Oven-Baked Fish with Tomato & Parsley

At this time of year rather than thinking "what shall I cook for tea" I'm more often wondering "what can I cook for tea that goes with Jersey Royals". As a native (albeit it living overseas) I admit I'm bit biased but the annual arrival of these wonderful potatoes in the shops, like the asparagus and strawberries that are also beginning to appear, is cause for celebration. Their firm texture and buttery flavour are not to be missed at this time of year.

This particular recipe is a perfect partner for my favourite potatoes and comes from one of my favourite take-to-bed cookbooks (I'm surely not the only person who loves to curl up in bed with a pile of recipe books to leaf through!), Falling Cloudberries by Tessa Kiros. A lot of the recipes aren't the sort of things I would usually cook but the layout and photographs are lovely and it's a great inspiration when I want to try something different.

The simple ingredients in this recipe and combine to provide some wonderful flavours and the colours are enough to brighten up the chilliest spring day. It's a great way of turning a plain piece of fish into something a bit special.

Oven-Baked Fish with Tomato & Parsley
(adapted from Falling Cloudberries by Tessa Kiros)

1kg/ 2lb 4oz firm white fish fillets cut into 6cm pieces
400g tin tomatoes with juice, chopped (or very ripe tomatoes peeled and chopped) - I used whole tomatoes but by-passed the peeling part
15g/1/4 cup chopped parsley
4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
juice of 2 lemons
2 celery stalks, chopped, with some leaves
1 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons olive oil

1) Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/gas 4. Put the fish in an oven dish where they will fit in a single layer. Mix together the tomatoes, parsley, garlic, lemon juice, celery, sugar and olive oil and add seasoning to taste.

2) Pour over the fish so that all pieces are covered, cover with foil and bake for about 30 minutes.

3) Remove the foil, increase the heat to 200c/400f/gas 6 and bake for a further 40-50 minutes, or until the liquid has thickened and the top of the fish is golden in a couple of places.

4) Serve with new potatoes or some crusty bread.

Serves 4 - 6

Warm New Potato Salad with Bacon & Blue Cheese

Here's a fantastic recipe and another one that I've made several times now but for some reason haven't got round to writing about.

Salad doesn't always sound like the most exciting option on the menu but this one is so much more than just a salad and the fact that it's warm means that it's just as nice to eat in the winter as it is in the summer.

It's not the quickest salad to throw together as the potatoes and onions need to be roasted for 40 minutes and then left to cool for a bit so your salad leaves don't dissolve into a soggy mess on contact. That said though, if you're not under pressure to get dinner on the table quickly then it's relatively hassle-free.

Warm potatoes, bacon, blue cheese...what's not to like? It's definitely a dinner I particularly look forward to when it's on the menu.

Warm New Potato Salad with Bacon & Blue Cheese
(from BBC Good Food Magazine)

500g/1lb 2oz salad potatoes, halved
2 tbsp olive oil
2 red onions, each sliced into 6 wedges
4 rashers smoked bacon, trimmed and cut into large pieces
140g/5oz mushrooms, sliced
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard (Dijon mustard works just aswell)
1 tbsp red or white wine vinegar
100g bag mixed watercress and spinach salad (or any other mixed leaves you fancy)
85g/3oz creamy blue cheese, eg St Agur

1) Heat the oven to 220c/fan 200c/gas 7. Place the potatoes in a roasting tin, then rub with 1 tbsp oil and a sprinkling of salt. Roast for 20 minutes, then add the onion wedges to the tin and everything a good shake.  Roast for 20 minutes more until the potatoes have turned a deep golden brown and the onions have caramelised and softened. Leave to cool slightly.

2) Heat a non-stick frying pan and dry-fry the bacon until crisp. Add the sliced mushrooms and fry for 5 minutes more until they have softened.

3) Meanwhile, make the dressing. Whisk the mustard, vinegar and remaining 1 tbsp oil with a splash of water. Place the potatoes, onions, bacon and mushrooms in a large bowl with the salad leaves, pour over the dressing and mix well. Divide between 4 plates (see below!), then crumble over the blue cheese.

Serves 4 - that's 4 very small people presumably. Two of us can polish this off in one sitting without breaking a sweat.
 

Egg and Bacon Pie

Look at this for a great weeknight supper. A tortilla/frittata of sorts but cooked in the oven rather than in a pan on the hob. There are a few stages to the recipe so it takes a little while to prepare but once all the component parts have been prepared you can just put it in the oven and relax. I should point out, though, that this did NOT take the 20 minutes to cook stated in the recipe, not even close! This one was in the oven for 40 minutes and still wasn't set in the middle (and my tin was definitely the right size). In the end I gave up and put it under the grill for a few minutes to finish if off.

Don't be put off though, this is a great, filling dish with a good balance of carbs, protein and veggies so you could serve it just as it is if you wanted to. Otherwise a nice salad on the side would be great too. Just make sure you all some extra cooking time when planning your evening!

You can find the recipe here on the the Delicious Magazine website.

Unloved Cookbooks Part 4 - Real Fast Food by Nigel Slater

Now I should start by saying that I love Nigel Slater. I love his television programs and he is easily one of the best food writers around. Oh, and the brownie recipe in his Kitchen Diaries is the best I've found to date. However, the Unloved Cookbook in question today, Real Fast Food, unfortunately falls foul of my love of all things aesthically pleasing. In short, it has no pictures - sorry Nige!

My loss as it turns out as when I took the time I found a little book is packed with lots of great sounding recipes all designed to be easy to prepare and quick to cook. Mr Slater's comment that most of the recipes require only one or two fresh ingredients that can be bought on the way home is obviously not aimed at anyone with small children - a trip to the supermarket after work with a small child in tow? Not a chance! So I needed to do a little more forward planning than the book possibly intended. But hey, that wasn't such a hardship.

There were many recipes that caught my eye. Here are just three of them...

First up is a salmon dish. I've been trying to find new salmon recipes to encourage me to eat more fish and this one is particularly lovely. And why didn't anyone tell me about dill before? I am converted!

Baked Salmon with Soured Cream

2 salmon steaks, about 100g/4oz each

1 small onion, very finely chopped

100ml/4fl oz soured cream or creme fraiche

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

1) Put the salmon steaks into a small baking dish.

2) Mix together the remaining ingredients, retaining half the dill. Spoon the sauce over the salmon.

3) Bake in the oven, preheated to 220c/425f/gas 7 for 15-18 minutes. Scatter with the remaining dill.

Serves 2

This next recipe is a fabulous way of sprucing up your new potatoes.

Warm New Potato Salad with Taleggio and Rocket

450g/1lb new potatoes, wiped clean

2 handfuls of rocket, washed and shaken dry

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

200g/7oz mild, semi-soft cheese

1) Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water for about 12 minutes, until tender to the point of a knife.

2) Toss the rocket in the olive oil and divide betwe

en two oven-proof plates or dishes.

3) Drain the potatoes and slice each one in half. Scatter over the rocket leaves. Slice the cheese thinly over the potatoes.

4) Place the plates under a pre-heated grill for a minute or so until the cheese starts to melt. Eat immediately.

Serves 2

Oooh, this last recipe was niiice! So easy too.

Hot Blackcurrant Bread and Butter Pudding

4 slices white bread

250g blackcurrants

Caster sugar

Creme de Cassis

1) Butter the bread very generously and lay half in the bottom of a shallow ovenproof dish.

2) Cover with the blackcurrants and sprinkle with two tablespoons of caster sugar.

3) Place the remaining slices of bread on top of the blackcurrants, butter side up. Sprinkle with another tablespoon of sugar and two tables spoons of Creme de Cassis.

4) Bake in an oven preheated to 220c/425f/gas 7 for 20-25 minutes.

Serves 2

The Lunch Challenge - Part 2

The second recipe I chose to try out as part of my lunch challenge was the Spanish Omelette from Nigella Express.  It took a little while (compared to making a sandwich anyway) to gather all the ingredients together, boil the potatoes, mix it all together and cook it but on the whole it was all pretty straightforward.  Plus it can be made the night before and stored in the fridge until needed.  The end result was really good and I've been left with three more good sized portions, so enough for a few days of lunches!  As you can see I served it with a bit of salad on the side and it all went down very nicely.  

(My light box is coming in useful already!)

Spanish Omelette

(adapted from Nigella Express by Nigella Lawson)

225g baby new potatoes (Jersey Royals please, if at all possible!), halved

4 eggs

75g chopped caramelized or flame-roasted peppers from a jar (I used a handful of ready-chopped and roasted frozen peppers, defrosted first of course)

3 spring onions, finely sliced

75g grated Manchego or cheddar cheese

1 teaspoon butter

drop of oil

salt and pepper to taste

1) Preheat the grill.  Cook the potatoes in a pan of boiling water for about 15 minutes until cooked through.

2) Whisk up the eggs and then add the peppers, spring onions, cheese and season with S & P to taste.  Mix in the potatoes.

3) Heat the butter and oil in a small frying pan and then pour in the egg mix and cook gently for 5 minutes.

4)  By this time the bottom of the omelette should be set, but if not just leave a little longer. Then sit the pan under the grill for a few minutes to set the top.

5) Turn the omelette upside down on to a plate and leave to cool to room temperature before eating.  Don't worry if it feels a bit wobbly in the middle - it will continue to cook as it cools.

Serves 4 or more, depending on what else is available.