Greek hospitality

For the best part of 20 years, since one of my best friends hooked up with and then married Nikos from Athens, I have been at the receiving end of generous Greek hospitality. Our recent visit culminated with a memorable lunch at their weekend house on the coast in Nea Makri near Marathon. As is usually the case in good weather, the food is cooked on the grill in the garden – in this case squid and octopus for starter, followed by a large, family-sized sea bream.

The food is always wonderfully simple, showing off local, seasonal ingredients. My friends are fortunate in benefitting from a family-owned olive and citrus grove and they make their own vinegar and wine (like many Greek households). We made a vinegar and oil dressing for the squid and octopus, whereas the fish was dressed (anointed) with an emulsion of lemon juice and oil. We sipped some ouzo with the starter (octopus and aniseed are a match made in Mediterranean heaven) and salty, mineral Assyrtiko from Santorini was ideal with the fish. Plenty of bread and salad were passed around.

My friends tend to round off a meal with fresh fruit, so we climbed up onto the roof and picked apricots from the tree and ate them gazing across the water to the island of Evia. A distinctive and memorable end to our holiday. Efharisto poli!

Simply baked fish and veg with Knorr Flavour Pot

The people at Knorr recently sent me some of their new Flavour Pots to try out. If I'm not using home-made stock (usually chicken) and I need to pep things up I use Marigold powdered stock or Oxo cubes,  so I didn't mind giving these little pots of seasoning paste a whirl.

They sent a selection of flavours and a hamper of fresh produce from Waitrose so, in a sort of Masterchef fashion, I created a dish based on these ingredients. Using some sea bream I'd bought the day before, I assembled a light, spring inspired fish supper.

As you can see I cut up the peppers and fennel, arranging them in the baking tray before placing the fish on top. Then I combined the mixed herb Flavour Pot with about a glass of white wine, topping up with water to pour into the tray. I left it unseasoned in order to test the strength of the Flavour Pot, covered it loosely with foil and baked it in the oven at 180°C for about 20 minutes. The result was a tasty, easy (and healthy) meal.

Since then I've been trying out the other flavours. The curry flavoured pot was good and pokey in a prawn biryani (that went brilliantly with Veuve Clicquot demi-sec) and the garlic flavoured pot worked well with some braised vegetables. My main gripe is with the plastic packaging as they are single serve portions (I'd prefer small glass jars – think pesto or tomato purée), but otherwise a helpful addition to your larder.

Foodie breaks: Kent – Whitstable

During our recent weekend in Kent we visited Whitstable twice. Firstly on the Saturday – cool and dreary, there seemed to be too many shops selling gifts or fancy children's ware and the town looked too cute for its own good. Nevertheless, we spent an enjoyable hour or so in a cosy café and managed to get a booking at Wheeler's Oyster Bar for the following day. This was my first time in Whitstable in more than 15 years and a lot has changed – it's fashionable now and knows it.

When we returned on the Sunday in vibrant sunshine it was quite different. Clutching a half-bottle of Sancerre from the off-licence across the road, we went straight to (unlicensed) Wheelers for an extravaganza of top-notch fish and seafood which we enjoyed perched on stools at the counter in the shop. Booking a table in the tiny rear dining room that seats 16 requires serious forward-planning (or a hefty dose of good luck). However, we were happy people watching in the front, witnessing a stream of smiling customers leaving with their delicious purchases, which has probably been the case since 1856 when Wheeler's was established.

From chef Mark Stubbs's menu, we chose several small plates including crab cake and other inspired and beautifully executed dishes such as smoked haddock with kedgeree scotch egg, scallops with pork and apple, and Thai style soup with prawn tempura. Imaginative touches included the blue cheese croutons in the salad that accompanied the crab cake and the drizzle of apple sauce.

We didn't have space for any of the desserts but I have included a picture of the menu here as it looked so interesting. Next time.

After lunch we strolled around Whitstable in the sunshine where so many people were making the most of the good weather. If we hadn't eaten earlier, we'd have been spoiled for choice. We left feeling reassured that Whitstable hadn't lost too much of its saline windswept charm.

A great fish recipe to show off a great white wine

As I often use a special bottle of wine as the starting point of a meal, it's interesting to see what food works best. It's often dishes with a certain level of simplicity or subtle complexity, so not to overwhelm the wine. Really good quality meat or fish, served in an unfussy way works a treat and has a great senseof occasion, but sometimes you hit on something less grand that also turns out to be sensational.

A particular favourite in this respect is Rowley Leigh's mackerel with apple purée – a recipe that appeared in his column in the Financial Times some time ago. The wording of the recipe doesn't do it justice as there is quite a lot going on in the dish: mackerel with rosemary-scented olive oil, toasted pine nuts, gently spiced apple. An interesting array of flavours and textures. When I first cooked the dish we enjoyed it with a bottle of mature Vouvray Sec by Huët. Second time around we served it with another nicely evolving Chenin from the Loire, Clos de Coulaine Savennières 2001 (Papin-Chevalier). Great Chenin is a wonderful choice here as it has a distinct apple note that becomes more spicy and baked as it matures and the mouthwatering acidity and complex minerality deliciously cut through the oiliness of the mackerel. What's more, the wine has a mouthfilling waxy richness (from botrytis) highlighted by the toasted pine nuts in the dish. You can see how both the wine and the food have a range of subtle elements that all work in harmony with each other – and quite unforgettably. (That said, you could also consider other smart whites with decent acidity, not much oak, but ideally with some maturity such as Chablis, Gruner Veltliner, Graves and top Rhône whites.)

Mackerel with apple purée

4 large mackerel fillets

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon pine nuts

2 teaspoons rosemary leaves

2 cooking apples

half a cinnamon stick

10 cloves

1 bay leaf

1 dessertspoon sea salt flakes

Serves 4

Toast the pine nuts under a hot grill until golden brown. In a small pan gently warm the olive oil with the rosemary. Add the pine nuts, allow to cool and let the flavours infuse for at least half an hour. 

Peel, core and quarter the apples. Chop roughly and place in a small saucepan with 4 tablespoons water, the spices and the bay leaf. Simmer over a low heat until disintegrated. Remove the cinnamon and bay leaf and whisk the purée until smooth.

Take a large non-stick frying pan, sprinkle the sea salt over the surface and place on a high heat. Lay the mackerel fillets skin side down on the hot salt and press down to prevent them from curling. Reduce the heat slightly and cook the fillets until you can see the heat has penetrated half way through. Turn the fillets at this point and briefly seal the flesh side. You want the fillets slightly undercooked in the middle.

Warm the apple purée and put a couple of tablespoons on each plate. Place the fish skin side up on the apple and dress with the pine nuts and rosemary. Sautéed potatoes are a good accompaniment for a main course, but nothing else would be necessary if you're serving this as a starter – just your special bottle of wine!