We Love Cooking!:
smoked salmon

Gizzi Erskine may be a new name to you, she was for me, but her book, "Gizzi's Kitchen Magic" cover totally caught my eye while I was browsing through the amazon cookery section the other day. This is possibly one the coolest cookbook covers I have seen for a while and it's even cooler when you get your hands on it as it's embossed in gold! Now not being one to judge a book by it's cover I took my copy with me on my travels to have a good nose through it and get a good feel for Gizzi's writing. To give you a brief bit of back ground Gizzi is one of the "Cook Yourself Thin" girls and was orignally a food stylist before she got into the tv side of things, so has a huge knowledge of food! The one thing I do have to point out is that the book is quite girly, and I know quite a few potential domestic goddesses who could definitely be encouraged into the kitchen with a present of "Gizzi's Kitchen Magic" wrapped up in a bow! The book is absolutely jam packed with really fantastic tips on everything from what meat cuts to buy to choosing the best pastry to make. The lovely folks at Virgin books have provided me with a few recipes from the book to share with you this week and on Friday there will be 3 copies up for grabs, so stick around for that. Gizzi will also be stopping in for a quick interview aswell so if there are any questions you want answered, leave a comment below.

Gizzi Erskine's Creamy Smoked Salmon
& Pea Spaghetti
Spaghetti carbonara is a classic for a reason, but it is laden with cream and, therefore, also very guilt-inducing. So I decided to halve the cream content and replace the rest with Greek yoghurt. Having done this, it seemed natural to replace the smokiness of the bacon with smoked salmon. I then decided to add some green colour with the summery addition of broad beans and green peas, my favourite veggies, and fi nished with a hint of lemon to lift the dish.

Serves 4
Preparation time 15 minutes
Cooking time 10 minutes
350g dried spaghetti
150g podded and shelled broad beans
150g fresh or frozen garden peas
200ml double cream
200ml Greek yoghurt
2 large free-range egg yolks
35g Parmesan cheese
zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
180g smoked salmon (about 8 slices), sliced into short ribbons
A small bunch of fresh chives, snipped

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the spaghetti according to the instructions on the packet. For the last 3 minutes of the cooking time add the broad beans and peas.
Meanwhile mix together the cream, yoghurt, egg yolks, Parmesan, lemon zest, salt and pepper.
Drain the cooked pasta, beans and peas, leaving a few tablespoons of water in the bottom of the pan. Return the pan to a low heat and pour in the sauce.
Toss the pasta in the sauce, then add the smoked salmon and chives, giving it all a good mix round until it’s evenly incorporated and the salmon has cooked through. Serve piping hot.

(Taken from Gizzi’s Kitchen Magic by Gizzi Erskine published by Virgin Books, price £20)

Of all the dishes we prepared for Foodstock, I am pretty certain that the Irish Seafood Chowder was the biggest success. I am told that the French absolutely love their seafood which is probably why! The chowder we made had a great selection of fish, haddock, cod, smoked fish, and prawns which the amazing chefs at the Chalet meticulously prepared for us. I have to admit that cooking on such a large scale can be quite daunting in terms of producing a similar end product to that of a smaller quantity, but that said between the whole team we served up some damn tasty chowder!

For about an hour on the Wednesday night I did feel like I was in a soup kitchen and there was a high chance of some sort of repetitive strain injury after ladling the chowder 350 times! Luckily we had the lovely ladies from Bord Bia to help us out, one of whom was out on her first assignment with them, though I’m pretty sure she is well inducted after Foodstock.

Irish Seafood Chowder
This is the kind of soup that if you put a lot of love and time in you will get the best results. The key is to add the fish at the very end leaving just enough time to let them cook. Cook the fish pieces too long and you will be left with an Irish seafood mush rather than a chunky creamy chowder!

Serves 8 (Makes 3.15 litres)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 medium onions, finely chopped
100g salt pork diced (or pancetta/bacon bits)

2 dried bay leaves
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 kg of peeled and diced potatoes
1.125 litre of fish stock
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1.25kg of cod (or similar white fish)
750g of fresh salmon
500g of mussels
500g of smoked haddock
330ml of heavy cream
1 tablespoon of fresh parsley, chopped finely
100g of smoked salmon, cut into fine strips for garnish

In a large pot, heat the butter and sauté the onions for 3-4 minutes.
Add the salt pork and continue to fry until it colours.
Add in the fresh thyme, bay leaves and potatoes and cook gently for 2-3 minutes before adding the fish stock.
Season well with salt and pepper.
Simmer for 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are tender yet firm. (Some of the potato will break down and help thicken the chowder).
Add the haddock, salmon, cod and mussels and simmer gently for 5 minutes.
Remove the pot from the heat and allow to sit before finally and gently stirring in the parsley and cream.
Serve with the strips of smoked salmon as a garnish on top.