River Test 21st April, first day of the season

This year I promised that I would keep a proper log of my fishing exploits.  I have been given many record books but can never be bothered to fill them out and they are very one dimensional and I could never see myself referring back to them.  Blogging however is a great way to be able to keep a running  commentary and something far more likely that would be used by me as a reference.  A big part of this blog was to diarise my exploits both in the kitchen and in the field, catching, shooting and then cooking.  So this is going to be a record of fish caught and importantly new (and old) ways to deal with trout (trust me you need to be quite inventive with the fish after catching over 100 kilos in a year!)

Without further ado I should introduce my fishing companion, Guy Joseph, a very talented fisherman, who will also be contributing to this aspect of the blog throughout the season....

April 21st 2010
Weather conditions
Bright but cold.  Temperature was 5c when we arrived at 930am and a north easterly wind was adding a significant wind chill factor to an already low temperature.

Fly life
By 11am the wind had picked up and there was zero fly life bar a few early Hawthorn flies, also known as St Mark's flies.  These were almost bang on time, if not a little early, surprising given the winter we have had.  These are terrestrial insects, no part of their life-cycle requires water.  When their numbers get to sufficient numbers, when there is a strong enough breeze the insects are blown on to the water and eventually this triggers a feeding response to the trout and they turn onto them.

Today however there just weren't sufficient numbers.  The default flies in this situation are Daddy Long Legs and Yellow Humpies.

The day

We were on the middle beat and  fished the morning from about 10.00am until 12.30pm.  There was virtually nothing rising and what fish there were, were very low down in the water and nothing was bringing them up.  The wind had come up a bit and was putting a serious chill over the water and the normal hatch of olives was conspicuous in it's absence.  Nothing else for it but to hit the pub and discuss tactics.

A couple of pints of cider and some food (not really worth discussing) we ventured into Stockbridge to Orvis to ritually buy more flies which none of us needed, it's part of the process, makes you feel confident for some bizarre reason even if you have many of the identical patterns in your box.

Back on the river things had warmed up and there were a few fish starting to move and were higher up in the water.  A nice tout moved to the fly and came up short and was clearly in the mood, another cast just in front put the fly over its nose, Wallop! the fish took and gave a good account of itself, not surprising as this was a good sized fish, around the 6lb mark and in reasonable condition.  The river is stocked but has a good number of over wintered fish and many smaller wild browns and plenty of Grayling.  As the afternoon went on there was plenty more action with Guy and I matching each other fish for fish.

The carrier

We stayed on the main part of the river, nothing was showing on the carrier

   

Nick White and Julian Charrington

Our co-syndicate member, Nick White had a few smaller fish and our guest Julian Charrington had a nice fish at the top of the beat.

It was a lovely day in the end.  A good start to the season.  It's particularly lovely at this time of year, the first swallows had arrived swooping over the river to catch what meagre fly life there was.  I heard both Woodpecker and Cuckoo and the Ash and Willow were starting to take shape, the Moorhen had laid her eggs, what a lovely time of year.  Many different shades of green as everything starts to bloom.  That's a big part of fishing.

Moorhen eggs

Yellow Marshflower

We finished early as it looked unlikely there would be a hatch, once the sun had started to set the chill had come back and it seemed doubtful that a good hatch of Sedge was likely.  It was a good day, Guy and I both catching 4 a piece.  I had two of 6lb which was a very good start to the season

Proudly showing off a fine brace of brown trout

The end of a good day 

Until the next time

Quick Prawn and Squid Indian Curry with Aromatic Rice

I have been very slack with the blog but have a perfect excuse in that we were on holiday so i was out of action for 2 weeks but now back in the saddle so to speak.  This recipe beats phoning your local curry emporium and ordering a heart stopping 3,000 calorie curry that takes its revenge out on you throughout the night.  It's also a very quick curry to make and doesn't involve lengthy marinating.  The only thing you need is to make sure you have all the necessary spices to make this dish taste authentic.  The main spices i use are a combination of Fenugreek (not to be confused with an amusing, moustached encrusted, indebted European), Cumin, Tumeric, Chilli flakes.  Most of these are associated with Southern Indian cuisine and have a very distinctive flavour (and have medicinal properties too).  So what goes into this dish...


For the curry 

• 2 medium sized shallots
• 3cm square of fresh ginger julienne
• 2 cloves crushed garlic
• 100 g closed cup mushrooms
• 1 large knob of butter or ghee (clarified butter) if you have it
• 1/2 teaspoon of 
• Fenugreek
• Cumin
• Tumeric
• Ground coriander
• Paprika
• Crushed fennel seeds
• Brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon of Chilli flakes (I would go less depending on how hot you like it - you can always add you can't remove!)  I use these as I feel in better control of the heat this way.
• 1 large tablespoon of tomato paste
• 300 g of large shelled prawns
• 2 small squid
• 2/3rds of a tin of coconut milk
• 1/2 pint of fish stock. (use a whole Knorr fish stock cube and 1/2 pint of water or your own stock but make sure its reduced and strong flavoured.

The process

Chop the shallots, garlic, mushrooms and ginger and add to a frying pan with the heated butter.  Sweat this down and then add all the spices and mix through so you end up with a gorgeous smelling paste.  Add the tomato paste, stock and coconut milk and let this reduce down so that its not watery.  Test the seasoning and heat and if you feel it needs more add a few more chilli flakes.  Once you are happy with the taste add the squid and the prawns.  These literally need no more than 2 minutes and once these have been cooked through then serve the dish.  If you want to make this look professional put the cooked rice in a cup and turnover on the plate and then put the curry next to it... 

Preparing the squid

Clean the squid (if you don't know how get the fishmonger to do it but its very straightforward - pull the tenticles away from the body and discard the guts, pull the plastic looking quill from the body and remove the wings and the outside skin will come away from the body and you are left with a lovely white smooth body.  Rinse the body out and the tentacles.  One last job is you will feel the beak in the centre of the tentacles, this needs to be removed.  Now slice the squid up either in rings or horizontal strips. 

For the rice

Wash the rice thoroughly with cold water as this helps reduce any sticking.  Add the spices to the pot and add twice the quantity of water to the rice and bring to a simmer.  Don't put the lid on as you want this to evaporate.  When you come to serve the rice its up to you whether you take the spices out - it looks pretty but you don't necessarily want to bite into them...

• 1/3rd of a cup of Basmati rice per person - this is for two people so 2/3rds!
• 10 cloves 
• 10 cardamom pods
• 2 sticks of cinnamon
• 3 curry leaves
• Salt

Very Slow Roast Pork Belly in Cider, Apple and Spices with Colcannon

I think I am getting obsessed with pork belly, not ideal if you're also trying to loose weight.  I have cooked this a few times, differently every time but I think I have hit on the best recipe yet.  The way I cooked this was quite different from previous attempts, the main difference was i wanted a good jus from the cooking process.  The other differences was the time.  I marinated this for a shorter period of time, only 4 hours but cooked the meat for 8 hours in a low heat. I read recently the term 'ticking over' which is a culinary term to describe a cooking process where there is barely no noticeable cooking going on.  This was about 130-140degrees in a conventional oven, fan assisted as we know cook a lot quicker and they cause much greater evaporation which you don't want.  

The Marinade

The great thing about apple is that it really lends itself to both sweet and savoury dishes and works incredibly well with both herbs and spices.  The main spice I used was Star Anise as that works well with both meat and  apple.  The other spices used were a combination of All Spice, Juniper Berries, Fennel seeds, cloves and black pepper.  The spices, excluding the Star Anise, were ground in a pestle and mortar and rubbed into the meat side of the joint.  If the butcher has left the saddle of fat on the underside, remove this and save it for something else - had I been un-phased by the 1,500 calories I was already going to consume I would have used the fat to cook the cabbage and spring onions for the calcannon but as I am still able to get into my skinny fit jeans and I am about to unleash my near naked body on the Red Sea coast so I thought better of it.

Ingredients

• 5 All Spice (berries or seeds - not sure what you call them)
• 5 Juniper Berries
• 10 cloves
• 1 flat teaspoon of Fennel seeds
• 1 heaped teaspoon of sea salt
• 10 pepper corns

Once you have cut the fat off and scored the meat (I would do this yourself as I have had butchers cut into the flesh so deep that they have nearly come through the other side and you really only want to score it).  Pour boiling water of the joint both sides and then dry thoroughly and salt the rind.  Turnover and rub the marinade into the meat and break the star anise into bits and put into the meat.  Place in some tin foil and leave in the fridge for a few hours or overnight if you have got your act well and truly together.

To cook the pork belly you will need

• 2kg of Pork Belly for 4 people
• 2 cooking apples
• 2 medium onions
• 1 bottle of premium dry cider

Take the pork belly from the fridge brush off the marinade (I left in the star anise as that can be removed after cooking) and place on top of the melange of roughly chopped onions and apples and pour in half the cider in a baking tray and then place in a low oven - about 130-140 degrees and cover with foil. This was a conventional oven and suggest going lower if fan assisted.  You really want this just to tick over - I put the joint in the oven at 1pm and we were planning on eating at 8pm.

So to cut a long story short, having kept one eye on the cooking, remove the foil and top up with cider.  This was at 7pm so 7 hours in and turn the heat up.  Now to finish this dish off you take the meat from the roasting tin and remove the juices, apple and onion which are now very well cooked.  Put these in a cylindrical sieve and mash through so that all the liquid is removed and you are just left with a pulp.  The remaining liquid is one of the nicest tasting jus I have ever tasted.  It is quite liquid but as you are having this with mash I couldn't see the point of reducing this any further, I did also add some chicken stock to this.  To have reduced this down i think would have made the jus too intense and to have used cornflour was just cheating and I refused to do that.

Finally place the meat under a grill and let the crackling bubble up and really crisp - a very satisfying part of the process.

The dish was served with colcannon, again a nice easy dish and one that can be made in advance as the final process is quick.

For the colcannon

• 4 large mashing potatoes (Maris Piper is a good all rounder)
• 1/2 a medium size savoy cabbage
• 6 spring onions
• 1 good slab of butter
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
• (cream optional)
• seasoning 

Slice the cabbage nice and thinly removing any of the core,  Fry the cabbage for 3 or 4 minutes until it has wilted, be careful not to brown it and then add the finely diced spring onions and cook for a further 3 or 4 minutes.  You want to make sure there is still some bite left in the greens.  I didn't use cream but if you did then when you have mashed the potato you then add the cream and nutmeg and whisk.  One very useful piece of kitchen equipment is a potato ricer - goodbye lumpy potato, hello restaurant quality mash every time.

.

I feel very bad that I don't have an image of the finished dish but I managed to take several pictures all of which were out of focus but to explain the serving is simple - the colcannon as above served with a decent square of pork belly with a good helping of that wonderful jus all over and around.  An awesome dish though I say so myself...

Black Pudding and Tiger Prawns and Mushroom Duxelle Wellington with Wild Mushroom Sauce

This dish makes sense when you think about it.  I understand it if you're a non black pudding person but believe me, and I did test this on some non black pudding people, the upshot is they now like black pudding.  I wouldn't have said that I was a particular fan of black pudding myself but that's down to the black pudding - as with everything there is good and bad and I would say that bad black pudding is not a nice experience by any measure.  However good quality black pudding, as I have since discovered, since my days of screamingly average cooked breakfasts  on our annual pilgrimage to Ireland fishing on the Corib during the Mayfly, where black pudding sat on the plate staring back at you, daring you to slice into it and bite it, is a pleasure.

Pork and seafood as we already know is a great combination, something the Chinese had worked out long ago and now it's very trendy to mix the two together.  Whether it's Palma Ham and Monkfish or Chorizo and Scallops or Roast Pork Belly and Prawns (see Honey, Soy and Chinese Spice Pork Belly with Prawn Tempura) it isn't such a great leap to add black pudding together with prawn.  Add a lovely creamy wild mushroom sauce to this and you have a delicious, rich dish that is perfect as a starter.  I had experimented with this on my own so I had this as a main course and would have happily have devoured the entire lot saved by the fact that I was desperate for others to try it and not just take my word for it!

There are two stages to this.  Making the Wellington and making the mushroom sauce although it makes sense to cook the mushrooms and shallots at the same time for the base of the sauce and the duxelle.

Ingredients

• 2 medium sized shallots
• 200g Oyster and Chestnut mushrooms
• 25-50g Dried chantarelle and porcini mushrooms
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 1 teaspoon of chopped sage (or half that if its dried)
• 1 1/4 teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper (this is hot so be careful)
• 25ml of medium dry sherry or 50ml of white wine
• 1 knob of butter for the duxelle
• 200ml of single cream
• 200ml of chicken stock
• 100g of black pudding
• 200g of fresh prawns
• Puff pastry (you could make your own but let's face it why bother!)
• 1 egg (for the glaze)
• Salt and Pepper

Stage One


For those that don't know a duxelle is a stuffing or element to a sauce involving two of my essential favourite ingredients - the shallot and the mushroom.  A duxelle is common to Wellington's and is essentially finely chopped shallot or onion (shallot being more refined and less, 'oniony') mushroom and herbs.  It is then cooked off with wine or sherry and reduced to as dry as you can mixture.  If you are making a beef wellington it needs to be very dry as a lot of moisture is given off by the meat when it rests and moistens the 'croute'.

Cook off the shaIlots in a knob of butter and then add 150g of the oyster and chestnut mushrooms finley chopped, sweat down and then add the herbs and put to one side in the dish.
Stage Two
Add the black pudding.  In this instance the black pudding was large so I had just two large slices which I fried in the pan along with the mushroom.  This needs to be fried until cooked through which is about 2-3 minutes on both sides.  Remove the black pudding from the pan and then slice into small cubes.

Stage Three

Roll out the puff pastry so that you have enough to cover the black pudding and the prawn mix and add the black pudding.

Stage Four 

Now slice the fresh prawns into small pieces and add to the pan and cook through until pink and mix with the duxelle and then layer on top of the black pudding.

                                          

Stage Five

Roll the Wellington together and put in the oven for about 20 minutes at 180c.  While the Wellington is in the oven finish the Wild Mushroom sauce by adding the dried mushrooms to the stock and once they have re-hydrated add the stock and mushrooms to the remaining duxelle which is in the pan. Add the remainder of the wine or sherry and cook off the alcohol and then finally add the cream and reduce until thick enough.

Stage Six

Remove the Wellington and serve as appropriate.  As a starter, 2 pieces with the Wild Mushroom sauce would be perfect as a starter.  I ended up eating half of this and I could, as I say, have munched my way through the lot...

Now to add credibility to this dish Andy Jones has since added this to the repertoire at The Mansion....'nough said!

Painted Heron on Cheyne Walk

The Painted Heron has a great reputation.  It was one of those evenings when we decided we wanted a curry (actually we wanted Tsunami but couldn't get a table until 10.30).  We phoned at lunchtime and getting a table for 8.30pm on Friday night was no problem.  Should that mean anything?  May be curry eaters are going more native and exploring Tooting and Brick Lane.  We arrived and were promptly seated, which was as far as the promptness was going to last.  They were clearly expecting a quiet evening as they had staffed accordingly but as we all know there is a minimum level you can't go below and they seemed to have limboed too far below that.  We ordered the set menu, this seemed the most sensible option as 1)  That normally includes dishes the restaurant would like to show off and 2) it covered all the curry bases from my point of view.

The Painted Heron has as I said earlier a great reputation and has received many accolades including Nomination for Best Indian Restaurant and Top20 in Taltler's Restaurant Guide last year so our expectation of the food was high, that combined with the food positioning as being modern Indian...

We kicked off with the essential bowl of poppadums and associated dips, pretty standard fare for any self respecting Indian restaurant but certainly nothing out of the usual, what was unusual and I can not say for certain but it looked suspiciously like one of the waiters was putting unused relish back in the pot when i visited the men's room downstairs where the kitchen is located - it wasn't a bin and it was being put back not added to...

Let's not dwell too long on that and move on to the food.  The pre starter was Mixed lentil sprouts & pea poppadum roll which was perfectly pleasant with two flavoursome dipping sauces, one not unlike hoisin sauce.  The starter was a mixed tandoori plate with tiger prawn, chicken tikka and lamb chop and was perfectly cooked and the marinade bursting with flavour - this was what we had come for.  The lamb was wonderfully rare, the chicken thankfully not.  

Then came the sorbet - it was allegedly a champagne sorbet, none other than Piper Heidsieck but I could have sworn it was lime sorbet.  It was way too sweet and lacked the sharp acidity that I was expecting as a nice refreshing interlude.  The main event arrived and I felt like I was on familiar territory with essentially a Chicken Tikka Massala,Menu description: Chicken tikka with almonds in tomato & cream curry  pilau rice and a naan bread (how many times have I said that in an Indian restaurant?) Salmon tikka with samphire & basil and Lamb roganjosh.  This was, how should I put it?  It was average, that's not to say that had I had this at my local Indian restaurant I would have said 'It's good tonight'  (as we know these things tend to ebb and flow.  But this was one of the top Indian restaurants in the country and therefore expectation was running higher than that.  It was pleasant, naan dipped in the sauce, just how I like it, but no culinary epiphany that's for sure.  Now I am leaving the best bit until last and i have added a drizzle of irony there.  OK its fair to say i have NEVER ordered pudding in an Indian restaurant in my life.  By that point my buttons have already become weapons of mass destruction so rarely have the minuteness of space to include a pudding but we were on a set menu and pudding we shall have. 


This was a mango kulfi lollipop and was incredibly sweet but what made it worse was the drizzle of factory made raspberry purée.  It was not a pleasurable experience.  

Over all it was a very pleasant evening, the staff were friendly and the food was good but not earth shattering and at £117 (that included a nice bottle of Gewürztraminer) I would say average value for money.

Service 3.5 out of 5

Food 3.5 out of 5

Value for money 3 out of 5

Veal Scallopini with wild mushroom sauce with Rosemary roasted and fried zuchini

I made this as an homage to my favourite Italian restaurant, Numero Uno. Numero Uno/London Eating,  I have this dish pretty much every time I go there (juggled with Taglietelle Frutti di Mare)  The dish comes with roasted rosemary potatoes and the crispy fried courgette (zuchini).  I am not sure which mushrooms they include in their sauce but I am pretty sure there's a porcini and a chanterelle in there somewhere, oh and there certainly is a lot of cream....yum.

So on that premise I undertook this dish, I bought some dried porcini (they weren't cheap) and dried chanterelle and fresh oyster and chestnut mushrooms.

Ingredients for 2 people

• 2 veal escalopes (these should be gently flattened)
• 250ml chicken (or veal) stock
• About a handful of dried porcini and chanterelle (I have small hands so that's about a tea cup full)
• 100g of a mixture of oyster and chestnut (or whatever you fancy)
• 100ml medium dry sherry, 
• 1 flat teaspoon of dried sage (Flat tablespoon of fresh) - Sage is very strong so go easy
• 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley, 
• 2 small shallots (very finely chopped)
• 2 cloves of garlic (crushed then finely chopped)
• 100ml of single cream.  
• Black pepper (probably enough salt in the stock if using cubes)
• 2 small courgettes
• 2 medium sized potatoes

For the batter

• Flower and water.  This is really simple just mix water into some flower so that its still very goey and will stick and cover.  You can make a more elaborate one if you fancy but I didn't feel it necessary 

Stage One

Chop the potatoes into cubes, par boil, drain and then add to heated oil in a roasting dish with plenty of rosemary and then season. Toss in the oil and then place in the oven for 25 minutes at 180 degrees.(keep an eye on them) 

Stage Two

Flatten the veal and salt and pepper both sides and leave to one side.  Finely chop the shallots and garlic (after hitting with the back of the knife) and add to a frying pan and gentle fry.  

Stage Three

Put the dried mushrooms in the 1/2 pint of stock so they hydrate.

Stage Four

Slice the chestnut mushrooms but leave the oyster mushrooms whole (unless they are huge in which case halve until you are happy) and add to the frying pan along with the sage and parsley and gentle fry until they soften.  Then add the stock with the now hydrated mushrooms and cook to reduce gently.

Stage Five 

Chop the courgette into small batons and coat with the batter and shallow fry in a wok.  Make sure they are just covered by the oil and the oil is very hot.  These won't take long, probably 4 minutes or so.  Once they have started to brown take them out and place in a bowl with kitchen roll and place in the oven.  If you have timed this right then the potatoes should have browned so turn the oven off and leave to keep warm.

Stage Six

Sear the veal in a hot frying pan and then add the sauce to the pan so you combine the veal juices and then add the cream and reduce until it thickens.

The dish is complete.  Plate up the veal and cover with mushrooms and sauce and add the potatoes and the courgettes.  I used some of the potato cuttings and sliced with a mandolin and deep fried so I had potato crisps as a garnish.  Dare I say that it tasted better than Numero Uno?  Well it was my version and pretty close to the original...you would have to ask the wife as I couldn't possibly comment.

Honey, Soy and Chinese Spice Pork Belly with Celeriac, Wasabi Purée and Prawn and Cauliflower Tempura

This was actually a really simple dish to make.  The only hassle is the tempura but all that involves is battering and frying.  The good thing is everything else can just wait until you have cooked the tempura.  I liked the idea of this dish as you have the succulent pork with the spicy celeriac and the crispy prawn goes very well with the pork dipped in some soy.  Next time I make this however i think i would serve with a more elaborate sauce.  Problem with slow roasting pork belly with the marinade is that it's not like cooking a roast and have lots of lovely browned juices to form the base for a sauce.  However the soy did work well as the saltiness complimented the natural sweetness of the celeriaic and the pork has been marinated with honey.  You could use Hoisin Sauce or make a more elaborate dipping sauce and that you can do by adding sesame oil, lemon juice, garlic and dry sherry.
Ingredients (for 2 people)

• 1lbs pork belly  (the piece I had was very meaty and needed a lot longer to cook)
• 6 cauliflower florets (3 per person)
• 6 raw prawns
• 1/2 Celeriac
• Large teaspoon of wasabi (or use horseradish) 

For the marinade

• 3 star anise
• 1 flat teaspoon of chinese five soice
• 1 flat teaspoon of fennel seed
• 1 flat teaspoon of corriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt

Grind the above in a pestle and mortar and then transfer into a mixing bowl and add the following

• 2 grated cloves of garlic
• 1 piece about 2 inch by 1 inch of ginger grated
• 1 tablespoon of runny honey
• 2 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar
• 4 tablespoons of dark soy
• 1 tablespoon of chopped mint

Stage One

Score the pork belly with a knife but don't cut into the meat.  Pour boiling water over it as this opens the scoring up and the meat tightens up.

Stage Two
Grind the spices in a pestle and mortar and then add them to the remaining marinade ingredients and the coat the pork well.  I coated the rind which in hindsight I wouldn't do again as this does caramelise the fat which means when you come to crisp it at the ends it burns slightly.  Leave this to marinade for at least an hour, longer if you have the time.  I placed the pork on a bed of carrots but you could use a wire tray and then add 1/2 pint of water and cover with tin foil so it doesn't dry out.  It will evaporate so make sure you keep adding water.  This needs to cook for a minimum of 4 hours at around 150 degrees.  I wouls say it totally depends on the cut.  Some pork belly i have had has been very thin and this piece was fat, in terms of meat content and was nearly 4 inches in depth.  This needed at least 5 hours to properly render the fat down.

Stage Three
Cut the celeriac into cubes, keep back 8 cubes which  you will roast in the oven for 20 minutes.  The remaining cubes you boil for about 15 minutes or until they are tender.  Once you have cooked the celeriac add some butter (cream if you just don't care!) and then add a teaspoon or two of wasabi to taste, you don't want it overpowering but you do want to taste it.
Stage 4 
The tempura.  The trick is the water.  You have to have this ice cold.  When i made this before I didn't have the water cold enough.  This time i put a container of water in the freezer. This must be done just before cooking. Sift 3oz plain flour and 1 tbsp cornflour with ½ tsp fine sea salt into a large mixing bowl. Then add 7fl oz ice-cold water along with a few ice cubes using a whisk, but don't over beat. Do not worry if its lumpy. (One recipe used sparkling water which I may try next time.)

Stage 5
Heat up oil in a wok or deep pan so that there is enough to cover the prawns and the cauliflower.  You won't be cooking enough to cool the oil but if you are doing this for 4 people make sure the oil remains hot by not putting too much in.  One thing I would do next time is use smaller florets and may be par boil and then dry and cool down in the fridge.  The prawns take no time at all and you really only need a minute or two but longer for the florets.
Stage 6
Plate up your masterpiece.  I put a dollop of purée in the middle and laid the pork next to it with the florets on one side and the prawns on the other with a dipping bowl on the slate (that's right, slate, how poncey is that!)

This was great fun to cook and wasn't that hard and will be refining this as i think it has potential to be a great dish