Monday, 31 March 2014

Smoked fish kedgeree

This is such a versatile dish, eat it for breakfast (traditionally), lunch or dinner! Ive found it great for kids too, at least my daughter loves it....she's been eating it since she was 9 months....hold the chilli ;)
This is a Jamie Oliver recipe, which are always winners!!!


Serves 6

2 free range eggs, hard boiled
700 g smoked fish, pin boned and flaked into chunks
2 fresh bay leaves, or used dried
200g basmati rice, cooked
1 knob of butter
1 thumb sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 medium onion
2 heaped tsps curry powder
1 tbsp mustard seeds
2 tomatoes, deseeded and chopped
Juice of 2 lemons
2 handfuls of fresh coriander leaves, chopped
1 fresh red chilli, finely chopped
1 small pottle of fat free natural yoghurt



Melt butter in a pan over a low heat. Add ginger, onion and garlic. Soften for about 5 minutes, then add the curry powder and mustard seeds. Cook for a further few minutes, and then add the chopped tomatoes and lemon juice.

Quarter the eggs. Add the fish and rice to the pan and gently heat through. Add the eggs. Most of the coriander and the chilli and stir fry gently. Place in a warm serving dish. Mix the rest of the coriander into the yoghurt and serve with the kedgeree.


Wednesday, 5 February 2014

Spicy Squid green salad


This is such a flavoursome dish, so fresh and spicy. I'm no calorie counter but I can't imagine there'd be many in this :)

Serves 2

2 kaffir lime leaves, stalks removed and finely sliced
1 spring onion, finely chopped 
Handful of coriander leaves
1tsp lemongrass
6 fresh cherry tomatoes
1/4 cucumber, cut into sticks
Handful pomegranate seeds
3 squid tubes, pineapple cut 
Couple of handfuls of mesculin

Dressing
1 tbsp cater sugar
Juice of a lemon
1/2 tsp minced chilli
2 tbsp tamarind water
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp grated ginger

Mix dressing ingredients in a bowl. Boil the squid for 30 seconds then drain and add to the dressing. Toss. Meanwhile arrange the rest of the salad ingredients on a platter and then spoon the squid and dressing over the salad greens.

Sunday, 2 February 2014

Guacamole and corn chips



There's so many variations on guacamole out there, and to be honest I make it differently each time depending on what ingredients I have on hand. My cherry tomato plants are all go with 10 or so red ripe tomatoes each day....so I've incorporated those into this recipe. I love using fresh ingredients from my own garden!!!

Blending the ingredients gives it quite a creamy texture, I think I prefer a guac mashed with a fork. Give this a go and see what you think...

Flesh of 2 avocados
5 cherry tomatoes
1/4 red chilli, deseeded
Handful coriander leaves and stalks
1/4 spring onion
1/2 garlic clove
Juice of half a lemon

Blend for a few seconds until completely combined. Serve with corn chips, carrot sticks, pita crisps or celery sticks

Fresh linguine with prawns and kale


I'm really enjoying this fresh linguine from my local gourmet food market, so much better than the dried packet stuff. There are so many possibilities with pasta, this recipe used what I had on hand at home. Delicious!

300gms raw prawns, fresh or frozen...thaw first if frozen
150gms fresh linguine
small bunch green curly kale, chopped into strips
juice and rind of a lemon
1 clove garlic, sliced
1 small fresh red chilli, seeds removed and sliced
olive oil

Serves 2

Cook pasta according to instructions, should only need 3-5 minutes if it's fresh

Heat a glug of good quality olive oil in a wok or large saucepan, and add garlic. Fry for a minute or so and add kale and a splash of water. Stir for a couple of minutes and add chilli and lemon rind. Once the kale has nearly wilted, add prawns and toss until they have turned pink. Add the cooked and rained pasta to the wok and toss with the juice of a lemon and another couple of glugs of olive oil. Serve with some chopped fresh chilli on top

Wednesday, 22 January 2014

Carrot, apple and celery juice

I got a juicer for Xmas so have been trying out different recipes, so far this is my favourite...

2 carrots
1 apple
2 celery sticks
1/2 a lime

Stick everything down the tube!

Tuesday, 7 January 2014

Chicken in tempura batter with radish, cress and cos

 
This is a very delicious salad, using a pre-packaged tempura batter - just add water. I found it at a local gourmet supermarket, but feel free to make your own
 
Brown your chicken first to be sure it fully cooks through. I used one sliced chicken breast per person...fry the chicken on a medium heat for a couple of minutes (before browning too much) in grapeseed oil then leave to cool on paper towels. Once cool, mix into your tempura batter and then shallow fry until you can start to see colour coming through in the batter. Rest on paper towels and slice through the first batch to test its properly cooked, and taste test! Then arrange on the salad and drizzle the dressing, yum!
 
For the salad (per person)
Layer 3-4 washed large cos leaves, 3-4 brocolini stems, 1 small radish finely sliced, 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds and dress with 1 tbsp Japanese mayo mixed with 1 tsp soy sauce


Barbequed whole snapper with herbed garlic and ginger sauce


The sauce for this fish is really strong, and great to blow away a cold or flu as its loaded with fresh ginger and garlic. I also used it as a dipping sauce for raw vegetables.

Herbed ginger and garlic sauce
3-4 garlic cloves
A similar amount of fresh ginger....I use slightly more
2 tbsp soy sauce
A handful of coriander stalks and leaves
A handful of mint leaves
1 trimmed spring onion
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

Blend with a handheld blender.

For the fish
Stuff your gutted and scaled snapper with coriander and lemon slices
Make cuts into the fish flesh about 1 inch apart allowing it to cook through evenly
Lather the fish in olive oil and sprinkle with plenty of salt
Make sure the barby grill is super hot and oil it to prevent the skin sticking. Do this by soaking a paper towel in an inexpensive oil and wiping over the hot grill.
Place the fish on the grill and cook for about 10 mins each side depending on the fish size, you can pull apart at the slits and see if it's cooked through.

Served with the sauce and a salad of mesculin, watercress and brocollini