Samphire Sets Your Taste Buds Tingling

OK after this blog I promise to stop twittering on about seafood recipes - for a little while at any rate!. However last year I discovered a wonderful new taste - the salty, zingy taste of samphire – let me explain.

In Penrith, Cumbria there is an excellent fish, seafood and game shop called The Fish Cellar. Many times during the summer and autumn periods when buying fish and seafood I noticed a large bowl of what looked like fine, green asparagus. One day my curiosity got the better of me and I asked Neil the owner what it was. ‘Samphire – do you want to try some?’ Well I did and am now ‘hooked’ on the stuff. It is usually available in our fish shop from July through to October, some coming from France, some from Mediterranean countries.

Marsh samphire (or salicornia europaea to give it its proper name) is also known as glasswort or pickle-plant and is a fleshy-leaved green plant that grows on seaside marshes. As I mentioned it has a sea-salty flavour and a crisp, interesting texture. Neil informed me that all that is needed to cook samphire is to place it in a colander and pour a kettle of boiling water over it, shake and add a dollop of butter. There are lots of interesting recipes, my favourite involved monkfish and Parma ham. However, I thought that you may like to try my second favourite recipe: Shrimp & Samphire Risotto – its scrumpcious! The recipe if from Rick’s Stein’s ‘Seafood Lovers Guide’.
It needs a little bit of preparation but is so tasty and filling – try it!

Something Fishy!

Since writing about my Irish octopus dish, I have become even more ‘hooked’ (couldn't resist that!) on preparing and enjoying fish dishes. I find that Delia Smith within her Delia Online web site has an excellent section on fish and accompanying sauce recipes. It is well worth taking a look at this site as it also gives loads of useful information on such topics as frying, grilling and poaching fish, making good fish batter and wine recommendations.

So last week I prepared a simple but delicious Fish Banquet. I started off with a delightful little starter called Smoked Fish Creams and then for the main course I tried her Luxury Smoked Fish Pie – well I liked smoked fish!

In between to ‘cleanse the pallet’ I offered my guests an unusual but super white wine sorbet which I found on the Ice-Cream-Recipes. com web site - try it!

I hope you have as much fun preparing (and enjoying) this Fish Banquet as I did.