Researching this recipe was a very educational process in that it added weight to three features that I generally hold to be true. Firstly, for any given recipe there are as many variations as there are cooks/chefs. Secondly, many commentators…
Category: Main
Suquet de Peix
This is like a Spanish Bouillabaise, a fish stew, from the Catalan region. (Fish stew doesn’t sound nearly as appealing, does it?) Driven by my having an octopus in the freezer that needed using, I got this idea from Culinaria…
Posted in Fish
Roast Duck
I prefer to roast duck slowly at first to make the fat run out, then crisp it under a higher temperature towards the end. Well, actually I prefer to cook it via indirect heat in a Weber grill but this’ll…
Cod with Leek & Potato Sauce
I have never understood the popularity of cod, other than as fish and chips. To me, it is a rather bland, uninspiring fish. So, when a cod recipe has me searching for superlatives, I know it must be something special.…
Posted in Fish
Moules Marinières
This is one of those absolute classics, and deservedly so. This is so classic that I really can’t see any reason to cook mussels any other way (except as an ingredient to another dish such as Paella , of course).…
Grilled Squid Salad
If I had a pound for every time I’d heard somebody say, “I don’t like squid ‘cos it’s rubbery”, I’d be a rich man. It isn’t!! Especially if it’s cooked correctly, i.e. hot and fast. This marinated squid makes the…
Sea Bass with a Black Olive Crust
This recipe is based upon one in Nico by Nico Ladenis. My main change is to use wholemeal breadcrumbs instead of white and, rather than pressing and refrigerating the crust mixture before use, just to press it roughly straight onto…
JC’s Seafood Risotto
I just love risottos and this is one of my favourites. The trick with risotto is to adjust the cooking heat such that the stock, added gradually, is absorbed over a period of about 20 minutes to make sure that…
Shrimp Etouffée
This is basically Paul Prudhomme’s crawfish etouffée from his Louisiana Kitchen made with large prawns, which are a more readily available substitute for rarely seen freshwater crayfish. (One day, I must make a crayfish trap for use in the local…
Tarragon Chicken
A swift Internet investigation of either Tarragon Chicken or, in French, Poulet à l’Estragon reveals that there seems to be no standard way to prepare, or even to describe, such a dish. This idea for a roasted whole chicken version…