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Foxy fishcakes

Posted in Diabetes, Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, Robin Ellis, tagged , , , , , on January 23, 2013| 9 Comments »

Just managed to fit in a cooking no-potato fishcakes session on Fox’s Channel 5 here in Washington with host Holly Morris, before we head for the airport.

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Another recipe based on a Nigel Slater recipe. I have always loved fishcakes – must be the comfort food factor kicking in – but these days of course the fact they usually contain 50 per cent potato causes trouble for me as a diabetic.This recipe solves the problem by leaving the potato out! The dill and the grain mustard make the fishcakes special and they sometimes serve as a tasty starter. If you keep them small and cook them quickly, they’ll be crisp and brown on the outside and still succulent inside.

Yogurt sauce

2 x 125 ml pots low-fat yogurt
1 tsp grain mustard
good pinch of chopped dill (from the main bunch) salt

The Fishcakes

400 g/1 lb salmon fillet – skinless and checked for bones

white of an egg
1 tbsp chickpea flour – of course, plain flour works as well

1 tsp grain mustard

juice of 1⁄2 lemon
small bunch of dill – chopped fine salt and pepper (parsley will substitute though dill goes well with the salmon)

2 tbsp olive oil

 

  • Mix all the yogurt sauce ingredients and refrigerate until you are ready to eat.
  • Cut up the salmon fillets in roughly equal-size pieces.
  • Put these in a mixer and pulse three or four times.
  • Avoid working them too much and producing slush at the end.
  • You could just cut them up in small pieces if this suits better.
  • Put the salmon in a bowl.
  • Turn in the egg white and the flour, and then the mustard, lemon juice, and the dill.
  • Season with salt and pepper.
  • It’s a good idea to taste the mix for seasoning at this point – the dill and the salt should come through.
  • Refrigerate if not using immediately.
  • Heat the oil to hot in a frying pan and using a dessertspoon scoop out a dollop and make a ball.
  • Put this carefully in the pan and flatten it gently.
  • Cook on a medium-high flame, crisping and browning the outside while making sure the interior cooks through–about a minute each side, taking care not to burn them.
  • Serve with the mustardy yogurt dipping sauce on the side.

 

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My Birthday Lunch–and the aftermath!

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Poldark, Recipes, Robin Ellis, tagged , , , , , , on January 11, 2013| 47 Comments »

When I woke up this morning Pippa–mother of all cats–was there on the bed as she has been for the last two days. She was at her toilet–conscientiously licking her paw, then wiping her cheeks and ear with it–a built-in flannel [washcloth] so to speak.

It reminded me I hadn’t shaved for two days–I’d been laid up with a “gastro“, which had started at roughly 1.30am on the morning after my birthday.

The only other time I remember being as sick (literally) was the day I was filming the dénouement scene in an episode of Sherlock Holmes. I had a long speech of explanation to deliver to a solemn, suspicious and silent Jeremy Brett, Edward Hardwicke and a very young  Jude Law. I managed the first take without interruption–but had to RUN on the word CUT –and it was a bumpy ride ’til we finished.

Two nights ago at least I had no lines to remember. My timing was better on this occasion! The birthday was over and had been much enjoyed. Meredith gave me an album–cataloguing the story of an eventful year–superb photos mostly taken by her.

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Pippa looking for a photo of herself.

Looking back on my birthday though, there were signs of trouble ahead.

I remember feeling relieved I had planned ahead and prepared the Lamb Tagine (see recipe below) the day before. That left the broccoli starter and the bulgar wheat–simple!

We were eight round the table–old friends–including my old adversary from Poldark days, Donald Douglas (aka Captain McNeil). It was convivial. I was enjoying the occasion.

It was only late the next day that I realised I had forgotten an essential step in the preparation of the starter–grilling the broccoli (see below). As I served up the dish, I had a nagging feeling something was not quite right! (We have a tradition of forgetting key ingrediants when entertaining for crowds!).

PLUS I forgot to prepare the bulgar wheat, so the table had to wait while it fluffed up.

The recipes:

This dish also served as the starter for the special Saturday dinner on my October Cooking Workshop:

It is adapted from a recipe in Ottolenghi’s eponymous first cookbook.

On that night it tumbled over a small pile of salad leaves–radiccio, rocket, lettuce–dressed with olive oil lemon juice and salt.

Here it is on a bed of Sam Talbot’s Quinoa.

1lb broccoli–broken into bite-size pieces

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper

4 garlic cloves–sliced as thin as you can

2 fresh red chilis, medium hot–de-seeded and sliced

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 lemon sliced very thin

  • Steam the broccoli–more than blanched less than tender–still crunchy in other words.
  • Remove to a bowl and pour over 2 tablespoons of olive oil and season with salt.
  • Heat a grill to hot.
  • Scatter the broccoli over it and colour lightly. [Don’t FORGET this step!]

  • Return to the serving bowl.
  • Heat the second batch of oil.
  • When hot cook the garlic slices and the chili until the garlic takes on some color.

  • Pour this mixture over the broccoli.
  • Add the lemon slices and mix in carefully.
  • Serve on a bed of salad leaves dressed with  olive oil, lemon juice and salt.

Lamb Tagine with dried apricots & flageolet beans

(Reproduced from Delicious Dishes for Diabetics p 138)

This superb dish for company is adapted from one in Frances Bissell’s exceptional book The Pleasures of Cookery.

for 6/8

2 kg/41⁄2 lb boned shoulder of lamb–cut away as much fat as possible, ending up with about 1.5 kg/31⁄2 lb lean lamb, cut into 2 cm/1 inch cubes

3 tbsp olive oil
3 onions–sliced
4 cloves of garlic–chopped
11⁄2 tsp cumin seeds
11⁄2 tsp coriander seeds
850 ml/11⁄2 pints/31⁄2 cups stock--I use organic vegetable stock cubes
24 dried apricots–halved (use the yellow ones as they show up better in the sauce later)
salt and pepper
parsley, or even better coriander–chopped
1 large tin flageolet beans–drained and rinsed

  1. Heat the oven at 160°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3.
  2. Seal the meat in hot oil, using a large frying pan; when nicely browned, remove it to the ovenproof casserole you will serve it from.
  3. Gently fry the onions and garlic in the fat and oil left in the pan without browning them.
  4. Fold in the whole spices and let them cook a little.
  5. Add almost all the stock, leaving just enough in which to heat up the beans, and let it reduce a bit.
  6. Add the apricots. Season this mixture and pour it into the casserole.
  7. Add a handful of parsley or coriander.
  8. Heat the beans in a little stock and when hot add to the casserole. Turn everything over carefully.
  9. Bring it all to a simmer and place it on a low shelf in the preheated oven.
  10. Cook for 2 hours, checking after an hour to see if it needs topping up with stock – being careful not to lose the intensity of the sauce.
  11. Serve over bulgar wheat [Which you’ve remember to prepare!]

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Grapefruit alert!

Posted in Diabetes, Food, other sides to this life, Robin Ellis, tagged , on December 18, 2012| 23 Comments »

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This is sad.

Grapefruit as villain. What a turn-up!

The evidence is strong–grapefruit juice may cause some prescribed drugs to malfunction– in some cases with life threatening effect.

This beautiful oversized “orange”–colored like a lemon.

So sweet–and comes with white or pink interiors.

My parents had half a one each for breakfast, carefully separated into segments with a serrated knife.

The serrated knife with the annoying curve at the end–annoying if you wanted to use it for any other purpose–but satisfying if you hit the joins just right and made a good job of segment separation.

These ’50’s grapefruit put me off! They were white and sour! Sugar required.

A long gap to the haven/heaven of pink grapefruit.

It makes a sweet and comforting wake-up drink.

For years we’d squeeze the juice–half a fruit each–into mugs in the morning and fill  up with boiling water.

But a trip to Florida opened my eyes to the authentic grapefruit experience.

We were in Orlando at Meredith’s parents home.

At the front of the house there were two grapefruit trees–one with white fruit, one pink.

The grapefruit hung from them like enormous coloured canonballs–how could the trees support the weight?!

I was doubtful of the white fruit until I cut one in half and squeezed a little juice into a glass and sipped.

My mouth is watering now with the memory.

That’s how it will have to stay–a glorious memory.

This benign giant of a fruit is no longer benign for some like me who take a daily dose of drugs–hard to accept!

A slice of lemon in hot water with have to suffice.

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Interesting cabbage

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, Robin Ellis, tagged , , , , on December 15, 2012| 11 Comments »

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A cabbage once got the job of representing my head.

A grisly tale this.

In 1971 I played the foolish, arrogant, headstrong Earl of Essex in Elizabeth R opposite a formidable Glenda Jackson as Elizabeth.

The young jackanapes got it into his head to start a rebellion against the Virgin Queen.

He’d been her favorite for years and had been forgiven much–but this she couldn’t ignore. He found himself on Tower Green and a rendezvous with the headsman.

The powers that be at BBC Television Centre decided the most realistic way to replicate the sound of a head being chopped off was to lop a cabbage in half!

I have only recently been able to eat them without getting nervous!

Here the abused cabbage is restored to its proper place–on the table.

Not as spectacular, but last night we found ourselves forking a little more and then a little more onto our plates–until there was none!

for 2

1 small cabbage–halved vertically and sliced finely

1 clove of garlic–sliced finely

1 small onion–chopped small

10 juniper berries–crushed

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper

a splash of water

  • Heat the oil in a pan.
  • When hot, sauté the garlic until it starts to color.
  • Add the onion and stir fry until the onion catches up with the garlic.

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  • Add the cabbage and the juniper berries and turn all together thoroughly in the garlic, onion and oil mix.

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  • Cover the pan, lower the heat and cook for a further ten minutes to soften the cabbage.
  • Add a splash of water if the cabbage starts to catch (stick to the pan)
  • Be generous with the pepper and sprinkle some salt over.

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Keeping the Black Snake fat!

Posted in Diabetes, other sides to this life, Robin Ellis, tagged , , , on December 11, 2012| 17 Comments »

It’s a while since I posted a Diabetes update.

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Recipes and cat tales are so much more uplifting.

But given my recent history, this new study deserves an airing.

After analyzing the medical records of almost two million people in the UK, the National Diabetes Audit found that people with diabetes have almost a 50% higher risk of a heart attack.

About 22,000 people with diabetes in England and Wales died prematurely in 2010/11, the report says.

“The finding that people with diabetes are almost 50 per cent more likely to have a heart attack is shocking; this is one of the main reasons many thousands of people with the condition are dying before their time,” said Barbara Young, Chief Executive of Diabetes UK.

About seven weeks ago, my cardiologist at the excellent local clinic wasn’t a hundred percent happy with the results of a couple of my stress test results.

(These were routine tests suggested by my G.P.–given my Type 2 diabetes.)

The local cardiologist sent me to the Clinique Pasteur in Toulouse, where late one Tuesday afternoon in October I found myself flat on my back, naked, in what felt suspiciously like an operating theatre.

(This isn’t my preferred theatre experience!)

Shortly after sensing something creeping up the inside of my right arm, a masked face pushed through the hygienic barrier, regarded me with two quietly friendly eyes and uttered words I shall never forget:

“Vous avez un blocage de l’arterie principale coronaire.”

[You have a blockage of the coronary artery.]

His tone was so reasonable, I heard myself replying in a similar tone:

“C’est sérieux, Monsieur?”.

He remained calm in spite of what he had just heard, and didn’t shout:

“OF COURSE IT’S SERIOUS YOU IDIOT!!“.

Instead I was relieved to hear him say he was going to insert three stents–then and there.

The seriousness of the situation only registered fully with me the following afternoon just before we left for home.

The doctor showed us a video of my heart and arteries BEFORE and AFTER.

Oh my word!

For the procedure my blood had been dyed to show up as black.

In the BEFORE version, a black (blood-rich) artery snakes across the screen to the rhythm of the heart–black except for a small section where the FAT black snake became a very THIN black snake running through an otherwise pale (no blood) tube.

Le blocage–a narrowed artery!

In the AFTER video–three stents in place–the black snake is restored to its glorious fatness.

I had none of the usual symptoms of narrowed arteries— shortness of breath while walking, pains in the chest.

I asked the Quietly Spoken One why?

He said diabetes masks cardiac symptoms–numbing the nerves.

So, j’avais de la chance, je crois!

[I reckon I was lucky!]

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The Ben and Beau Show!

Posted in other sides to this life, Robin Ellis, tagged , , , on December 4, 2012| 23 Comments »

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Our beloveds have grown a little–though Ben–the all-black–stays slight and slim, perhaps by exerting more energy per metre than Usain Bolt winning the Olympic 100 meter dash this summer.

Beau pretends that he’s grown out of his crazy games stage–but fails to convince!

He needs the exercise–after hoovering up food from any spare plate.

(Echoes of Marmalade there….)

They appear unfairly matched–a heavyweight against a flyweight.

Nevertheless, young Ben is usually the attacker and Beau the only too-eager receiver.

More paws than claws; no biting either (as far as we can see) in the melées (happy about that!).

Younger brother vs. older brother more like.

Late evening, a sequence can run something like this:

Leap—roll—push off—pause(paws!)—walk away–walk back––languid lounge–yawn–wait—quick lick/scratch—pause—small haunchcrouch—couple of tail swishes—lean back and leap—repeat, repeat, repeat–retire.

They swagger back to their separate “corners”  to catch their breaths before the bell rings for the next round and they hurl themselves at each other anew.

We are the exhausted ones at the finish.

Meredith caught them at full frolic–watched over at one point by disdainful a Pippa.

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“Nooked!”

Posted in Diabetes, Food, other sides to this life, Poldark, Recipes, Robin Ellis, tagged , , , , , , on December 1, 2012| 6 Comments »

Making Poldark has been Nooked at last!

Nick it on NOOK–it’s a steal!

It’s available now on NOOK.

Making Poldark: Memoir of a BBC/Masterpiece Theatre Actor
Making Poldark: Memoir of a BBC/Masterpiece Theatre Actor
by Robin Ellis
This revised version came out in April 2012 and is greatly expanded–including new photos from Winston Graham’s personal Poldark photo album.
And while we are at it…
Delicious Dishes for Diabetics
Delicious Dishes for Diabetics 

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Tutto in un giorno–(All in a day!)

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Robin Ellis, tagged , on November 17, 2012| 16 Comments »

Keith is driving the white van loaded with red and yellow crates brimming with the last two days olive harvest.

We’re bunched in beside him–Meredith finishing off her oat flake breakfast as the sun begins to warm the hillside vines and olive groves.

It is 8.30 in the morning, at the start of a long day.

Through the windows of the van as it negotiates the holes in the unmade-up road–the central Tuscan hills come into historic perspective.

What’s that tower up there?

Tuscan hills with the tower in the dip between.

Dates back to 800AD.

The hills are smirking in the shade–they’ve been here a lot longer.

By nine we are at the Frantoio.

By 9:15am the olives have been emptied into the steel shute and are in the system, soon to come out as liquid gold–as we thought.

We wait in the sunny waiting room, reading.

After half-an-hour Keith comes in looking daggers.

There’s a fault in the heating mechanism–they don’t know how long it’ll take.

This is a problem for us–we have to be in Florence by lunchtime.

Meredith spotted a conference being held over the weekend at the New York University Florence campus analyzing the recent American elections.

(She spent six months at Stanford University’s campus in Florence in her student days–so this kind of event resonates.)

I’ll take you back home and check train times.

Keith, keeping his good temper but worried about his olive oil, ferries us back through the sunny hills.

Within an hour we are on a train to Florence.

Soon after we manage a quick lunch (research!) before heading to the event.

Polpo e piselli (octopus and peas)

The conference is being held at the magnificent Villa Pietra up in the hills north of Florence.

(Sir Harold Acton was born and lived there most of his life. It is now the NYU campus in Florence.)

Pollsters, pundits and campaign managers from both sides sit on panels and talk amicably about what happened on November 6th, why and how the parties will adjust to the result.

(One afternoon’s talking shop does for me and I’m able to watch the following morning from the comfort of the hotel room as it’s streamed live over the internet.

From the low drone of garroulous expertise a voice arises that I recognise! Delighted I turn up the volume to hear my wife making a succinct point to the room while the large panel of experts look on in wonder!)

Late afternoon, now, we make our way back into Florence and catch our first sight of the Duomo this trip.

It sits benign and vast in the centre of the city as the evening lights come on round it.

We check into our hotel down by the river and think about dinner!

La Sostanza is a short walk away and they have room at 7.30.

Tortino carciofi (artichoke omelette) and fagioli e olio (beans and oil) and a happy punter!

I discovered this modest restaurant by chance in 1977 and have been a regular ever since.

It serves simple fare at communal tables in an unassuming room.

The cooking is done on a wood fire in a kitchen the size of a postage stamp.

Same photos and paintings on the walls–and two of the waiters are sons of ones I met on my first visit!

We are weary, but happy to have heard from Keith that the machinery at the frantoio

was fixed quicker than expected and no harm done to the olives already being processed.

End of a day and a half and back to the hotel and a final photo op.

Closest I’ll get now! RIP Marilyn.

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A second book–“Healthy Eating for Life”!

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Poldark, Robin Ellis, tagged , , , , , on October 31, 2012| 32 Comments »

I have been commissioned to write another cookbook!

Publisher Constable and Robinson proposes the title:  Healthy Eating for Life–and  I like it.

It widens the remit of Delicious Dishes for Diabetics a little–and straightforwardly tells you what its’s about.

Hope James—who did the wonderfully atmospheric illustrations for DDD–has agreed to a repeat.

It is due out in January 2014.

Head down!

P.S.   Poldark—‘e be out!

  My expanded and revised memoir of the Poldark series–Making Poldark–released earlier this year, is now available as an eBook for Kindle via Amazon.com ($10.29). It will be out for Nook and other platforms soon!

 

 

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A ladleful of taste: “post-operative” cauliflower and chickpea comfort curry!

Posted in Diabetes, Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, Robin Ellis, tagged , , , on October 28, 2012| 18 Comments »

We had simple salmon fillet for supper the evening that we returned from the clinic.

The next night I felt a little more adventurous, but in need of something easy and preferably from a single pot–a ladleful of taste over some basmati brown rice; comfort food that cooks itself.

I looked in the fridge and found a cauliflower in good condition, a leek and a bottle of chickpeas on the shelf in the larder and I knew there were a few small tomatoes left to gather at the end of the garden–perfect!

I love buying cauliflowers–their tight white heads look so tempting and beautiful.

However sometimes they stay in the fridge–not exactly forgotten, but requiring some thought.

What am I going to do with that cauliflower?!

Cosy cauliflower curry–why not?

Here goes…!

1 onion--chopped small

2 garlic cloves–chopped

2 tblsps olive oil

1 tsp black mustard seeds

1 tsp each of turmeric, cumin powder and ginger powder

1/2 tsp each of coriander powder, cayenne powder

8oz tomatoes–chopped roughly

1 pint/450 ml stock–I use organic vegetable stock cubes

1 cauliflower–separated into bite-size florets

1 leek–cleaned and sliced

3 tblsps cooked chickpeas (from a tin [a can] or bottle–you may not need the whole tin. Spoon out the required amount and drain off any liquid–but no need to rinse.)

salt and pepper

2 tblsps of whisked low/no fat yogurt or coconut cream (my new discovery; more on that in future posts)

  • Sweat the onion and garlic in the olive oil until they soften and begin to colour.

  • Add the mustard seeds and let them cook for a minute.

  • Add the rest of the spices and mix them in.

  • Add the tomatoes, stirring them into the spice mix and cook for five minutes to break them down a little and form a sauce.

  • Add half the stock and cook for a further 5 minutes–reducing it a little.

  • Mix in the sliced leeks and the broken up cauliflower–you may find you only need half the head–making sure the vegetables are immersed in the liquid.

  • Cover and cook on a low heat for 30 minutes–checking now and then in case it’s drying up–as it very nearly did for me!
  • (Add more stock as you need and cook on.)
  • Add the chickpeas and cook a further five minutes.

–

  • When the vegetables are tender, turn off the heat and let it cool down.
  • Fold in the yogurt or coconut cream.
  • Gently reheat to serve over some basmati brown rice.
  • There was a thumbs-up from Meredith as she helped herself to a spoonful more (see above)!

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