Fish & Chips from Canterbury, United Kingdom

Let's play a game. I say a country, you say the first dish that comes to mind. Ready?

Japan.

Sushi. (Too bad sushi or sashimi isn't here in Canterbury)

Spain.

Tapas. (Ok, it's a category, but still)

UK.

Fish and Chips.

Fish and chips is the first English food that comes to mind for me. To be honest with you, I was not looking forward to the English food scene before coming. However, I am happy to say that I am pleasantly surprised at the variety of fresh produce, meats, cheeses, breads, and other products that are available here. I like the stores here better than I like the store back home. I wish I could bring the local grocery store, Sainbury's, home with me so that I can inexpensive, fresh products for the rest of my life.  

Anyways, I knew I had to get fish and chips sooner than later, so I asked one of my English mates where the best place was in town. He told me to go to a shop right off of High Street, the main street, called City Fish Bar. 

We found it and I placed my order. When the cashier handed me the artery-clogging goodness, I was in shock at how large the piece of cod was.

After adding a sprinkle of salt and a splash of malt vinegar, I ate my first bite. It was perfectly battered, crunchy, and the cod was very moist in the middle. As for the chips, they were thick cut, crispy on the outside, fluffy potato on the inside. Delicious.

As soon as I walk a few more miles, I'll be ready to try other kinds of battered and fried foods like hot dogs.

Cheers! 

Sauteed Sea Bean and Mushrooms

So we went to the English Walmart the other day. It's called ASDA. I have no idea if it's an acronym or what it stands for. I do know that it's apart of the Walmart family.I am not a huge fan of Walmart, sorry if that offends anyone.

However, I have a confession to make, I do like ASDA. Imagine Walmart but 2/3 of the store is food. Don't think frozen, processed, heat-and-ready-to-heat kind of food. Think aisles, many, many aisles, of fresh produce, meats, cheeses, breads and more, of course more, it's Walmart.

So I picked up at package of spinach and on the label is the farmer's name. In fact, most of the produce packs have the name of the person who grew it, how cool is that?

Things were as inexpensive as our other favorite store, Sainsbury, but still a full sized, glass jar of Nutella was only a pound, fresh herb plants were 68p, and I bought sea beans for 1.5 pounds. It was my splurge of the day.

My first encounter of sea beans was in the summer when I was about seven. I was enrolled in a summer camp called Bay Camp where we learned about all the creatures and plants that lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. If you didn't know already, another passion of mine is animals and zoology which also came at an early age. Anyways, they told us we could eat the sea beans (they called it pickle weed) and so we tried them. They tasted salty, crunchy and of the ocean. They also provide habitat for many of the shorebirds and the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse. Say that ten times fast.

Fast forward to this summer when I was at my favorite produce store, the Berkeley Bowl. I was shocked to see the pickle weed I tried as a kid selling for $14 a pound and the name changed to sea beans, which sounds better than pickle weed, I guess. I guess the habitat for salt marsh animals has turned to a classy, modern green for foodies. Don't worry, the sea beans are grown like any other crop, no mice were hurt in harvesting.

The sea beans (pickle weed, glasswort, samphire) grows in a salt marsh and therefore have a distinct salty taste. They can be eaten raw in salads or cooked. They are crunchy, salty and resemble spinach or asparagus.

The Ingredients

a couple of handfuls of sea beans (less than 1/4 of a pound)

1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
2 teaspoons of water

1 teaspoon butter

1/2 teaspoon oil

1/2 teaspoon chopped parsley

1 clove of garlic chopped


The Method
Heat a pan on medium high heat and add the butter and oil. Thrown in the mushrooms and cook until lightly brown on each side.
Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Toss in the sea beans and water.

Cover for about 2 minutes and then saute until all the water is evaporated. There is no real need for salt because the sea beans are quite salty.

If you happen to run into sea beans, give them a try. They are a perfect side for fish or other seafood.

Recipe by Spencer Huey

Switzerland: Climbing Alps, Chocolate and Cheese

This past weekend, I went to Switzerland. It's such a beautiful country filled with rolling green hills, lakes filled with swans and color changing forests. We started out in Zurich and then took a train to Luzern. 

We hiked around Mt. Pilatus area which as the local legend goes is where Pontius Pilate is buried. It was so cool to be so immersed into God's creation. It was a little foggy and rainy when we went, but still it was worth it to see the leaves changing colors.

I posted about the trip on my travel blog, A Canterbury Tale. Cheesy, but I'm living in Canterbury for school this semester so, why not? Switzerland was pretty expensive for us college kids. We went to Starbucks and MacDonald's just to see if anything was different. The prices jumped out to us immediately. Try $7.50 for a tall hot chocolate or $12 for a big mac. Something that I would barely consider food is $12! We decided to buy groceries at the local store and cook food ourselves. We ate lots of pasta, cereal and sandwiches...not to exciting but the landscape made up for it. But of course we had to try some local specialties. Switzerland is famous for cheese so we got some great Swiss Gruyère.

It was perfectly salty, sweet, and nutty. The cheese originated in Switzerland and has no holes whereas French Gruyere have holes according to French agriculture law.
We also had Swiss chocolate from Merkur Chocolate. It was so good; smooth, creamy and melted perfected on the tongue.

We also tried a shenkli which is a Swiss donut. It taste like lemon flavored, old fashioned donut. Crunchy on the outside, lemony in the inside.

Lastly of the strictly Swiss foods, we drank some rivella. This is Swiss soda is made with milk whey which doesn't sounds appealing but the drink is quite refreshing. The taste is a combination of coke and ginger ale with a heavy wave of fizz at the end.

I had a great time in Switzerland and I would recommend anyone to take a trip to Luzern and do some hiking around Mt. Pilatus. Do bring a heavy jacket if you go in the fall or winter, it does get quite cold.

Barcelona: Tapas, Mercat and Bacallà

This past weekend, I went to Barcelona, Spain with Kevin and Janice. Janice is from UC San Diego, as well, and is studying abroad in Cordoba, Spain. We wanted to meet up on her side of Europe, so we chose Barcelona. It's such a great city, full of culture, great food and fun-loving people. We started our day with chocolate con churros, the breakfast of champions and tourists alike. It sounds so simple, yet the warm fried, slightly salty churro sprinkled with sugar was the perfect vehicle to move the coat-the-back-of-the-spoon thick chocolate drink into our bodies. The chocolate was not too sweet, which I preferred because I could taste more chocolate flavor than sugar. We're going to have to try and make this at home.

We saw many works of the Catalan architect, Antoni Gaudi, throughout the city. My favorite was the Sagrada Familia, which is a catholic church which has been under construction since 1882. Even though construction has taken well over a hundred years, it still has about 20 more years to go. 

Let's talk food. Spanish food is becoming quite popular; it's full of fresh local ingredients and tons of flavor. It has a lot of seafood from the waters surrounding the country. Barcelona is in the northeastern part of the nation: Catalan country. The cuisine of Catalan emphasizes fresh vegetables (like tomatoes, garlic, eggplant, and red pepper), breads and pastas, pork products, poultry, olive oils, wines, cheese, and of course seafood, including anchovies, tuna, and the salt cod, bacallà.

Bacalla

Of course, we had tapas, many small plates of food making up a whole meal.

Calamare Romanesco

Pulpitas a la planca (Grilled octopus)

Croquetas de jamon. Breaded and fried mashed potatoes, ham and creamy bechemel sauce.

Then we went to Mercat de la Boqueria. This has to be one of my favorite food markets I've been too. The perfect produce was carefully stacked. 

 

 

 

The local seafood was fresh, very fresh. The vendors displayed their bright red gills as well as the crystal clear eyes, both signs of freshness.

 

 After looking around for awhile, I had to get bunyols de bacallà which are salt cod fritters with garlic and parsley. They were excellent.

I miss the churros and tapas already. We had such a great time in Barcelona. It was great to catch up with Janice after 4 months of not seeing her and to hear how God was working in her life in Spain. If you are ever in Barcelona, start your day with chocolate con churros, eat as many croquetas as you can for lunch, and visit the Mercat de la Boqueria. There is always something tasty to eat in Spain.

Garlicky Broccolini

I can't believe I've been in England for over three weeks. I am living on campus at the University of Kent in Canterbury. Think typical English countryside....that's exactly what Canterbury looks like.

It's full of half-timber houses, a cathedral founded in the 600's, forests of oak trees, and cobblestone roads.

The food store scene is not too shabby either. Let's just say that American grocery stores should take notes from the stores here in the UK. First, food is fresh, not processed. I took a look at canned goods, frozen foods, packaged items and could easily pronounce all the items without the need of a biochem degree. Second, the groceries are much cheaper than I expected. I usually spent about $40 a week on groceries. Here I spend less than half that. Fresh herbs are less than dollar here; I bought a jar of lemon curd for about 30 cents as well.

With my fridge full of fresh ingredients and my belly completely empty, I decided to make a quick lunch of broccolini. Broccolini, called tender stem in the UK, is similar to broccoli; it has long thin stems with a smaller floret head. It's a hybrid between broccoli and the Chinese green, gai lan. The slightly sweet taste is somewhere between broccoli and asparagus. This dish can also be made using broccoli or broccoli rabe, which is a more leafy, bitter, and nutty cousin.

The Ingredients

a bunch of broccolini (or broccoli, broccoli rabe)

2 teaspoons olive oil

3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

couple pinches of peperoncino

2 tablespoons water or chicken broth

salt

The Method

Start with a cold pan. Pour the olive oil in the pan, along with the garlic and chili flakes. Turn the heat on medium heat. This will allow the olive oil to be infused with the garlic and chili for a longer amount of time.

When the garlic starts to sizzle and turn whiter, add the broccolini, water, and a dash of salt. Cover with a lid and let it steam for 3-4 minutes until the broccolini becomes tender. Uncover the pan, give a toss and allow the water to evaporate. Serve as a side to roasted chicken or steak.

The broccolini were tender yet crunchy, slightly sweet and full of a spicy garlicky flavor which fill your whole mouth.This will feed about 2-3 people. This weekend, I am going to Barcelona, Spain. I can't wait to go tapas bar hopping, all day.

Recipe by Spencer Huey