Food

[Neferti]

It looks like a pizza.

IF Swiss Rösti looks like pizza, you need your eyes examined.

Rösti ([ˈrøːʃti]) or röschti is a Swiss dish consisting mainly of potatoes. It was originally a common breakfast eaten by farmers in the canton of Bern, but today is eaten all over Switzerland and also in many restaurants in the western world. Many Swiss people consider rösti a national dish. Today, rather than considering it a complete breakfast, it is more commonly served to accompany other dishes such as "Spinat und Spiegelei" (spinach and fried eggs, sunny side up), cervelas or Fleischkäse. It is also a dish one can order in many Swiss restaurants to replace the standard side dish of any given meal.

[AiA in Atlanta]

virgin rapeseed oil

[Neferti]

virgin rapeseed oil

Called Canola in Australia.

[AiA in Atlanta]

virgin rapeseed oil

Called Canola in Australia.

I don't eat that industrial shit but do think the Brits are a witty people with the phrase "virgin rapeseed."

Rapeseed, an oilseed known in North America as canola, has a mild reputation as a cooking oil. Maybe that's because the version that most consumers know is a pale, neutral-flavored oil used for frying and baking.

But in the U.K., a more colorful and flavorful version has made its way onto store shelves: cold-pressed rapeseed that goes for £5-7 per 500 milliliters (about $9-12 for 17 fluid ounces).

This vibrant, mustard-colored oil goes by names like Farrington's Mellow Yellow, Sussex Gold and Summer Harvest. Some products are touted as "extra virgin," and there's a Cotswold Gold rapeseed infused with white truffle. You'll find them at London's Fortnum and Mason food hall. Even chefs like Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson have embraced the "national" oil, which is grown, processed and marketed by British farmers.

Third-generation farmer Algy Garrod uses it on his popcorn, to give it "a nice, creamy flavor," he explains while driving me through his bright yellow fields in Norfolk, in the east of England. In late April, they're in full bloom.

After harvest, all that rapeseed will be transformed into a golden, nutty oil a few miles away at Crush Foods, the family business started by Brendan Playford and his father about five years ago. They bottled their first cold-pressed oil at the kitchen table. Now, with Playford's university friend, Stephen Newham, Crush is run from the environmentally-minded Salle Park Estate.

But long before rapeseed became a cooking oil, it was an industrial oil used as a lubricant in Victorian steam engines and World War II ships. Back in those days, it wasn't even edible because it contained such high levels of erucic acid, which is toxic, and glucosinalates. Rapeseed, after all, is a brassica – a genus of plants that includes Brussels sprouts, mustard and broccoli – and it had a particularly high quantity of glucosinalates, which impart a flavor often described as "cabbagey," according to Paul Williams, a plant pathologist at the University of Wisconsin.

In the 1970s, Canadian scientists brought these levels of erucic acid and glucosinalates almost to zero through plant breeding. And they were so proud of their creation, which also had the lowest level of saturated fat (7 percent) of any vegetable oil, they gave it a new name: canola, a contraction of Canada and ola, meaning oil.

But there are three key differences. The Europeans never adopted the name canola. And once genetically modified, herbicide resistant canola seeds were developed in 1995, North American farmers started planting mostly those, while European farmers stuck to the non-GMO rapeseed. (Today, 80-90 percent of the canola sold in the U.S. is GMO, while GMO rapeseed is banned across the European Union.)

Another key distinction of the artisanal — and more flavorful — rapeseed now available in the U.K. is how it's processed.

According to Playford of Crush in Norfolk, most rapeseed oil maintains its consistency by being processed and filtered in an intensive way that erases the muddled flavors resulting from seeds sourced from a range of different farmers. This is also true for the pale oil that dominates the American canola market.

But Crush and many other companies springing up around the U.K. and in other parts of Europe are cold pressing the seeds, just as with a high-quality olive oil. "When you cold press all you're doing is squeezing the oil out of the seeds very slowly at a temperature of no more than 40 degrees Celsius [104 Fahrenheit]," says Playford. "That keeps all the vitamin E, all of the flavor, every constituent compound that is in the oil completely intact."

And whether farmers are planting GMO or non-GMO rapeseed, most choose the "double low" varities that produce the greatest yield. But those aren't necessarily the ones that will create the best-tasting oils.

Crush's Playford and Newham think like single-malt whisky distillers and pay a premium to farmer Algy Garrod to get a rapeseed variety with a unique and appealing taste. Varieties "can range from tasting like fish to tasting like grass to tasting like cabbage," Playford tells The Salt.

"It's taken a lot a lot of time and research to find a seed variety that tastes like ours does," adds Newham. "We pride ourselves on the fact that it's a single variety." That allows Crush to keep a more consistent taste than if they would have to rely on a blend. And it keeps home cooks happy as well as the chefs who have to turn out hundreds of plates all tasting the same.

Many feel it keeps the British farm economy happy as well. In an era of local food love, rapeseed is celebrated as the new "British olive oil."

With the U.K. general election just days away, the National Farmers Union has created the "Great British Food Gets My Vote" campaign to encourage a commitment to domestic products. British culinary rapeseed oils provide a domestic alternative to imported olive oils from Italy, Greece and Spain.

The high-end rapeseed oils "are very important to farmers," says Guy Gagan from the NFU. "It's a local product, more or less in every town in England. It's a way for farmers to add value to their crops, so it's important to buy them rather than importing from outside the U.K."

[mellie]

Dinner tonight is Fish Pie.





The contrast between the smooth whipped potato and crispy cheese topping the creamy seafood in a buttery white parsley sauce is quite lovely.
(I use a combination of white fish fillets and salmon fillets)

A great introduction to 'real' seafood for kids who will only eat battered or crumbed fish.

Served with corn on the cob and steamed bright green veg.


Dessert = Apple crumble and cream or ice cream


Yummo!

[mellie]

Last night I made Paprika chicken and served it on basmati rice.



For a great paprika chicken recipe, refer to....




Serves 4

8 chicken drumsticks
salt flakes and freshly-milled black pepper ( a teaspoon of each)
1/4 cup plain flour
¼ cup olive oil
1 large elongated red capsicum, finely diced
1 large or two medium-small white onions, finely diced
1 heaped teaspoon of minced garlic or 2 fresh cloves of garlic minced.
4 or 6 large -medium/ medium-small tomatoes diced, seeds skin and all
3 heaped Tbsp sweet hungarian paprika (be generous) and dont be tempted to use anything but sweet Hungarian paprika. Most fruit barns have it.
1/2 or 1 teaspoon of ground chilies(optional)
1 1/2 cups chicken stock (I used campbell's because Coles has it on special for $1)
1, 2, or 3 tablespoons of sour cream (to taste, until above colour in photo is achieved)
Seasoning, (salt, pepper, raw sugar) to taste.
I used about a tablespoon of raw sugar, it depends on how acidic your tomatoes are, will determine how much you need.
tablespoon of cornflour mixed with 1/4 cup of cold water, to this you add the sour cream, adding more water if required, (needs to be pouring consistency, like that of light pouring cream
Parsley and Rice to serve.



1 Season the chicken pieces generously with salt and pepper, then dust with the flour, shaking off the excess. Fry in a large lidded saucepan in the olive oil over a moderate heat for 10 or so minutes, until lightly-browned. Set aside.
2 Sauté the capsicum, onions and garlic in the same oil for 5 minutes, until well-softened, then add the tomatoes and cook for 2 more minutes.
3 Add the paprika and chicken stock, then return the chicken pieces and simmer for 30 minutes, turning often, until the chicken is firm. Whisk cornflour into a measuring cup/jug with water (with a fork) then add the light sour cream and whisk well, then remove the chicken pieces from the pan and pour cornflour and cream mix into the sauce gradually whisking as you go until right colour and texture is achieved, check for seasoning (salt, sugar, pepper).
Then return chicken to the saucepan, simmer for 1 or two minutes more, then serve with rice and chopped parsley.

(Ps- if you find the sauce isn't thickening, just simmer the sauce uncovered ( minus the chicken pieces) until it's at the desired consistency.





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I might post the fish pie recipe tomorrow, as I need to measure my ingredients as I go tonight.

I know how I do it, (by feel) but i'll need to get it precise if i'm to post the recipe for any of you tomorrow.

[roogal]

Being in Queensland we are spoilt with fresh fish (and Moreton Bay bugs) everyday, my favourites are Barramundi, Flathead, Trevally, Flounder and shark.
Sorry, I'm not that great a cook or with recipes, so I take the easy way and go to the local fish and chip shop - quicker and no mess

[mellie]

I made my fish pie from scratch, (and it was nice, bart loved it) though next time I plan to make my life a little easier and take a shortcut and use Dolmio carbonara sauce in the jar (will probably require 2 jars and some corn flour added to water to thicken whilst simmering) to which i'll then add the seafood then top with mash potato and cheese.

I'm never too proud to take a shortcut here and there when pushed for time or bother.

Hey, if you can get a decent result and do so with half the fuss why not?



As for takeaway.... we don't eat take away because it results in nocturnal bart flatulence.

Not me though, because I never pass wind... honest.