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Posts Tagged ‘Fish’

Falling Cloudberries’ Greek Baked fish

Posted in Fish, Food, Greek, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on 12 August 2011| Leave a Comment »

When we find recipes that do something a little differently and look like they work we have to give them a go. In this case Tessa Kiros suggested baking a firm white fish for one and a half hours which to our wisdom was too long to respect the fish flavours and texture but her enthusiasm and passion for the dish won out. The following recipe proved our preconceptions wrong and we had a delightful and flavoursome dish that proved a complete success. Definitely will be made again (and already has been :-))

Oven-baked fish with tomato & parsley (serves 4 )

  • 1 kg firm white fish fillets, skinned and cut into 6cm pieces
  • 400g tin tomatoes with juice
  • 15g (1/4 cup) chopped parsley
  • 4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 2 lemons, juiced
  • 2 celery stalks, very finely chopped with some leaves too if you like
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 180C/160C fan/350F. Lay fish pieces in a single layer in a large flat oven dish. Mix together all the other ingredients and taste for seasoning. Pour over and cover fish pieces, shaking the dish to balance and equally distribute the juices. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove foil and bake for another 40 to 50 minutes until the liquid has thickened and the top of the fish is golden. You will have to judge this according to your oven as you may have to raise the temperature or reduce the time if necessary. Try to let the dish remain somewhat juicy and not dry out but at the same time crisp the top a little.

Serve with boiled or steamed potatoes as we did to good effect, or a warm crusty bread would work well too.

Wine Suggestion: A slightly herbally and mineral white with a medium body and no overt oak. We drank a superb Friulano brought by our friend Enrico, Vignai da Duline Fiulano 2007,  which had a  great balance of medium weight but perfectly poised concentration and elegant complexity. A delight and superbly matched the food. We recommend you search out this gem (2100 bottles in 2007) as it truly represents the Friulano grape to it very best and has a taughtness and poise that lifts it above the crowd.

We had this dish as the main when we cooked the Saffron Penne –  a good pair.

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Super-healthy salmon & rice salad

Posted in Fish, Food, Healthy, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on 24 July 2011| 2 Comments »

We made this salad because we were trying to use up some brown basmati we’ve had sitting around in the cupboard. The flavour and texture combination turned out even better than expected and it was just as delicious for dinner as well as the next day for lunch. Fresh and light and yet filling and very satisfying. Definitely will be done again.

We reckon this would be a fabulous as part of a buffet; easy to prepare in advance and bursting with colours and flavour.

Don’t be put off by microwaving the salmon – it really does work a treat!

Zingy salmon & brown rice salad (serves 4)

  • 200g brown basmati rice
  • 200g frozen soya beans, defrosted (we used peas because we couldn’t find he soya beans)
  • 2 salmon fillets, skin on
  • 1 cucumber , diced
  • small bunch spring onions , sliced
  • small bunch coriander , roughly chopped
  • zest and juice 1 lime
  • 1 red chilli , diced, deseeded if you like
  • 4 tsp light soy sauce
  1. Cook the rice following pack instructions and 3 mins before it’s done, add the soya beans. Drain and cool under cold running water.
  2. Meanwhile, put the salmon on a plate and microwave on high for 3 mins. Allow to cool slightly, remove the skin with a fork, then flake.
  3. Gently fold the cucumber, spring onions, coriander and salmon into the rice and beans. In a separate bowl, mix the lime zest and juice, chilli and soy, then pour over the rice before serving.
Original recipe BBC Good Food

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Wasabi salmon with cucumber salad

Posted in Asian, Fish, Food, Healthy, tagged , , , , , on 30 June 2011| 2 Comments »

This was another of our heathy weeknight ideas – some of which turn out surprisingly well and others that turn out a bit bland and boring (we don’t blog the bland ones). This was great, though beware of wasabi fumes coming down your nose, a sensation we quite like but mightn’t be for everyone. The cucumber salad was a real hit too – salty, sweet, hot and sour. Felt like a bit of a treat in fact.

Wasabi salmon with cucumber salad – to serve 2

  • 2 salmon fillets, c. 125g each
  • 1 tbsp wasabi paste
  • half a cucumber
  • 1 small red chilli, cut into rings
  • 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
  • 1tsp golden caster sugar
  • 1tsp salt
  • 2 tsp poppyseeds
  • steamed rice to serve

Rub the salmon all over with a tiny bit of oil and then the wasabi paste.

Split the cucumber in half lengthways and discard the seeds. Cut into large diagonal chunks and put in a bowl. Add the chilli, rice vinegar, salt, sugar, poppyseeds and a bit of pepper. Mix well until the salt and sugar have dissolved. There will be quite a lot of liquid but don’t worry and don’t be tempted to leave out the salt as it is essential for the hot, sour, salty, sweet balance.

Preheat your grill and grill the fish for 5-6 minutes or until is turned a nice colour on top and is just cooked through (no need to turn it over).

Serve with the cucumber salad and steamed rice. The salad dressing is nice drizzled over the fish too.

(Original recipe from BBC Good Food)

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Our last recipe for a short while

Posted in Fish, Food, tagged , , , , , on 17 April 2011| 7 Comments »

We’re moving house this week and next week we’re getting married so we don’t reckon there will be much cooking done. Don’t worry we’ll be back mid-May after eating lots of great food and drinking lots of wine in Tuscany. In the mean time enjoy this cause we did!

Baked salmon with smoked pancetta – to serve 4

  • 4 pieces of salmon fillet, about 540g in total
  • 12 thin slices of smoked pancetta
  • 4 bay leaves
Heat the oven to 230C/fan 210C/Gas 8.
Take the skin off the salmon and wrap each piece in 3 slices of pancetta, tuck the ends underneath.
Lay the fish in an ovenproof dish and tuck a bay leaf between the fish and pancetta.
Lightly brush with olive oil and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the pancetta is golden.
Serve with minty peas and new potatoes.
Simple and the salmon stays wonderfully moist and picks up the smoky flavour.
(Original recipe from Nigel Slater, printed in Sainsbury’s magazine).

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Whiting Dugléré

Posted in Fish, Food, France, Wine, tagged , , , , , , , , on 20 January 2011| Leave a Comment »

Jono picked up this Whiting for just over €3 for 500g – the challenge then was finding a recipe to use it with. This one is from “I Know How to Cook” (the French Silver Spoon) which we got at Christmas but hadn’t used yet. The sauce is delicious and the fish cooks just right. Next time you see some bargain whiting, grab it!

Whiting  to serve 6 (we only used half the amount of fish but kept the quantities for the sauce)

  • 1/2 an onion, chopped
  • 3-4 shallots, chopped
  • small handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
  • 250g tomatoes, skinned, deseeded and torn up small
  • six fillets of whiting (or whole whiting, scaled and cleaned)
  • 400ml white wine
  • 50g butter, plus a bit more to grease the dish
  • 30g flour
  • juice of a lemon
  • 2 tbsp creme fraiche

Preheat the oven to 220C and grease a flameproof dish with butter.

Mix onion, shallot, parsley and tomatoes together in a bowl and season. Spoon into your greased dish.

Put the fish on top and pour the wine over everything.

Bring to the boil over a high heat and then cover with buttered greaseproof paper.

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, soften the butter slightly (if its come straight from the fridge) and mix to a paste with the flour.

Transfer the fish to a serving dish and keep warm (but don’t put it back in your hot oven at this stage or it will over cook).

Boil the juices in the pan and reduce.

Gradually stir in the paste, making sure each bit is fully blended in before you add more.

Stir in lemon juice to taste, add the creme fraiche and adjust seasoning.

Pour the sauce over the fish and put some more parsley over the top.

Serve with some steamed baby spuds.

Wine suggestion: Kelly from the wine shop in Harvey Nichols (Dundrum) suggested La Griffe Bernard Chéreau, Muscadet Sevre et Maine (€15)  and it was a great match: honeyed, minerally and rounded. I know we always suggest Muscadet with white fish but it goes!

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Coriander Halibut and Carrot Pilaff

Posted in Fish, Food, Healthy, tagged , , , , , , on 5 January 2011| 5 Comments »

To be honest we thought this would be a little bland (mostly as the look is a little light in the magazine photo – bland colours = bland flavour). We were wrong and we felt even more virtuous as it is a total diet dish; the flavours burst in every morsel.

To serve 4 (easily halved):

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 skinless halibut fillets, about 175g each (or cod)
  • 2 tbsp chopped coriander
  • zest and juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 tsp cumin seeds
  • 2 large carrots grated
  • 200g basmati rice
  • 600ml vegetable stock
  • a handful of frozen peas

The rice and fish cooks at the same time so get everything ready first.

Heat the grill to high, then line with double thick foil and curl up at the edges so you don’t lose all the juice. Brush lightly with oil and put the fish on top. Sprinkle over the coriander, lemon zest and juice and drizzle with a bit more oil. Season with salt and pepper, then grill for about 10 minutes or until the fish flakes (keep an eye on it as it might cook quicker than this depending on how thick your fish is).

Meanwhile, heat the rest of the oil in a pan, add onion and cumin and fry for a few minutes. Stir in the carrots and then the rice until glistening. Add stock and bring to the boil. Cover and cook gently for 5 minutes, then add the peas and cook for another 5 minutes.

Serve the fish on top of the rice. Enjoy.

Original recipe is on BBC Good Food.


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Cheap and healthy tuna and couscous

Posted in Fish, Food, Healthy, tagged , , , , , , on 24 November 2010| Leave a Comment »

We were up in Belfast for the weekend which always means over-indulgence and I then flew to Birmingham for a conference and ate very boring and fatty food – what a waste!

This was a much needed healthy dinner and yet again I had succumbed to M&S reduced tuna steaks (I just can’t help myself when it comes to food bargains!).

This reads fairly dull but actually it was really tasty. I’m not a big fan of red onions (like I usually poke them out of a salad) but the way these are macerated with the lemon juice really takes the sting and sharpness out of them.

Highly recommended for when you feel like something healthy and tasty (or if you have to use them cheapo tuna fillets you bought).

I found this recipe in another of my old BBC Good Food magazines.

Hot mustard tuna with herby couscous (serves 4 though we halved it very successfully)

  • Put a finely sliced red onion in a little bowl with the zest and juice of a lemon and some seasoning – leave to soak for about 5 minutes to soften the onion a bit.
  • Put 250g of couscous into a large bowl and pour over 400ml of hot vegetable stock, cover with cling film and leave for 10 minutes.
  • Season 4 tuna steaks, brush with 1 tbsp olive oil, then pat 2 tsps of English mustard powder over them.
  • When the couscous is ready, add a bunch of roughly chopped flat parsley and 2 tbsp of capers to the onions – give it a good stir before mixing into the couscous with a fork.
  • Heat a griddle pan and sear the tuna steaks for a minute on each side (more if you don’t like it rareish).
  • Serve with lemon wedges.

Julie

Original recipe can be found here: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4839/hot-mustard-tuna-with-herby-couscous

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