegar (balance to taste)

for the garnish

1 spring onion (julienned)

rice balls (makes 20-30)

Prep all the ingredients. Heat the rice and mix all together until the mozzarella and all the rest of the ingredients are evenly distributed.

Allow the mix to cool so it’s firm and not to hot to handle.

Spoon the mix into balls then dust them in flour, egg and bread crumbs. 

Fry at 180C until golden brown. (about 2 mins)

spicy plum sauce

Mix the ingredients, simmer until sauce is smooth!! Job done!

courgette & avocado salad

Peel the courgette so that there’s no green left to minimise the bitter flavour from the skin, then julienne them.

Fine dice the avocado and mix it with a little lemon juice to stop it oxidising.

Create a dressing from the coriander, mint, remaining lemon, sugar and groundnut oil, and mix with the avocado & courgette.

crispy mackerel 

Using a sharp knife cut along the centre of the fillet, each side of the line of bones and remove them.

Repeat for each fillet.

Place skin side down in a frying pan on a medium high heat until the skin is crispy.

for the scallops 

A friend gave me a bag of ‘Manx Queenies’ from the Isle of Man. No complaints there!

They’re quite small so they need to be dried and cooked quickly on a high heat to brown them with out overcooking them!

Pat the scallops dry with kitchen towel.

Add oil and a knob of butter to a hot heavy based pan.

As it’s about to start smoking, add the queenies. Turn once after they’ve browned to brown the other side.

Serve immediately. (In other words cook these last!)

mayoneizu (makes 600g)

Dissolve the msg in the lemon before mixing into the mayo, if not you’ll get undissolved crystals in the sauce.

Mix the rest of the ingredients together with a whisk and leave for at least two hours for the flavours to develop.

to serve

Assemble as you se fit it is after all an experiment with leftovers!! 

(No disrespect to the Manx Queenies, they were burning a hole in my fridge! I had to use them for something!! : )

Recipe: Scallops and Oyster Mushroom in Cava w/ Crunchy Potatoes - Celebrating the Potato

This isn't a roastie it's a fondant (melts in the mouth) potato : )

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab

WIth all these fad diets sweeping the nation many of which remove the lovely carb element from the menu it would seem that everyone  has turned their back on the humble potato!!! In retaliation Jean Christophe Novelli has set up a competition to celebrate the potato. So I spent a little time today looking into this and blimey it's a versatile beasty indeed!

The potato is a fantastic vehicle for flavour and a great conveyor of slow release energy, and it's prepared in soooo many ways I couldn't cover them all in detail here, but I'm going to try at least skim over them.

There are a few things that have a bearing on the outcome of a culinary potato adventure. These might seem obvious but how the potato is cut has a huge effect: it alters the crunchiness, how quickly it cooks and has an impact on texture. Of course, another element that's very important to take in to account is the type of potato, and whether it has a waxy or floury flesh. This also affects the texture and in turn what the potato should be used for. Incidentally, there's a great list of potato qualities here (loads of potato varieties!), but in general use floury types for baked, mash and roasties, and waxier varieties for boiled, fried, and salads.

Quick comment on roasties….

What would life be without these nuggets of beauty? I can't remember the number of Sundays that I've sat down with family or friends for a fab roast dinner and a couple of pints or a glass of wine. What a brilliant combo. The problem is you get a rubbish roastie - waiting for hours in a baking tray hoping it might retain it's glory - as often as you get a good one! Sad times!

There's no excuse. Make sure your potato is cooked (boiled), then roughly mix with fat, (I use olive oil but goose fat is popular) salt and  pepper. Put them into a hot oiled baking tray so they sizzle when they hit the tray. Put 'em in at 180C and turn only when the bottoms are crunchy!! Wait till the new bottom is crunchy! Job done.

Scallops and Oyster Mushroom in Cava w/ Crunchy Potatoes

INGREDIENTS

6 scallops

200g mixed mushrooms including oyster (chopped)

150ml cava

25g butter

6 cloves of garlic

6 olives (quartered)

5 medium potatoes floury (peeled and chopped)

little oregano or thyme

15g parsley.

METHOD

Cook the garlic on a low heat in olive oil until completely soft.

Boil potatoes and then cut them up, or vice versa!

. . . and smash them . . .

. . . then sit them in a heavy based pan on a medium heat and leave to brown . . .

In another pan add the butter, heat until brown then add the mushrooms sweat them off.

Once they've lost most of their water add the cava.

Make sure you turn the potatoes so they brown on both sides.

At this point the scallops can be added to the potatoes.

And if you're feeling a bit naughty add a little cream! Tut tut!!

Once the scallops are done, add the mushrooms, olives and herbs. Mix and serve.

I was feeling virtuous so I added leaks cooked in chicken stock.

You can also celebrate the potato with these inexpensive and very tasty recipes:

-   Celeriac & Potato Rosti

-   Patatas a lo Pobre - Cheap and tasty comfort food

-   Arroz al Horno (Baked Rice)

-   Ensaladilla Rusa (Russian Salad / Salad Olivier)