When I lived in a village outside of Peterborough on the edge of the eerie Fens I just loved coming back home to the North-east whenever I could. I love the mix of wild wind-swept beaches, the rawness of the Cheivot Hills and as for the Historical Landscape I am surprised I have not bumped into Indiana Jones on some Treasure quest at some point.
I used to pack my cameras into the car, set off early in the morning driving out of Ashington and heading onto the Coastal Route the A1068 through the Fishing village of Amble, then on through Warkworth with its magnificent Castle then onto Alnmouth and eventually taking in a walk along Bamburgh beach with the towering Castle as company.
I would then drive up to the Holy Island crossing and along the causeway and stop in one of lay-bys in the middle to admire another lovely magnificent view. After taking in the religious sights of the Island I then turned West taking in Chillingham and its 'HIPPIE' looking Cattle and ending up at Ingram Valley near Powburn with its rolling hills and meandering river that are truly breathtaking.
I would get a map out though if your going to follow this route as I know my way around and the directions I have given you are not exactly...well exact or probably not the formula they use to perform Missile strikes from the USS Nimitz in the Gulf !! ha ha !
Its a great drive no matter what the weather but I particularly liked it on a cold winter day with a bright blue sky hovering above. Now I am having a bit of time off so I decided to visit a few of the places on my favourite route and yesterday I went to Boulmer.
Boulmer is proably more famous for its RAF base and its Sea and rescue helicopters then the lovely beach and its fishing boats. It does have a bit of a past and was known as the Smuggling capital of Northumberland in the 18th century. Today the village is one of the only true fishing villages on the North-east coast but only a handful of Fishing boats and cobles lie tied in the safe haven of the bay.
A few years (12 or So !!!) back I tried to buy some of the fisherman's catch as they returned to shore only to be told that all their catch was collected by a fish dealer and taken to North Shields or Eyemouth market.
A few years (12 or So !!!) back I tried to buy some of the fisherman's catch as they returned to shore only to be told that all their catch was collected by a fish dealer and taken to North Shields or Eyemouth market.
Its mainly Crabs and Lobster they catch and it would have been great to buy some yesterday that had fallen of the back of the Fish Dealers lorry but their was no-one around apart from some bloke taking pictures in a gale !
OK disappointed by the lack of crustaceans on offer I still had some in the freezer from a few months back and as you know I am working my way through various unlabelled food products in my freezer so I managed to find the crab in between a tray of kebab meat and something that I can only describe as a soup lollipop ! ha ha. It was promptly defrosted and I used it today.
For lunch I made this brilliant previously mentioned Maria Elia soup of Lemongrass, Cauliflower and crab.
Its a great combination of simple flavours and here's the recipe.
Maria Elia's recipe of Cauliflower and Lemongrass soup with crab from her book Full of Flavour.
25g unsalted butter
2 shallots finely chopped.
4 sticks of lemon grass. Remove the tough outer layer and wrap them together with an elastic band. Yes that's right an elastic band.
25g ginger finely grated.
700g of cauliflower.
700ml of milk.
200ml double cream.
60g picked white crab meat. I didn't use the white meat I used mainly the brown meat.
Saute the shallots in melted butter over a low heat until soft. Add finely chopped Lemongrass and ginger to pan.Then add the tougher lemongrass stalks wrapped in the elastic band.
Break the Cauliflower into florets and finely slice.Add to pan.
Add the milk next and bring to the boil stirring constantly. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes until tender. Add the cream and reheat. Remove tied lemongrass stalks.
Blend the soup to a fine puree.
Season then pour into a soup bowl and then sprinkle the crab meat over the soup.
Its delicious !
Me being me made a few slight alterations when I made this soup by going a slightly healthy route. I replaced the butter with a splash of Olive Oil and used semi-skimmed milk instead of the full fat version and did not add the cream. It tasted great too this way and made a great lower fat version. O and I sprinkled some sliced Spring Onion around the soup which really goes well with Crab. But apart from that......
OK time for a few more random Winter, Windswept images of my visit to Boulmer !
After what can only be described as nearly wasting 48 minutes of my life watching Jack Black in Gullivers Travels on Sky Anytime, ( I say only because the beautiful Emily Blunt was in it ....ha ha ! )
My mind turned to dinner. I had plenty of crab left so Crab cakes were defiantly a good choice.
I have a accumulated a few Crab cake recipes over the years but this one is from college where I am afraid good ingredients were hard to come by but it is pretty good.
Mary Wilkins's was one of my tutors at college and she was a great source of inspiration in developing my career and pushing me out of the Moorhouse farm shop kitchen in search of more kitchen skills. She worked in London for various good Chefs and her love of good food and her passion of cooking was very infectious. Mary and her husband are partners and run a Bar/restaurant in North Shields called The New Exchange. Pop in if your in the area.
I like to use the potato from a jacket potato if possible for fishcakes. Its not really practical in a busy professional kitchen due to volume but at home its no problem.
This recipe is not exact. I have said it before the one consistent thing I have learned from good cooks is tasting. Learn to balance your flavours with your own pallet.
I have tried to give you some measures as a guide so here goes.
Makes 4
1 large Jacket potato. Allow to cool and then scape the potato from the jacket and place into a mixing bowl.
Add Crab meat. White meat is better as it not as wet obviously as the brown stuff. The Amount depends on how much potato you have and how much crab flavour you want. Try 60% meat to potato ratio. That should be fine.
Add one tablespoon of finely chopped chives.
Add two Tablespoons of Mayonnaise.
Mix with a folk.
Season.
Taste it, can you taste the meat or is the potato the dominate taste. Try and balance it how you personally prefer it. Can you get a hint of the mayo and chives in the background ? if not add some more. Its simple really. Its amazing how many Chefs don't taste their food. Believe me.
When happy with the flavour shape into balls if you want to breadcrumb them.
If you want to do them the way they should be done according to most cooking books at this point shape them into patties and chill in the fridge overnight to firm up and then saute then in a frying pan until Golden Brown on both sides. They are great that way.
However I used mostly dark meat and was worried that they might have fallen apart in the saute pan so I decided to double breadcrumb them ...gently !
If your not sure how to breadcrumb check out the post on Spicy chicken thighs previously in the blog.
Follow the instructions but after you have bread crumbed them once dip them back into the egg mix again and then back into the breadcrumbs.
When bread crumbed shape them into patties. Do not do them too thick as they will be a bit burnt on the outside before they are cooked in the middle.
I cooked them in the deep fat fryer on 170 degrees C for about 6 minutes but you can cook then in the oven at 180 degrees as well.
Serve with a nice salsa, lemon or coriander mayo or a Sweet chilli dipping sauce its up to you. I had it with yes you guest it my favourite Tomato Relish. well it needed using up.
Now I think I will go back and give Gulliver's travels a second chance again.....while thinking of defrosting the a fore mentioned kebab meat and turning it into a culinary treat..!!!...do you think Emily Blunt likes a good kebab.?..probably not....her loss... ha ha !
OK disappointed by the lack of crustaceans on offer I still had some in the freezer from a few months back and as you know I am working my way through various unlabelled food products in my freezer so I managed to find the crab in between a tray of kebab meat and something that I can only describe as a soup lollipop ! ha ha. It was promptly defrosted and I used it today.
For lunch I made this brilliant previously mentioned Maria Elia soup of Lemongrass, Cauliflower and crab.
Its a great combination of simple flavours and here's the recipe.
Maria Elia's recipe of Cauliflower and Lemongrass soup with crab from her book Full of Flavour.
25g unsalted butter
2 shallots finely chopped.
4 sticks of lemon grass. Remove the tough outer layer and wrap them together with an elastic band. Yes that's right an elastic band.
25g ginger finely grated.
700g of cauliflower.
700ml of milk.
200ml double cream.
60g picked white crab meat. I didn't use the white meat I used mainly the brown meat.
Saute the shallots in melted butter over a low heat until soft. Add finely chopped Lemongrass and ginger to pan.Then add the tougher lemongrass stalks wrapped in the elastic band.
Break the Cauliflower into florets and finely slice.Add to pan.
Add the milk next and bring to the boil stirring constantly. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes until tender. Add the cream and reheat. Remove tied lemongrass stalks.
Blend the soup to a fine puree.
Season then pour into a soup bowl and then sprinkle the crab meat over the soup.
Its delicious !
Me being me made a few slight alterations when I made this soup by going a slightly healthy route. I replaced the butter with a splash of Olive Oil and used semi-skimmed milk instead of the full fat version and did not add the cream. It tasted great too this way and made a great lower fat version. O and I sprinkled some sliced Spring Onion around the soup which really goes well with Crab. But apart from that......
 |
| OK I could have sliced my Spring Onions with a bit more culinary finesse ! but I am on VACATION !! |
 |
| The Crabs and lobsters must be huge if they have to use these tractors to bring the pots in !!! ha ha ! |
 |
| Cannot be much fun as a fisherman going out in all kinds of weather. |
My mind turned to dinner. I had plenty of crab left so Crab cakes were defiantly a good choice.
I have a accumulated a few Crab cake recipes over the years but this one is from college where I am afraid good ingredients were hard to come by but it is pretty good.
Mary Wilkins's was one of my tutors at college and she was a great source of inspiration in developing my career and pushing me out of the Moorhouse farm shop kitchen in search of more kitchen skills. She worked in London for various good Chefs and her love of good food and her passion of cooking was very infectious. Mary and her husband are partners and run a Bar/restaurant in North Shields called The New Exchange. Pop in if your in the area.
I like to use the potato from a jacket potato if possible for fishcakes. Its not really practical in a busy professional kitchen due to volume but at home its no problem.
This recipe is not exact. I have said it before the one consistent thing I have learned from good cooks is tasting. Learn to balance your flavours with your own pallet.
I have tried to give you some measures as a guide so here goes.
Makes 4
1 large Jacket potato. Allow to cool and then scape the potato from the jacket and place into a mixing bowl.
Add Crab meat. White meat is better as it not as wet obviously as the brown stuff. The Amount depends on how much potato you have and how much crab flavour you want. Try 60% meat to potato ratio. That should be fine.
Add one tablespoon of finely chopped chives.
Add two Tablespoons of Mayonnaise.
Mix with a folk.
Season.
Taste it, can you taste the meat or is the potato the dominate taste. Try and balance it how you personally prefer it. Can you get a hint of the mayo and chives in the background ? if not add some more. Its simple really. Its amazing how many Chefs don't taste their food. Believe me.
 |
| In the Mix |
If you want to do them the way they should be done according to most cooking books at this point shape them into patties and chill in the fridge overnight to firm up and then saute then in a frying pan until Golden Brown on both sides. They are great that way.
However I used mostly dark meat and was worried that they might have fallen apart in the saute pan so I decided to double breadcrumb them ...gently !
If your not sure how to breadcrumb check out the post on Spicy chicken thighs previously in the blog.
Follow the instructions but after you have bread crumbed them once dip them back into the egg mix again and then back into the breadcrumbs.
When bread crumbed shape them into patties. Do not do them too thick as they will be a bit burnt on the outside before they are cooked in the middle.
I cooked them in the deep fat fryer on 170 degrees C for about 6 minutes but you can cook then in the oven at 180 degrees as well.
 |
| Little Golden nuggets ! |
Now I think I will go back and give Gulliver's travels a second chance again.....while thinking of defrosting the a fore mentioned kebab meat and turning it into a culinary treat..!!!...do you think Emily Blunt likes a good kebab.?..probably not....her loss... ha ha !
No comments:
Post a Comment