3257. COCKLE and SMOKED BACON PIE

serves two


1 oz. butter

8 oz. smoked bacon

Half clove garlic, chopped fine
1 onion, chopped

1¾ oz. plain flour
1 egg yolk
17½ oz. fresh cockles cooked, cooled (reserve the cooking liquid)
2 tablespoons (¼ oz.) spring onions
Puff pastry

Melt butter in a pan, add the bacon, onion and garlic and sauté until caramelised. Add the flour and cook for a few minutes, stirring all the time. Slowly pour in the liquid from the cockles bit by bit until all incorporated and you have a thickened, smooth sauce. Leave to cook on a low heat for 20 minutes. Then leave to cool. Add the shelled cockles and spring onions. Put this mixture into two deep soup bowls then cut a puff pastry ring to fit the lip of the chosen bowls. Brush with egg yolk, then cut out a disc of puff pastry to fit as a lid. Brush with egg yolk and make a little hole in the middle of the pastry lid. Cook in oven for 25 minutes at 325F until the pastry is golden brown and has properly risen. Serve with hot crusty bread such as sourdough.


bacon recipe source: Nigel Godwin, St. David's Day recipes, The Telegraph, February 27, 2009

3094. SEAFOOD CHOWDER with BACON, DILLISK and CARRAGEEN (SEAWEED)

serves 6-8


1 lb. pollock, cod, or other white fish fillets
8 oz. shellfish (mussels, cockles, prawns)
4 oz. salmon, cubed
1/4 stick butter
2 oz. streaky bacon, cut into matchstick strips
2 lb. mixed vegetables (onions, leeks, carrots, celery, waxy potatoes), diced
2 1/4 cups water
1/4 oz. dillisk (purple-reddish seaweed)
1/4 oz. Carrageen, a.k.a. Irish moss
2 1/4 cups milk
Garnish: fresh parsley and chives

Cook the bacon strips in butter until crisp. Add all the vegetables except the potatoes. Season with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper and cook slowly without coloring for 5 minutes. Add water, dilisk and Carrageen and cook for 10 minutes. Add the potatoes and milk and cook until potatoes are soft. Add fish and shellfish and cook for 3-5 minutes. Check seasoning and serve sprinkled with chopped parsley and chives.


bacon recipe courtesy of: Best of Irish Potato Recipes by Biddy White Lennon, pp. 62-63. Dublin: The O'Brien Press, 12 Terenure Road East, Rathgar, Dublin 6, Ireland, 2002

3061. BLUE COD wrapped in SMOKED BACON

2 x 100-150 gram blue cod fillets

2-3 rashers smoked bacon
80 ml cream
80 ml white wine
1 tablespoon chopped fresh seasonal herbs (parsley, rosemary, thyme, mint, coriander)

3-5 cockles

 

Preheat oven to 180°C. Wrap cod in bacon, place on a baking tray and bake 10-15 minutes until fish is opaque and cooked through. Meanwhile, combine cream, wine and herbs in a small pan, add cockles and simmer until liquid is reduced to a thin sauce consistency and cockles have opened. To serve, place wrapped cod on a plate, surround with cockles and pour over sauce from pan.

 

 

bacon recipe courtesy of: Fleur Sullivan, for NZ House & Garden; Fairfax Magazines, 317 New North Road, Eden Terrace, PO Box 6341 Wellesley St, Auckland, New Zealand

2125. ROAST COD with COCKLES, BACON and LEEK

serves one


vegetable oil, for shallow-frying
1 cod fillet, (150g)
freshly ground salt and black pepper
200 grams cockles, in their shells
2 rashers smoked streaky bacon
1 leek, finely chopped
150 ml double cream
1/2 teaspoon English mustard
small handful of chopped parsley
squeeze of lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas 6. Heat the oil in a frying pan, season the cod with salt and freshly ground pepper and fry gently until the cod is golden on both sides. Transfer the cod to a roasting tray and roast for 5-6 minutes. Meanwhile, place the cockles in a saucepan with a little water. Cover and heat until the cockles are steamed open, discarding any that have not opened. Reserve the cockle cooking liquor and shell the cockles. In a frying pan, heat the bacon and fry gently. Add the cockle cooking liquor and the leek and cook gently until the leek is tender. Drain off two-thirds of the liquor from the cockle mixture. Add the shelled cockles, cream, mustard and parsley. Season generously with freshly ground pepper. Cook for two minutes. Place the leek and cockle mixture on a plate. Top with the roast cod portion. Season with sea salt and a squeeze of lemon juice. Serve at once.


bacon recipe courtesy of: Mitch Tonks, Good Food Live, UKTV

1915. COCKLES, BACON and LAVER BREAD

100 grams cockles per person
240 grams laver bread mix
5 slices bacon

De-shell and thoroughly wash the cockles. Place into frying pan and cook at a medium heat for 5 minutes. Pour laver bread mix into frying pan. Turn occasionally on a low heat for 5 minutes.

Fry 5 slices of bacon. Serve the cockles and bacon on the same plate while the laver bread is served separately.


bacon recipe courtesy of: Ernest Lemonheigh, Come Dine With Me, Series 3, Channel 4, PO Box 1058, Belfast BT1 9DU December 19, 2007

954. CLAMS with NORI SEAWEED and BACON

makes 4-6 servings


1 tablespoon unsalted butter
50 grams smoked dry-cured bacon
1 leek, trimmed, chopped
2 stalks celery, trimmed and chopped
1 head kale
600 grams boiled potatoes
1 kg clams or cockles, cleaned
125 ml pale ale
large handful chopped parsley
6 sheets Japanese Nori seaweed, the kind used for sushi rolls, shredded

Heat the butter in a large saucepan and fry the bacon with the leek, celery, kale, and potatoes for 3-4 minutes. Tip in the shellfish and add the ale. Cover and cook, over a high heat until all the shells have opened - another 3-4 minutes. Stir in the parsley and sprinkle with the nori seaweed. Serve with plenty of bread on the side to mop up any juices.


courtesy of: Tom Norrington-Davies, "Great Food Live," UKTV Food

910. STEAMED MANILA CLAMS with SOFRITO, SWEET SAKE, BACON and FRIED GINGER

serves six


3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil plus additional for drizzling
1/4 cup julienne of fresh ginger
1/4 cup chopped bacon
1 cup diced white onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup 1/4-inch diced red peppers
1/2 cup 1/4-inch diced yellow peppers
1/2 cup 1/4-inch diced poblano peppers
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
48 Manila clams (New Zealand cockles can be substituted)
1/2 cup sweet sake
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a small frying pan, add the julienne of ginger, and cook until golden. Drain and set the ginger on a paper towel to dry.

Add the bacon to a large, hot frying pan and cook until the fat is rendered and the bacon is cooked and crisp. Add the onions and garlic and cook until onions are translucent. Add all the peppers and cook until they are soft, then sprinkle in the thyme. Add the clams and sweet sake to the sofrito in the pan, and cook until the clams have steamed open. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Place 8 steamed clams in each bowl and spoon the sofrito mixture on top. Garnish with the fried ginger and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.


courtesy of: Michael Cressotti and Taka, Sushi Samba 7, 87 Seventh Avenue South, New York, New York 10014

795. COCKLE CREAM with BACON, TOMATOES and POTATOES

serves 4


4 pints cleaned cockles
1½ pints water
1 oz butter
2 oz lean bacon, diced
1 leek, cleaned and sliced finely
1 stick celery, finely chopped
2 plum tomatoes, skinned and sliced thinly
2 potatoes (about 12 oz), peeled and diced
1 small lemon, juice only
2 eggs
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place the cockles in a large pan with 150ml/5fl oz of the water. Cook over a high heat, occasionally shaking the pan, until they have opened. Tip into a colander set over a bowl to collect the liquid and leave them to cook a little. Melt the butter in a large pan, add the bacon and cook until it is just beginning to brown. Add the leek, celery and tomatoes and cook until the mixture begins to flop. Meanwhile, remove the cockle meats from the shells. Pour all but the last tbsp or two of the cockle liquor into the pan, add the rest of the water and the potatoes and leave the soup to simmer until the potatoes are soft, about 10 minutes. Add the shelled cockles and taste the soup for seasoning. Whisk the lemon juice with the eggs in a bowl. Pour on a ladle full of the hot soup, whisk together and then stir the liaison into the soup. Stir it over a low heat to thicken slightly but do not let the soup boil. Stir in the parsley and serve.


courtesy of: Rick Stein, Saturday Kitchen, BBC Food

495. COCKLE CHOWDER with BACON

Serves 8


1 kg cockles (in their shell)
1.5 litres water
40g streaky smoked bacon
2 medium onions, finely chopped.
3 medium potatoes, diced.
1 bay leaf
475 ml milk
250 ml single cream
salt & pepper to taste

Rinse the cockles well in cold water and drain. Bring the water to the boil in a deep pan and add the cockles. Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes until the shells are open.

When the cockles have cooled a little, drain the pan, retaining the cooking liquid, and remove the cockles from their shells – discard any shells which have not opened. Strain the liquid through a fine sieve or muslin cloth.

In a large pan, fry the bacon until golden brown. Add the onions and sweat over a medium heat until softened.

In a milk pan, bring the milk to a simmer and take off the heat.

Add the bay leaf, potatoes and the cockle liquid to the bacon and onions and bring to the boil. Cook for about 8-10 minutes until the potatoes are just turning soft, but still retaining their shape. Stir occasionally to prevent the onions or bacon sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Add the milk, cream and cockle meat and gently heat cook for a further 3 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and season to taste.

Serve in soup bowls with warm crusty rolls. Garnish simply with chopped parsley or snipped chives.


courtesy of: The Soup Ladle, Blueprint Foods Limited, Unit 8, The Nelson Centre, Portfield Road, Portsmouth, PO3 5SF, Tel: 02392 620020

164. DEVILLED COCKLES with BACON

serves 4 for tea-time or as a starter to a meal


4lb (1kg 800g) fresh cockles, soaked in water for several hours
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 large or 6 small, spring onions, chopped and roughly separated into green and white parts
4 rashers smoked, rindless, back bacon, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 large or 2 small, dried chilis, finely chopped (with seeds)
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 dash Worcestershire sauce
1 bay leaf
1 heaped teaspoon sugar
freshly ground black pepper

First scrub the cockles, if required, and discard any that are open. Then, using your largest saucepan, heat the olive oil and cook the white parts of the spring onions gently for about 2 minutes. Add the bacon and cook for a further 2 minutes, stirring in the garlic and chilli for the last 30 seconds. Now add the soy sauce, vinegar, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaf, sugar and a generous amount of black pepper. When the ingredients are simmering, tip in the cockles and give a quick stir.
Cover and cook over a medium, high heat. After a couple of minutes, give another quick stir, replace the lid and cook until all the cockles are open. Cooking any that refuse to open. Cooling will take about 3-6 minutes depending on the heat and size of cockles. Garnish with the green of the onions. Serve immediately in warmed bowls with bannocks or crusty bread.


courtesy of: Alan Bichan, "What's Cooking," The Orcadian, Hell's Half Acre, Hatston, Kirkwall, Orkney, Scotland