Seafood Supper [Scraping the Barrel]

Supplies are dwindling ...

Not by any mean twist of fate but simply because I've not been shopping. I keep in a number of "store cupboard" ingredients, but in the main we eat fresh and local, which means if we've not been hunting and gathering we don't have a lot of food available.

Still, with limited options, a little imagination and a creative flair, it is entirely possible to come up with a good, nutritional and attractive dinner.

The thing is, ancestral eating is simple ...

No recipes, no weighing, no measuring, just a case of putting good food together with minimal cooking and you're done! Great meals make themselves if you keep local, keep seasonal and keep organic.

Make the dish look appealing to you. Make the dish flavoursome and full of the things that you enjoy. Brave a combination that you've not tried before. Take snaps and show everyone what you enjoy eating, encouraging them to perhaps try something new.

When supplies dwindle, be imaginative, be creative and spark your inner caveman who met this regularly.

I do need to go shopping, though ...

Starter

Not quite having enough to call a full meal for the main course, I made up a little starter of boiled egg, some leftover brown crab meat, a tiny amount of leftover mashed potato, tomato, cucumber and various pickles, finishing off the fresh basil and the last of the salad ingredients.

Main Course

Oven cooked pollock, defrosted, emptying the freezer and finishing off the last of the fresh herbs; steamed carrots, leeks and tenderstem broccoli, emptying the vegetable drawer. Vegetables tossed in olive oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar to finish the dish.

Nothing left now other than a cupboard of spices, some cheese, a couple of jars of pickled, half a bag of rice noodles, a can of pilchards and two jars of caviar! I must go shopping ...

Nah! I can make another meal out of that lot!

No, I'll go shopping ...

Poached Trout with Sweetheart Cabbage

I picked up a sweetheart cabbage the other day - it's like a pointed cabbage but sweet in flavour and seems to like little cooking.

Today, I bagged a few pieces of Loch Trout at a proper knock-down bargain price which my Fishmonger reeled me in with ... "Those ... I can do them for £1.40" ... priced at £2.00 a kilo, already knocked down from £4.00 a kilo. He wanted rid and I wanted to eat, so we struck a good deal.

It's hot today. We fancied a light dinner.

Cabbage, poached trout and a creme fraiche & lemon juice dressing. For seasoning, I went with salt and pepper: Icelandic ash salt and green peppercorns.

The fish was poached in water with bay leaves, juniper berries and peppercorns, the stock then strained and boiled off with the outer leaves from the cabbage and some potato, blended, which will do for Mrs' lunches for a couple of days this week; the cabbage steamed over.

Dinner done, lunches sorted.

Never throw anything away ...

Keema & Pea Curry [Midweek Mutter]

Mutter? Mattar? Matar?

Depending upon the region of the Indian sub-continent, but we know them as peas, garden peas or petit pois.

Keema? That's minced meat - lamb, usually.

Curry is not difficult!

I cannot stress that enough. So many people see curry as exotic, difficult to replicate that restaurant taste, too complicated through use of a bewildering array of spices or simply through a lack of understanding of language.

Again, curry is not difficult and this Kashmiri favourite is one I have enjoyed practically my whole life after first enjoying a bowl from The Kashmir, Bradford's oldest and longest established Curry House, at the age of 5?

Let's get currying ...

The quantities listed will do for two people, or one hungry Yorkshireman!

Ingredients

1lb Minced Lamb
Ghee or Butter
Large Onion
Garlic, Ginger & Chillies
Spice Mix
Tomato
Frozen Peas
Water
Sea Salt

Method

This is a mid-week curry. It should be quick to make and so many of the corners are cut for one of those million and one ingredient with implausibly long method kind of curries you might enjoy making at the weekend.

Slice the onion and in a large skillet with some butter or ghee, warm the onions for about 20 minutes over a low heat until they begin to caramelise. If you've got the time, give them longer but 20 minutes is good. Remove from the skillet and place into a receptacle for blending later on.

Into the skillet, brown off the minced lamb. No fat needed, since lamb will release its own - just keep the heat down to medium and this will take around five minutes to brown and soften. Lamb mince softens quicker than beef in my experience.

Meanwhile, add garlic, ginger and chillies to the onion and blend. As a guideline, a couple of cloves of garlic, maybe a teaspoon of shredded ginger and a couple of chillies is good. More if you like more of any of those. Blend and add to the minced lamb in the skillet. Fry off for a few minutes.

Sprinkle over your spice mix. I tend to go with equal parts of turmeric, ground coriander, ground cumin, then a sprinkle of fenugreek and asafoetida. Stir in a fry on for a minute, or so.

Pour in water to cover, raise the heat to a gentle boil and reduce.

Pour in water to cover a second time, add in a good handful (or more) of frozen peas, quarter up a tomato, raise the heat to a gentle boil and reduce.

Garnish with fresh coriander leaf, freshly chopped green chilli and salt to taste.

Serve

On its own is fine, with some rice, perhaps some cauliflower rice, maybe just some steamed vegetables alongside. As you can see, I went with some tenderstem broccoli and a boiled egg.

Needless to say, you can add in pretty much any vegetable during the second boil: spinach, potatoes, mushrooms, whatever. Now you have a basic curry and a means of varying.

Enjoy your mid-week curry!