Sea Bass
Sea bass is best in the winter months and can be bought whole, as steaks or as fillets. A whole bass is perfect for a special meal and is a favourite of many a restaurant chef. You may have to pay a little more for sea bass but its tender, soft flesh and its delicate milky flavour is worth the expense. It can be poached, steamed, baked or cooked over coals but, whichever way you choose, take care not to overcook the delicate flesh. Use flavours such as fennel, garlic, butter, olive oil and herbs such as mint, parsley and coriander to complement it.
Turkey
Traditionally, turkey is eaten at Christmas and Easter but it needn't be saved for the festive table. There are many cuts and joints in the shops, such as mince, steaks, drumsticks, thighs and crown roast, which can be enjoyed at any time. A healthy choice, turkey is very low in fat and high in protein, zinc, iron and B vitamins. It should be hung for several days to allow the flavour and texture to develop.
Pomegranate
Originating in Asia, the pomegranate tree is mentioned in the Old Testament and has been a symbol of religious significance for centuries in many countries. Now cultivated in the warm climates of South America, the Middle East, the Canary Islands and the Mediterranean, the fruit is available in Britain from early to mid-winter. About the size of a large orange, it has a leathery skin with a blush of yellow and red. Inside there is spongy pith filled with seeds, which are, in turn, surrounded by a juicy, ruby red pulp. Eating a pomegranate can be a lengthy process as each pip has to be individually extracted, the juicy pulp eaten and the pips discarded (although they can be eaten if you find this too fiddly). The easiest way to extract the juice is by crushing the seeds through a sieve with the back of a ladle. This can be used to flavour mousse, fool, ice cream or sorbet. Many Persian and Middle Eastern recipes call for pomegranate molasses, a thick, sweet-and-sour liquid that gives a pleasant sharpness to meaty stews; it's also excellent paired with aubergine. It's available in some supermarkets and in Middle Eastern and Asian delicatessens.
Celery
The green or yellow varieties of celery are available all year round and are plentiful in summer but it's the frost-hardy white celery that is available only in winter. Celery should have crisp long stems attached to a sound base and the leaves should be vibrant and green. The stalks need to be cut away from the base and washed thoroughly. It's a most useful winter vegetable which, at a time when fresh herbs are scarce, can also be used to garnish and flavour dishes. Serve trimmed stalks raw with cheese (no festive Stilton should be served without them), or chopped into salads for a refreshing crispness. Chopped celery can also be used to flavour stuffing, soups, sauces and stews or as part of a bouquet garni for a stock. Whole young stalks can be steamed or boiled.
Also in season
wild duck
swede
celeriac
turnips
sprouts
goose
pumpkin
beetroot
parsnips
pears
Showing posts with label Seasonal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seasonal. Show all posts
Tuesday, 4 December 2007
Friday, 2 November 2007
November - What's in Season
Parsnips
Parsnips are a much-loved root vegetable and grow well in Britain. They actually improve with a frost because the effect of freezing the living root converts some of the starch into sugar. Parsnips are very versatile and can be cooked in much the same way as potatoes. They are delicious parboiled then roasted until they caramelise golden-brown, mashed with cream, braised, steamed or deep-fried in thin slices to make parnsip crisps, a contemporary garnish or moreish snack. They also make wonderful, creamy soups and partner well with apples, spices, ginger and cheese. They often have a tough core which many cooks prefer to discard. They should be scrubbed, not peeled, as most of the flavour lies directly below the skin.
Goose
Goose is farmed but is still very much a seasonal bird. The season starts in late September when the bird is small but ready to serve for the traditional Michaelmas Day feast on 29 September. By November, and in the run-up to Christmas, the goose is mature and getting fat. Fresh goose can't be bought in portions but only as a whole bird. It has a thick layer of fat, most of which melts away during roasting, leaving tender, slightly gamey meat. The melted goose fat stores well in the fridge and can be used to make the best and crunchiest roast potatoes.
Chestnuts
Mention sweet chestnuts and most people conjure up warm memories of roasting them on a cold winter's day. The smell is very enticing and the nut is deliciously moist and sweet. Chestnuts are also important as a baking ingredient because they can be dried and ground into flour for making cakes. Marrons glacés are whole chestnuts soaked in syrup, which can be eaten as a sweetmeat or used as decoration for cakes and puddings. Boiling or roasting makes their skins easier to remove and they are perfect served whole with Brussels sprouts. They can be chopped into stuffing for turkey and goose or made into a purée and served as a traditional accompaniment to game. When buying fresh chestnuts, choose nuts that are heavy and have shiny, smooth skins. They should be used quickly, before they start to dry out when their skins become tough and the nut loses its flavour.
Cranberries
The cranberry was an important staple in North America, even before the Pilgrim Fathers arrived. To this day, New England, the West Coast and the Canadian borders are the biggest producers of this tart little fruit. Cranberries grow in wetlands and bogs and during harvest, in the autumn, growers use machines resembling large egg beaters to comb through the low vines shaking the fruit off. The bog is then flooded and the cranberries float to the surface, where they are easily collected. Cranberries are too tart to eat raw and are always processed, usually into drinking juice or into a sauce used as a filling for pies and tarts, as well as a relish for turkey. Dried cranberries can be used in baking cookies, muffins and cakes.
Beetroot
The Greeks ate the leaves of the beetroot and valued the root for its medicinal qualities but it was the Romans who first cultivated it and brought it to the table. Nowadays, beetroot tends to be relegated to adding colour to salads or making relishes, which is a shame because it can be used in all sorts of dishes. Choose beetroots that are as small as possible because larger, older roots can take longer to cook. They can be boiled, steamed or baked and the outer skin needs to be rubbed off once cool enough to handle. Baby beetroots can be pan-fried in olive oil with other baby vegetables to serve as an accompaniment to meat or fish. Hot beetroot is delicious mixed with sweated garlic and onions and its sweet, earthy flavour is perfect for making soup such as borsch.
Also in season
grouse
swede
cabbage
potatoes
teal
pumpkin
pears
leeks
quinces
Back to top
Parsnips are a much-loved root vegetable and grow well in Britain. They actually improve with a frost because the effect of freezing the living root converts some of the starch into sugar. Parsnips are very versatile and can be cooked in much the same way as potatoes. They are delicious parboiled then roasted until they caramelise golden-brown, mashed with cream, braised, steamed or deep-fried in thin slices to make parnsip crisps, a contemporary garnish or moreish snack. They also make wonderful, creamy soups and partner well with apples, spices, ginger and cheese. They often have a tough core which many cooks prefer to discard. They should be scrubbed, not peeled, as most of the flavour lies directly below the skin.
Goose
Goose is farmed but is still very much a seasonal bird. The season starts in late September when the bird is small but ready to serve for the traditional Michaelmas Day feast on 29 September. By November, and in the run-up to Christmas, the goose is mature and getting fat. Fresh goose can't be bought in portions but only as a whole bird. It has a thick layer of fat, most of which melts away during roasting, leaving tender, slightly gamey meat. The melted goose fat stores well in the fridge and can be used to make the best and crunchiest roast potatoes.
Chestnuts
Mention sweet chestnuts and most people conjure up warm memories of roasting them on a cold winter's day. The smell is very enticing and the nut is deliciously moist and sweet. Chestnuts are also important as a baking ingredient because they can be dried and ground into flour for making cakes. Marrons glacés are whole chestnuts soaked in syrup, which can be eaten as a sweetmeat or used as decoration for cakes and puddings. Boiling or roasting makes their skins easier to remove and they are perfect served whole with Brussels sprouts. They can be chopped into stuffing for turkey and goose or made into a purée and served as a traditional accompaniment to game. When buying fresh chestnuts, choose nuts that are heavy and have shiny, smooth skins. They should be used quickly, before they start to dry out when their skins become tough and the nut loses its flavour.
Cranberries
The cranberry was an important staple in North America, even before the Pilgrim Fathers arrived. To this day, New England, the West Coast and the Canadian borders are the biggest producers of this tart little fruit. Cranberries grow in wetlands and bogs and during harvest, in the autumn, growers use machines resembling large egg beaters to comb through the low vines shaking the fruit off. The bog is then flooded and the cranberries float to the surface, where they are easily collected. Cranberries are too tart to eat raw and are always processed, usually into drinking juice or into a sauce used as a filling for pies and tarts, as well as a relish for turkey. Dried cranberries can be used in baking cookies, muffins and cakes.
Beetroot
The Greeks ate the leaves of the beetroot and valued the root for its medicinal qualities but it was the Romans who first cultivated it and brought it to the table. Nowadays, beetroot tends to be relegated to adding colour to salads or making relishes, which is a shame because it can be used in all sorts of dishes. Choose beetroots that are as small as possible because larger, older roots can take longer to cook. They can be boiled, steamed or baked and the outer skin needs to be rubbed off once cool enough to handle. Baby beetroots can be pan-fried in olive oil with other baby vegetables to serve as an accompaniment to meat or fish. Hot beetroot is delicious mixed with sweated garlic and onions and its sweet, earthy flavour is perfect for making soup such as borsch.
Also in season
grouse
swede
cabbage
potatoes
teal
pumpkin
pears
leeks
quinces
Back to top
Friday, 5 October 2007
October Seasonal foods
Fruit and Vegetables: elderberries, figs, watercress, squash, beetroot, courgettes, mushrooms, marrow, apples, kale, pumpkin
Meat, Poultry, Game: Autumn lamb, grouse, guinea fowl, partridge
Fish: oysters, mussels
Meat, Poultry, Game: Autumn lamb, grouse, guinea fowl, partridge
Fish: oysters, mussels
Sunday, 2 September 2007
Seasonal Foods
Damsons and plums
Damsons are blue-black fruit which look like small plums. They can be eaten raw when ripe but there is as much stone as there is flesh. They are best cooked, which brings out their sweet, spicy flavour, and put into pies and crumbles, jams, jellies, ice cream, fools and sorbets. An old English recipe using damsons is damson cheese, which is a rich confection of fruit, potted and aged before eating. Many winemakers are eager to harvest the fruit for their home brew.
Blackberries
Blackberries can be gathered as soon as they ripen from red berries into dark, plump berries and can be eaten fresh (they only keep for a short time) or preserved into excellent jelly or jam - although the latter can be a bit 'pippy'. They are also delicious in pies, crumbles, ice cream, fools and summer puddings. They are a natural partner for the first of the cooking apples. Blackberry and apple jam and crumble are popular recipes. Blackberries also make an excellent match for rich or gamey meat such as venison, lamb or pheasant.
Autumn lamb
Autumn lamb is available until the end of October and tends to have more flavour than spring lamb owing to the maturity of the meat. It is the perfect partner to other autumnal produce such as orchard fruit and root vegetables. A butterflied boned leg of lamb cooks wonderfully on the barbecue for late summer days. Autumn lamb should be readily available from butchers and supermarkets. Look out for bright red meat and white fat as a sign of freshness.
Apples
Worcester Pearmains, Bramleys, Discoveries, Early Windsors and Cox’s Orange Pippins should all be making an appearance this month. Some of these are available in supermarkets, but searching out local growers and visiting orchards will give you an even wider choice and the apples should be at their freshest. Use Bramleys in pies and crumbles, or bake them whole with some brown sugar, butter and spices. Slices of caramelised apple also go wonderfully with meat, especially pork.
Partridge
A close relative of the pheasant, the partridge comes in several varieties. The British, or grey partridge, has delicate and tender flesh which, when young, is pale and full of flavour. It's a small bird, so a whole one feeds one person. It's best hung for a few days (the more it's hung the more gamey the meat becomes) and any good game dealer or butcher will sell partridge ready to cook. The whole bird can be roasted and served with its traditional accompaniments of game chips (homemade potato crisps, really thinly sliced), clear gravy and watercress but it's the plump breast of young birds that provides the best meat. The legs can be used in game pies or puddings.
Wood pigeon
Wood pigeon tend to feast on corn and other cereal crops and so, by the time autumn arrives, they make for fine eating. Young birds are the best for roasting to ensure tender meat, which is dark, very rich and gamey. Older birds get tougher with age and are best braised slowly with vegetables, or used for stock. The richness of the flesh is complemented by other strong flavours, such as gin, brandy and port, and by dried fruit, such as prunes, and it's good served with braised red cabbage, lentils or cabbage and bacon.
Brown trout
Brown trout can be hard to source as they are farmed on a very small scale but it's worth the trouble. The fish is really delicious; some argue the flavour is far superior to rainbow trout. You may have to take up fly-fishing to get hold of any brown trout but, however you get it, it's best cooked simply in a little water and wine, with a few herbs, so as not to mask its exquisite flavour.
Sweetcorn
By late summer young, tender sweetcorn starts to appear in the shops and markets. At their best, the husks should be green and fresh and the tassel at the end should be fine and silky to indicate that the corn has not long been picked. For the best flavour, sweetcorn should be eaten as soon as it's picked, a bit of a tall order unless you grow it yourself or go to a pick-your-own farm. Eaten when really fresh, you will enjoy the sweetness of the kernels which should be plump and juicy and full of flavour. Sweetcorn should be cooked in boiling water with a little sugar but not salt, as this can make the kernels tough. After cooking, season the cobs with salt and pepper and serve with lots of melted butter.
Also in season
duck
venison
oysters
cucumber
spinach
figs
grouse
mussels
sea bass
onion
Damsons are blue-black fruit which look like small plums. They can be eaten raw when ripe but there is as much stone as there is flesh. They are best cooked, which brings out their sweet, spicy flavour, and put into pies and crumbles, jams, jellies, ice cream, fools and sorbets. An old English recipe using damsons is damson cheese, which is a rich confection of fruit, potted and aged before eating. Many winemakers are eager to harvest the fruit for their home brew.
Blackberries
Blackberries can be gathered as soon as they ripen from red berries into dark, plump berries and can be eaten fresh (they only keep for a short time) or preserved into excellent jelly or jam - although the latter can be a bit 'pippy'. They are also delicious in pies, crumbles, ice cream, fools and summer puddings. They are a natural partner for the first of the cooking apples. Blackberry and apple jam and crumble are popular recipes. Blackberries also make an excellent match for rich or gamey meat such as venison, lamb or pheasant.
Autumn lamb
Autumn lamb is available until the end of October and tends to have more flavour than spring lamb owing to the maturity of the meat. It is the perfect partner to other autumnal produce such as orchard fruit and root vegetables. A butterflied boned leg of lamb cooks wonderfully on the barbecue for late summer days. Autumn lamb should be readily available from butchers and supermarkets. Look out for bright red meat and white fat as a sign of freshness.
Apples
Worcester Pearmains, Bramleys, Discoveries, Early Windsors and Cox’s Orange Pippins should all be making an appearance this month. Some of these are available in supermarkets, but searching out local growers and visiting orchards will give you an even wider choice and the apples should be at their freshest. Use Bramleys in pies and crumbles, or bake them whole with some brown sugar, butter and spices. Slices of caramelised apple also go wonderfully with meat, especially pork.
Partridge
A close relative of the pheasant, the partridge comes in several varieties. The British, or grey partridge, has delicate and tender flesh which, when young, is pale and full of flavour. It's a small bird, so a whole one feeds one person. It's best hung for a few days (the more it's hung the more gamey the meat becomes) and any good game dealer or butcher will sell partridge ready to cook. The whole bird can be roasted and served with its traditional accompaniments of game chips (homemade potato crisps, really thinly sliced), clear gravy and watercress but it's the plump breast of young birds that provides the best meat. The legs can be used in game pies or puddings.
Wood pigeon
Wood pigeon tend to feast on corn and other cereal crops and so, by the time autumn arrives, they make for fine eating. Young birds are the best for roasting to ensure tender meat, which is dark, very rich and gamey. Older birds get tougher with age and are best braised slowly with vegetables, or used for stock. The richness of the flesh is complemented by other strong flavours, such as gin, brandy and port, and by dried fruit, such as prunes, and it's good served with braised red cabbage, lentils or cabbage and bacon.
Brown trout
Brown trout can be hard to source as they are farmed on a very small scale but it's worth the trouble. The fish is really delicious; some argue the flavour is far superior to rainbow trout. You may have to take up fly-fishing to get hold of any brown trout but, however you get it, it's best cooked simply in a little water and wine, with a few herbs, so as not to mask its exquisite flavour.
Sweetcorn
By late summer young, tender sweetcorn starts to appear in the shops and markets. At their best, the husks should be green and fresh and the tassel at the end should be fine and silky to indicate that the corn has not long been picked. For the best flavour, sweetcorn should be eaten as soon as it's picked, a bit of a tall order unless you grow it yourself or go to a pick-your-own farm. Eaten when really fresh, you will enjoy the sweetness of the kernels which should be plump and juicy and full of flavour. Sweetcorn should be cooked in boiling water with a little sugar but not salt, as this can make the kernels tough. After cooking, season the cobs with salt and pepper and serve with lots of melted butter.
Also in season
duck
venison
oysters
cucumber
spinach
figs
grouse
mussels
sea bass
onion
Wednesday, 1 August 2007
Seasonal Foods
FOODS IN SEASON NOW
VEGETABLES
artichoke aubergine beetroot broad beans broccoli carrots courgettes cucumber fennel french beans garlic kohlrabi mangetout onions peas potatoes radishes rocket runner beans sorrel watercress
FRUIT & NUTS
apricots blackberries blueberries greengages kiwi fruit loganberries melons nectarines peaches raspberries redcurrants tomatoes
MEAT
lamb rabbit wood pigeon
FISH & SEAFOOD
cod crab dover sole grey mullet haddock halibut herring john dory lemon sole lobster mackerel monkfish plaice salmon sardines scallops sea bass
VEGETABLES
artichoke aubergine beetroot broad beans broccoli carrots courgettes cucumber fennel french beans garlic kohlrabi mangetout onions peas potatoes radishes rocket runner beans sorrel watercress
FRUIT & NUTS
apricots blackberries blueberries greengages kiwi fruit loganberries melons nectarines peaches raspberries redcurrants tomatoes
MEAT
lamb rabbit wood pigeon
FISH & SEAFOOD
cod crab dover sole grey mullet haddock halibut herring john dory lemon sole lobster mackerel monkfish plaice salmon sardines scallops sea bass
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
