COOKING INHugo Arnold fools some friends with a fast-food fabrication
I didn't much feel like cooking the other day, so when our friends arrived I explained that we'd be dining on fish, chips and beans. They were a little at a loss. What exactly did I mean by fish, chips and beans, they wondered.
Well, I reasoned, an evening with friends isn't about the food. In fact, for those people my son calls NFOPs (or "non-food-obsessed people"), it never is about the food. NFOPs, he insists, are in the vast majority, and if only sad cases like me could wake up to this fact, the world would be a much better place.
So I settled into one of our more comfortable chairs and poured myself another glass of wine. If it's not about the food, I told them, then as long as what we ate was "okay", everything would be fine.
I have rarely seen a more reluctant and dispirited group head into the kitchen. Silence reigned until I unmasked some freshly blanched chips heated up the olive oil, grabbed the three-hour baked beans from the fridge and produced some of the most beautifully fresh cod I have ever been able to buy.
April Fool, I announced, and we got stuck into some of the best chat of the year.
Recipes feed four
BATTERED COD
1 sachet instant yeast
300ml Guinness
225g plain flour
4 thick pieces of cod (about 160g each)
Combine the yeast with a little of the Guinness and mix to dissolve. Add the rest of the Guinness. Sieve the flour into a bowl with a teaspoon of salt. Pour in the Guinness and yeast and mix well. Cover with a cloth and set aside for 40 minutes before using.
Season the fish with salt and pepper. Dip in the batter. Heat enough oil to take two pieces of fish to 160C. (If you don't have a thermometer, drop a little of the batter into the oil. It needs to sizzle with gusto.) Fry two pieces for eight minutes, or until golden. Turn a couple of times during this time. Dry on kitchen paper and hold in a warm oven while you cook the other two.
OVEN CHIPS
1kg floury potatoes
olive oilHolding each potato lengthways, slice half a centimetre off the side. Turn on to this cut side and repeat the process three more times, so you end up with an almost squared-off spud. The top and bottom will have some skin on, but this is fine. Cut into one-centimetre chips and wash in several changes of water. Dry, toss with olive oil and roast in a hot oven, at 200C/gas six, for 30 minutes, tossing several times. Transfer to a bowl and season with salt and pepper.
BAKED BEANS
450g haricot or similar white beans, soaked overnight
1 carrot, roughly chopped
2 sticks celery, roughly chopped
small bunch thyme
bunch parsley, leaves picked and stems reserved
2 bay leaves
1 onion
4 cloves
2 tbsp chopped shallots
1 tbsp butter
1 400g can chopped tomatoes
500ml chicken stock
Bring the beans to the boil in a saucepan of water, along with the carrot, celery, thyme, parsley stalks, bay leaves and the onion studded with the cloves. Simmer for an hour, or until tender. Remove the onion and cloves, carrot, celery, parsley stalks and bay leaves.
Saute the shallots in the butter, add the beans and coat well. Add the tomatoes and chicken stock, season with pepper and simmer for 30 minutes. Season with salt and carry on cooking until the liquid has reduced and the mixture is thick (30-40 minutes).
Check seasoning again. Salt can toughen pulses, which is why you add it at the end. harnold@irish-times.ie