Foodie Pen Pals Box Reveal – November 2012

November Foodie Penpals Boxes

As mentioned before we’ve joined a Foodie Pen Pals scheme and it seems to be quite good fun! It feels like we’ve waited ages to finally reveal the contents of our first box! Today is the designated reveal day so here we go.

We had a lovely box sent overseas to the UK from Lithuania. The box came from Aiste who has a blog in English which you can find here : No146.blogspot.co.uk Many thanks to Aiste for all the time and thought she put into choosing, preparing and sending our lovely box which we were very happy to receive and totally consume!

foodie pen pals

Our foodie pen pals parcel arrived really quickly

Andy exchanged a few emails with Aiste and they discussed the sorts of things we might like or find interesting. Aiste settled mainly on Lithuanian cheeses, which are a very special and rather different to our own. We wondered how cheese would travel unrefrigerated but hey, it’s November and we shouldn’t have worried.

Our parcel arrived and safe inside were an interesting collection of items. There were two cheeses, one sweet and spiced, the other looked to contain garlic and was smoked. The aforementioned jar of beetroot and horseradish, an interesting looking bar of chocolate and a log of something that looked like it might be tiffin. (These last two made me very happy! I need an excuse to eat desserts as I try to be more healthy and this was ideal.) There was also a delightful handwritten letter from Aiste, explaining a bit about each of the items.

Foodie Pen Pals Parcel Reveal

Foodie Pen Pals Parcel Reveal

Two Cheeses

Lithuanian Smoked Cheese

Two very different types of Lithuanina cheeses. One had been lightly smoked on the outside to make a garlicy smoky rind with a firm white cheese inside. As Aiste explained, both are natural cheeses without preservatives so it didn’t taste of sulphur or anything nasty like some so called smoked cheeses do. Just a bit of salt and garlic with a soft woodsmoke background. I’ve seen cheeses a bit like this in our local Eastern European shops but I wouldn’t know which ones to buy for fear of getting something overly flavoured. Now I know a bit more about what to look for, which is great.

Lithuanian Sweet Cheese

The other type of cheese was completely new to me – a sweet cheese. What is sweet cheese? Well just that, a cheese that has been turned almost into a kind of confectionary with sugar and aromatic natural flavours such as cinnamon and a bit of lavender I think. The cheesiness balances out the sweetness to a certain extent, and in small quantities I enjoyed a piece of this, in the same way as I might eat just one square of chocolate. The cheese was constructed in an unusual way, with two distinct ends. One end had much more cinnamon in it and was coloured brown on the outside, the other end was white or maybe slightly grey and had far less cinnamon and a bit of something I couldn’t identify. We thought it might be lavender but probably it’s a combination of several flowery or herby aromatics. So slightly odd, pleasantly eatable and definitely achieved that surprise quality of introducing me to something entirely different.

‘Lazybones’ a snack or dessert

I thought I would explain about the  ’Lazybones’ items. Aiste said it is called that because it is so easy to make and I had a suspicion when I opened it that it might be very similar to tiffin. I was right. Tiffin is an old favourite tea time treat which produces a quick cake with no need to cook. Mine is a mixture of  butter, sugar, cocoa and golden syrup melted together. Add crushed biscuits (digestives are classic but I used to like to use Duchy Originals Organic Oat Biscuits for their oaty texture) and maybe some dried fruit. Pour it into a tray to set & cut into portions. A truly decadent version my Mum used to make also included Malteasers and Chocolate Fingers!  Lazybones is obviously a close relative of these concoctions and a small slice was a particularly nice supper time treat for several nights with a cup of our favourite Spicy Roobosh Chai. Yum!

Chocolate Bar

The chocolate was interesting too as it contained bits of ‘gingerbread’. These were not soft like our gingerbread but crunchy like a gingery biscuit. Another very nice supper-time treat. We usually have a piece of chili chocolate with our last cup of tea of the day and this made a pleasant change.

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Smoked Salmon Mousse with Horseradish

I’ve been buying this wonderful strips of lightly smoked salmon from a local shop called “Full Wypas” which specialises in Polish groceries. The strips always have a little pectoral fin attached in the middle, so I’d guess they are left over from the process of preparing a large smoked salmon for careful slicing for presentation. Or maybe they are just valued as a special delicacy, being fully of tasty fishy oils and fat as well as a nice portion of salmon meat that you have to scrape off the skin and around the boney fin. You can just eat one as a snack or use it in mixed fish dishes such as fish pie or paella. The oily fish fat must be full of healthy Omega 3 which is anti-inflammatory  and good for all sorts of things.

The next part of the story is an item from November’s Foodie Penpals parcel, which will be revealed in totality on the 20th of this month. A small jar containing a bright pink substance labelled: “Krienai” and also “Marrutki Madaroigas” which as far as I can make out are Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian words for Horseradish. The colouring is quite natural and comes from an amount of beetroot, and I don’t think there are any other ingredients apart from those two. I like horseradish and I like beetroot so that’s all good then!

Horseradish with beetroot

Horseradish with beetroot

Fish and horseradish go together well, think of smoked mackerel with horseradish sauce, or Japanese sashimi raw fish with Wasabi, which is either closely related or more usually actually is horseradish.

So I tried making a salmon mousse or paste, by placing one of the salmon strips after removing the skin and the little boney fin and a good dolop of the horseradish with beetroot into my baby moulinex food chopper. I added a clove of garlic, dash of lemon and a pinch of salt, ground black pepper and some sprouted radish seeds which I often have ready as well, then chopped it all up with a crushed sesame ryvita biscuit to add a bit of body. Whizz whizz whirr whirr.

Well I was very happy with the resulting salmon spread, it was delicious and the flavours blended together very well with lots of fresh zingy tastes. I spread it on a couple of oatcakes and another cracker, it was soon gone. I shall make this again whenever I feel like it since the salmon strips seem to be a regular feature in the local shop and I think I will be able to source a similar horseradish sauce there as well, now that I know what it is thanks to the careful thoughtfulness of our November Foodiepenpal – Aiste who has a blog in English at No146.blogspot.co.uk  Thanks Aiste!

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Fish Box Delivery

I’m quite keen on the idea of a regular fish box delivery after watching Monty Hall’s excellent TV programme The Fisherman’s Apprentice. The ideas of buying more directly from the producer, having really fresh food, and supporting our coastal fishing fleet are all very appealing. So I thought I’d find out just how easy or hard it would be to get a regular fish box of seasonally caught fish.

We both love fish and Andy, being an adventurous cook loves the challenge of cooking something new so we are quite happy to have a really mixed selection. Most of the suppliers I found also do more specific orders if that’s what you want.

First up, though hardly local to anyone outside Cornwall, is Wing’s of St Mawes, The Cornish Fishmonger. They do a monthly fish box delivery scheme to most of the mainland UK. The fish is delivered on the first Thursday of each month by courier. The best deal seems to be the Cornish Seafood Selection:

fish

Fish box delivery from The Cornish Fishmonger

This box will include 10 portions of fresh fish and shellfish, ideally including oily fish, white fish and shellfish; the variety will depend on quality and availability. Normally we would hope to include a dozen cleaned king scallops, wild black mussels, oily fish fillets, filleted flat fish and white fish. If you any species you dislike please note them in the comments box at the checkout.

10 portions costs nearly £50 once you’ve covered your delivery costs. It is all ready to freeze so it should take care of your fish needs for the month. They do bigger boxes too if you need them.  They have a commitment to freshly caught fish, landed in Cornwall.  Looks good and I might have to try it! (The thought of those scallops, mmmm….)

Next, I looked at Martin’s Fish for Thought site. They offer a wider variety in a way but the only one I was interested in was the Local Frozen Fish Box, 14 portions this time for £50. Martins have a great reputation but the selection was disappointing. It is Cornish landed fish but they don’t do a fresh local fish box only the frozen one. Also the frozen fish box is a bit pedestrian & I worried that it always includes cod, haddock and plaice. They do have Marine Stewardship Council accreditation and a sustainability commitment but still not right for me.

Finally I looked at Fish in A Box, which definitely seems to do what it says on the tin. They are an online fishmonger but they have a commitment to fresh fish deliveries in most of the UK mainland. The box I looked at was their Large Classic Box, 12 portions for just over £50 with free delivery. Now this looks very interesting. You get a selection from the following:

Hake, Loch Duart Salmon, Cod, Red Bream, Organic Salmon, Rainbow Trout, Pollack, Smoked Haddock (naturally oak smoked NOT DYED), Haddock, Plaice, Smoked Mackerel, Herring, Megrim, Ling, Coley, Catfish (rock turbot), Sardine, Whiting, Mackerel, Grey Mullet, Pouting, Flounder, Kipper, Skate, Cod Cheeks, Monkfish Cheeks.

Whole fish chosen from: Plaice, Turbot, John Dory, Trout, Sea Bass, Sea Bream, Torbay Sole, Pink Snapper, Lemon Sole, Gurnard, Brill

Some is Cornish,  some from Scotland, and  some landed in Wales, which is where they are based. I spy some real neglected favourites on that list, including gurnard, megrim and pouting. I have a slight issue with the distances some of this stuff is traveling but it does look tempting. This one I may well have to test too.

They also do a Hugh’s Fish Fight box for £20:

2 x 175g portions each of Dab Fillet, Pouting Fillet, Coley Fillet and Mackerel Fillet. All those fish that are native, in plentiful supply and we should be eating more of!

For now I’m going to stick with buying my fish weekly fresh from local markets in Essex and being careful what I buy. None of the online fish sellers is doing quite what I’d hoped for, buying direct from the inshore fishermen, selling a box of a fresh selection of just what’s being caught now and giving us the chance to support our most sustainable fishing fleet. Now if only Guy from Riverford would get involved. Riverford already have all the infrastructure and know what they are doing. Guy was in the TV programme so there might be hope for a really viable fish box delivery scheme that would tick all the right boxes.

 

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