Kashmiri Butter Fish

Kashmiri Butter Fish

This was a fantastic dish I created after making a Kashmiri Butter Chicken in the slow cooker.  The original recipe comes from Ultimate Slow Cooker.  From this I used the idea of creating the sauce seperate from the meat and pureeing the onions in order to get the right consistency.  This is not a new idea for us as it is the way we make curry sauce "curry secret" style.

When preparing the sauce for the chicken I thought it would work perfectly for cooking fish.  This is because I could spend the time getting the sauce just right and then add the fish just for 10 minutes till cooked.  I also decided to add a little chilli powder to the spice mix as it seemed to be lacking a little in heat.

So that is what I did.  This recipe can be easily adapted by making the sauce and pouring over whole fillets and baking in the oven in order to keep the fish whole.  On this occasion I cut up a couple of fillets of Coley into chunks and cooked them for 10 minutes at the end which worked perfecly well too.

Here is how I did it:

Ingredients:

white Fish (such as Coley)
30g butter
3tbsp double cream
2 medium onions
3 cloves of garlic
chunk of fresh ginger (2 inch)
2tbsp tomato puree/paste
half pint chicken stock
1tbsp demerera sugar
salt and pepper

Spice Mix:

1tsp paprika
1tsp turmeric
1tsp fennel seeds
1tsp whole cumin
1/2 tsp chilli powder
5 cardamon pods
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Method:

Blitz the onion, garlic and ginger in a food processor.
Heat the butter in a large pan or wok and add the onion puree.
Cook on a medium heat till just beginning to colour (about 15 mins)

Crush and mix all the spices together in a pestle and mortar and add to the onions.  Cook for a couple of minutes.
Add the sugar, tomato puree and chicken stock, season and cook for a further 10 minutes.
Add the chopped fish and cook for a further 10 minutes.  Take off the heat and add the cream and serve.

Red Pepper, Cheltenham

A few weeks ago we took a trip down to Cheltenham to say goodbye to a friend who was moving to Australia. We travelled down mid week, and since we arrived in good time, our plan was to find lunch at one of the many eating places in the town.A little research before hand and we chose Red Pepper Bistro. The menu looked good and it was a reasonable price for lunch, given that we were eating out in the evening.

 
I ordered the chicken and bacon salad and Tim ordered the fish cake with a portion of skinny fries on the side.

The chicken and bacon salad was vast. I couldn't finish it. And I believe the fish cakes were superb. The skinny fries were excellent too. All in all a very good value, very tasty and very filling lunch. Red Pepper is certainly recommended.
The restaurant is set out downstairs with a range of formal tables as well as sofas etc, while above there is a deli counter selling a mix of delights including interesting vinegars and chutneys.

Canadian Food

Happy Canada Day!

No we've not cooked a lobster, nor have we eaten it for sometime, but this year we're planning on celebrating Canada Day from afar. In previous years we have made the trip over to Halifax in Nova Scotia to perform in the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo, which begins its run of shows on Canada Day.

We're going to attempt to make some of the type of food we enjoyed over there tonight and update with the successful attempts! Tonight's menu consists of Crab and Spinach dip, Baked Shrimps, (both inspired by The Keg), a little steak (inspired by Maxwell's Plum), Caesar Salad (The Keg and Cheers) and Poutine (practically everywhere). We may even attempt Beaver Tails, but using Gluten-Free flour, who knows if these will work. We might even feature a couple of recipes from the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo 30th Anniversary cookbook and other books we bought on our trips.

Meanwhile, just a few pictures of out time over in Halifax for the Tattoo....

In preparation for our Canadian feast we did make a rather yummy seafood chowder some time ago. It was full of flavour, but sadly missed out on the Nova Scotian delights of vast quantities of lobster and scallops. We used this recipe (copied out below) and used smoked salmon and pouting and a few cocktail prawns at the end.

For the vegetables

10 g butter

1 1/2 large Spanish onions, coarsely chopped
1/2 red, yellow or orange pepper, finely chopped
1 handfuls mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 large leek, sliced diagonally into 1cm thick slices
1 canned sweetcorn

For the chowder

1 tbsp oil
1 - 1.5 kg fish, cut into chunks
50 g butter
50 g flour
milk
water
200 ml double cream
2-3 tbsp parsley, coarsely chopped
1-2 tbsp tarragon, coarsely chopped

1. To prepare the vegetables: heat the butter in a large pan and when hot add the onion, pepper, mushrooms, leek and the sweetcorn. Cook for about 10 minutes until just cooked. Set aside.

2. To make the chowder: heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan and add the fish. Cook until the fish is just cooked. Strain off the juices from the pan and reserve.

3. Heat the butter and when melted stir in the flour. Cook for 1-2 minutes until it becomes a paste.

4. Add the reserved fish juices, a cupful at a time, mixing well before adding the next cup and allow to heat to almost boiling.

5. Add milk and water until the mixture is fairly thin.

6. Gently stir in the cooked vegetables, followed by the fish. Stir gently, to avoid breaking up the fish and season with salt and pepper,

7. Add the double cream, parsley and tarragon and heat through but don't allow to boil. If the chowder is allowed to boil after the tarragon is added, it loses its delicate flavour.

8. Serve immediately and enjoy. 

Ainsley Harriott's Maddie Haddock

Last week, when cooking for one, I fancied something tasty, quick and relatively cheap.
I'd cooked Ainsley Harriott's "Maddie Haddock" recipe before some time ago, and remembered that it was easy, used store cupboard/fridge ingredients and was quick and tasty.
It comes from Ainsley's book All New Meals in Minutes which I've had on the shelf for a while. The recipe is called "Maddie Haddock" after his daughter as apparently it is one of her favourites.

 

I called in at Morrisons to buy some fish, and after watching and reading about The Big Fish Fight I was determined to use some white fish that wasn't cod or haddock. It seems that since Fish Fight Morrisons Fish counter has expanded and is now full of all sorts of different fish. I bought some Pouting fillets, which the fish monger skinned for me, for the grand total of 54p. Bargain. The fillets were quite small so I bought a couple.

I didn't follow the recipe from the book exactly, but modified the amounts, and obviously used gluten-free flour. I actually think I went overboard with the topping ingredients as there seemed to be loads of it. I've copied out the recipe below (with a simplified method), so you can see how it supposed to be done.
 
What you will need (from Ainsley Harriott's All New Meals in Minutes):

2 ripe tomatoes
150g mature Cheddar
2 salad onions, trimmed and finely chopped
4 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tbsp plain flour (we use gluten-free)
4 x 150g haddock fillets, skinned and boned
1 tbsp sunflower oil
a knob of unsalted butter
salt and pepper
(Serves 4)

Method:

1. Dice the tomatoes, removing the seeds. Chop the spring onions and grate the cheese. Mix all this with the mayo and season.

2. Preheat the grill to high. Dust the fish with seasoned flour and fry in a little butter and oil for around 2 minutes on both sides (until almost cooked).

3. Transfer the fish to a gratin dish and spread with the mayonnaise mixture.

4. Grill for 2-3 minutes until the cheese is golden and bubbling.

This is a lovely recipe, and with fish other than cod or haddock, is very cheap to make. It uses ingredients that most people are likely to have in already, and perhaps with more care than I took (since it was just me), it could be quite an impressive main course for a dinner party. I served it with a balsamic dressed salad.

Fish Amok

It has been a while since we cooked Khmer food (Cambodian). We attempted a meal for parents a while ago, after our trip to Vietnam and Cambodia last year. For us, it was the Cambodian food that was the most memorable of the trip, even though we were in the country for such a short time. We ate in out hotel a couple of times, which also had a restaurant in the town. Other meals were in small restaurants within the Angkor complex.

My favourite dish from Cambodia is their national dish Amok Trei, or Fish Amok. There are a few different recipes and cooking methods written about on the Internet, but our Cambodian and Vietnamese recipe book calls the dish "Steamed Fish in Coconut Custard". Some recipes I have come across don't even involve steaming, and in fact one recipe I saw was from the wall of Angkor Thom apparently, and there was no steaming.

The two examples of Amok I had in Cambodia (above) were quite different. The first was chicken Amok, and was rather liquid. This was served in a coconut, and had a small amount of onion and other vegetables within the dish. The second was fish amok and was served in a banana leaf cup, in which many recipes say that the mixture should be steamed. (Although some just say it should be presented in them). This second version was thicker and again included small amounts of vegetables. Both we very tasty and quite unlike anything we'd ever had before.

The basic flavours of this dish come from the paste "Kroeung". Some times this is called this Cambodian curry paste, other times it is called a herbal paste, but the version I used contained lemongrass, shallots, ginger, turmeric, kaffir lime leaves and loads of garlic. No chilli. Some recipes do add chilli, but I was following the "herbal paste" recipe from the Cambodian and Vietnamese recipe book.

When we tried the dish before, we'd used that book, however the quantities didn't seem to add up. The Amok was very liquid, and the flavour of the Kroeung quite diluted, so I'd researched a few alternative recipes and came up with an idea of what to try to see if it worked.

Ingredients:


3 lemongrass stalks
8 cloves of garlic
Ginger root or galangal if available
1 tsp Turmeric
1 large shallot
3 kaffir lime leaves
2 Birdseye chillis
2 fillets of cod
Half a can of coconut milk
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 eggs

Firstly I made the Kroeung paste. This was 3 lemongrass stalks (I'm never sure how to prepare lemongrass, I know everything says to removed the woody outer leaves, but it is all woody if you ask me!), 8 cloves of garlic, 1 shallot, 3 kaffir lime leaves, a piece of ginger and a teaspoon of turmeric all whizzed up with a bit of water to make a paste.

Next I added about 2-3 tablespoons of the Kroeung to about half a tin of coconut milk along with 2 chopped birds eye chillis. Many recipes for Amok do not have any chilli at all, but some do (and some Kroeung recipes have chilli in but this one didn't). We like the kick, so I added some. Into this mixture went two eggs (double yolkers bought from Marple Food and Drink Festival), 2 tablespoons of fish sauce and two fillets of cod, cut into chunks.

The mixture is then put in a steamer, and for these quantities, steamed for 15-20 mins stirring part way through.
The last time we attempted Amok, we didn't have a bowl big enough for the food that would fit in the steamer so cooked the mixture in a ban marie. Perhaps that method also was to blame for it not thickening last time.
I think I overcooked the mixture slightly as the eggs seemed a little scrambled, but this didn't ruin the dish as all the flavours were still there.


The finished dish was lovely. Very very tasty. The flavours were true of the food we'd eaten in Cambodia, but possibly this version of Amok might not be that authentic. For example I used powdered turmeric instead of fresh turmeric root, and ginger rather than galangal, also I'm not actually sure about the addition of the chillis. (Kerry, can you help on this? Does your Amok have chilli in?) Plus there was not a banana leaf in sight. The fish still held it's flavour and the sauce was definitely thicker than before. We served it with plain rice.

I will modify the proportions the next time we make this. I think there was too much Kroeung to coconut milk as it was rather rich and needed the rice to balance it. I may also try adding a few thin slices of onion and another vegetable maybe. But I think this time was far more successful than last.

Fish Amok or Amok Trei

Magnificent Roasted Monkfish (not Monkfish) and a Small Forage

Last week, after buying some proscuitto crudo from a Farmers' Market (not sure what Farmers' Markets actually are anymore, as I also bought some soap....), I was wondering what to make. We could have just eaten it on its own in an antipasti mix type thing, but it didn't seem that long ago since we did that, so I thought of an excellent Jamie Oliver recipe that I had tried quite a few times before.
Basically it is Monkfish wrapped in Parma Ham which has been spread with a paste of sun-dried tomatoes and basil.

Jamie Oliver's Magnificent Roasted Monkfish

I wasn't going to buy Monkfish, because, quite frankly, even if Morrison's happened to have it in, I am too tight, and anyway, it wasn't technically Parma Ham I was using either.
I used some random fish (Coley I think), after asking the guy at Morrison's for a meaty fish that wouldn't flake too much. He suggested this which was more in my price range and he said it was quite meaty, like cod. I thought cod was flakey, but hey ho.

I knew the basics of the recipe as I have done it before - yes, with actual Monkfish and actual Parma Ham, but couldn't quite remember the quantities. I dug around among the thousands of cookbooks we have for all the Jamie books, then searched through each one to find the recipe.When I found it, I shouldn't have bothered. "Small jar of sun-dried tomatoes" and "2 large handfuls of basil". Well I knew that much. What is a small jar anyway? Sun-dried tomatoes seem to come in jars of one size. Is this small? Who's hands full of basil?

Anyway, I followed the recipe, sort of. And I have to say it really didn't turn out as elegant as the pictures in his book. I was making it for 2 rather than 4, so I used half of the standard sized jar of sun-dried tomatoes, and "some" basil. I knew the consistency I was looking for anyway. You whizz up the tomatoes and basil, with some of the oil from the tomato jar, and some balsalmic vinegar to make a paste. You then, rather messily, spread this all over the (not Parma) ham. Stick the fish on it, and roll it up. The fish turned out to be huge, so instead of the nice sized portion in the book, we ended up with a great slab of fish on the plate which was very tasty and also very filling.
Suppose it didn't help the portions, as I attempted a Dauphinoise Potatoes for the first time, which turned out to be quite rich. And didn't really match the fish. There was quite a bit of oil/juice from the fish, which didn't work with the cream. Both were nice, but not meant to be together I'd say.

Magnificent Roasted Monkfish (not Monkfish)

I had made an Apple and Blackberry crumble for dessert - again, a bit rich and heavy, but still lovely. It was my most recent attempt at using the gluten free flour which we'd bought for the purpose. I am not convinced that this flour will make decent pastry, even though there are pie recipes on the packet, but surely there can't be an issue with it making crumble.
There was, however, an issue. The batteries in the scales had gone, so quantities were estimated by eye. I think there may have been too much butter, but as I know, gluten free stuff tends to be very dry, so I added more to be safe.
Back to the actual fruit. The other week I had noticed that there were quite a few blackberry bushes (are they bushes?) nearby, and I thought it could be worth a forage. I'd gathered some really juicy, ripe berries a few days before, washed, and tried them. They were ideal. Stupidly, I hadn't gathered them on the crumble day, so when I came to use them, I found that the majority had started to decompose and were becoming one with each other. Again, thanks to Morrison's being 2 minutes away, we still had Apple and Blackberry crumble.

Apple and Blackberry Crumble

The crumble itself worked, although not sure if it would have tasted the same, or had the same texture if I was able to weigh out the recommended quantities. The only thing about it, in this instance, the gluten free flour still had the familiar slightly odd taste and texture to it. But it wasn't that off-putting.