Jane Grigson's Fish Book - Jane Grigson [55]
What heroine of the hearth I wonder first discovered the joy of eating akee, the right part in precisely the right condition to be eaten? Did she conduct controlled experiments with the tribe? Did she thoughtfully consider a succession of gastronomic deaths and reach – at last – the right conclusion? It is perhaps a relief to open a tin, rather than trust the judgement of a market seller.
The dish can of course be made without akee, but it neither looks nor tastes quite so good. It has occurred to me to use girolles instead, for their colour and consistency, but I have never had both girolles and salt cod in the house together. Scrambled egg is not a bad substitute at all visually, and it tastes fine if not exactly right.
Serves 6–8
500 g (1 lb) salt cod, soaked and simmered
500 g (1 lb) akee (contents of a large tin)
125 g (4 oz) salt pork, diced
lard or bacon fat (see recipe)
175 g (6 oz) chopped onion
1 green sweet pepper, seeded, cut in strips
1 teaspoon green chilli, seeded, chopped
4 spring onions or Welsh onions or very young leeks, chopped
good pinch of thyme
375 g (12 oz) tomatoes, skinned, seeded, chopped
6–8 streaky bacon rashers, fried crisp
1 tomato cut in 8 wedges
parsley or watercress to garnish
Drain, cool and flake the cod, discarding any bones and skin. If you are using fresh akee, put it into boiling water and simmer until tender: salt it cautiously (in view of the saltiness of the fish). Otherwise drain the tinned akee. Mix with the fish.
In a large sauté pan, fry the pork in its own fat, adding a little lard or bacon fat if necessary. When the dice are brown, scoop them with a slotted spoon into the bowl of akee and cod. In the fat remaining, fry the onion, pepper, chilli, spring onions or leeks, thyme and tomatoes, adding each item as the one before it wilts and softens. Cook to an unwatery sauce. Put in the akee, cod and pork to heat through. Check the seasoning.
Turn it on to a hot dish, scatter with crumbled or chopped crisp bacon, the tomato wedges and parsley or watercress, and serve.
ZURRUKUTUNA
A soup that can be turned into a meal by the addition of poached eggs. If you are lucky enough to have a supply of those dried Spanish peppers called ñoras, this is an occasion to use them. The first substitute would be other dried mild peppers (e.g. anchos), then grilled, seeded and skinned red peppers. The last resort would be canned peppers, or bottled peppers. This is a particularly useful store cupboard dish for winter meals.
Serves 4
250 g (8 oz) salt cod, soaked, cooked or 175 g (6 oz) dried salt cod, soaked, cooked
2 ñoras, soaked or 2 fresh red peppers, quartered, seeded, grilled
olive oil
4 large cloves garlic, halved
4 slices stale bread, crusts removed
4 tablespoons finely chopped onion
black pepper
4 poached eggs (optional)
cayenne pepper
Bone and flake the cod. Remove the skin if you like. Scrape the fleshy part from the ñoras, discarding the skin; or skin and purée the fresh peppers.
Heat enough oil in an earthenware pot on top of the stove (use a heat-diffuser if necessary) to cover the base comfortably and fry the garlic to a light brown. Remove, crush and add to the peppers. In the oil, fry the bread until it, too, is nicely browned on both sides.
Pour off any surplus oil, add the onion with the peppers and garlic to the pot, season with black pepper and pour on 1 litre (1¾ pt) water. Simmer for 15 minutes, crushing the bread down so that it disintegrates into the water. Add the cod and simmer for a further 15 minutes. Add extra water at this stage, if the soup is too thick, and adjust the seasoning.
Have ready four very hot bowls, pour in the soup and slip a poached egg into each one, if you like. Dust the soup lightly with cayenne pepper. Serve immediately.
COLEY see COD
CONGER EEL see A FEW WORDS ABOUT… CONGER EEL
CRABS
Before the war, I remember that one of the few attractive things about our