A Southern French Road Trip

I've been on a little French road trip for a week, it seemed like a lot longer as we took in so many different places. Driving from Nice to Marseille as the sun set in front of us was a pretty lovely way to start the holiday...

Marseille is France's oldest city, huge and varied and beautiful; I probably only saw the tiniest portion of what it has to offer in the three days we had there, but enjoyed it all. A huge port, tiny winding old streets, beautiful architecture, little beaches, bars, restaurants, a pretty cool hotel; we took them all in. A trip up to the Camargue was a beautiful day too. Driving along the waters edge we saw wild white horses in their hundreds, flamingos and black horned cattle.

After a spot of food poisoning, not much fun on holiday, we travelled back along the coast through Cassis and Bandol to Valbonne, where we were staying next. Unfortunately the first thing I chose to eat after 24 hours of no food were some snails. I've never had them before, I was in France, why not? Turns out I'm allergic to the little fellas; quite severely... A waiter throwing a lobster salad over me the next day brought an end to my food based dramas thankfully. I only wish someone had thought to take a photo of me with a whole lobster stuck to my arm and dress, it was a good look...

Our week came to a close with the wedding of some very special friends; a beautiful, beautiful day full of friends, flowers, laughter, a tiny bit of sunshine, quite a lot of wine, dancing and delicious macaroons...

Rollmop Herring

Herring have a long historical connection with the North East of England. Originally the small scale exploitation of an abundant local resource, fishing grew to become a thriving industry all down the east coast during the last century, with whole families in the coastal community relying on Herring for their livelihood. Too much of a good thing eventually saw the fish run out and the industry decline but these versatile, if unfashionable, fish are still caught in the North Sea today.

The herring are in season over the summer in the North East and cost next to nothing. These little fellas were 50p each from the Grainger Market. I bought them to go into Mr. Smokerson, home smoked herring sounded delicious, even though the guys at Craster are pretty good at it I fancied a go. That was until I found out it took 5 days... And even by my standards taking 5 days off work to sit and smoke some fish seemed a bit excessive.

The herring season begins in June in Scotland and works its way down the North East coast over the summer months towards Lowestoft, coming to an end in November. Amble, Cullercoats and North Shields were our main local fishing harbours for herring back in the day. Amble harbour was built in 1830 and was famous for its fishing cobels, which were out in force to catch the 'silver darlings' as the herring became known.

My great grandfather used to have two cobels in Amble harbour; they were beautiful boats, each being built specifically for its user. Boats fished with seven or eight lines, about 200 metres long, with 500 to 1,000 hooks on each, baited with mussels. Baiting the lines was a very timely task usually left to the women, old men and children at home; with children often being absent from school during the herring season. A harbour in Lowestoft once recorded a catch of 60 million herring in one day, so you can see why they were an important visitor...

The rollmop, essentially a pickled herring, has been a staple in Northern Europe since Medieval times, probably being more popular in the Baltic areas of Northern Europe than over here. I have always enjoyed them so decided to give them a go. I went with a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe for my first attempt, a cider vinegar and orange pickle. The flavour is really deep and rich compared to other roll mop I have had, spiced and orangey, but fresh and sharp with sweet soft fish.

To start you need to take the fillets off each of the fish as carefully as you can, I'm not the neatest at this yet but am getting better... Then remove any bones left in the fillets, running your fingers along them to feel where they are and pulling them out with some little pliers or tweezers. Dry each of the fillets with kitchen roll and then place them into a plastic Tupperware type container. Dissolve 60g of salt into 500ml of cold water and pour this brine over the herring fillets, then leave for 2 to 3 hours.

To make the pickling mixture add 500ml of cider vinegar, 250ml of cider, 12 allspice berries, 12 black peppercorns, 6 bay leaves, 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds, the zest of an orange peeled in wide strips and a thinly sliced small onion. I also added a pinch of general pickling spices. Bring this all to the boil and simmer for a few minutes, then leave to cool.

When the fillets are ready to come out of the brine dry them carefully with kitchen roll. You will need a large kilner jar or something similar that seals tightly. Roll up each of the fillets, skin side out, from tail to head; and pack them into your container tightly so they stay rolled. Then pour over the pickling marinade, make sure you have orange and spices in the jar with the fish and liquid, then seal the jar. Store them in the fridge for at least 3 days before eating, they will keep for about a month, and are best between 5 and 10 days. The longer you leave them the softer the fish becomes and the more pickled they will taste.

Pickled fish doesn’t immediately set everyone's taste buds tingling, but these are really fresh and delicious, sharp vinegar with rich orange and spices and the fish tastes fresh, soft and delicious. Hugh recommends serving with some brown bread and sour cream; they have been a treat to have in the fridge over the past few weeks. I will definitely be making more, trying different pickling combinations as I go. I have come across recipes using mace, white wine vinegar, dill, cloves, fennel... I had best get back to the Grainger Market before the season ends...

Red Pepper, Thyme and Anchovy Damper Bread

I have a new love... baking! It's something I have tried now and again in the past to varying degrees of success, but not really been that enthused by. I don't really like making cakes, they always seem the same to me, cream butter with sugar, add eggs.... Creaming sugar and butter is hard work and the mixture always curdles when I add the eggs. I'll just leave all that to the professionals I think. I had thought I felt the same way about baking, but I don't! I've discovered I like making dough, I really enjoy kneading it, it's relaxing and feels like a real skill. I enjoy waiting for it to 'prove'... look, I even know proper baking terms now. It's very rewarding.

This bread was pretty simple as breads go, it doesn’t take that long, there's no waiting for it to prove, just mix, shape and bake... I watched Lorraine Pascale make an olive and rosemary version of it on her new show and decided to give it a go. I had some peppers that had roasted slowly in Mr. Smokerson the night before, a tin of anchovies and some thyme, I was ready to bake. Also being trapped in a Lakeland cottage with a monsoon going on outside it was a pretty good way to pass the time.

To start heat your oven to 200°C and mix 450g of self raising flour with half a teaspoon of salt, a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and the leaves from 5 or 6 sprigs of fresh thyme. Add 225ml of water and mix everything thoroughly until you are left with a ball of dough.

Dust your work surface with some flour and flatten out the ball of dough into a circle. I peeled and chopped one roasted red pepper and chopped half a tin of anchovies for my filling. You could use any combination of fillings you fancy really; chopped green or black olives, roast soft garlic, diced chorizo, roasted tomatoes. I'll be trying some more combinations soon, but the pepper and anchovy mix was delicious.

Pile your filling into the centre of the dough and start to fold the edges over the top until it is sealed. Turn the dough over and knead it to distribute the pepper and anchovies. This is quite a messy process, especially with a wet filling, as they do start to squidge out, but just push them back in with your finger and keep going. The aim is a ball of dough with the filling mixed through inside. Once you have it under control flatten it out a bit and squash the handle of a wooden spoon into it to create triangular segments.

Finally bake in the oven, Lorraine said 35 minutes for her olive version, mine ended up taking about 50 minutes, which is probably because of the plentiful wet fillings I used. It should be golden and risen and sound hollow on the bottom when tapped. The combination of sweet smoky peppers and salty anchovies, with fresh thyme, layered through warm fresh bread is totally delicious. It's a good, simple and tasty place to start experimenting with baking.

A Rainy Lakeland Holiday

I've been on a summer holiday, a week in the Lake District saw a little sunshine and much, much more rain, which seems pretty typical for August in the Lakes these days. We had suncream and hailstones both in one day, swimming in the river by morning followed by evenings where you could see your breath, and rivers so full of rainwater they looked like white water rapids. British summer time at it's best...

It did allow plenty of time to faff about in the kitchen however, I think I found my inner baker... I produced some beautiful white rolls I was very proud of, a white loaf and a damper bread full of smoked red peppers and anchovies. Staying about an hours drive from the nearest shop it came in quite handy baking bread daily, rarely having to leave our remote little hideaway. Mr. Smokerson came too and produced a lovely piece of slow smoked pork and some equally delicious very smoky duck breasts.

We invited The Blonde and her boys to visit and set off on a picnic up the valley... It looked like it was going to clear up at one point, but we ended up sitting in a tree, trying to eat a picnic in the rain, getting wetter and wetter. We gave it a good go, but ended up back at the kitchen table with clothes drying in front of the fire. Sitting in front of the fire was a pretty good place to be for the majority of the week...

Courgette, Chorizo and Gruyère Muffins

I love picnics, actually any excuse to eat outside, even if it is a bit cold; lunch in the garden, a BBQ, a table outside a restaurant... We spend so many hours cooped up in houses and offices that I'll take any opportunity to sit out, and food always seems to taste that bit better in the fresh air. I have a growing collection of old picnic hampers and I love packing them up with various treats and setting off to some sunny spot. My favourite picnic spot, at the moment, is hidden in the dunes at Druridge Bay, you can see out but no one can see in to the sheltered little nook. On a sunny day with the rug laid out and the picnic basket overflowing with treats it is a pretty lovely place to be.

I've been reading Elizabeth David's chapters on picnicking that leaves my efforts to shame somewhat... Her companions have been known to visit the picnic site the day before to bury the champagne, ready chilled for arrival. She was once guest to a family whose idea of a picnic was walking through their formal Dutch gardens to the woodland beyond, followed by butler, chauffeur and footman 'bearing fine china plates, the silver and tablecloths, a number of vast dishes containing cold chickens, jellies and trifles'. I'd like to go to a picnic like that...

Mini tarts or pasties, sausage rolls with sage and apricots, salads in pots, bread rolls, little cakes. There is often a high quota of hand held food, things in pastry, muffins, pork pies, scotch eggs, easy to eat but also tasty. Sandwiches with no crusts, potted meats, cheese or pates and a lovely refreshing home-made mint lemonade to wash it all down. Hand held is preferable, things that require cutlery should at most be a scoop with a fork, trying to hold a knife, fork, plate and cut something just isn’t what a picnic is about. Lots of things baked into a muffin or a pie are good; getting all your food groups at once should be straight forward and tasty! Nothing that squashes, apples are better than bananas; nothing that melts, cake is better than chocolate, nothing that makes your sandwiches soggy! The planning can end up quite intricate.

So if this summer manages to show us a little bit of sunshine I'll be off to the beach, or up a valley, or by the river or even just in the park armed with a tightly packed little wicker basket and a rug.

These muffins are a perfect picnic treat and make about 6. Simply mix 225g of self raising flour with 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 100g of grated courgette, 50g or grated Gruyère, 40g of finely cubed chorizo and some salt and pepper.

In a mixing jug whisk together 175ml of whole milk, an egg and 75ml of olive oil. Pour this into the flour and courgette mix and combine it all thoroughly. Finally spoon into an oiled muffin tin and put in the oven at 180°C, bake for 10 minutes then take out and add a little more grated Gruyère to the top of each, then bake for another 15 minutes. Eat warm with butter or fresh out of your picnic basket...