Lessons in learning to like fish. Part 1.

Much to my mother’s eternal frustration, I’m not big on fish.

I don’t really know why.

Maybe it’s because I didn’t grow up in a small gourmet town by the Irish Sea.

Oh, wait.

Maybe it’s because I have parents who aren’t really into food.

Oh, wait.

Maybe it’s just the one food I really don’t like very much.

I’m sorry.

It’s the only real explanation there is.

And believe me when I say how deeply ashamed I am of this.

So deeply ashamed, I’m trying to figure out a way of teaching myself to like it. I mean the fishy options in restaurants really do usually sound the absolute best and most interesting.

I WILL do this.

While on my voyage of fishy discovery, I have decided mussels are good. Actually, scrap that, I initially decided that the creamy, garlicky sauce mussels often come in is good, but I had to start somewhere, right?

And now I genuinely do like to fishy goodness within.

Bizarrely, I also think there is something quite sexy about the actual eating of mussels. All that sucking and licking of fingers. Makes me come over a bit peculiar.

And obviously the fact his fish-hating wife is cooking something from the sea does all sorts of things to Mr. P.

Everybody is a winner.

Such a winner was I on the last night I cooked these, I didn’t have time to take pictures for it all. Or I forgot. Or something. And those that I DID take must have had the ISO set to approximately one million.

Oops.

Take your ingredients: wine, cream, mussels, onion, garlic, celery, salt and pepper.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan.

Add the finely chopped onion…

Celery…

And garlic.

While that gently cooks, prepare the mussels.

Remove any mussels with open or damaged shells, pull off any bits attached to the outside, and wash well.

Add the carton of cream to the onion, garlic, and celery mix, and measure out the same amount in white wine.

Add this to the mix, too.

Add the mussels and put a lid on the saucepan.

Shake the pan well, and look to check. When all the mussels have opened, the dish is ready to serve.

This doesn’t take very long at all, by the way.

Just saying!

Taste the sauce for seasoning, and add salt and pepper accordingly.

I am the voice of experience here: season before the mussels are ready, and you will be in SALT CITY.

Which isn’t so pleasant.

Serve, with a chunk of bread and the rest of the wine.

Remember not to eat any mussels where the shells haven’t opened.

Enjoy!

Mussels with cream sauce
Serves 2. Cooking time 15 minutes.

1 onion
1 stick celery
2 cloves garlic
50g butter
150ml cream
150ml white wine
1kg mussels
Salt and pepper

1. Melt the butter over a low heat.
2. As it melts, finely chop the celery, onion and garlic.
3. Add these to the butter and cook, stirring often.
4. Prepare the mussels, discarding any with damaged or open shells, removing the beads and washing well.
5. Add the cream and the wine to the celery mix, and then the mussels.
6. Place a lid on the pan, and continue to cook over the heat for up to 5 minutes, shaking the pan.
7. When all the mussels have opened, check for seasoning and serve.

Its the Oirish in me…

To be honest, dear readers, I’m a little nervous about this one.

You see, Irish Stew is one of those things where everybody has a particular favourite method. Some favour beef over lamb, some like minced meat, others like chunks. And don’t even start me on the consistency debate.

This is how I like to do my Irish Stew, all the vegetable cooked until tender but still in chunks, pieces of lamb and a delicately spiced stock.

I start by making my stock. Warning, the following images may upset vegetarians, because I start by getting myself a hulking lamb shank.

After I have marvelled at its pink meaty-ness, I separate the bone from the meat, removing any gristle from the meat and chopping it into small chunks.

You can, of course, ask the butcher to do this for you, but where is the fun in that?

Set the chunks of meat aside, and put the bone in a large saucepan.

Its time to add some flavour to the stock, with these vegetables…

Celery, carrot and a leek or onion. I tend to get a lot of leeks in the old veg box at this time of year, so that what I used this time.

These get chopped into large pieces and added to the stock pot with lots of water and some spices; bay leaves, peppercorns and cinnamon.

Bring this pot to the boil..

The turn the heat down, cover, and simmer for as long as humanly possible. I usually aim for a couple of hours.

Now, we are going to prepare the meat. We need plain flour, salt, and freshly ground pepper…

Toss the meaty chunks in the seasoned flour…

And then fry the whole lot in some oil until browned.

Then its time to prepare the vegetables (although I usually do this while the stock is bubbling. Queen of multitasking, me.)

Peel and chop the potatoes into large chunks…

And do something similar with the carrots…

Peel and slice the onion into slices the thickness of a pound coin…

And add these to the meat.

Then, you drain the stock into this pan too. The leftovers look pretty, don’t they?

I add some Worcester sauce, then cover the pan and put into a hottish oven for at least two hours. You are more than welcome to reduce the lovely liquid down a bit on the hob afterwards if you like it a bit more ‘solid’.

Irish Stew
Serves 4. Cooking time 4 hours 30 minutes (although very little of this actually spent ‘cooking’)

1 lamb shank
2 celery sticks
1 leek
3 large carrots
2 bay leaves
1 large stick cinnamon
6 peppercorns
1l Water
600g potatoes
1 onion
2 tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp salt
Few grinds from the pepper mill
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp Worcester sauce

1. Prepare the lamb. Separate the meat from the bone and cut the meat into medium-sized chunks, getting rid of gristle and other nasties as you go. Set these to one side.
2. Slice one of the carrots, both celery sticks and the leek into three or four large pieces.
3. Place the shank bone and the prepared veg into a large saucepan. Add the peppercorns, bay leaves and cinnamon stick.
4. Cover with the water, bring to the boil, then cover, turn the heat down and simmer for as long as you can (at least 2 hours).
5. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees.
6. Place the flour, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix to combine. Toss the meat chunks in this seasoned flour.
7. Heat the oil in the bottom of a large, oven-proof saucepan and brown the floured meat. You may need to do this in batches.
8. Peel and chop the remaining carrots, the potatoes and the onion.
9. Add these to the meat with the drained stock and Worcester sauce.
10. Bring to the boil, cover, then put into the hot oven.
11. Cook for at least two hours.
12. If you like the sauce a little thicket, simply reduce on the hob for a few minutes, until it is the required consistency.
13. Serve.