Ren Behan - Author Wild Honey and Rye

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Fish/Seafood

Cod, Chorizo and Pea Puree Bites

It’s almost time to start thinking about Christmas food. I say almost, because traditionally, I don’t really start thinking about Christmas food until December. However, the folks at Lurpak have invited me to take part in their Lurpak Christmas Menu this year and I’ve been tasked with creating an ‘amuse bouche’ or a ‘one bite wonder’ to get the party started. Happily, most of the thinking has been done for me, by Lurpak’s Facebook fans, who have been sending in their suggestions for their ultimate festive canapés. It was hard to pick just one recipe to recreate as there was so many great suggestions, but I was drawn to an idea by Lou Sharp who said that her one bite wonder would be a “Lurpak buttery pea puree topped with a chunk of cod and finished with a slice of chorizo.” So, here is my recreation of that idea – my Cod, Chorizo and Pea Purée Bites.

cod, chorizo and pea puree bites

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Asparagus, Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Pasta

 British asparagus season is in full swing!

Asparagus, Salmon and Cream Cheese Pasta
A simple, seasonal dish ready in minutes!

I’ve been craving the combination of smoked salmon and cream cheese in every form this week, which is unusual for me. Strong, salty flavours are vying for my attention, as well as the sourness of beetroot and pickled cucumbers. Still, at 37 weeks pregnant, it could be worse and at least my sweet tooth has been calmed. I’ve also been eating plenty of fresh, British asparagus, as it’s in season now in the UK, with some of the best spears coming from the counties of Lincolnshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire. The Vale of Evesham is also renowned for its asparagus, with the British Asparagus Festival 2014 running between 23rd April and 21st June. This pasta dish of asparagus, smoked salmon and cream cheese is very quick to make with just a few ingredients. I’ve used small penne tubes, though any small pasta shapes work well with this almost-instant cream cheese sauce.

Asparagus, Salmon and Cream Cheese Pasta

Asparagus, Salmon and Cream Cheese Pasta

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Asparagus, Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Pasta

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British asparagus spears, paired with smoked salmon in a simple and quick cream cheese sauce with penne

Ingredients

  • 250g/ one cup dried Penne pasta, or other small shapes
  • One bunch/one cup fresh asparagus, chopped into one inch pieces
  • 200g/ 3/4 cup cream cheese, regular or light
  • A glug of olive oil
  • 120g (one small packet) smoked salmon
  • Fresh dill to garnish
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

  1. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Once boiling, add in the pasta shapes and cook for 8 minutes, or according to the packet instructions.
  2. Two minutes before the end of cooking time, add the chopped asparagus to the water. Take out one cup of pasta water for the sauce. After two minutes, drain the pasta and asparagus.
  3. Add the cup of pasta water back into the same pan, stir in the cream cheese and a glug of olive oil, season with sea salt and pepper. Add in the cooked pasta and asparagus.
  4. Stir through the chopped smoked salmon, leaving a few pieces to garnish the top. Sprinkle over the fresh dill and serve immediately.

Courses Main

Cuisine Italian

I’m entering this dish into a few blog event challenges this month. Firstly, to Pasta Please! created by Jac of Tinned Tomatoes and this month hosted by Nazima at Franglais Kitchen with a theme of pasta sauces.

pasta please

Next, the post goes on to Four Seasons Food, celebrating all things spring. This event is jointly hosted by Louisa at Eat Your Veg and  Anneli at Delicieux.

fsf-spring

And finally, to my own Simple and in Season Spring, open here.

Simple and in Season

More asparagus recipes to try

British Asparagus and Westcombe Cheddar Tart for JamieOliver.com

British Asparagus, Spinach, Halloumi and Beetroot Salad

Fresh Pasta with Asparagus, Goat’s Cheese and Lemon

Asparagus, Salmon and Cream Cheese Pasta

 Have you been enjoying any seasonal asparagus in simple, family meals?

Next week it’s National Vegetarian Week so look out for plenty of veg-packed recipes!

New Lurpak Cook’s Range – Halibut with Herby Hollandaise

What kind of cook are you? Would you say you are fearless and experimental, or do you stick with familiar recipes and repeat things you know will work out well? I think I’m a mixture of both; I enjoy trying new things and cooking with unfamiliar ingredients, and yet my repertoire extends at a steady pace and more often than not, I tend to stick with what I know best. Julia Child once said; “This is my invariable advice to people: Learn how to cook – try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless, and above all have fun!” This is pretty sound advice, but since time is something many of us strive to save as far as possible, being experimental in the kitchen is often a luxury. This week’s challenge for me was to road-test a brand new product by Lurpak, from their new Lurpak Cook’s Range of ingredients. Luckily, my recipe turned out well and I conquered my fear of tricky, French sauces with my Herby Hollandaise!

Lurpak Cooking Liquid

The Lurpak ‘Food Adventures’ campaign marks the launch of the new Lurpak Cook’s Range of ingredients, designed to inspire home cooks to try something new.  The Lurpak product range has been extended to include a Cooking Liquid, a Cooking Mist, Clarified Butter and a Lurpak Baking – a product that can be used straight from the fridge. At home, we’re on a mission to eat more fish and to incorporate even more veggies into our diet and the #FoodAdventures challenge seemed like the perfect opportunity to try out a new recipe, incorporating plenty of fresh ingredients.

Lurpak Cooking Liquid

Within my #FoodAdventures hamper I found a bottle of Cook’s Range Cooking Liquid, some fresh herbs, including bay leaf and dill, and fresh garlic. Lurpak’s Cooking Liquid is a “liquid blend of Lurpak butter and vegetable oil” and it is recommended for pan-frying meat, fish and vegetables, as well as for roasting, greasing tins and baking. I added to my hamper by buying some some fresh halibut and prawns at the fishmonger’s and plenty of vegetables. I challenged myself to try making a Hollandaise sauce for the very first time – using the Cooking Liquid in place of butter to see what would happen.

Lurpak Cook's Range

The Cooking Liquid itself seems to be pretty versatile and I found that a little in the pan went a long way. When cooking, I generally tend to use a splash of oil together with a small amount of butter, which helps to stop the butter from burning. The Cooking Liquid is really just an ‘easy-to-grab’ blend of butter and Rapeseed oil. As soon as it goes into a hot pan, it melts down into a clear liquid and you can cook with it immediately.

Lurpak Cooking Liquid

Lurpak Cooking Liquid

First of all, I started on my Herby Hollandaise sauce. To make this, you need a ‘bain marie’ or a heatproof bowl over a pan of very gently simmering water. All you need to do is simply whisk two egg yolks with a splash of white wine vinegar, over a gentle heat, with a pinch of salt and pepper. The gentle heat should start to cook and thicken the yolks without scrambling them! Ordinarily, for two egg yolks, you’d need to whisk in around 125g of butter. I managed to use only 60 ml of the Cooking Liquid and a splash of ice cold water to achieve a silky, smooth, lump-free Hollandaise sauce. I added in some fresh herbs in just before serving the sauce, to keep the fresh herbs looking vibrant.

Lurpak Cooking Liquid

On the bottle of Lurpak Cooking Liquid it states that for 100g butter/margarine you should use 100ml Lurpak Cooking Liquid. I found I didn’t need quite as much as 125ml in place of 125g butter in my sauce to achieve a good flavour and consistency.

Halibut with Herby Hollandaise

I also added a teaspoon of the Lurpak Cooking Liquid to my vegetables and used it to cook and coat the fish in the pan – adding a little crushed garlic toward the end.

Halibut with Herby Hollandaise
Pan-fried halibut with prawns and a Herby Hollandaise sauce – made with Lurpak Cooking Liquid

The dish couldn’t have been much easier to make – I was particularly pleased with the Herby Hollandaise and the Cooking Liquid seems to have given the dish an overall good flavour, without the sense of having used too much greasy butter.

Lurpak Cook's Range

On Sunday, I also splashed a little bit of the Cooking Liquid over some par-boiled potatoes, before roasting them in a nice hot oven for 40 minutes – they turned out to be perfectly fluffy on the inside and crisp and golden on the outside – so again, a big thumb’s up!

Lurpak Cooking Liquid Roast Potatoes
Roast Potatoes cooked with Lurpak Cooking Liquid

I’m now looking forward to trying the rest of the new Lurpak Cook’s Range – particularly the Clarified Butter for homemade curries and Lurpak Baking straight from the fridge for cakes as I seem to always forget to bring my baking ingredients to room temperature!

Lurpak are launching and promoting their new Cook’s Range throughout April in the UK, so you’re bound to come across the new range very soon. If you’re on any social media channels, you can follow the campaign and find more ideas by using the hashtag #FoodAdventures

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Halibut with Herby Hollandaise

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A light supper or dinner-party recipe with pan-fried Halibut, prawns and a Herby Hollandaise cooked using Lurpak Cooking Liquid

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. To make the herby Hollandaise sauce, place a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water to make a bain marie. Put the egg yolks, vinegar, salt and pepper into the bowl and whisk the yolks over a gentle heat until the mixture thickens. Add 1-2 tablespoons iced water to loosen, the butter/Lurpak Cooking Liquid and the lemon juice.Take off the heat and whisk together to form a sauce. Set to one side.
  2. Half-fill a medium-sized pan with water and bring to the boil, adding one teaspoon of butter/Lurpak Cooking Liquid. Add the fresh vegetables making sure they are just covered with water, then simmer, uncovered for ten minutes, making sure the vegetables do not dry out.
  3. Whilst the vegetables are cooking, heat a large frying pan until hot and then add two tablespoons butter Lurpak Cooking Liquid. Place the halibut in the pan, skin-side down and cook for two minutes. Add the prawns to the pan and cook for a further two minutes. Season with sea salt and pepper. Carefully flip the halibut and the prawns over and continue cooking on the other side for a further few minutes, adding the bay leaf to the pan for extra flavour. Take the pan off the heat and brush the halibut and prawns with a teaspoon of butter/Cooking Liquid mixed with the crush garlic. Check and drain the vegetables.
  4. Just before serving the fish, gently re-heat the Hollandaise sauce, adding the chopped fresh herbs. Serve the fish alongside the cooked vegetables and sauce.

Halibut with Herby Hollandaise

With many thanks to Lurpak for inviting me to test the Cooking Liquid and come up with a recipe post. I received a product sample of Lurpak Cook’s Range Cooking Liquid, a few ingredients and was paid to develop this recipe. All opinions expressed are my own.

Fish is the Dish: Whole Wheat Penne with Prawns

It’s always a treat when staying near, or on the coast, to pop into a local fishmonger to pick up some of the freshest fish that you can get your hands on. We spent the second week of our Easter holidays staying near the Llyn Peninsula in North Wales. On our last day, we fancied picking up some fresh prawns from Llyn Seafoods for a simple supper. Had the spring weather been a little kinder, we would have most likely made some prawn skewers to throw on the barbecue. As it happens, it was a little rainy, so I made a big plate of whole wheat penne with prawns instead.

Penne with Prawns

This recipe is very adaptable – if you don’t like mushrooms, don’t add them. You can swap the courgette for peas, or perhaps some asparagus, which should be coming into season in the UK towards the end of April. I added a tiny hint of chilli, but you could add more heat and also some fresh cream; it was our last day, after all. We’ve also switched to whole wheat pasta over white pasta, but any pasta works fine in this dish. Prawns take just a minute or two to cook in a hot pan – don’t forget the garlic and a little lemon zest to pick up the flavours.

As part of the Fish is the Dish #HealthyHappyHearts campaign, we’ve been making an effort to eat at least two portions of fish a week. Adding a handful of king prawns to a dish, such as pasta, a stir-fry or even a risotto is a great way to add extra protein and omega-3 to your diet and they are a great standby for the freezer as they are quick to defrost.

Penne with Prawns

Here’s the recipe

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I’m adding this to Simple and in Season, as the prawns were fresh and in season – hosted here this month.

Don’t forget to join in!

Simple and in Season

With thanks to Fish is the Dish for a voucher towards our fish for the week as part of the #HealthyHappyHearts campaign. You can also find some of the Healthy Happy Hearts Menus here and follow @FishistheDish on Twitter for more tips.

How were your Easter holidays?

 

Fish is the Dish – Smoked Mackerel Omelette

The Easter weekend is upon us and I am reminded of how, growing up, we would always eat fish on a Friday, not just on Good Friday. And before the chocolate frenzy begins, there is still time to eat simply. We’re starting our day with a Hot Smoked Mackerel Omelette, for a quick and easy omega-3 boost.

Smoked Mackerel Omelette

For the last few weeks, I’ve been roughly following a plan and a challenge called Healthy Happy Hearts, encouraging us to eat two portions of fish a week. It isn’t a big change for us, as we already try and eat fish once a week, but upping our intake to two portions means that I’ve enjoyed experimenting a little more with fish at different mealtimes.  I’ve written about the Fish is the Dish campaign before and was lucky to have  had one of my recipes featured in their free family cookbook along with lots of other bloggers.

Fish is the Dish Family CookbookDowload the cookbook in the Fish is the Dish site  

This time, Fish is the Dish have been working with one family specifically to help them to eat two portions of fish a week, encouraging us all along with extra hints, tips, menus and recipes. There is research to show that eating fish twice a week will help to raise levels of omega-3 in the body. As a ‘good’ fat that is essential to our diets, Omega-3 helps with brain development, joint function, healthy skin and eyes as well as better mental health.

Smoked Mackerel

The hardest part of any cooking-based challenge is to find ways of getting the children to eat more healthily, so I came up with this quick and easy recipe, which the kids, to my surprise, devoured. I did think that smoked mackerel would be too strong a flavour for them, but then, they do like smoked salmon and actually tolerate ‘big’ flavours, such as fresh olives, better than I do. So sometimes, kids will surprise us. Mine were even picking the mackerel out of the bowl before we got it in the pan!

Fish is the DIsh 

Getting them involved in the cooking or preparation process also helps, too and I find that my kids are more likely to try something new if they’ve helped to make it. I came across this infographic this week whilst writing about Cooking with Kids for Great British Chefs, backing up my theory. A survey showed that 84% of parents said that cooking with their children made them more likely to try new food types.  Since the Easter holidays are now upon us, we’ll definitely be spending plenty of time cooking together in the kitchen – we’ll have lots of chocolate Easter eggs to use up (great for crispy cakes or fridge cakes) but we’ll also be making some healthy fishy dishes together, too!  

Intro-to-Cooking-with-Kids

Cooking with Kids – find the full infographic here

How to make a Smoked Mackerel Omelette

Making this omelette is quick and simple. We used some ‘responsibly sourced’  Smoked Mackerel fillets, on offer at the supermarket, too.  They were in a vacuum sealed packet. Start with one, or even half a fillet if mackerel is a new flavour for your family.  Using your fingers, pull the mackerel away from the skin (it will flake up) and put it in a bowl. In another bowl, whisk up two eggs, add an (optional) little swirl of fresh double cream for a little extra decadence. Next, grate up some cheese, Parmesan or Gruyere work well. Switch on the grill and leave it to heat up. Add a small drizzle of olive oil or rapseed oil (extra omega-3) into a small frying pan, pour in the eggs and put the pan on a medium heat on the hob. The egg will start to set, you can give it a little stir at the beginning, then leave it to start setting on a low heat. After a minute or two, add the flakes of mackerel to the pan and sprinkle over some of the cheese. Cook for one minute and then put the frying pan under the hot grill so that the top of the omelette cooks and puffs up a bit. Once it looks golden on the top, take it out and add an extra sprinkle of cheese. Serve  and eat straight away.

Fish is the DIsh

I hope you have time to try this over the long and lazy Easter weekend. I’ll be back tomorrow with an Easter sweet treat!

With many thanks to Fish is the Dish for sending my family some fish to try as part of the Healthy Happy Hearts challenge. No additional payment was received.

Follow @FishistheDish on Twitter for extra hints and tips or search for the #HealthyHappyHearts challenge.

Fish is the Dish: Pan-Fried Coley (Wild Saithe) with Quick Cheesy Mash

More fish! This time, coley, which I have to say is a new one for us at home. What can I say about coley? Well, I was very pleasantly surprised. Coley is a white fish and is also known as saithe. The fillets I was sent to try by John at Delish Fish were marked at ‘Wild Saithe Fillets’ and they were individually packed in sealed pouches and sent in a well packaged cool box. I signed for the box at 4pm and they were still cold to the touch on arrival. I popped them straight into the freezer and de-frosted two fillets by putting them (still in their pouches) into a bowl of cold water for an hour or so, until I was ready to cook them. 

Fishy Facts:

Coley is in the cod family, but is less expensive and it is a very good alternative to cod and haddock.

Honest opinion: I thought the coley fillets tasted nicer than cod or haddock. They were very mild in flavour, the kids wolfed their food down and crucially, even pan-frying the fish, it didn’t make the kitchen smell. Some of the fillets looked pink/grey, but when I cooked them, they turned white.  The fillets were very flaky, took just a couple of minutes to cook on each side and I didn’t get the sense that they were ‘meaty’ – in the way that cod can be, they just simply fell apart and almost melted in the mouth.

Coley and mash kids version

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There is definitely something very comforting about eating fish with mashed potatoes. I think it is because we used to eat cod in parsely sauce with mash growing up. In this recipe, the mash is ‘quick’ because I bunged two potatoes into the microwave to bake them and then scooped out the insides and mashed them.

 

Fish is the Dish -Top fish tips for all the family 

  
N.B Review/Sample Thank you once again to Fish is the Dish for their ongoing campaign to encourage us all to eat more fish and to John at Delish Fish for sending me the fillets to try.

I received the Wild Saithe Fillets for free in the hope that I would mention them on my blog. I only recommend food/products or services I use personally and believe my readers may be interested in.

 

What do you think about lesser known species of fish? Have you tried coley?!

 

Ultimate Comfort Food: Quick Tuna Fish Pasta – to make us all better!

Well, we’ve gone from a great week to a not-so-great week. Half-term was brilliant, with exciting trips to our friends in Devon, a visit to Bath and then a trip home to my parents. When we came back we had a day to get ourselves organised before school although I then came down with a nasty cold and fever and my little girl came out in chicken pox! So, we’ve all been feeling a bit sorry for ourselves and I’m struggling, as usual, to get on top of things.

Luckily, my mum came to stay and helped to look after us all. She’s left today having cooked a huge pan of leek and potato soup and I made this yummy and quick tuna fish pasta – my ultimate comfort food dish. No roux required and ready in about 20 minutes. Obviously, if you don’t like tuna, you can use ham instead. If you want a veggie option, try using some lightly cooked, chopped leeks.

We’re feeling better already…

There’s lots to catch up on in the food blogging scene, so I am currently making my way round. Please bear with me! I also had a major panic when I noticed that ALL the links to Simple and in Season and Family Friendly Fridays had disappeared! After lots of frantic emailing around, they re-appeared! Apparently some kind of server move. Phew.

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As I didn’t manage to post a Family Friendly recipe last Friday, since it was half-term, I’m posting this one ahead of tomorrow and linking it up to Family Friendly Fridays here on Fabulicious Food! Hope you can join in too for a chance to win a signed copy of the great cook book by My Daddy Cooks.


More comfort food recipes:

Easy Macaroni Cheese with baby Leeks

Golden Leek Soup

Easy Home Made Pizza

Pear and Chocolate Brownies

What’s your ultimate feel-better comfort food?

Fish is the Dish: Wild Scottish Haddock-Filled Corn Tortilla Wraps

We’re on a roll and eating lots more fish! I’ve been so pleased to see the kids love trying fish in a new way, especially the Smoked Haddock Kedgeree and the Mussels with Linguine and Dill. I’m also really enjoying taking part in the Fish is the Dish campaign, particularly as I’ve found their website to be a great resource for fishy facts and information on how to select fish as well as how to cook it. This week we are trying some wild Scottish haddock fillets, sent to me by John Milne at Delish Fish, who are a fifth generation family business based in Scotland. 

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Fish is the Dish: Young’s Easy Cook Salmon with Couscous, Crème Fraîche and Parmesan

Balance was ever-so-slightly restored by the end of the week, after consuming rather too much deliciously-moist Vegan Chocolate Cake. Thanks to the Fish is the Dish campaign, we’ve been eating plenty more fish and this time, I turned to my well-stocked freezer for a very simple lunch of Young’s Easy Cook Salmon with Couscous, Crème Fraîche and Parmesan.

Oven-baking is my favourite way of cooking fish, it is so easy to throw some fish fillets or chunks into a baking dish with a few diced vegetables, such as red onions, courgettes, cherry tomatoes or when it’s in season, asparagus. Drizzle with some Rapeseed Oil for extra Omega 3 goodness, and if you like, a sprinkle of seeds, such as pumpkin or flax seeds for an even bigger boost!  

In less than half an hour you can have lunch or dinner on the table. I like to eat baked fish with couscous, with a dollop of crème fraîche, soured cream or Greek yoghurt and then sprinkled with Parmesan. Sounds like an odd combination, but somehow it works! 

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Young’s Seafood are probably best known, in my mind at least, for their ‘Chip Shop’ range, breaded or crispy, bubbly battered cod fillets, or cod/haddock fish fingers. However, they also have a large range of frozen fish fillets as well as an ‘Easy Cook’ range of skinless and boneless fillet chunks. I used the Pink Salmon Fillet Chunks for my lunch, but the pouches of cod and smoked haddock chunks are super for a quick fish pie. We are also a bit partial to Young’s Scampi…

Young’s have also teamed up with Jamie Oliver more recently, who is working with them to endorse a range of frozen fish meals, such as fish pies for children. We like the Yummy Pollock Fish Pie, which is lovely and creamy with a carrot and potato mash and the crispy fishcakes are surprisingly tasty and substantial.

Young’s are really big on sustainability, all their products show a Fish for Life logo, their flagship programme for fish sustainability, demonstrating that they guarantee sourcing fish from sustainable sources according to the objectives set by the Marine Stewardship Council.

Fish is the Dish -Top fish tips for all the family

For more fishy facts, you can follow Young’s Seafood on Twitter or ‘Like’ Young’s Seafood on Facebook.

With many thanks to Young’s Seafood and Fish is the Dish for arranging some frozen fish for us to try.

I hope you like this recipe? Do you often turn to the freezer for fish or are you more likely to buy fresh?

Fish is the Dish: Scottish Mussels with Linguine, Garlic and Dill

Keeping up with our aim of eating more fish this year, I am very pleased to be part of the Fish is the Dish campaign, who have set out to show families how easy it is to select, prepare and eat fish. As well as trying some smoked haddock for a quick and easy Kedgeree, I was also sent some beautiful pre-cooked Scottish mussels to try from the Scottish Shellfish Marketing Group. I have since made exactly the same dish again, buying pre-cooked Scottish Mussels in Garlic Butter Sauce from the supermarket  for £2.99. I also bought a packet of linguine pasta (on offer, 98p) and a packet of dill (79p) and so I was able to feed all four of us for less than £4.76 (there was dill and pasta leftover). So, this is my new ‘frugal but fancy’ supper and it is on the table in less than ten minutes. If you don’t like dill, try fresh parsley instead.

I admit, that I have never cooked mussels for the family before and I don’t think I would have necessarily thought to. So, trying pre-cooked mussels was a great way forward for me and an easy way to introduce them to the family.

I would have put money on the fact that the kids wouldn’t touch this, but I was wrong! They loved eating the garlicky-flavoured linguine and had fun poking around trying to pull the mussels out. Since Valentine’s Day is not so far away, I also think this dish would make a lovely romantic first course.

Fishy Facts

Mussels are rich in Omega-3, Vitamin B12, Selenium and Iodine. They are a good source of Iron, Folic Acid, Zinc & Vitamin B2. They are also high in protein and low in fat.

Mussels are sustainable

Mussels contain over nine times more B12 than beef, and nearly five times more than salmon.

Mussels are available all year round but they are at their best from October through to March.

(Source: Fish is the Dish website – Mussels)

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Pop over to the Fish is the Dish website for more Fish ‘n’ Tips on buying, preparing, cooking and serving fish. You can also get more fishy facts and recipes by ‘Liking’ Fish is the Dish on Facebook or by following the Fish is the Dish team on Twitter.

Fish is the Dish -Top fish tips for all the family

I’m also linking this up to Helen’s Frugal Food Fridays over at Fuss Free Flavours, since this would feed two people comfortably  for less than £2.50 a head, which I think is pretty good.

Frugal Food Fridays

Thank You to Fish is the Dish and The Scottish Shellfish Marketing Group for the mussels.

Have you ever cooked/eaten mussels? Would you try fresh mussels or have you enjoyed pre-cooked mussels before?

 

Fish is the Dish: Kedgeree

I’m very excited to have been asked to become involved in a campaign called Fish is the Dish and have been sent my first parcel of fish by Delish Fish. There is a great section on the main Fish is the Dish website called Fish ‘n’ Tips, as well as many more great recipes for fish. The wider objective of the campaign is to provide advice to us all about preparing and eating seafood and to highlight its health benefits. I know it makes sense to eat more fish and I know that as a family we should eat more fish, so I’m looking forward to cooking up some recipes and sharing some advice and tips as I go along.

My fish parcel contained a little note to say that  the haddock had been provided for me by John Milne from Delish Fish and that the haddock was caught in the North Sea and has Marine Stewardship Council accreditation. There were also a few surprise packets of hot smoked salmon, mmnnn. It made me realise how wonderful it is to know exactly where the food I am serving my family has come from. I know that I’m not going to have a little note of provenance every time I cook fish, but there are some simple things to keep in mind:

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Pantry Paella with Veg Box Runner Beans (Nigella)

This is my entry to the monthly blogging event over at Maison Cupcake called Forever Nigella, this month hosted by Kat at Housewife Confidential. The theme is ‘Sea Fish and Eat It,’ which promted me to have a scour through NIgella’s books to find a fishy recipe.

We are not huge ‘paella’ fans in our family, if I am making a rice dish I would be more likely to go for a risotto. However, as it happens, I did have a bag of mixed seafood in the freezer and all the ingredients to hand to make Nigella’s ‘Pantry Paella’ so I gave it a whirl.
It is actually easier to make than a risotto as you don’t have to stand around stirring it as much.
For the kids, I confess to taking a bit out shortly before throwing the seafood in and giving it to them sans seafood as they are not really into mussles, prawns and squid just yet – though they do love fish. I also added a touch of cream to the ‘little people’ version as I felt the flavour given by the saffron may have been a little too strong for them (I think I had put a bit too much in!) and threw in some lovely runner beans I found in my veg box.
The recipes can be found either in Nigella’s book ‘Kitchen’ or here at BBC Food.
I agree with Nigella that this is a great ‘store-cupboard standby’ recipe and it would be easy to make for a get-together or a family supper.

Lentil & Walnut Salad with Feta Roasted Salmon (Nigella)

The theme for Forever Nigella #5 has been announced by Dom at Belleau Kitchen and it is to be “Salad Days.” As we roll into some warmer weather I am told food becomes less “heavy and stodgy.” Personally, I would just carry on eating the stodge as I’m not much of a salad girl myself, but I have to say, I am always inspired by Nigella’s salads. I think its probably because Nigella does a great job of padding things out and making her meals substantial, even though they may be ‘light.’

I was after something really quick and easy to make for supper so I turned to ‘Nigella Express,’ which has lots of ideas for speedy meals. I did have two salmon fillets to use, so I baked them in the oven, drizzled with olive oil, dotted with a teeny amount of butter, seasoned with salt and pepper and scattered with some feta and lemon zest and a bit of parsley. I confess to not having much else around, so my attention was drawn to the very back of the book to a section entitled “Storecupboard SOS.” I found a lovely sounding ‘Lentil and Walnut Salad’ and though I had most of the ingredients to hand, namely a packet of lentils, some walnuts and walnut oil, I did have to substitute chives for a bit of rocket and sherry vinegar for white balsamic vinegar. You can leave the walnuts chunkier or chop them finer for more texture and I doubled the vinegar and oil quantities as I wanted the dressing to soak into the lentils as well as coat the rocket leaves.
The whole thing worked very well and since I was unusually cooking for one, there was even enough for left for a lunch box for today. Nigella suggests serving this salad with her Golden Goat’s Cheese, which I will definitely try next time. Grilled Halloumi would be great too for a vegetarian alternative, but the salmon topped with feta went so well with the crunchy walnuts and sweet but sharp white balsamic. This would also make a great supper for friends.

So, that’s me converted to salad then. Can’t wait to see the round up for some more lovely ideas.

Nigella’s Lentil & Walnut Salad
with Feta Roasted Salmon
(Lentil & Walnut Salad adapted from Nigella Express)

Ingredients
For the salmon –
2 fillets of salmon
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
30g cubed or crumbled Feta cheese
A teaspoon of greated lemon zest
A sprinkle of herbs – parsley or mint

For the Lentil & Walnut Salad
400g can organic Puy lentils (ready cooked)
A handful of rocket leaves
50g walnut pieces (finely chopped)
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 teaspoons walnut oil
4 teaspoons white balsamic vinegar

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celcius. Place salmon on a baking try on a piece of lightly oiled baking paper
2. Season the salmon fillets with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle over the cumbled Feta cheese and the lemon zest. Bake in the oven for fifteen minutes or until cooked through
3. Drain and rinse the lentils and put them in a bowl with the finely chopped walnuts and rocket salad leaves
4. Whisk together the walnut oil and vinegar, season with salt and pepper and stir together well
5. Once the salmon is cooked, pile on a plate and eat!
Serves 2 or 1 plus lunch the next day

British Asparagus, Smoked Trout and Dill Tartlets

Last month I joined in with Meeta’s Monthly Mingle for the first time, a blogging event over at a beautiful blog called What’s For Lunch, Honey. The theme was ‘Think Pink’ and I submitted my Pink Pasta dish. Sarah from Maison Cupcake hosted and gave a wonderful round up of all the very inspirational ‘pink’ entries. This month, its Jeanne’s turn to host over at Cook Sister and with the theme being ‘Topless Tarts’ who could resist joining in again?!

The stipulation this month is that you can submit any tart recipe, as long as its, ahem, topless. What with summer coming along, Jeanne thought it would be a good idea to, I quote, “get ’em out and show ’em off” and I quite agree that with the lovely weather we’ve been having, this is a very good idea.
My ‘topless tarts’ feature fish and dill…but more importantly I have been getting rather over-excited about the start of British asparagus season and wanted to create something really seasonal. I used hot smoked fillets of trout, although sea trout is in season too so you could buy a couple of small fillets and grill them for ten minutes too before flaking. If you don’t fancy trout, try salmon flakes. The asparagus was snapped and blanched for just a couple of minutes in hot water and was locally sourced. Dill, in my book, is obligatory with pink fish, so there is a bit thrown in for good measure. Though if you don’t like it or don’t have any to hand, snip some chives in or a bit of parsley.
The flavours worked really well together and these beautiful mini-tartlets would make a great addition to a summer picnic, garden party (there might be one or two going ahead on Friday!) or just a lovely ‘al fresco’ lunch. 
I am quite sure that I will be put to great shame by all the other bloggers who enter this month’s mingle, who will have been busy making their own pastry. However, as the weather has been so darn nice, and because, well frankly life is too short, I did not made my own pastry from scratch. I did, however, roll it and blind-bake it, so there was some effort there. The rest is easy peasy and I promise that the result is a lovely crumbly, buttery tart filled with all the joys of spring.
I hope you try them, don’t forget to let me know if you do. Happy Mingling if you’re joining in! Still feeling bad about not making my own pastry…
British Asparagus, Smoked Trout and Dill Tartlets
Makes 6 Mini Tarts/One large tart

Ingredients

350g shortcrust pastry
250g fresh, British asparagus
125g hot smoked trout fillets (sea trout or salmon fillets)
1 tablespoon chopped, fresh dill
50ml full fat milk
50ml single cream
1 egg and 2 egg yolks
3 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees celcius. 
2. Roll out your pastry on a lightly floured board until around half a centimetre thick and line your mini tart cases (or one large tart tin.) Press the pastry to the edge of the tin and trim the edges with a knife. Prick a few holes in the bottom.
3. Line the pastry with baking paper and fill with baking beans. Bake in the oven for fifteen minutes.
4. Prepare the filling. Snap the asparagus (save the woodier ends for soup) and drop into some hot water for two minutes. Drain and rise well with cold water to keep the colour. Chop finely.
5. Check your fish for any bones and flake into pieces.
6. Mix the milk, cream, eggs and parmesan cheese in a jug.
7. Take the pastry cases out of the oven, take out the beans and leave to cool.
8. Once cool, fill the tarts with your asparagus and trout and sprinkle with dill. Pour over the eggy cream mixture until the cases are almost full.
9. Turn the oven up to around 200 degrees celcius and bake for 20 minutes, or until the centre is firm. ( A large tart will take longer)
 

Pink Pasta – Linguine with Salmon, Prawns and Dill

This recipe is inspired by a baked salmon dish that my sister very often makes. We call her Mrs Pink, since she loves pink and lots of things in her house are pink. When she made this salmon dish for me once, I giggled because it was pink!

Whenever I make her baked salmon, I use any leftover sauce and salmon for the next day and make a pasta dish out of it. However, last night I skipped the baking part and just made it as a pasta dish, since I only had two fillets of salmon to use and wanted a quick supper. 

To make the baked salmon, you follow the same method up to step 6, pouring the sauce into a large baking dish and placing the salmon fillets inside the sauce (up to six for this quantity). Bake it in the oven for around 20 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius, or until all the salmon is cooked through.

Last night I poached my salmon fillets separately in a small frying pan with some milk. I kept the small amount of poaching liquid that was left in the pan and added it to the sauce for maximum flavour. It is also fine to use leftover poached salmon, or just a packet of flaked salmon. 

If I were making this for kids I would probably leave out the prawns, but since I had some in the freezer I threw some in.  I adore linguine pasta, cooked al dente, particularly with any fish sauce.  My kids also like farfalle, or bow tie pasta with this.

Lastly, you can chop up lots of fresh dill and stir it into the sauce or if you prefer, just serve it with a spring on top. At home now we call this dish ‘Pink Pasta’.

Pink Pasta with Salmon, Prawn and Dill
Inspired by my ‘pink’ sister

Ingredients
250g linguine pasta
1 or 2 tablespoons of olive or rapeseed oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
150g fresh mushrooms, sliced
30ml marsala wine (or use brandy or even white wine)
400g or a can/jar of tomato passata
150ml single cream (or use creme fraiche)
2 cooked/poached salmon fillets, flaked
200g fresh or frozen king prawns
A few springs of fresh dill

Method

1. Cook the linguine in a very large pan of boling, salted water, for one minute less than the packet instructions.
2. Poach your salmon (if it is not already cooked). I put the salmon fillets into a small pan and pour 150ml over the top and gently poach it with the lid on for around 5 minutes.
3. To make the sauce, add a tablespoon or two of oil to a separate frying pan and cooked your onions, on a gentle heat, until they start to soften.
4. Add the mushrooms to the frying pan and keep cooking.
5. Once the onions and mushrooms have softened, add the marsala/wine/brandy (or even just use vegetable stock) and boil until all the liquid has almost gone.
6. Add the tomato passata and leave it to cook for around 5 minutes on a low heat.
7. By this stage check the pasta is cooked and drain. I always save some of the water that the pasta has cooked in and to add into my sauce as it helps the sauce stick to the pasta.
8. Pour your cream into the sauce, add in your prawns, if using, and keep cooking the sauce on a low heat for a few minutes until the prawns are cooked. If your prawns are frozen they will need about six minutes and if the prawns were raw they will turn pink when cooked. Add in your cooked, flaked salmon pieces.
9.Pour the fish sauce into the large pan of drained pasta, add a few spoonfuls of pasta water, stir well until everything is coated. Add your chopped dill.

Eat and enjoy!

Since this is a pink dish, I am joining in, for the first time, with Meeta’s Monthly Mingle(from her blog What’s for lunch, Honey?) which is hosted this month by Sarah from Maison Cupcake. The theme is ‘Think Pink’, which is very appropriate for my sister! Thank you Sarah for hosting and to Meeta for the theme. It’s lovely to discover other blogs. This would be a great dish to entertain your friends with!