Oh yea it’s raining and nature can water the tussocks and soak the ground for a while I hope.
I enjoyed my time finally finishing Asher’s cross-stitch and catching up on programmes I had videoed – the best one being ‘Classical Destinations’ hosted by Simon Callow. Yesterday’s programme was in Venice and of course focused on Vivaldi – the photography was spectacular and brought back many happy memories of one of my favourite cities.
It is actually square !!
I eat a lot of omelettes. Philip always made me an omelette at the end of the night after a cooking demonstration and it is still my go to for a light lunch . I like them plain but of course they can be filled with all sorts of goodies.
From one of my favourite celebrity chefs Anthony Bourdain – who could not only cook but was funny, clever and superb at one liners “The way you make an omelette reveals your character.”
It doesn’t matter if its heeakfast / Brunch ( which he hated ) / Lunch or a very late night dinner, a good omelette hits the spot. All you need is a good small frying pan. I like my very old cast iron one and also a little copper pan I bought in the antique market in Beaune, France.
Break 2-3 eggs into a bowl, season with salt and pepper. Whisk with a fork. Drizzle 1-2 tablespoon olive oil into a hot pan . Tip in eggs and push the cooked egg to the middle all the time with a fork – tipping the pan as you go. Remove from the heat while the egg is still slightly shiny . Fold over to the end of the pan with a spatula and tip out onto a warm plate. The omelette shouldn’t be overly brown or rubbery.
Good luck. It’s a useful skill.
We had some very curious and friendly visitors on our walk this afternoon as a whole heard of young heifers came to say hello.
The last of my Harbour Fish delivery package was smoked fish and I planned to make filled crepes and bake them in the oven. Crepes, filo pastry and flaky pastry are perfect for wrapping an endless variety of fillings. In the Otago Fonebook is a recipe using white fish and this time I wanted to use smoked fish and incorporate smoked mussels as well. Although it was lucky any of the mussels made it into the crepes because we couldn’t stop eating them – these little tasty treats are also fabulous on a tasting platter.
Smoked Seafood Crepes
Crepes : 1 cup flour, 1 egg, 1 cup milk
Combine all the ingredients in a food processor or whisk in a bowl. Blend until the thickness of cream. (May require more milk) Rest for 30 minutes.
Heat a small heavy based frying pan. Ladle in batter, tipping to cover the base and sides (as thin as possible). Cook until set. Flip over and repeat. Stack on a plate . These are so versatile and you may just like sugar and lemon juice as the topping.
500 grams of smoked fish – I used Warehou, 250 grams smoked mussels 1 red onion, thinly sliced, 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon butter, 2 tablespoons flour, 1 cup white wine, 1 cup cream / milk. 1 cup fish stock ( I had some of my mussel stock frozen from a couple of nights ago). Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper .
In a saucepan sauté onion slices in olive oil and butter. Add the flour and cook for 1 minute. Stir in white wine, cream, followed by the mussel stock. Add half of the smoked fish to the sauce. Lay 6 pancakes on a board. Place – remainder of smoked fish and 3 mussels evenly down the middle on the 6 pancakes. Spoon over the sauce reserving 1/2 cup. Roll up and place filled crapes into a baking dish side by side. Add ½ cup cream / milk to the remaining sauce. Pour over the top of the filled crepes. I topped my crepes with blanched spinach, tomato slices and grated parmesan cheese. Bake at 200 degrees Celsius for 15-20 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown.
We always enjoy stuffed crepes – they can be made in advance and reheated and filled with anything from vegetables, mince ragu, chicken and of course my favourite is seafood.
Although we will soon reach lock down level 3 , our shopping, apart from the lucky supermarkets, is mainly online and the ability to get door to door delivery of fresh seafood from the likes of Harbour Fish (even in the country) is remarkable . I know these suppliers like many others are working incredibly long hours to maintain their businesses and we need to support them.
Enjoy the beginning of Level 3 everyone . XXX Jude