Ancestral eating is simply about putting good ingredients together and enjoying. The great thing about real food is that no matter what it is, it generally goes well together. Simply prepared, the flavours come out individually and fun combinations form on the plate.
Tonight was one of those "I have some real food and I'm just going to put this lot together" kind of dinners ...
LIDL do some lovely tomatoes, on the vine. Large, juicy and so flavoursome. I also have some pollock, a North Atlantic white fish with a firm texture and a good flavour somewhere between cod and haddock.
Slice up the tomatoes and lay into an ovenproof dish with a little sea salt and black pepper. No fat. Lay the fish over, a little more sea salt, some shredded onions and finally the vines from the tomato which will perfume the dish as it cooks.
Now, settle it into a pre-heated oven set to 200C (400F) for 15 minutes. That is quite sufficient to cook the fish just perfectly and not overly cook the tomatoes.
Meanwhile, I boiled some salad potato slices then sautéed them off with a little butter and some chorizo slices. I also macerated a few cucumber slices in cider vinegar with a little sea salt and chopped dill.
Serve out, scattering the potato and chorizo around, take a good slice of the fish and tomato, push a few slices of cucumber in here and there and garnish with finely chopped chilli, lemon juice and a little olive oil. As an afterthought, I scattered some halloumi over mine.
Sort of Ratatouille, I suppose?
