Chop House Delight...

This was a totally unplanned gourmet extravaganza.  I should really have gone to kickboxing tonight, but was feeling a little tired after the midweek fun last night, so I decided wholesome grub and chilling was the way forward.  I felt like making the boy a nice tea, as I'd abandoned him to fend for himself (ie get a battered knob from the chipper) the night before.
We had some corn on the cob knocking about so that got me thinking about jerking; that is, jerk seasoning, as corn on the cob is often the happy partner to some tasty Caribbean creations in this house.  A bit labour intensive for a school night but as I strolled past the wonderful Caribbean stall in the Eagle Centre market hall (no link sorry, you'll have to go and look yourselves,) I spotted some jars of Walkerswood Jerk seasoning:
http://www.easycaribbeanshop.com/index.php/caribbean-food-uk/food-brand/walkerswood-brand/walkerswood-traditional-hot-spicy.html
This is the best shop bought jerk seasoning I've found, there are no additives, it tastes really authentic, and you can see the scotch bonnet seeds in it.  Ooh, and it's HOT.  It was only £2.20 from the market stall by the way.  (Go there, it's great.)
I marinaded two juicy pork chops, (gotta be chops, for the on then bone-ness) seared them in a pan and finished them off in the oven for 20 minutes or so, this is the boy's favourite; Jerk Pork :-)  the corn on the cob was taken to the next level with some homemade garlic and herb butter, and just wilted spinach on the side, no carbs needed.  Picture to follow when I can be bothered to upload it....aaaaaaand relax...........could only be bettered if we were going to the Notting Hill carnival this weekend, but alas it is not to be, the Big Chill has cleared out most of the party funds for the time being.  Still, a bit of sun, an impending visit from some silly Mancunians, some Red Stripe and a whistle, and we'll be irie.

Midweek Mexican

I wasn't really planning on blogging during the week but I've had some good grub so far!
I threw caution to the wind and went out on a school night, to cook some Wednesday night fajitas with El Hueso, my brother and Pid.  The Mexican idea was prompted when I popped into Sound Bites in Derby and bought some Rico brand Salsa Verde:  http://www.ricomexicankitchen.co.uk/Products.aspx?id=2
Rico make seriously good salsa and I've been hankering after trying the Salsa Verde for a while.
I must digress a moment to mention how amazing Sound Bites is; a really high quality independent wholefood / organic shop.  I often wonder how Derby has managed to sustain it but happily it has been here for a good few years now.  Check it out here: http://www.soundbitesderby.org.uk/
So I had to make some fajitas to honour the tasty salsa.  El Hueso has a thousand useful kitchen gadets of every description, so we dusted off his panini press to seal off the fajitas, a great finishing touch.  The filling was turkey, which I find works really well in a fajita, with El Hueso's special seasoning, peppers, onion, sour cream, grated cheddar cheese, extra hot jalapenos and some homemade guacamole; delish!  We polished off two each, allowing us to get through several bottles of wine and have a thorough thelogical discussion whilst watching the God Delusion.  I'm afraid I didn't take any photos as I was too busy eating / debating.

Summer on a Plate

Shame the weather didn't emulate the concentrated summeriness in this recipe; Saturday was a wash out so we didn't BBQ.  The swordfish steaks cooked beautifully brushed with olive oil and chilli flakes and pan fried for 4 minutes each side.  The  zesty, bright green Salmoriglio worked so well with the fish, and I suspect would work well with a lot of other stuff.  The sauce consists of olive oil and water whisked together with lemon juice, crushed garlic, chopped oregano and parsley, simple but a total flavour bomb.  The samphire I just steamed for 2 minutes or so then stirred a good dollop of butter and some lemon juice through.  This stuff is made to go with fish, you can taste the sea in it.  Dished up with some plain boiled potatoes to soak up all those lovely sauces and juices, and a nice chilled glass of pinot grigio.  Typically, one glass wasn't enough and we were still up watching The Shining at 4 in the morning being very silly, but that's another story; it was Saturday night after all :-)

The Raw Materials

Two lovely swordfish steaks for about a fiver; what a bargain!  (This is a budget-gourmet we're doing).

The Finished Article.

Drawing my Sicilian Sword...

We decided to work backwards from the fresh fish.  Being situated in a rather central location, geographically, one can't rely on consistently plentiful seafood, it's touch and go what the nice smiley fishman will have.  Got lucky with some swordfish today though, and the bonus of some samphire to go with it.  Rick delivered the goods and as we're not going out in public tonight I am going to unleash the garlic; Seared Swordfish steaks with Salmoriglio.  Salmoriglio is Sicilian in origin, a combination of olive oil, chillies, lemon juice, garlic and herbs.  We have the luxury of fresh oregano at the moment, ours is growing really well.  A big bunch of flat leaf parsley from Ted at the market and we're good to go.  Might even crack the BBQ open for that authentic, chargrilled taste....I'll let you know how it goes :-)

Welcome to Peckishism

I decided to start a blog today, and what could be more endlessly fulfilling and fascinating to write about than something that takes up a lot of my attention on a daily basis, ie.  eating / food / where my next meal is coming from / cooking / generally being gluttonous.  So here we go.  Off to buy some fish from the fish market, was going to do Tom Yum but the boy and I both think we have over-Thaied it this week with a Laab and a Mussaman....so we have turned to the supreme fishy powers of Rick Stein for some inspiration.  Laterszzzzzzzzzzzz