In the Bag: Cooking the Month of May!

I’m delighted to announce that I’ve teamed up with Cherry from Cherry's English Kitchen and Scott at Real Epicurean for a regular blogging event based around seasonal produce. Each month we will select three seasonal products and put them in a bag for you to create your own dish with. We will be hosting the event in rotation and I’ll be hosting the first one, which will be held in May.

The May bag contains:

Asparagus
Eagerly awaited by foodies all over the country, asparagus is surely the cream of the crop of spring vegetables. English asparagus is considered to be among the best in the world so we are very fortunate to have such easy access to it. The Asparagus season runs from May to June.

Sea Trout
This pink-fleshed fish is full of flavour and in season from March to July.

Spring Onions
These are delicate young onions with a mild flavour. They are perfect raw in salads and are in season from May until September.

Entry Details

Send an email with ‘In the Bag in the subject line to asliceofcherrypie@yahoo.co.uk by Saturday 26th May with the following information:

• your name
• the name of your blog
• a link to your post
• the name of your dish
• a picture of your dish

I’ll post a round up of all entries by Thursday 31st May.

Rules

Here are the rather loose rules - remember the objective is to have fun whilst highlighting seasonal food:

1. Entries must use (or attempt to use) all of the ingredients "in the bag" for that particular month. The dish should be based around the seasonal ingredient, rather then just including it as an afterthought.

2. Participants can include any "extra" ingredients that they see fit.

3. Entries should include a link back to the host for that month, and the post should be tagged "in the bag" and "itb". Use of the "In The Bag" logo is allowed (and encouraged) but not required.

4. Entries can be written any time during the month, as long as the URL is emailed to that month's host before the round up date.

5. Particpants from outside of the UK are most welcome to join in and substitute an item from their own local seasonal produce if necessary.

That's all! Any deviations from the above are at the discretion of the host. Have fun!

"In The Bag" is a food even ran monthly by Real Epicurean, A Slice of Cherry Pie, and Cherry's English Kitchen.

A Long, Hot Soak and a Speedy, Tasty Dinner

After immersing myself for some time in a steaming bath full of rose-scented water with a book and a glass of merlot, I wrapped myself in a bath robe and padded into the kitchen to cook a quick and effortless dinner.

I took the lamb leg steaks from the fridge and marinated them in olive oil with fresh rosemary while I heated a griddle pan and sliced a courgette, red onion and yellow pepper. A brush of oil and in went the vegetables to char grill. The lamb steaks went into another pan with the rosemary and oil from the marinade. Ten minutes later dinner was ready to go.

Ahh…that’s better.

Two Ingredients, One Light Brunch

Simmered purple sprouting broccoli, poached egg with a soft and creamy yolk, a sprinkling of sea salt, eaten in the garden late morning on a sunny bank holiday Monday. Perfect.

Spring Sunshine and Seafood

Well I'm back after a gorgeous few days down by the coast. Britain has been blessed with exceptionally good weather this weekend and it looks set to continue into Easter Monday.

I've eaten a lot of seafood, as I always do when I go down to the coast; clams, dressed crab, fish soup, langoustines. It's my big treat as Rob doesn't like shell fish. On Friday we brought some fresh live mussels (and a slab of tuna steak for Rob) back to the caravan and I cooked up the following dish.

Mussels with Garlic, Saffron and Linguini



Clean the mussels well, scrubbing off any barnacles and pulling out the ‘beards’, the threads that protrude from between the shells. The rule with mussels is simple – before cooking discard any that are open and don't close when you tap them, and after cooking discard any that remain closed. You should also throw away any that have broken or damaged shells.

Gently fry a chopped shallot and chopped garlic clove in a knob of butter for a few minutes. Turn the heat right up and add a pinch of saffron, the mussels and a glass of white wine, then put on a lid and cook until all the mussels have opened. Remove the mussels and reserve the liquid in the pan.

You can serve the mussels as they are with the broth in which they were cooked, but they are also fabulous with linguini. If you choose the linguini option rapidly simmer the mussel liquid to reduce it before pouring over the linguini and mussels. Be warned, this is messy to eat, but deliciously so.

Eating mussels in polite company can seem a little daunting for the first time when faced with a bowlful of broth and mussels in shells. But it’s easy when you know how. Break the shells apart and use the shell with the mussel still in it as a spoon to scoop up the broth.