Читать книгу Fresh and Wild Cookbook: A Real Food Adventure - Ysanne Spevack - Страница 39

Invented by the original Mexican cowboys of America, fajitas are tortillas filled with marinated beef, guacamole and salad. That makes this recipe a contradiction in terms, as fajitas are by definition made from beef by guys who raise cows. It’s like making shepherd’s pie out of minced beef instead of lamb – think about it … Oh well, these surf fajitas taste just as fab as turf fajitas. And we’re a long way from Mexico so let’s bend the rules.

I’m hearing confusion at the back – yes, I did say that the original cowboys came from Mexico. The cigarette pack version of the blond all-American cowboy is a myth, along with Custer’s last stand and a million and one other Hollywood enhancements of American history. Cowboys were Spanish-speaking migrant workers from south of the border, and it was many decades before they were joined by a wider population of men – amongst them former slaves from the plantations and unemployed ex-Confederate soldiers left homeless after the war. The original cowboys were actually called vaqueros, and were based on ranchos which were established to convert the local Indians to Catholicism and the Spanish way of life. The advent of the railroads in the 1860s meant that beef could be sent to the rich eastern coast of America and hence things went crazy. A vast amount of cattle was then moved, and wild buffalo herds were mercilessly hunted to near extinction, all within a brief twenty-five-year period. Anyway, back to the point – by all accounts, cowboys made a mean fajita.

Despite its availability throughout the year elsewhere, cod’s roe is only actually in season from January until February, so make this dish during this brief window of opportunity. That’s what makes foods special, eating them at specific times when they’re in season in your neck of the woods. So if you see cod’s roe on sale in another store in December, you’ll know that it’s been frozen for nearly a year.

Watch out for proper fresh smoked cod’s roe taramasalata at this time, too – it’s made by the Cornish fishermen who catch Fresh & Wild’s cod. During the rest of the year, replace the cod’s roe in this recipe with crayfish tails or fish like brill, whiting or John Dory, or simply freeze up a batch of cod’s roe at home if you want to prolong the season and eat it in spring – you naughty …