(Quite Dry) Fish Pie

Adapted from the BBC book 'TV Chefs - Rick Stein Cooks Fish' this recipe originally called for hake, which is a nice meaty fish but can be difficult to find. I've substituted various fish but I love the Scottish touch of smoked haddock and the way it's complimented so well by the garlic in the dish.

Ingredients (serves 2)

two good sized smoked haddock fillets (undyed is best but not essential)
6 medium potatoes, sliced half a centimeter thick
125g unsalted butter
2 cloves garlic
2 slices white bread
tbls mixed herbs (fine or Provence)
seasoning

Method

Skin the fillets and check for bones, then cut the fish into strips appx 4cm long and 2cm wide. Par boil the sliced potatoes until you can push a knife through them gently - try not to leave them too raw as the final cooking doesn't always soften them enough.

Put the bread, peeled whole garlic, and the herbs into a food processor and turn into fine breadcrumbs.

Preheat the oven to 190c.

Butter an ovenproof dish, add a layer of the fish, then the potatoes, dot with butter and season with salt and pepper, continuing until the fish, butter and potatoes are used up. Cover with the lid or foil and put in the oven for 15 mins. Remove the dish and check the potatoes for softness, then spread the breadcrumbs over the top. Cook uncovered in the oven for 15 more mins or until the topping is brown and crisp.

Serve with either steamed veg, a winter salad or (I was thinking) perhaps some buttered asparagus?

Vegetarian Lasagne

Adapted from Sarah Brown's 'Vegetarian Kitchen' with a few twists from Cooking the Books.

Ingredients (serves 4) :

medium sized bag of fresh spinach (350g-400g)
2 tubs Ricotta cheese
20 medium sized mushrooms sliced
250g vegetable stock
3 tbsp butter
pre-cooked lasagne sheets
grated Mozzarella
2 tbsp flour
1 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
seasoning

Method :

Wash the spinach throughly (rinse through 3 or 4 times) and steam until it droops. Drain and chop, place in a mixing bowl, then mix with the Ricotta, grated nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Saute the sliced mushrooms with one tbsp butter in a large frying pan (with a cover) until the juices start to run. Add the stock, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Put the mushroom mix into a blender and whiz until liquid. Melt the remaining butter in the pan you cooked the mushrooms in and add the flour to make a nice old-fashioned roux. Gradually pour in the mushroom mixture, stirring constantly, until you have a medium-thick mushroom sauce.

Butter a suitable lasagne dish and add a layer of the spinach mixture, a little of the mushroom mixture, then a layer of lasagne. Repeat for another layer and top off with the mushroom sauce. Sprinkle over the grated Mozarella.

Cook at 190 degrees for 35-40 minutes, until the Mozzarella is browned and the mushroom sauce has slightly risen.

Baked Apples with Sausage Meat

You can decide on your own quantities, allowing one apple per person. This is a perfect accompaniment to roast pork, or I'm sure you could come up with a vegetarian alternative to sausage meat readily enough. I found this recipe in a Delia Smith supplement to the Sainsbury's magazine back in the 90s, so all credit goes to Delia.

Ingredients :

Cox's apples or similar
good quality sausage meat (butcher bought is best)
chopped thyme
chopped parsley
butter
thyme sprigs

Method :

Core the apples but make the aperture wide enough to stuff with a good portion of sausage meat. Mix the sausage meat with the chopped thyme and parsley. Roll portions of the meat into sausage shapes and push into the apple, finessing the top into a round. Make a shallow cut around the circumference of the apple and baste with melted butter. Finish off by sticking a thyme sprig into the meat.

You can roast with the pork for the last 30 mins or so. Smells and tastes delicious, with the apples bursting out of the skin.

Easy Summer Recipes - Blackberry Compote

This is delicious and very easy. The one extravagance is the bottle of Creme de Cassis, but remember you can add it to white wine or sparkling wine to create a Kir or Kir Royale!

Punnet of blackberries
4 tbsp creme de cassis
3 tbsp caster sugar
1 vanilla pod (or a good few drops of essence)
brioche loaf
creme fraiche


Take a square of tinfoil (40cm) and fold up the edges to create a tray. Add the blackberries, cassis, sugar and vanilla and mix together. Cover with another sheet of tinfoil and make a seal. Cook in a pre-heated oven at 220c for 20 minutes.

Slice and lightly toast the brioche, pile and pour the compote over, then top with craime fraiche.

Easy Summer Recipes - Pastry Tarts

These are fail safe, and you can prepare them quickly in real time (not much prep)

Puff Pastry Tarts

The recipe comes from The Guardian's summer foods magazine a few week's back. You can make various fillings, but these are the ones we tried. For both fillings you'll need fresh shop-bought puff pastry (not frozen) rolled out to half a centimeter thickness and cut into 12 10cm squares for six of each recipe.

Mozzarella, Broccoli, Pesto & Parma Ham

1 ball of good quality Mozzarella (Buffalo preferably)
1 small broccoli head, divided into small florets
half a jar of green pesto
6 slices Parma ham

Cook the broccoli until tender and leave to cool. Cut the mozzarella into small cubes and mix with the pesto and broccoli. Spoon mixture into the middle of the pastry squares, leaving space around the edges. Place on a baking tray and bake in the oven at 220c for 15 mins until the pastry has puffed up around the filling. Top with the Parma ham and return to the oven for 5 minutes.

Merguez and Tomato

2 or 3 Merguez sausages (or substitute with Chorizo or similar) cooked and chopped into chunks
6 plum tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves sliced thin

heat the oil in a frying pan and add the tomatoes and garlic. Cook over a low heat for 20 mins or until the tomatoes are soft, then stir in the tomato paste, cumin, cayenne and seasoning. Cook for a further 5 mins.

As before , spoon the mixture onto the pastry, top with the sausage and bake for 15/20 mins. To ensure the sausage doesn't overcook you can add it after 10 mins of baking.

Serve with a herby salad as a starter, or as a finger food as part of a buffet.

Spanish Summer Buffet

For our Spanish Summer Buffet we made a basic paellla, potato tortilla, and albondigas (Spanish meatballs) served with salad and crusty bread.

Quick Paella

330g(12oz) paella rice
2 tbsp olive oil
large red pepper diced
large onion diced
2 garlic cloves chopped
750ml chicken stock
2 medium tomatoes chopped
tsp turmeric
500g small prawns


Heat the oil in a large heavy bottomed frying pan - or paella pan if you have one - and add the onion and peppers. Cook till soft then add the garlic and turmeric, cooking for one minute. Add the rice and cook for 2 minutes, then pour in all of the stock, letting it bubble before reducing the heat to low.

Add the tomatoes and prawns. Unlike a risotto, paella's don;t need constant stirring, but an occasional stir will ensure it doesn't stick. After 30 minutes or so the rice will have absorbed the stock. Season to taste, fluff the rice with a fork and serve in the pan.

Tortilla

5 medium free range eggs (beaten but yolks and whites not blended)
1 large onion roughly chopped
1 red pepper (roasted, skin removed and sliced into strips)
2 large potatoes, sliced and par-boiled
1 tsp smoked paprika
50g butter

Heat the butter in a deep sided frying pan (appx 8 to 10 inch / 20-25cm) and fry the onions gently until soft. Add the potatoes and pepper, sprinkle with the paprika, add salt and pepper, stir gently, then pour in the eggs and mix through. Cook slowly until the bottom starts to set (check with a knife) and the top is still soft but 'gelling'. Put the pan under a medium grill to cook the top. Using a spatula, loosen the tortilla from the side of the pan, cut into segments and serve warm.

Albondigas (meat balls)

500g lean steak mince
1 egg
1 slice white bread softened in milk
mixed herbs to taste
salt and pepper
jar passata (500g)
Tbsp olive oil
1 onion chopped
2 garlic cloves chopped
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp soy or Worcester sauce
fresh bay leaf chopped

Mix the mince, egg and bread together with seasoning and herbs. With 'floury' hands form into golf ball sizes and put in the fridge for an hour to firm them up.

To make the sauce, heat the oil in a pan and saute the onion until soft. Pour in the passata, then add the chopped garlic, sugar and soy sauce. Bring to the boil, reduce to low simmer and cook for 15 minutes. Add the chopped bay leaf and adjust seasoning to taste.

To cook the meatballs place them in an oven proof dish and put into the oven at 220c for appx 20 minutes (check to ensure the meatballs are thoroughly cooked through) then pour over the sauce and cook for another 10 minutes. You can finish off with some grated cheese on top to serve.

Marguerite Patten's Lamb Stroganoff

This is taken from "1000 Favourite Recipes" with one or two substitutions which I found worked for the dish. The Stroganoff goes well with a robust red, maybe Australian, perhaps something nice like Yalumba 'Y' or Wolf Blass Yellow Label Cab, or maybe even Penfolds RWT Shiraz if your trying to impress on Feb 14th.

Ingredients (for 4) :

500g thinly diced lean lamb
175g button mushrooms halved
2 onions sliced
25g flour
curry mix (mine is - tsp turmeric, half tsp chilli powder, half tsp cumin, half tsp coriander)
half tsp English mustard powder
25g butter
300ml lamb or chicken stock
150ml creme fraiche (MP uses plain yoghurt)
tbsp tomato puree
2 tbsp oil
salt & pepper
splash of brandy or sherry

Method :

Mix the flour, mustard, salt, pepper, and curry mix together in a bowl and add the meat, covering it thoroughly in the mixture. Heat the butter and oil in a heavy bottomed pan and fry the onions and meat for 10 minutes, stirring to prevent them from sticking or getting too dark. Add the mushrooms then stir in the stock and tomato puree. Cook for 5 mins, then add the creme fraiche and brandy/sherry (optional) Heat without boiling for 5 mins. Serve with basmati rice and crusty bread. Pukkah! (as Margaruite would never say)

Shepherd's Pie

Shepherd's Pie should be made with lamb mince, and Cottage pie with beef mince. You takes your choice!

Ingredients :

300g lean lamb or beef mince
1 large onion chopped
4 mushrooms sliced
2 carrots chopped thin
garlic clove chopped
6 large potatoes, peeled and halved/quartered
300m beef or lamb stock
1/2 can chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon fine herbs
1 tablespoon sunflower/veg oil
200g butter
2 tablespoons flour
seasoning

Method :

On the hob, heat the oil in a large heavy-bottomed frying pan / saucepan and add the onion. Cook till soft then add beef/lamb in small amounts until browned (don't stew it!) Add the carrots, mushrooms, garlic and herbs and cook for 5 mins on a medium heat, making sure things don't stick. Sprinkle in the flour and slowly add the stock until the gravy starts to thicken, then add the tomatoes - note it's easier to thin sauce than to thicken it (IMHO) so go for a slightly thicker consistency and thin as required by keeping some stock on the side.

Cover and simmer on a low heat for 30/40 mins or until meat is tender, checking often to ensure the mixture isn't sticking or drying out. Check for seasoning as required.

In the meantime boil the potatoes. When cooked add 100g butter and some milk to loosen, then mash with salt and pepper.

When the filling is ready pour it into an ovenproof dish (Pyrex or whatever) and place spoonfuls of potato on top, starting at the edges and working towards the centre. Use a fork to smooth it over the filling and to make a wavy pattern. Cut up the remaining butter and dot over the potato. Place under a hot grill until brown and bubbling, then immediately serve with veg.

Goes well with a bottle of Casillero de Diablo Carmenere!