Asparagus, hot-smoked trout and pea shoot tart

I love a book that shows you how to make the best of the produce that’s in season and Angela Clutton’s big, beautiful book Seasoning really does that to perfection.

The book also includes some really helpful tips for using up the fresh ingredients you’ve bought of which you can see some examples below.

Angela writes: “This is a springtime joy of a tart. At its best when it’s not been out of the oven too long, but also very lovely at room temperature. Serve with new potatoes and perhaps a bowl of dressed leaves.”

Serves 6 as a main

250g (9oz) asparagus (typically 1 bundle)

2 tbsp olive oil

2 whole eggs, plus 2 yolks

200ml (7fl oz) double (heavy) cream

100ml (3 ½ fl oz) whole milk

1 1/2 tbsp freshly grated horseradish

300g (10 ½ oz) hot-smoked trout fillets

4 dill sprigs

handful of pea shoots

salt and black pepper

For the pastry case

250g (9oz) plain (all-purpose) flour

150g (5oz) cold butter

1 egg yolk

pinch of salt

1 orange

23cm (9in) loose-bottomed tart tin

For the pastry case: Put the flour into a mixing bowl. Dice the butter and use your fingers to rub it into the flour until it feels like breadcrumbs. Beat the egg yolk and add with a pinch of salt and the zest from the orange. Bring together into a smooth dough. (You might need to add a little cold water to help it come together, but add as little as you can get away with.) Shape into a disc, wrap, and chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 170°C fan/375°F/gas 5 with a large baking sheet inside.

Roll out the pastry between 2 pieces of greaseproof paper until about 3mm (1/8in) thick and generously large enough to line the tart tin. Ease the pastry over your rolling pin and carefully lift over the tin, gently pressing it in. Let it overhang the case as the pastry will shrink as it cooks. Prick the base a few times with a fork and chill for 30 minutes.

Sit the tart case on the hot baking sheet, line with a large piece of baking paper and fill with baking beans or rice. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the paper and beans and return to the oven for another 5 minutes. Take it out of the oven and sit on a wire rack to cool. Up to this point can be done up to a day ahead.

To make the tart: Snap the woody ends off the asparagus spears. Get a griddle pan very hot, toss the spears in the oil and quickly griddle them to take on some colour. They don’t need to be cooked, just charred. Do this under a grill if preferred.

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/400°F/gas 6 with a baking sheet inside.

Whisk together the whole eggs, yolks, cream and milk in a bowl or jug. Season and stir in the horseradish.

Flake the trout into the pastry case, layering it with the asparagus spears and the dill leaves. Pour over the egg mixture. Just as it gets nearly full, put the tart onto the preheated baking sheet, pour over the last of the egg mixture and then carefully lift the tart into the oven. Bake for 40 minutes until just-about set, rotating it partway through if cooking at all unevenly.

Lift the tart onto a wire rack. Scatter over half of the pea shoots to wilt in the heat of the tart, but don’t try to take it out of its tin for about 30 minutes. Serve with the rest of the pea shoots on top for a perky garnish.

Waste tips

Citrus (bergamot; lemon; lime; orange): Once you have zested away the fruit’s protective outer layer it will start to dry out. Juice it soon, and if you have no immediate use for the juice you can freeze it. Ice-cube trays are good for these relatively small amounts. Freeze slices of citrus fruits to use in drinks. 

Egg whites: I like to make mayonnaise; ergo I like to make meringue, mousses and macarons with the many egg whites I have left behind from the mayo. Freeze the whites in an ice-cube tray where each space in the tray equals 1 egg white.

Horseradish: I use fresh horseradish a lot, and always seem to end up grating off more of the root than I need for a recipe. The happy outcome of that is stirring it through whatever crème fraîche or full-fat Greek yoghurt I might also have around, giving it a good squeeze of lemon and lots of black pepper, then keeping that in the fridge for a ready-made horseradish sauce. Note also that horseradish – like fresh root ginger – will keep brilliantly in the freezer to grate straight from there without any bother to peel first.

For stocks

- Keep in the freezer a bag or container into which you can easily put the (washed if necessary) peelings and trimmings of vegetables or herbs to use as the basis of making stocks. As the seasons roll round what you add to the freezer bag will change, giving the stocks a natural seasonality of flavour.

- Put the trimmings straight from the freezer into a large pan, cover with an equal volume of water, add salt and whatever fresh herbs might be around. (Add poultry bones for a meat stock.) Simmer for about an hour, strain, and that’s your stock ready to use/freeze.

Good things to use: Asparagus ends; broad (fava) bean pods; carrot peelings; cavolo nero ribs; celeriac peelings; celery trimmings; cucumber peel, seeds and core; fennel trimmings; garden pea pods; soft herb leaves and stems (e.g. basil, coriander (cilantro), mint, oregano, parsley); leek trimmings; onion skins; parsnip peelings; pumpkin and other squash fibres/skin (not flesh); shallot skins; spring onion (scallion) trimmings; sweet pepper (capsicum) trimmings; tomato skins, seeds and vines; woody herb leaves and stems (e.g. rosemary, thyme).

Soft herbs: The leaves and/or stalks of soft herbs can be blitzed into herb-infused oils. Blanch herb sprigs for barely 10 seconds in very hot water, then run under cold water and delicately dry in a cloth. Put the herbs – stalk and all – into a blender with the oil. Two or three bushy sprigs per 150ml (5fl oz) oil. Blitz, then strain through a fine sieve/ muslin (cheesecloth). Pour into a sterilised bottle and store out of direct sunlight. I like to put a fresh (blanched) sprig of the chosen herb in the bottle. For prettiness as much as to remind me what it is. (I seldom remember to label them, but I know that I should and so should you.)

What to drink: In general quiches work well with smooth dry white wines such as unoaked chardonnay, chenin blanc and pinot blanc but given the asparagus and pea shoots I’d be tempted by a Loire sauvignon blanc like Sancerre or Pouilly Fumé, or, more economically, a Touraine sauvignon. FB

Extracted from Seasoning by Angela Clutton. Published by Murdoch Books at £30. Photography by Patricia Niven

 

 

Olive oil pistachio and lemon snack cake

Not being much of a baker I totally buy into the ‘one tin bake’ idea especially when the recipe comes from the wonderful Edd Kimber. This is from his book One Tin Bakes Easy and I absolutely love the combination of flavours.

OLIVE OIL PISTACHIO AND LEMON SNACK CAKE
Serves 12-15

This simple pistachio cake is made in a food processor, so it takes just minutes to prepare and the machine does all the heavy lifting for you. I like to serve it with a simple lemon and sugar glaze, and sprinkled with a few roughly chopped pistachios.

200ml (7fl oz/¾ cup + 1 tablespoon)

olive oil, plus extra for greasing

140g (5oz/1 cup) shelled pistachios, plus a few extra for decoration

65g (2½oz/…” cup) ground almonds

65g (2½oz/½ cup) gluten-free plain (all-purpose) flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

200g (7oz/1 cup) caster (superfine) sugar

4 large eggs

Zest of 1 lemon

FOR THE GLAZE

200g (7oz/1…” cups) icing (powdered) sugar

2–3 tablespoons lemon juice

Pinch of fine sea salt

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (160ºC Fan) 350ºF, Gas Mark 4.

Lightly grease your 23 x 33cm (9 x 13in) baking tin and line with a strip of parchment paper that overhangs the long sides, securing it in place with metal clips.

Place the pistachios in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment and pulse until they are finely ground. Tip into a large bowl along with the ground almonds, flour, baking powder and salt and mix together.

Put the sugar, eggs and lemon zest in the processor bowl and process for about 1 minute. With the machine still running, slowly pour in the oil. Once fully combined, add the mixed dry ingredients and process for a second or two until evenly incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and spread evenly.

Bake for 35–40 minutes, or until lightly browned and the cake is set in the middle. Set aside to cool completely in the tin before using the parchment paper to lift it out.

For the glaze, mix the icing sugar, lemon juice and salt in a bowl until you have a thick but pourable paste. Pour it over the cake, allowing it to drip down the sides. Sprinkle with a few extra chopped pistachios to decorate.

If stored in a sealed container, the cake should keep for 3–4 days.

What to drink: I’m not sure you’ll be drinking wine with this but I wouldn’t be averse to a glass of prosecco or even a shot of ice cold limoncello

From One Tin Bakes Easy by Edd Kimber is published by Kyle Books. Photography: Edd Kimber

Fish in coconut milk (Macher Malaikari)

I don’t always think of using fish in a curry but it takes such a short time to cook it makes a brilliantly quick meal.

This recipe comes from Asma Khan’s Asma’s Indian Kitchen which features the same traditional Indian Home cooking she serves at her London restaurant Darjeeling Express.

Asma writes: “For a long time I was under the impression that the name of this dish derived from the Hindi word ‘malai’, meaning cream. Recently, however, I discovered that the origin of this creamy, coconut-based fish curry may be a little more ‘foreign’. During colonial rule, this dish was made in the Malay Peninsula by Bengali labourers who were sent there by the British to build the railways. Coconut milk is frequently used in East Asian cuisine, but rarely in Bengali dishes. The fact that this dish was once called ‘Malaya-Kari’ explains the use of coconut milk, as opposed to mustard and mustard oil, which is the more common base for fish and seafood dishes in Bengal.

Serves 4

4 halibut, plaice or tilapia fillets (approximately 750 g/1 lb 10 oz)

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp salt

3 tbsp vegetable oil

2 large white onions, thinly sliced into half moons

1 tbsp garlic paste

1½ tbsp fresh ginger paste

¼ tsp chilli powder

1 tbsp tomato purée (tomato paste)

1 x 400-ml/14-fl oz tin full-fat coconut milk

A pinch of sugar

To garnish

Green chillies, finely sliced

Coriander (cilantro) leaves, chopped

Place the fish fillets on a plate, sprinkle over half the ground turmeric and half the salt and rub into the fillets. Leave for a minimum of 10 minutes but no longer than 30 minutes.

In a heavy-based frying pan (skillet), heat the oil over a medium–high heat.

Add the sliced onions to the pan and fry gently, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and caramelized. Using a slotted spoon, remove the onions from the pan, leaving as much of the oil in the pan as possible to cook the other ingredients, and place on a plate to drain. Spread the onions across the plate so they crisp as they cool.

You should have enough oil left in the pan to fry the fish; if not, add another 1 tbsp vegetable oil. In the same pan, flash-fry the fish fillets for 20–30 seconds on both sides to seal. Do not allow the fish to cook.

Remove the fish from the pan and set aside on a plate.

Keeping the heat at medium–high, add the garlic and ginger pastes to the pan and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the remaining ground turmeric and the chilli powder. If the pastes stick to the base of the pan, sprinkle over some water. Add the tomato purée, 4 tbsp warm water, the remaining salt and the fried onions, then cook for few minutes until the oil has seeped to the edges of the pan.

Return the fish fillets to the pan and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add the coconut milk, then immediately remove the pan from the heat and carefully turn each fillet over. Taste the coconut milk and adjust the seasoning with sugar or salt as necessary. Before serving, garnish with sliced green chillies and chopped coriander.

What to drink: I’d go for a crisp dry white wine like an albarino with this or a dry riesling.

This recipe comes from ‘Asma’s Indian Kitchen: Home-cooked food brought to you by Darjeeling Express’ by Asma Khan, published by Pavilion Books. Image credit to Kim Lightbody.

Berber breakfast eggs

It’s easy to get into a rut with egg recipes so why not try this delicious Moroccan egg dish from Nargisse Benkabbou’s Casablanca: my Moroccan Food which gives a modern twist to traditional Moroccan cuisine.

Nargisse writes: “In my parents’ home, eggs are something we used to enjoy almost religiously. They were allowed only for breakfast and never on weekdays. Nevertheless, my brothers and I used to quietly sneak into the kitchen in the afternoon to experiment with highly questionable egg recipes. And by recipes, I mean something that contained way too much butter and ketchup.

In my opinion, eggs are much more than a cheap way to have our daily serving of protein; they are delicious, especially when cooked the right way.

This Berber recipe is one of the many ways my mum used to prepare eggs for us at the weekend.”

Berber breakfast eggs

Serves 4 [although I think two could demolish it without too many problems FB]

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 tomatoes, grated

1 green pepper (150g), cored, deseeded and chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley

½ teaspoon paprika

½ teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon ground turmeric

pinch of cayenne pepper

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons water

4 eggs

To garnish

½ red onion, finely chopped

handful of chopped spinach

Warm up a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the tomatoes, pepper, garlic, parsley, spices and salt, give it a good stir, then add the water. Cover the pan and leave to cook for 20 minutes, stirringoccasionally. If it looks like there is not enough liquid in the pan at any point during the cooking process, add a couple more tablespoons of water.

Break the eggs straight into the sauce, re-cover the pan and cook for about 5 minutes until the whites are set but the yolks are still runny. Garnish with the chopped red onion and spinach and serve immediately with khobz [a simple Moroccan bread for which she also gives a recipe in the book]

What to drink: I personally wouldn’t drink wine with this though if you fancy it, a glass of dry southern French rosé would work. A glass of freshly squeezed orange juice would be nicer though

See also Which wines pair best with eggs

From Casablanca: My Moroccan Food by Nargisse Benkabbou, published by Mitchell Beazley at £20. Photograph © Matt Russell

Nargisse was nominated an Observer Rising Star in Food 2018 and blogs at mymoroccanfood.com