One thing I have found is that I've improvised with my own kitchen equipment to get the best out of the oven and maybe Bluestone can address these issues by offering suitable oven accessories in the future. For example, we like our pizzas to be large. So large that they are unwilling to slide off the peel to cook directly on the floor of the oven (as I would like), so a pizza pan came out first. Since then I have invested in a gorgeous Colombian terracotta pan, which will happily withstand the highest of heats that the oven can throw, and that has been invaluable for roasting and baking. It's not only versatile, it looks the biz on the table too. Last weekend I introduced a steel grill rack into the oven as we wanted to cook whole fish and needed all round heat - it's also great for my pieces of tandoori chicken and for kebabs. Why the grill? Well for starters fish are fragile and stick easily. You really don't want to have to turn them if you can help it (or you'll find they've left half of their skin and flesh behind and are fast becoming an unsightly mess). As it was, we only needed to lift the grill out and turn it once as the fish closest to the heat source turned gloriously tinged with colour much quicker than the one nearest the door.
What I cooked were whole sea bass (about 350g each - perfect individual servings) that I had gutted but left whole. To keep the fish moist during cooking, I stuffed slices of lemon and torn parsley and fresh mint into the cavity of each. I then slashed the skin diagonally 3-4 times on each side before brushing liberally with olive oil and seasoning with Maldon sea salt crystals. The fish were then arranged side by side (but not touching) onto the steel grill.
How long it will take for them to cook depends on how hot the oven is and how large the fish are - mine took about 12 minutes. I am a good, experienced cook and know by sight when something is as cooked as I would like it to be. It strikes me that because your food is for the mo
st part visible, and you can also smell it, that the wood fired oven is excellent for educating the less experienced in how to judge how well done things are.As you can see, these babies (Jamie moment...) were crisp skinned, perfectly moist, and opaque fleshed - now sitting snuggly in Colombian terracotta and ready for the table.
In hindsight I should have also grilled the asparagus for the salad in the oven, but the focaccia was in there instead, and perfect for the occasion it was too.
Asparagus is with us for but a short period of time, our own English asparagus will be around for a few more weeks if we are lucky. I cooked some briefly in salted water, drained and cooled it, and added it to a bowl of locally grown salad leaves, rich in robust mustard flavour (as opposed to supermarket bland salad leaf selection
s). Grilled sea bass goes extremely well with a hint of fresh mint and I often make a bowl of pungently minty dressing to spoon over the fish, instead I added tender, young mint tips to the salad leaves and dressed them with a thick emulsion of Dijon mustard, white balsamic vinegar and grapeseed oil. If you want to add texture and more flavours I recommend a scattering of toasted mixed seeds (like pumpkin, sesame, sunflower and poppy seeds) to add a nutty crunch to the salad.For the focaccia? Go back to my first blog and use the pizza dough recipe. Let it relax after first knock down and then roll out as for pizza. Press knuckles into the dough repeatedly to leave indentations then drizzle liberally with olive oil before strewing the surface with sea salt crystals and torn rosemary. Bake directly on the oven floor to golden brown and risen and tear apart at the table while it's still hot. I think you'll find that the focaccia and the fish both have that faintly smoky, sealed in taste that is so beautiful, and so very much the signature flavour, of this wonderful oven.
Sandra Tate
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