Cold salmon with pickled samphire and creamy dill sauce

For 2 people in 30 mins

Yes, we have all had salmon with dill sauce – no surprises there, but this recipe is on here because of the pickled samphire. The samphire is the star of the show. It took me absolutely forever to find the right accompaniment for the samphire. I tried it in all kinds of ways, with white fish, in an Asian style, not wanting to use salmon. Finally, I had to admit to myself that it had to go with salmon.

I can run hot and cold on salmon as it is such an oily fish, but the acid in the pickled samphire cuts right through this, making it just delicious.

I have been obsessed with the idea of doing something with samphire simply because it was a BRAND NEW food for me when I moved to the UK. I love trying new things and the fact that it comes from the sea, just made it all that more exotic to me. Look at it, it's kind of alien isn't it?

The samphire just needs to sit in the vinegar for 10 minutes or so to pickle it, so super simple.

To make this dish you need:

1. 2 pieces salmon

Put salmon in pan with 1.2 cups wine and enough boiling water to cover salmon. Cook for about 10 minutes until cooked through. Then put in the freezer to cool down quickly – you want it around room temperature.

2. For samphire:

• 2 handfuls samphire
• ½ cup white wine vinegar
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Squeeze of honey or 
• Large pinch salt
• Pepper 

Put the samphire in the colander and pour hot water over it. Then run under the tap to stop it from wilting/darkening. Mix all other ingredients together in a shallow bowl. Immerse the samphire in it and let sit for 10 minutes while you make the sauce, check on the salmon, start assembling the salad, etc.

3. For the sauce:

• 1 large teaspoon double cream
• 1 small teaspoon grainy mustard
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped dill
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped tarragon
• Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together.

4. For the salad:

• 2 handfuls of pea shoots
• Some pink stemmed ice plant for decoration if you like (totally not necessary but I found it in a market so used it for a wet crunch and different texture). It looks like this:

Layer two plates with pea shoots, pink stemmed ice plant, samphire, then pour a couple teaspoons of the samphire marinade over to dress. Place a piece of salmon on each and top with the cream sauce.

Peas n beans – spring nibbles

Serves 4, ready in about 20 minutes (not counting fava bean shucking time!).

I LOVE PEAS! In all forms. I always have. In fact, I could probably write for ages about peas, but I shall restrain myself and keep it to two vignettes:

No. 1: While I was growing up, on numerous occasions, my dad recited this classic ditty:

I Eat My Peas with Honey (an anonymous poem)
I eat my peas with honey;
I've done it all my life.
It makes the peas taste funny,
But it keeps them on the knife.

I loved it so much I did a drawing to go with it.

No. 2: One of my fav snacks is frozen peas, straight out of the Birds Eye bag. Now I live in a place that grows peas, I love them straight out of the shell.

At this time of year, there are SO MANY fava bean and pea recipes in the national newspapers and cooking magazines. Fava bean and pea mash, risotto, soup, you name it, the cooks and chefs have made and published it for your eating pleasure.

And, now I am not the exception. These are two super simple recipes to make lovely, spring-time bruschetta that is perfect for a starter at a garden-based, early-evening meal.

You will need:

Ciabatta for 8 good size pieces

For the fava bean topping:

• 100 g soft ewe’s cheese
• ¾ cup fava beans (post shucking of course!)
• 4 mint leaves
• ¼ tsp lemon thyme leaves
• salt and pepper to taste
• ½ tsp lemon olive oil, maybe more to taste
• garlic clove

Put the fava beans in a pan on medium heat and then pour over boiling water. Boil for about 2-3 mins so you can stick a fork in them but they are still bright green. Put in a colander and run cold water over them until room temperature.

Chop the mint leaves finely and then combine with all other ingredients except the garlic and mix well.

For the pea topping:

• 4 tbs ricotta cheese
• ¾ cup fresh peas
• 4 mint leaves
• 8 butterfly sorrel leaves
• salt and pepper to taste
• ½ tsp olive oil, maybe more to taste

Put the peas in a pan on medium heat and then pour over boiling water. Boil for about 2-3 mins so you can stick a fork in but they are still bright green. Put in a colander and run cold water over them until room temperature.

Chop the mint and butterfly sorrel finely and then mix with all other ingredients.

Assembly:
Slice 8 nice sized pieces of ciabatta and put under the broiler until toasted.

Cut the garlic clove in half and rub the half over half the pieces of ciabatta. Put a spoonful of the fava bean mix on each of the ciabatta pieces that you have rubbed the garlic on. Put a spoonful of the pea mix on each of the other half of the pieces of ciabatta. Serve!

Tomato tart (and using anchovies for flavour if you don’t like anchovies)

Serves 8 as part of brunch with lots of salads, etc. or cut smaller as a nibble at a garden party.

Sometimes it takes a few tries to get a dish right. For me, it’s been this way with a tomato tart. I have tried lots of tomato tarts in my time and so many have just not turned out quite right.

There are so many recipes, but a classic tomato tart will often have anchovies. Now, I like food, a lot! But of the two things I prefer not to eat, one of them is the anchovy. (Note: The other is okra, unless it is pickled New Orleans-style – then I will eat bottles full!)

I have disliked the anchovy since I was a child and unlike blue cheese, pate and even the somewhat similar sardine, I never grew into it. I am the only one in my family that feels this way.

However, I do love the salty depth anchovies can add to a dish if they are included in a way in which you can’t taste their powerful fishiness. For instance, anchovy fillets are brilliant on a roasted leg of lamb, where they literally melt away, leaving a salty flavour. And, anchovy paste is a sublime addition to a cream caper sauce for fish, like skate wing.

So, I decided I would take inspiration from a traditional tomato tart and use anchovy paste to create a solid base for my tart. I also added capers and sundried tomatoes for additional richness. It was delish! My flatmate, who dislikes anchovies equally, agrees.

You will need:

• 1 piece puff pastry
• 4 plum tomatoes
• ¼ cup capers and sundried tomatoes chopped very finely
• 1 heaping tbsp. anchovy paste
• A few grinds of pepper

Preheat the oven to 180 Celsius.

Cut the puff pastry in half and roll into two squares. You will know when it is big enough as you will roll out an edge and it will largely spring back. Don’t push it, this is the pastry telling you it’s the right amount of rolled out. Put it on waxed paper on a baking tray. Then pierce the pastry with a fork all over, which will stop it from rising.

Remove the capers from the brine they come in and let sit in fresh water for five minutes. Then, gently squeeze them while they are in the water to get all the brine out. Chop them and the sundried tomatoes very finely You will need ¼ cup total but I have deliberately left the exact amount of each vague as some people are not as keen on capers as others, so they can put less in. The important bit is that you get a 1/4 cup combined of capers and sundried tomatoes.

Mix the sundried tomatoes and capers with the anchovy paste and grind in some pepper. Spread on the pastry, leaving a border around the edge.

Cut the tomatoes into slices and arrange closely (they will shrink during cooking) on the pastry, again leaving a border.

Cook at least 20 minutes on or until the pastry is lightly brown all over, with darker brown patches.

Note: You could put egg white on the pastry border to make it go a lovely deep and even brown. I have not, as in my failed attempts at tomato tarts the pastry has gone brown before the tart is actually done, with the pastry in the middle of the tart not properly cooked. It’s like false advertising, and the outcome is very disappointing.

Tomato soup

Serves 4 as a starter, 2 as big bowls of soup for a main meal. Ready in 30 mins, 10 mins prep and 20 mins cooking.

Tomato soup is a real comfort food. It is delicious but unfortunately there is a lot of just plain terrible tomato soup out there. Out of a tin tastes tinny and sweet. Out of those refrigerated pots tastes watery and lacks depth and robustness.

This is a very simple soup with very high impact. The secret is the sun blushed tomatoes and herbs and spices.

Funnily enough it was a recipe that was not supposed to make the blog - for a number of different reasons. It is one of those things that went wrong at every step and turned out tremendously well. It is truly flavour packed, but it was supposed to be very lightly flavoured so I could stir in a garlic leaf pesto.

It went wrong from the beginning. The market had no garlic leaves, so I made a last minute switch to dill. Then I got cooking after 2.5 ciders and a put in much more rosemary and thyme than intended. It was too full of earthy flavours to top with a dill pesto. I was disappointed but my flatmate loved it, wanted the recipe and convinced me it needed to be on the blog. Thank you Steph!

The final touch was ½ tsp hot, smoked paprika. Gorgeous!

Ingredients:

• 12 tomatoes on the vine
• ½ cup sun blushed tomatoes
• 1 veggie oxo cube
• 1 red onion
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• S&P to taste
• ½ cup water
• ¼ -½ tsp hot, smoked paprika (Start with the quarter, let simmer and taste. Add a quarter more if you want it.)

Crème fraiche for the top.

Core the tomatoes, removing the seeds, and cut them and the onion in big chunks. Put them in a pot with all other ingredients. Blend with a hand blender. Put the soup on a medium high heat until it boils. Then turn down and simmer for 2o mins.

Serve and dribble crème fraiche on top. If it is not drippy enough you may need to add a little bit of water, but be careful, not too much!