River Cottage

TOTALLY unable to view the above clip.

It, apparently, contains content by Chanel 4 which is "blocked in your country."

Can you explain why chanel 4 would block content in England?

Does this mean we ate all watching chanel DUH illegally? He asked, tongue well in cheek.

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In fact, it, specifically says....

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My 3 good things are...

Fishing tackle...The Devon/Dorset coastline...and Mackerel

There's nothing better than catching your own fish, especially mackerel. It doesn't cost a fortune to set your self up either.

I know it's a cliche but teach someone to fish in this case in was my wife and daughters and it paid dividends. catching over 60 mackerel this summer while on holiday in Lyme Regis Dorset. I will let you into a secret this great fishing spot was recommended to me by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall . Hugh once told me to try Seatown in Dorset to fish off the beach and it has never disappointed, just get the tide and time right...cheers Hugh

The best thing ever once you have caught your mackerel is to BBQ or pan fry your catch on the beach, it's not fancy but you will never forget the freshness or the experience.

Happy cooking and fishing...Brian

 This picture of my wife catching her first mackerel even has a mackerel sky

Below our catch simply grilled for 4 minutes each side.

The 3 good things here are 2 mackerel and lemon!

Above grilled mackerel, boiled potatoes and green beans

Poached Smoked Haddock, Horseradish Seasoned Rosti with Parsley Sauce

The Basic Ingredients

Haddock, Potato and Horseradish

• Smoked Haddock Fillet (I used dyed haddock but you can use non dyed)
• Milk
• Parsley
• Large teaspoon of butter
• 2 Large potato (I used a Picasso)
• Small onion
• A chunk of fresh horse-radish (mine was freshly picked from the garden)
• Seasoning (salt pepper and thyme)

Where to start...

• Peel and finely slice the onion
• Peel and grate two large baking potato, squeeze a much moisture as possible from them both. (you can use kitchen paper or a clean tea towel)
• Peel and finely grate the fresh horseradish
• Bind all three with an egg and season with some fresh thyme leaves and salt and pepper.
• This should make a very large rosti or two smaller ones.
• Heat a frying pan, and put the mixture in and press down firmly - cook for 4 or so minute until nicely golden and turn over (little tip... use the back of the baking try to turn the rosti onto and then slide it back in the frying pan so you don't have any cracks or breaks in the rosti)
• Put the rosti onto a baking try and cook for another 15 or so minutes until nicely tender.

Whats next...

• Gently heat semi skimmed milk in a large frying pan deep enough to cover the fish fillet (you want it to reach a simmer without boiling)
• Place the Haddock skin side up in the frying pan this helps the fish steam inside itself (I had to pre-cut the haddock to fit into the frying pan)
• After 2 or 3 minutes remove 4 or 5 large spoonfuls of milk and add to another pan with the parsley and butter and gently reduce this while the fish continues to cook
• Turn the fish over very carefully after another 2 or 3 minutes.
• The flesh will start to show the individual flaks when it is cooked.
• Simply pop the rosti straight from the oven onto a warm plate and place the haddock on top
• Drizzle with the parsley sauce reduction

And simply enjoy..............

Well seeing as Hugh didn't specify which fish we should use for this week's challenge I decided to use several! Hope that's not cheating! After watching the episode with mussels (and drooling over the results!) it seems that they all involved steaming the mussels in a pan, so I thought I'd go for a different way to prepare them. So my three good things are (shell)fish (cod, mussels and scallops), breadcrumbs and aioli sauce, which I combined to make fritto misto. Nothing original there, but I added a few twists to make it a bit more interesting. So here's my recipe:

Serves 2

Ingredients

Fritto misto

• Small bag of mussels
• 2 scallops in their shells
• Small cod fillet
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
• 1 egg
• 4 tbsp panko breadcrumbs
• salt and pepper

Fish makes brilliant curry and it is a perfect dish for cold winter days like today!

Ingredients

A handful of okra

2 filleted river cobblers

A small cauliflower

Curry leaves

One dsp mild curry powder

One dsp tamarind paste

One large onion

Garam masala

4 fresh red chillies

Can of coconut milk

Chicken stock cube

Salt and pepper to taste

1) Put some vegetable oil in frying pan and heat. Cook river cobbler in oil. You do not need the skin so this can be discarded should you wish.

2) Add chopped onions, chillis and curry leaves to a large saucepan or deep frying pan with a little oil and cook until onions start to soften. Add cooked fish, curry powder and garam masala and stir in to mix.

2) Add coconut milk and tamarind paste. Once it starts to bubble, add stock cube and mix to combine.

3) Add cauliflower cut into small chunks and okra either whole or split in halves lengthways.

4) Bring back to boil. You will notice that the sauce starts to thicken as the vegetables cook. Season to taste and serve hot. 

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Peas, cod and smoked bacon

Make a pea soup, using onions, garlic and peas. Blend and sieve.

Batter and deep fry the cod fillets. For the batter, use flour and soda water or beer.

Sprinkle the crisp smoked bacon over the top to serve.

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