Seabass and Samphire

Samphire is a lovely green that grows on the salt marshes here in Wales.  Full of the flavour of the sea, it needs the simplest of preparation – steam it for 5 minutes and then dress with butter and lemon juice. 

This lovely dish is one of my favourite ways of cooking such a light and delicate fish as Seabass.  Seasoned lightly and sandwiched between slices of lemon and dotted with butter.  If you can get hold of samphire (it isn’t always available), then a handful of parsley would work instead. 

Simply lay a sheet of greaseproof paper over a sheet of tinfoil on a shallow roasting tray, add a layer of lemon slices, strew with the samphire or parsely, place the fish on top and  season, then top with another layer of lemon slices and dot lightly with butter.  Wrap loosely with the greaseproof and foil so that the fish steams in its parcel and cook in a hot oven for 15-20 minutes.  The actual cooking time will depend on the type of fish and the thickness of the fillets.  It’s cooked when it flakes readily and becomes opaque. 

This method works well on a barbecue too, cut the bottom layer of lemon slices a little thicker to protect the fish from the hot coals.

Zingy Salmon Pasta Bake

I made this with some hot smoked salmon fillets that I had taking up space in my freezer, it would be equally as good made with fresh salmon though.  Hubby declared this one of the best meals I have ever made him ..... I wonder about him sometimes, I really do!

For two people :

2 salmon (hot smoked or regular) fillets 

½ fennel bulb, finely chopped(leave it out if you don’t have it, it’s not essential)

2 sticks of celery, finely chopped

1 small clove of garlic, finely chopped

1tb flour

¼ cup or so white wine (leave it out if you don’t have the dregs of a bottle to hand!)

250ml fish stock (Knorr pots are my favourite)

Zest and juice of a large lemon

2tsp capers

A good bunch of flatleaf parsley chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

100g – 150g pasta cooked to the underdone side of al dente.

Firstly, if you are using regular salmon fillets they will need gentle poaching until cooked – reserve the cooking liquid to make up the stock with.

Finely chop the fennel if using, the celery and garlic and sauté in a little olive oil for 10 minutes until softened.  Meanwhile, zest and juice the lemon and set aside.

Add the flour to the vegetables and stir around to absorb all the liquid and then allow it to cook for a minute or two.  Add the stock a little at a time to make a smooth sauce – as smooth as the copped vegetables will allow – and then cook to thicken.  This is going to be a pasta bake so the sauce needs to be more soupy than thick, so add a little more water if necessary.  Add the zest and juice of the lemon, the capers and season to taste with salt and pepper.   Add the broken up fillets of fish and the chopped parsley and stir together.

Add the drained cooked pasta to the sauce and combine together, then turn out into an ovenproof dish.  Cover with a scattering of breadcrumbs and top with grated cheese – a mixture of cheddar and parmesan works best.

Cook in a hot oven for 25 minutes, until the topping and the sauce underneath are bubbling.  I cooked mine at 190^oC (375^oF / gas mark 5).

I apologise for the quality of photographs, the real ones are stuck on my SD card as my computer won’t recognise it!  I’ll update the blog post as soon as I can with the real ones!

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!

Vaguely Thai-ish Salmon and Rice

This dish owes much of its inspiration to Delia’s Summer Collection.  Limes and coriander remind me so much of summer, and of one particularly golden summer – 1994; which I have just realised was all of twenty years ago!  Back then, I was still living in my first home, and the previous autumn we had had my dream kitchen installed, all limed oak and the palest of pink painted walls.  That summer lives on in my memory as one long golden, sunny summer of parties and entertaining!  I’m sure we had our fair share of rain (in fact, I’d be staggered if we didn’t!), but I don’t remember any!  In those days fresh limes and coriander were impossible to get hold of in the small town that was my home then, I used to have to buy them in Cardiff.  How much has changed in the intervening years!

I digress too much!  We’re enjoying quite a sunny spring here at the moment, which had me leafing through my Delia Summer Collection, and set me to thinking about fresh limes and coriander.  I had hot smoked salmon fillets in the freezer and the rest just came together, in the way that only an addled middle aged brain can join dots sometimes!  Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!

For two of us I used :

2 hot smoked salmon fillets (any cooked salmon would do)

1 cup of basmati rice

1 lime

1 lemongrass stalk

1 bunch of fresh coriander (cilantro)

Pare the lime zest in thick strips and bend/snap the lemongrass stalk in two.  Add both to a saucepan with the rice and cook.

While the rice is cooking, wash and chop the coriander and flake the salmon roughly (not too small because it will break up further when you combine it with the rice).

Drain the rice, remove the lime zest and the lemongrass – this is easier done using two forks, easier still if you use a muslin bag!  Rinse the rice with boiling water, drain again and then return to the saucepan.

Add the flaked salmon, the chopped coriander and the juice of the lime.  Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Tuna and Courgette (zucchini) Pasta Bake

 This is one of my 10 minute specials!!  You could either have it as a sauce with pasta, or put it together one evening ready to pop into the oven on the following evening.  To be honest, it’s worth making double the quantity and popping one in the freezer.

For two of us I used :

One large courgette (zucchini)

1 x 160g tin of tuna (in spring water by preference)

1 x 450g tin of chopped Italian tomatoes

1 small bunch of parsley

Seasoning to taste

1tsp garlic olive oil

200g of cooked pasta.  Actually, you could use fresh, as it will cook in the sauce.

Prepare the courgette by cutting slices away from the core (which can be discarded).  Cut the slices into strips, and then into smaller pieces, roughly the same size as a piece of penne.

Saute the courgette in the garlic oil for a few minutes, seasoning with a little black pepper as it cooks.  *Add the tinned tomatoes and then the drained can of tuna.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Bring to a simmer and then turn out the heat.

Add the tuna sauce to the pasta, and then add the chopped parsley.  Turn into an ovenproof dish and sprinkle with grated cheese.

Bake in a hot oven for appx 20 to 25 minutes.  I cooked mine at 200            ^oC (400 ^oF / gas mark 6) for 25 minutes.

* If you are preparing ahead of cooking the following day, allow the courgette to cool before adding the tinned tomatoes and drained tuna.  After draining the cooked pasta, rinse with cold water and combine with the sauce only when the pasta is cold.

From cold you will need to increase the cooking time to 30 to 35 minutes, until piping hot in the middle.

Tuna and Pasta Salad

Almost unbelievably, I’ve managed to get my puppy addled brain into gear, stumble into the kitchen and cook up a new recipe to share with you! 

Waking to a surprisingly warm and summery morning, I wanted something nice, light and summery for lunch.  This tuna and pasta salad fit the bill perfectly. 

It’s based around a recipe from the lovely Bill Grainger, but adjusted to suit my tastes, and what I had to hand at such short notice this morning!  This is a lovely flexible dish, and you can add whatever you have to hand, or whatever you want to.  You can increase or decrease the quantities, depending on how many you are feeding.  It also makes a lovely working lunch; made the evening before, popped into a plastic box and stored in the fridge at work until lunchtime. 

For two of us, this was what I used : 

1 small tin of tuna

1 ripe tomato

3 small spring onions

Zest and juice of a lemon

Appx 1tb of chopped flatleaf parsley

Ground black pepper to taste

½ tb of extra virgin olive oil

120g of penne pasta (or whatever you have to hand).

 

First drain the tuna and tip into a bowl.  Deseed and slice up the tomato and add to the tuna, cut the spring onions into generous pieces, grate the zest of the lemon and then the chopped parsley.  Add the lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil, season to taste and give everything a good stir and set aside. 

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the packet.  Drain and add to the pasta.  Combine everything well and serve.

Smoked Fish Pie

We’re into May now and still the wet wintry weather continues.  I’m going to cheer us up with a lovely smoked fish pie.  A nice rich white sauce, buttery mashed potato and cheesy topping – what could be better to warm the cockles of the heart! 

My hubby isn’t much of a fish lover, but he does like smoked cod and hot smoked salmon so that’s what I’m using.  Otherwise, I’d be stuffing it with all sorts – smoked mackerel, kippers as well as the salmon and cod.  You don’t have to use hot smoked salmon fillets, you could keep the costs down by using smoked salmon trimmings. 

This is another one of those handy pies that can be put together when convenient and just heated up when you want to eat.  If you do that, make sure that the white sauce and cod are cold before you mix with the salmon or other cold fish. 

For two of us I’m using : 

1 smoked cod fillet

2 smoked salmon fillets

½ pint of milk

1tb flour

1oz butter

Salt  & pepper to taste

1tb chopped parsley

1tsp capers

½ cup cooked peas

1 bayleaf

1 bunch of parsley stalks

1tsp peppercorns

2 medium potatoes, cooked and mashed with butter. 

Optional 1 or 2oz of grated cheese to top the mashed potato. 

Firstly, place the cod fillet into an ovenproof dish, add the bayleaf, parsley stalks and peppercorns and poach for 20 minutes in a hot oven.  Remove the fish and drain and reserve the milk, throwing out the herbs and peppercorns. 

Make a white sauce by melting the butter and stirring in the flour to make a roux, gradually add the milk little by little, beating well after each addition to make a smooth sauce.  Simmer quietly, stirring constantly, until the sauce has thickened and the flour cooked off.  Season to taste with salt and pepper and add the parsley.

Flake the cod and cut the salmon fillets into chunks and add to the dish you will be cooking the pie in, add the capers and cooked peas and finally the white sauce.  Stir gently to combine without breaking up the cod. 

Top the pie with the mashed potato, adding a final grating of good cheese if you wish. 

From hot the pie will only need 20 minutes at 200^oC(400^oF/Gas mark 6).  From cold the cooking time will depend on the type of dish you are using but it will need 30 to 40 minutes at the same oven temperature.

A simple fish pie

I love a fish pie, and now that the weather has turned colder again it seemed the perfect dish to warm and comfort.  It occurred to me when I was planning this that it would be a perfect dish to commemorate Good Friday; the fish having been associated with Christianity from the very beginning. 

As a mark of the significance and solemnity of Good Friday I thought a simple fish pie was better than a celebratory one stuffed with fish, scallops, prawns and mussels;  but you could certainly add any or all of those if you wished.   

When I make a fish pie I usually use a mix of white fish (cod or hake), a salmon fillet and a hard boiled egg to eke out the fish a little.  

Depending on the fish you are using, this is quite a frugal way to stretch a piece of fish a little bit further.  I often make it with smoked cod too, which makes a very tasty dinner. 

The simple one I made today, to serve two people, used : 

1 small cod loin

1 small salmon fillet

1 hard boiled egg

1 bunch of parsley

½ pint of milk

1tb flour

1 knob of butter

1 small bunch of parsley

Salt and pepper to taste

½ cup of peas

1 or 2 oz of grated cheddar

2 medium/large potatoes (depending on the size of your dish), boiled and mashed with a little butter. 

Firstly, poach the cod and salmon.  I always do this in the oven as it stops the house smelling of fish.  Simply place the two fillets in a deep dish and cover with water, cover the dish with foil and poach at 200^oC(400^oF/Gas mark 6) for 25 to 30 minutes. 

As you will be making a white sauce for the fish I find it helpful to get everything ready beforehand so that I can concentrate on making the sauce.  So pop the peas in the microwave to cook for a few minutes and then set aside.  Wash and chop the parsley and set it aside and peel and chop the egg, then set aside. 

When the fish is poached, take it out of the oven and cut into bite-sized pieces. 

For the pie, simply add the flour, butter and milk to a pan and place over a low heat.  Keep stirring the sauce and bring it to a gentle simmer so that it will thicken.  Keep stirring/beating the sauce so that there is no chance of lumps forming.  When the sauce is thickened to the right consistency, season to taste with salt and pepper and then add the rest of the pie ingredients, stirring gently so that you don’t break everything up.  

Turn the pie filling into your dish and then spoon on the mashed potato and spread out with a fork.  Finish the pie with a generous helping of grated cheddar cheese. 

Pop the pie into the oven for 20 minutes at 200^oC(400^oF/Gas mark 6). 

You can prepare the pie ahead of time if you wish, in which case you should make sure that either everything is hot, or cold when the pie is assembled (to avoid the risk of food poisoning).  From cold it will need approximately 30 to 40 minutes in the oven, but the cooking time depends on the type of dish you are using, the depth of the pie inside the dish and the temperature it was when it went into the oven.   A medium enamel pie dish, at room temperature will take 35 minutes, the small one pictured below took 25 minutes.

Kedgeree

I first tasted this back in the early 70’s, when my Aunt, who was a very adventurous cook for the time, made it for us.  It was a revelation as, in those days, my Mum’s repertoire was quite restricted.  She’s what you would call “a good plain British cook”; a great cook inside her comfort zone.  I digress!  I had never tasted anything like this before and it has remained a favourite ever since. 

It’s a classic Anglo-Indian Victorian breakfast dish, although we’ve always had it as our main meal!  This is my version of it, which leaves out the curry powder!  

For two people : 

1 large smoked cod or haddock fillet

1 cup of rice

½ cup of peas

2 hard boiled eggs

1 small bunch of parsley

1 generous knob of butter

Salt to taste 

Firstly, pop the fish fillets into an oven-proof dish, cover with water and cover the dish with foil.  Place in the oven to poach at 200^oC(400^oF/Gas mark 6) for 25 to 30 minutes. 

While the fish is poaching, cook the rice, adding the peas for the last 10 to 15 minutes. 

Peel the eggs, chopping one coarsely and slicing the other into quarters.  Wash and chop the parsley. 

When the fish is cooked, remove from the poaching water to drain, and then flake into bite sized pieces. 

Strain the cooked rice and peas and return to the pan, adding a generous knob of butter.  Stir so that the butter melts and then add the chopped egg, parsley and the cooked flaked fish.  Stir gently so that you don’t break up the egg or the fish any further.  Decant to a serving dish (or onto plates) and arrange the quarters of egg on the top.

I would like to dedicate this dish to my Auntie Joan, a great cook and a wonderful inspiration.  Thank you!

Hot Smoked Salmon Risotto

We had hot smoked salmon fillets in the freezer that were left over from Christmas, and delicious as they are with a salad, a cold and rainy day calls for something more comforting so risotto it was! 

Such a strong fish as this calls for lemon juice, plenty of lemon juice, but other than that I like to keep the risotto itself quite simple! 

This is my favourite way to cook risotto.  I know it’s not the traditional Italian way, but truth be told I’m quite a lazy cook and the thought of keeping a pan simmering just to add stock bit by bit is a no-no!  I add the stock all at once, in the beginning, and then give the risotto a good old stir from time to time. 

You could, of course, add an egg-yolk and a little cream to finish, but we’re trying to keep the calories down at the moment so I didn’t do that. 

This is what I used for two of us: 

1 small shallot, finely chopped

1 small clove of garlic, finely chopped

1 stick of celery, finely chopped

1 lemon

1 cup of risotto rice

2 cups of vegetable stock

2 smoked salmon fillets

1tb of chopped fresh parsley 

Heat 1tb of olive oil in a pan and add the shallot, garlic and celery and cook for a few minutes, until the vegetables are softened.  

Add the rice and stir around in what little juices there are in the pan.  Add the vegetable stock and stir. 

Pare three strips of rind from the lemon using a potato peeler and add in big pieces to the risotto. 

Cook the risotto, stirring from time to time until the rice is cooked.  Give it a good stir to make it creamy. 

While the risotto is cooking, juice the lemon, chop the parsley and cut the salmon fillets into bite-sized pieces.  Add the salmon to the risotto for the last few minutes of the cooking time, just long enough to heat it through. 

When the risotto is cooked, fish out the strips of lemon rind and add the lemon juice (if you are adding the egg yolk and cream, now is the time to add that too) and then the parsley.  Give everything a good stir to combine and then serve, pronto! 

The sharpness of the lemon contrasts beautifully with the richness of the salmon and made this a lovely comforting, yet refreshing meal.

Italian Baked Fish with Salsa Verde

I can’t claim any credit for this recipe as it’s one from my absolute favourite cookery writer, Delia Smith.  The original recipe is in How To Cook book two (Oven-roasted fish with potatoes and salsa verde).   

I would post a link to the recipe on the Delia Online website, but I am having problems accessing it at the moment, since unwisely clicking on a link on an acquintance’s Facebook page.  I know, I should have known better! 

Anyhow, I digress!  This is an absolute beauty of a recipe so I knew I had to share it with you all.  It’s a regular feature in my kitchen.  I make up a big batch of the sauce at once and keep it in a small Kilner jar in the fridge. 

As always, I’ve modified the recipe slightly in using over the years but this is what I use : 

1 bunch of fresh basil

1 bunch of fresh parsley

1 big clove of garlic

6 anchovies

1 tb capers

1tsp English mustard powder

Juice of a lemon

½ cup of olive oil

Salt and pepper 

I use a mini-chopper to make this, and chop the herbs, garlic, capers mustard powder and anchovies together with the seasoning, then add the lemon juice and olive oil.  I actually like it quite lemony so I always use the juice of the whole lemon.  The original Delia recipe uses 4 anchovies, 1½ tb of lemon juice to 6tb of olive oil, and wholegrain mustard in place of the English mustard powder.

I usually spread a dessertspoonful of the sauce over a fillet of fish and cover with a layer of sliced par-boiled potatoes.  Then add a sprinkling of grated cheese – I use cheddar and a little parmesan.  Bake in the oven at 180^oC for approximately 20 minutes, until the cheese is nicely browned and the fish cooked through.

In the depths of winter this beauty of a dish really livens up the palate!  I usually serve it with green vegetables – peas, beans or broccoli; but salad would be nice too.