Aubergine & Mozzarella Bake

This is a lovely little dish that can be altered to suit in many different ways.

Aubergine & Mozzarella Bake

2 Medium Aubergines

1 onion, finely chopped

1 can chopped tomatoes or Passata

2 cloves chopped garlic

200g Pancetta cubes, chorizo or lard ons

Handful sliced mushrooms

Olive oil

Herbs of your choosing, I had Marjoram & Oregano

1 mozzarella ball.

Handful grated cheddar cheese.

Slice the aubergines into 5mm discs, heat a large frying pan and add a drizzle of oil, not much then lightly fry the aubergine discs for a couple of minutes each side until golden brown, remove and put to one side whilst you brown the remaining.

In another frying pan add the pancetta and fry, it will release a lot of oil, add the mushrooms to the pan and continue frying until soft.

In a saucepan heat some more oil and add the garlic, let it sizzle for a few seconds before adding the chopped onions fry for a few minutes until soft then add the tomatoes or passata, let it bubble away for a while before adding the pancetta and mushrooms.  Season and add the herbs to taste.  Simmer for 10 minutes.

In an oven dish place a spoonful or two of tomato mix then layer up with aubergines and some ripped up mozarella.  Repeat, but finish with a layer of aubergines.

Pop into oven at 180oc for 20-30 mins, adding a handful of grated cheddar 10 mins before the end.

Very satisfying dish, you can chop and change any of the veg, meat or cheese, just keep the base of aubergines and tomatoes.

Fish Pie

I have always loved fish pie, but sighed at the thought of having to poach the fish before hand, leave it to cool then flake the fish, whilst making a bechamel sauce and boiling the potatoes. It would always end up with a very fishy smelling kitchen and could be rather messy so I made them infrequently.

Until that is, I thought - why do I need to poach the fish? ... tradition? hmm maybe, its what my Mother and Grandmother both did, so I thought I would start a new tradition.

I have spoken many times of Gordon our great Fishmonger, he was once asked why his fish pies were so much better than the ones the person asking made, he replied "that's because I put twice as much fish in as you do". I remember those words when making my Firsh Pies.

Fish Pie

Fillet of Smoked Haddock - undyed

Fillet of Cod or Coley or any other white fish

Large Salmon Steak

Handful of prawns

Couple handfuls Frozen Peas

Homemade bechemel sauce - butter, flour, milk, pepper

Finely chopped parsley - enough to suit.

Mashed potatoes

Grated Cheese - I know its fish and cheese, but hey, I love a crispy cheese topping on mash.

Oh, so simple. Oven on at 200oc. skin and de-bone the fish.

Cut into hearty chunks, they keep their shape once cooked, giving you something to bite into.

Boil your potatoes and mash.

Make up your white sauce - usually its around 3/4pt, add chopped parsley.

Pour the sauce over the fish and prawns and peas, mix well.

Add the mash to the top with cheese if you wish.

Pop into oven for 25-35mins.

Family BBQ

As mentioned in my previous post, whilst my brother and his family were over from Holland we held a little family soiree - mainly because we never seem to get together enough. Whilst not everyone was able to attend at such short notice we got a pretty good turn out.

The weather was terrible - as expected, but luckily Mum & Dad found a very large marquee which was great to house most of us away from the rain.

Food wise I prepared some of my Chicken Chompers and Smokey Bacon & Tomato Tart, a wonderful wild rice salad which I will have to make again as I forgot to take any pictures of and will post the recipe for it when I do. We also had Anita's delicious marinated belly pork strips and potato salad along with three single ribs of beef which were cooked on the BBQ and turned out wonderfully rare and were a real treat.

I had also been to see Gordon the Fishmonger a few days before to order a whole salmon, when I explained that I had never poached a whole one before and the reason why I wanted it he very kindly offered to poach, skin and put it on a platter for me at no extra cost - what an absolute star he is! Hubby then spent a long while putting slices of cucumber for scales on it and adding a plethora of shell on prawns to the dish - turned out well.

I must offer my thanks to Jo, Stu's sister for bringing two homemade cakes with her - just perfect for afternoon tea before everyone left. The recipe for her light lemon soaked sponge will be on here shortly, once I have made it.

On the day of the soiree, it did chuck down with rain, but we all had so much fun, together again after so long and in some cases I had not seen family members for over 10 years that we did not even notice the weather. I was totally worn out at the end of the day, too busy chatting and making sure everyone else was fed and watered to eat to drink much myself - luckily there was enough of the beef sliced wafer thin to make a sandwich with lashings of horseradish sauce.

Kedgeree

An indulgent Sunday morning brunch dish. I came across so many different versions of this recipe, the one I remember from my childhood had sultanas in, but this recipe from The Good Food Magazine is light, non-sticky or stodgy and very tasty.


Kedgeree
Serves 4



10oz Smoked Haddock fillet - preferably undyed
2 bay leaves
1/2pt Milk
4 eggs - boiled for 4 1/2 mins then cooled.
Handful Chopped Parsley
Handful Chopped Coriander
2 tbs Vegetable Oil
1 Large Onion, finely chopped
1 tsp Ground Coriander
1 tsp Turmeric
2 tsp Curry Powder
10oz Easy-cook long grain Rice - previously rinsed thoroughly in water

Heat oil in a large pan, gently fry the onion until softened. Add the spices and season and a pinch of salt, fry for a few minutes until fragrant and changing colour to brown.

Add the rice and stir well, add 600ml water and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and leave to stand with the lid on for a further 10 minutes.

Put the haddock and pay in a frying pan, pour over the milk and poach for 10 minutes. Remove from milk and peel off skin and flake into chunks.

Peel the eggs and quarter length ways. Mix the rice, fish, eggs, coriander and parsley, serve warm.

Baked Basa on New Potatoes

Whilst filtering through all the photos I have taken of recent meals, figuring out which one to post, I was concerned to find that I have a bit of a fetish for one pot dishes involving a tomato based sauce, most frequently with rice or pasta.

It seemed to me that all my good intentions at the start of the year to cook more new varied and interesting recipes have fallen by the wayside - I was a little disappointed in myself, but I did manage to create a new super easy dish that is not tomato based although it is one pot as follows:-

Baked Basa on New Potatoes

This really is so simple and so very delicious and works well with the old "I have nothing in the fridge" dilemma.

Slice a large onion into rings around 3mm thick.

Slice a large red pepper the same

Slice enough new or other small potatoes to the same thickness.

Pop the into a roasting tin with a glug or oil, season well and add a little Marjoram or favourite herbs to suit.

Mix together well and place into the oven at 200oc for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes remove and place on top of the mix two frozen fish fillets (I used 2 Basa fillets from a value pack by John West - having never seen Basa before I thought I would give it a go, they are dense meaty white fish and very tasty).

Cover with foil and place back in the over for a further 20 mins.

Take out and serve. Simples.

Summer Breeze

Again it has been far too long since I last posted. An uninteresting diet of mixed salad, potato salad and something charred from the BBQ have taken over recently, it allows more time out in the glorious weather that seems to have hit Britain. My racks of pork ribs are going down a storm and at less than £3 for a rack more of a bargain than the individual ribs on offer.

Talking of the glorious weather last week Hubby had Whit week off work, we had nothing planned so spur of the moment we jumped into the car and drove to Cornwall. What a brilliant time we had - drive where ever takes your fancy, (we chose Mevagissey, Penzance and Port Issac) find accommodation in one of the many pubs or B&B's and enjoy. All I ate the entire time we were there was seafood - mussels, bass, bream, calamari, cod and pollock and maybe the odd cream tea and full English for breakfast - yum, yum and thrice yum. Took no photos of the gastronomic delights available - in fact I think my camera - Big H had a bit of a scenic view overload and is now in poorly camera hospital with a dodgy shutter, luckily I had a backup to continue snapping with.

But now it is back to work just as the weather turns, but I will leave you with a couple of pics of Cornwall along with a dish I made prior to holiday.

Gilt Head Bream steamed in foil.

2 Bream, scaled and cleaned. Stuff with lemon, bay leaves, thyme salt and pepper.

pop into a pocket of oiled tin foil, pour in a splash of White wine.

Seal the pocket up, place on a tray and put into the oven for 20mins at 200oc.

Simple but very delicious. I served with boiled Jersey Royal Potatoes and green beans.

Minack Theatre

Mevagissey Harbour

Sennen Cove

Potted Mackerel

A trip to see Gordon the fishmonger at the weekend saw me skulking away with a bag of Mackerel fillets.


Mackerel is truly my favourite fish, hubby is a bit ambivalent about it though, so I have to make dishes with mackerel when he is not around or in this case, something that lasts a few days and can easily be used for lunch or nibbles. I picked this recipe out from the Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall book on Fish, I adapted the dish slightly to suit.


Potted Mackerel

4 Mackerel Fillets
2 Fat Cloves Garlic
2 Bay Leaves
1 Tsp Mace
1/2 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
Juice of 1/2 Lemon
125g Butter
1 Tsp Dried Thyme
1 Tbs Fresh Chopped Parsley
S&P

Put 2 fillets, skin side down in an oiled backing tray, place a clove of garlic and bay leaf on each and then the other fillets on top. Bake in oven for 15 minutes, turning once. When cool enough to handle remove the skin and bones and flake into a bowl. Discard the bay leaves and one of the cloves of garlic.

Add mace, thyme, cayenne, parsley & lemon juice to mackerel and season with S&P.

Take the butter and melt in a pan, add the remianing clove of garlic, finely chopped, the butter will separate into white solids, which will sink to the bottom and clarified butter on top. Pour 2/3rds of the clarified butter over the mackerel, mix gently.

Put the mackerel into small ramekins, press down and pour over the remaining clarified butter.







Leave to cool, then refrigerate. The ramekins will keep in the fridge for several days as long as the butter seal is not broken. Perfect with toast.

Haddock and Chorizo Paella

Yum, that is all I can say about Monday nights foray into the kitchen.

When I picked up the Mackerel from Gordon on Saturday, Hubby had a bit of a hankering for some Smoked Haddock, he has a thing for poached smoked haddock and a poached egg on top - whenever we go to a Loch Fyne restaurant he is a little predictable. Now I think that is fine for a brunch dish but not for evening meal so with my great love of Mediterranean food I decided on a summery Paella.

Haddock & Chorizo Paella

1 Medium Fillet Undyed Smoked Haddock - cut into chunks
Approx 15cm length Chorizo - sliced thinly
1 Onion Chopped
2 Small cloves Garlic - Finely Chopped
1 Yellow Pepper - sliced into strips (I only had Yellow, use whatever takes your fancy)
Handful or so of Frozen Peas
Half a jar of Roasted Peppers in oil
250g Paella Rice
2 Tsp Pimenton
A few strands of Saffron
1 ltr stock - I used a mix of Vegetable and Chicken stock cubes, add the saffron to the stock.

In a flat Paella pan add some oil and fry the garlic and onions until soft, add the chorizo and yellow pepper for a few minutes until the chorizo has bled out its paprika colour, add the pimenton.

Tip in the rice and make sure it is all coated in the oil, add the stock and season. Bring to boil, then turn heat down and simmer covered for 25-30 mins, stirring occasionally, I used a heat diffuser to help stop the rice sticking.

Check to see how dry and add more stock if necessary, add the roasted peppers, frozen peas and haddock chunks, cover again for a further 10mins or until fish and rice is cooked.

The Morning After - Pan Fried Mackerel

As so it was we awoke on Sunday morning. Realising, in my case at least, the dangers of mixing the grape and the grain. A tongue so dry I had to pry it off the roof of my mouth and a niggling muzzy head. Lay in bed hoping that Hubby would get up soon and make a cup tea, as I could not move without one - he did, but glared balefully at me as he went to the kitchen - I think it may have been my turn to make one.

Finally up and dressed, my delicate constitution decided it needed some fuel to burn off the remaining alcohol. We had managed to go into the market yesterday and get all the weeks groceries with out touching a supermarket (barring milk and bread), I happened to have a lovely filleted mackerel from Gordon the Fishmonger. It was so simple all I did was pay fry the seasoned fish in a little oil and serve with bread, butter and slice of lemon - perfect, all the fishy oils soon got to work re-invigorating us.

Unfortunately it did not last too long and we ended up spending the afternoon wallowing on the sofa in front of the TV. I had originally invited the Parents of for Sunday lunch, I was eager to try out a stocky slow roasted belly pork dish from James Martin - 3 and a half hours in the oven - then I burnt it in the last 10mins!!! Luckily no one was up for this - so it was purely a training run, Hubby and I scarfed down the pork once it was cold later afternoon when we were feeling perkier. I will do it again and pay more attention as cold it was delicious.