Sweetcorn and Cornish Sea Salt Co

Its hard to beat a freshly picked corn on the cob which is cooked immediately and eaten hot with butter, salt and pepper. This one which I devoured yesterday was pretty nearly perfect and made even more delicious with some very special seasoning from https://www.cornishseasalt.co.uk more on the combination I used shortly

This year my harvest of sweetcorn has been prolific and ready very early. I have a plentiful supply of good sized cobs which have clearly been guarded well by my friendly and very well dressed scarecrow.

The freshness of the sweetcorn was an obvious plus but what really complimented was the luscious fennel and chilli butter. I seasoned softened butter with Cornish Salt Co Chilli Sea Salt and Original Sea Pepper ( a versatile combination of seaweeds and peppercorns) then added some finely chopped fennel fronds and a tiny amount of fresh chilli.

To complete the burst of flavour I sprinkled "smokin" sea salt over the whole dish. Flavoured with oak, apple and cherrywood this salt smells and tastes amazing. It is very versatile so is rapidly becoming my current favourite ingredient.

Lyme Regis Food Rocks Festival

Five years ago chef Mark Hix began the Food Rocks Festival as a celebration of Dorset's food and drink producers and suppliers http://www.hixrestaurants.co.uk/restaurant/food-rocks/ There is no entry fee and money raised from cooking demonstrations and tastings goes to local and coastal related charities. The location is along the bustling Lyme Regis seafront and events include tastings, food demonstrations, masterclasses, pop up restaurants and plenty of shopping opportunities.

Having visited this event before I was delighted to see it recently promoted by Olive Magazine in their list of best "Food Festivals and Foodie Events  in August 2017" which you can read here olive magazine food rocks I was even more pleased to discover that it is on this weekend 19th & 20th August.

So perhaps predictably I have just spent a very enjoyable afternoon in Lyme Regis sampling in the sunshine and watching demonstrations on the main stage.

Top forager and author Miles Irving together with Mark Hix served up a feast of dishes based on seaweed which looked delicious. For a taste I should have been quicker to put my hand up.

Next on was Clover Hutson chef demonstrator from Artisan Cooks http://artisancooks.co.uk 

I was at the front of the queue for both the mussels cooked in cider and Thai inspired fish stew packed full of flavour with salmon, cod, prawns and crab. Recipes can be found on her web site.

A whole range of renown Chefs support this event donating generous raffle prizes for some lucky winners.

Finally its really not possible to come away without a few purchases for my own cooking particularly given the enthusiasm of these producers for their unique products.

These include extra virgin olive oil and saffron from Belazu and a section of flavoured sea salts and peppers from Cornwall.

I was very tempted with the fresh wasabi root or even a plant from  https://www.thewasabicompany.co.uk as you can see they have a fascinating array of unique products and I am trying the English wasabi powder first.

If you are in the South West there is still a chance to visit Food Rocks for day two tomorrow. If not keep an eye out for this time next year.

Creamy Fish Soup

Ann's Food Diary has been quiet for a while, instead I have been resorting to shorter pieces on my food diary face book page. Tonight however a number of ideas and links to previous blogs came together to develop this quick and relatively easy recipe for a simple tasty and creamy fish soup.

I hope you will agree that this soup which only took 15 minutes to prepare and cook looks truly luxurious and as you will see can largely be made from things that you will have in the fridge, freezer and store cupboard.

First of all here are the ingredients and while I was constructing the dish I realised there were plenty of alternatives I can suggest.

Olive oil, onion, garlic, fennel (could substitute dill or even a splash of Pernod if you have some lurking at the back of the cupboard) parsley, pimenton (other options are paprika or chilli) tomato puree (fresh chopped tomato or even tomato ketchup would work) fish stock (chicken is an alternative) saffron (not essential) brandy (wine instead) left over sour cream (cream or milk would be fine) fish I used frozen fresh salmon and a few frozen scallops (prawns, mixed seafood or frozen white fish are good options)

This may sound odd but I also had some left over cauliflower soup to add. This was made in my soup maker which you can read more about here http://annsfooddiary.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/more-soup.html

It comprises onion, raw cauliflower, stock, dijon mustard and milk. It tastes like chicken soup and cauliflower is also one of the the main ingredients of Pret's very tasty (low calorie) mock chicken soup https://www.pret.co.uk/en-gb/1520-soups-%22no-cream%22-cream-of-chicken-soup.aspx

Clearly readers won't have this soup around, you could just add some milk but the fish soup might be a bit thin so I suggest either adding some plain flour at the frying onion stage, or some cornflour mixed with water at the very end. These handy thickening granules are also an option.

Method

Finely dice the onion and fry gently in 1 tbs olive oil
Add 1 clove of crushed garlic and finely chopped fennel (if using)
Add pimenton (or paprika/chilli) and mix well if thickening with flour add it now and cook for 1 minute
Add vegetable or tomato puree, fish or chicken stock "pod" a splash or two of milk (& in my case the left over soup) slosh in some brandy or wine, the saffron and simmer gently for 5 minutes
Cut the fish into bite sized portions and add to the soup bring to a gentle simmer and cook for two minutes
Add the cream or extra milk, season to taste stir gently and heat through for a minute
Serve with chopped parsley (if you have it)

My salmon and scallops were in the freezer they came from one of my favourite shops in Rye. I have written about them a few times before and guess what they have just launched their fabulous new web site https://ryebayfish.com