Simple Food

By Good Magazine

June 2, 2017

Angus Allan’s Classic Christmas fare

Angus Allan’s Classic Christmas fare

A fishy dish

Fish is delicious, quick to cook and healthy – low in saturated fat and high in protein, iodine, vitamins and minerals. Trouble is, fish stocks are declining worldwide to the point that the UN estimates that 70 percent of our fisheries are already exploited or depleted.

          Tuna’s popularity in sushi means that, globally, there are real issues with overfishing, and even in the Pacific the activities of industrial fleets are endangering the most abundant tuna species.

           Southern bluefin, Pacific bluefin, yellowfin and bigeye are at critical levels and should all be avoided, says Kirstie Knowles, marine conservation advocate with Forest and Bird. Pacific albacore tuna, sometimes called ‘the chicken of the sea’, is at the more sustainable end of the scale, but there are some concerns about the by-catch of sharks and seabirds. Skipjack tuna can be a tricky to find in shops, but Kirstie recommends it as the better choice – it is by far the more sustainable tuna option.

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Angus’s tuna, cheese and
pickled tomato salad

2 fillets of skipjack tuna (see “A fishy dish”, page 89)

Butter for cooking

Salt and pepper to season

Fresh basil leaves

Cucumber, sliced

200g ball of mozzarella or bocconcini, sliced

Using a sharp knife, ensure you cut the blood line from the fillet (this is a vein running down the length of the fish) and peel off the skin. Cut the fillet into medallions, each one approximately 1cm thick. Cover and set aside.

Immediately before serving, fry the fish medallions in a little butter. Season to taste.

Assemble the salad by placing the fish medallions on a large platter and interspersing them with the croutons, slices of cucumber, pickled tomato and cheese. Drizzle a teaspoonful of aioli onto each medallion and scatter with roughly torn
basil leaves.

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Pickled tomatoes

Step one:

21/2 kgs tomatoes, blanched and peeled

6 tbsp sea salt
2 bunches spring onions, finely chopped

You can keep the tomatoes whole or chop into quarters.

Put tomatoes and other ingredients into a large, non-metal bowl. Set aside.

Step two:

11/2 cups red wine vinegar


1 cup cane sugar

Combine in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Cook until the sugar dissolves – approximately 1 minute. Set aside.

Step three:

1/2 cup olive oil

11/2 tbsp black mustard seeds

4 tbsp coarsely ground black peppercorns

11/2 tbsp turmeric

4 tbsp ground cumin

3/4 cup fresh garlic purée

3/4 cup finely chopped ginger

4 fresh, whole green chillies

Heat the olive oil in a sauce pot. Add the garlic and ginger and cook until aromatic. Add the remaining Step 3 ingredients, being careful not to burn the mixture. Add the hot vinegar mixture from Step 2. Bring to the boil, simmering for 2 minutes. Pour over the tomatoes, salt and spring onions from Step 1. Mix well. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Store the tomato mixture in the fridge in a large, sterile screw-top jar, leaving for at least a day.

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Croutons

3/4 loaf ciabatta or sourdough, cubed

3 tbsp good olive oil

6 cloves New Zealand garlic

2 tbsp butter


Healthy pinch salt

Melt the butter and oil over a low heat. Add the garlic and bread cubes. Turn up the heat and toss the cubes continuously to coat the bread in the oil and butter mixture. Fry until crispy, taking care not to let them burn. This takes about 10 minutes. Season with salt, toss the croutons into a bowl lined with paper and set to one side.

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Aioli dressing

2 cloves garlic

Good pinch salt

One egg yolk


Lemon juice

Approximately 300ml virgin olive oil or sunflower oil

1/2 lemon

Grind the garlic and salt together using a mortar and pestle.

Add the egg yolk and a squeeze of lemon and whisk in the oil,
varying the amount depending on the size of the egg.

Store in a jar in the fridge – it will thicken overnight.

Angus says …

“Salmonella is a potential cause of food poisoning and can be found in raw eggs. I always use fresh, free-range eggs to make aioli because the hens are healthier and the eggs taste better. Home-made aioli will keep for up to five days in the refrigerator. To be on the safe side, make it often, in small amounts, and use it up promptly. Not hard to do because it’s so delicious!”

Panna cotta is a traditional Italian dessert made with vanilla, creamy milk and sugar. It’s one of those sophisticated puddings that’s a lot simpler to make than it looks. Team it with your favourite summer stone fruit and you’ll find the rich colours and fruity tartness will perfectly complement the panna cotta’s delicate creaminess. Any seasonal stone fruit will work, though plums or other acidic fruits such as tamarillo or rhubarb are particularly good to cut across the sweetness of the panna cotta.

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Poached fruit

8 plums or other fruit

1/2 cup red wine, port or sherry

1/2 cup sugar

1 cinnamon quill

Use a paring knife to cut the plums in half and remove stones. Put flesh-side down in a wide, shallow saucepan and add all the other ingredients.

Cover with a sheet of greaseproof paper and simmer gently until the fruit is cooked. This should take about 10 minutes, depending on the firmness of the fruit.

Put to one side – you can serve either warm or cold. Alternatively, reduce the juice for a few more minutes for a richer sauce.

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Panna cotta

1 vanilla pod, fresh (they harden with age)

150ml full-cream milk

600ml cream


150g sugar

2 gelatine leaves (or 2 tsp gelatine)

Ice cubes or iced water

4 panna cotta moulds, with an approximate
capacity of 150ml each

Using a paring knife, split the vanilla pod down the centre and scrape out the seeds with the edge of the blade. Put the cream, milk, sugar and vanilla seeds into a saucepan and bring to the boil over a low heat. Remove from the heat as soon as the mixture starts to simmer. Steep (let it sit) for 10 to 15 minutes.

Snap the gelatine leaves in half and soak in a small bowl of lukewarm water for a couple of minutes to soften. Squeeze the gelatine leaves gently and discard the water. Drop the gelatine into the warm milk mixture and leave for a couple of minutes to dissolve.

Pour the milk mixture through a fine sieve into a medium-sized stainless steel bowl to remove the vanilla pods and any clumps of cream – but allow the tiny vanilla seeds to go through. Place the medium-sized bowl in a larger metal bowl containing iced water and leave it to sit for an hour, stirring every 15 minutes or so to ensure the vanilla seeds remain suspended in the liquid. (You can skip this step, but the vanilla seeds will sink to the bottom of the puddings).

Pour the mixture into a small jug and then into the four panna cotta moulds. Cover with cling film and leave overnight. These are best served after chilling for a day, but will keep for five days in the fridge.

Immediately before serving, fill a shallow bowl with warm water and place the panna cotta moulds in it, taking care that the level of the warm water is not higher than the moulds! Leave to sit for a minute. Take a sharp knife and run it around the edge of each mould. Cover each mould with a serving plate and, one at a time, flip the puddings onto the plates.

Using a paring knife, skin the plums and arrange on the plate alongside the panna cotta with an artistic drizzle of jus (the
fruit juice).

Angus says …

“Gelatine leaves can be found at speciality food stores. They’re worth hunting out, as leaves don’t contain the preservatives included in standard gelatine powder and they’ll give you a finer, softer result.”

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