I am really very fortunate to live in a lovely little community in rural Devon, and am surrounded by wonderful produce, and talented craftspeople, my next door neighbour is a wonderfully energetic and creative lady called Barbara Clift, who works wonders with willow in all its forms, as well as being a passionate foodie.

She had mentioned to me an idea she had come up with for willow fish baskets, for smoking and BBQ, when I saw what she had created I knew they’d be perfect, and so was asked to trial them.

I’d decided to hot smoke a side of salmon, but these would be perfect to BBQ a whole fish such as a trout or similar too.  Just soak the basket in water for a few hours so it chars slower.

I cured the side of salmon with a handful of coarse sea salt and a handful of dark brown sugar mixed together and rubbed into each side of the salmon, wrap the salmon in clingfilm and place on a tray in the fridge for 24-48 hours. Carefully remove the fish and rinse off under a trickle of water to remove excess cure. Pat dry with a paper towel and leave for at least 12 hours on a plate in the fridge to form a pellicle.

I then placed the salmon on one of the lovely willow fish baskets, and smoked using beech wood chips in a BBQ with a lid at 80-100degC for 1.5-2 hours until the fish is just cooked through and starting to flake but still moist. The basket proved to work perfectly so the fish didn’t stick to the grill of the BBQ and was an ideal way to serve the smoky fish.

Cheers

Marcus

http://countrywoodsmoke.com/

I’m sure every one of us will welcome Autumn with an Apple Crumble, I often think of such a simple but warming dish as a pudding equivalent of a hug. I’m sure most of you will have your own version of this classic dish, but I’d like to share with you my own.

I like to caramelise my cooking apples to give them a sweeter warmer edge as often I find apple crumbles simply too sharp.

So I take 6 good sized Bramley apples, this was about all I had this year from my own disastrous crop. I peeled, cored and cubed them and placed them into a large saucepan with 50g unsalted butter and 80g soft light brown sugar, adding a dash of real vanilla extract, and a pinch of mixed baking spice. Heat on a moderate to high temperature until the caramel just starts to thicken and darken slightly. Pour the apple mixture into a pie dish or similar.

Make up a crumble mixture, none of your doughy or sawdust crumbles here, this is crunchy crumbly perfection, place 200g cold unsalted butter cut into small cubes in a food processor. Add 100g ground almonds, 150g plain white flour, 50g rye flour, and 175g light soft brown sugar, blitz until it reaches a breadcrumb consistency and pour over the apple mix into an even layer. Sprinkle a little unrefined brown sugar crystals over the top.

Bake in a preheated oven at 200 degC for 25 minutes until the top is brown and the apple mix starts to bubble over the edge.

Serve with your choice of cream, custard or ice cream.

Cheers

Marcus

http://countrywoodsmoke.com/

I’m a really big fan of great simple seafood, and especially love to try new things. I’d been after some Razor Clams for a while, and I mentioned this to the friendly fishmongers at Greendale Farm Shop just outside Exeter. They had recently been out foraging and so were able to sell me some. Needless to say I jumped at the opportunity.

I got the clams home and rinsed out any remaining sand, and fired up the BBQ with some white hot coals, I popped the clams on meat side down and grilled them directly over the coals until seared, a couple of minutes, I then turned the clams over with some tongs, and brushed them with garlic, chilli and coriander butter, a squeeze of lemon and a little salt and pepper, until the shells started to char and smoke, another couple of minutes, don’t overcook them or they’ll turn to rubber. At this point the aroma was amazing.

I served the Razor Clams hot and we ate them with our fingers, avoiding the gritty stomach, and enjoyed them with a glass of cold New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, the taste and texture was similar to scallops, slightly sweet and subtly smoky from being cooked over fire.

Have a chat with your fishmonger and see if he can source these for you, or go foraging for some, and try something different on your BBQ this summer.

Cheers

Marcus

http://countrywoodsmoke.wordpress.com/

I fired up the oven again this afternoon to drive away the moisture built up over the winter and get it ready for a full summer of pizza and wood fired cooking, I also had a play with a couple of pizza recipe ideas, more of which will follow in a later post. But here’s a lovely simple cheese and tomato thick crust pizza, it seemed a shame not to use the oven with this glorious weather.

The oven seems to be working pretty well I’d say………

Cheers

Marcus

http://countrywoodsmoke.wordpress.com/

One of the benefits of establishing a good relationship with a quality butcher or smallholder is that you can get hold of cuts of meat that are exactly what you are after. I’m lucky that my neighbours at Pitmans Farm are able to supply me with some cracking quality rare breed meat to my request. I love ribs, but I often feel a bit hard done by when there’s not much meat on them, and the butcher has been too efficient at removing the belly.

So when I was able to get my hands on these ribs with a thick juicy layer of belly on, I knew I’d be on to a good thing. I gave them a good rub down with brown sugar and then a cajun dry rub pimped up with extra smoked paprika. I gave them 4 hours in the smoker with Apple wood smoke at 110 degC, before brushing with a spicy BBQ marinade and direct grilling for another hour until the outside is temptingly smoky and crusty, and allow to rest out for 20 minutes. It was obligatory to have these with homemade coleslaw, a cold beer, and seriously sticky fingers.

Cheers

Marcus

http://countrywoodsmoke.wordpress.com/

It’s been a lovely start to the spring season, the weather has been unseasonably warm, so it was about time I fired the wood fired oven up for a quick couple of pizzas for my family.

It’s always difficult after you haven’t fired an oven in anger for a while as it builds up moisture over the winter and everything takes a while longer to heat up.

Still it was a good start to the year with a couple of pepperoni pizzas, but the light fades so quickly, so caught the first pizza in near dark conditions.

I’m looking forward to a great season of eating outdoors, hope you are too.

Cheers

Marcus

http://countrywoodsmoke.wordpress.com/

Smoked Chilli Chocolate Cake

200g unsalted butter cut into small cubes

200g 70%+ quality dark chocolate broken into squares

50g plain flour

50g ground almonds

5 eggs separeted into yolks and whites

75g light soft brown sugar

100g golden caster sugar

1 dried ancho chilli (I smoked mine) available from South Devon Chilli Farm  blitzed in a spice grinder until fine.

Smoked Chocolate Icing

100g 70%+dark chocolate

50g smoked unsalted butter

Preheat your oven to 180 degC. Set up a bain marie of a heatproof bowl over simmering water, and add the butter and chocolate, ensure the water does not touch the bowl. Gently stir until the chocolate and butter are melted and combined, and remove from heat.

Sift the flour intro a bowl , add the almonds.

In a separate bowl add the brown sugar to the yolks and whisk until creamy. Fold in the chocolate mix until fully combined and then the chilli.

In another bowl whisk the egg whites and caster sugar to a soft peak, and then gently fold in the flour and almonds, followed by the whites until combined withouth knocking the air out of the mix.

Pour into a 20cm springform cake tin that has been greased and lined with baking parchment and bake for 40 minutes until still slightly sticky in the middle. Leave to cool in the tin before lifting onto a wire rack.

Using the bain marie again for the chocolate icing, melt the chocolate and butter (use regular unsalted if you can’t get any smoked, or cold smoke your own, I used beech home smoked butter), stir and leave to cool until it thickens and spread on the cake.

Garnish the cake with chocolate truffles and a chilli, and enjoy with good company and lashings of clotted cream.

 

Hi guys,
I've had a wonderful foodie Christmas, I hope you all did too?
Here's a selection of what been on my smoker
Apple and oak smoked Xmas turkey
Hickory smoked bacon collar
Beef short ribs
Zaatar rubbed smoked turkey leg joint
All in all a delicious range of meats, well chuffed with my new smoker
Cheers
Marcus

http://countrywoodsmoke.wordpress.com/

After a recent posting on the wonderful “Cooking in Sens” blog http://cookinginsens.wordpress.com/2011/11/06/deep-fried-quail-with-hoisin-dipping-sauce/ deep frying game birds looks a good thing to try, and as it’s well and truly pheasant season here in Devon, there’s a plethora of birds around. I wanted to try something that was family friendly (my wife is not a massive game fan) I thought i’d try a southern fried style meal, I felt the pheasant would give a tasty meat for this, and the breast and thigh were delicious tasty and tender, though some of the leg meat had a few tough bits, but this is what you excpect from a wild bird

Devon Fried Pheasant

Aim for a whole pheasant per person, if it’s been plucked then keep the skin on, if not then it’s ok to use skinless birds, as mine were.

Joint out the pheasants as per my chicken jointing post http://countrywoodsmoke.wordpress.com/2011/10/14/the-chicken-challenge/ and divide each breast into goujons.

Cover with water with a bay leaf, a couple of juniper berries and a couple of whole black peppers, a stick of celery, an onion halved and a chopped carrot. Simmer this of a medium heat until the meat is cooked through, mine took 15 mins. Take out the pheasant meat and set aside to cool, the liquid can then be strained and used as a wonderful alternative to chicken stock.

Set some hot oil to 180 deg C in a deep pan or deep fat fryer.

Have 2 bowls set up with 200ml of milk in one, and 200g seasoned flour, (11 herbs and spices if you know the secret recipe) I used 2 teaspoons cajun seasoning “Slap Ya Mamma” to be precise, a tspn devonshire smoked sea salt http://www.devonshire-gourmetsalts.co.uk/view-our-salts.php a tspn of smoked paprika and a good grind of freshly ground black pepper.

You need to double dip the meat, firstly into the flour, then into the milk before back into the flour, this will give a nice thick crispy coating.

In batches pop the coated meat into the hot oil until the coating is brown and crunchy 8 minutes roughly for mine. Keep the cooked meat in a warm oven until all the meat is cooked.

The Devon Fried Pheasant was served with a home made red cabbage coleslaw and fluffy on the inside crispy on the outside twice cooked chips, and enjoyed with a cold cider.

Cheers

Marcus

http://countrywoodsmoke.wordpress.com/

The traditional way to improve your vegetable patch is to add lots of organic matter, but soil is a complex substance that requires a new viewpoint.

My father who has been growing veg organically since I was little, is always looking for ways to improve the quality of his soil, and hence the vegetables, a few years ago came across soil remineralisation. It’s basically a way to supercharge your soil, and something which I’m giving a go.

Soil is comprised basically of three elements, organic matter, ground up rock, and a living element. All of these factors need to be considered to get the best from your soil, so we can add bulk organic matter, compost and well rotted manure to boost the organic element.

Some of the most fertile soils are on volcanic islands, this is due to the mineral rich rocks below, so a source of gound down volcanic rocks is a great additive to our soil, it will boost the mineral content and microbial activity, and therefore the health of the vegetables grown in the soil. Rock dust is now widely available www.seercentre.org.uk/.

Then the living element needs consideration, the microbes in soil really are the key, a healthy living community of organisms breaks the minerals down into a form that is easily accesible to the plants, if you give these little fellas a nice home then you’ll end up with even more, so Biochar (basically charcoal) added to the soil will boost the microbes in the soil, and will stop minerals leaching out of the soil, so next time you have a bonfire, save some of the charcoal and spread it onto your veg patch or compost heap.

Get all of the three elements right in your soil, and you’ll grow wonderfully nutritious vegetable like my dad does.

Cheers

Marcus

http://countrywoodsmoke.wordpress.com/