After the Turkey Malarkey, a Fish Quiche
What do you do when you’re in a post-turkey rut? When the leftover cranberry relish, stuffing and sweet potato gratin are no longer calling your name? (Or scarier still, are calling your name with one stalk in the grave?) (more…)
Memorial Day BBQ: Salmon with Ginger and Cumin
This salmon, sitting there on a burntish plank which I didn’t soak for as long as I myself have specified below, looks unassuming and not particularly enticing. But it has converted the salmon-averse to salmon avariciousness! (more…)
Fish and Fennel Pie
This is a favorite recipe from Jamie Oliver, and one which Him Indoors had added to his repertoire a while ago. I don’t know why my husband picks the not-so-direct recipes for when he decides to cook. Such as risottos and then this one above, and excluding the baked beans on toast – excellent as well – which he occasionally produces with a flourish for a weekend lunch 
With the risottos, I gather that half the attraction is drinking the wine that’s meant to go into the pan, making the whole process very enjoyable for him, and no doubt, fortifying the reserves of patience he (and anyone) needs to cook a good risotto.
Perhaps this recipe may be of use for anyone leaning fish-wise and looking for ideas over Lent, when many try to abstain from luxury food. Although eating fish is a ‘hardship’ I would enjoy on a daily basis! To be absolutely strict, substitute fish or veg stock or milk for the cream, and eat a very small sliver of the final product (I dare you to stop there though).
Honey and Soy Salmon Fingers
My children would eat salmon every day if they could, and, they love it raw best of all. Unfortunately, I have yet to find a fishmonger from whom I can get sushi-grade salmon on a regular basis. This is one of many ways they enjoy this fish.
- honey, 1 tbsp
- soy sauce, 2-3 tbsp
- lemon juice, 2 tbsp
- sesame oil, 1/2 tsp
- garlic, 1, chopped
- ginger, 1/2 tsp, grated
- breadcrumbs, as needed egg, 1, whisked
- Slice the salmon into suitable sized lengths
- Whisk together the marinade ingredients and pour over the fish
- Dip the fish into the egg mixture, then into a plate of breadcrumbs
- Bake in a preheated 410F oven (190C) for about 10 minutes
- Serve with veg and mashed potatoes or chips
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Quick Fish Sandwich
We go through a small pond of fish every week in this household. One of the boys’ favourite sandwiches is what they call a fish burger – basically some fish I’ve breaded, baked and thrown between a burger bun or wholemeal bread for them. An easy kiddy meal to put together
- Fish fillet, 1 (tilapia, haddock, cod, salmon)
- Soy sauce, 2 tbsp
- Honey, 1 tbsp
- Egg, 1, whisked
- Breadcrumbs, 3/4 cup
- Wholemeal bread, 4 slices
- Baby spinach, handful, washed
- Mayonaise, as required
- Preheat the oven to 220C
- Whisk the honey and soy sauce together and dip the fish in it
- Then dip in egg and finally, coat in breadcrumbs
- Place on greased sheet, spritz with Pam and bake for 13 mins
- Lightly toast the bread, spread with some mayo
- Layer the spinach onto it, followed by the breaded fish
- Luscious and delicious, what’s not to like?
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How to Make Thai Green Curry
That was a long wait for Part II, wasn’t it? Any Thai curry, pungent in aroma and a cacophony of flavours, is usually worth it. Besides, that recipe for the curry paste was hanging about with no closure and I need to get it out of the way before the holiday items make their appearance. Accept my apologies please and don’t be shy about licking that pan clean. That sounds ludicrous but it’s exactly what one of our friends did during an infamous dinner party some years ago 
- Garlic, 6 cloves, sliced
- Lime leaves, about 6
- Lemon grass, 2 sticks each cut in half (no ends)
- Thai holy basil, several stalks of
- Galangal, four or five thick slices of
- Fish sauce, 2 tbsp
- Brown sugar, 1-2 tsp
- Coconut cream, 1/2 cup
- Canola oil, 2 tbsp
- Chicken, fish or beef, diced, about 200g (2 fillets)
- Green curry paste (click on the title for details) – 1 tbsp
- Stock or water, 1/2 cup
- Green aubergines, small ones – three of them, cubed
- Lemon juice of about 1/3 lemon
- Optional – for added heat, add 2 chopped chillies
- In a pan, saute the garlic till fragrant and add the curry paste
- In a separate pan, warm up the coconut cream. Do not boil
- Add the coconut cream to the curry paste mixture, stir till it thickens
- Add fish sauce, galangal, lemon grass, sugar and allow to simmer
- Throw in the diced chicken, fish or beef
- Add lime leaves, basil, stock and aubergines
- Take off the heat when the meat is cooked. If you’re using fish, this will take just a few minutes.
- For added richness, add a few tablespoons of cream!
- Remove solid bits of lemon grass, galangal and unwieldy bits of herbs if necessary before serving
- Further vegetables may be added when the meat goes in – try courgette/zucchinni, peas, pea aubergines, red or green peppers, sweet potatoes
- This amount will feed 2-4 people
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Keralan Fish Curry
Happily, I don’t need to pretend to be an authority on food from Kerala because I know it intimately. Perhaps my love of fish comes from having descended from lakeside and seaside- dwelling folk who lived off the harvest of the sea on the idyllic coconut tree-lined southern west coast of India.
But I shouldn’t need an excuse. This is a wonderful and aromatic curry, simple to prepare, delicious enough to spur repeat performances and perhaps, to convert the sworn carnivore.
Serve with rice or chapati (wholemeal flatbread) and dhal (lentil curry).
- Fish, firm-fleshed, cubed
- Coconut milk, 1/3 cup
- Onion, 1 medium, chopped
- Green chilli, 1, quartered
- Ginger, 1 cm worth, chopped finely
- Garlic, 1 clove, sliced
- Chilli powder, 1/2 tbsp
- Coriander, ground, 1/2 tbsp
- Turmeric, 1/2 tsp
- Fennel seeds, 2 pinches
- Mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp
- Curry leaves, about ten
- Stock, vegetable, about 1 cup
- Tamarind, 1 tsp soaked in 1/4 cup boiling water
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Cut the fish (salmon works, or any firm white-fleshed fish such as kingfish, haddock, cod, tilapia) into cubes
- In a pan, add about 3 tbsp of canola oil over medium heat
- Once the oil has warmed up, add mustard seeds and saute till they begin to pop
- Add the onion and curry leaves, ground spices and fennel
- On medium heat, stir gently till the spices are cooked. A sign of this is when the oil starts to gently seep through the spice and onion mixture
- Add 1/2 cup of the stock and bring the gravy together
- Prepare the tamarind by squeezing the pulp, which has been soaking in boiling water for a few minutes; strain and add the thick juice to the pan, using half the amount first, then adjusting the curry to how tart you like it
- Add the fish but at this point, do not stir the curry any more, lifting the pan and swirling it around instead (to avoid breaking up the fish) to combine
- Once the fish is done, about 5 minutes’ time, add 1/3 cup of coconut milk and some stock to make the curry as thick or thin as you prefer
- Taste and season to your own preferences
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Chillied Pesto Fish
This is one of my fall-back dinner options when I am short of time, which is fairly regularly. There is always fish in the house, and invariably, some pesto or basil too. A whirl in my mini chopper of some basil, chilli, pecorino, pine nuts and olive oil and voila, a marinade is ready for a dish that will bake or grill in just a few minutes.
This amount will be sufficient for two portions. Served here with fig and mango salad.
- Basil, large handful of
- Pecorino, 2 tbsp, grated roughly (parmesan can be used)
- Garlic, 1 clove
- Red chilli, 1/2, chopped roughly
- Pine nuts, 2 tbsp
- Olive oil, 3-4 tbsp
- Fish fillets, 2
- In a mini food processor, blend all the ingredients together
- Leave the pesto’s texture slightly rough (for more interest)
- Spread it over fresh, firm, white-fleshed fish such as sea bass or cod or haddock or tilapia
- Finish with a squeeze of lemon juice
- Place on baking tray and grill or bake in a preheated 220C oven for about 5-6 mins
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Sweet and Sour Fish with Tomato, Broccoli and Red Pepper
This is a quick and delicious one-dish meal which appeals to children and adults alike. It recalls the gorgeous sweet and sour fish that I often enjoyed in many of Singapore`s food centres on its eastern coast – where the fish, nabbed while swimming carefree in a giant look-how-fresh-your-fish-is aquarium – was coated in corn flour and fried golden and crisp (yet remaining succulently moist inside), then plunged in a tangy, morish, deep red sauce.
Being a bit of a nutrition policewoman, there is none of that frying stuff going on here and I had two little ones who demanded immediate gustatory gratification.
The dish can be pepped up with a diced chilli, and its entire preparation from chopping block to mouth (including a quick escape for blog modelling) should take 15 minutes tops. This amount will serve four children or two ravenous grownups.
- Salmon or firm-fleshed fish, 1 large fillet, cubed
- Onion, 1 medium, diced
- Garlic, half tsp, chopped
- Ginger, half tsp, grated
- Chilli, optional, 1, diced
- Sesame seed oil, a few drops
- Canola oil, 2 tbsp
- Broccoli florets, 1-2 handfuls
- Tomatoes, 2, skinned and diced
- Red pepper, half, diced
- Water, as needed, posibly a third cup
- Honey sake teriyake sauce, about 1 tbsp
- Balsamic vinegar, 1-2 tbsp
- In a wok or deep pan, pour the oils and add onion, garlic and ginger (chilli if using)
- Saute till fragrant and translucent
- Add red peppers, stir for two minutes, add tomatoes and broccoli and some water
- Stir and simmer for a few minutes
- Pour in the honey-teriyake sauce and balsamic vinegar, stir and taste
- Adjust the flavours accordingly, adding extra vinegar for more zest
- Add the cubed fish, stir very gently and leave to cook for about 2-3 minutes
- Check that fish is done and remove pan from heat
- Serve with freshly steamed brown rice
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Grilled Salmon with Soy and Coriander
Another family favourite and one of the easiest ways to do salmon. My cilantro plant had started to flower and I added some because it was pretty – the scent isn’t as strong and seems to please my younger son more this way.
- salmon, filleted
- soy sauce, good drizzling of
- sesame oil, few scant splashes of
- lemon juice, squeeze of 1/4 lemon
- coriander or cilantro leaves
- On some aluminium foil, place the fish with all of the above
- Wrap up, leaving a bit of room to breathe
- Place in preheated 230C oven for about 8-9 mins
- The fish will be just done and beautifully moist
- Serve with salad , spuds and veg, or, my kids’ choice, rice and dhal (lentil curry)
