SUMAC

Rhus coriaria - also known as Sumak, Sumach, Soumak, Sumaq

Although I had journeyed on many occasions since the 1960s to North Africa and the Middle East and am a lover of Moroccan, Lebanese and Syrian cuisine it was not until the nineties, on a visit toTurkey,that I became aware of and familiar with Sumac
.

Previously,I had assumed that the lemony tang in many dishes was due to lemons. On a visit to a Kurdish area in Istanbul, however, I discovered Sumac; mysterious red berries in sacks in the markets or sold ground as a powder, varying in colour from deep red to maroon or purple. Sumac comes from a plant in the Rhus family, which includes many poisonous varieties, but the berries of Rhus coriaria are not harmful and add a delicious tangy lemon flavour to foods.

Apparently sumac was used in Europe before the arrival of lemons in Roman times. It has also been used in place of lemons when they were out of season* but it has a deserved place in cooking in its own right.  Having made the discovery, I brought some back from my visit toTurkey and also subsequently from Palestine but it is now readily available in the UK, not only in Turkish and Middle eastern shops but also in some larger supermarkets.

Until recently, I was living in SE London where there are excellent Turkish grocery stores which I frequented in Lewisham and Bermondsey and now that Brighton and Hove is my adopted city I can shop at Tiba or Al Jazeera - a few doors away from each other in Portslade - for all my middle eastern or Turkish culinary needs.

Sumac is used extensively in the Middle East and the Maghreb to season salads, yoghurt, chicken and lamb dishes but I use it most frequently in fish dishes as a dry rub for whole fish, prior to roasting or in a marinade to enhance the flavour. 

Sumac is also often used in Za'atar which is the topic of a separate blog.

John Austin

July 2015

*Living in England we have almost lost all recognition of seasonal produce as everything seems to be available 12 months of the year. But before this globalisation, lemons were only available throughout the year (mainly in the Maghreb and the Middle East) as preserved lemons, an essential,ingredient of many dishes, such as Moroccan tagines, and this is the topic of another blog.

JOHN DORY 

What's in a name

At the restaurant,  LaTaberna de Lucia, by the marina in Santa Pola the fish of the day is on display in a chilled cabinet from which you can choose. When we visited in June they had a fish with the distinctive “thumbprint” which suggested it could be John Dory which I knew in Spanish as Pez de San Pedro.

The waiter said it was Gallo, which I found strange and confusing as I knew gallo as Megrim sole and this was not any kind of sole; although flatish, it was not a ‘flatfish”. The sharp spiny dorsal fin should have confirmed my suspicion that this was John Dory.  I questioned the waiter further, testing my shaky Spanish vocabulary and his “poco” English and he said “chicken fish” which seemed logical as gallo is cockerel in Spanish, but I remained confused.

I resigned myself to solving the problem when we got home and settled down to eat but the fish, which had been deep fried as thin steaks plus the spiny appendages, served on a bed of potatoes with aubergine topped with two fried Quail eggs (which I thought an unnecessary addition!) 

It  looked and tasted like John Dory and was absolutely delicious. Other views of this restaurant can be found on Trip Adviser

Back home, however, Alan Davidson came to the rescue (eventually).  I looked in the index of “Mediterranean Seafood”  and “gallo”  was listed as Whiff, Sail-fluke or Megrim Sole as I had thought. Looking at the section on John Dory, however, Davidson gave the Catalan name as Gall and although the usual name in Spanish is San Pedro and in French is Saint-Pierre, he gave an alternative French name, Poule de mer (sea chicken). Davidson’s “Tio Pepe guide to the seafood of Spain and Portugal” was more forthcoming. Gallo in the index referred to the entries for both John Dory and megrim sole. Gallo appears to be the name for megrim sole but gall or gallo is the Catalan name for John Dory. The local language in the Santa Pola area is Valencian which is very similar to Catalan.

I also have a rather ancient book (1957) “Spanish Cooking” by Elizabeth Cass (originally published by Andre Deutsch but reprinted in 1968 for The Cookery Book Club, which gives the name gallo as well as San Pedro for John Dory. Dr Cass describes gallo as the name used in Andalusia.   Just to add confusion she gives Gallina del Mar (hen of the sea) as an alternative name for Gurnard but confirms that the widely used term gallo is a member of the sole family i.e. megrim. Another fish, with a similar name, gallineta, is mentioned which she describes as a variety of rockfish related to rascasio (scorpion fish). Davidson’s Tio Pepe guide confirms that gallineta, (gallineta rosada in full) is the French rascasse rose or slender rocklfish in English.

Leaving aside confusion over names, the long and the short of it is that John Dory is delicious and widely available in both Spain and the UK and I can’t wait to try my hand at cooking it.  Unfortunately, John Dory  has a lot of spines and waste so a reasonably sized specimen yields little flesh and when I looked in my local fishmonger in Hove last week, John Dory was £17 per kilo and one fish weighing just over a kilo would have produced only two fillets, albeit of a generous size, so I am waiting to see it on sale in UK at a much lower price or waiting till I return to Spain. In the meantime I would welcome any suggestions for recipes.

John Austin

September 2015

Paella Mixta

Mixed seafood and rabbit* paella

*you could substitute chicken for rabbit

Serves 6-8

I cooked this for 11 people so increased the quantities by half and cooked it in two pans as I did not have one large enough.  I have used this recipe, or variations before and in the past have added clams instead of or in addition to mussels.  I have also cooked it with galera (mantis shrimp) which are common in the Mediterranean and Adriatic and much cheaper than langoustines, but not popular with everyone.  On this occasion I used only prawns and not langoustines.

Ingredients

75-100mls Extra Virgin olive oil

6-8 raw prawns & 6-8 raw langoustines (or 12+ prawns)

1kg fresh rabbit (or chicken or a mixture) chopped

250g small squid, cleaned and chopped in rings, preserving tentacles and chopped wings

2 medium tomatoes, skinned and chopped

3-4 cloves garlic

2 bay leaves

12 + mussels  (always prepare a few more than needed in case some have to be discarded)

1 small onion, minced or finely chopped

250g French beans, cut in 3-4cms piece

1 large green pepper, deseeded and chopped

1.75 litres of stock (use cooking liquid of mussels and/or chicken or rabbit stock

½ tsp saffron

½tsp sweet paprika (pimentón dulce)

3-4 peppercorns

750g Valencia (paella) rice

½ glass dry white wine or dry sherry

Small jar/tin roasted red peppers (pimientos del piquillo dulces)

Ingredients for cooking the mussels: olive oil; ½ small onion or 2-3 shallots, finely chopped; 1 stick chopped celery; a handful of chopped celery leaves; 2tbsp chopped fresh parsley; 1 glass dry white wine or dry sherry

To serve: 2-3 lemons; chopped parsley

Method

It is helpful to do as much preparation as possible in advance – e.g. put the tomatoes in boiling water for two minutes, then remove skins and chop;

Remove seeds from green pepper and finely dice flesh;

Wash and scrub mussels, removing any dirt and beard (discard any which are broken or will not close) and leave in cold running water.

Heat half olive oil in a paella pan and gently fry two cloves of garlic and two bay leaves. When garlic has softened remove it and bay leaves and set aside.

Season the rabbit (chicken) pieces with salt and freshly ground pepper, gently brown in the paella pan and then set aside.

Very gently fry the prawns/langoustines until just turning pink – not fully cooked – and set aside.

Crush the cooked garlic and bay leaves with a pestle and mortar with 2 cloves fresh garlic, saffron, paprika, 3-4 peppercorns  and a little coarse sea salt.  Add ½ glass dry white wine or dry sherry, stir vigorously or whizz in a blender and set mixture aside.

To cook the cleaned mussels, take a fresh saucepan , add a little olive oil, heat gently, add the chopped onion/shallot and cook until softened but not brown.  Add the chopped celery, celery leaves and chopped parsley and stir in the full glass of white wine/sherry adding a wine glass of water, bring to the boil and add mussels.  Put on lid and cook for a few minutes, gently shaking the pan. After 2-3 minutes the mussels should have opened.  Discard any that won’t open with a little further cooking.  Remove, cover and set aside the cooked mussels.  Strain and preserve the cooking liquid (any sand/grit should have sunk to the bottom of the pan so leave the liquid at the bottom of the pan when straining).

Gently sauté the squid rings, tentacles and chopped wings for a few minutes in the paella pan then add the green beans.

Add chopped tomatoes, continue frying for a minute or two then add the minced onion and chopped green pepper and fry for a further two minutes, then add remaining olive oil.

Add the rice to the paella pan and cook gently whilst stirring until the rice is coated with oil – it may be necessary to add a little more olive oil to ensure that all the rice grains are coated.

Take the reserved strained liquid from the mussels and make up to 1.75 litres with chicken or rabbit stock. Add this stock to the paella pan with the crushed garlic mixture and stir whilst bringing gently to the boil, then simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the rabbit (chicken) pieces, stir and simmer for a further 10-15 minutes.  Test that the rice is al dente.  From this point on do not stir!  Remove all but 6 mussels from their shells and add the shelled and unshelled mussels to the paella dish together with the prawns/langoustines and simmer

gently for  5 more minutes until all the liquid is absorbed. Taste to ensure rice is cooked. If not, or if at any time before this all liquid has been absorbed, add a little more stock – but cautiously and do not stir.

Remove from heat, decorate top with strips of red pepper.  Leave to stand for 5 minutes.

Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve with quarters of fresh lemon.

Santa Pola

19 August 2015

MORE GREY MULLET

Llisa is the common name for grey mullet in south eastern Spain and they were plentiful on my last visit to Santa Pola – and very cheap. 

I bought six reasonably sized ones for a little over 2 Euros, which were enough to feed my daughter and her family who were with me.

I have an electric paella pan/all purpose cooker (multi cocina) which is basically a large non-stick pan with lid.  This dish could be cooked in any large sauté pan or frying pan that has a good fitting lid.

For the marinade you could use any herbs that you like or are easily available.  On this occasion I used some fresh rosemary and would have added some fresh fennel if it had been available, but I added ½ tsp of fennel seeds and a dash of Anis Seco. (Any dry aniseed liqueur will do e.g Pernod. Ricard, Arak, Ouzo etc but not too much as the flavour can be overpowering). If you don't like the aniseed flavour, omit the Anis and fennel and add a glass of white wine, dry sherry or dry vermouth and use whatever herbs you fancy, rosemary, thyme, oregano - the choice is yours. They all work well with mullet.

Some of the children are averse to eating things that are looking at them, so on this occasion I removed the heads before cooking!

Ingredients

6 grey mullet – one per person

Olive oil

½ tbsp chopped fresh rosemary ( or herbs of choice)

½ tsp fennel seeds

1 tbsp Anis seco or half glass of white wine, dry sherry or dry vermouth

1 - 2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced

¼ preserved lemon or thinly pared zest of lemon or lime

Method

Have the fish cleaned and scaled, cut two or three slashes on each side of the fish, rub with olive oil and herbs. Put thinly sliced preserved lemon peel or lemon/lime zest in slashes and place fish in the pan with fennel seeds, and garlic. Fry gently for 2-3 minutes. Add anis or wine allow to bubble to boil off alcohol. Place lid on pan and cook on moderate heat for 10-15 minutes, turning once during cooking.

Serve with steamed or boiled new potatoes and a green salad.  An alternative to new potatoes is mashed potatoes - and try the mash with finely chopped preserved lemon.  Simply take the peel of a quarter of a preserved lemon (flesh removed and peel rinsed to remove excess salt) chop finely and mix it in with potatoes during mashing.

Santa Pola

July 2015

GREY MULLET

GREY MULLET

In England I was aware of only one species of grey mullet but in Spain have discovered several – and a proliferation of names!  The Spanish name for grey mullet is Pardete, but the name most seen in south east Spain appears to be Lisa or Llisa, the Thick lipped-grey mullet. Frequently, I have also seen Morragute (thin-lipped grey mullet), Galupe (Gold Grey Mullet) and a related species, Galúa. I am not able to determine the difference and as they are all excellent to eat, I haven’t bothered to find out. There are some other names in Spain, mugil or mujol which appear to refer to any species of grey mullet

At home, in UK, grey mullet is one of the cheaper fish and is excellent cooked simply with lemon, herbs and garlic. I have never understood why the British, surrounded by water do not eat most of the edible fish in their own waters. 

My brother and his wife were staying with us recently and they like “simple”, healthy food and this is a very simple dish which I am sure would delight Rick Stein because he, like me knows how good grey mullet  can be cooked simply with lemon, herbs and garlic. He has some tasty recipes in Taste of the Sea but here is mine.

Ingredients (serves 4)

1 whole grey mullet (1 – 1½ kilo)

Juice of 1 lemon or lime

1 -2 cloves garlic

¼ preserved lemon or thinly pared zest of lemon or lime

1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano

2-3 tbsp Olive oil

Method

Take a large piece of foil large enough to wrap the fish. Make a marinade with the olive oil, lemon juice, crushed garlic, chopped oregano and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. If you are using preserved lemons you may wish to omit or reduce the salt as the preserved lemons will be very salty. (I have prepared a separate blog and recipe for preserved lemons).

Make  deep slashes on each side of the fish, about 2 ins/25 cms apart and rub the outside and body cavity with the marinade working into the slashes. Any excess marinade should be put in the cavity.

If using preserved lemons, take a quarter of one preserved lemon, remove all flesh and discard. Rinse the remaining skin to remove excess salt and slice finely. Push the thinly sliced preserved lemon (or zest of lemon/lime if you do not have preserved lemons) into each slash and place remainder in body cavity.

Wrap loosely in the foil and leave in the fridge for ½ -1 hour. Unlike meat, fish does not need a lengthy marinade process as the purpose is only to impart the flavours not to tenderise.

Place the parcel in a roasting tray in a pre-heated oven, 180C and bake for 30-45 minutes depending on size of the fish. Check after 30 minutes to see if fish is cooked – it should be opaque and flaky if not fully cooked, cover again and continue cooking. When cooked, open foil and  leave for a further 5 minutes uncovered and then serve with any juices and a sprinkling of fresh parsley with steamed new potatoes.

Hove UK

May 2015

CORVINA - drum or croaker

I have often seen Corvina on sale in Spanish fish markets and supermarkets but they are too large for just two of us so I have been waiting for some unsuspecting visitors to try it out. A visit from Sue and Faith gave me that opportunity and I bought a fish weighing around 1 kilo for less than 5 Euros.

I was unfamiliar with Corvina as I have never seen it in the UK. Apparently some varieties can be caught off the southern coast of England and its English (and American) names are Drum or Croaker – apparently due to the noise they make. Some books give it the name Meagre in English and Maigre in French but I was none the wiser but my recipe books suggest that it can be treated like Sea bass or Grey Mullet.

Corvina is caught in Mediterranean and Atlantic waters and appears to be popular in Italy (Bocca d’oro), Tunisia (Lej), Turkey (Sanağiz) and Greece (Mayático aetós). Similar varieties are found in the South Atlantic and Pacific and in the US it is sometimes called Californian Sea bass. It is also eaten widely in South America and sometimes marketed as Chilean Sea bass, although this name is usually applied to Patagonian toothfish (which is on the endangered species list).

Regrettably, I did not photograph the beast either before or after cooking - but there will certainly be a next time!

I decided to roast mine whole and there proved to be plenty for four people.

I made a stuffing/marinade of olive oil, garlic, herbs, onion with lime juice and the zest of the lime and then wrapped the fish in foil and roasted in the oven at 180°C for 40 minutes, then unwrapped it and let cook for a further 5 minutes.

Ingredients:

1 Corvina weighing app 1 kilo

4 tbsp Olive oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 small red onion, chopped

Small bunch parsley, chopped – about 4 – 6 tbsp

¼ teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed (if you want stronger aniseed flavour, add a splash of Anis Seco/Pernod or similar)

½ teaspoon tarragon

Juice and zest of 1 lime

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Have the fish scaled, gutted and cleaned. Make three deep slashes on each side of the fish and sprinkle inside and out with sea salt; rub the fish with the marinade, forcing the herbs/garlic/onion mixture into the slashes and then fill the body cavity with the mixture. Place on a large piece of foil and fold loosely (to enable the fish to steam in the parcel). Place in the preheated oven for app 30-40 minutes, then open the parcel and allow to cook uncovered for 5-10 minutes – the flesh should be white and flaky.

Serve with the juices from the cooking, with a squeeze of fresh lime or lemon and garnished with chopped parsley.

It went down very well with a bottle or two of chilled Albariño

John Austin

Santa Pola, June 2015

The family of sardines and herrings

Alacha and Aguja - Sardines, Sardinellas and Sardinillas

On a recent visit to the fish counter in an Eroski* supermarket in southeastern Spain I spotted what I thought to be sardines but they were labelled alacha. They were very similar to the sardines (sardinas) on the same counter.


I learned later that alacha are in the same family (Clupeidae) as sardines. The true sardine (Sardina pilchardus) is simply called sardina in Spanish.  I also learned that alacha are found in UK waters as well as Spain and Portugal and known as gilt sardine (Sardinella aurita). Alacha should not be confused with alatja, which is the Catalan name for shad, another fish in the sardine family (see below).

It is a popular misconception that sardines and pilchards are different kinds of fish. They are not. Sardines come in a variety of sizes up to about 27cms and in the UK we generally call the smaller ones sardines and the larger ones pilchards.  In Cornwall, however, there is a growing trend to call all sardines “pilchards” irrespective of size and a Cornish fisherman will tell you that Cornish pilchards are the finest in the world.  I dare say this would be disputed in Galicia and a few other places too.

Not only do the Spanish have a plentiful supply of fresh fish, they have a passion for preserving and canning.  In England we often think of tinned goods as the bottom end of the market, but in Spain they are highly prized and can be either basic or luxury goods, some fetching astronomic prices.  Visit any food store, market or supermarket in Spain and you will be spoilt for choice for canned goods - latillas or little cans - at reasonable prices. It's always worth having a supply in the cupboard for those unexpected guests or impulse picnic. A variety of tapas can be produced in an instant - cockles, anchovies, squid, cuttlefish, octopus, mussels, clams, razor clams, scallops as well as a variety of tuna, including the famous Bonito del Norte (Albacore) and many other fish. (I have written a separate blog about the tuna and mackerel families)

Herrings are generally not found in Spanish waters but there is a larger member of the sardine/herring family found in Spain, the shad (Alosa Alosa) called sábalo or saboga in Spanish but also sold by its scientific name, alosa or by its Catalan name, alatja. Although they are marine fish, they often live in estuarial waters and sometimes inland, hence their other name in English, river herring.  They can grow up to 60cms.

All of these fish are members of the wider herring family, but I have not mentioned the herring itself as they are not found in Spanish waters. Canned or pickled herrings, arenque, can be found in Spanish shops. The canned sild, which are popular in Scandinavia and the UK are infant herrings.

Browsing through the cans in Eroski, I spotted one labelled Sardina Aguja and others simply Agujas. Were these also sardines? Apparently not. Aguja is garfish also known in the UK as needlefish.  These make good eating but are often shunned in the UK as the bones have a greenish tinge when cooked. Although this may put off some people it is in no way harmful and doesn't spoil the taste.

Very small sardines are highly regarded in Galicia and Catalonia and many find their way into the canning industry and are sold as sardinillas, little sardines. Sardinillas should not be confused with canned alachas, however, which are often labelled sardinellas, taken from their scientific name.

Sprats are also available in Spain and go under a variety of names, commonly espadín, but also meleta or amploia. In the UK  canned or smoked sprats are labelled brisling or skippers.  And of course in Spain there is a plentiful supply of anchovies - fresh, canned or salted, they are called anchoa or pickled, boquerónes or boquerónes en vinagre - sardines similarly treated are available as sardinas en escabeche.

So, when in Spain, don’t shun the tins as second rate or inferior – try them all and have a feast**.  As for fresh sardines or any of their relatives, simple is best; grilled or a la plancha, outdoors in the sunshine with a chilled bottle of vino blanco or vino roasado!

John Austin

Santa Pola January 2015

* Eroski is a Spanish supermarket chain found throughout Spain but originating in the Basque country (Pais Vasco). Its name comes from the Basque erosi, to buy, and toki, place - ie a place to buy. It is run as a worker/consumer co-operative.

**You don't have to be in Spain - we had a great picnic on the beach when we went crabbing at Arcachon in south west France in April 2015

Post script - June 2015 Just returned from Spain where I also saw some canned Chicharillos also labelled as Chinchards - I assume chicharillos to be small chicharros, also called jurel in Spanish and horse mackerel in English. Chinchard is the French name for horse mackerely.  For my blog on jurel see http://www.johnaust.in/2014/05/in-place-of-mackerel-recipe-from-spain.html