Comfort Food part 4: Creamy smoked mackerel spaghetti

I don't really know why, but for the past two weeks my energy levels have just completely disappeared, and I have been feeling a bit low and sorry for myself. I really am not asking for any sympathy - I'm not that kind of attention-seeker. Sometimes I just feel a bit rubbish, for no real reason in particular. You might be the same, you might not.

I know that smoked mackerel isn't particularly sustainable these days, but as a comforting treat once in a while I think it is ok. This sauce is creamy and not too rich, lightened up with lemon and capers. And it really is my favourite thing when I need a bit of comforting (except, maybe, for my Mum's chicken pie).

The sauce probably makes enough for 2 servings, scale up as needed

For the sauce:

1 peppered smoked mackerel fillet, flaked up (if you are vegetarian, or fancy an alternative, try this with courgette slices instead)

1/2 onion or 1 large shallot, diced quite fine

1 clove of garlic, crushed

Olive oil

1 dessert spoon capers, rinsed and roughly chopped if they are massive

A big splash (roughly 1/3 a small glass) of wine wine (or vermouth or something, I have actually used cooking sake for this before)

1 tbsp cream cheese (low fat is fine)

1 blob crème fraîche (optional)

Chopped parsley, fresh or frozen, but not dried

Lemon juice

Extra salt and black pepper if you like

Spaghetti, or any other pasta you like (I am going through a whole-wheat spaghetti phase)

1 cup frozen peas per serving - because you need some vegetables

Sauté the onions in a glug of olive oil on a low heat until translucent but not coloured, and then add the garlic. After a few more minutes add the capers and wine and turn up the heat and let it bubble. When the liquid has reduced by about half, add the cream cheese, and give it a swirl with a cooking spoon to melt. Add the crème fraîche too if using, and the mackerel and parsley, and turn the heat down to very low. Don't worry if it looks a bit solid, you will be adding more liquid later.

At this point put the water on for the pasta. Boil the pasta in plenty of salted water (I tend to do it for 1 minute less than packet instructions), and add the peas when you have about 1 and a half minutes of cooking time remaining. When the pasta is ready, just before you drain it add about half a ladle-full of the cooking water into the sauce, and stir - you may want to add a bit more liquid to get the sauce to the consistency you want it.

Add the drained pasta and peas to the sauce and stir everything well to coat. Add a squeeze of lemon and taste to see if you want more salt or pepper.

Creamy kohlrabi salad with mint and sumac

This week I have been tweeted by Nigel Slater, Mollie Katzen and Esther Walker, and so am feeling like an absolute star.

Here is my version of the kohlrabi salad in Yotam Ottolenghi's wonderful cookbook Jerusalem. I know kohlrabi isn’t particularly summery, but this salad would make an excellent alternative to coleslaw at a barbecue, a picnic, or part of a light but luxurious summer evening meal.

I made this salad for the first time using mint from the mini-allotment in the garden at Moishe House London, after spending a few hours turning soil, digging up weeds and hacking up an out-of-control lovage plant. Covered in dirt, smelling like homemade rotten nettle plant food and with spiders in my hair, this salad was the perfect reward for my rare attempt at manual labour (along with hazelnut vodka, and cheesecake).

Kohlrabies look a little bit like alien baby heads. They are super delicious, tasting a little bit like a

cross between radish, cabbage, and granny smith apple. Kohlrabi is excellent in a salad as it keeps its freshness and ‘crunch’ really well, even after sitting in dressing for a few days. I have reduced the dairy content of the original recipe a lot, so there is just enough creamy-ness for the salad to feel special, but hopefully not enough to induce any food-guilt.

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 kohlrabies, peeled and cut into 1.5cm dice

2 soup-spoon-sized blobs of crème fraîche

1 small clove of garlic, crushed

2 spring onions, finely sliced, if you like them

about ½ tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

lemon juice

5 big mint leaves, shredded

sumac, about 1tsp

some little spinach leaves, or watercress

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Mix the kohlrabi cubes with the crème fraîche, olive oil, garlic, spring onions if using and mint. Add a squeeze of lemon or two, and season with salt and pepper.

To serve, either mix the salad with your chosen leaves, or pile the salad gently on top of them. Sprinkle the sumac over the top.

Wild garlic pesto

The Jewish food festival, Gefiltefest was 2 weeks ago and an absolutely fantastic day. As well as learning about the incredible organisations feeding the homeless and redistributing food here and abroad, hearing about what locusts taste like and gorging on zchug – I reconnected with one of my favourite old teachers and met one of my favourite food writers Marlena Spieler. Spending time with the cooks, food writers and food activists* has ignited my passion for food even more – so expect to be hearing much more from me in future.

An unexpected additional joy if the festival was the masses of wild garlic growing in the beautiful garden of the LJCC. Wild garlic is amazing, kind of like chives turned up to 11. And when you pick it, you can pretend like you are in an episode of River Cottage. It is actually much easier to find then you might think, and can also be bought in Farmers’ Markets if you don’t fancy foraging.

This pesto is really tasty but quite pungent so use it sparingly. I used rapeseed oil and no cheese to keep it a little more pure, but you could of course use extra virgin olive oil and cheese, or whatever else you fancy really.

Makes enough for 4-6 servings, depending on how much oil you use

Bunch of wild garlic leaves – if you are picking them yourself go for about a handful

1-2 tbsp rapeseed oil

1 tbsp pine nuts

A little salt to taste

Optional: hard parmesan-style cheese, grated.

Wash the wild garlic leaves to remove any bugs or badger wee.

Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan over a medium heat until golden and fragrant.

Blitz everything together using a food processor or immersion blender, adding oil until the pesto reaches your desired consistency.

Serving suggestion: emulating my aspirational Queens Park Farmers’ Market yummy mummy, I served the pesto with bulgur wheat, steamed sprouting broccoli and roasted salmon. Accompany with crisp white wine or posh apple juice, and complain about getting planning permission for your grade II listed house.

people have been asking & I feel I need to clarify - this is 2+ portions, I'm not that greedy!

*An easy way that you can get involved with food activism right now is to join the Enough Food for Everyone IF campaign’s London event in Hyde Park on Saturday 8^th June. World Jewish Relief have organised walking groups and kiddish from several local synagogues so that those who keep Shabbat can also attend  http://www.wjr.org.uk/news/shabbat-walk-for-change-june-8/  

Peanut butter chocolate pretzels

For a while I was thinking about giving up sugar and white carbs. Seriously. But then I thought, peanut butter chocolate pretzels, and that was the end of that.

These are absolutely incredible, and so much fun to make too. Make them for anyone and they will love you forever. I made these babies as a gift for a colleague who earned massive respect for eating peanut butter out of a jar with a spoon.

I’m still waiting for my cheque from Skippy for the peanut butter cookbook, hopefully that will happen soon.

 Makes 25-30 large pretzels – more, obviously, if you use regular sized ones.

150g large pretzels (I used Penn State giant pretzels from Asda)

50g dark muscovado sugar

200g icing sugar

50g unsalted butter or vegan margarine – softened

200g peanut butter – crunchy or smooth depending on preference

400g dark chocolate, or 200g dark chocolate and 200g milk chocolate. I wouldn’t recommend using 100% milk chocolate though, it would be much too sickly.

This is the same mixture as used in the peanut butter cups recipe. You can't just use ‘neat’ peanut butter because it is much too sticky. The dark muscavado gives a fantastic caramel-y background note.

Line a tray with greaseproof paper or foil.

Mix up the sugars, butter and peanut butter in a large bowl until combined into a soft dough-like consistency. Press small blobs of the peanut butter mixture into two of the holes in each pretzel.

Melt the chocolate carefully in a microwave or over a bain-marie, and dip the pretzel in the chocolate, so that both peanut butter-filled holes are covered. Lay the pretzels on the prepared tray to set. Although the pretzels do not need to be kept in the fridge, refrigerate them for a few hours at least to harden up the peanut butter filling. 

Lemon Thyme and Raspberry Summer Trifle

This isn't like any other trifle. With yogurt, honey and fruit instead of jelly, custard and cream, it is light, sharp, super delicious and somewhat guilt-free.

After making those fennel and pink pepper chocolates a few months ago, I became really interested in how herbs could be used in food in interesting ways. This recipe is a really great example of the versatility of herbs, and I have been so inspired by it – so expect lots more strange and herby things in recipes to come!

This recipe was given to me by the wonderful Elizabeth, who I met when we were both the civil witnesses at our mutual friends' wedding. Said friends later told me about this brilliant trifle Elizabeth had made, and I knew I had to investigate. I tried out the recipe, and am now sharing it with you lovely people (with her permission).

Ingredients

- Madelines, or salvatori (I used 9 madelines)


- 500g total yogurt pot, or fromage frais


- A tablespoon or two of orange blossom honey, according to how sweet you like things


- leaves of four lemon thyme sprigs


- 400g raspberries or other soft, sharp fruit (or dried fruit rehydrated to 400g*).

These are Elizabeth's words, I could not have put it better:

"Mix lemon thyme and honey with yoghurt and stick in fridge for about at least 30 mins or until set again.

Put 1 layer of madelines in the bottom of shallow dish.

Crush fruit with fork to release juice or heat rehydrated fruit gently and spread over madelines. Cover and set aside for at least 30 mins.

At least two hours before you wish to eat** blob yoghurt mix over fruit layer and then spread with the back of a spoon- the blobbing stage is important. If you don't do it you end up with a kind of cake crumb smoothie.

Most appropriate to eat standing over the kitchen counter by yourself at 3am rather than a pudding for company. If you've gone fancy with the fruit layer then stick a complementary topping on top of the yoghurt before serving. If not put on more honey and lemon thyme leaves. Job done. Serves 4 grown ups or 6 dieters."

* Note from Elizabeth: "[once made it by] rehydrating golden raisins in some more honey and sour cherry juice- to complement the Middleasten flavours I then drizzled pomegranate syrup over the top of the dish to serve."

**Note from Miri: I prepared this the day before, and it was set really thickly and lovely and gooey on the bottom.

Super speedy puy lentil, courgette and goats cheese salad

I feel like I probably give the impression of someone who cooks properly all the time, but in truth, like most of us, I hardly have the time. When I haven't got a lot of time to cook, my desire for healthy, balanced, unprocessed food quite often goes out of the window. To be honest, sometimes I quite like having the excuse to eat rubbish processed food. However after discovering Merchant Gourmet puy lentil pouches (thanks to Suze), it will be much harder for me to justify eating junk.

This salad is delicious, and balanced, and takes less than five minutes to make - perfect for when you need to throw something together really quickly, but don't want to compromise on taste or wholesome-ness.

Makes 2-3 big portions if having as a meal, more if serving the salad with other things too

2/3 cup cooked puy lentils

1 medium sized courgette

Cherry or pomodorino tomatoes - about a handful, sliced in half

half a small red onion, finely sliced (soaked for 5 minutes in cold water if they are really strong)

A little crumbled goats cheese (vegan option: about 5 artichoke hearts from a jar, sliced in half)

1 pack rocket leaves

1/2 pack fresh spinach

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Use a vegetable peeler to make ribbons from the courgette.

And mix everything together!

*If you have a more time*, cut the courgette into thick-ish slices, toss in oil and give them a little colour with a grill or griddle. Toast a handful of pine-nuts and add them in too.

(fake) duck, noodle and cabbage salad with spicy miso dressing

Here is another Southeast Asian style rainbow coloured salad - I can't seem to get enough of them. This one is much more substantial, a meal in itself.

Mock duck can be made of yuba (tofu skin) or wheat gluten, and it is actually pretty brilliant. The wheat gluten kind can be found in most health food shops. I used the yuba kind, and found it in the epic Chinese supermarket Wing Yip near Staples Corner. I had such a brilliant day out there with the fabulous Debbie, and I highly recommend a visit if you are a curious foodie like me.

serves 4-6

2 portions soba (buckwheat) noodles

pack or can of fake duck - or real duck, or chicken

half a red cabbage, shredded

Chinese leaves - about 5 big ones, shredded

1 large carrot, shredded - I used a julienne peeler

half a red onion, finely sliced

2 spring onions, white and greens, shredded

handful roasted, salted cashews, roughly chopped

Leaves from 2 stalks of fresh mint, shredded

small handful sugar snap peas or mangetout, thinly-ish sliced lengthways

dressing

1 level tbsp light miso

1 clove garlic, crushed

lump of fresh ginger, finely chopped

1 red chilli, finely chopped (I took the seeds out)

1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp rice vinegar

1/2 tbsp rice wine

1 tsp honey

Cook noodles for 1 minute less than packet instructions - stirring with a fork to make sure they don’t completely stick together. Drain and refresh in cold water. Work a little bit of sesame or flavourless oil through them to make sure they don’t try and stick together again (some still will).

Mix up the dressing ingredients in a small bowl or glass (or mug).

Cook, warm or crisp your chosen form of 'duck' in the oven.

If you wanted to be fancy you could have the noodles surrounded by a ring of veggies, topped with the 'duck' and cashews and drizzled with the dressing - on individual plates or a tasteful large plate, or a roofing tile or something. Or you could just mix it all together in a big bowl, which was what I did. And then eat pretty much half of it standing in the kitchen, contemplating your own brilliance. As I also did.