Venetian Baked Cod

I had Cooking TV on a few days ago as I was pottering around catching up on some light household chores and caught part of an episode of Jamie Oliver Does Venice.  He showed a particular fish dish as it came out of the oven in a restaurant and I was instantly entranced by the simplicity of the dish.  I love fish and I love Italian food, so this was perfect for me.

My approximation of the dish is as follows :

For two people :

Two nice fillets of fish (I used Cod, but you could use snapper, haddock, sea bass etc)

Sliced baby potatoes, par-boiled (quantity depends on the size of them, and your appetite)

A generous handful of halved cherry tomatoes

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

1 small bunch of flatleaf parsley also finely chopped

About 1 cup of fish stock – use a Knorr stock pot if you can find them

Extra Virgin Olive Oil to drizzle

Salt and pepper to taste

Juice of 1 lemon to serve

Wash and pat dry the fish fillets and arrange in an ovenproof dish.

Add the sliced potatoes and halved cherry tomatoes around the fish and then scatter the garlic and parsley over everything.  Pour in the stock so that it comes about half-way up the side of the dish.  Drizzle with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

You need to cook the dish until the potatoes and fish are cooked through.  I cooked mine at 180^oC (350^oF/gas mark 4) for 40 minutes.

Spritz with lemon juice to serve.

You could stay within the Venetian theme and serve with a radicchio salad alongside, but I saw fresh samphire and looked no further!

Baked Stuffed Leg of Lamb

This lovely recipe is a marriage between two favourite recipes, Italian Stuffed Lamb from Jamie’s Italy and Delia’s Braised Lamb Shanks with Cannellini Beans from How To Cook, Book Three.

I picked up a small boned leg of lamb on offer, and knew that these two recipes would be the perfect way to cook it.  I’ve adapted the recipes to suit my needs, and the cooking time to suit the size of joint I have.

To suit my one and a half pound (750g) joint I used :

For the stuffing : 

3 thick slices of stale bread

1 anchovy

1tsp pine nuts

1 clove garlic

1 small sprig rosemary

1dsp chopped fresh mint and parsley (or 1tsp of dried)

For the roasting tin : 

2 large baking potatoes

1 large carrot

2oz dried cannellini beans (soaked overnight in water)

Approximately ½ bottle of red wine (you may or may not need it all)

To make the stuffing, simply pop everything into the food processor and blitz.  Wash and dry the lamb joint, and then push the stuffing into the boned cavity.  If necessary, you can make the hole a little bigger by cutting at it with a small sharp knife..  Rub all over with a little olive oil and season with a little salt and pepper.  Place in the roasting tin.

Peel and cut the potato and carrot into large chunks.  Drain and rinse the cannellini beans.  Arrange around the lamb joint in the roasting tin.  Pour over a tablespoon or so of the red wine.

Put the lamb into a hot oven (230^oC / 450^oF / gas mark 8) for 30 minutes.  After the initial cooking time, turn the oven down to 180^oC (350^oF / gas mark 4) and give it 30 minutes per pound of weight.

Baste the joint with the half bottle of wine, a tablespoon or so at a time, every half an hour until the lamb and the vegetables are cooked.

As the meat is cooked with carrots, potatoes and beans, you will simply need a green vegetable on the side.  I cooked a small sweetheart cabbage with mine.

If you want to try the original recipes, there are links below to help you locate them.

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/main-ingredient/pulses/braised-lamb-shanks-with-cannellini-beans.html 

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/lamb-recipes/leg-of-lamb-stuffed-with-olives-bread-pine-nuts-and-herbs-cosciotto-d-agnello-ripieno-di-olive-pane-pinoli-e-erbe-aromatiche

Slow Cooked Duck Ragu

I found this lovely recipe in Jamie Oliver’s book, Cook with Jamie, and tweaked it slightly to suit our tastes.  The original recipe uses a whole duck and serves four, but I used a duck crown and it will serve three nicely, or two more than generously! 

You need to begin the recipe the day before, by slow roasting your duck.  I roasted mine at 190^oC (375^oF / gas mark 5) for two hours, basting every half hour or so, so that the skin gets nice and crispy in the duck juices.  You can pour off the duck fat and keep in a bowl in the fridge and use it to make lovely crunchy roast potatoes!  Once your duck is cooked and has cooled enough to handle, strip the meat from it and set aside. 

For the ragu, using a duck crown and providing two generous serves, I used : 

1 medium onion

2 sticks of celery

3 cloves of garlic

3 anchovies (optional)

1 medium sized sprig of rosemary

1 x 450g tin chopped plum tomatoes

½ bottle of red wine

A handful of pine nuts (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste 

If using a whole duck you might want to use two tins of tomatoes and a whole bottle of wine 

Finely chop the onion and celery and sweat gently in 1tb of olive oil.  Finely chop the garlic and anchovies and add to the pan (the anchovies will ‘melt’ as they cook and add a meaty richness to the sauce, not a fishy flavour), cook quietly for five minutes or so. 

Add the tinned tomatoes and stir in, then add the half bottle of red wine and give it a good stir.  Add the cooked duck in chunks, and the pine nuts and bring to a simmer on the hob.  Cover with a tight fitting lid (or cover the pan with a square of tin foil before putting your lid on) and simmer quietly in the oven at 160^oC (300^oF / gas mark 2) for two and a half hours or so.  Stir from time to time and break up the chunks of meat towards the end of the cooking time.  If your sauce dries up too much during the cooking time (as mine did a little!) simply add either a little hot water and Worcestershire sauce, or beef/chicken stock. 

I served mine with pappardelle pasta, but any pasta shape will work.  Alternatively you could serve with chunky roasted garlic and rosemary potatoes, cooked in some of the lovely duck fat.  A green vegetable, or salad on the side will cut the richness of the sauce somewhat too.

In Jamie’s original recipe you cook the duck on the day that you are making the sauce, shred it with forks and add to the sauce towards the end of the cooking.  His cooking time is shorter than mine.