OISÍN DAVISstirs with the stars
FIGHT LIKE APES - MayKay's smoked Irish fish paté followed by lemon chicken.
There is no point in talking about food with rock stars unless you can bring up the topic of hangover cuisine.
MayKay of Fight Like Apes has an extremely enlightened view on the subject: “Healthy people don’t drink, because healthy people won’t lower themselves to a true hangover meal.” She should know, that when women make these kinds of statements, men fall hopelessly in love with them. Fact.
But her culinary repertoire doesn’t begin and end with black pudding and streaky bacon. MayKay has been on a bit of a mission of late to expand her gastronomic experiences by cooking more at home.
Her favourite meal these days consists of two very civilised courses of fine fare – a smoked fish paté followed by a citrus-filled chicken dish. She has taken the time from an exceptionally busy summer festival tour to share the recipes with us.
SMOKED MACKEREL PATÉ
INGREDIENTS
2 x smoked mackerel. You can get these really cheaply in Aldi, and they’re boned which makes things a lot easier
100g cottage cheese
120g soured cream
Juice of 2 lemons
Ground nutmeg, seasoning
METHOD
This is really easy: take all the ingredients and put them in a blender. The amount of each is down to personal preference, depending on whether you like a thicker or more liquid texture. Serve with well-toasted granary bread, watercress and wine. I’m not going to pretend to tell you which one.
LEMON CHICKEN AND PILAU RICE INGREDIENTS
6 chicken thighs
3 lemons
half a teaspoon each of rosemary and thyme
Tablespoon of butter
Pinch of pepper
METHOD
Marinade chicken thighs in lemon juice, zest and herbs for a couple of hours. Put thighs in a roasting tin and rub with butter. Roast until the skin is as crispy as you want it to be. Add the marinade if you like, it can turn into a very nice sauce at the end.
FOR PILAU
INGREDIENTS
1 cup of Basmati rice
1 litre of vegetable stock
Butter to cook
3 Cardamom pods
4 whole cloves
Saffron threads
Cinnamon stick
Bay leaf
1 onion
a handful of chopped coriander
METHOD
Chop the onion well and add a good bit of butter until it’s soft. Add the rice and coat in the butter and onion. Add a few cardamom pods, a cinnamon stick, a teaspoon of saffron threads, a few whole cloves and a bay leaf. Stir into the rice. Add the stock and boil until the rice is done, whatever you consider “done” to be. Serve with coriander.
You can catch Fight Like Apes at the Leeds Festival on Aug 26 and Reading on Aug 28 fightlikeapesmusic.com
