Mediterranean baked tilapia

Well, to call it a recipe a bit of a cheek - but healthy, quick and delicious.

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion
2 fillets tilapia
Tin tomatoes
Black olives
Frozen peas

1.  Slice half and onion into rings, put in the bottom of oven proof dish with splash of olive oil.
2.  Add fish, pour on tin chopped tomatoes, scatter on chopped olives.
3.  Baked for 20 minutes, add frozen peas, baked 5-10 more minutes
4.  Season with black pepper, squirt lemon juice if you fancy ... scoff.

Prep time - 2 minutes, cooking time 25ish minutes.

Tuscan sausage and black bean casserole

 Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain .....

So time for something i) warm and comforting, and ii) out of the cupboards.

Had some Tuscan sausages in the fridge, so this seemed to fit the bill.  And, it did!

So....

1 onion
tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic
tbsp mixed herbs
1/2 tsp chili flakes
1 carrot
1 pack Tuscan sausages
1 red pepper
1 squash
several mushrooms
left over green beans
2 tins tomatoes
glass of white wine
black beans (tin/box - pre-cooked)

Recipe (if you can call it that)

1.  Chop and soften onion in olive oil.
2.  Cut sausages into bite sized pieces and add to softened onion.  Allow to fry, turning occasionally for about 5 minutes.
3.  Meanwhile peel carrot, chop other veg.
4.  When sausage has started to "catch" very slightly, chuck in garlic, herbs, chili and all veg and stir round.
5.  After a couple of minutes chuck in glass of white wine, stir to pick up sticky bits from the bottom of the pan.
6.  Simmer, add tins of tomatoes and water (about a tin and a half's worth).  Bring to simmer, season.
7.  Simmer for about 20-30 mins - don't let it go dry.
8.  Add beans, heat through
9.  Scoff (with brown rice and a spoonful of yogurt in my case)

Chocolate and cherry bread

It's tasty.  It's not sweet like a cake, would be great for breakfast or brunch, 'specially with extra cherry jam.  Found this recipe on a blog ... here... http://angiesrecipes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/chocolate-and-cranberry-bread.html , and thought about what I had in the cupboards... and came up with this...

450g strong white flour
50g cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 sachet quick acting yeast
40ml oil
300ml warm water

100g chocolate chips (I used 70%, but basically 100g chocolate of whatever sort)
100 g dried cherries


1.  Weigh stuff
2.  Put stuff in bread maker, according to machine instructions (for mine, dry first, then wet) keep choc chips and dried cherries out.  (or mix ingredients and kneed for 10 mins, add dried ingredients, kneed in, leave to rise, covered by damp tea towel in a warm place, for 30 mins)
3.  Put onto dough cycle.  When machine beeps chuck in chocolate bits and cherries.
4.  When risen, take out of bread machine, shape, slash (join in here if you have done hand kneeding etc) - leave to rise again for 20 mins.
5.  Bake in hot(ish) oven 220 (200 for fan) oven for 45 mins.  It's done when it sounds hollow when you knock the bottom.

I had a slice warm from the oven ... yum ... looking forward to chocolatey breakfast buttered slice in the morning.

Cranberry and Clementine chutney (and some mince pies)

I have eventually given in and started the festive culinary circus.  But, only in a minor way this year.  So today saw the first batch of mince pies, and some cranberry and clementine chutney.

Mince pies - buy jar of mince meat - as posh as you can manage - I like the ones with cranberry in.

Shortcrust pastry - follow Nigella's recipe




120g 00 flour
60g butter
egg yolk
1 tbsp natural yogurt
very cold water

1.  Chop butter into small pieces, too into flour - put in freezer for 10 minutes (Nigella says it, and it works to keep the pastry light and crumbly).
2.  Beat egg yolk and yogurt together, put in fridge.
3.  Rub in cold butter and flour, mix in egg mixture, with a tsp or so of cold water if you need to to bring it to a paste.
4.  Wrap in cling film and put in fridge for 20 minutes before rolling out.
5.  Roll out on floured board, fill, put tops/stars on (don't roll pastry more than twice)
6.  Milk wash tops and sprinkle on granulated sugar.
7.  Bake for about 12 minutes at 180.

Cranberry and Clementine Chutney

1 tsp olive oil
2 onions chopped
6 clementines, peeled and segmented
500g cranberries
tiny pinch cinnamon
reasonable pinch chili flakes
350g (ish) sugar
100ml cider vinegar

1.  Soften onions slightly.
2.  Chuck in fruit, spices, sugar and vinegar.
3.  Simmer for about 20 minutes.  Taste and adjust. (Watch it, it'll be hot, put it on a plate like jam to cool down).
4.  If keeping pot in sterilised jars.

Chicken and green bean pesto spaghetti

Easy, easy, easy.

Chop greens beans into bite sized pieces, chuck into boiling water, add spaghetti.  Cook according to packet instructions.  Chop chicken breast into bite sized pieces, fry until cooked.

Drain pasta, chuck in handful of chopped cherry tomatoes, cooked chicken and pesto.  Add olive oil if it needs letting down a little.  Toss/stir until mixed.  Grind over black pepper, scoff.

Pollock fillet, garlicky vegetables and instant tartar sauce

Tasted better than it looked - and was super easy.  Steam pollock with knob of butter, salt and pepper. Soften chopped leek, chopped mushrooms and green beans in tablespoon of olive oil.  Add splash of water, 1 clove crushed garlic, and simmer for 10 minutes or so.  Chop chives, capers and gherkins, stir into creme fraiche, season.

Done!

Pheasant, mushroom and cabbage macaroni

One of the great things about being a bit foodie, is that periodically your mates try to challenge you with summat a bit different.  So, as a pressie for a dinner, I was presented with a dressed pheasant.  I have roasted pheasant before, but wanted something more casual, light and tasty but still autumnal, so I thought - pasta with seasonal veg... and it worked!

So, ingredients:-

1 pheasant - meat removed and cut into bite sized pieces.
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large leek, sliced
1 clove garlic
1 glass white wine
10(ish) chestnut mushrooms
Half a small savoy cabbage, shredded

Pinch of chili
Spoonful of creme fraiche

Method

1.  Sweat down leeks in olive oil, over medium heat.
2.  When soft, move to the sides of the pan and increase heat.  Chuck pheasant bits into the middle of the pan.  Brown on one side, then toss mixture together.
3.  Put pasta into boiling, salted water.
4.  Add chopped mushrooms to leek and pheasant - season, add ladle of water from pasta pan, so that mixture doesn't go dry.  Add tiny pinch of chili.
5.  When pasta is nearly done, add cabbage to veg and pheasant, toss about a bit, so that it wilts (add another ladle of water if it looks at all dry.
6.  Drain pasta.
7.  Chuck in pheasant and veg, grind black pepper - big spoonful of creme fraiche.  S
8.  Stir, scoff.

Took 15 minutes - start to finish, including getting meat from pheasant.