After being away two weeks and not eaten home cooked food,
today was a kitchen day at home. First we cooked purslane stew with bulgur
which we eat a lot during summer with yogurt. Then made two small jars of peach
marmelade to eat with cottage cheese for summer breakfasts.
After the potted
shrimp tasting we had in Morecambe two weeks ago, we decided to try it at home
and we bought brown shrimps from our local fish shop and prepared our first
homemade potted shrimps.
Following a short research in internet, we made TheGuardian’s recipe. With this recipe, we had one ramekin potted shrimps to
consume today and one little jar to eat later. Recipe is easy because the brown
shrimps are sold cleaned and precooked. And the taste of homemade one is much
much better then the shop bought one.
The Guardian’s recipe, was suggesting to
serve potted shrimps with hot brown bread, so we baked also a brown bread with
fennel which we learned from our friend Ayşegül. When the bread came out from the owen, our evening treat at the
terrace was ready. Homemade brown bread with fennel, homemade potted shrimps,
English goat cheese and Stilton cheese, Turkish black olives, Iranian mini dry
figs and ice cold Polish oak vodka. Heaven!
Here is The Guardian’s recipe if you
want to try:
200g unsalted butter
Juice of ¼ lemon
¼ tsp ground mace
¼ tsp white pepper
½ tsp anchovy paste or Gentleman's Relish
200g cooked and peeled brown shrimps
Cayenne pepper, to serve
1. Melt the butter in a pan over a gentle heat, and
then allow to simmer until you spot the first dark flecks – watch it carefully,
or it will burn. Strain through some butter muslin, or two sheets of kitchen
roll, into a jug.
2. Wipe out the pan, and pour in two-thirds of the butter. Add
the lemon juice, mace, pepper, anchovy essence and a pinch of salt and simmer
very gently for five minutes, then take off the heat and allow to cool but not
set. Divide the shrimps between 4 ramekins, pressing them in tightly.
3. When
just warm, but still liquid, divide the spiced butter between the ramekins and
put in the fridge to set. Once solid, pour over the remainder of the clarified
butter and return to the fridge to set.
4. Serve with a sprinkle of cayenne
pepper and a lot of hot toast.
