Old school cooking

THE LONDON CHEF Alistair Little was considered by many critics to be the godfather of modern British cooking during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

As a self-taught chef with two restaurants (one in Notting Hill and one in Ladbroke Grove) each bearing his name, he fell in love with all things Italian and was responsible for many culinary afflictions that some of us have grown to hate over the years: rocket with everything, sundried anything and carpaccio of something. Little was a big deal before the River Café became synonymous with rustic but gourmet London-Italian grub and, although revered by many critics, he remained pretty true to his craft and didn’t go down the celebrity chef route with a plethora of TV shows, public spats and potty language under his checked pants. In fact, the only real bust up seems to be with his ex-partner, which resulted in him having to walk away from the restaurants that bore his name. Nowadays, he is to be found in an upmarket deli/restaurant in Notting Hill, called Tavola which I may have to stalk some day.

Anyway, all of the above is a long-winded way of saying that I am a fan and 20 years after he was big in Japan (okay, Soho) it’s lovely to go back and flick through his books. As we all know, food, like fashion, can be a bit cyclical. But it’s amazing to see that his food, even from way back then, looks quite current in its presentation and style. Certainly the food photography is out of date, but his dishes and cooking style aren’t. I was delighted with the ease and tastiness of this sea bass dish with shredded veg and although he acknowledges that the addition of butter isn’t very “Cantonese”, he rightly points out that the luxuriousness of the butter goes really well with the astringent soy sauce.

The rice-noodle salad is quite possibly a meal in itself if you increase the vegetable quotient by adding some sauteed bok or pak choi. It is based on a recipe by Simon Hopkinson , who, unlike me, is not a lazy bones, so his recipe has instructions for making a ginger syrup and sesame paste. No way Simon. It was much easier to strain a bit of stem-ginger syrup (from a jar) and use a teaspoon of tahini (from a jar). But thanks all the same.

Sliced sea bass with soy and shredded vegetables

Serves 2

Approximately 500g sea bass, filleted

1 tbsp flour

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tbsp soy sauce

5cm knob fresh ginger, grated

1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed

2 tbsp olive oil

1 x 450g bags baby spinach

1 carrot, peeled and very thinly sliced

4 spring onions, finely chopped

1 red chilli, deseeded and thinly sliced

50g butter

Slice the sea bass into diagonal slices and set aside on a plate, ready to dip into the flour. Mix the lemon juice, soy sauce, grated ginger and crushed garlic together and set aside.

In a large frying pan, heat up a tablespoon of olive oil and wilt the spinach. Remove from the pan and drain on a clean tea towel or some kitchen paper. Wipe the frying pan dry and then heat up the other tablespoon of olive oil. When it is hot, dip the sea bass slices into the flour and then fry them in the hot oil for about a minute and then flip over and turn down the heat. Pour on the soy sauce mixture and add the vegetables and dry spinach, as well as the chilli slices. Gently toss and then add the butter in small chunks and swirl the juices around the pan, basting the fish. Serve straight away.

Glass noodle salad

Serves 2-3 as a side dish

50g cashew nuts

200g rice vermicelli noodles

Salt

Few tablespoons olive oil

Small bunch radishes

Bunch spring onions, finely sliced

1 cucumber

Bunch coriander

Toast the cashew nuts in a dry frying pan until they are starting to smell good and then crush them with the bottom of a mug. Break the noodles into smaller pieces so they are easier to toss. Soak them in cold water for 30 minutes, then drain and plunge them into boiling water for a few minutes. Drain and rinse until they are cold.

Make the dressing by mixing all the ingredients below and when the noodles are cold, mix them with the dressing and then add the rest of the vegetables and herbs.

Dressing

1 tbsp stem ginger syrup

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp tahini paste

Juice of 3 limes

3 tbsp soy sauce

Mix everything together with a whisk. If you can’t get tahini, use a tablespoon of sesame oil.

See also itsa.ie