A Simple Fish Traybake

It's Autumn and we pulled up the last of the tomato plants at the weekend. We had a good crop of small cherry tomatoes (Gardener's Delight) and larger salad tomatoes (Black Russian) but the weather has changed and the fruit still left on the trusses won't ripen so I picked about a kilo of them in various states of ripeness.

Now there are only so many fried breakfasts you can have and I'm not a chutney maker so this week has involved some experimentation, one of those is this simple traybake.

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 medium size potatoes sliced into 4mm slices

2 medium sized green tomatoes (or half a lemon sliced thinly

2 fillets of sea bass or sea bream

A small bunch of parsley

Olive or Rape Seed Oil

Method

 Preheat the oven to 180c. Scatter the sliced potatoes and tomatoes on a baking sheet, season with salt and pepper then drizzle with a little oil. Bake in the oven for 20 mins. Pinch and slash the skin side of the fish a couple of times rub on a little oil and season with salt and pepper. Place on top of the potatoes and bake for 10-15 minutes depending on how thick the fish is.

Serve with peas or runner beans or a green salad.

 

Ealing Farmers' Market Harvest & What to Grow

It's been a while since I wrote anything here. I've not stopped cooking - no sir - nor eating! Partially in the winter both Liz and I crave comfort food and I fall back onto the staples that I've already written about; stews, casseroles, roasts and so forth. Now that the grey, but mild, Winter seems to be passing and Spring is in the air with blossom on the trees and daffodils flowering thoughts turn to what to grow in the garden and a walk around the Farmers' Market in Ealing is a more attractive prospect as rain won't be trickling down my neck.

So on a sunny Saturday morning we took up our reusable grocery bags and visited the market. First up was a pair of red mullet from the fish stall. They had some nice looking crabs, mussels, oysters and clams as well but shellfish doesn't agree with me (apart from scallops for some reason which I love). Mackerel, fresh and smoked, monkfish, hake and gurnard also looked good on the ice. I chose the mullet because I'd never cooked with it before and it looked good and fresh so two of those were filleted and popped in my bag.

Next up was a cheese stall where Liz chose, after much sampling, a piece of Wife of Bath, a mild creamy semi-hard cheese. Bread next, a loaf of fig sour-dough, crusty and not too dense, an inspiration for my next baking session perhaps.

Two meat stalls, both from the Chilterns to the north-west of London supplied us with a rolled venison shoulder, some sausages (hickory smoked and Lincolnshire varieties), a kilo of beef shin (possibly the best cut for slow cooking) and a pheasant pie.

Some purple sprouting broccoli, winter purslane and land cress from the vegetable stall along with two punnets of  mixed tomatoes (red, yellow, green, striped and deep purple) from the Isle of Wight (stretching the local aspect of the market there me-thinks!) would provide an accompaniment to the pheasant pie and the fish later. Last up a mixed half kilo of apples; Egmont Russets, Braeburns and the wonderfully named D'arcy Spice to see us through the week.

After a lunch of pie, salad and apple at home we strolled down our street to the where the local allotment centre was having their Spring Show. I had no idea there were so many types of daffodil! From pure white to deepest golden yellow. From simple trumpets to frilly doubles. From single large blooms to multiple small ones there must have been at least thirty on display!

Cakes, jams, marmalades, sausage rolls and handicrafts were also on display for judging all crammed into the church hall. We bought some seeds from the HAAGA (Horsenden Allotments And Garden Association) stall and trundled home with a copy of the show schedule where Liz seemed quite keen for me to enter one of the classes in the Summer Show.

As to what to grow this year in the garden. The same as usual for the most part. Runner and broad beans, tomatoes (several kinds), Jerusalem artichokes (mainly because once you have them you can't get rid of them!). Courgettes, herbs, rhubarb (already 15-20cm tall and may be ready for harvest soon), apples and salad greens. If I see something interesting in the garden centre later this month I may stretch this list a bit more but let's see. 

A Fishy Farmers' Market Feast

Paid a visit to the almost local farmer's market in Ealing at the weekend, been too long since I went there. Was only planning on picking up a nice loaf of bread and perhaps some bacon but ended up with a bag of assorted vegetables, cheese, bacon, sausages and a nicely filleted grey mullet. Now I've not cooked this fish before but vaguely remembered that it had a good reputation from my various fish cookery books. So the fish became the centrepiece of tasty summer supper. Would definitely get Grey Mullet again - very tasty, nice thick fillets and not too expensive.

Ingredients
2 Fillets of Grey Mullet (or Sea Bass)
1 small Aubergine (diced) - I used a pale stripy lilac one
Large handful of fresh tomatoes (halved) (nice selection from the market red, brown, purple and gold)
1 medium red onion finely chopped
1 red pepper finely chopped
1 courgette diced
Small bunch of fresh basil
1 clove garlic - crushed
salt and pepper
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tblsp seasoned flour
2 tblsp olive oil
4 tblsp vegetable oil

Method
Heat the olive oil in a pan. Add the onion and fry until softened. Add the pepper, garlic, aubergine and courgette and fry until softened and starting to colour at the edges. Season and add the tomatoes, stir and cook over a low heat while you cook the fish.

Coat the fish in seasoned flour. Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan until hot then fry the fish on both sides, about 2-3 minutes each side. Chop the basil and add to the tomato sauce, serve alongside or under the fish.

Steamed Sea Bass with Stirfried Broccoli

Summer is finally here and after a strenuous stroll around Kew Gardens (and an even more strenuous visit to the shop!) something quick, light and flavourful was called for. Serves 2

Ingredients
2 Sea Bass fillets
1 Thumb sized chunk of ginger peeled and cut into matchsticks
2 cloves of garlic peeled and cut into matchsticks
1 head of broccoli - broken into florets.
120g rice (I use a basmati wild rice blend for flavour and texture).
Dark soy, sesame oil, vegetable oil 
Small bunch of coriander, coarsely chopped.

Method
Cook the rice. My method is to add twice as much water by volume as rice. Bring to the boil then cover and put in the oven (110C) for 20 mins.
Put a folded sheet of foil in a steamer over boiling water. Put half the ginger and garlic on the foil. Sprinkle soy sauce, sesame oil and a grind of black pepper on the fish and put skin side down on the foil. Cover the pan and steam for 10-12 minutes.
Five minutes before the fish is ready heat some oil in a pan or wok. Add the rest of the garlic and ginger and stir fry briefly. Add the broccoli and some more soy sauce and stir fry briefly. Add a tablespoon of water, toss and cover until the broccoli is cooked. Once the rice is cooked and it to the broccoli and soy mixture and toss. Sprinkle the coriander on the fish and broccoli and serve.

A Smoked Fish Supper

I love smoked food of all kinds, in particular smoked fish. I remember the bright yellow smoked haddock from my childhood and while today's undyed version looks less garish but tastes as good. This recipe is based on one of my favourites from Loch Fyne and works as well with cod or haddock.
Serves 2

Ingredients
1 thick fillet of smoked haddock or cod (divided into two portions)
1/2 pint milk
Large knob of butter
Teaspoon of grain mustard
small bunch of parsley finely chopped (reserve the stalks)
3 fist sized potatoes
100g frozen peas

Boil the potatoes and poach the fish in the milk with the parsley stalks until the fish is just done (about 10 minutes). Keep the fish somewhere warm (and away from hungry cats!). Mash the potatoes with some of the strained poaching milk, most of the butter and half the chopped parsley. Cook the peas. Add the rest of the butter, parsley and mustard to the remaining milk and then add the cooked peas.
Put the mashed potato in the bottom of a shallow bowl, place the fish on top and them pour over the pea sauce mixture.

Smoked Haddock Risotto

Rice and smoked fish, a wonderful combination. Through in lots of parsley and some slowly softened leeks and you have a bowl of comfort food. Serves 2 generously or three less so.

Ingredients:
2 medium leeks, finely sliced
1 clove of garlic finely chopped
175g of risotto rice
knob of butter
big handful of parsley finely chopped
1 ltr of stock (vegetable or fish, you may need more or less than this amount)
large fillet of smoked haddock (get the undyed if you can)
500ml or so of milk (just enough to cover the fish)
few peppercorns

Gently poach the haddock in the milk with a bay leaf, some peppercorns and chopped up parsley stalks. Meanwhile fry the garlic and leaks in a wide pan with the butter. When softened add the rice and fry briefly. Add the stock gradually until the rice has softened. Skin and flake the haddock and add to the rice with parsley. Stir gently to amalgamate and season to taste. Add an extra small knob of butter.

Divide between two warmed plates and grate a small amount of parmasan cheese over the top if you like.

Swordfish with Lentils

Cooked during my stay in a cosy apartment in York, just about the only holiday let that I've stayed in that had decent pots and knives. Other firm white fish (monkfish or haddock) would work just as well (as long as it wasn't hacked about by the person doing the filleting as ours was). Serves 4 (for a change!)

Ingredients
4 fillets of firm white fish
Two large handfuls of Puy lentils
Two or three carrots
One red onion
2 cloves garlic
4-6 small tomatoes
6-8 black olives

Fry the finely chopped onion and garlic in olive oil till transparent. Add the finely diced carrot and fry again for a few minutes before adding the olives (pitted and halved). Add the chopped tomatoes, some dried herbs, the lentils and enough stock (or water) to cover.
Bring to the boil and simmer until the lentils are cooked, try not to let the lentils boil dry as they will burn on the bottom of the pan.
When the lentils are almost cooked, season and pan fry the fish and serve on top of the lentils along with some sugar snap peas and green beans for a contrasting texture and colour.