My father’s favourite clue (he also does not do the cryptic crossword) is “Shiny Trousers? (15)”, the answer of course is “Notwithstanding”.   I was once very chuffed with myself when I sussed that “It’s a sad little motorcycle (5)” was “Moped”, but on the whole word games are not really my thing, although whilst cooking this I did come up with “This Asian fungus really has a laugh at your expense (8)”. 

“Shiitake” Yes – I know really not a good clue, but my thinking was that taking the shiitake was a step beyond taking the piss…   As I said word games are not my thing, and I am not expecting a glittering career as a crossword compiler on the strength of this blog post.

This dish came about last weekend when Radio 4′s Food Programme featured seaweed, which I adore, but have never really mentioned on the blog.   I suspect the nearest most people get to seaweed is as a sheet of nori around their sushi rolls and it is something that does not really feature in most diets, which is a shame.  If you have not tried seaweed then do give it a go, I am certain you will be surprised.

Seaweed or (a more digestible sounding) sea vegetables are packed with nutrients and minerals.  My favourite pick me up is a mug of miso soup sprinkled with sea vegetables and a dash of soy sauce, which I find incredibly restorative, and is just the ticket for the morning after the night before.

I get most of my Japanese ingredients from Clearspring, I find them top quality, the products are organic where they can be, and the misos and tamaris are delicious and made by Japanese artisans with centuries old methods.  They have a fairly comprehensive guide to the benefits of sea vegetables on their website too.

This dish is inspired by this tamari pasta with pak choi that I blogged almost two years ago, after having first met the Clearspring team at a food show.  I used Clearspring’s Sea Salad – a mix of dulse, sea lettuce and nori.  It rehydrates almost instantly and is also wonderful sprinkled over a green salad with a miso dressing.

Recipe: Shiitake Mushroom and Seaweed Noodles

Serves 2

10 dried shiitake mushrooms – pre soaked in boiling water for 20 minutes, drained and sliced
2 bundles of noodles – cooked as per packet instructions
1 tbs toasted sesame oil
2 spring onions sliced
1 tbs tamari or dark soy sauce
1 tbs dried seaweed flakes

In a large pan fry the sliced shiitake mushrooms and spring onions in the sesame oil.  When softened add the tamari and cooked noodles and stir until the noodles are coated.

Stir through the seaweed and serve immediately.

Season with extra soy sauce or tamari to taste.

Morrisons supermarket recently contacted me and asked me to join their British beef challenge.    A box of seasonal vegetables duly arrived and I set off to Morrisons for my beef.

I have to confess that I am not generally a Morrisons shopper, purely because there is not one within walking distance of my flat.   My mother uses Morrisons on the occasions that she is near one, and is always very impressed with the shop, customer service and products.

A while back Morrisons launched their “market street” concept, stores within the store where shoppers could buy their bread from a baker, fish from a fishmonger and meat from a butcher.   I was delighted to discover that all the fresh lamb, pork and beef sold in the 376 Morrisons stores nationwide is British sourced, so Morrisons shoppers do not have to scrutinise the label to choose British meat and support British farmers.    In the Fuss Free kitchen we do not eat that much meat, but when we do we want it to be of great quality and taste and the meat I bought delivered on both.

I was really impressed with my Morrisons experience, although on a Saturday afternoon the store was crowded, busy staff were impeccably polite, helpful and knowledgable.    Usually I find shopping in a different supermarket a fairly stressful experience as everything takes longer as I never know where anything is, helpful staff made it less of a chore.

The butcher was fantastic, helpful and knowledgable.   He went to get a new piece of beef for me so I could get the size of fillet I wanted, and then when I told him I would get another piece for the freezer he offered to wrap it ready for freezing (the Morrisons meat is wrapped in thick paper, rather than plastic).

All in all a great experience.  Prices are keen, I especially noticed how competitive the fruit and vegetables were, and their quality was excellent.   The piece of beef fillet I bought was about £12 and was more than enough for both of us.

I wanted to create a traditional British dish with my beef, but also give it a Fuss Free kitchen twist, playing with the flavours and making it a bit lighter.   I hit upon a modern Beef Wellington, but using filo pastry to make it lighter and added some Asian flavours of sesame, soy and cumin to the traditional mushroom duxelles.   By swapping filo for the traditional shortcrust you are removing calorific butter and gaining a heap of crunch and texture.

I served this with a maple and cumin sweet potato and carrot mash and sautéed pak choi.   Delicious, and definitely something to be repeated, the beef was delicious, and meltingly tender.

Recipe: Asian Inspired Filo Beef Wellington

Serves 2

300g / 12oz fillet of beef

For the mushroom duxelles

200g / 8oz mixed mushrooms – I used a mix of shiitake, chestnut and standard
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbs sesame oil
1 tsp ground cumin
Pinch ground chilli (optional)
1/2 star anise
2 tbs dark soy sauce

4 sheets filo pastry*

Preheat the oven to 220C / 425F/ GM7.  Put the fillet into an oiled roasting dish and season with salt and pepper.   Cook for 12 mins (rare) or 15 (medium) – timings will vary depending on the size and shape of your fillet.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Meanwhile finely chop the mushrooms and garlic (or pulse in the food processor).  Sauté in the sesame oil in a frying pan with the spices.   When the mushroom is reduced add the soy sauce and cook again for a few minutes.   Season to taste and allow to cool.

The trick when working with filo pastry is to be swift, and not leave it uncovered as once it starts to dry out it becomes stiff and brittle.    Place one sheet on a baking tray and spread out a layer of the mushrooms (discard the star anise) about the same shape and size of the beef.    Place the beef on top of the mushrooms and wrap the filo around the meat.     Place your filo parcel on to another sheet and repeat.    Drape the last sheet of filo over your filo parcel and wrap so all the edges are underneath and you have a neat filo bundle.

Gently transfer to a baking tray and bake at 200C / 400 / GM6 for about 20 mins (rare) or 25 (medium).  If the pastry starts to go too brown cover with a pice of foil towards the end of cooking.

When done slice and serve immediately, with the mash and pak choi sautéed in a little soy sauce.

* wrap leftovers well in cling film to freeze.

Recipe: Maple and Cumin Sweet Potato and Carrot Mash

Serves 2

1 large sweet potato
1 large carrot
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tbs maple syrup
Salt & pepper to taste

Peel and chop the sweet potato and carrot into 1″ chunks.  Place in a pan of water and bring to the boil, simmer for about 25 mins until soft.

Drain, add the cumin and maple syrup and mash until smooth.

I think that this would also be delicious with pumpkin or butternut squash either in place or in addition to either vegetable.

Thank you to Morrisons for asking me to take part in the challenge and providing the ingredients.

I suspect that it is not going to be BBQ weather this August Bank Holiday weekend.   At least not in London.   I would have gladly forgone this year’s glorious May for better weather this August.

So in the absence of the BBQ, I suggest this magnificent pulled pork, which is one of the best things that I have made for ages.

I made this using my hand of Gloucester Old Spot that I had been given on my visit to Jimmy’s Farm.   The method is based on this recipe by Kevin and Amanda.   Tender, melting soft, spicy strands of pork.   Perfect for banishing the damp Bank Holiday blues.     It does take 36 hours to make, but hands on time is very little.

Recipe: Perfect Asian Spiced Pulled Pork

You need to start this recipe 36 hours before you want to eat. The actual hands on time is very very little. The brining makes the pork incredibly tender.

Serves 10 -12

Ingredients

3 – 4 kg / 7 – 9 lb piece of pork on the bone
6 tbs salt
6 tbs brown sugar
4 bay leaves

For the Spice Mix

1 tbs ground chilli
2 star anise – ground
1 tbs cumin – ground
1 tbs coriander seed – ground
6 cloves garlic – smashed
1 tbs miso paste – I used barley miso
1 tbs sea salt
2 tbs soy sauce
4 tbs brown sugar

Method

Put all the ingredients for the spice mix into a bowl and mix well.

Remove the skin from the pork, and find a casserole that it fits into – I used my preserving pan. Dissolve the salt, sugar into a 2 litres of water and stir in 3 tbs of the spice rub. Pour over the pork and leave to soak for 24 hours in a cool place. If you buy your pork in advance and will be freezing it remove the skin before freezing. I put my frozen pork in the brine, so it brined and defrosted at the same time.

After 24 hours remove the pork, and dry it off with some kitchen paper. Rub the remainder of the spice mix well into the meat. If needed tie the joint up with some kitchen string.

Place the meat in your slow cooker or crockpot and cook on high for 2 hours, then turn down to low for another 10, baste the meat occasionally. I cooked with the lid ajar for the last few hours. Alternative place in the oven on the lowest setting and cook in a heavy casserole dish.  If I want the pork for dinner I start cooking it first thing, for lunch I cook it overnight.

I found that lots of juice came out of mine so I skimmed if off and froze it for stock.

When done remove the joint from the slow cooker, and shred the meat with two forks.

Serve on a bun with mayonnaise and BBQ sauce.

Freezes well.

Click for a printable recipe for  Perfect Pulled Pork.

With the advent of summer come the salad bags from the fruit and vegetable co-op.    As much as I love a traditional mayonnaise potato salad, they can get a little boring and they need a makeover to keep my interest.   One variation was to add cucumber, mint and yogurt but delicious as it is, it is still fairly similar to the mayonnaise based salad.

Several months ago I held a miso tasting, where a gaggle of food bloggers gathered in my flat and we tasted our way though Clearspring’s miso range, it was a fantastic and hilarious evening, as a result I am long on miso, with enough to keep me going for at least the next 12 months. Whisking up some miso with other Japanese ingredients made a deliciously different dressing for my potatoes,  salty, tangy and packing a massive umami punch, a dish that certainly will be repeated the next time the sun comes out.

Recipe: Miso Potato Salad

This is more of an idea than a recipe, adapt according to what vegetables you have in the fridge.

Ingredients

Salad Potatoes – cooked and sliced
Handful French Beans – optional

For the Dressing

Equal quantities of

Brown miso (I used barley)
Tamari or soy sauce
Lemon Juice
Sesame Oil
Mirim
Tahini – optional to thicken

Method

Whisk the dressing ingredients together. I know tahini is not Japanese, but it thickens the dressing nicely.

Steam the beans for 2 minutes and then plunge into cold water

Pour the dressing over the potatoes and beans and mix well

I topped with some furikake (a mix of sesame seeds and ground seaweed – it can contain fish – so read the label if you are vegetarian)

Keeps in the fridge for a few days and is delicious for a packed lunch.

Click here for a printable version

I am a huge fan of Japanese flavours, and put some together to make this tasty salmon, which is perfect for a quick fuss free supper.

I love quickly cooked dishes that have been marinated.  Lots of flavour for barely any effort.  What could be better than that?   Simply whip up your marinade the night before, in the morning, or even an hour before cooking.   The longer it marinates, the stronger the flavour will be.

My top marinating tip is freeze your meat or fish in the marinade, then leave to slowly defrost in the fridge for 24 hours before cooking.   Can you get more fuss free than that?

Recipe: Miso Salmon Steaks

Serves 2

Juice half a lemon
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp sesame oil
1 dsp tamari or soy sauce
1 dsp dark miso – I used Clearspring’s rice miso
1 clove garlic – crushed
1/2 green chilli finely chopped (vary the amount to taste)
Several sprigs of coriander – chopped

2 Salmon steaks

Whisk together all the marinade ingredients and pour over the salmon, cover and place in the fridge for up to 24 hours.

When ready to cook, drain the salmon (keeping the marinade).  Add a glug of oil to a pan and fry skin side down for about 4 minutes, until the skin is crispy.  Flip the salmon and cook for another minute or so until done.    Put the salmon onto a warm plate, add the marinade to the pan and boil on a high heat for a minute until reduced and sticky.

Serve with seasonal vegetables, with the sauce poured over.

Yum!

This noodle filled sushi is a delicious twist on the more traditional rice based sushi, and just as scrumptious, although not at all easy to roll.

I cannot claim any credit for these, the original idea was from Clearspring, and the recipe can be found here.   I substituted salty tangy umeboshi paste for the pungent sinus clearing wasabi; as well as the soba, my rolls contained sesame and tamari shiitake mushrooms.    I have also made these with avocado filling.

Dipped in tamari they were the perfect pre-tasting nibble for a group of food bloggers that gathered at my flat last week, to sample our way through the entirety of Clearspring”s Miso range.

Despite these being more of an idea than a recipe I am sending them to this week’s Presto Pasta Night #205, hosted by Debbie Does Dinner.   Last week’s host, Sarah, enjoyed these with us and I am sorry I did not manage to get them to her round up in time.   A trip to a sugar craft exhibition (which will be blogged soon) intervened.

I’ll also get the miso tasting notes up soon, and some recipes using them!

Thanks to Clearspring to sending me all the ingredients to make these.

I have finally got round to making the black pepper tofu, and can confirm it is as every bit as good as everyone has been saying and really does taste as if it has come out of the kitchen of a really good Chinese restaurant.

As it has been absurdly hot today I did tone down the chilli and pepper several fold and even so 15 minutes later my mouth is still burning.    I made it with homemade tofu which was so fresh it was still warm.    I used my jar of Steenbergs* Spanish Black Pepper, to save me having to crush some peppercorns.     I realised afterwards that the pepper is a blend, also containing orange, lemon, thyme, onion and coriander.  I am sure that these extra flavours only enhanced the tofu.

Like everyone else who has made and blogged about this dish I urge you to make it as soon as possible.

* Ottolenghi The Cookbook recommends both Steenbergs sumac and za’atar.