Smoked mackerel biryani, roast beetroot with hard boiled egg

This dinner was made in stages, but is incredibly easy.  The beetroot was actually roasted yesterday, bunged in the oven while I was roasting potatoes.  The ricey bit - I'm calling it biryani because I used a biryani spice mix, and it uses raw rice, rather than kedgeree which uses cooked rice) takes a few minutes (about 8) to start, and then you just leave it gently cooking itself until 5 minutes before serving.  Eggs - simply put on to boil in cold water, done 3 minutes after the water starts to boil.



Roast beetroot

Beetroot
Garlic
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar

Smoked Mackerel biryani

Onion
garlic
Olive oil
Biryani spice
Basmati rice
Vegetable stock
Frozen peas
Smoked mackerel

Boiled eggs

Eggs!

1.   Wash beetroot, put, unpeeled, in a roasting dish with lots of garlic - just bash a few cloves and stick them in.  Drizzle with a little olive oil and cover tightly with foil.  Roast until beetroot is soft ... about an hour.
2.  Cool beetroot.  When cold - peel - I always wear gloves as otherwise you end up looking like an extra from the Texas chainsaw massacre - this time I had run out of gloves so improvised with 2 plastic bags on my hands ... clumsy, but it worked.  Chop into chunks and drizzle with balsamic.  Store in the fridge.
3.  Sweat off chopped onion and crushed garlic in olive oil, in a heavy bottomed pan with a tight fitting lid.
4.  Add a teaspoon, or so, of biryani spice mix (or curry mix of your choice).  Stir in.  Add basmati rice, stir until every grain has a thin layer of oil.  Add stock to 1 inch about the rice, bring to the boil.
5.  As soon as the rice boils stick the lid on it, and turn it RIGHT down.  Leave for 15 minutes.
6.  Boil the eggs.  (From cold, bring to the boil, simmer for 3 minutes, put under running cold water to cool quickly ... peel)
7.  Stir frozen peas into the rice, add flaked smoked mackerel - stir gently, slam the lid back on for 5 minutes.
8.  Serve, scoff

Smoked mackerel fishcakes, with roast tomatoes and peas

A store cupboard and fridge satples kind of a day - rooted around, we have too many tomatoes, so need to use them up - also some potatoes and smoked mackerel ... so, fishcakes, delicious.

Onion
Olive oil
potatoes
tomatoes
Smoked mackerel
butter
spinach
frozen peas

1.  Gently fry onion in olive oil.
2.  Boil potatoes for mash.
3.  Chuck tomatoes in the oven drizzled in olive oil and sprinkled with salt.
4.  Skin and flake smoked mackerel.
5.  When potatoes are cooked, mash with butter, add spinach and let it wilt for a minute.  Add flaked fish and mix well, season.
6.  Shape the fishcakes, fry on each side for a couple of minutes.
7.  Cook peas
8. Serve, scoff .... have seconds, no wait thirds ... and the veg dodger had one as a late night snack, so that was a long way to their 5 a day.

Smoked mackeral, beetroot pasta salad with mustard dressing.

Corn on the cob glut in the veg box, and some beetroot cooked already to use up.  So cooked up a bit of pasta with the corn kernals and steam some green beans, flaked some smoked mackeral and toss in dressing.  Serve with some shredded iceberg.  Dressing - crushed garlic, mustard, fresh lemon juice and olive oil - salt and pepper.

Leek, fennel and smoked mackerel spaghetti

Interesting veg box experience today.  No onion, no potato - and with smoked mackerel to use up.

So, I came up with this, which also had the advantage of being quite quick ... which was useful, as the van has to go to the garage tomorrow, so I had to empty it ... it's amazing how much you can cram into a small camper van!

So, put the water on for the pasta (gluten free spaghetti in our case), then start the sauce,  when the water is boiling, and the leek and fennel have started softening ... all done inside 20 minutes.

Olive oil
1 leek, chopped into rings
1 bulb of fennel, finely chopped
1 glass of dry white wine
smoked mackerel, flaked
1 big tbsp capers in salt, rinsed and roughly chopped
black pepper

Spaghetti - or other pasta

1.  Sautee leek in olive oil for a few minutes (as previously suggested, get your pasta water on first, for the speediest serve), until the crunch lightens.
2.  Add chopped fennel, and continue to sautee.  The two vegetables will soften and go a bit translucent - now chuck in the white wine and simmer - gently - for a few minutes.
3.  Chuck in flaked fish and roughly chopped capers.
4.  When the pasta is done, drain.
5.  Drain pasta.
6.  Toss sauce into pasta, serve and grind on black pepper.  ( a glug of olive oil if it looks a little dry)

Could have added lemon - but the wine was dry, so no real need.  Could have added a spoonful of creme fraiche for silkiness - but trying to keep it lactose free.

Smoked mackerel fishcakes, golden beets, green beans and leeks'n'stuff

This, sadly, is a REALLY bad picture.  I am sure there's something wrong with that camera.  However, I include it as the beets were truly delicious - kind of sweet and nutty at the same time, and a beautiful texture.

 

So...

 

olive oil

4 baking potatoes

2 smoked haddock

Tarragon

6 golden beets

balsamic vinegar

8 cloves garlic - whole

leek

Courgette

white wine

green beans

egg

corn thins

1.  Wash and prick potatoes - bake at 180C for about an hour and a half.

2.  Top and tail beets to remove furry roots - bake, in skins with drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  Chuck whole cloves of garlic in and seal with foil.  Bake for about an hour and a half.

After about an hour....

3.  Chop leeks and courgette, fry gently in olive oil, add splash of white wine and simmer until softish (15 mins tops)

4.  Steam green beans.

5.  Get potatoes and beets out of the oven - when they are cool enough to handle, skin them.

6.  Mash the potatoes, add flaked mackerel and chopped tarragon.

7.  Whisk egg, whizz corn thins into "not breadcrumbs" ie. gluten free

8.  Shape fishcakes, dip in egg then "not breadcrumbs" - then fry on each side for about 4 minutes.

Yum!  Enough for dinner, lunch and an extra lunch.  The garlic is sweet and tender, don't just leave it in the pan, squish it onto the fishcakes/beets.

Mackerel salad "nicoise" and carrot and grapefruit salad

Veg box and some smoked mackerel in the fridge ... and a little bit of sun - so - SALAD.

New potatoes
Green beans
Lettuce
pea shoots
Tomatoes
Red pepper
1/2 cucumber
Handful black olives
Smoked mackerel
3 large carrots
3 spring onions
Mustard seeds
1 grapefruit
1 clove garlic, crushed
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
English mustard

1.  Boil potatoes and steam green beans.
2.  Mix dressing - garlic, tiny teaspoon mustard, olive oil, juice of half a grapefruit, 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar - season and taste.
3.  Drain potatoes and beans and chuck on dressing while still warm.
4.  Mix in other chopped salad vegetables - cucumber, lettuce, pea shoots, red pepper, tomatoes and olives.
5.  Flake on smoked mackerel and toss.

Carrot salad

1.  Peel and grate carrots, add chopped spring onions.
2.  Add 2 tbsp onion seeds and juice of half a grapefruit and a big pinch of salt.

Scoff, with lovely victim, and a nice glass of wine.  Summer is here.  We were particularly impressed with the grapefruit in the carrot salad.  Enough left for 2 packed lunches, so that was a bonus too.