On a recent trip to Scotland in which she raided a
well-stocked farm shop, my Mum picked up a packet of smoked salmon trimmings.
I’ve heard of them of course and just assumed they were cheaper because they
were scraps, which is true but holy moley, they’re also as smoky as anything! As
the outer parts of smoked salmon, trimmings are exposed to the full whack of
smouldering woodchips in the smokehouse. I actually needed to soak ours in milk
for an hour to reduce the pungency but after that they were good to go! The
default recipe for trimmings seems to be paté; which has never appealed to me. Equally
sacrilegious when it comes to smoked salmon is the prospect of a quiche; if you
buy it smoked, you don’t cook it! Come on, people don’t buy whiskey to flambé,
or stir caviar into a risotto, do they? However, with my trimmings so
unbelievably strong I had to make an exception to my rule, labelling them “tartlets”
in the hope of getting away with it. Plus, the salmon was actually on the turn
and cooking it seemed to be the best option. I’m sorry most of my recipes deal
with semi-rotten foodstuffs from the back of our fridge; that’s what cooking’s
all about, isn’t it?
People associate sprouts with Christmas but my Dad wants
them with every single meal in the winter months. He buys bag upon bag of them,
silently depositing them in the fridge as wordless suggestions for me each week.
Luckily, I’m a huge fan too and can eat them by the bowlful, even if he
shouldn’t; sprouts are high in potassium, which actually interfere with his
anti-rejection drugs! Apart from this risk factor, the primary problem with Daddy’s
sprout consumption is that he’s a massive traditionalist and turns his nose up
at anything other than a pure boiled “farty sprout”. My favourite take on
sprouts is definitely the single cream and chopped chestnuts route but I
decided to give this recipe a go because I was feeling guilty about a packet of
marvellously rooty multi-coloured baby carrots I’d ignored but refused to throw
out. It worked nicely as part of a hot buffet but would go really well as a
side dish for dinner; try it with something gamey like pheasant or venison.
