Category: Travel
A Summer in France at La Cloche
I am back from the Falklands for five days and it’s time to head off to the Dordogne where I shall be heading up the tiny kitchen team at La Cloche in Abjat Sur Bandiat.
First thing to think about is Edwina’s 70th. I got the job through a chum of mine from early barging days and it’s her Mum’s Birthday soon so we are organising a 1940’s party. The Menu will reflect a ‘Dig for victory’ theme. A foraged soup to start made with Wild Sorrel, Pennywort, Dandelion, Spinach and Oxalis. Cheap cuts of meat cooked long and slow followed by Pain Perdu, which translates as lost bread, and is a take on the British Bread and Butter pud but much nicer as it’s made with the left over Croissants and Pain au Chocolate.
Moulin D’Abbeye
The real highlight of my Summer in the Dordogne was Brantome and the Moulin D’Abbeye. I spent a long sublime evening alone working my way through the Chef’s Degustation Menu, all seven exquisite courses of it. It was honestly the best meal I have ever tasted combined with the most superb scenery and perfect service. A definite return to … again and again
www.moulinabbaye.com
Penguin News
The following article was written and published by the Penguin News, The Falkland Islands weekly newspaper
“I’ve recently been lucky enough to have the time to join Uzma’s Kazmi’s Spicy Cuisine evenings at FICS. Last week, with her patient supervision, we made Chicken Biryani and Lahori chiker cholay, a spicy chick pea curry. It turns out that the trick with an authentic Biryani is to fry the onions until they are so caramelised they take on a whole new flavour. Uzma informed me that the word Biryani means fried onions. I later asked her what masala meant “gravy†she replied and then as I showed so much wonder at what she had told me she smiled her beautiful, mischievous smile and said “Yes Molly it’s like learning another language!†The list of ingredients was extensive but we all pooled our spices and offered each other advice on where to find the rarer items.
Later in the week I was wandering around Stanley and, as ever, was drawn to the end of aisle bargains. I can never resist a red sticker. In Seafish I found Tamarind and then later in the West Store there was a glut of palm sugar both reduced to pennies. Neither of these ingredients I expected to find in FI. They made me think of one of my all time favourite curries. The Goan Prawn Balchao. I was taught it at Rick Stein’s years ago. It’s a relatively dry curry and is traditionally made with prawns but works just as well with chicken strips and, I can imagine, it would be fabulous with squid.
Firstly make the paste. If you have a coffee grinder throw all your spices in it but if you have had a bad day at work get out your rolling pin, pestle and mortar or whatever blunt instrument you have to hand and start smashing 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds and 2 teaspoons each of coriander seeds, black peppercorns and cloves. Pop them all in to a food processor adding 1 teaspoon of turmeric, 1 teaspoon of palm sugar (muscovado will do if it’s sold out), 1 teaspoon of salt, 6 garlic cloves, 100g red chillies, 2 teaspoons of tamarind (if you are using the dry stuff you might need to add a bit of warm water to soften it) a thumb of ginger and 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar. Blitz together and that’s your paste done.
When you are ready for supper chop a couple of onions and another 6 cloves of garlic frying them until brown add the paste and fry for a couple of minutes until the spices start to separate from the oil. Mix another 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar and 1 tablespoon of palm sugar. Simmer for a minute or two before adding the prawns. They just need to warm through. Try it, It’s unusual but so tasty and I do hate seeing good food go to waste”
“Thank you to all the people who emailed to tell me where to find seaweed. I am off out to have a bit of a forage. Mols”
Sushi with Al Matias in Stanley
I’ve been helping out a Bittersweet in Stanley. Firstly I began on the Tapas Menu whilst Head Chef Al worked flat out on Pizzas. We soon began to talk about our favourite food, countries we wanted to visit and the wonders of local produce. All this lead to us planning a new menu for the restaurant. The owner Julie was delighted with our ideas and gave us carte blanche. I reinvented the brunch menu to include freshly made hollandaise with all the usual trimmings like smoked salmon, bagels, spinach and poached ggs. Al worked on some gorgeous toothfish recipes for lunch. After a few weeks we formulated the idea of a sushi night. I was mad keen to learn all Al’s secrets as he had worked on several prestigious cruise ships as Sushi Chef.
He set about making Furikake known as the salt and pepper of Japan. He spent a week drying fish and picking it apart into tiny flakes. We added toasted sesame seeds, seaweed, salt and sugar. It is truly gorgeous when you make it yourself and a superb addition to most dishes.
We all had a fabulous evening although it was such hard work making all the rolls, homemade wasabi, pickles and garnish. Proud to say that I think it was one of the events that we held at Bittersweet that lead us to being awarded the Taste of the Falklands Award.
I adored working with Julie, Al. Michelle and Baron. Thank you so much. I do hope our paths cross again on our culinary wanderings.
Look out for some of the recipes on my page coming in March.
Penguin News … Cooking with Molly
I’ve been out and about this week, taking advantage of the lovely weather to do a spot of foraging. I am pleased to say that I have found Sea lettuce at Eliza’s Cove, Bertha’s and Cape Pembroke. Seaweed has made a bit of a culinary comeback of late. When I was a child growing up on the west of Ireland I only ever remember it as a very unappetising brown sludge but then all my Grandmother’s cooking was like that so it’s no reason not to give it a second chance. You will be glad to hear that there are no poisonous seaweeds in the world but some look and taste better than others. Sea lettuce is easy to recognize as it looks like lettuce, has a ruffled edge and is vivid green. Collect it, give it a quick rinse and then immerse it in equal parts of water and white wine vinegar and leave in the fridge for a day or two. It is delicious with Salmon or any oily fish as it holds its colour, shape and texture and cuts through fishy fattiness as would a caper or a gherkin. Also, like all seaweeds it’s packed with essential minerals and vitamins.
A bit closer to home in Stanley there are so many edible leaves and flowers that we can use to prettify salads. I like to throw a handful of gorse flowers or marigold to add colour and I use young dandelion leaves and the tender shoots of plantain to add hints of flavour.
Dandelion by the way comes from the French words ‘Dente de Lion’ the teeth of the Lion which, if you look at the leaves, makes perfect sense.
One thing I was delighted to see growing wild in town is Three Cornered Leek. It’s the same family as garlic and onions and has a pretty white flower. I haven’t got a clue how it got here but it seems to be doing very well. I use the flowers as edible decoration and the leaves and stalks I make it in to Pesto. Add a few bunches to olive oil, a handful of toasted pine nuts and some parmesan and blitz it until it has the same consistency of the basil pesto that you would buy in the shops. It’s fabulous added to cream to make a pasta sauce or to breadcrumbs to make a crust for fish. It also works as a drizzle in soups or as a dressing for salads or vegetables. I first discovered it, many years ago, when working on a boat in Norway. The skipper would add it to wild garlic and make a sauce that he used to call “Viking Viagra†I have no idea how well it worked, I’ll let you do your own research. All the allium family are known to be wonderful for cleansing the blood and I am sure many of us will benefit from that in the New Year!
www.penguin-news.com
Darwin House, Falkland Islands
Well here I am on the Falkland Islands. After four months of interviews, work permits and medicals I have finally arrived via RAF Brize Norton. I have discovered some incredibly tasty new fish and produce and all sorts of innovative recipes. I am particularly fond of Toothfish Cheeks. A Toothfish can grow up to 10 metres in length and live until it’s 50! It’s an absolute privilege to be here and even though the Military call the Islands Dartmoor by Sea in a derogatory sense, I can’t think of any place more lovely.
My first major catering event was a watercolour course run by the very talented Richard Cockwell. In between prepping Balmoral Chicken, Toothfish cheeks and STP I managed to join in for an hour of painting. Form the gardens of the Lodge the views over Mount Usbourne are simply breaktaking. What I most like about painting is it gives you the chance to look and watch the clouds skating past the hills. The winds here are deceptive and although the weather can look beautiful from my kitchen window it’s quite often blowing a hooley when I step outdoors.
www.darwin-house.com
I have also found a funny little book called recipes “Fit for FIDS” It was written in the 1950’s by a interesting character who is spoken of very highly on the Islands. I have eaten smoked Sea Shag in Iceland last year and very good it was too but I am a good deal more wary about seal brain and penguins!
Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia
How often do you get the chance to live in Venice? I find myself with six weeks in this sublime city where I am looking after some apartments for the Contessa Enrica Rocca and her dog Soya. The Contessa also runs her own cookery schools in Venice, London and South Africa and has invited me along on a few of her markets tours and cookery evenings. She has written a beautiful book too which is full of her collection of plates and serving bowls full of her gorgeous food.
Firstly we spent the morning in the Fish Market underneath the Rialto Bridge. I’ve always loved this market but in the past it felt somewhat intimidating. Yes it’s all glassy eyed and fresh but that’s to an non Venetian. So much of the seafood that I see I don’t have the slightest idea what to do with it or importantly whether I am getting Venetian prices or Tourist prices. Enrica haggles and barters in a way that I hadn’t seen since I lived in Jordan. What I love about buying food like this is the poking and prodding, the smelling. In the UK we seem to have such a “Keep off the grass” mentality that we don’t mind our food being incarcerated in packaging. Europeans have to taste before they buy, have to smell, bring it up to the nose, feel it sensually otherwise how will they know what they are getting?. We buy our provisions and head down a sunless alley and into what looks like a shipping container where I am told are the best fruit and vegetables in the city. We poke, prod and taste more before deciding on the menu for the day. That is true skill of cooking to be able to look at one is on offer that day and bring together a recipe. More shopping, less cooking. Buy the best produce at the best price and your work is done.
On the way back to the Contessa’s palazzo we stop off for prosecco and cicchetti. Now that’s what I call shopping! www.enricarocca.com
Cooking on a Swedish Rescue Boat out of Alesund
For the next six weeks I shall be working aboard Gaasten with old friend and skipper Tim. We are sailing from Alesund on one week trips around the Norwegian Fjords. I’m looking forward to cooking with new ingredients.
Handy tips so far are don’t give skiers chocolate bars head up in to the Mountains with. They get too cold to bite in to. One of our seasoned cross country ski guests shared her recipes for flapjack with me. It was like no flapjack that I had ever had in the UK which i find is often bland or sickly sweet. This was a cornucopia of the tastiest seeds, nuts and dried fruit. I have been rejigging the recipe all week and have made four different varieties each, I think, better than the last. Where I have really excelled myself though has been in the discovery of THE best ever sauce for Deer. I began with all the usual suspects; onion, garlic, carrots, celery, thyme, rosemary and a bay leaf but then went off piste with the addition of almost a handful of juniper. I added star anise and orange later and the classically Scandinavian finish of cream rather than butter.
It was intense, dark and almost smokey. If you closed your eyes you could taste a Norwegian woodland. I think I may have added a cube of 70% Choc at the end to create that silky feel.
Sometimes I think you really have to be in a country to cook it’s food. You have to smell it, see it and touch it before you can begin to understand how it needs to taste. The Norwegians loved it and we ended the cruise with a heady mixture of Aquavit and Whiskey.
Tim, Tash and I spent the last day climbing the hill near Alesund, where I finally saw my White Tailed Sea Eagle, before heading to town to buy jumpers and pose with Trolls. I think we are beginning to look more like Trolls each day.
Northern Light Cruising
Saturday 19th We left Oban and headed for Loch na droma Buidhe on Mull. It was a beautifully calm evening, low lying clouds festooned the trees along  the shoreline. Dinner aboard
Sunday 20th After breakfast we left the Loch and headed to Canna arriving shortly after lunch where guests went ashore for afternoon strolls in the July sunshine. Dinner aboard although Canna now boasts a restaurant and rather good community shop.
Monday 21st Lulu was up early to pull up the anchor and leave before breakfast heading straight out past Heisker rocks and on to Mingulay spotting common dolphins on the way. My first run ashore on Mingulay and the island is so much more lovely than it even looks from a distance. It is alive with history and wild flowers from the top of the cliffs at Blulacraig I sat in the sunshine reading my book occasionally passengers and crew would wander  stopping to say hello surprised to find each other again. Back onboard at 17.00 and off to Vatersay bay for the evening
Tuesday 22nd Guests ashore for the morning and just before 2pm we lifted the anchor and had a short trip to Castelbay on Barra, once a prosperous herring port boasting over 400 boats. Myself and Lu tied up alongside the pier, watched with interest and amusement by a group of elderly male inhabitants who then praised us for our tying up abilities! Ashore. It seemed that nearly everyone headed for the fudge and toffee tearooms where a great deal of icecream and tablet was partaken. As if I don’t feed them enough! Anchored in the bay for the evening
Wednesday 23rd The sun was shining and the sky a vibrant blue when we upped anchor and turned Northwards along the eastern side of the Outer Hebrides being accompanied at first by a small solitary common dolphin. Many more dolphins enroute. It’s not often that we  spend a full day at sea but the consensus from passengers and crew was that it was too lovely to do anything other than bimble along sunning ourselves on deck. Diaries were written, tea and biscuits consumed and wildlife watched so that by the time we arrived in Borve Bay we were wonderfully relaxed and ready for dinner from me and tunes from Lulu. The weather is gloriously hot and we are all a rosier version of our former selves.
Thursday 24th Early start as we headed north again to the Monachs. One of our passengers has a particular interest in the Islands as her Grandmother was lady who locked the lighthouse door on Shillay when the light was turned off in the last 30’s
Friday 25th Woke to find the boat blanketed in fog. Visibility down to about 50 meteres and not a hint of where the Monachs should be.  Plan A was for passengers to go ashore but as always the weather dictates our journey and so with the weather set to worsen tomorrow we go with Plan B and a long run back to Mull. By Lunchtime the sea mist had been burnt off by a fierce sun and we all enjoyed the antics of a sole bottlenosed dolphin who played with us through the sound of Barra. He was so agile that he decided not to bother bow riding us but instead lead the way, spinning and jumping a few meters off the bow.  We then saw porpoises and our first basking shark of the trip. By the end of the day we had seen 31 basking sharks, hundreds of dolphins (in a feeding frenzy off Rum) Minke Whales and a sun fish, whose untimely appearance lead to a lasagne with very little béchamel topping (sudden veer to port!) Moored up in Tobermory for the night.
Saturday 26th After breakfast we all went ashore to sample the delights of this pretty village. Oddly it’s sometimes difficult to spot passengers ashore as we all take on a ‘land’ persona but the ones that Lu and I managed to spot where in tearooms with rather nice looking cookies Back aboard for 11’s and chocolate and the Crew all witnessed a White Tail Sea Eagle fly right overhead. I’ve heard them called flying barndoors and I now understand why.
We left Tob (as the locals call it) after lunch and rounded the north of Mull to run past Calgary Bay and down to Ulva and Gometra where we all spotted Goldies and Whities. A lovely anchorage with Staffa just visible through the gap.
Sunday 27th Headed out around Staffa and on to Bac Mor or the Dutchman’s cap as it is known, it looks to me more like a submarine or a whale, on to the Trishnish Isles and back past Calgary. Lu told me that this beautiful beach was the departure point for many Islanders during the land clearances in the 1700’s  In to the sound of Mull which was a more comfortable route than going south and around the Ross of Mull. Lunch on the hoof and dinner aboard in Loch Spelvie. Complete with a Birthday Cake and music from Lu.
A fabulous trip with such a lot of variety. Many Thanks to all the passengers who were so wonderfully helpful and who myself and Lu couldn’t keep out of the galley. It was a great pleasure to sail with you all and you are welcome back anytime! Thank you
St Kilda 2014
I’m over the moon to be cooking for the Northern Light Cruising Company this year. I shall spend the Summer bimbling about the Outer Hebrides and hopefully get to StKilda, which has been a dream of mine since I read Island at the Edge of the World as a teenager. I am working aboard an old Norwegian Rescue Boat called Hjalmar Bjorge.
https://www.northernlight-uk.com/2014/06/mollys-blog-on-her-first-kilda-landing/
