Dab a la Meuniere with Calamari Rings

 

Dab with butter sauce and calamari rings

Dab is a flatfish, similar in shape and appearance to the likes of flounder or plaice. Although it is fairly common around the Scottish coasts, it is perhaps not so commonly found in supermarkets or even fishmongers. This is a great shame as it is a very tasty little fish and well worth trying if you do happen to catch one yourself, know a sea fisherman who could help you out or if you are lucky enough to come across it in a retail outlet.

Calamari is a type of squid - or very often, a name used for other types of squid to make them sound more interesting and appetising on restaurant menus! The small ones used in this instance are native to the Pacific Ocean. They can very easily be bought frozen in the UK, mainly from the likes of Asian hypermarkets. It is a very popular bait for sea fishermen as it is lethal for the likes of cod and pollack but it is also a very tasty eat in its own right. It makes sense in the first instance for me to show you how to clean a calamari squid. While not difficult to do, it is not necessarily obvious from the outset how this task should be performed.

NB - While frozen calamari can very often be found in fishing tackle shops, it is intended in these instances to be used only for bait and should never be considered suitable for human consumption.

How to Clean a Calamari Squid

Frozen calamari squid

It is important in the first instance to let the calamari fully defrost. This can be done in the fridge overnight or you can simply sit them in a covered dish at room temperature for a few hours.

How you intend cooking the calamari and perhaps, most specifically, which parts of the calamari you intend cooking, may cause you to vary this process slightly but the principal is largely the same in all instances.

Hold the main body of the squid (technically known as the mantle) in your weaker hand and the head/tentacles in your stronger hand. Pinch gently between the head and body with the thumb and forefinger of your stronger hand and gently twist/pull the innards out of the squid, still attached to the head part. Set aside for the moment.

Cleaned calamari body and tentacles

There is a plastic-like spine commonly referred to as a, "Feather," contained within the body of the squid. You should easily be able to feel it. The easiest way to remove it is to pinch it at the neck end of the body and gently but firmly pull it free. This is totally inedible and should be discarded.

Gently twist the wing at either side of the mantle end and peel free. These are perfectly edible. The removal of the wings should also make it easier to carefully peel/rub away the skin/membrane from the main body. This should always be done. Pinch the pointed/tail end of the squid and gently squeeze out any remaining intestines. Wash the body carefully in a bowl of cold water.

Cleaned calamari mantles

Lay the tentacles and body part of the calamari on a chopping board. Cut just above the eyes, nearest the head, to free the tentacles, trying not to pierce the eyes. Discard the innards part. Gently pull off and discard the two longer white tentacles. You will be able to feel a hard beak at the mouth of the calamari. This has to be removed and discarded. Simply squeeze gently behind it and pop it free. I will include a recipe incorporating calamari tentacles on this page at a later date.

And now, on to the main recipe of the day, the Dab a la Meuniere with Calamari Rings!

Ingredients

• 1 whole dab, guts and fins removed
• Flour for dusting dab
• 2 small calamari mantles, cut across the way in to rings
• 2 ounces (50g/0.5 stick) unsalted butter
• Juice of half a lemon
• 2 teaspoons freshly chopped French (curly leaf) parsley
• Salt and pepper

Starting to fry dab in butter

Gently melt half the butter in a small, non-stick frying pan. Scatter some flour on a plate, season with salt and pepper and pat the dab in it on both sides before laying carefully into the pan of melted butter. Fry gently for about 4 minutes each side before lifting to a heated plate and covering with foil to help keep it warm.

Calamari rings are fried in butter

Give the pan a careful, cursory wipe with a wad of kitchen paper (no need to wash it!) and add the remaining butter. When the butter is melted, add the lemon juice and the calamari rings. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring the rings around the pan gently as they cook with a wooden spoon. Stir in the parsley at the very last minute.

Lift the dab to your serving plate and spoon over the calamari rings and butter sauce to serve.

Spicy Scottish Langoustine Tails BLT

BLT with spicy Scottish langoustine tails

Langoustines are a truly delicious form of prawn found in abundance in the cold, clear waters of the West of Scotland. Tragically, almost all of the langoustines harvested by Scottish fishermen are taken away in trucks for export to countries such as France and particularly Spain. I've never been able to understand why they are not more popular in Scotland and the UK as a whole and know that extensive efforts have been made in this respect by many in the food and fishing industries. Have you tried langoustines? Why not give this simple adaptation of the popular BLT a try and see what you think?

Cook Time

Prep time: 5 min

Cook time: 5 min

Ready in: 10 min

Yields: 1 serving

Ingredients

• 2 thick back bacon rashers (smoked or unsmoked, depending upon preference)
• Vegetable oil
• 1 soft bread roll
• 2 large lettuce leaves
• 3 slices from middle of medium to large tomato
• Salt and pepper
• 3 or 4 medium langoustine tails, removed from shell
• Little bit of butter
• Pinch of hot chilli powder

Method

Start the bacon frying in a little vegetable oil in a small frying pan over a medium to high heat. Alternatively, you may wish to grill (broil) the bacon.

Lettuce and tomato are laid on base of roll

Cut the bread roll open and lay the washed and shaken dry, roughly torn lettuce leaves on the bottom half, followed by the tomato slices. Season with a little salt and pepper.

Make a careful slit along the back of each langoustine tail with a very sharp, small knife and use the point of the knife to remove the black vein from each tail. You should be able to see these veins through the translucent flesh of the langoustine and know by this where to make your cut and how deep. These are actually the intestines of the shellfish and should not be eaten. Discard the veins.

Flash frying langoustine tails

Add a little vegetable oil and a little butter to a small frying pan and bring it up to a fairly high heat. Add the prawns to the hot oil/butter, season with a little salt and pepper and the chilli powder and stir fry for about two minutes until just cooked. They are done when they turn fully opaque and they have firmed up. Do not overcook or they will go rubbery and be unpleasant to eat!

Langoustine tails BLT

Carefully shake the excess fat and oil from the cooked bacon rashers before arranging on the lettuce and tomato bed. Add the langoustines on top and close the roll over to serve.

Smoked Rainbow Trout Summer Salad

 

Quick and easy hot smoked rainbow trout salad

Smoked trout is sensational served in any number of tasty ways but one of the more simpler ways of serving it, in a fairly basic salad, is often overlooked. This is the second serving suggestion I am offering for the large smoked rainbow trout fillet I used the first part of in yesterday's recipe. I have included an accompaniment suggestion of hot horseradish sauce spread toast, which is of course entirely optional. The recipe couldn't really be much simpler and the only cooking involved is the making of the toast.

Cook Time

Prep time: 10 min

Cook time: 5 min

Ready in: 15 min

Yields: 1 serving

Hot smoked rainbow trout

Ingredients

• Handful of fresh lettuce leaves, washed, shaken dry and roughly shredded
• 1 medium tomato, cut into 6 wedges
• 2 inch/5cm piece of cucumber, halved lengthways and sliced into crescents
• 6 pitted black olives, halved down through centre
• Salt and black pepper
• Suitably sized piece of hot smoked rainbow trout (see image above, leftover from previous recipe on blog)
• 1 outside slice bread
• Butter (optional)
• 1 teaspoon hot horseradish sauce
• Dried dill to garnish

Prepared salad bed for smoked trout

Method

Put the lettuce, tomato, cucumber and olives into a suitable dish or bowl, season with salt and pepper and carefully toss with your hands to combine. Arrange in the bottom of a deep serving plate.

Peel the skin from the smoked trout and discard. Carefully break the fillet or part fillet with your hands into chunks slightly smaller than bite size and poke them gently into the salad at regular intervals.

Smoked trout salad is served with horseradish toast

Toast the outside slice of bread until golden on both sides. If desired, spread with a little butter. Spoon the horseradish sauce on to the hot toast and spread it out evenly. Cut the toast twice, from corner to opposite corner, to form four small triangles. Arrange these pieces of toast around the edge of the plate, garnish with a little dried dill and serve.

Hot Smoked Rainbow Trout Salad

Hot smoked trout fillet with salad and boiled potatoes

Smoked trout, just like smoked salmon, can be fairly widely obtained in Scotland, particularly at farmers' markets or in farm shops. It is not quite so readily available in traditional supermarkets as the perhaps more illustrious salmon. One thing I have found, though, when buying hot smoked trout or salmon in Scotland, is that more often than not, it seems to be over-smoked. This could be that it is cooked at too high a temperature or cooked for too long - or perhaps both! That is why the smoked trout used in this recipe is home smoked and the difference in a great many instances truly is night and day.

Home, hot smoked rainbow trout fillets

I am of course aware that home smoking is not an option for a great many people for any number of potential reasons. It may be however that you have a small, artisan producer in your local area where you can obtain smoked trout at a more reasonable price than is often charged by the larger commercial producers.

Cook Time (Not Including Smoking of Trout)

Prep time: 10 min

Cook time: 20 min

Ready in: 30 min

Yields: 1 serving

Ingredients

• Baby new potatoes as required
• Salt
• 1 duck egg (7 to 10 days old - fresher eggs of any type don't hard boil well)
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large garlic clove
• Generous pinch dried basil
• Black pepper
• Handful mixed type lettuce leaves, roughly shredded
• 1 medium tomato, chopped into segments
• 2 inch/5cm piece of cucumber, halved lengthways and sliced into crescents
• 6 pitted black olives, halved down through the cavity where the pip was contained
• Portion of hot smoked trout as required
• Little bit of butter
• Dried dill
• 2 teaspoons horseradish sauce

Method

Put the potatoes into a pot of cold, salted water and put the pot on to a high heat until the water starts to simmer. Reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer for 20 minutes.

Put the duck egg into a small saucepan and add enough cold water to ensure it is comfortably covered. Put the saucepan on to a high heat to achieve a moderate simmer for 6 minutes. Lift the saucepan to your sink and run cold water into it for a couple of minutes. Leave the duck egg in the water to cool rapidly and until the potatoes are almost ready. This prevents that harmless but very unattractive blue/grey discolouration forming around the edges of the yolk when the egg is peeled and cooled.

Preparing simple oil based salad dressing

Pour the olive oil into a large glass or stone mixing bowl. Peel the garlic clove and grate it into the bowl. Season with salt, black pepper and the dried basil before stirring very well to ensure everything is combined.

Salad is added to bowl containing oil based dressing

Put the lettuce, tomato, cucumber and black olives into the bowl with the dressing and use a wooden spoon to carefully stir fold them around in the oil.

Crack the shell of the duck egg on a hard surface and carefully peel away. Ensure you get under the membrane just inside the shell for easy peeling. Cut it in half down through the centre.

Butter and dill are added to the drained potatoes

Drain the potatoes at your sink through a colander and return them to the empty pot. Add a little butter and dried dill and gently swirl the pot to ensure even coating.

Hot smoked trout fillet is cut in half

The smoked trout fillet I had when preparing this recipe was far too large for one serving. I therefore cut it in half, peeled away the skin and laid the chosen portion on one corner of a square serving plate. I will feature the other half of this fillet in the next post on this blog in the coming days. The two duck egg halves went either side of the trout, garnished with a little dried dill, along with a teaspoon of horseradish sauce in each instance.

The potatoes were then plated opposite the trout before the salad was arranged either side for service.

Trout with Scrambled Duck Eggs on Toast

 

Rainbow trout with scrambled duck eggs on toast

This is the second trout recipe featuring the fish I filleted a couple of days ago. In this instance, I have pan fried the fillet the same way as before but this time, I have served it accompanied by scrambled duck eggs on toasted wheat, spelt and rye bread. I have also used the last of the lumpfish caviar featured in the previous recipe.

Cook Time

Prep time: 10 min

Cook time: 10 min

Ready in: 20 min

Yields: 1 serving

Ingredients

• 3 baby plum tomatoes
• Horseradish sauce
• Lumpfish caviar
• 1 rainbow trout fillet, skin on
• Salt and pepper
• Vegetable oil for frying
• Thick slice of wheat, spelt and rye bread (or similar)
• 2 duck eggs
• Teaspoon or so of butter
• Dried dill to garnish (optional)

 

Caviar and horseradish sauce stuffed plum tomato halves

Method

Begin by preparing your side garnish of stuffed baby plum tomatoes as you will have little time to do so once you start cooking. Cut the plum tomatoes in half down through the core with a thin bladed knife. Use the point of the knife to carefully scoop the seeds out of the tomato halves and discard.

A teaspoon can be used to carefully spoon some horseradish sauce into 3 of the tomato halves but do not use a metal spoon for the caviar. A mother of pearl or even a plastic spoon should be used to spoon the caviar into the other 3 tomato halves as metal quickly oxidises caviar and spoils the taste and flavour. If necessary, scooping it from the jar and into the tomato shell with a finger is an option.

Frying trout fillet on skin side

Pour a little vegetable oil into a large frying pan and bring it up to a high heat. Season the trout fillet on both sides with salt and pepper and carefully lay it skin side down in the hot pan. Keep the heat high and fry until you can see the trout fillet is cooked almost all the way through. At that stage, turn the heat down under the pan to minimum and carefully turn the trout to complete cooking on its skin side for 1 minute only.

Slice of wheat, spelt and rye bread

When the trout is on to fry, get the slice of wheat, spelt and rye bread on to toast until golden on both sides.

Duck eggs ready for scrambling

Break the duck eggs into a small saucepan and add the butter only. Do not season at this stage as salt can cause the eggs to break down and not scramble properly. Put the pot on to a medium heat and stir with a wooden spoon to start scrambling the eggs. Stir most of the time as the eggs start to scramble and lift the pot away from the heat for a few seconds on a regular basis to stop over heating.

Trout fillet is plated with toasted bread and stuffed tomato halves

Plate the trout fillet, skin side up, diagonally on a square serving plate. Lay the toast to one side and arrange the little stuffed tomato halves to the other side.

Duck eggs are starting to scramble

When the eggs start to scramble, it will happen very quickly. Keep stirring gently and be sure not to overcook. You want the combination smooth and creamy. Season with salt and pepper only at the very last minute before spooning onto the toast.

Dried dill garnishes trout and scrambled duck eggs on toast

The skin should easily peel free from the trout and in one whole piece. If desired, garnish the dish with a little dried dill to serve.

Trout with Quail Eggs and Caviar Salad

 

Pan fried trout fillet on dressed salad with devilled quail eggs and caviar

This recipe was prepared using a rainbow trout fillet, a fish native only to North America, while native Scottish trout are of course brown trout. However, these fish have long since been exported around the world, including very much to Scotland, where they are regularly found in fish farms, reservoirs and other private lochs. A great many people will not in fact know that rainbows are not native to Scotland. 

I have shallow fried this fillet in hot oil before serving it on a bed of dressed salad, accompanied by horseradish devilled quail eggs and lumpfish caviar. This form of caviar is very budget friendly and can easily be obtained in modern times in most good supermarkets. This little jar cost £3 for 50g and would produce about six servings of this size.

Gutted rainbow trout with head and tail removed

There are any number of ways to fillet a trout and those who do it regularly will have their own preferred technique. In this instance, I began by gutting the fish and removing the head and tail.

Fillets removed from rainbow trout

The two side fillets can then quickly and easily be removed and are ready for cooking. The first fillet I used for the recipe which now follows and the second fillet, I placed into a suitable dish and the fridge and will use it in the next recipe to be featured on this blog.

Cook Time

Prep time: 15 min

Cook time: 10 min

Ready in: 25 min

Yields: 1 serving

Ingredients

• 3 quail eggs (about a week old)
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large garlic clove
• Generous pinch dried basil
• Salt and pepper
• Handful mixed type lettuce leaves, roughly shredded
• 3 baby plum tomatoes, halved down through the core
• 1 inch/2.5cm piece of cucumber, halved lengthways then sliced into crescents
• 6 pitted black olives, halved down through cavity
• 1/2 teaspoon horseradish sauce
• Little amount lumpfish caviar, as required
• 1 rainbow trout fillet
• Vegetable oil for frying
• Dried dill to garnish

Method

Put the quail eggs into a small saucepan with enough cold water to ensure they are comfortably covered. Put the saucepan on to a high heat until the water just starts to boil. Reduce the heat to achieve a moderate simmer for 1.5 minutes. Take the saucepan to your sink and run cold water into it for a minute or so. Leave the eggs for a few minutes to cool in the water while you prepare the salad.

Combining salad ingredients in dressing

Pour the extra virgin olive oil into a large glass or stone bowl. Peel the garlic clove and grate it into the bowl. Alternatively, it can be peeled and crushed before being added. Season with salt, pepper and the dried basil and stir well with a wooden spoon before adding the lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and black olives. Carefully stir fold to fully combine the ingredients and ensure the salad is fully and evenly coated in the oil.

Hard boiled, peeled and halved quail eggs

It is when you come to peel the quail eggs that their being at least a week old becomes essential. If you have boiled eggs that are too fresh, the albumens will still have been too acidic and the inner membrane will stick to the egg white, leading to likely disaster. It is important to carefully crack the shell all around on a hard surface and start peeling at the broad end of the egg, ensuring you get under the membrane as well as the shell. Take your time and ensure not to damage the incredibly delicate eggs. Gently rinse in cold water when peeled to ensure you remove all the little parts of shell and pat dry with kitchen paper.

A thin bladed, exceptionally sharp knife should be used to halve the eggs, down through the yolk. I find a fish filleting knife is ideal for this purpose. The point of this knife can then be used to gently pop the yolks from the albumen casings.

Caviar and horseradish yolks are added to quail egg white casings

Put the quail egg yolks into a small bowl with the horseradish sauce and mash together with the back of a fork. Carefully spoon a third of this mixture into each of 3 of the half quail egg albumen casings. The caviar should be spooned into the remaining egg casings - but do not use a metal spoon! Metal will cause the caviar to quickly oxidise and spoil the flavour and texture. A traditional caviar spoon is made of mother-of-pearl but if you don't have one of those, a small plastic spoon will do the job. 

Trout fillet is added to hot frying pan

Pour some vegetable oil into a large, non-stick frying pan and bring it up to a high heat. Season the trout fillet with salt and pepper on both sides before carefully laying it into the hot pan on the skin side. Fry on the high heat for around 3 minutes until you can see the trout is cooked almost all the way through. Turn the heat under the pan down to minimum and carefully turn the fillet with a fish slice to allow it to complete cooking on the flesh side for 1 minute only.

Salad bed is prepared on plate for trout fillet

While the trout fillet is frying, spoon the salad on to a square serving plate, arranging it in a diagonal channel from one corner to the opposite corner. You want it to be slightly wider than the trout fillet.

Skin should peel easily from fried trout fillet

Lift the trout fillet carefully on to the salad bed, presented skin side up. Garnish the devilled quail eggs with a little dried dill and arrange the egg types alternately on either side of the fish on its salad bed. The crisped skin should easily peel free from the fillet and, if desired, the trout flesh can also be garnished with more dried dill.

Mackerel Fillet with Red Grapefruit Salad

 

Pan fried mackerel fillet with red grapefruit and toasted pine nuts salad

I started this long term project just a few days ago with a look at and recipe for deep fried haddock, the most popular fish sold in Scottish fish and chip shops. Today, I want to look at a very simple but delicious recipe for what is undoubtedly my favourite type of fish and seafood caught in Scotland: Atlantic mackerel. Pleasure sea anglers in particular have a tendency to criticise mackerel as an eating fish, preferring to catch or buy it for use only as bait for supposedly bigger and better things. I have never understood this attitude and while yes, I do use mackerel on occasion as bait when I'm sea fishing, I always reserve a few at least for the pot or the smoker.

This is an incredibly simple recipe that sees the beautifully acidic red grapefruit salad paired with the oily mackerel to complement one another to perfection.

Cook Time

Prep time: 10 min

Cook time: 5 min

Ready in: 15 min

Yields: 1 serving

Ingredients

• Generous handful of spinach, rocket and red and ruby chard salad (or mixed salad leaves of choice)
• 3 or 4 red grapefruit segments, peeled, skinned and roughly chopped
• 1 teaspoon whole pin nuts
• Vegetable oil for frying
• 1 fresh mackerel fillet, skin on
• 1 tablespoon flour
• Salt and black pepper
• 2 or 3 basil leaves, rolled and shredded, to garnish

Method

Red grapefruit is peeled and separated into segments

Wash the salad leaves and shake them dry. Carefully toss them with the red grapefruit pieces and a little salt before arranging in the base of a deep serving plate.

Red grapefruit and pine nuts salad

Put the pine nuts into a clean, dry frying pan and the pan on to a very high heat. Cook for about 2 minutes, shaking the pan carefully every 20 to 30 seconds to move the nuts around. Pour from the pan to a small plate to cool for a couple of minutes before scattering over the salad.

Mackerel fillet is patted in seasoned flour

Pour a couple of tablespoons of oil into the pan used to toast the pine nuts and put it on to reach a fairly high heat. Scatter the flour on a suitable plate and season with salt and pepper. Pat the mackerel fillet on its skin side only in the flour to evenly coat.

Mackerel is laid in to frying pan and hot oil

When the oil is heated, lay the mackerel fillet carefully in the pan on its skin side. Keep the heat fairly high and cook for 2 to 3 minutes until you can see the fillet is cooked almost all of the way through. Turn the heat under the pan down to low and carefully turn the fillet to finish cooking on its flesh side for 1 minute.

Mackerel is laid on red grapefruit salad bed

Lift the mackerel fillet on to the salad, skin side up. Scatter with the shredded basil leaves to garnish and serve.