Smoked salmon leaps ahead

Photo: © childsdesign

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After having been impressed with J Lawrie & Sons (Jaffy’s) kippers we looked forward to tasting their Oak Smoked Salmon.
Even though smoked salmon can be found just about everywhere in the large stores, these days, it is still no less a luxury. There are cheaper versions but paying a little extra is definitely worth it to enjoy a better product.

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We are pleased to award J Lawrie & Son (Jaffy's) our 'Artisan Food Trail Approved' status for their Oak Smoked Salmon.

To find out more about J Lawrie & Sons (Jaffy's) visit their page on 
The Artisan Food Trail here.

Shetland Air-Dried Salt Cod from Thule Ventus

Thule Ventus is now taking orders for their Shetland Air-Dried Salt Cod to be delivered in time for Easter 2017.

Available in two pack sizes of 50g or 250g which can be ordered direct from the Thule Ventus online store.

Each pack contains cuts of the finest skinned and boned cod fillet making it the perfect choice for trying out in a variety of dishes – salt cod is very good for fishcakes.

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To find out more about Thule Ventus visit their page on The Artisan Food Trail here.

A taste of Mallaig – kippers win AFT approval

Photo: © childsdesign

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Jaffy’s Mallaig Kippers have already won a raft of food accolades and now it is their chance to be put through The Artisan Food Trail approval process.

Read full review

We are pleased to award J Lawrie & Son (Jaffy's) our 'Artisan Food Trail Approved' status for their Mallaig Kippers.

To find out more about J Lawrie & Sons (Jaffy's) visit their page on The Artisan Food Trail here.

AFT Introducing: Thule Ventus

Photo: © Thule Ventus

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Thule Ventus salt cured cod and pollock is of the highest quality and a hand-crafted artisan product. Only the finest, freshest and largest fish is sourced from Shetland’s famous fish market landed by locally-owned boats that make short trips and catch from sustainable, quota controlled stock.

All the fish is prepared in small batches using traditional family methods. The process that takes at least a month, to create a truly unique and special seafood. The fish is caught from the pristine, wild seas around Shetland and then cured in the pure Shetland wind.

Thule Ventus, based in Cunningsburgh, Shetland is very much a family business and its products are an embodiment of the island's rich heritage in fishing.

David Polson, owner of Thule Ventus grew up where salting fish and mutton was very much a part his of life. He and his father would go fishing in a traditional 17 foot wooden boat, known as a fourareen, as it could be rowed with four oars. They worked the hand-lines and set lines for pollock, skate, mackerel, haddock and cod. Their catch would be salted, with some set aside for supper, usually pollock, boiled with their livers fried and added.

On leaving school, David discovered that salt fish was the a staple of the worker's diet on the ferries which plied between his native island of Whalsay, and the Shetland Mainland. As far as the older ferrymen were concerned, mastering the art of salting and curing of fish was an essential rite of passage for all aspiring crewmen.

It is with his background and knowledge that David can bring, what he believes to be the finest cured cod and pollock available.

All fish is landed by local boats on to the Lerwick or Scalloway fish markets in the early hours. It is filleted by lunchtime and salted by tea-time. The fish slowly absorb the salt and give up their moisture as they make their own pickle.

The fish are checked regularly and once they have ‘taken enough salt’, the excess salt is removed and the drying process commenced. The fish hangs outside in the wind, before being finished off in a drying room.

To find out more about Thule Ventus visit their page on 
The Artisan Food Trail here.

Pepper Prawns with Caramelised Cauliflower

Photo: © childsdesign

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Perhaps prawns and cauliflower don’t sound a likely combination but the way the cauliflower is cooked makes a great flavour match.
The cauliflower is first coated in a honey mustard dressing which creates sweet and slightly charred edges to the vegetable.
The prawns are given a spike from a chilli sauce with added lemon for brightness and all the flavours marry well in a sweet, nutty, sour combination.

Ingredients (serves 2)

For the prawns

• 250g raw king prawns
• quarter tsp Capsicana Chilli Co Habanero Sauce
• grated zest from quarter of a lemon
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• pinch salt
• pinch sugar

For the cauliflower

• 225g cauliflower
• 3-4 tbsp Yare Valley Oils Norfolk Honey & Mustard Dressing
• ½ tsp cumin seeds

To garnish

• few coriander leaves
• 1 spring onion, finely sliced
• squeeze lemon juice

Method
First marinate the prawns. Put the prawns into a bowl with the pepper sauce, lemon zest, salt, sugar and lemon juice and stir making sure the prawns are completely coated. Leave to marinate for 15 minutes.

To prepare the cauliflower remove the florets, keeping them in large chunks then take each floret and slice into 1cm thick pieces. Place in a bowl and add the honey mustard dressing, stirring to coat all of the cauliflower evenly.

Heat a large frying pan until it is very hot then tip in the cauliflower and let it sizzle and brown. Turn the cauliflower to sizzle the other side. Turn down the heat to continue cooking until the cauliflower becomes tender but still has a nutty bite to it.
Roughly crush the cumin seeds with a pestle and mortar and sprinkle the seeds over the cauliflower, stir gently to mix.

Add some oil to another frying pan, heat some olive until hot and tip in the prawns and cook them, stirring occasionally until they turn pink. This should only take a minute.

Arrange the cauliflower slices on plates, spoon over the prawns and garnish with the coriander and springs onions, finishing with a squeeze of lemon juice.

Octopus & Chorizo Salad

Photo: © childsdesign

Chorizo and seafood is a match made in heaven, so being inspired by the ‘surf and turf’ theme we took a Mediterranean approach to create this salad.

Our original intention was to use squid, but our fishmonger didn’t have any and suggested using octopus instead. Octopus and squid are both cephalopods but require different methods of cooking to get the best from them.

Squid is best quick cooked but octopus being such a muscular creature requires some long pre-cooking to tenderise it. Providing you haven’t procured a beast of gigantic proportions like something from 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, it really doesn’t take much to cook it.
Smaller octopus are generally softer and don’t need to bashed before putting them in the pot – the Greeks whack them on a rock!

If you do decide to use squid instead just skip all the pre-cooking part and score and cut your squid into pieces and then marinade and griddle.

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