Tea Smoked Salmon

A while ago I was watching my favourite food channels and I stumbled across the New Zealand cook Annabel Langbein “The Free Range Cook” series, in on episode she tea smoked a side of salmon in a tinfoil lined wok. I really fancied giving this a go, so started off experimenting. She used a whiskey, brown sugar and salt cure before tea smoking, I just used salt and brown sugar and cured lightly for an hour.

I’d cooked this but not got around to posting this, but the wonderful recent blog post by Ms Marmite Lover  reminded me that i’d done the tea smoking, along with a question from JamieOTT about my home smoked trout. 

“What smokers do you recommend for novice smokers who live in an apt in a city? I definitely want to try smoked salmon but I don’t want to spend too much money…”

So here we go.

Line a wok with a layer of tinfoil so that you don’t ruin your wok, and then pop a handful of long grain rice, a handful of demerera sugar and a handful of loose leaf tea, I like Lapsang for an extra smokiness, but most teas will work well. 

I then popped another layer of foil over this, but using the tip of a knife popped a few small holes in the foil to let the smoke through. Then lightly oil the skin side of the cured salmon and place on the foil.

Pop the lid on and turn the heat on to medium for a couple of minutes until smoke starts appearing.

Once the smoke starts appearing turn the heat to low for 10 minutes and turn off the heat, leave for about 10 minutes allowing the smoke to absorb into the fish. The fish should be perfectly cooked at this point. Make sure you lift the lid off outside if you have sensitive smoke alarms!

The fish can then be enjoyed as is with a nice salad, flaked into creamy pasta or a nice risotto.

Simply Baked Apples

Here’s a nice simple warming pudding for this time of year, we’ve been blessed with an abundance of Bramleys, which are perfect, though quickly turn into a lovely fluffy mess if you overcook, or if you have available one of the other lovely cookers, such as Orleans Reinette use them, but just about any apple will be delicious.

Baked Apples

1 apple per person, and for each apple the following ingredients

1 tsp unsalted butter

1 tbsp soft brown or muscovado sugar

1 tbsp dried cranberries or raisins

1 tsp orange zest

a pinch of mixed spice

and a walnut half

Multiply the above for however many apples you use. Mix together all the ingredients except the walnut.

Scoop out the core of the apple using a thin knife, leaving the base of the apple in tact, this helps prevent the contents leaking straight out, and then score a line around the outside of the apple 2/3rds of the way up, this stops the apple exploding!

Fill the hole in the apple with the mix, to with the walnut half and sprinkle with some more sugar.

Bake in a preheated oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4 for 30/35  minutes until the apple is cooked and the top is starting to caramelise, serve with cream/ice cream/clotted cream (or if you’re being healthy low fat greek yoghurt).

Cider dressed Pulled Pork Bap

When feeding a big group of people for an event such as a bonfire party this time of year, it’s so much easier to put together a big dish of food that people can get stuck into, usually I go for a chilli ( I put together a 3 bean chilli too as it happens) but fancied something a bit different this year for the carnivores.

This is a Steven Raichlen inspired pulled pork, that went down a treat with everyone before the fireworks display.

Cider dressed Pulled Pork Bap

Make up a dry rub by blitzing in a gringer or pestle and mortar the following.

1 ancho poblano or chipotle chilli

2 tbsps english mustard powder

2 tbsps smoked paprika

2 tsps smoked sea salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Rub this into your bone in shoulder of pork and leave to marinate covered in a bowl in the fridge for at least 12 hours.

Set your oven or hot smoker for 120 deg C and pop in your meat for 6+ hours until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 85 deg C. Leave to rest for 20 mins to cool slightly. Then remove the skin which can be popped into a hot oven 200 deg C for 5-10 mins to crisp up the crackling. Using 2 forks shred the pork into long strands and cover with foil.

Prepare a cider sauce, with the following ingredients in a small pan.

100ml cider

100ml cider vinegar

2 tbps brown sugar

1 tsp salt

good grind of black pepper

2 tbsps tomato ketchup

1 tbsp english mustard

Warm this slightly so the sugar dissolves and then drizzle over the pork, mix together and add the crispy chopped up crackling. Serve in a floury white bap with homemade coleslaw and BBQ sauce. Delicious! 

 

Devon Fried Pheasant

After a recent posting on the wonderful “Cooking in Sens” blog http://cookinginsens.wordpress.com/2011/11/06/deep-fried-quail-with-hoisin-dipping-sauce/ deep frying game birds looks a good thing to try, and as it’s well and truly pheasant season here in Devon, there’s a plethora of birds around. I wanted to try something that was family friendly (my wife is not a massive game fan) I thought i’d try a southern fried style meal, I felt the pheasant would give a tasty meat for this, and the breast and thigh were delicious tasty and tender, though some of the leg meat had a few tough bits, but this is what you excpect from a wild bird

Devon Fried Pheasant

Aim for a whole pheasant per person, if it’s been plucked then keep the skin on, if not then it’s ok to use skinless birds, as mine were.

Joint out the pheasants as per my chicken jointing post https://countrywoodsmoke.wordpress.com/2011/10/14/the-chicken-challenge/ and divide each breast into goujons.

Cover with water with a bay leaf, a couple of juniper berries and a couple of whole black peppers, a stick of celery, an onion halved and a chopped carrot. Simmer this of a medium heat until the meat is cooked through, mine took 15 mins. Take out the pheasant meat and set aside to cool, the liquid can then be strained and used as a wonderful alternative to chicken stock.

Set some hot oil to 180 deg C in a deep pan or deep fat fryer.

Have 2 bowls set up with 200ml of milk in one, and 200g seasoned flour, (11 herbs and spices if you know the secret recipe) I used 2 teaspoons cajun seasoning “Slap Ya Mamma” to be precise, a tspn devonshire smoked sea salt http://www.devonshire-gourmetsalts.co.uk/view-our-salts.php a tspn of smoked paprika and a good grind of freshly ground black pepper.

You need to double dip the meat, firstly into the flour, then into the milk before back into the flour, this will give a nice thick crispy coating.

In batches pop the coated meat into the hot oil until the coating is brown and crunchy 8 minutes roughly for mine. Keep the cooked meat in a warm oven until all the meat is cooked.

The Devon Fried Pheasant was served with a home made red cabbage coleslaw and fluffy on the inside crispy on the outside twice cooked chips, and enjoyed with a cold cider.

Venison stew with cheesy dumplings.

As winter starts getting it’s claws into us, we need something nice and hearty that will stick our ribs together. This meal will certainly do that, although if you don’t have a ready supply of venison, then some lovely beef shin will work a treat.

Vension stew with cheesy dumplings.

Toss a kilo of  diced venison in some seasoned flour, and then heat some rapeseed oil in a large casserole on a high heat until starting to caramelise, add 2 finely chopped onions, 2 chopped carrots, and a couple of chopped celery sticks, and a finely chopped clove of garlic, 10 crushed juniper berries (these go great with game especially venison), some chopped herbs, rosemary and thyme are the best, a good splash of red wine, and pop the lid on until everything softens for a few minutes.

Take the lid off and turn the heat to medium and cook for another 10 minutes, add a couple of litres of good beef stock, pop the lid on and turn to a low heat to simmer for 3/4 hours, adding water if the stew becomes too dry.

The meat should be so soft and falling apart, so taste and season as required, I like to use smoked sea salt and pepper and another clove or two of garlic.

The dumplings are no-suet dumplings from Sara Ravens inspiring Food for Friends and Family book.

Sift 200g plain flour with 2 teaspoons baking powder in a large bowl, add 4 tablespoons grated parmesan, a pinch of ground cloves and allspice, 2 tabblespoons chopped chives, a couple of pinches of salt and a pinch a black pepper, a beaten egg, and slowly mix in 120ml of milk. Using wet hands to stop the dough sticking gently form 12 balls.

Pop the dumplings on top of the stew and put the stew into a 180 deg C oven covered for 5 mins, before taking the lid off to allow the dumplings to brown for 10 mins.

Scatter the stew with chopped flat leaf parsley, and serve with mash, some steamed kale, and chunks of good bread and butter.

Enjoyed with a nice bottle of Chilean Carmenere.

Fusilli with confused broccoli

As i’m sure you’ve all noticed, the seasons have been very confused this year, with a really warm spell in early October, the purple sprouting broccoli (PSB) doesn’t really know if it’s coming or going. It usually flowers (the bit we usually eat) between january and march. But a couple of my plants have started to flower in the last few weeks, giving me a lovely unexpected crop.

This would normally be used in a similar dish in early spring, but I wanted to give the meal an autumnal edge with the addition of some ‘Nduja a soft spicy cured sausage from Calabria.

Fusilli with confused PSB

Warm a couple of anchovy fillets and a clove of finely chopped garlic in a pan with a dash of olive oil, over a low heat, but do not allow the garlic to brown.

Meanwhile cook the pasta until al dente, and steam the PSB for a few minutes.

Dry fry a  couple of teaspoons of ‘Nduja or crumbled chorizo until starting to brown.

Toss the pasta and PSB in the anchovy and garlic, season with some freshly ground black pepper, and serve with the crumbled sausage, a load of parmesan, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.