Salt-Cured Salmon With Aquavit and Dill

Gravlax 1Using salt to draw out the moisture in fish is a technique of preservation that almost every civilisation in human history has employed. The Mesopotamians did it, and passed their techniques on to the ancient Greeks and Romans (who gave us our word cure, from the Latin curare, meaning “to take care of”). First Nations people along both coasts have used salting as their primary mode of preservation along with smoking and sun-drying. It’s the same story with the Portuguese, Irish, Scots and especially the Scandinavians throughout most of their respective histories. Read More

Stir-Fried Pea Shoots

Peashoot4Out in the garden my snap peas have exploded into four feet tall bushes packed with little bundles of yum. The local deer have really taken a liking to them, so I’ve had to fence off that part of the garden again and again as the kraken-like tendrils reach up ever-higher. The delicate, curly little tentacles can be snipped off 2-3 inches from the top of the plant and cooked or even eaten raw. These are sometimes confused with “pea shoots”, of which I also happen to have quite a harvest of. Read More

Grilled Peaches with Prosciutto and Bitter Greens

GPeaches1The next time you are wandering ‘round the supermarket, or the farmer’s market or wherever you get your produce from, take a minute and smell a peach. Get your face in there and breathe deep! It sounds dirty and yeah people are going to give you weird looks, but trust me, you ‘aught to smell a peach now, when they’re at their most luscious. It’s the smell of summer.

Then buy that peach, take it home, and grill it. Read More