A Sunny Disposition

Everywhere there are spangles of daffodils and electric explosions of forsythia, and golden flames of spirea. April in the garden is mostly about yellow, but many people are not fond of this primary color with its negative associations: when something 'yellows' like old paper, or teeth, and of course jaundice and cowardice, some associate it with madness. I happen to like it, all hues and shades, egg yolks, chicks, butter and cream, old-fashioned primulas. I probably wouldn't wear a yellow dress or sweater, yellow's a difficult color for most people to wear close to the face, but a pair of pants, or shoes or boots, ooooh, yes. I have a pale primrose bag which comes out of the closet at the first sign of spring, along with a canary yellow pair of cordouroys (not worn at the same time though). 


The witch hazel flowered in January and is still blooming in April, it sighs into spring with its spidery blooms and whispers that warmer days are ahead and then the forsythia positivley yells that Summer is coming! I must admit that the screaming yellow of forsythia for me, has to be at a distance in the garden, I don't want it standing too close to me whilst talking loudly. I like forcing some branches to have inside, it is more elegantly restrained in a vase. I do like what my neighbor does with his; they are trimmed into perfectly round balls and sit on the lawn like gigantic pom poms about to roll off down the hill. Then there are the daffodils, giggling, gaggles, of them nodding their little bonnets, still looking cheery when the wind howls, and bites your face.


Note: When I wrote this just the 'yellows' were out in the garden - before I was able to post this my computer was stolen - I purchased another computer (groan) a week has passed, or more, and there is much more activity in the garden......the beautiful delicate green chenille catkins of Harry Lauder's walking stick, and the epimediums I adore the tiny flowers on this spring flowering perennial, they are the faeries at the bottom of the garden. Spring is such an exciting time in the garden, some things are eager to push through the dirt, others take a more leisurely approach, as a gardener I am watching everything and wondering if 'this or that' made it through - my obsession this spring? my beautiful apricot foxgloves, I spy one making it's return, but I had hoped for a big gathering.....early days yet.

Homemade Brown Sauce

As I was flicking through my cookbooks on a Saturday evening (just by way of a change) I came across a recipe in Fleur's cookbook, Fleur's Place is an internationally renowned restaurant on the north Otago coast of NZ - it was cod with a homemade brown sauce - I had some cod, store bought this time, but Montauk fresh, and I was excited about making the tangy sauce, I love making sauces and this is a great one to have on hand, it's similar to the much loved breakfast sauce from across the across the pond, the one with the Houses of Parliament on the label. We had it with soft-boiled eggs for breakfast the next day before a hard days work in the garden. 


There was a great deal of pruning, some light, but some seriously heavy lopping off of old privet limbs, which I have recycled and used as a rustic sculptural tomato frame, it does have a use - the ubiquitous privet. Much attention was given to the tomato bed; last year was such a wash-out I think I harvested three tomatoes. We prepared and manured, I intend to have an abundance this summer, a bunch of ruby red, big, bursting, big girl, super boy, super steaky, beefy mortgage lifting tomatoes at the table every night! (actually we prefer big beef) oooooh those tomatoes, they make me fuss and worry in that corner of the garden all summer long! 


I soaked the label off an empty HP bottle and funneled my sauce into it, such an elegant bottle, I am sure it's the same design they've been using since 1896. The bottle takes me back to a gritty Brick Lane (before gentrification) sitting in a really smokey caff with the barrow boys, early in the morning, having taken the short ride on the tube from Hackney to go to the flea market, eating baked beans, fried bread, fried eggs (there was no 'how do you want your eggs' they were just cooked according the to the way the cook cooked them) drinking tea in heavy off-white chipped mugs, only tea, if you asked for coffee they gave you a 'look'. I'm not sure if I did ever shake, shake, shake some more, some of the sauce on my deeply fried breakfast, I was always a bit wary of sauces in caffs, but I do remember the good times in the East End of London, and somehow that bottle reminds me of a certain time and place. I doubt if the greasy spoon caffs are still there, probably been replaced by Costa Coffee or Starbucks. I wonder if there is anything 'Dickensian' left in London anymore, and do the kids know what we mean when we say that?




Homemade Brown Sauce
Adapted from Fleur's recipe
Makes about a cup and a half


2 cups tomatoes chopped
half a cup of cider vinegar
half a cup of malt vinegar
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 cup brown sugar
half a cup of sultanas
1 cup peeled and chopped apples
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 bay leaves
1 large chopped onion
3 teaspoons mustard powder
1 teaspoon five spice powder
1 cup of prunes pitted
3 tablespoons molasses


In a large pan place all the ingredients and bring to the boil while stirring.
Simmer gently for about 1 - 1 1/2 hours until think, adding a little water if needed.


Fleur's recipe instructs you to pass the mixture through a moulis, I put mine in the blender, which worked out just fine.


This sauce is great with fish, eggs of course, sausages are bereft without it, and it goes wonderfully with preceding recipe too.

Bubble and Squeak

Most Brits are familiar with this breakfast dish, it's basically the use of leftovers from a roast dinner, traditionally cabbage and potatoes, shallow-fried in butter to create a pattie-pancake form, eaten with bacon, sausages and fried eggs, but it's also good with cold ham and pickles, especially piccalilli which this Essex girl is particularly fond of!


It's a dish that was born out of rationing and the Brits were very good at making meals stretch during those lean times, my mother tells of eating bread and dripping, dripping is the fat from the roasted meat. As a result of rationing, a thrifty attitude towards cooking has always been a part of the british culture, I would hear this phrase a lot at meal times 'waste not want not' food was never thrown away if one could make something of it the next day. I am glad I grew up in a time and place where meals were cooked at home and people sat around the table to eat.....with a knife and fork. Of course by the time I went off to college there were a smattering of Wimpy Burger Bars and Pizzalands, which were mildly appealing, but they were lightweight fast food joints and not a major presence on 'Main Street'. Today? well that's another big fat story.


As I mentioned in the previous post I made bubble and squeak to go with roasted cod, (thankfully we have friends here in Montauk eager to get up at the crack of dawn and go fishing....in March). The last time I made B+S was probably during my bedsit days in London, and believe me there was no fresh cod sitting atop! HP sauce more likely, served with some beans of the 57 variety, cooked on a stove operated on a meter which would always run out of money when the beans were still can-cold......we ate a lot of beans back then. Then there was the landlady with the liberally applied magenta lipstick, peering through a crack in the door.......spooky, but it was all good character building stuff - bedsit land on the Finchley road in the 80's!


Now the thrifty dishes from my homeland have been showing up in New York City with the arrival of the gastropub. The bubble and squeak served with cod idea came from a restaurant in the West Village - Highlands - a charming, cosy restaurant with a Scottish flavor, I am a huge Scotophile and I loved everything on the menu especially the pound of cockles served in a delicious broth. They serve beer in old pint glasses, which had me and my mancunian mate taking a hike down memory lane. 


Bubble and Squeak
More than just a breakfast dish, it's great with fish or ham, we had sunday supper with leftovers from the leftovers and chicken sausages, a green salad and grainy mustard, good simple fare. Any leftover vegetables can be used in this dish, but I think the brussel sprouts are a must.


1 large onion peeled and finely chopped 
leftover cold cabbage 
leftover cold potatoes
leftover cold brussel sprouts 
butter and olive oil 
salt and pepper.
Heat oil and butter in a frying pan, add chopped onion and cook gently for 3-4 minutes until softened. Mix in the cabbage, potatoes and brussel sprouts and stir over a high heat, make a thick pancake form, mashing the vegetables together and heat through, scraping up any crispy bits from the bottom of the pan.


My mother was a young girl living in Norwich during the Second World War, I asked her what dishes/food she remembered eating during rationing and what she missed the most, this was her response - Well now, rabbit ....pies..stewed..roast. We kept rabbits, that was the norm. Steamed meat suet puddings, beef if it was available (suet you could get from butcher in a lump, not shredded like today) Bread and dripping. A winter dish was boiled onions in white sauce (something I still do occasionally) Fish and chips once a week. All vegetables from the garden...veg soup, bubble and squeak. 


I missed cakes the most and bread and butter pudding. Butter, sugar cheese and dried fruit were almost non existent. Tea time consisted of sandwiches, jam when it was available, toast and paste. Sunday tea we would have bread and shrimps. Ice cream was a once a year treat. We were lucky to have fresh peaches. Poppy grew a peach tree which kept us supplied, apart from that, fruit was rare unless you were lucky to have apple trees and we didn't. 


I suppose the one thing I remember well, was making our own cheese and butter. The cream taken off the milk and put in kilner jar till about 3/4 full, then shaken for days to make butter, sour milk was put in muslin to hang until it was consistent enough for cheese. So at the end of the day, as I said earlier cakes I missed most. Sweets, well....... what were they!

Wild Deer - Cooked Slowly

Vegetarian and vegan friends....read no further! I was given some wild deer the other day, enough to make a stew for six, and two pies. It was given to me by a friend who has a hunter husband, the deer came from upstate New York, which is funny because we have plenty of deer right here in Montauk, I often think about how we could feed some folks in the hamlet, through the winter, on local venison sausages, burgers, and pies. If you have the permits you can go-a-hunting, but during hunting season it seems as though most of the hunters are from out of town, and they often do not behave so well in our woods. The NZ'er has fantasized about buying a bow and arrow, but for now he just grumbles about the deer and mutters on about installing electric fences and cattle stops.


A word about friends sharing food; last week a friend gave us littlenecks and steamers, he has the best in town, my secret supplier......it's all about the hanging, and another friend had a very successful day cod fishing, so we had roasted cod on a bed of bubble and squeak for dinner. Come summer there will be the swapping of mesclun, tomatoes, celeriac, and herbs, and more sharing of fish and shellfish, I love this town! More about bubble and squeak later.


The reason we are not so fond of the deer is because they eat everything in the garden, they eat holly leaves for goodness sake, and their favorite snack of all time is Yew.....mine are protected and very tall, ha, ha! they are a huge nuisance on the roads too, especially at dusk. I don't mean to imply that because they eat my garden I want to eat them! in fact I had never cooked venison and only eaten it once, and I was a little squeamish about it, maybe it's because I see so much of bambi, but the hunter husband made it easy for me, giving me prime cuts, all beautifully trimmed. The meat is very dark, but this is a good thing, due to the high iron content, and according to my mate Stephanie Alexander wild venison benefits from an overnight bathe in a wine marinade and also slow cooking. I used some of our 2008 Stonecrop Pinot for the marinade, seemed a bit decadent, and maybe not the red to use for this purpose, but there was an absence of red wine in the house, just good old Stonecrop........ #2!  Ok, time to move on.


The meat was so tender, really tender, with a wonderful flavor of juniper berries, the orange peel tasted so good too, next time I will put a few more strips in the stew, it tasted more like an exotic fruit rather than orange zest. I used the leftovers of the stew to make two pies, one for us and one for the little boy who lives down the road (not so little, big, strapping, athletic Australian, he needs his iron).


Daube Of Venison
Stephanie Alexander The Cook's Companion
Serves 6


2 1/2 lb boned venison  
salt
3 tablespoons plain flour
2 rashers smoked streaky bacon
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion diced
2 carrots diced
4 garlic cloves peeled
3 cups veal stock
1 bouquet garni
3 juniper berries
2 tablespoons port, muscat or tokay
1 strip of orange zest
1 tablespoon of treacle (I didn't have treacle so I used golden syrup)
marinade
1 onion, chopped
1 stick celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 bouquet garni
3 juniper berries
10 black peppercorns
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 1/2 cups red wine


To make the marinade combine all ingredients in a large glass or ceramic dish large enough to take the marinade and the venison. Cut venison into 1 1/2 inch cubes and turn in marinade. Cover and refrigerate overnight.


Next day preheat oven to 300f. Remove venison from marinade and dry with kitchen paper, roll in seasoned flour. Strain marinade and reserve. Cut bacon into thin strips and heat oil in a large enamelled cast-iron casserole, saute bacon until it starts to crisp. Add onion, carrot and garlic and saute, stirring until onion has softened. Tip in venison and stir. Pour in strained marinade and enough stock to just cover meat. Add bouquet garni, juniper berries, port, orange zest and treacle. Grind on pepper, then cover tightly with foil, or if you have a lid, even better. Put into oven and cook for 4 hours.


Remove casserole from oven and check - the meat should be very tender and the juices should have a sauce-like consistency. If juices are too thin, remove meat and vegetables to a warm baking dish with a slotted spoon, then boil juices on stove top to reduce. Taste for seasoning. Return meat and vegetables to casserole.


Take the casserole straight to the table and serve with mashed potatoes.

Stonecrop Pinot Noir 2008

We have been in a jubilant mood over the last few days as our Stonecrop  Martinborough Pinot Noir was rated No. 2 in a blind tasting of twenty New Zealand Pinot Noirs by Eric Asimov of The New York Times. 


I called my in-laws in New Zealand to share the news, the tenacious duo who have worked so hard over the years down at Dry River Road, moving rocks, digging, planting, driving tractors.......the list is long, it would take reams of rimu to list. As a family, this recognition means so much to us, we are passionate about our small 20 acre vineyard and our estate grown wines, we thought our 2008 Pinot Noir was special, but it really is a thrill to discover that 'they' like it too.


Florence Fabricant is The New York Times food critic, she was also on the wine panel with Eric Asimov, along with Scott Mayger, the general manager of Telepan and Byron Bates a sommelier and wine consultant, she suggested a Hefty Borscht to pair with New Zealand pinot noirs, we are going to make it as a celebratory dinner with a bottle of Stonecrop, it sounds delicious with the combination of short ribs, beets and red cabbage.


Friends invited us over for homemade pizza, we took a bottle of our pinot, I was thinking can you drink pinot with pizza? you bet you can, and on cloud nine too! 

Hot Sticky Toffee Pudding

This is a Peter Gordon recipe from his Sugar Club Cookbook, which made its debut way back in 1997 with his inspirational Pacific rim cuisine. I have been making some of his dishes for years, and regularly, like Molly's lemon roast chicken, a combination of chicken drumsticks with lemon and kumera (we make it with our sweet potato, not quite the same but still a great combo with the chicken), and the very versatile spicy red lentil soup with chicken dumplings, but our all time favorite is the scallops with sweet chili sauce, a thrilling treat for the taste buds, it's one of Peter Gordon's signature dishes and is served at Public in New York, in fact there are many tasty delights dished up by the very talented chef Brad Farmerie, it's the only place in New York City to get Hokey Pokey ice cream!


This was my first foray into the world of sticky toffee pudding, hard to imagine really, as I come from a land of hot steamy wintry puds like spotted dick and bread and butter pudding, and of course toffee, cavities anyone? It was a fun pudding to make, adding the fruit mixture to the batter produced a wonderful, unctuous lava-like mixture. I only fiddled with the recipe a little bit; I added dried figs; black mission figs, they are very moist and gave the pudding a delicious texture. I say hot because it tastes so much better when warm, especially with a caramel sauce on top or ice cream....hokey pokey!


It must have been an aberration as I had an overwhelming desire to pour a hot chocolate sauce over my pudding.....I rarely eat anything chocolate, my friend Kevin on the other hand can't get enough of the stuff.


Hot Sticky Toffee Pudding


For Six
3/4 cup demerara sugar
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/3 cups water
7 ounces pitted whole dried dates
about 6 dried black mission figs
3 tablespoons dried currants
3 tablespoons golden raisins
1 cup walnut pieces
1 tablespoon baking soda


Preheat oven to 350f and lightly oil a deep 10 inch cake pan, this is how I made it but you could also do as PG does and use six ramekins. Cream the sugar and butter, then add the vanilla and egg and beat again for a minute. Sift the flour and baking powder, mix in and set the batter aside in a warm place. 


Put the water, fruit and nuts in a pan and bring to a boil, then remove from heat and stir in the baking soda (don't worry about frothing). Stir into the batter and mix well (think Etna or Ruapehu!) Spoon into the cake pan or ramekins until three-quarters full, place on a baking sheet and put in oven. Test after 25 minutes by inserting skewer; it should come out clean, although if a little fruit sticks that's fine. Once cooked, let the pudding sit in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out.

Stargazy Pie

This past weekend friends came out to celebrate my birthday, we are generally pretty enthusiastic party givers for birthdays etc., but this year I wanted a quiet affair. Winter birthdays are good for ice skating, walks in the woods, fires and fish pie. My father would make a Stargazy pie for special occasions, it's one of those dishes that has become legend in the food/memory part of my brain, so when the NZ'er asked 'what shall we cook for your birthday?' my response was 'dad's pie and sticky toffee pudding'. I did go for a walk in the woods and I played Scrabble by the fire with two very competitive Geminians and one Lovely lady. The ponds aren't frozen enough, yet.

My father loved to entertain, the kitchen was always a hive of activity, on the weekends there was a constant stream of villagers. The house was a cozy two up two down, the dining room had an assortment of watercolors, paintings and driftwood sculptures by local artists on the walls, along with my art school creations hanging next to some rather more well known artists. The fishing trophies were in one corner and the gigantic money tree plant in the other. My dad and my step mum cooked up a storm for their friends; the professor, the postman, the hairdresser, the fisherman, the builder of bridges and the artists, they could all be found sitting at my dad's table.

He was a larger-than-life character but he will always be remembered for the contributions he made to the community he loved, one of his famous phrases was 'there's room for everyone in this village' it's become my motto too, and I like to share it with the folks I meet on my travels!

I share his love of food, hands in the dirt, growing vegetables, cooking for friends and fishing (not too much deep sea tho'). He was a far better cook than me, didn't take short cuts, but his Stargazy pie wasn't the real Stargazy pie, that has pilchard heads peering out of pastry, he made a traditional fish pie and placed jumbo prawn tails around the outside edges of the dish, it was pretty and it was a dish with a fanfare.

You will see from the photo that we went with a more whimsical design......when my back was turned the NZ'er took it upon himself to make a departure from the tails around the edge decoration, and went with a random pattern, it seemed too controlling to remove the crustaceans from their potato burrows and reposition them, even for a birthday girl.

He was an Aquarian too, so it was fitting to make my father's signature fish dish on my birthday, a dish that originated in Cornwall, and that's where I was conceived!

Stargazy Pie

1 small onion peeled and thinly sliced
8 black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
2 parsley sprigs
12 oz cod fillet
8 oz smoked haddock (finnan haddie) see note.
3/4 pint milk
12 oz tail end of salmon
2 slices lemon
2 1/2 lb potatoes, peeled and quartered
3 oz butter
1 oz flour
freshly grated nutmeg
salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons lemon juice
7 oz cooked shrimp
6-8 tablespoons milk
large shrimp tails, about 18 (save the heads for stock)
1 egg beaten


Put half the onion slices, four peppercorns, one bay leaf and one parsley sprig into a large frying pan, and add the same into a saucepan. Add the cod and the haddock to the the frying pan and pour in the milk. Put the salmon into the saucepan and barely cover with water, add the lemon slices. Bring both pans to the boil, remove from heat cover and leave to stand for 10 minutes. 


Cook potatoes in boiling water for 20-25 minutes, drain and mash well, beat in 2 oz butter and enough milk to make a smooth creamy mixture, but you still want to keep it fairly firm, season with salt and pepper. 


Strain the milk from the cod and haddock into a jug, there should be about 3/4 pint. Remove salmon from saucepan and discard cooking water, and also remove the flavorings from both pans. Break all of the fish into large flakes discarding the skin and any bones, set aside. 


Melt 1 oz of butter in a large pan stir in the flour and cook over a low heat for about a minute, gradually stir in the strained milk, stirring continuously, bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for about 2 minutes, remove from heat and season with black pepper, stir in the lemon juice, parsley and grated nutmeg and gently mix in the flaked fish and the prawns, pour into a large shallow ovenproof dish. Spoon the potato mixture evenly over the filling, place the large shrimp tails around the side of the dish.....the tails should bend outwards. Brush the potatoes with the egg and cook in oven for a bout 35 minutes or until golden brown and heated through.


*A note about smoked haddock, (finnan haddie) it's very hard to find out here or even in New York, I found Stonington Seafood via Chowhound, they have a great selection of smoked products, I will definitely be going back for kippers.