Thai

There are so many bugs flying around at the moment, that all I seem to be cooking are stir fries and curries – it’s the desperate desire to get garlic, lemon grass and ginger into my family. All four have particular qualities for those suffering at this time of the year – the ginger relieve congestion, lemongrass helps with sore throats, chilli contains capsaicin, and is high in vitamin C, and the garlic has antibacterial properties…

Another week, and this time Hubby has somehow managed to perforate one ear drum, and has a double-heorrage in the other – he hasn’t managed to hear clearly for nearly a week – so time to reach for the aromatics again.

As well as those medicinal herbs and spices, I’m including some gorgeous sea-trout (for protein and omega-3), sweet potato and butternut squash (contains beta-carotene, good for immunity), and a coconut-milk liquor (coconut milk contains magnesium, which is good for relaxing muscles and nerve endings, hopefully calming the raging tinnitus).

The resulting dish is not ragingly spicy, but full of aromatic flavour.

Ingredients
1 inch of ginger, grated
3 fat cloves of garlic, finely diced
2 shallots (or onion) finely diced
2 red chillies, finely sliced
2 sticks of lemon grass (I bash mine to release the flavour, them remove before serving)
500ml fish stock
200g (approx) butternut squash, peeled and cubed
200g (approx) sweet potato, peeled and cubed
1 bulb of fennel, finely sliced
400ml coconut milk
Splash of fish sauce (nam pla)
Juice of two limes
4 kaffir lime leaves
1 large fish steak per person
Coriander, to serve

Method:

Gently fry the ginger, garlic and shallots until softened, but not coloured
Add the chilli, lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, fish sauce, vegetables, stock, and coconut milk
Bring the ‘soup’ to the boil then pop into a warm oven to reduce. I can’t be more specific than that, though I would have thought around 170ºC would do it, for around an hour (as I was in London, I was cooking in the AGA, in which case it was in the second oven for an hour)
When the liquid has reduced and thickened to a stew-like consistency, pop the fish steaks, skin side up, onto the stew, and allow to heat through for barely 6-10 minutes until just cooked.
Serve the fish on top of the stew, spooning a little on top of the fish. Scatter the coriander, and a give it a good squeeze of lime juice.

Seriously, I’m not sure that there could be a faster or more delicious supper, or perhaps starter. The entire thing takes no more than ten minutes to make! As long as you have good palourdes (or mussels, razor clams, etc), you’re good to go! In fact this is so easy, I’m getting the 11yo to cook it.

Ingredients
1kg palourde clams (aka Venus or smooth clam)
2 red chillis, seeded and chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 lemon grass stalk, sliced (or you can crush it, and remove before serving)
1 tsp grated fresh root ginger
200ml (7fl oz) coconut milk
handful of chopped coriander

When checking shellfish like clams, there are only a few basic rules:

Rinse the clams, checking for any with broken shells – throw away any who’s shells are damaged
If the shells are not firmly closed, and do not close when you rap them hard – throw them away
Do not store them in fresh water
When you’ve cooked them, throw away any which have not opened during cooking!

So, very simple, must close when raw, must be open when cooked…

Method

Put everything apart from the clams into a tall pot
Bring to the boil, and simmer for one minute
Add the cleaned clams, and put a lid on the pan. Cook for 4-5 minutes
Lift the clams out and divide between your plates
Bring the sauce back to the boil and simmer for a further minute
Spoon the sauce over the clams

Delicious – and something the 11yo can cook for her friends – a one pot dish to impress anyone… We never made it out of the kitchen – she grabbed her bowl, eating them with an empty shell, while I was still fetching cutlery :0)

Sea trout, with Thai scented stew…

Thai Steamed Palourde Clams…