Rick Stein notes that “the importance of cooking at home became completely clear” as the world has yo-yoed in and out of lockdowns. So his new book, Rick Stein At Home , is a compendium of the recipes he most enjoys cooking in his own kitchen. The British chef […]
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Rick Stein notes that “the importance of cooking at home became completely clear” as the world has yo-yoed in and out of lockdowns.
So his new book, Rick Stein At Home, is a compendium of the recipes he most enjoys cooking in his own kitchen.
The British chef is known for working with fresh produce and seafood, and usually divides his time (Covid-willing) between his home in Cornwall and New South Wales.
Here are three recipes from the book for you to try.
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CORNISH BRIAM
The thought behind this recipe was to come up with a dish that uses all the vegetables currently grown by the farmers who supply our restaurants in late August (in the UK summer) – things like carrots, courgettes, broccoli and new potatoes.
Ross Geach at Trerethern Farm, also known as Padstow Kitchen Garden, grows wonderful vegetables on his land overlooking the Camel estuary. The view alone makes you feel the vegetables will taste really special, which indeed they do.
I cooked this for a sequence in my Rick Stein’s Cornwall series, having remembered a lovely slow-cooked vegetable dish called briam from the island of Corfu, and it works a treat. As our local vegetables don’t perhaps have the intense sweetness of Mediterranean produce, I added some chilli and feta to give it a bit more oomph.
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
150ml olive oil, plus extra for greasing
500g waxy new potatoes, peeled and cut lengthways into 5mm slices
400g carrots, peeled or scrubbed and sliced lengthways
2 large courgettes (about 400g), sliced lengthways
1 large onion, peeled and sliced
5–6 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
300g tenderstem broccoli
4 large tomatoes (or 6 medium), thickly sliced
1 red or green finger chilli, sliced
Handful flatleaf parsley, chopped
A few thyme sprigs, leaves stripped from the woody stalks
200ml passata
100g feta cheese, crumbled
Salt and black pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 190°C/Fan 170°C.
Grease a roasting tin or a shallow, lidded casserole dish with oil. Spread the potato slices in a single layer and season well with salt and pepper.
Layer the carrots on top, then the courgettes, then the onion and garlic, seasoning each layer with plenty of salt and pepper.
Scatter over the broccoli and cover it with tomato slices.
Add the chilli, herbs and a final sprinkling of salt and pepper.
Pour over the passata and the olive oil.
Cover the roasting tin tightly with foil or put a tight-fitting lid on the dish and place in the oven for about 1 ¼ hours.
Sprinkle over the crumbled feta and return the tin to the oven, uncovered, for a further 15–20 minutes.
Allow it to cool slightly, before serving as a side dish, or as a main with crusty bread or rice.
TIP
You can use any late summer vegetables you have for this dish.
CORNISH MUSSLES WITH CIDER
Here’s another recipe from my Cornish TV series, something that I cooked on the turf above a beach just outside Mevagissey.
I can’t name the place, because it’s owned by a family. This is a version of moules marinière using Cornish ingredients – you can’t go wrong really.
Serves 4
Ingredients
1.75kg mussels
20g butter
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
4 or 5 spring onions, chopped
A few thyme sprigs and a couple of bay leaves
100ml dry cider
120ml double cream
Good handful wild sorrel leaves, coarsely chopped, or 200g baby spinach leaves, washed
Salt and black pepper
Crusty bread, to serve
Method
Wash the mussels under plenty of cold, running water.
Discard any open ones that won’t close when lightly squeezed or tapped. Pull out any tough, fibrous beards protruding from the tightly closed shells and knock off any barnacles with a large knife. Give the mussels another quick rinse to remove any little pieces of shell.
Melt the butter in a large pan with a lid. Add the garlic, spring onions, thyme and bay leaves, then cook until softened.
Add the mussels and cider, then turn up the heat, cover the pan and leave the mussels to steam in their own juices for 3–4 minutes. Give the pan a good shake every now and then.
Add the cream and the chopped sorrel or baby spinach and remove from the heat. Season with salt and black pepper.
Spoon into large warmed bowls and serve with lots of crusty bread to soak up the tasty juices.
Tip
I’m often asked if you should discard any mussels that don’t open after cooking. In fact, there’s nothing wrong with them, as they’re cooked and should be fine. Once in a while, though, you will find that those that don’t open are full of sand and mud, so probably best to throw them out.
APPLE CHARLOTTE
I mention the television series that I recently filmed in Cornwall often in my book, mainly because most of the recipes in the programmes are for dishes I cook at home a lot.
The runaway success of the series was this Apple Charlotte, which I cooked in an orchard at Tresillian House, near Newquay. It’s a very special recipe – my mother’s, and one of her favourites.
Serves: 4
Ingredients
125g butter
350g Bramley apples
350g Cox’s apples
2 tbsp sugar
A little grated lemon zest, to taste
6–8 slices white bread, about 5mm thick, crusts removed
Custard, clotted cream or ice cream, to serve
Method
Grease a pudding basin, about 15cm in diameter and 10cm deep, with plenty of the butter.
Peel, core and finely slice the apples. Rinse in cold water and put them in a saucepan with the sugar, lemon zest and 30g of the butter. Cook to a pulp over a low heat and then beat to a purée with a wooden spoon.
Allow to cool. Preheat the oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C.
Melt the remaining butter. Dip each slice of bread into the butter and then line a pudding basin with about three-quarters of the slices.
Pack them in tightly and don’t leave any gaps. Spoon in the cooled apple purée and cover with the remaining buttered pieces of bread and gently push down.
Tightly cover the pudding with foil and bake for about 30 minutes.
Remove the foil and bake for a further 8–10 minutes, until the top is golden brown.
Leave the pudding to rest for 5 minutes, before turning out on to a serving plate.
Serve with custard, clotted cream or ice cream.
Tip
I love the clean taste of apple and lemon in this, as cooked by my mum, but you could add a good pinch of ground cloves or some ground cinnamon, if you like.
Recipes taken from Rick Stein at Home: Recipes, Memories and Stories from a Food Lover's Kitchen (Penguin, RRP$60) which is due for release on October 19.
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