I would be lost without my broad, smooth pestle and mortar, to the point where I even take it on location with me, so I can use it wherever we are cooking. Filming a new TV series recently, I was amazed to see I was not the only one who brought their own with them, and encountered beautiful ones in stone, ridged earthenware, wood and marble. Like any kitchen kit, the well-used pestle and mortar was beloved of many of the cooks I worked with.
Of course, you don’t need one – a bowl and the end of a rolling pin will do the job of crushing and pounding, or a food processer, but there is such pleasure in using a pestle and mortar I can’t see why anyone wouldn’t use one. You can gauge the texture of the paste you are grinding much more easily than in a food processor, plus you get to breathe in the fragrance of every spice, seed, herb and nut you crush. A gentle and delightful reminder that the real pleasure of cooking is about the process not just the end result.
This month’s recipes all involve some sort of pestle and mortar, though what you use is up to you.
Red mullet with potatoes and roasted garlic aioli
You won’t need the whole head for this recipe, but garlic tends to dry out when you roast it a clove at a time, so do a whole head and use the rest in pasta, or spread on bruschetta.
Serves 2
large potatoes 400g, such as Maris Piper
olive oil 4 tbsp
rosemary 2 large sprigs
red mullet 2 medium-sized (250g each)
For the aioli
garlic a whole head
egg yolk 1
olive oil 100ml
lemon juice a little
Set the oven at 180C/gas mark 4. Loosely wrap the head of garlic in foil then roast for about 30 minutes, till the flesh inside the skins is sweet and soft.
Slice the potatoes thinly and put them in a bowl. Pour the 4 tablespoons of olive oil over the potatoes. Pull the needles from one of the stalks of rosemary and scatter over the potatoes together with a grinding of salt and pepper. Tip the potatoes onto a baking sheet or roasting tin.
Tuck the remaining sprigs of rosemary among the potatoes, place the fish on top, season and trickle lightly with a little olive oil. Then roast for about 25 minutes.
Peel two of the garlic cloves and put the flesh into a mortar. Using a pestle and mortar, mix the garlic with the egg yolk and a little salt, then beat in the oil, slowly, as if you were making mayonnaise. Finish to taste with a squeeze or two of lemon juice. Serve the potatoes and fish with the aioli.
Clams with picada
Picada recipes vary by region, but the essentials are nuts (usually almonds or hazelnuts), parsley, olive oil and garlic. Some versions may contain saffron.
Serves 2-3
vegetable stock 1 litre
large prawns 8
parsley stalks small bunch
bay leaves 2
shelled almonds 50g
garlic a single clove
olive oil 1 tsp
chopped parsley 3 tbsp
lemon 1
chopped tarragon 3 tbsp
small, young leeks 3
cod fillet 400g
small clams 500g
Put the vegetable stock into a saucepan over a moderate heat. Shell the prawns and add the prawn shells to the stock together with the parsley stalks and bay leaves and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and leave to gently simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes. Reserve the shelled prawns.
Put the shelled almonds into a shallow pan, add the garlic, peeled, and a teaspoon of olive oil. Toast until the almonds start to brown then transfer to a mortar and pound till coarsely ground and crunchy. Stir in the chopped parsley, finely grated zest of the lemon and then the tarragon.
Cut the young leeks into short pieces approximately the length of a wine cork. Skin the cod fillet and cut into 6 pieces. Strain most of the stock through a sieve into a saucepan, add the leeks and let them simmer over a moderate heat for 7 or 8 minutes till soft, then lower in the cod, letting it cook for 4 or 5 minutes.
Put the remaining stock in a separate pan (you only need 50ml or so), add the clams and let them cook for 3 or 4 minutes till the shells open. Lift the clams out into the pan with the leeks and cod in, then pour the cooking liquor through a fine sieve into the rest of the stock. (This is a minor chore, but will stop any fine grit from the clams getting into the soup.)
Add the reserved, shelled prawns to the pan, continue cooking for a minute or two then carefully lift out the clams, cod, leeks and prawns with a draining spoon and into deep bowls. Check the cooking liquor for seasoning, it may need salt and pepper, then pour over the clams and cod. Scatter the almond mixture over the surface and serve.
Mushrooms with sesame and ginger
Enoki and the shorter, larger shimeji mushrooms are available from larger supermarkets and Japanese food shops.
Serves 2
chestnut mushrooms 200g
enoki and shimeji mushrooms 150g
olive oil 3 tbsp
ginger a 30g piece
sesame seeds 4 heaped tbsp
light soy sauce 2 tsp
Cut each chestnut mushroom into 4 or 5 thickish slices. Separate the enoki and shimeji mushrooms and remove any roots. Warm the olive oil in a frying pan or large wok, then add the chestnut mushrooms and let them cook for 6-8 minutes till golden. Peel and roughly chop or slice the ginger.
While the mushrooms are cooking, toast the sesame seeds in a dry frying pan for a few minutes till fragrant and honey coloured. Tip half the sesame seeds into a mortar, add the peeled and chopped ginger and pound to a thick, crunchy paste. Season lightly with black pepper and the soy then stir in the reserved whole sesame seeds.
Add the enoki and shimeji to the cooked chestnut mushrooms then scatter the sesame ginger paste over and toss gently to mix.
Javanese cucumber salad
Bobby Ananta, food blogger and contributor to Guardian food and drink, recently gave me a wonderful Javanese pestle and mortar, made from dark grey stone. Known as ulek-ulek and layah it is rougher than my own smooth one and particularly good for making coarse-textured spice pastes. He made the most gorgeous Javanese salad with cucumber, crisp green beans, galangal and a dressing of coconut milk and lime leaves. Crunchy and refreshing, it is sweet and salty and a little sour. Here is a similar recipe, inspired by his, I made at home this week.
Serves 4
green beans 250g, washed
carrots 400g, peeled
red bird-eye chillies 12, left whole
cucumber 1
ginger 3cm piece, bruised
lemongrass 2 stalks, bruised
vegetable oil 2 tbsp
bay leaves 2
lime leaves 3
coconut milk 400ml
sugar 2 tbsp
salt 1 tsp
rice wine vinegar 3 tbsp
For the paste
garlic 3 cloves, peeled
small shallots 3, chopped
ground turmeric 2 tsp
chillies 3, small red
peanuts 10
salt 1 tsp
Cut the green beans into ½cm lengths and dice the carrots into ½cm cubes, then blanch them till almost tender – there should still be plenty of crunch – and drain. Refresh in a sieve under running water to keep the colours bright. Peel the cucumber, halve lengthways, remove and discard the seeds, then cut into small dice.
Crush the ginger by pressing down on it with the flat of your knife or hitting it with a rolling pin. Do the same with the lemongrass and then tie it in a knot (so it can easily be removed from the dish when cooked).
Grind the garlic, shallots, turmeric, chillies, peanuts and salt to a coarse paste. Warm the vegetable oil in a wok and fry the spice paste for 3 minutes. Add the twist of lemongrass and ginger, and the bay and lime leaves, then add the coconut milk and simmer, gently, stirring from time to time, for 5-10 minutes.
Add the diced green beans and carrots. Simmer for 5-10 minutes. Add the cucumber and simmer for a further 2 minutes. Add the sugar and salt, sprinkle over the rice wine vinegar, stir, remove the lemongrass and serve.
Pistachio and honey rolls
I was recently filming in ceramicist Linda Dangoor’s kitchen, where she made a rose- and cardamom-scented muhallabia – a soft and fragrant dessert included in the new series. Linda showed us how to make long thin malfouf, the almond and rosewater cigars made with filo pastry. Inspired by her filling of pestle-and-mortar-ground nuts and cardamom, I have made a filling of crushed pistachios and almonds flavoured with rose and honey, and have soaked the warm pastries in a syrup of lemon and honey. The result is a crisp and sticky pastry, very different from Linda’s but I feel it does carry something of their spirit.
Makes 9
pistachios 200g (100g shelled weight)
ground almonds 120g
caster sugar 60g
cardamom pods 12
rose syrup 2 tsp
sultanas 90g
honey 7 tbsp
butter 80g
filo pastry 3 sheets (sheet size 45 x 30cm, landscape them into 3 strips)
sesame seeds 2 tbsp
For the syrup
honey 3 tbsp
lemon juice of ½
Remove the pistachios from their shells then pound to a coarse powder using a pestle and mortar. Fold in the ground almonds and the sugar. Crack open the cardamom pods, extract the seeds within and grind them to a coarse powder. Mix them with the ground nuts then stir in the rose syrup, sultanas and honey. Set the oven at 180C/gas mark 4.
Melt the butter in a small pan. Lay a sheet of filo pastry long side toward you on the work surface and cut into three equal pieces along the long side.
Take three tablespoons of the mix, shape it into a small log and place it at the near end of the first strip of pastry. Roll up the piece of pastry, brushing it with some of the melted butter as you go. Seal with butter, squeezing the edges together. Place the rolls on a baking sheet, brushing each with butter. Bake for 20-25 minutes till pale gold.
Warm the honey and lemon juice in a small pan, then brush it over the warm pastries, scatter with sesame seeds then return to the oven for 5 minutes. Remove from the tray immediately (otherwise they will stick) and eat warm or cool.
Nigel Slater’s new series, Eating Together, starts on BBC1 on 27 April
