Red Thai Fish Curry

 

A few vegetables, some fish and a jar of thai red curry paste .. ta dah!  Red thai fish curry ... in under 30 minutes.  Just the thing for a bunch of hungry people after an afternoon of walking.

Jasmine rice
Coconut oil (or other mild cooking oil)

Onion

Garlic

Thai curry paste

Mushrooms

Red pepper

Green beans

Cod

Pak choi

Coconut cream

1.  Fry chopped onion gently in coconut oil until soft.

2.  Add crushed garlic and red thai paste to taste (the brands have different strengths, read their instructions), fry for another couple of minutes.

3.  Prep vegetables and chop into bite sized pieces.

4.  Cook the rice - I use the adsorption method - cover with cold water 1 inch over the surface of the rice in the pan, heat to boiling, then slam the lid on and turn the heat right down  It should be ready in about 12 minutes, but it's quite forgiving if you leave it alone and let it steam.

5.  Add most of the veg to the curry sauce, but not the pak choi.  Fry for a couple of minutes, then add some water and simmer until a bit soft, about 10 minutes.

6.  Add thicker stems of pak choi, stir in, and simmer for 1 minute more.

7.  Add coconut cream and dissolve into the sauce, add more water if it's too thick.

8.  When the coconut cream is fully mixed in add chunks of cod, lay over soft green leaves of pak choi.

9.  Put the lid on and let the curry cook gently for another 5 minutes.

10.  Check that the fish is cooked - opaque throughout.

11. Serve, scoff, receive praise.

Cod and smoked salmon fishcakes

 Lots of inspiration for tonight's tea - some home grown triumphs ... broad beans and courgette ... some donated glut yellow tomatoes, an irresistible find in a punnet of heirloom tomatoes, podded peas in the organic box, and some cod fillets also from the organic delivery.  So, adding some smoked salmon from the fridge this was a delicious summery treat.

Potatoes
Butter
Cod fillets
Bay leaf
Onion
Egg
Italian breadcrumbs
Courgette
Olive oil
Broad beans
Peas
Heirloom tomatoes
Spring onion
Basil

1.  Peel and dice potatoes, boil to make the mash.
2.  Mash potatoes with butter and seasoning.  Leave to cool.
3.  Poach the cod in water, with a bay leaf and half an onion.  Don't over cook it, a few minutes simmering, then turn off the heat and let it cook gently for 10 minutes.  Remove from the water and leave to cool.
4.  Dice the courgette, put in a pan with crushed garlic and olive oil.
5.  Pod the beans and peas and put in a steamer ready for steaming.
6.  Slice the tomatoes, sprinkle with salt, finely diced spring onion and shredded basil.  Drizzle on a little good olive oil.
7.  Now assemble to fish cakes, break the smoked salmon into pieces, skin the cod and gently flake into the potato.  Mix together gently, so that the fish stays mostly in individual pieces.
8.  Chill the fish cakes for a few minutes.
9.  Whisk an egg in one bowl, put breadcrumbs in another.  Coat the fishcakes - fist in egg, then in breadcrumbs.  For a lovely crispy finish I did this twice ... egg, breadcrumbs, 5 minutes to dry, egg, breadcrumbs.
10.  Finally - turn the heat on under the courgettes and the peas and beans and fry the fishcakes in olive oil ... about 4 minutes each side - in batches, keeping them warm in the oven as you finish.
11.  Serve, scoff, smile.

Pan fried cod, with garlic and rosemary mini roast potatoes and steamed vegetables.

Sometimes, when you have a real quality product - less is more.  So, I decided to treat the cod really simply and just to fry it at the last minutes (oil the fish not the pan) ... but had enough time to make crispy baby roast garlic and rosemary potatoes.  This gave me enough time to finish off a bit of paperwork before I steamed the veg and fried the fish.

Potatoes
olive oil
rosemary
garlic
carrot
green beans
broccoli
cod fillets
salt and pepper

1.  Cut the potatoes into 1cm(ish) cubes and par boil.  
2.  Prep the veg (ie. peel the carrots) and chop the veg into bite sized pieces.
3.  Put some olive oil in an oven dish, and heat it for a few minutes, ready for the potatoes.
3.  When the potatoes are al dente ... or not quite done - drain them - chuck them into the prepared dish.  Add rosemary and crushed garlic, and salt and pepper.  Turn in the oil so that every piece has a light coating of oil and herbs.  Stick back into a fairly hot oven for 35-45 minutes.
4.  Do the stuff you need to do ... 15 minutes before dinner is required - steam the veg.
5.  5 minutes before dinner is required fry the cod in a hot pan - as I said before, oil the fidh, not the pan - but make sure the pan is hot - fry skin side down first for 2(ish) minutes turn over and finish off.

Serve and scoff!  Delicious.

Cod baked with fennel, with parsley oil

Lovely cod fillet in the organic box today, and some fennel, courgette and new potatoes.  Loads of parsley growing in the trug.  The sun was also beating down, so time for a delicious summer supper.

New potatoes
Fennel
Lemon juice
Olive oil
salt and pepper
Courgette
Cod
Parsley

1.  Wash new potatoes and put on to boil (about 15 minutes).
2.  Chop fennel into 3/4 cm strips - removing outer tough leaves.  Place in oven proof dish and splosh on olive oil and the juice of half a lemon, season - and microwave to soften for 5 minutes (if I had more time I would steam).
3.  Chop courgettes and add to fennel. 
4.  Layer cod onto veg and drizzle with olive oil, spritz of lemon juice, season and bake in a hot oven for 15 minutes or so.
5.  Zizz huge handful of parsley in olive oil, add a spritz of lemon juice and a turn of salt and pepper.  Zizz a bit more, strain through a fine sieve.  Drizzle over the fish and veg when it is served.

This was light and very tasty.  Fennel and parsley oil is particularly delicious, and not something we had tried before.  Definitely a do again dinner.  Next time I might fry the courgette briefly first, and add some petit pois for colour, but it doesn't really need it.

Cajun cod, tiny roasties ... spring greens and peas

Fish and chips are a bit of a Friday night tradition ... but a twist is always welcome.

To be honest, it's not much of a twist - f&c is a classic because it's delicious.

The twist was i) greens with peas - has been lettuce before but today we had spring greens - and the combination is GOOD and ii) polenta and cajun blacknned seasoning on the cod pieces.

Start with the potatoes - boil, drain and roast in olive oil.

After about 45 minutes start on the rest ....

Toss fish pieces in polenta a spice mixed together - fry for a couple of minutes on each side.

Steam green and frozen peas.

Serve, scoff, have seconds.

Crispy fish and chips, "tartare sauce"

With a gluten free diet you sometimes miss the staples, like breaded fish - so - coat it in polenta, delicious.

The most "complicated" dish here is the vegetable dish.  Start with the potatoes, then do the "tartare sauce" - put it in the fridge.  Then the vegetables and finally the fish.


Potatoes
Olive oil
Salt

Natural yogurt
Garlic
Parsley
gherkins

Chopped onion
Celery
Green beans
Peas
White wine
Stock

Cod
polenta
salt and pepper
olive oil

1.  Boil potatoes until half done.
2.  Put olive oil in a baking tray and heat up.  Drain potatoes and toss int eh oil.  Roast for 45 minutes +
3.  Mix natural yogurt, crushed garlic, chopped parsley and gherkins, season to taste and refridgerate.
4.  Sautee onions and celery in olive oil.
5.  When onions are a bit soft add crushed garlic, chopped green beans and white wine.  Simmer.
6.  Check vegetables, add stock when it goes a bit dry.
7.  Coat cod fillets in seasoned polenta, a fry in olive oil - about 3-4 minutes per side.
8.  Just after you put the fish in, add peas to the vegetable mix.

Serve... scoff

Baked cod with fennel, orange and olives with red rice

Red rice

Olive oil

Fennel
Cod
Oranges
Black olives
White wine

Cabbage

1.  Cook red rice by your normal method (bring to boil in water an inch above the rice in a cast iron pot, lid on, in medium oven until cooked).
2.  Splash of olive oil in an oven proof dish, add slices of fennel.  Pop the cod (frozen in this case) on top.  Layer on slices of orange and a handful of olives.
3.  Chuck in a glass of white wine - cover with foil and bake.
4.  Shred and steam cabbage.

Fish pie with steamed vegetables

onion
bay leaf
soya milk
mixed fish (cod, salmon, smoked haddock)
cornflour
potatoes
olive oil spread
parsley
salt and pepper

green beans
carrots

Fish pie

Poach the fish, in bite sized pieces, in the soya milk flavoured with the onion and bay leaf, for about 7 minutes.
Peel, boil and mash potatoes.  Season well, add butter/olive oil spread and soya milk to taste.
Pull fish from soya milk with a slotted spoon, put into oven dish.  Discard onion and bayleaf.  Thicken sauce with slaked cornflour in soya milk/water, over a lowish heat.  Add loads of chopped parsley and freshly ground black pepper.
Add sauce to fish (shake oven dish to distribute evenly).  Top with mashed potatoes.  Keep any spare sauce to have with the veg for extra luxury.
Bake at 180 for about 25 minutes until golden.

Steam vegetables.

Scoff

Baked cod and capers, with fennel and potatoes

Trying to get fish into primary victim is a losing battle.  This was eaten - but with a face like a slapped kipper.  I thought it was refreshing, light and tasty.  So, roast par-boiled potatoes in olive oil, with wedges of fennel - for about 50 minutes.  Bake cod on lemon slices, drizzle of olive oil, tablespoon each of capers and black olives - cracked black pepper - with a good squeeze of lemon juice.  Cod takes about 20 minutes - cooked frozen peas.  Easy peasy then lemon squeezy.  As I said victim ate and grimaced, me and second victim enjoyed it.  Primary victim grinned when I declared we couldn't have it again for at least 3 weeks. 

Retro cod and peas dinner

OK - when I started this blog it was going to be more than just what I rustled up for dinner.  Because, though dinner (and breakfast, tea, lunch, supper and snacks) is important - other stuff happens too.  I started it for a number of reasons -.... it's interesting (in many facets from a shared interest - technology, community, definition of social, message, medium and conduit), it's an outlet away from the day job to record (or shine a light on areas for development) my other obsession(s) and well - just for fun.  I have not, here, commented on the riots/organised looting ... but maybe I should - because I do have an opinion.  I have managed to tweet / retweet a couple of sentences, but that is hardly well thought out social commentary.  So, bear with me, ... is that going to change?  am I going to write more?

Honestly, I don't know.

But I think that the winds of change are gathering speed.  The looting/ opportunistic thieving young (mostly) adults who engaged in criminal behaviours last week fall into a number of "categories" gangs, dissaffected, marginalised, spoilt, angry, resentful, misled, undisciplined, disillusioned, desparate, greedy, ... .  

And I think of myself... educator, loyal, professional, adaptable, willing, cooperative, flexible, intelligent, inspiring (no really, other people have said these things)... and grumpy, busy, form filler (they have said those too) ... educator for me the most important - or rather facilitator of people gaining more knowledge and skills through a supportive (and accredited) framework... and feel the slump in morale around me, and the slump in goals for those we are trying to support and it all seems to get more desparate.

But if you can't work the "recipe" out - boil new potatoes (cut into bite sized piece) for about 20 mins, boil cod and parsley sauce accrding to packet instructions, steam asparagus for about 8 minutes, boil frozen peas for about 4 minutes.  Cheered me up somewhat!

Baked cod and asparagus

Layer asparagus, cod and lemon slices in bakling dish.  Drizzle with olive oil and grind on black pepper, cover with foil.  Bake for 20-25 mins.  Meanwhile steam edamame beans and little gem lettuce leaves in a little white wine and garlic, with a splash of olive oil.  Sauce/relish - mix tbsp tapenade, chopped capers, lemon juice and olive oil to taste. Simples..... Victim moaned, but will be getting used to this new healthier regime.