Tuesday 4 August 2009

A Succession of Treats

I so adore my newly-discovered farmers market in Penge, of all places. I know, I know, but when you come from Islington's Market, down south it's all a little more effort for less reward. But no longer - there is Penge and there am I, so happy days.

Anyway, very unsustainable and unethical, I'm sure, but I have a particular love of monkfish cheeks at the moment. I ended up buying 6 for a few quid, a pot of cockles and some smoked mackerel from the fish stall. Qu'est-ce qu'on fait..?

We-ell, Saturday lunchtime was bacon fried until golden and a little garlic, then I tossed in the (washed - they can be a tad sandy) cockles, a slurp of white wine, the cockle liquor, reduced the liquid and added cream (single because it was there) and served the whole lot up on toast with parsley, a squeeze of lemon and lots of black pepper.

Sunday we had ourselves a Southern feast of ribs from the Giggly Pig and chicken wings, which I rubbed with paprika, cumin, seasoning and brown sugar, before roasting for 40 minutes or so, intermittently basting with a mixture of ketchup, lime juice, worcestershire sauce, maple syrup and chilli flakes. Sweet, sticky and entirely more-ish - chicken wings are a fabulous cheaper treat, easy to cook and easy to adapt to any taste you fancy.

The monkfish cheeks are great on their own, but last night I fried some up with raw prawns (is there no end to my shellfish selfishness?), garlic, chilli, white wine and tomatoes and parsley and tossed the whole lot with tagliatelle and ate outside in the miracle that was yesterday evening's sunshine.

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