Author: Chef M
Tuscan tomato sauce made with fresh Mediterranean herbs.
No one can resist this – it really went down a treat when we were testing the recipes for the book. At Canteen we make individual puddings, but we think this big one works better as you get more syrup!
Just like oysters, mussels were once the food of the poor in these islands. This way of preparing them is a West Country twist on the classic French moules marinière, using dry cider (preferably from Somerset).
Shawarma is a way of preparing and cooking meat in the Eastern Mediterranean, but not so far west as Arabian countries. With this method, marinated chicken, beef or lamb is skewered and slow-cooked over a spit. Now, most of us don’t have a spit at home (if you did, you probably wouldn’t need this recipe), but surprisingly, an authentic shawarma flavour can be achieved easily enough in your own oven. This is a dish that will easily stand up to a dark ale.
This is a not uncommon way to cook pork in Italy, Mexico, and Central and South America. The milk cooks away to nothing more than sugars and protein, rendering the pork sweet, fork-tender, and fragrant with the spices. The braised pork is also wonderful pulled into shreds and served in taco shells with shredded iceberg lettuce, coriander (cilantro) and lime juice. Lovely with a lager.
This dough is full of real strawberry flavor, and that’s what makes it so delicious. Homemade strawberry jam gives the dough a true fresh strawberry flavor instead of an artificial one. The vanilla bean paste adds a beautiful vanilla undertone that gives the strawberry flavor its “cream” counterpart.
Grapefruit brightens up everything with its sweet and tangy punch, a perfect complement to velvety avocado and slightly bitter winter salad greens. Avocados are more abundant in Southern California than in the northern part of the state, but some are produced slightly inland from the coast. The Hass variety has a dark, thick, and bumpy skin, and makes up 95 percent of the avocado crop in California.
Cioppino, a great communal dish, demands a loosening of table manners as you toss spent clam and mussel shells, and sop up the juices with crusty bread. This is a perfect example of food and wine rules being mutable. Red wine is the ticket with this rich cioppino, because of the red wine and tomatoes in the stew. A spicy Zinfandel from Paso Robles or Sonoma’s Dry Creek Valley would be just perfect.