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!

Zucchini Slice

I know there are a LOT of versions of this yummy quiche dish. It’s such a great standby recipe to whip up when zucchinis are plentiful – lovely cold or hot, cut into squares as an appetizer or in larger serves as a main course. I’ve made versions with carrot or pumpkin in as well, coriander instead of parsley, and I’ved used polenta instead of flour, for a gluten-free version.

This is my “basic” recipe, which comes from my aunt and is the one I’ve been making since Zucchini Slice became trendy about 20 years ago (or longer – don’t know where all those years went).

Zucchini Slice

2 cups grated zucchini

3 spring onions, finely chopped

1 cup grated tasty cheese

1 cup SR flour

1/3 cup olive oil

4 eggs

cracked pepper, to taste

3 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Spoon into a 20 x 30cm dish lined with baking paper, and level the top. Bake in 200C (190C for fan forced) for 20-25 minutes, until a light golden colour on top and just firm to touch. Cool in the tin and cut into squares.

Makes 24 appetizer-sized squares.

Happy Fooding!

Chicken Tagine

Marinating it all.

From one of the Two Fat Ladies‘ cookbooks – Potty, by Clarissa Dickson-Wright, I adapted this chicken dish, which is very suited to preparing in the morning before work and then easily plonking on the stove at night. And speaking of plonk, I think you should also have a glass of wine in hand while you’re keeping an eye on the chicken…..I usually have wine in one hand and a book in the other, because I am such a nerd!

I think next time I will add some green olives to this – I thought of it too late, as I had already started cooking and the shops were shut!

Chicken Tagine with Green Peas & Preserved Lemons

800 gms skinless chicken thigh fillets, trimmed off any fat and cut into 3cm pieces

1 large brown onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, crushed

3 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

3 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped

1/4 tsp cumin seeds, ground

3 tbsp olive oil

skin of 1 preserved lemon, thinly sliced

350 gms frozen peas

cracked pepper, to taste

Place chicken in a bowl with the onion, garlic, parsley, coriander, cumin and olive oil. Mix well to coat, and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight to marinate.

Transfer chicken mixture to either a tagine or large saucepan, and add just enough water to cover the chicken.

Bring to a boil and simmer over low heat for 45 minutes, covered. Stir occasionally.

Add preserved lemon, peas and pepper, bring back to a simmer and cook for a further 15 minutes, uncovered, stirring occasionally.

Serve with couscous or rice, naan bread and yoghurt.

Serves 4

Happy Fooding!

Green Bean Salad

I’m sorry there is no photo of this yummy salad – I DID take photos but they seem to have disappeared into cyberspace somewhere. Take my word for it, this does look great!

I’ve mentioned before that I got a great new cookbook for my birthday, and have shared with you a wonderful barley recipe from it. I’ve also tried a stuffed squid dish, which tasted quite good but to be honest wasn’t tasty enough to warrant the amount of effort that went into preparing it.

This vegie salad is a delight of vibrant colours and zesty fresh flavours. Although the book says it serves 4, it actually makes quite a large amount, so is a great salad to add to your Summer bbq side dish collection.

The recipe calls for flat beans, but hey use whatever fresh beans you like. Same goes for the parsley – curly-leafed would be fine, and you could use walnuts instead of hazelnuts.

Italian Flat Bean Salad

800 gms flat green beans, trimmed

2 lemons

1 orange

1 red onion, thinly sliced

2 bunches of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

80 gms hazelnuts, finely chopped

2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

sea salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Blanch the beans in a large saucepan of rapidly boiling water for 3 minutes or until tender, then cool under running water.

Remove the zest from the lemons and orange with a zester or vegie peeler. Cover with a little boiling water and let stand for 1 minute; drain well.

Remove the remaining pith from the fruit and discard, then cut the flesh into segments.

Toss all ingredients together in a bowl. Refrigerate until serving.

Happy Fooding!

Tabbouleh

Summer’s almost finished (well I know calendar-wise it has been for ages, but I mean temperature-wise) and our nights are getting decidedly chilly. Still shorts and t-shirt weather during the day, but not for much longer I suspect. I made this easy salad for a housewarming bbq at a friend’s on Good Friday…..if salt-consumption is a problem for you then just leave the salt out – it will still be tasty, just a little less vibrant as the salt really brings out the flavour in the tomatoes and lemon.

Tabbouleh

2/3 cup burghul (cracked wheat)

4 medium or 6 small tomatoes, chopped

6 spring onions, chopped

2 bunches flat parsley (about 2 cups), chopped

cracked pepper, to taste

juice of 2 large lemons (about 1/3 cup)

1 tsp lemon zest

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Place the burghul in a large bowl; cover with water and let soak for 1.5 hours; drain any remaining liquid out and return burghul to bowl.

Add tomatoes, spring onions, parsley and pepper to burghul; mix well.

Whisk together remaining ingredients and mix through the salad. Keep in fridge and give it a stir when ready to serve.

Happy Fooding!

Getting Stuffed!

Well today is moving day, for me. And all I’ve eaten over the last 3 days has been leftovers, sandwiches, muesli and oven-roasted bought trays of vegetables. So nothing exciting to report, and tonight when I am left alone with my still-packed boxes and am exhausted, my dinner will consist of a home-delivered Crust pizza and a bottle of champagne all to myself. I’m working tomorrow and the next day, and will have no Internet connection at home for a few more days, apart from my iphone, so my next posting might be a tad delayed due to technical difficulties and sheer exhaustion!

But in the interests of being well-organised with my blog, as they say on cooking shows, “here’s one I prepared earlier”…..

I LOVE stuffing! No one makes it like my ex-mother-in-law, who always used to have to make a whole extra batch when I was coming over, so that I could take it home. I love it sliced and eaten cold on sandwiches, and these days I don’t bother actually stuffing a chicken/turkey with it – I just make it separately – because why wait for a roast in order to make a batch, when you can just make and enjoy it any old time.

This is my ex-MIL’s recipe, with my addition of pine nuts, because pine nuts are one of life’s great joys and you should be eaten on or in as many dishes as possible!

Phyl’s Stuffing

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 cup fresh white breadcrumbs (of course you can use any kind of bread, doesn’t have to be white)

1 box packaged stuffing mix (if you can’t find any, use 200 gms more breadcrumbs mixed with dried herbs of your choice)

2 springs fresh rosemary, finely chopped

1 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped

~ 1/2 cup pine nuts (optional)

1 egg, beaten

cracked pepper, to taste

milk

Boil the onion in a little water for 10 minutes or until soft; drain and add to breadcrumbs, stuffing mix, herbs, pine nuts, egg and pepper. Mix well, then add enough milk to make a quite moist (but not runny) consistency.

Use as desired: either stuff a chicken/turkey with it, OR form into a log and wrap in lightly greased piece of foil to bake (about 45 mins at 180C), OR spoon into greased patty pan tins and bake for about 30 mins at 180C.

Happy Fooding!

Back to Summer Salads…

Enjoy this simple pasta salad with your next BBQ. You can use any type of pasta – shells, bows, penne etc. or even a filled tortellini or ravioli.

Quantities are approximate – I just throw it all in until it looks about right!

Curried Pasta Salad

400-500 gms dried pasta

1 tsp curry powder

3/4 cup mayonnaise (I use low-fat)

1/4 cup milk

6 spring onions, chopped

3/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

cracked pepper, to taste

Mix curry powder with mayonnaise and milk, and blend well.

Cook pasta in boiling water with a splash of olive oil, until al-dente (either on the stove or in the microwave). Drain and add the curried mayonnaise mix, stirring through while the pasta is still hot. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Refrigerate until serving, giving it a toss before using (and add a splash of extra milk just prior to serving, if it looks/feels too thick & stodgy).

Variation – add some finely chopped red capsicum or mushroom.

Happy Fooding!

A Recipe From Childhood

Christmas & New Year cooking is all around me at the moment! Very exciting time of year.

My earliest memories of “helping” my mum in the kitchen, are when she was making these mini egg & bacon pies. I was allowed to place the bacon and parsley in the pastry cups, and later on when I was a bit more trustworthy, I got to pour the egg mixture over them. I love making a batch of these, they freeze well and you can vary them for vegetarians by using a filling of spring onion or mushroom instead of the bacon.

I’ve listed vague quantities, but there aren’t any rules to this. I pretty much just break eggs into a jug and use it ’til I run out of either eggs or bacon or pastry!

You will need a patty pan tray – not the muffin trays as the holes are too big. A cupcake sized tray and preferably a large one (I have two catering sized ones that hold 24 each) or several of the small sized ones.

Mini Egg & Bacon Pies

frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed

eggs

milk

rindless bacon, trimmed of fat and diced

fresh parsley or chives, finely chopped

cracked pepper, to taste

Spray trays with olive oil spray. Using a round cookie cutter (or use a similar sized glass), cut out circles of pastry and place these in the tray holes.

Crack several eggs into a jug (I usually use about 9) and add about half a cup of milk. Whisk until well combined.

Place a little bacon and parsley into each pastry depression. Sprinkle with pepper.

Carefully pour egg mixture over each pastry cup, filling almost to the top.

Bake in a 190C oven for 10-15 minutes, until egg is cooked & puffed up and pastry is cooked. Let cool in tins for a few minutes then remove. Freezes well and can be served hot or cold.

Happy Fooding!

Tomato & Cream Cheese Log

I made this for a Christmas in July dinner that I went to last weekend – deceptively simple as it looks like you went to a lot of effort, but is in fact really easy.  I’ve listed 2 tablespoons of parsley but in fact I don’t usually measure this – it is up to you how much parsley coating you want on your ‘log’.

Although the recipe says to make this into a log shape, you can see by the pictures that I have actually made it in a mini Tupperware jel-ring mold – years ago in South Africa I picked up this limited release mini jel-ring, dirt cheap. I find it perfect for this kind of dish – I put the parsley/zest mix in the base so that it is then on the top of the shape when I turn it out (carefully!). If you have some kind of small mold shape, feel free to use that, or even mold it into a small stainless steel bowl – whatever you prefer.

Tomato & Cream Cheese Log

250 gms cream cheese (low-fat) (take out of fridge for 10 minutes or so to soften before using)

2 tbsp bought sun-dried tomato pesto

50 gms pine nuts

cracked pepper, to taste

1 tsp lemon juice

~2-3 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley

zest of 1 lemon, finely chopped

Beat cream cheese in food processor until creamy/smooth. Add pesto, pine nuts, lemon juice and pepper; beat until smooth.

Carefully spoon cream cheese mixture onto a piece of cling film, and form into a log shape. Wrap up tightly in cling film and refrigerate for a few hours. When ready to serve, mix parsley and lemon zest together, spread out on a plate and careful roll the log in this mixture, coating the outside.

Serve with water crackers or other dry biscuits.

Happy Fooding!