Heart and soul food
TV chef Rick Stein has just released his latest cookbook, Simple Suppers, which was inspired by a life-saving operation and a muchappreciated haddock served up in hospital.
Puff pastry topped fish pie
“I love a fish pie, but I do realise that there are a lot of processes involved, although the great thing is that when you come to serving there’s nothing to do except take it out of the oven,” says Rick Stein. “I’ve made this recipe as simple as possible by not having a proper béchamel sauce or mashed potato, as you would for a traditional fish pie.”
Serves 6. Ingredients: 600ml whole milk; 500g whiting, coley or pollock; 300g undyed smoked haddock; 2 egg yolks; 2tbsp cornflour; 85g mature Cheddar cheese, grated; splash of white wine; large handful of parsley, chopped; 150g peeled prawns, fresh or frozen and defrosted; 320g ready-rolled puff pastry; milk or egg yolk, to glaze; salt and black pepper
Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan 180°C. Heat the milk in a wide pan, add the fish and poach for 3-5 minutes.
Take the pan off the heat, then lift the fish out with a slotted spoon, leaving the milk in the pan.
When the fish is cool enough to handle, peel off any skin and gently break the flesh into large chunks. Allow the milk to cool a little.
In a small bowl, mix together the egg yolks and cornflour to form a paste. Gradually whisk in about a ladleful of the poaching milk. Place the pan of milk over a low heat and whisk in the egg yolk mixture, then stir over a medium heat until you have a thickened creamy sauce. Stir in the grated cheese, wine and parsley, then taste and season with salt and pepper. Add the fish, sauce and prawns to an ovenproof dish, about 20 x 30cm in size, and gently combine. Top with the pastry and brush with milk or egg yolk.
Slash the pastry a couple of times to allow steam to escape and bake for 25-30 minutes until the pastry is golden and risen. Serve with peas, broccoli or green leafy vegetables.
Roasted nectarine salad with feta and mint
“Salty cheese, fruit and mint with a bit of honey in there, too, is the sort of salad that makes me long to be back in Sydney,” says Stein.
“I remember a lunch at the house of a fa
mous, now sadly departed, art dealer named Ray Hughes. The table was literally one long line of large platters of salads like this one, with acres of prosciutto, melon, basil everywhere, halloumi, pomegranates, prawns and oysters, all partnered with sensational Chardonnays. It was one of those lunches you never want to end.”
Serves 4 as a side or 2 as a light supper. Ingredients: tbsp olive oil; 2tbsp runny honey; 6 nectarines, stoned and halved; 2 red onions, cut into wedges; 80g pea shoots or lamb’s lettuce; 150g feta, cubed or crumbled; a few mint sprigs, leaves only, roughly torn; 30g almonds, roughly chopped. Vinaigrette: 1tbsp red wine vinegar; 2tsp runny honey; 3tbsp olive oil; salt and black pepper.
Preheat the oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C. Mix the olive oil and honey in a roasting tin, add the nectarines and red onions, then toss to coat. Roast in the oven for about 20 minutes until tender, then leave to cool to room temperature.
Mix the vinaigrette ingredients in a jug and season with salt and pepper. Scatter the pea shoots or lamb’s lettuce over a serving dish and arrange the red onions and nectarines on top. Pour over any roasting juices. Add the feta, scatter over the mint and almonds, then dress with the vinaigrette at the table.
Last-minute cheat’s tiramisu
“Obviously there is nothing that can beat a proper tiramisu, but this is so quick and so lovely and it really does take just minutes to make,” says Stein.
Serves 4. Ingredients: 150ml whipping or double cream; 250g mascarpone, at room temperature; 40g icing sugar, sifted; 50ml Baileys or Marsala; 150ml espresso coffee, cooled; 8-12 sponge fingers or 4 trifle sponges; cocoa powder, for dusting or a chocolate flake, crumbled
Lightly whip the cream in a bowl until it’s only just starting to thicken.
Whisk the mascarpone with the Baileys or Marsala to soften, add the icing sugar, then fold into the cream. Pour the coffee into a separate bowl. Dip the sponges into the coffee and then divide half of them between four glasses or small bowls. Add half the cream mixture, again dividing it between the bowls, then repeat the layers of sponge and cream. Dust generously with cocoa powder or crumbled chocolate.
Refrigerate until ready to serve or serve immediately if making at the last minute.
■ It was actually the hospital food he was served during his stint at the Royal Brompton Hospital, London – the largest specialist heart and lung medical centre in the UK – while undergoing heart surgery that inspired Rick Stein’s latest book.
“That first dish when I arrived in hospital was fantastic,” he said (even including a recipe for it in the book). You think a lot when you’re in the hospital, and I was just thinking how wonderful [the haddock] was and how lovely it would be to write a book which was filled with these sort of similar recipes.
“This is desperately about accepting and understanding that the way we all eat these days is simple and quick.”
All the recipes are intended to be completed in 30 minutes, to an hour maximum, and all fit on a single page.