Wonderful food, a warm welcome and a beautiful location.

Congratulations Kit and Penny – we’ll miss you xx

One of the best things about organising the workshops at Dartmouth Food Festival is getting lots of foodie friends in to teach something. This year we involved Mitch Tonks, Charlotte Pike, Richard Bertinet, Nick Evans, Stuart Pate, Simon Pryce, Louis Cunningham Hughes, Jenny Chandler, Nolly from the Miso Tree and long term friend from Nonsuch House, Kit Noble.

Tonight is Kit and Penny’s last night at lovely Nonsuch House, the fabulous B&B they have run for many years. If it hadn’t been so close we would definitely have booked in but we do get to walk and cook and laugh with you and have treasured your friendship since we arrived in the village; enjoy your well earned retirement.

Here are Kit’s recipes from this year’s workshops if you’d like to try them at home –

 

Indonesian Fish Curry with Mango Salsa (with thanks to a bit of help from Sarah Raven)

Great in curry

Plaice – one of our favourite flat fish

 500g Plaice, Haddock, Cod or Hake

Salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion

2 garlic cloves chopped

¼ tsp chilli powder or small amount of finely chopped green chilli (to taste

½ turmeric

1 bay leaf

2cm piece of fresh ginger peeled and grated

2 tablespoons lime or lemon juice

400ml double cream or 400ml tin of coconut milk

Small bunch of fresh coriander                                                       

 

Salsa

2 ripe mangoes

Juice and finely grated zest of 1 lime

1 small red chilli thinly sliced

1 teaspoon of caster sugar or honey (optional)

First make the salsa.   Run a sharp knife lengthways along both sides of a mango cutting as close as you can to the flat seed in the middle.    Cut through the mango lengthways through to the skin and then cross the other way.        Then push the mango through from the skin to make a ‘porcupine’ and cut the cubes away from the skin.    Add the cubed mango to a bowl, add the lime juice and zest and the chilli and the sugar (if you want it).       Put to the side.

Cut the fish into chunks and lightly salt them.     Heat oil in a pan and gently sweat the onion and garlic for around 10 minutes.     Stir in the spices, bayleaf and ginger.   Add the lime juice, a splash of water and simmer until the onions are soft.

Add the fish and simmer for a further 5 minutes.   Poor in cream (or coconut milk or mixture of the two) and heat it till it bubbles.   Taste for seasoning and snip some fresh coriander over the top before serving with the salsa.

Serve with basmati rice and a minty cucumber salad.

 

QUICK FRIED MACKEREL FILLETS WITH GARLIC AND BAY (with thanks in a little way to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall)

 Fresh Mackerel – 1 per person (or large sardines, herring or small trout)

Olive Oil

A few cloves of garlic, sliced

A few fresh bayleaves, torn roughly

½ lemon

Freshly ground salt and pepper

So fresh

Fresh mackerel – truly unbeatable

Cut the fillets from either side of the mackerel and season with salt and pepper

Put a large frying pan over a medium heat and add of thin film of olive oil.      When the oil is hot, scatter in garlic and bayleaves, then lay the fillets on top over them skin sides down.    Look for a gentle sizzle.    As it cooks the flesh turns from translucent pink to an opaque white    When the fillets are completely white, turn them over for a minute to complete the cooking.    The whole process should not take longer than 5 minutes.

 

Lift the fillets from the pan, leaving the bay and garlic behind as they may look a little burnt.    Give the fillets a squeeze of lemon juice and serve straight away, with salad and either new potatoes or buttered bread.