Angel fish – astonishingly versatile

1 September 2014 ~ Fiona ~ Leave a comment

A couple of weeks ago, the new season of Master Chef SA started, and I was watching with half an eye, as I was preparing our supper – angel fish. Imagine my surprise when the first episode concluded with a boot camp – on a wharf in the Cape Town harbour – with the contestants having to prepare a dish with, yes, angel fish!

Before we moved to McGregor, we used to eat fish regularly, and over the last 10 or so years, the range of fresh fish available in the few independent fishmongers (as opposed to large supermarket chains), has shrunk enormously. The implications of this, beyond availability for home consumption, is profound for both our environment, and for small fishers in South Africa. However, that’s a rant for another time and place.

Inversely proportional to the reduced choice, is the increased price. When I first moved to Cape Town some 22 years ago, my adventure with cooking fresh fish began. I used to ask the lady behind the counter what was nice and how to cook it. Being cash strapped, decisions were price-driven. Consequently, and because hake seemed boring (and not always cost effective, and I am not fond of snoek), choices were limited: Gurnard (shad) and angel fish. Both, I discovered, are great eating – and very underrated. In the Western Cape, Gurnard is not frequently available, so angel fish became our usual, and almost most favourite fish. It remains so. Even after moving, we still go into our “old” fish monger (Plumstead Fisheries), when we are in Cape Town. A friend who commutes, also goes into the shop to get fresh fish for us – she has now got to know Desiree who has looked after us so well for about ten or so years now. However, I digress…

A simple supper

Returning to angel fish – we eat it at least once a week. Angel fish is moderately flavoured and relatively firm; the fillets are thin, if you have a medium sized fish, so they don’t take much cooking. Tom is very fond of cooking over the coals (braai or barbecue), and will do so at any opportunity. Having grown up in a land-locked country, when we first met, eating sea fish was foreign, and the first fish meal I did for him, he ate “met lang tande” (with long teeth), and was pleasantly surprised. The next task was to get him to braai it: a typical Western Cape way of eating fish. Needless to say, some nearly fourteen or so years later, he’s a convert.

All that’s a long way of telling you that nine times out of ten, our angel fish is braaied on the Weber, over a moderate to dying fire, skin side down, regularly basted with a mixture that always includes an appropriate herb, garlic, butter and olive oil. Recently, I’ve been using my lemon and parsley pesto as a base for what what is commonly referred to as “the paint”.

This is a simple, easy meal accompanied by a garden salad and potatoes (or not) boiled in their skins. Depending on the weather (or the season, my mood and what’s in the garden) I will make a parsley or tartare sauce or a salsa, so although we eat the same thing, often, it doesn’t get boring.

Cold fish or luscious leftovers?

With only two of us, we often have fish left over, and I’m not one to throw away good food. Prepared over the coals, the cooled fish has a lovely, light smokey flavour. We have, on occasion, taken cold angel fish as a contribution to a picnic – the first time, against Tom’s better judgement. On one occasion, there was quite a quantity and he was certain that we’d have lots left over: what would I do with that? “Make fish cakes,” was my immediate response. But there was none left – no fish cakes! On that occasion, the “paint” consisted of olive oil, butter, a little garlic and some grated ginger.

Fish cakes

Fish cakes are really easy to make, even if a little messy towards the end, with the egg-dipping and crumbing. That said, they are worth it and they freeze well, making them a great stand by. Fish cakes are also a good way of using up extra potato and parsley sauce, which is what I did when I had a surfeit of fish, a week or so ago. To make them, break up the fish, and mash the potato and then mix the two together, well. Add the parsley sauce (if you have it; it’s not mandatory) and a good handful of fresh, chopped parsley. Ensure this is well mixed in, season and add a lightly beaten egg to bind.

Then divide into cakes. I’m not a great judge of size by eye and always used to end up with a load of unevenly sized fish cakes. Now, I prepare a tray, covered with a layer of grease-proof paper, and then use a cookie cutter as a mould. I press the mixture firmly into the shape and then once I’ve used it all up, I roll each cake in flour, dip it in beaten egg and then roll it in commercial bread crumbs: fish cakes ready to fry. At this point you can freeze them if you have more than you need.

I love fish cakes. For me, they are a rare but indulgent comfort food. I’ll eat them with lashings of tomato sauce (ketchup) and peas. I’m especially comforted when the peas are freshly picked and lightly boiled/blanched with a sprig of mint.

Angel fish paté

Of course, to make fish cakes, you need a relatively large quantity of left over fish. Often this isn’t the case, and one way of using up little bits of left over fish is to make a paté. This has become one of the most popular products that I sell at McGregor’s Saturday pop-up market. As far as quantities are concerned, use your discretion….

The paté consists of the left over fish, a spritz of dry white wine, a dollop of plain, creamed cottage cheese, a sprinkling of chives (or if it’s winter, and the chives have died back, green onion leaves) as well as salt and pepper. Mix that all together, and you have angel fish paté. Of course you can serve it with biscuits and/or fresh bread, but I have also served it in a lettuce leaf with a baby salad as a starter.

A last word (or two)

The South African Sustainable Seafood Initiative (SASSI) is a World Wildlife Fund initiative and, among other things, aims to create awareness about marine conservation and encourage people to eat fish responsibly, ensuring not just the sustainability of our oceans, but also, one hopes the re-establishment of stocks.

Both Angel Fish and Gurnard are on SASSI’s green list – at the moment.

I loved what the Master Chef contestants did with their angel fish and am grateful for a slew of new ideas….

A lovely bunch of….

13 July 201414 April 2020 ~ Fiona ~ 13 Comments

….parsley!

I love parsley. I’m not happy until my garden grows herbs, especially parsley. And the challenge of parsley is that it’s a slow grower and it can be temperamental. My mum also always had parsley in her garden – some of my earliest culinary memories are of being sent to pick parsley – usually just as she was about to serve dinner. She, however, only grew the curly parsley and used it mostly as a garnish and for parsley sauce. I, on the other hand, prefer to grow the flat leaf, Italian parsley – it has a stronger flavour. Parsley is also a fabulous flavour enhancer, so if you are short of a particular herb, add parsley!

The Prima Donna

Given parsley’s prima donna status (in my experience, anyway), when it just grows, one just let’s it grow as it’s likely to thrive while one’s seedlings, carefully nurtured, and planted in the optimum position just do ok. So, we have self-sewn parsley all over the garden and when our red onion seedlings needed to be planted out, The Husband had to negotiate a parsley plant – in more ways than one!

Pesto al limone e prezzemolo

It seemed such a waste to hoick out such a beautiful plant and not do anything with it (…the Scottish blood and all that jazz…), so I decided to make Pesto al limone e prezzemolo (aka parsley and lemon pesto). This is a divine, fresh and versatile pesto, and which has just deepened my love affair with parsley. I now try to have a permanent stock of this in the fridge. We use it as the foundation for basting sauces for fish (we braai* fish regularly); when we roast a chicken (on the Weber, of course), I usually make a stuffing to go under the skin of the breast, and Pesto al limone e prezzemolo is now the base on which I build this stuffing. It’s also divine on warm bread…..

The recipe comes from Katie Caldesi’s The Italian Cookery Course which was a gift for my 50th birthday from good friend and graphic designer, Jaynie Lea. This is also the book from which I have learned important tips that have improved my home-made pasta and inspired me to start making pizza dough and bread. But more of those, anon….

To make this pesto, you need equal quantities of dry bread crumbs (stale ciabatta is best) and parsley, zest and juice of a lemon, a clove of garlic as well as olive oil. Whizz all of this together until you have a paste and then either use immediately or store. The olive oil and the vitamin C content of both the parsley and the lemon add to the shelf life, so this keeps well.

Tips:

If you are short of parsley leaves, do use the stalks (the whole parsley plant is parsley-flavoured), but before adding them to your food processor, chop them a bit otherwise you’ll be left with pesto with parsley stalks!
To make breadcrumbs, put slices of bread into a cool oven (about 40°C) for an hour or so, or until it’s dry, and then whizz in a food processor. If the crumbs are still “damp” put them on a baking tray and back into the oven for a little longer.
And pesto is a great way to use up herbs towards the end of summer to use through the winter – if you make sure that peso is always “sealed” with a good layer of olive oil, they keep much longer than one expects – just another Katie Caldesi tip!

And Jayne, thank you for the gift that keeps on giving – I still get a thrill when my produce looks like the picture in the book – and the passata, below, was my first attempt – last year!

…and you see that “Fiona’s Favourites” was already “branding” my produce…

* this is the Afrikaans and South African word for “barbecue”

Sensational sandwiches

29 June 2014 ~ Fiona ~ 6 Comments

A sandwich is a sandwich, is a sandwich – or is it?

Since mid-January, I have forsworn bread and potatoes. I thought that it would be difficult, but it hasn’t been. I think that the main reason for this is that I made a decision that this was a choice rather than a rule. It was also my choice and no-one else’s. Why do I make this point? Well, I figured that if I allowed it to govern every meal I cooked, particularly over the weekend, I’d make everyone miserable. The upshot is that it’s the 5:2 approach – as far as possible….

We have a wonderful pop-up market in McGregor. You don’t always know what or who will be at the market. That means that you can’t be guaranteed bread, but when there is bread, it’s beautiful, often really healthy. There are a few bread makers in the village. One is Hester, who sadly doesn’t bake bread as often as she used to. Her potato Ciabatta are fantastic, wood-fired chunks of tasty bread. In addition to being great when fresh, they also make the most fantastic crostini that you can top with almost anything to make a really easy, sexy sarmie. To make crostini, heat the oven to about 200 Celsius and lightly brush each slice on both sides, place on a baking sheet and place in the oven for 10 – 12 minutes.

A spread of pesto, with tomato, cheeses, gherkins, pickled bell peppers and fresh herbs, in different combinations make a feast!

Corlie is another baker in the village. She makes a few lovely breads, and one we are particularly fond of, is a part rye bread. She makes it with molasses which gives it a lovely soft, spongy texture with a delicious malty flavour. I made this sarmie – unplanned – with what I had in the fridge:

On a slice of thin-ish bread, layer slivers of Camembert or brie, a warm, quick-fried slice of brinjal (warm is important – it begins to melt the cheese, and brings out its flavour), and top with a slice of fresh tomato and salt and pepper. Now spread a generous dollop of pesto over the second slice of bread and put the lid on your sandwich!These (even if I say so, myself) sensational sarmies are favourite Saturday or Sunday afternoon late lunches for us – in the garden – with a glass of wine from our lovely valley!

Autumn – preparing for spring (and winter!)

17 March 201413 April 2020 ~ Fiona ~ Leave a comment

Although the grape harvest in our valley seems to be later this year, autumn seems to have arrived early. Along with this, we have had a wonderful experience: a pair of swallows building a nest in preparation for the spring. Jack and Jill are Greater Striped Swallows, indigenous to Africa, and they summer south of Namibia, and winter in Northern Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. They will leave us in two to three weeks’ time. Their nests are characterised by a tunnel which they will build when only when they return in the spring.

Clever little birds, planning for the future, I reflected as I made basil pesto on Sunday.

Basil pesto

You will need a very, very generous picking of sweet basil, leaves stripped from the stems and the damaged leaves discarded.

Rule of thumb: about two-thirds more basil than nuts and Parmesan or Pecorino cheese, coarsely grated.

About the nuts: traditional (and the best) pesto is made with pine nuts. They are expensive so I substitute them with cashews which also have a high oil content. To enhance the flavour, toast them in a dry pan, allowing them to cool before you crush and add them to the other ingredients.

One or two cloves of garlic. Be careful with the garlic: even if you like lots of garlic, remember that combining dairy with garlic makes the garlic flavour stronger. I’ve learned this the hard way…..

Then, of course, the ubiquitous pinch of salt which is optional if you’re not using a pestle and mortar (which does make the best pesto…), and because the salt does help with the maceration of the leaves and the garlic. Enough olive oil to make a thick paste. I usually add it as I go along.

Bung all the leaves into the food processor, with the garlic cloves and whiz for a few seconds – not too long; then add olive oil and the other ingredients and whiz or pulse until you have a good, thick paste, adding more olive oil as you need.

Bottle as you would other preserves, in sterilized jars and top with olive oil to keep it fresh.

Make a caprese salad, enjoy on pasta, sandwiches, as a dip with yoghurt for crudites or as an accompaniment to whatever you please!