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Sun ripened cantaloupe melon – great with smoked trout |
Stay home and go on holiday
Soak up the heady atmosphere of the Mediterranean without leaving your kitchen, says Clare Latimer – and stay healthy!
THEY say that the Mediterranean diet is the healthiest in the world and this time of year lends beautifully to the theory, with strawberries red right through to the core, peaches just oozing sweet juices when peeled and tomatoes that have a real flavour. Herbs are in abundance and good English vegetables are just peeping round the corner as well.
Many of us this year are not going to conquer the Continent due to the exchange on the Euro so get the best of all and eat Mediterranean-style with all our home-grown produce along with some continental goodies.
Keep your fingers crossed for sunny days and your health and well being will be looked after. Wine, women and song maybe, but definitely wine, fruit, veg and olive oil!
Smoked trout with melon
Make sure the melon is really ripe and juicy and also use a good quality virgin olive oil. If you can get heather honey it is certainly the best flavour. This makes a lovely light lunch or supper dish and is very good for a diet! For the more hungry cook twice as many potatoes and serve them separately, hot with butter and parsley.
Ingredients
Serves 4
125g baby new potatoes, washed
1 cos lettuce, washed if necessary
3 ripe vine tomatoes
1 ripe cantaloupe melon
125g feta cheese
1 sprig fresh mint: strip leaves and tear up small
2 spring onions, washed, root removed and then chopped finely
Handful flat leaf parsley, torn up
4 smoked trout fillets
2 tbsp virgin olive oil
Juice of half lime
1 desp red wine vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teasp runny honey.
Method
Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water for about 15 minutes or until just soft. Drain and set aside to cool.
Break up the cos lettuce into mouth-size pieces with your hands and put into a large salad bowl. Cut up the tomatoes and add to the bowl. Cut the melon in half and remove the seeds with a spoon. Cut out small squares, cutting as far as the skin but not through the skin. Scoop out the flesh with a spoon into the bowl so as not to loose any juices. Add the feta cheese, cooled potatoes, mint, spring onions and parsley and then flake the trout fillets over the top.
Mix slightly using your hands just to spread the flavours. Chill in the fridge. To make the dressing, put the olive oil, lime juice, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper and the honey into a cup and mix well with a teaspoon. Check the flavour until it is how you like it. Pour dressing over the salad; serve immediately.
Mediterranean haddock steaks
Last week my Cornish fisherman, Chris Bean (not a trawler in sight) rang to say that haddock was coming in large shoals along the coast and that the crab was at its peak so we had a large overnight delivery to my shop and also to L’Absinthe restaurant next door and I am proud to say that it was all eaten within 48 hours of being in the sea.
Here’s one way to cook the steaks. Serve with salad and new potatoes.
Ingredients
Serves 4
Splash virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Sprig fresh oregano
4 x 200g haddock steaks
3 ripe tomatoes, sliced
1 desp mayonnaise
1125g feta cheese
Juice of half a lemon
2 sprigs fresh mint, leaves only
Half lemon cut in slices.
Method
Preheat the grill to hot.
Put the olive oil, salt and pepper and the oregano into a small bowl. Using your hands, rub the mix all over each haddock steak and then place the steaks on a grill pan skin side down.
Place the tomato slices over the top of the fish. Put the mayonnaise, crumbled feta cheese, lemon juice and the mint into a bowl and beat well to infuse flavours. Spread over the fish and tomato slices and then lay over the lemon slices. Cook under the grill for about five minutes or until cooked through and just browning lightly on the top. If cooking too quickly then turn down heat so that the fish cooks right through. |
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