Hello & Sardine Pasta

So an old friend once said to me, probably quoting someone like Oscar Wilde: "Never apologize, never explain."  Advice I've never followed - always overdoing both. Ah well.

But on this occasion I'm just going to say hello, hope you're all happy and healthy, and that some of you are still tuning in, through inertia if nothing else. And - in the unlikely event that anyone's checking - that even though I haven't been blogging, I've been cooking a lot. Usually much more than the recipe-a-week resolution thing demands. Thus there's an enormous backlog of things to tell you about, which is highly unlikely to happen. So I'll just start with tonight's dinner.

In his video on the NYTimes, Mark Bittman goes on about the cuteness of his tin of sardines. But this one's pretty good too, right?

I saw this in our (crappy) supermarket the day after I'd read Mr. B.'s recipe and couldn't resist. Unsure, though, about the whole sardine thing. We used to like them as children, have them on toast with lemon squeezed on top. But that was a long time ago...

The Recipe: Pasta with Sardines, Breadcrumbs, and Capers
From Mr. B. on the NYTimes.

Thoughts/Tips/Mistakes
It was super easy and tasty. I divided the recipe in half for the two of us (used much less pasta, he always carbo-loads), and in future would add more capers. Also squeezed some lemon juice on top, thought it needed it.

Like he says, serve immediately, and it's definitely good to hold back some of the breadcrumbs to garnish so you make sure you get some crunch.

Also added a pinch of red pepper flakes to the sardine mixture while cooking - would maybe make it a bigger pinch next time. 

And talking of next time, might actually try racheleats's version, which adds anchovies to the breadcrumbs and uses arugula instead of parsley - and, bizarrely enough, came out right around the same time as Mr. B.'s. What a strange zeitgeist - pasta with sardines...

Anyhoo, being already nervous about the sardines, and not an anchovy fan, I thought it might be a fish too far.  But it really wasn't super fishy, so will brave Rachel's recipe soon, maybe keeping the capers cos we love them.

Sardines are good - though I did pick out the tiny backbones. Too freaky.

Spicy Cioppino & Frozen Scallops

So this was dinner last night - Spicy Cioppino, which apparently is a San Franciscan-Italian thing. You can make it with whatever fish you want, but they suggested tilapia and scallops. It was... interesting (see Thoughts for more details).

Frozen scallops - who knew they were controversial? Was trying to find out how to thaw them, and discovered that apparently a guy got chucked off Top Chef last year for using them. Oh well, this is really the opposite of Top Chef here. (Bottom Chef? Um, actually, let's not go there...) So I'm not worrying about it.

What I did worry about was giving us food poisoning by thawing them incorrectly. Anyhoo, chowhound and others suggested putting them in a plastic bag under cold running water for approx. 15 mins. Then you don't rinse them, just pat them dry. Apparently if you rinse them all the flavor goes down the drain too. So that's what I did, with no ill effects so far.

The Recipe: Spicy Cioppino
From Eating Well.

Thoughts/Tips/Mistakes

We didn't have any hot paprika, just the regular kind, so followed a suggestion from the interwebs and used some red pepper flakes too. Now, the slightly annoying thing is that the recipe says to add the paprika "to taste," but you have to put it in before it's physically possible to taste it. Hmm.

Anyway, it turned out super paprika-y. And since both tilapia and scallops have gentle flavors, I felt this was a bit of a problem. But maybe I did something wrong. Haven't cooked with paprika before, in fact didn't think of it as having much of a flavor, so didn't know what to expect. Suggestions gratefully received.

But it was perfectly edible, we ate it with some nice bread to soak up the juices. And I did manage not to overcook the scallops.

Pix

Thawing the scallops:















Sauce simmering:















It did look nice in the evening sun:

Salmon with White Beans & Fennel

This week's new recipe was a little bit of a come-down after all the recent excitement. It was... OK, fine, nice-ish, etc. This is where experience would come in, to know what should be tweaked to make it great. Oh well.

The Recipe: Seared Salmon with White Beans & Fennel
From Eating Well.

Thoughts/Tips/Mistakes

They said to remove the salmon from the heat for the second half of the cooking, but it really didn't seem to be getting done, so had to turn the heat back on. Maybe my pan wasn't hot enough or something. Apart from that it was easy enough.

Pix

Just to prove I did it, a bit gloomy.

End of step 1:















Done:

Roast Honey Mustard Salmon

Haven't had much room in my pea-sized brain this week for cooking. But on Wednesday afternoon Jack came home with some salmon. He said he was being a hunter-gatherer, but it reminded me more of a cat bringing you a mouse, dropping it at your feet, and looking at you expectantly.

Anyway, I rooted around and found this recipe. It was tasty, quick, easy, and used things we already had in the house - you really can't ask for more than that!

The Recipe: Roast Honey Mustard Salmon
From another Dairy Diary book: Clever Cooking for One or Two (a gift from my mum)

• 2 salmon fillets, approx. 11 oz (300g) total
• Salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tspn wholegrain mustard
• 2 tspn balsamic vinegar
• 2 tspn clear honey
• New potatoes & steamed baby vegetables to serve [we had green beans]

Serves 2.

1. Preheat the oven to 400F (200C).

2. Wash and pat the salmon dry. Place on a small baking tray lined with parchment paper. Season with salt & pepper.

3. Mix together the remaining ingredients, and spread thickly over the salmon. Bake for 12-15 mins, depending on thickness, until cooked through.

4. Serve on bed of steamed veggies with new potatoes.

Thoughts/Tips/Mistakes

They suggest you can roast the new potatoes: Dice, put in roasting pan and add olive oil, then put in oven 10 mins before the fish; they'll be ready at the same time.

Pix

On the plate (forgot to put salmon on top of beans, but never mind):

Slow-Roasted Salmon with Fennel

So, the thing about doing some crazy baking is that other recipes seem so much easier. Though this one was pretty simple anyway.

It had been on my to-do list for a while - ever since we got a whole bottle of Pernod to use one teaspoon, and then were left wondering what to do with the rest of it (a common problem, apparently).

The Recipe: Slow-Roasted Arctic Char (or Salmon) with Fennel

It's from Culinate and was actually for artic char, but we couldn't get any, so used salmon instead.

Thoughts/Tips/Mistakes

It was good, and certainly could be a dinner-party dish, though you'd want something very refreshing for dessert. The creamy sauce did make it rich.

It actually took about 50 mins to cook in our oven at 250F, rather than 25 mins, which makes sense considering the name of the recipe. (Don't know about you, but 25 mins doesn't seem especially slow.)

The only thing I wondered was how their sauce ended up looking so saucy - there really wasn't very much liquid in mine, and I didn't just want to keep adding cream. Wasn't sure what to do about it. But maybe mine just festered too long while we were waiting for the fish. Any suggestions gratefully received.

Oh, and they use fennel pollen. We did not - it costs $30 a jar! Followed their suggestion and used some crushed fennel seeds instead (no curry powder though as we didn't have any).

Pix

Sauce cooking










On the plate, not very saucy

Excellent Fish Pie Recipe

Slightly messed up by me. We spontaneously had a friend round to dinner on Friday, and I decided to do one of the recipes from January that I haven't recreated yet for the blog. I actually made it twice back then - the first time was a bit stressful because we didn't have a dish the right size, also the potatoes were a tad underdone. But the second time it was great. So I was pretty confident this time...

It wasn't a disaster, just a bit frustrating, because you're supposed to get better at making something the more you do it, not worse. Oy.

The recipe is from another UK book that my sister gave me for Xmas.

The Recipe:Fish Pie
from the Hamlyn All-Colour Cookbook: 200 Make-Ahead Dishes, by Sarah Lewis (seems you can get it over here too)

• 12 oz salmon fillet
• 12 oz cod loin [hmm, no idea what that is, I used fillet]
• 20 fl oz semi-skimmed [i.e. 2%] milk
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 leek, thinly sliced
• 1.25 lbs potatoes, peeled & thinly sliced
• 3 tbspn chopped fresh dill
• 2 oz butter
• 2 oz plain flour
• 3.5 oz mature Cheddar cheese, grated [maybe more, and it should be strong]
• salt & pepper

Serves 4

1. Put the salmon and cod into a large frying pan, pour over enough of the milk to just cover it, then add the bay leaf and a little seasoning. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for 8 mins, until the fish flakes when pressed with a knife, adding the leeks for the last 2 mins.

2. Meanwhile, cook the potatoes in a saucepan of boiling water for 3-4 mins until just tender [I did it a bit longer to be sure]. Drain, rinse in cold water, and drain again.

3. Lift the fish out of the milk and flake the flesh into large pieces, discarding the skin and any bones. Transfer to a 2 quart ovenproof dish. Strain the milk into a jug containing the remaining milk, and discard the bay leaf. Arrange the leeks on top of the fish, and sprinkle with the dill.

4. Heat the butter in a clean pan, stir in the flour then gradually whisk in the milk. Bring to the boil, whisking until thickened and smooth. Season, and stir in three-quarters of the cheese. Pour half the sauce over the fish. Arrange the potato slices overlapping on top, pour over the remaining sauce, then sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

5. Allow to cool then chill until required. [This is if you're making it ahead of time].

6. Cook in a preheated oven at 350F for 40-45 mins until the top is golden brown and the pie is piping hot. Serve with green beans, if liked.

Thoughts/Tips/Mistakes

Well, actually, it was mostly OK, except that something went a bit wrong with the sauce. I think I just didn't cook it long enough, so it was runny, and a bit granular (not lumpy). Any suggestions gratefully received.

Also, might have been a bit heavy-handed with the dill. And maybe could have used more cheese.

One tip - I cooked the fish skin side up, because the first time I made it the skin got a bit stuck to the pan, and I had to pick some scaly bits out of the milk (we don't have a strainer).

And another one - we really couldn't taste the cod, so you might as well get salmon. (I think it's greener, depending on what you buy, of course.)

They suggest an alternative filling that sounds nice: smoked haddock (can you get this in US?) and bacon. Poach smoked haddock in milk as above. Grill 4 oz bacon until crispy, then chop roughly and add to pie with 3 tbspn chopped chives [presumably instead of the dill]. Finish as above.

Pix

Fish in pan













Before the topping went on













Done!













On the plate, not at all artistically

Baked Salmon with Pernod

Not orange, and very easy (though I did almost burn the rice). The recipe is from a little book that my sister gave me for Christmas (from the UK, called the Hamlyn All Color Cookbook: 200 Make-Ahead Dishes).

This was my second new recipe of the day, and the first to use our brand new oven, which gave off a weird smell (making me very nervous), but otherwise seems to work OK.

The verdict? Well... again, it was nice, but not spectacular. The Pernod flavor was extremely subtle and seemed mainly to be detectable in the veggies, rather than the fish. And the veggies were overdone by the time the fish was cooked. For first problem, wondering if it would have been a good idea to do the parcels in advance, and let them marinate in the fridge for a while (I'd thought this was something you could do, not something you should do). Not sure what to do about the second problem. Hmmm... But it was nice enough that we'd try it again.

The Recipe: Baked Salmon with Pernod

1. 2 oz. butter
2. 7 oz. bok choy
3. 7 oz. fine asparagus
4. 4 salmon fillets, about 5 oz. each
5. 1.5 inch piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and finely chopped
6. 10 tbsp Pernod or Ricard
7. Salt and pepper
8. Cooked plain rice to serve [I did jasmine rice]

Serves 4

1) Butter 4 large pieces of foil. Separate the bok choy leaves and thickly slice the larger ones. Trim the asparagus and cut each stem into 2 or 3 pieces, depending on length. Divide the vegetables between the pieces of foil and place a salmon fillet on top of each one.

2) Divide the remaining butter between the salmon fillets, sprinkle with the ginger and a little seasoning, then drizzle with the Pernod. Bring the foil up and over the salmon and seal well. Chill the parcels until required [i.e. you can prepare the meal up until this point, then pick it up again later - but see comment above].

3) Cook the parcels on a baking sheet in a preheated oven (350F), for 25 minutes. Unwrap one of the parcels and pierce the center of the salmon. If it flakes easily and the flakes are all one color they are ready. If not, cook for a few more minutes and then retest. When done, serve over rice.

Thoughts/Tips/Mistakes

You probably need to start the rice and parcels at same time. The salmon took about 15 mins longer to cook (maybe our oven? hard to tell) so the rice, which I'd forgotten about, had time to catch up.

We couldn’t find a little bottle of Pernod, so had to invest in a big one, which was a little annoying. Other Pernod recipes, anyone?

Pix

Forgot to take pix of the parcels before cooking, but here’s the end result. The veggies really do look as though they were overcooked by about 75%.