oktapodi toursi (greek-style pickled octopus)

I adore pickles, and pickled seafood is high on my list. I like the sweet Lithuanian-style pickled fish but I adore boquerones (white anchovies) and any kind of pickled octopus.

When I think of octopus, I do think of Greek cuisine. They have a lot of interesting and flavoursome octopus recipes, whether it’s braised in red wine or barbecued after hours of marinating in lemon juice and garlic.

When I decided to make pickled octopus, I took the Greek herbs and spices for inspiration and flavoured my pickling liquor with oregano, bay and chilli.

The results are divine: soft, sour tentacles that satisfy my current cravings.

Oktapodi Toursi (Greek-Style Pickled Octopus)

Anna’s very own recipe. Makes one mezze to serve 2.

Ingredients:

500g cleaned baby octopus
2 teaspoons peppercorns
2 teaspoons chilli flakes
1 teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 dried bay leaves
½ teaspoon fresh parsley, very finely chopped
1 cup (250ml) white wine vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil, to finish
600ml sterilised preserve jar

Method:
1. In a small saucepan, bring ½ cup (125ml) cold water and the baby octopus to the boil. Reduce to simmer and braise for 20 minutes or until octopus is tender when pierced with a fork. Drain and set aside to cool.

2. When cool, arrange octopus in the preserving jar. It’s easier to fit it all in if you place the tentacles against the glass with the heads gathered together in the centre of the jar. Sprinkle in fresh parsley.

3. In another saucepan, bring all other ingredients (peppercorns, chilli flakes, smoked paprika, dried oregano, sliced garlic cloves, dried bay leaves and white wine vinegar) to the boil.

4. Pour boiling vinegar over octopus then immediately top with olive oil to ensure no octopus parts stick out above the liquid.

5. Seal jar immediately, cool to room temperature then refrigerate for 1 week before eating.

6. Bring to room temperature again before opening jar and serving.

snapper ceviche - ceviche de pargo

 Ceviche de Pargo

Ceviche is a dish I often crave because it combines some of my favourites things: sour citrus, spicy chilli and seafood.

It hails from the coastal countries of Central and South America with the Peruvians claiming to be the originators, spreading the word from their busy port-town of Lima. There’s also evidence that ancient Peruvians (Incans) made similar dishes from fermented liquors prior to the arrival of Europeans, who brought with them the precious citrus.

Polynesians also have their own ceviche, often including coconut milk, which seemed to evolve independently of the South Americans.

To make ceviche, I prefer to use firm white fleshed fish like snapper, swordfish or ling. If that’s not your thing, you can always use tuna, salmon or ocean trout.

Just make sure you use the freshest fish possible. Ask your fishmonger for very fresh fish (tell them what you're using it for) and make the ceviche on the same day you buy it.

Many recipes call for leaving the fish in the lime juice for hours, but I think this makes the fish quite tough. To ensure the fish is firm but still soft under your teeth, don’t “cook” it in the lime juice for any more than an hour.

The milky liquor that the fish has marinated in is called leche de tigre (tiger milk) or leche de pantera (panther milk) and in Peru it’s drunk in shot glasses as an appetiser. It’s rumoured to be a natural Viagra. I’m a bit sceptical about that claim, but it certainly tastes good so don’t throw it away.

Ceviche de Pargo (Snapper Ceviche)

Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 4 as a small starter.


Ingredients:
300g snapper fillets, deboned
½ cup of fresh lime juice (about 3 large juicy limes)
½ small red onion, finely diced
1 tomato, deseeded & chopped into small pieces
1 small jalapeño chilli, finely sliced

To serve:
Chifles (plantain chips) or tostados (tortilla chips)
Fresh coriander, chopped
Fresh jalapeño chilli, sliced
Avocado, sliced
Salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

1. Cube the fish into 3cm pieces.

2. In a non-reactive dish (plastic or ceramic), mix the raw fish pieces with the lime juice, jalapeño, red onion and tomato pieces.

3. Ensure all the fish is covered in lime juice and refrigerate for up to one hour before serving.

4. At this point you can either drain away the liquid to serve separately, or just keep them together.

5. Serve with fresh coriander, slices of avocado and jalapeño chillies.

smoked trout & potato salad w horseradish-crème fraîche dressing

Fabio, his gal pal + Jonas and I recently ate at Eathouse Diner and were inspired by their fantastic smoked trout salad. Jonas and I decided we had to replicate it at home and this is what we came up with.

As was the original, this salad was DELICIOUS.

We did make a few changes, for instance they used watercress and we switched our greens to baby spinach. It’s not as crunchy as the watercress, but it works well nonetheless.

This is a perfect summer dinner. You can serve it as your entree (starter) but Jonas and I happily ate it as our main course. It would be wonderful at a picnic too.

Smoked Trout & Potato Salad w Horseradish Crème Fraîche Dressing

Jonas & Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 4 as an starter.

Ingredients:
½ cup (125ml) crème fraîche
3 tablespoons (60ml) lemon juice
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 tablespoons chives, finely chopped
2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
3 teaspoons grated horseradish
700g potatoes, boiled then cubed
400g smoked trout, chopped
50g baby spinach
6 radishes, finely sliced

Method:

1. Make the dressing by whisking together the crème fraîche, lemon juice, lemon zest and grated horseradish.

2. In a large bowl add to the potatoes, radishes, chives and parsley enough dressing to suit your tastes and toss gently.

3. When you’re ready to serve, add the spinach and combine well. Top salad with trout.

razor clams w garlic & parsley butter

On a recent visit to the fish market, I was one happy girl when I spotted a bevy of razor clams.

They came from Scotland, so I don’t even want to think about the carbon emission from those food miles, but eating razor clams is a rarity for me, and I love them.

The best way to eat them is simply grilled in their shell with a little garlic butter and parsley, just the way they served them to me on Barceloneta beach.

Razor Clams w Garlic & Parsley Butter

Ingredients:
Razor clams
Butter, softened
Parsley, chopped
Garlic, crushed
Salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

1. Mix the garlic, parsley, salt and pepper with the butter. Roll into a log then wrap in plastic and refrigerate until hard.

2. When ready to cook, open the razor clams and cut out the dark sections which include the gills, stomach and intestines.

3. Place on a layer of foil on a grill tray.

4. Cut strips of the garlicky butter and cover the length of the clam.

5. Grill for a minute or until the butter melts and the clam flesh firms but doesn’t get too tough.

salmon sashimi w chilli sesame oil

 
食べるラー油がけ サーモンの刺身

Recently we were visited by two wonderful friends from Tokyo, VB Samurai and Green Ninja.

VB Samurai terrorised pubs across Sydney in his quest for the [im]perfect beer, while Green Ninja is a known enemy of electricity, preferring to undertake her clandestine activities in darkness.

Yes kids, there's a story in there. A big one.

Anyway . . . we had an awesome time hanging out, catching up and sharing our favourite places around Sydney. We also visited the Sydney Fish Markets and hosted a BBQ at our house with a group of friends, gorging on oysters, sashimi and even kangaroo skewers.

I served my finger lime oysters, as well as three types of sashimi: Snapper Sashimi w Soy & White Truffle, Tuna Tartare w Green Chillies, Crispy Shallots & Guacamole and this lovely salmon sashimi drizzled in la yu, a chilli & sesame oil which VB Samurai and Green Ninja brought us from Japan.

It seems la yu became incredibly popular last year in Japan, and after tasting it I understand why.

Chips of crispy fried onion and garlic floating in rich sesame oil and a hint of chilli. What’s not to love?

It’s used on rice, udon, salad dressings, fish – you name it! I can imagine happy uni students hunkering down with a bowl of ramen tossed in la yu as a quick fix dinner.

So why not drizzle this awesome sauce over sashimi? White fish isn’t a good option, since the flesh is too mild in flavour, but the richness of salmon was a perfect match.

Salmon Sashimi with La Yu

Anna’s recipe inspired by VB Samurai and Green Ninja.

Ingredients:
450g sashimi grade salmon, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon good quality la yu

Method:

Assemble fools!

singapore's chilli crab

For my 2011 Food Challenges I committed to learning how to make Singapore’s famous Chilli Crab. And what better way to learn, than to take a class at the Sydney Fish Market’s beautiful, luxurious cooking school: Sydney Seafood School.

The venue is superb. First you gather in a small auditorium, where students watch the dish being prepared by the teacher, complete with cameras broadcasting the detailed elements onto large display screens.

Next you shuffle into the cooking area, complete with stainless steel cooking stations, where the staff move from group to group offering advice and suggestions. Each station is also equipped with expensive hand soap to remove fishy odours and bottles of sparkling mineral water to sip upon. Cooking done in style!

Last, and most exciting, is the dining room where you sit down to eat your creation with a bottle of wine and bottles of mineral water.

It’s a truly wonderful cooking school and I highly recommend it. It’s even a decent place to go on your own, if you can’t find anyone else to join you. I’ve been twice now and made friends each time.

Tourists should take note, Sydney’s fish market is the third largest in the world for volume and is second only to Tokyo’s in terms of variety sold. That’s a whole lot of seafood.

So, what did I learn about buying and preparing crabs?

1. The lustre or shine of a shell, scale or skin indicates the level of freshness. If the seafood is dull, it’s not very fresh.

2. For crustaceans, look at the under carriage, at the legs and head joints, which should be clean. If they are oxidising they aren’t as fresh.

3. Hard shells are best. If a shell is soft it indicates the crustacean has been caught during its moulting period and this means the flesh has absorbed more water. It will be less flavoursome and more mushy.

4. When you buy shellfish, transport it in a cool bag and store it in a bowl covered in plastic wrap in the fridge. Don’t leave it wrapped in the plastic and paper from the shop.

5. To clean, just wipe with a wet cloth. Never wash crab (or seafood other than bivalves) under water as you wash away the oils and flavour and allow the meat to absorb water.

6. To prepare crab, lift the flap under its body, slide your thumb in as far as you can then lift the top shell away, exposing the gills so you can remove them.

7. Use a large, sharp knife and cut with short, hard chops. Sawing motions will only tear the delicate flesh from the shell.

blue swimmer crab bisque

I have always wanted to make a bisque, a seafood soup heavily flavoured by the shells of crustaceans.

The word bisque sounds so uplifting and fresh, a perfect image for any seafood dish. It seems the etymology of bisque seems to come from the Bay of Biscay, that rather large bite of land missing between Spain and France. Makes sense, no?

Keen to give bisque a whirl, I was pretty excited when I was allocated the Spider Crab Bisque as part of the Murdoch Book's 365 Challenge to cook every recipe from Stéphane Reynaud's 365 Good Reasons to Sit Down to Eat.

The original recipe uses spider crabs, only there weren’t any at my poissonnerie, so I opted for gorgeous blue swimmer crabs. Their azure shells are so photogenic.

The recipe is extremely easy to make and produces a perfect bisque. The extreme shellfish flavour really comes through, with chunks of crab meat adding texture to the velvety soup.

Only problem . . . it seems I don’t actually like bisque.

The moment the soup hit my lips I remembered, with utter disappointment, having eaten this soup in many fine French restaurants, and even at my mother’s table, and never having liked it!

After all the preparation and investment, I couldn’t believe I had forgotten this simple fact.

But don’t let my forgetfulness put you off: this recipe is perfect, so if you like bisque you’ll just love it!

Crab Bisque

Recipe from 365 Good Reasons to Sit Down to Eat by Stéphane Reynaud. Serves 6.

Ingredients:
6 fresh spider or blue swimmer crabs
2 potatoes
2 carrots
2 french shallots (eschalots)
3 tablespoons olive oil
250ml (1 cup) white wine
2 very ripe tomatoes, diced
1 tablespoon tomato paste (concentrated puree)
200ml pouring (whipping) cream
Salt and pepper

Method:

1. Poach the spider crabs in a large volume of water for 15 minutes.

2. Remove the meat from the shells (this will take a little time) and using a lobster pick, empty out each of the spider crab claws. Also get the roe found in the body cavity.

3. Rinse out the body shells of the crabs in water. They will be used, to our great delight, as tureens for the bisque. Ah, Brittany, the joys you bestow upon us.

4. Peel the potatoes and carrots, cut them into cubes.

5. Peel and slice the shallots.

6. Sauté three-quarters of the shallots with the carrots and potatoes in the olive oil, moisten with the white wine.

7. Add three-quarters of the crabmeat, the tomato and tomato paste, cook for 20 minutes.

8. Add the cream, then puree and season. Serve the bisque in the crab shells, (oh, it's so beautiful).

9. Add the rest of the crabmeat and a few shallot rings.

fisherman's rouille

There’s something romantic about any dish that’s described as a fisherman’s meal, and this is what drew me towards this cuttlefish and potato salad, which I cooked as part of Murdoch Book's 365 Challenge to cook every recipe from Stéphane Reynaud's 365 Good Reasons to Sit Down to Eat.

Rouille is from the Carmargue area, in the south of France, and gets its name from its colour: rouille = rust.

The seafood was perfectly tender and the honey-sweet saffron was so flavoursome in the garlic-laden mayonnaise. Overall, a wonderful little side dish for a lunch on a warm afternoon.

Fisherman’s Rouille

Recipe from 365 Good Reasons to Sit Down to Eat by Stéphane Reynaud. Serves 6.

Ingredients:
1kg cuttlefish hoods or octopus, cleaned
3 onions
200ml olive oil
700ml white wine
800g potatoes
3 garlic cloves
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon mustard
150ml sunflower oil
Salt and pepper
1 pinch saffron threads

Method:
1. Cut the cuttlefish into wide strips.
2. Peel and slice the onions.
3. Sauté the onions with a little olive oil in a flameproof casserole dish
4. Add the cuttlefish and moisten with white wine.
5. Cook, covered, over a low heat for 1 hour then uncover to allow the wine to completely evaporate
6. Peel the potatoes, cut them in large cubes cook them for 15 minutes in boiling water.
7. Peel and chop the garlic, combine it with the egg yolk and mustard, add the sunflower oil to make a mayonnaise
8. Season then add the saffron threads.
9. Combine the potatoes and cuttlefish. Dress with the garlic mayonnaise in the dish.
10. No more vampires!


Here's a cute little extract from the book:

Garlic is a great friend of cooking but a great enemy of the mouth. It permeates the body like a colony of ants in a packet of sugar – you breathe it, you sweat it and it clings to your skin.


What can I do, I hear you say, so that the pleasure of the palate doesn’t turn you into a walking garlic clove?


1) Find a special friend who, like you, adores garlic, good conversation, maybe even more . . . it could become a true tale of Marseille, putainnn con!
2) Stop eating it. Unbearable.
3) Remove the digestible sprout inside, eat a coffe bean ro cardamom pod to offset some of the odours.
4) Stop talking for six hours, what’s more, that’ll give us a break!

oysters w lime caviar

I love Sydney rock oysters. They taste so much better than the huge Pacific oysters.

Don’t get me wrong, if you gave me a dozen Pacifics I’d be a happy gal, but the rock oysters are simply sublime.

So why not match the native Sydney rocks to another native ingredient? Finger limes!

The beautifully coloured caviar looks wonderful and the tangy flavour is a perfect acidic accompaniment to the creamy rock oysters.

If you want more info on finger limes, try these two cocktail recipes.

Thanks again to Fred and Janet Durham at the Australian Finger Lime Company who generously gave me these finger limes.

Oysters w Lime Caviar & Black Pepper

Ingredients:
12 Sydney rock oysters
Caviar of 2 finger limes
Black pepper, to taste
Squeeze of regular lime juice
Drop or two of oil (avocado, sesame, olive)

Method:
1. Combine all the ingredients except the oysters into a bowl and mix to combine.
2. Top your oyster and enjoy!

This ticks off a 2011 Food Challenge to use more native ingredients.

hot smoked mackerel

As I browsed aimlessly through the shops yesterday, I noticed that the fishmonger was almost giving away bright, shiny mackerel at a mere A$2.50 per kilo! Outrageously cheap!

I snapped up two with the intention of bonding over the smoker with Jonas, whose loves mackerel as all good Swedes should.

My first ever experience with fresh mackerel was in June 2008 during our sailing adventure along the Swedish west coast. Jonas and his mum threw baitless hooks into the sea to test the line, then pulled it up with five fat fish already attached! We didn’t even need to fish after that!

This recipe was our first real attempt at smoking anything, part of my 2011 Food Challenges, and it was an absolute success. We now have four (oh Jonas!) three fillets of sweet, smoky, juicy fish to eat throughout the week.

If you’re thinking about smoking yourself, I highly recommend our compact Nipper Kipper smoker which is the perfect size and allow us to smoke food on our inner city apartment balcony. It’s very small and tidy, so doesn’t take up any space on our balcony, and yet each shelf is big enough for four fillets of fish. Frankly, I couldn’t be happier with it.

The Nipper Kipper is made from galvanised steel, cost us about A$50 and came with a burner, two internal shelves and some wood dust to start us off. We paid an extra A$14 for a stand to keep the hot elements off the balcony tiles. You can get a slightly more expensive version in stainless steel too.

Hot Smoked Mackerel

Recipe based on this and this. Makes 4 fillets.

Ingredients:
1kg blue mackerel (about 2 fish)
50g (⅓ cup) brown sugar
50g (¼ cup) fine salt
1 litre water

Equipment:
Smoker
Smoking dust
Metholated spirits

Method:

1. Wash the mackerel then fillet. Pull out the more obvious bones with tweezers but don’t worry too much because after they cook it’s easier to debone.

2. Prepare the brine mix by stirring the sugar, salt and water. You can also add other ingredients at this stage, like garlic or onion powder, pepper, bay leaves, spices etc. Mix until the sugar and salt are dissolved.

3. Lay the fillets skin side up in a ceramic dish then cover with brine and allow to rest in a cool place for 2 hours.

4. Remove the fillets and dry thoroughly with paper towels. Some people even go as far as to give them some time under a cold fan to make sure they’re extra dry as you want as little moisture in the smoker as possible.

5. Prepare your smoker as per the manufacturer’s instructions. Cook for 20 minutes. Things to note:
- We used 1 tablespoon each (so that’s 3 tablespoons in total) of Australian native woods, American hickory and a rum drenched dust. If you’re not sure, I’d stick to pure hickory and only use 1 tablespoon.
- Oil the grill racks to prevent sticking (we used cooking spray).
- Cook the fish skin side down on the racks.
- Don't try to pack the smoker with too many fillets or it will generate too much moisture which prevents proper cooking. Better to do them in batches if you want to make a lot.

6. Cool the fish, wrap tightly and refrigerate.

Storage: Lasts up to a week in fridge or a few months in the freezer (where I’m told the texture won’t change upon defrosting).

Note: Blue mackerel is also sold as "slimy mackerel".

bacon wrapped ocean trout w tomato reduction

This is my first recipe of the year! And such a lovely one too.

Fish always makes me think of summer, but the addition of smoky bacon and the oven roasting method of cooking make this equally viable in winter.

I made this recipe one evening from the bits and pieces in my fridge and I was just ecstatic at the outcome.

Sometimes the best dinners are those that just ‘happen’ on you.

Bacon Wrapped Ocean Trout w Tomato Reduction

Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 2.

Ingredients:
2 ocean trout fillets
2 large bacon rashes
Olive oil
Freshly ground salt and pepper
Tomato Reduction:
2 tomatoes, chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch of sugar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200’C.

2. Heat olive oil in frying pan. Fry garlic until soft.

3. Add tomato paste and fry for 1 minute.

4. Add tomatoes, salt, sugar and pepper and gently fry until softened and forming a sauce (about 5-10 minutes). Set aside in serving dish. Keep warm.

5. In a clean pan, fry ocean trout, skin side down to crisp skin. Then flip and cook flesh a little (approximately 2 minutes skin side, 30 seconds - 1 minute flesh side).

6. Wrap bacon rashes around fillets and top with pepper.

7. In a baking dish, cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until bacon is crispy and fish is cooked through.

salpicón de camarónes (veracruz prawn cocktail)

 
This recipe comes from Saveur, an American food magazine which I love.

The best way to explain a salpicón, is to take the words straight from Saveur:

“The word salpicón, which comes from the Spanish sal, salt, and picar, to chop, refers, in classic French cooking, to a mince of poultry, game, or vegetables bound with a sauce. In Mexico, however, it can mean anything from a shredded beef salad in the north to this citrusy shrimp appetizer”

As summer comes closer to Sydney I begin to crave raw seafood drenched in lime or lemon (but never both at the same time!). Adding chillies, coriander and avocado is an additional blessing and this dish is one of my all time favourite meals in summer.

It's also another 2009 food challenge since it's another Mexican recipe.

Salpicón de Camarónes (Veracruz-Style Prawn Cocktail)

Recipe from Restaurante Doña Lala in Tlacotalpan, Mexico.
Printed in Saveur Issue #12. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
1 lb. cooked small prawns (shrimp)
1 cored chopped tomato
½ small white onion, peeled +chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled +minced
1 fresh jalapeño, seeded +sliced
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
Salt & freshly ground white pepper
1 avocado, peeled + sliced
Lime wedges

Method:

1. Peel shrimp.

2. Mix together shrimp, tomatoes, onions, garlic and jalapeño.

3. Stir in oil and parsley, season to taste with salt and pepper.

4. Top with avocado and garnish with lime wedges.

Note: I added coriander and used cherry tomatoes.

As my Weekend Herb Blogging entry, I’m focusing on the avocado. Our host is Katie from Eat This, so go check out the round-up.

Avocado has been my theme ingredient in two other WHB posts, one in 2007 (cold avocado soup from the Ivory Coast) and one in 2008 (avocado shake from Vietnam). So here’s 2009 and some avocado information copied dircetly from my 2007 post.

The word avocado comes from the Aztec (Nahuatl) word ahuacatl, via Spanish aguacate and means “testicle”. Perhaps because of its appearance, the Aztecs believed avocadoes were an aphrodisiac and called it "the fertility fruit". Apparently during avocado harvesting, virgins were kept indoors to prevent any promiscuity taking place.

This reputation stuck with the avocado for such a long time and many people in South America wouldn’t eat it because they wanted to appear wholesome. Companies had to undertake serious PR campaigns to dispel the myths and get the fruit out to the public.

The Nahuatl word ahuacatl makes up other words like ahuacamolli, meaning "avocado soup/sauce” which the Spanish transformed into guacamole.

In 2005, the world’s top ten avocado producing nations were, in order: Mexico, Indonesia, USA, Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Dominican Republic, Peru, China and Ethiopia. As trees need well aerated soils and subtropical or tropical climates to thrive, this makes sense.

Propagation by seed takes around 5 years to produce fruit and the quality is never as good as the parent tree. Commercial plantations therefore graft new seedlings.

Avocadoes mature on the tree but ripen once harvested. The fruit is high monounsaturated fat contents and contains 60% more potassium than bananas, vitamin Bs, vitamin E, vitamin K and folate.

In Brazil, Vietnam, the Philippines, Jamaica and Indonesia avocadoes are blended with sugar and milk to create a milkshake.

It is also interesting to note that avocado foliage, skin and pits are said to poison animals such as birds, cats, dogs, cattle, goats, rabbits and fish.

~~~

This time previously on M&M:
2008 - Sago gula bali (Balinese coconut sago dessert)
2007 - Fatteh (Syrian chickpea & yoghurt breakfast)
2006 - Japanese-style tomato carpaccio

scallops w lentils, pancetta & sage

I have been eyeing off this recipe ever since my sister gave us this cookbook in March 2007. It was the first dish I marked and one of those I coveted and craved after (hence another Food Challenge), and yet it wasn’t until April 2009 that I finally made it.

Why did it take me so long?

I suppose the recipe seemed complicated and fiddly. Too many ingredients not easily on hand. Too many steps.

But when you break it down it’s pretty easy. Boil in one pot. Fry in another. Done.

Don’t be like me. This recipe is worth the effort. Just make it.

The lentils provide a warm, earthy backdrop to the sweet scallops, crispy sage and salty pancetta. The asparagus brings some fresh flavour while the lemon crème fraîche is an delightful end to the composition. Sublime.

The lentils could easily be made and served without the other accompaniments, as a great vegetarian side dish. I kept some “uncontaminated” from the scallops and served them to Jonas, who has since requested a repeat performance.

One of the wonderful aspects of this dish is the crispy sage leaves. I just adore these leaves fried until brittle and crunchy then paired with anything soft and sweet like fish or pasta.

Scallops w Lentils, Pancetta & Sage

Recipe from Cook with Jamie by Jamie Oliver. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
300g Puy lentils
1 bay leaf
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 potato, peeled
1 tomato
2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
5 heaped tablespoons crème fraîche (or thick yoghurt)
Juice of 1 lemon
32 baby asparagus spears, woody bases trimmed (or 3-4 large ones)
12 slices pancetta (or smoked, streaky bacon)
12 large scallops (or 16 small scallops)
24 sage leaves
Salt and pepper, to taste
Olive oil, for frying

Method:

1. In a saucepan, combine lentils with garlic cloves, bay leaf, potato and tomato. Cover with water.

2. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20-25 minutes until lentils are tender but holding their shape (ie not mushy).

3. Drain off 90% of the water. Discard the bay leaf.

4. Peel the tomato skin and discard. Return tomato to pot.

5. Mash the tomato, garlic and potato into the lentils with a fork. The lentils actually seem to hold their shape while the mashed vegetables help to create a sauce around the lentils.

6. Add the parsley, red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside and keep warmish.

7. Season the crème fraîche with salt and pepper to taste. Add just enough lemon juice to give it a twang. Set aside.

8. Heat a little olive oil in a large non-stick pan then fry pancetta.

9. Once golden and crisp, remove and set aside.

10. Season scallops.

11. In the same frying pan, add asparagus and scallops and cook until scallops are golden on each side and asparagus is tender but still crunchy.

12. Remove from pan and set aside.

13. Finally, add some more olive oil and fry sage leaves for 40 seconds on each side until crispy.

14. Divide lentils between four plates, top each with 8 baby asparagus spears, 3 pancetta slices, 3 large scallops and 6 crispy sage leaves. Serve with a dollop of lemon crème fraîche.

Salvia officinalis is a common herb that delivers an anything thing but common flavour to your cooking. Not only has it been a medicinal herb for millennia, but it also acts as an ornamental plant with its soft, dusty-green leaves.

In European cooking sage is often served with fatty meats (particularly pork), onions or cheese and can be included in sausages. The classic Italian sage and burnt butter pasta sauce has been popular for decades and in the Balkans sage is used to flavour spirits.

Once upon a time, sage was prescribed for every illness, hence it’s name “salvia” meaning “to heal”. It was used for everything from sprains, fertility, sore throats, swelling, bleeding, snakebites and even to ward away evil. For instance sage, along with thyme, rosemary and lavender was one of the main ingredients of the Four Thieves Vinegar, believed to protect people from the plague.

Modern sciences shows sage to have healing effects as an “anhidrotic, antibiotic, antifungal, astringent, antispasmodic, estrogenic, hypoglycemic, and tonic”.

This recipe is my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging, this week hosted by Prof. Kitty from wonderfully named blog The Cabinet of Prof. Kitty. Be sure to visit this recap!

Other blogger recipes using sage:
Apricot, Sage & Cornmeal Cookies - Lottie + Doof
Baked White Beans w Tuna & Sage - Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska
Biscuits w Sausage & Sage Gravy - Pinch My Salt
Butternut Squash Cupcakes w Sage Frosting - Vanilla Garlic
Cauliflower w Sage Butter & Eggs - Nami Nami
Chicken Liver & Sage Salad - Dirty Sugar Cookies
Corn Crackers w Rosemary & Sage - Anne'Food
Crispy Sage & Brown Butter Pasta - 80 breakfasts
Fresh Fig & Sage Grilled Pizza - The Left Over Queen
Game Casserole w Cider & Sage - Food, Glorious Food

Guinness Stew w Sage & Ginger - The Hungry Mouse

Quail Saltimbocca - Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once

Pork Chops w Apple, Sage & Pancetta - Closet Cooking
Rabbit Lasagne w Mushrooms & Sage-Scented Bechamel - Food Stories
Roasted Root Vegetables w Maple Sage Glaze - Food Blogga
Sage & Caramelized Onion Risotto Cups - sugarlaws
Sage Focaccia - Baking Bites
Sage Ice Cream - pastry studio
Sage Lady (cocktail) - Yum Sugar
Sage Steamed Snap Beans - Lucullian Delights
Sage, Honey & Pecorino Heart Bread - Ms. Adventures in Italy
Sage-Pecan Pesto - Kalyn's Kitchen
Sage, Pine Nut & Pecorino Scones - Pro Bono Baker
Sage, Walnut & Dried Fig Stuffing - 101 Cookbooks
Savory Sage Corn Cakes - Gluten Free Cooking School
Soothing Chicken & Sage Dumpling Soup - canarygirl.com
Strawberry & Sage Ice Cream - Ice Cream Ireland
Vegetarian Apple-Cider Ginger Sage Gravy - A Veggie Venture
Walnut-Sage Potatoes Au Gratin - Gluten Free Bay
Watercress & Fresh Sage Soup - Chocolate & Zucchini
White Bean, Crème Fraîche & Sage Frittata - Cook Think
Yellow Fin Tuna, Sage Oil, Hibiscus Salt - Wrightfood
Zucchini, Sage & Scamorza Terrine - The Passionate Cook


References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_sage
http://www.taste.com.au/how+to/articles/1010/sage
http://www.nutrasanus.com/sage.html