Salmon Bake

Can’t remember where I got this recipe from – online somewhere I think – but I originally made it as a “non red meat” addition to a dinner party table, years ago – where I had a pescetarian who needed something in an otherwise mainly beef related dinner. It was a big hit with everyone, however, and so has been on my regular menu ever since.

Although salmon is my favourite food, the tinned kind is not something I am super keen on – I could not eat it just on its own, but this dish is one of the rare “tinned” dishes that I really love. It is great as a main dish, comfort-food-style, just to dig in with a spoon in front of a movie on a cold Winter’s evening. It is equally good at a party or pot-luck-supper, as part of an array of various dishes. Enjoy…..

Salmon Bake

30 gms butter

1 onion, finely chopped

1 celery stalk, finely chopped

1 1/2 tbsp plain flour

1 1/4 cups milk

cracked pepper, to taste

210 gm can red salmon, drained

125 gm can corn kernels, drained (or cut the kernels from one small corn cob)

1 cup frozen green peas

1 cup tasty cheese, grated

1/3 cup breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 180∞C.  Melt butter in saucepan on medium heat;  cook onion and celery for 3 mins, stirring, until onion is soft.

Add flour and cook for 1 min, stirring, then add milk and pepper and cook, stirring constantly, for 3-4 mins until mixture boils and thickens.

Remove from heat and add salmon, corn, peas and half of the cheese. Mix well and pour mixture into a 2 litre ovenproof dish. Sprinkle with combined breadcrumbs and remaining cheese.

Bake for 20 mins until golden.

Serves 4

Happy Fooding!

Something Fishy….Or Not So Fishy.

Since returning from my amazing 🙂 UK trip I have really not done much cooking – I think I’m trying to stay in holiday mode as long as possible, and frankly sometimes it is difficult to get motivated to make stuff when there is no one to share the meals with – it’s just not the same on your own. I do, however need to eat, and you can only make do with sandwiches, couscous and home-delivered gourmet Crust pizza (mmmmm….) for so long!

I made this very easy and healthy “baked fish pie” last night, from the May issue of Recipes+ magazine. I halved the quantity, but have listed the full amounts (feeding 4) below.

I like the concept of this recipe – kid-friendly, quick and easy, economical, healthy etc – but I did find the fish itself too bland. When a recipe says “firm white fish fillets”, well you can use anything can’t you, but I do find that I just prefer salmon or tuna all the time, and apart from flake (shark) from Victorian waters, nothing much else cuts it in the fish flavour department. I will make this dish again, but use salmon for better flavour, and also I think some sort of cheese on the top of the mashed potato would finish it off nicely.

So, I like to think of this recipe as a basis to go on with, experimenting with adding other things. The celery was a great inclusion for a start, but there is scope for further improvement….and I also think you could use tofu instead of fish, if you wanted a vegetarian version.

Baked Fish Pie

1 kg potatoes, peeled, cut into 3cm pieces

1/3 cup milk

1 cup frozen peas

cracked pepper, to taste

550 gm jar tomato pasta sauce (any flavour)

2 celery sticks, finely chopped

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley or basil

800 gm (=4) fish fillets, cut into 2 cm pieces (I used ling, but will try salmon next time – or prawns would be good!)

Preheat oven to 200C (180C fan forced).

Place potato in large saucepan; cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes or until tender. Drain; return to plan and add milk and peas. Mash until combined. Season with pepper.

While the potato is cooking spray a 2 litre (8 cup) ovenproof dish with extra-virgin-olive-oil spray. Spoon pasta sauce over base of dish, then sprinkle over celery & herbs. Arrange fish pieces over the top and bake for 10 minutes.

Spoon potato mixture over the fish (add some cheese now ??). Bake for a further 15 minutes or until golden and bubbly.

Serves 4.

Happy Fooding!

Salmon, Spinach & Haloumi

Layered & ready to cook

I was sitting in the hairdresser, flicking through AWFUL weekly women’s magazines, catching up on the celebrity gossip (as you do), when a recipe for a layered vegetarian “stack” gave me a pang for haloumi. OMG I just love squeaky cheese! As soon as I got out of there I went racing (well, walking actually) to my local Coles and thought hmmm what will I do with some haloumi tonight.

I ended up buy a salmon fillet (I’m sure that does not surprise you), a jar of tomato pesto, a bag of baby spinach and the block of haloumi.

So what did I do with these ingredients?

I was also making a slice to take to work for morning tea the next day, so I whipped that up and thought well I’ll use the oven while it’s on, one thing after the other, so I placed the salmon on a baking dish, with a little extra-virgin olive oil spray underneath to stop the fish sticking to the pan. I then layered a heap of baby spinach (knowing how much it shrivels when cooked), a few bits of lemon zest, then about 60 gms of chopped haloumi and a few small dollops of the pesto. Some cracked pepper and a drizzle of lemon juice, and it went into the oven at 180C for 20 minutes.

Ready to eat

The result was good – nice combination of flavours – except that I served it on a pile of rice stick noodles, which I adore, but in this instance they became too slippery and every forkful I put together just slipped off! It was a bit frustrating. Plus I couldn’t eat it all so there is half a fish piece in the fridge to have for lunch this week. I should cook smaller portions, but cooking for one person is not my idea of fun – I like to cook to share, as food is such a wonderful part of life.

Happy Fooding!

Restaurant Review: Fantastic Pub Fare

Last week I was in Melbourne for a few days, visiting my awesome kiddies and parents, and I had several yummy meals, including a family bbq at my mum’s (where I stay when I’m there), scrambled eggs for brekky at Geo’s Cafe (complete with champagne, because it’s always 3pm somewhere!), and lunch with my mum Kaye and good friend Linda, at Kelly’s Motor Club Hotel in Cranbourne.

I’d been to this pub once before, several years ago, and I don’t really remember what the food was like, so it can’t have been too memorable, but the pub itself is an historic icon in Cranbourne and has been owned by the same family (the Kellys, strangely enough!!!) since 1923.

I felt like a salad, so decided to have a Caesar – but there was the option of paying a bit extra for either chicken or salt & pepper calamari with it. I love calamari so thought that would be good, and was expecting really just a ‘garnish’ of a few pieces on top of my salad.

WELL, as you can see from the photo above, there was actually more calamari than salad! It is rare that you get such generous portions (the prices were very good – but then I tend to compare with Perth which is more expensive than Melbourne anyway). There was a substantial amount of salad to begin with (and the poached egg was cooked to perfection and actually still HOT, which is rare by the time it comes out to your table lol), which is not that obvious in the photo, but believe me this was a humungous meal. I couldn’t eat it all and ended up wrapping half of the calamari up in a serviette and taking it home – I had it cold in a bread roll with Greek yoghurt, for lunch the next day (yes, I am strange, but you already know this).

Kaye and Linda both had “Seniors meals”, which are smaller servings, priced accordingly, and include dessert. Kaye had the battered fish & chips, which as you can see is still a reasonable size, and Linda had porterhouse steak with mushroom sauce – and they made a gluten-free sauce for her, as she can’t eat wheat. They also brought out a special serving of gluten-free bread, without being asked for it, which Linda said it was delicious (often GF breads are pretty disgusting!).

Even though the fish and steak were smaller sized options, neither of the ladies could fit in their free dessert, which was a shame as the choice was a massive mixed berry cheesecake or a very large serving of chocolate mousse.

The menu choices were really great, so much choice that in fact it was really hard to decide what to have. Service was great and staff very friendly. We were all very impressed and I will definitely go back there.

Happy Fooding!

Smokin’ Potato Pie

A delicious, light meal, this smoked salmon and mashed potato quiche-type dish is great for a lunch or to make the day before a picnic and slice up cold. This comes from the AWW Potatoes cookbook from 2003, out of print and replaced by more recent potato cookbooks from AWW, from what I can find. I did see it in the National Library’s catalogue here, but couldn’t find any secondhand copies out there anywhere. As with all of AWW’s cookbooks, it is chock full of “real” recipes that work!

I’ve only ever made this as a large pie shape, as directed, but I was thinking this morning that it would also work well as individual serves, baked in a muffin pan, or shallow-fried as little potato cakes, a la blini. Worth experimenting with.

Smoked Salmon Pie

1 kg potatoes, peeled and chopped roughly

40 gms butter, softened

1/4 cup (60 gms) light sour cream

200 gms smoked salmon, chopped roughly

2 eggs, separated

2 spring onions, finely chopped

cracked pepper, to taste

Boil, steam or microwave potatoes until tender. Drain and mash in a large bowl with the butter and sour cream.

Stir in smoked salmon, one of the egg yolks, both egg whites and the spring onion.

Spoon the mixture into a deep, 22cm-round springform flan or cake tin (lined with baking paper first), smooth the top with a spatula and brush with the remaining egg yolk.

Bake at 180C for about 25 minutes, or until pie is heated through and browned lightly.

Serve warm or cold, cut into wedges.

Happy Fooding!

Air-Fried Salmon Burgers

I’ve had a go at making my usual salmon burger recipe, in the air-fryer that I’m currently babysitting and experimenting with!

I’m undecided about the results – the patties cooked beautifully in the fryer but were a tad dry tasting – however, this might be the mixture itself and not the method of cooking. When I cook these in a pan, I usually splash a bit of soy sauce over the patties towards the end of the cooking, and I couldn’t do this in the fryer without making a big mess – so that may have affected the end flavours. I could have added a bit of soy sauce to the mixture, but didn’t think of this until I was eating them!

On reflection, I think I’d like to add the zest of the lemon to the mixture as well as the juice. Improvements for next time!

Below are the instructions for making these in the usual way – for the air-fryer I cooked them at 180C for 15 minutes (sprayed with a tiny bit of olive oil), turned them over and cooked for a further 10 minutes.

Salmon Burgers

415 gm can pink salmon

juice of 1 lemon

1 1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard

3/4 cup breadcrumbs

1 small brown onion, finely chopped

3 egg whites

Drain the salmon, place in a mixing bowl and flake well with a fork.

Add the remaining ingredients, and combine well. Form the mixture into 6 large patties (coat very lightly in a little plain flour if you wish) and refrigerate for at least an hour, then cook in a lightly oiled pan until cook through and brown.

Serve on top of salad, or make into burgers with buns etc. These patties are a great Omega-3 hit for your body.

Optional: add splash of soy sauce to pan towards end of cooking.

Makes 6

Happy Fooding!

Fish Parcels, Asian Style

Stacked and ready.

Here is a lovely baked fish parcel dish with a slight oriental twist. I served this with a simple toss-together of vegies, stir-fried in the wok with a splash of soy, black bean and oyster sauces and a few drops of sesame oil. The fish I prepared earlier in the day and then popped in the oven when ready. Isn’t it amazing how some ingredients break down into almost nothing after cooking – the big pile of baby bok choy underneath each piece of fish, had reduced to a small blob by the end!

These sauce quantities serve 2, so increase as needed – the basic rule of thumb for the sauce is equal portions of the 3 components. The other ingredients don’t have actual quantities, just slice and add as much as you can comfortably fit on top/under the fish.

Thai Baked Fish Parcels

2 firm white fish fillets (I used snapper in this instance)

1/4 cup hoisin sauce

1/4 cup sweet chilli sauce

1/4 cup lime juice

baby bok choy, trimmed, washed and cut into large pieces

red onion, sliced

tomatoes, sliced

fresh basil leaves

cracked pepper, to taste

Combine hoisin sauce, sweet chilli sauce and lime juice; whisk in a bowl.

Taking a square of foil for each serve, layer ingredients as follows: bok choy, small amount of sauce mixture, fish fillet, more sauce, onion, tomato, basil, cracked pepper and the remaining sauce. Fold up foil to fully enclose.

Place parcels on a tray and bake at 180C for 40 minutes.

Serves 2

Happy Fish Fooding!

Simple vibrant veg.

Funky Fish

There is no recipe for this, I just wanted to show you what a friend made for dinner one night last week……yummy, healthy, tasty snapper fillets, topped with herbs and slices of lemon, and steamed in a foil parcel in the oven. Served on mashed potato, with green beans and brussels sprouts.

Absolutely scrummy, and just goes to show you don’t have to get too fancy to have something delicious 🙂

Happy Fooding!

A Sushi & Sashimi Fix

You know that I love salmon beyond almost anything in life….and so it follows from there that I adore sushi and sashimi. In fact I adore raw tuna just as much as raw salmon, and if I get the chance to have really great raw fish I have a wonderful time.  I love all sorts of Japanese food, but I really think if you’re going to go to a Japanese restaurant you have to go with what they do best, which is amazing fresh sushi and sashimi. Divine, it just melts in your mouth, and no matter how full you get, you don’t get a bloated “omg I’ll never eat again” feeling like you do if you overload on pasta or Indian.

I’ve been to many delightful Japanese restaurants, in various countries. My favourite in the whole world (so far) is Matsuri in Adelaide. Now this is a very common restaurant name – there’s one here in Perth, and I’ve been to a Matsuri in Chile as well – not affiliated with each other in any way.  Matsuri in Adelaide does the most amazing “sushi boat” – see the second photo down the page, here. It’s such a relaxing experience, taking your time over a big pile of little bits, with lots of wasabi, pickled ginger, miso soup and a bottle of white wine (or 2, by the time you’ve finished eating – this is absolutely not fast eating).

I think my second best sushi/sashimi experience has been at Japan Restaurant at the Hotel Nippon, in Santiago (Chile). Unfortunately, as I am not likely to live there again, I won’t be going back there anytime soon 😦

Last weekend I went to Seizan here in the city. I’ve been here twice before, but not for a couple of years. Luckily I had booked, as whilst waiting outside beforehand I saw 2 groups of guests arrive and be turned away, as it was fully booked out.  Now this place is not the most fantastic Japanese I’ve had, but it certainly holds its own and is the better of the Perth options that I have tried to date.

Seizan is also in the Entertainment Book, so that meant a discount of $28 – nothing to be sneezed at!

We were the last to leave the restaurant, in fact they were prodding us to go as they were closing up! A very nice, spread out meal, leaving lovely flavours and textures to remember and go back for again.

Happy Fooding!

Using Up The Rest of The Haloumi….

Well after my egg & haloumi easy supper, I still had half a packet of haloumi needing to be used up……no problem….I marinated it in cubes just like before, sauted it along with a salmon fillet, which I then cut into pieces (well it just flaked apart really). I then mixed both of these with some blanched green beans, a few slices of red onion, a large pinch of dried dill (couldn’t get any fresh today), cracked pepper and a splash of lemon juice and soy sauce.

Not bad for a delicious, healthy main meal salad, and ideal for the hot weather.

Happy Fooding!