what to do if your nigiri just won't hold together

It's all about the rice you know. White hulled sushi rice, more often just labelled as sushi rice is a high quality short grain that is sticky and slightly sweet, but not to be mistaken for glutinous rice. the higher the quality of rice, the less likely there will be any broken grains. The real stuff has a good balance of starches so that the rice sticks together allowing just enough hold between moulding, plate, chopsticks and mouth.

All so very easy, so what do you do if you don't even get past the point where moulding and sticking together doesn't quite happen. You label that unlabelled tub of white rice at home that you thought was sushi rice 'NOT SUSHI RICE', that's what you do. Oh, and make a bloody Mary to have with your raw salmon atop slightly loose but delicious rice.

Nigiri

Serves about 8

400g Japanese sushi rice

400ml water

5 tblsp rice wine vinegar

3 tblsp caster sugar

1 tsp salt

200g piece of salmon at its absolute freshest

A little wasabi paste

To serve

6 tblsp dark soy sauce

30g Japanese pickled ginger

Wash the rice really well until the water rinses clear. Drain the rice in a colander and let it stand for 30 minutes. Place the rice in a pot and add the water (same volume as the rice as it was when it was unwashed). Bring the water to a boil. Reduce the heat slightly and cover. Cook for 15 minutes or until the water evaporates and the rice sounds like it's starting to catch - good sign. Remove the cover and place a damp towel over the rice, and let it cool for about 10 minutes.

While the rice is cooking, mix the vinegar with the sugar and salt until all dissolved.

Pour the sushi vinegar over cooked rice and mix it gently. You can do this in a wooden bowl for making sushi rice or in the pot by taking away from the heat and pouring the vinegar and mixing gently and evenly. Now leave it until it cools down to room temperature, still covered with a damp cloth to fight off the drying out bit that isn't good.

Using slightly wet hands shape the cooked rice into small, mouthful rectangles. Cut the fish across the grain into thin, similar sized slices to drape over the rice. Smear the top of each piece of rice with a little wasabi and cover neatly with a slice of fish.

Serve the sushi with the soy and pickled ginger and extra wasabi for the fiery types at the table. Once devoured, continue relabelling a few more random tubs in the kitchen while its fresh in the mind.

perfect poached eggs and haddock

Ever tasted something so simple, so old school, but so perfect? Langan's Brasserie does a poached eggs with smoked haddock that so hits the mark, it seems a shame to try and recreate it. You actually might as well go there for the real thing. Great place, wonderful service and proper decent honest food. Their snails in garlic and parsley butter decent too, Welsh rarebit very good (salad dressing on the leaves outstanding) and a very very good lemon tart.

All that said, there is nothing quite like that bursting egg yolk running into the poached haddock, thickening the sauce and in this version here, soaking into cabbage spiked mashed potato. This is where ingredients come together to continually improve a dish as you eat. We don't have enough of these.

Smoked haddock with poached egg and colcannon

Serves 4

about 400ml milk, for poaching
200ml light fish stock
1 bay leaf
4 skinned smoked haddock portions, each about 160g
2 shallots, finely chopped
300ml double cream
1 tbsp chopped dill
4 eggs
knob of butter

for the colcannon
300g Savoy cabbage, cut into rough 2cm pieces
salt and freshly ground white pepper
6 spring onions, shredded
400g floury potatoes, cooked and mashed
40g butter, or more if necessary

Cook the cabbage in boiling salted water for about 5-6 minutes until soft, but not overcooked. Add the spring onions and simmer for another 30 seconds drain in a colander then mix with the mashed potato, butter and seasoning. Keep warm in a covered pan until required, or allow to cool and reheat in the microwave when required.

While the colcannon is cooking, bring the milk and fish stock to the boil with the bay leaf. Add the haddock, bring back to the boil and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Remove the fish carefully and transfer to a plate. Cover with foil and keep warm.

Transfer half of the cooking liquid to a clean pan, add the shallots and boil to reduce the liquid by two-thirds. Add the double cream and reduce it again by two-thirds, or until it thickens to coating consistency. Adjust the seasoning if necessary, add the chopped dill and simmer for another minute.

While the liquid is being reduced, poach the eggs until just set but still soft inside. 

Spoon the colcannon on to warmed plates, carefully break the haddock fillets in half and press carefully into the colcannon. Drain the eggs with a slotted spoon and rest them in between the two pieces of haddock. Finish the sauce by stirring in the knob of butter and spoon it over the eggs and fish to serve.

mackerel season and the oily fish right thing to do

What's not to love about doing a spot of fishing for the likes of seabass? Of course its a top fish we all want, a prize catch if ever there was. Undoubtedly though, if bass is the target, the likelihood of hitting a run of mackerel at this time of the year scores pretty high, so being prepared for it will always come in quite handy. The way things are going out there on the high seas also brings to mind the fact that little oily wonders in the shape of mackerel should really be in our baskets, on our plates and in our bellies when they're coming out the water in relative abundance. Dead healthy, really quick to prepare, even quicker to cook. What's not to love about a fresh mackerel indeed?

 

Seared mackerel fillet with red onion marmalade

 

Serves 4

4 mackerel fillets, about 100g each

Olive oil, for brushing the fish

1 lime

Small bunch of chives, to garnish

 

For the onion marmalade

50g salted butter

Splash of olive oil

4 red onions, finely sliced

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

150ml sherry vinegar

25g dark soft brown sugar

50g pomegranate seeds

 

To make the onion marmalade, melt the butter with the olive oil in a saucepan and add the onions together with a good pinch of salt and pepper. Cook over a medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until well softened, being careful not to allow the onions to burn or colour too much.

 

Add the vinegar, sugar, and pomegranate, bring to the boil, reduce the heat and then simmer gently for about 30 minutes, uncovered, or until the marmalade comes together as a mass. Turn out into a dish and keep warm at the side of the hob.

 

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6. Heat an ovenproof frying pan to very hot, brush the mackerel fillets on both sides with a little olive oil and lay in the pan, skin-side down. After 3 minutes, sprinkle the flesh side of the fillets with a little salt and pepper and transfer the pan to the oven for 2–3 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish, until cooked through.

 

Cut the lime in half and then cut four thin slices from the middle. Make a slit in each slice from the centre to the outside edge and give each a half twist. Finely pare the zest from the remaining lime.

 

Place one mackerel fillet onto each serving plate, squeeze the lime juice over and sprinkle with a little of the zest. Place a spoonful of the onion marmalade alongside and garnish with 2 or 3 chives and a twist of lime

blue marlin, in a bag, on the beach

Cooking something en papillotte means that you encase it in a wrapping of parchment and essentially steam it in its own juices. Just recently, blue marlin caught that morning in the waters off the south coast of Sri Lanka and baked with a piquant combination of Maldivian dried fish, pickled onions, aubergine, burnt lime, tomatoes, black olives, capers and herbs. This recipe can be made with a wide number of fish, as long as the fillets are the same size and thickness; try tilefish, halibut, cod, haddock, salmon, or sea bass.

 

Blue Marlin en papillotte with tomatoes, olives and a bit of Sri Lanka

 

Serves 4

4 (150 gram) marlin fillets (1 inch thick), skinned
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 medium tomatoes, seeded and diced
8 Kalamata or other brine-cured black olives, halved

a small handful of capers

1 medium onion sliced thinly and pickled in the caper brine
1/2 tsp local masala

8 wedges of grilled lime

8 baby aubergines, halved and roasted in olive oil
2 tblsp unsalted butter, cut into bits

8 leaves of basil

 

Put a rack in middle of oven and preheat oven to 220°c. Cut four 12-by-15-inch sheets of parchment paper (or foil)

 

Fold each sheet crosswise in half to crease, and then unfold. Season fish with salt, pepper and a pinch of the masala and put 1 fillet to the right of the crease on each sheet. Top each fillet with the diced tomato, one quarter of the capers and olives, one quarter each of butter and the basil

 

Working with one package at a time, fold left half of parchment over fillet. Starting at one corner of crease, fold edge of parchment over in triangles (each fold should overlap previous one), following a semicircular path around fillet, smoothing out folds as you go and tucking last fold under to seal papillotte completely.

 

Heat a large baking sheet in oven for 5 minutes. Put the papillotte on hot baking sheet and bake for 9 minutes.

 

To serve, transfer packets to four plates; with a knife, slit top of each packet and tear it to expose fish (use caution: steam will escape). Slide fish and sauce onto plates and discard paper.
 

the spice of sri lanka

 

The place is properly magical, the food all consuming, the people curiously incredible and hypnotic. The island where your watch, quite literally, stands still for a few brilliant moments in time

Sri Lankan fish curry

 

Serves 4

 

900g seer fish fillet, or any firm white fish although salmon will do just fine

1 tblsp sunflower oil

1 large onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

8 fresh curry leaves

½ tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp chilli powder

2 tblsp sri lankan curry powder (see below)

2 medium-sized tomatoes, skinned and chopped

50ml tamarind liquid

400ml coconut milk

Salt

Mango or lime chutney to serve

 

For the Sri Lankan curry powder

2½ tblsp coriander seeds

1 tblsp cumin seed

1½ tsp fennel seeds

A healthy pinch of fenugreek seed

2.5cm piece cinnamon stick

3 cloves

2 green cardamom pods

6 black peppercorns

 

For the curry powder, toast everything over a high heat in a dry pan and then simply grind everything together in a spice grinder into a fine powder. Store in a screw top jar

 

Rinse the fish under cold water and dry on kitchen paper. Heat the oil in a large, shallow pan, add the onion, garlic, curry leaves and fry gently for 7-10 minutes until the onions are soft and only just turning lightly golden

 

Add the turmeric, chilli powder and 2 tblsp of the Sri Lankan curry powder and fry for 1-2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, tamarind liquid, coconut milk and 1 tsp of salt and simmer gently for 15 minutes

 

Add the fish to the pan and spoon some of the sauce over the top of the fish. Turn the heat right down and simmer gently for 5 minutes, then cover the pan and set aside for 30 minutes. The fish needs to take in the flavour of the sauce and after 30 minutes should be cooked through - but if not, just return to the heat for a few more minutes until it is. Serve with some steamed basmati rice and some poppadoms should you feel inclined to do so

 

eating salad with chopsticks

Isn't as difficult as all that. It is though the last few flakes of fish in the bottom of the bowl that will continue to sharpen my dexterity and keep arthritis in my chopstick fingers at bay.

 

In a salad where cold noodles appear, in my opinion, the noodles themselves need to be served really cold, and not at room temperature. Fatty fish on the other hand, is better served tepid than chilled from the fridge. This splendid pairing meet here in this salad, a good contrast to one another. I've used chives as the main seasoning here, but I sometimes add coriander leaves too, a good handful of them, roughly chopped and thrown in at the end. Great picnic fodder this, by the way, especially packed into takeaway containers.

Cold salmon noodle salad

Serves 2

125g rice noodles
2 pieces of salmon fillet approximately 200g each
Groundnut oil
3 tblsp soy and oyster sauce mixed
1 tsp caster sugar
3 limes
1 or 2 bird's eye chilli
A handful of chives, chopped
A handful coriander leaves
2 tblsp toasted sesame seeds

Bring a deep pan of water to the boil. Slide in the noodles, turn off the heat and leave for four minutes. Drain and tip into a bowl. Mix the nam pla and sugar with the juice of two of the limes in a small bowl.

Chop the chilli finely, removing the seeds if you wish (leaving them in will make it hotter) and add it to the dressing with most of the finely chopped chives (and coriander) leaves. Save a few for serving. Toss the dressing with the noodles and leave to cool. Refrigerate for at least an hour so that the noodles are well chilled.

Place the salmon in a grill pan. Rub with a little oil, season with salt and black pepper and squeeze over the remaining lime. Grill for 10 to 12 minutes or so, till the flesh is opaque and the flakes of fish can be pulled easily apart. Leave to cool to room temperature.

Divide the noodles between two plates, then break the fish into broad chunks and scatter with the toasted sesame seeds and remaining herbs.

Eat with chopsticks, naturally...

 

There's nothing much better than a Mackerel sky

Generally speaking, I'm a massive fan of mackerel on a barbecue in the summer, slathered with a fist of lemon juice and a heavy hand with the seasoning including a smatter of chopped green chilli. Although becoming (already become) quite the fashionable fish, it's still relatively cheap and very available while being very good for you in an oily fish kind of a way. Barbecuing aside, there's a ton of recipes out there for the mackerel, the only thing I'd say is catch it (or buy it) and cook as quick as you can, it does have a tendency not to stay at it's best for too long.

Here's a thing for you, a mackerel sky is one of those views as you look up at a seemingly endless sea of extensive clouds that look like fish scales on a bright day. Clouds that are small and white, and usually line themselves up in groups in a regular pattern are something we might not see again for a while now summer is as good as officially over... 

Back in the kitchen though, autumn flavours are starting, and a most welcome change in tempo indeed. This is a terrific one oven tray dinner, but for a great finish to the mackerel, run a blowtorch over the fish to blacken and blister the skin just before serving. This gives it a certain smokiness, really brings out a new dimension to the flavour and makes a massive difference. 

Mackerel with new potatoes and bay leaves

Serves 3-6

1kg new potatoes, scrubbed, the bigger ones halved
2 red onions, halved and sliced
12 bay leaves
6 garlic cloves, unpeeled but bashed to break the skins
2 lemons, halved and thickly sliced
3-4 tblsp olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
30g butter
6 mackerel fillets
Lemon wedges, to serve

Heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Scatter the potatoes in a roasting tin with the onions, bay leaves, garlic, lemon slices and olive oil. Season well; toss everything to combine, then dot the top with the butter.

Roast in the oven until the potatoes are browning and tender, rattling the tin once or twice – about 30-40 minutes.

Carefully take the tin out of the oven. Season the mackerel fillets and lay them skin-side up on top of the potatoes.

Return to the oven and roast for a further six to 10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillets, until the mackerel is just opaque. Serve with some lemon wedges and an interesting salad - the fish can take bold flavours so don't be afraid to throw a few capers, maybe some chilli or some pomegranate into a bit of extra dressing here.

The ethics in fish and chips

From warm water shrimp and anchovies to haddock and cod, there are now almost 70 types of seafood that should remain in the sea and off the menu if we're going to tackle our sustainable lifestyles in a proper manner.

These lists, compiled by all manner of expertise, are an ever moving target. But you can be sure of one thing in that a little research and some local provenience doesn't take 5 minutes before you buy.


Just recently, a few more poor fish I've noticed being added to the not-to-eat list
include common and Dover sole from the North Sea or Irish Sea, albacore tuna from the Mediterranean and South Atlantic and certain types of Atlantic cod.


Some other fish I'd be happier if you avoid include Bay of Biscay anchovy, any type of large shrimp that has not been caught organically, Chilean seabass, conger eel, Atlantic halibut, wild Atlantic salmon, many types of shark, and nearly every type of skate. Herring too, unless from Norwegian waters are having a hard time right now too. I've just spent a few magical days in Stockholm where herring is an integral part of their daily lives, and was safely assured that everything I ate came from sustainable sources.


With a heavy heart I have to say one of my absolute favourites is in the red with all types of tuna needing to be avoided – apart from albacore tuna from
the American Albacore Fishing Association in the South Pacific and skipjack caught by pole and line methods in the Maldives or the western and central Pacific.

There is some light my friends. Hardshell cams and Pacific cod along with salmon certified by the Marine Stewardship Council, preferably from the Pacific or Alaska have moved into the category of fish that is safe and ethical to eat, along with scallops from farmed stocks. Coley and common mussels are also right up there in the good books right now too, so it's not all that bad for lovers of fish. There are always fantastic initiatives banging away to help, you just need to get out there and look. The always brilliant Lizzie has reported back on Crayfish Bob in London , tasty, fun and the absolute right thing to do to protect our water stocks.


The buzz here is buy local and in season, get to know your fish expert at the market or shop, limit yourself to fish a couple of days a week at most, and start eating more vegetables.

Lecture over, and happy (ethical) cooking!!


Clam pasta and chips for 2


What better dish to serve on a balmy summer evening than steaming plates of clam pasta. Sweet clams are steamed in a light broth of fresh tomatoes, onion, garlic and white wine and served with spaghetti or linguine pasta, topped with garlic chips for a spot of unique crunch. The ingredients here are few and simple as the clams give it most of its delicious flavour.


25 small clams
3 medium tomatoes, roughly chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4-5 garlic cloves finely sliced to fry
1 small brown onion, diced
100ml dry white wine
2 tblsp of finely chopped fresh parsley
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp dried chili flakes
2 tbslp of olive oil, and 200ml or so to fry the garlic
1 tblsp of butter
Spaghetti or linguine for 2


Boil some water in a large pot for the pasta. Cook the pasta according to packet instructions and have it ready around the same time as the clams or just a bit before.


Thinly slice the garlic, on a japanese mandolin if you have the nerve, and drop in the hot oil to crisp, drain onto absorbent paper and season with salt.


Soak the clams in a bowl of cold water for about 10 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold running water.


Heat the oil and butter over a medium heat in a large, heavy-based pot. Add the onion and fry for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until translucent. Add the garlic, chili flakes and salt and stir for about 20 seconds.

Add the chopped tomatoes and fry for about 7 minutes until their juice starts to evaporate.


Turn the heat up to medium-high and add the clams to the pot. Cover with a lid. After about 2-3 minutes add the wine to the pot. Cover again and shake the pot from side to side.


Cook the clams for a further 5 minutes or until they open. Add the parsley and stir with a wooden spoon. Cover and shake pot again.


Drain the pasta and then pour the clam mixture on top. Stir well, sprinkle over the garlic chips and serve immediately.

Förhandsgranska - Salmon with dill and lime

Stockholm these past couple of days has brought with it an alarming little display of food stuffs I have easily been forced to admit I have never tasted the like of before. From the subtle bleak caviar heaped onto crispy buttered toast, to the rightly acquired taste of surströmming. An extremely heavily fermented herring, quite a flavour I'm still working out how to describe. Next dish planned is the blodpudding, which quite clearly doesn't need an awful lot of translation, but the charm of it being traditionally eaten with lingonberry jam, potatoes and grated carrots has the better of me already.

At this time of year, and in particular back home, pâtés and terrines are particularly useful for what is going to prove to be a summer of many lunches, requiring no last-minute preparation beyond making a few rounds of that buttery toast. Strictly speaking, this dish isn't a terrine in the classic sense, but I serve it as such: the coarse, textured salmon in a china dish together with crisp Swedish inspired rye toast and paper-thin slices of pickled cucumber. It is the perfect light lunch with maybe some salad and cheese to follow. Or, in a more formal meal it would do as a refreshing first course before you move onto the beast that is fermented fish!


Salmon marinaded with dill and lime

500g wild salmon
4 tblsp mild olive oil
2 tblsp dill leaves
2 large ripe limes
1 tblsp capers

To serve - hot rye toast

Remove the skin from the salmon and, using a large, heavy knife, chop the flesh finely. You want it to be fine enough to stick together, but by no means a purée. Scoop it into a bowl. Mix in the olive oil, the chopped dill, the lime juice and the capers. Season carefully with salt and black pepper and pack the mixture into a terrine or china dish and leave overnight. Eat the next day with hot rye toast and pickled cucumber.

Pickled cucumber

Half a large cucumber
4 tblsp white wine vinegar
2 tblsp chopped coriander leaves
caster sugar

Peel the cucumber and slice it very thinly - you should be able to see through each slice. Put the slices in a colander and sprinkle with sea salt, then leave for a good half hour.

Rinse and pat dry with kitchen roll, put in a bowl with about 4 tablespoons of white wine vinegar, a couple of teaspoons of sugar and the chopped coriander leaves. Season with black pepper and toss gently. Set aside for a couple of hours, or overnight.