Day 1: Lemon butter fish with pepperonata

Lemon butter fish with pepperonata

recipe: Janine Ratcliffe

Olive Magazine, August 2009

According to the recipe, it should take 30minutes, serve 2, and is classed as 'easy'.

Ingredients

olive oil
1 red pepper, sliced
1 yellow pepper, sliced
1 onion, sliced
1 tbsp raisins
1 tbsp capers, drained and rinsed
2tsp demerara sugar
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
25g softened butter
1/2 lemon zested and juiced
2 firm white fish fillets, such as haddock or pollack

Method

Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a shallow pan. Add the peppers (I found that only about 2/3 of each pepper was necessary and about half a large onion) and onion and season with salt. Put a lid on - I used a cartouche - and cook gently until softened but not coloured. Add the raisins, capers, sugar and vinegar, stir well and cook for 10 minutes until the liquid has reduced.

Mix the butter with the lemon zest and a squeeze of the juice and season. Spread over the fish and then grill for 4-5 minutes until just cooked through. Serve with pepperonata and salad. I used little gem lettuces as per the picture!

What it should look like...

Original photograph: Lis Parsons

What mine looked like...

The facts:
Yes, it was very easy to make within the thirty minutes and served two, although the very hungry husband, having been out on a long run, would have preferred a little more! Some crushed new potatoes might have done the trick.

As mentioned, I used a little less pepper and onion but ended up with a good balance of fish and pepperonata. The picture in the magazine showed that there was quite a lot of 'sauce' in the pepperonata, but I found that just the the 1tbsp vinegar and 2tsps sugar didn't produce as much as that. Perhaps double these quantities and a splash of olive oil would have created more?

Taste:

Excellent! The flavours worked well together and the lemony fish and sweet'n'sour peppers complemented each other. It definitely needed a different texture, which the crunchy little gem lettuce gave. I'd definitely make this again, but with a little more sauce and something to 'fill-up' the husband!

"Calories don't count in the Cold" according to Chris Evans, Drivetime, Radio 2

It's a good job, that's all I can say!

I've been lucky enough to have another snow day at home thanks to school being cancelled. Hurrah! So, again, I was up early and pottered around. Managed to get a bus into town and got enthralled walking around the food department of M&S. Now, don't think me odd, but I do love just wandering around their aisles and looking at all the yummy food. They're tending to move towards adding actual ingredients to their shelves now as well as simply ready-made stuff and even had lots of recipe cards out, to which I quickly helped myself, before making another tour of all the shelves to ensure I had got each and every one!

Tonight's meal will be a combination of one of those very cards and my own version. It should turn into a risotto of some sorts. Will keep you posted.

Last night, it was fish pie. I hadn't made this for a while and even went so far as to buy prawns to add to it, as requested by my boyfriend. Normally I leave them out - don't know why, just always have!

Hannah's Fish Pie

fish - I used pieces of smoked haddock, cod and prawns, but you can chuck in your favourites!
milk
plain flour
butter
salt and pepper
cheese - grated - some for the white sauce and some for the top!
peas
wholegrain mustard
mash
squeeze of lemon

First, pop all raw fish into an oven-proof dish and cover with milk. Put into the oven at 180 until the fish is just cooked. If in doubt, remove it from the oven a little beforehand.
Using the milk from the fish, make a bechamel sauce - white sauce - roux, whatever you'd like to call it:

In a pan, mix a blob of butter and a splash of flour in the quantities such as you get a smooth paste! (I do mine by trial and error - a blob of butter, then add flour til it comes together, you can always add a drop of oil if it goes powdery!)
The trick to getting a smooth sauce is not to have the milk hot, but to have the pan hot and add it a little at a time. So, splash by splash, add the milk, whisking the mixture continually. It will thicken and look much as it did at the start for the first few splashes, but will gradually become runnier.
If you use up all the milk from the fish, add a little more!

When the mixture has a thick, creamy consistency that clings to a metal spoon and drips slowly, add a few teaspoons of wholegrain mustard to taste, salt and pepper and some of the cheese. Mix together.
In an ovenproof dish, flake the fish, add the peas and prawns and pour over the sauce, mixing a little to combine. Be careful not to mix it so much that the fish 'mashes'.
Spoon the mash over the top and sprinkle over the remaining cheese.
Pop into the oven at around 180 for 15 minutes or so, until the cheese has browned. Everything is cooked so it just needs time for the peas and prawns to heat through and the cheese to brown and bubble!

You could even make it up earlier and finish it off in the oven when ready.

Pot au Feu Smoked Haddock

Firstly, I've added a new comments section on the right hand side, so you have a choice at the moment as to where / how to leave your ideas! I'll see how it works!

There's nothing better is there, than curling up with a good book. Especially when its a cookery book and you've got all weekend to have a go! That's what I've done this morning, and I've at least decided on dinner for this evening. The need to make Pot of Feu is still there so that's what I'll begin with. Ensuite, I thought I'd keep it simple with pork shnitzel, colcannon (or mash with cabbage / bubble and squeak!) and lemon aioli.

I invented the haddock recipe after visiting a local restaurant that had this as one of their starters.

Pot au Feu Smoked Haddock

Smoked Haddock
baby spinach
milk
eggs
cheese
flour
butter
seasoning
lemon
dill

Ok - start by poaching the haddock in a little milk until just cooked. It's going to go back in the oven so you don't want it too cooked, if that makes sense! Use the milk to make a roux - mix a little butter and flour into a paste in a pan, put over high heat and add the milk from the haddock a little at a time, whisking well after each addition. Continue until you have a smooth mixture that coats the whisk and is the consistency you'd like for your pots. Add more milk if necessary.
Add the spinach to wilt, and some of grated cheese to this sauce. Season with salt and pepper, a squeeze of lemon if you'd like, and add some chopped dill to taste.
Flake the haddock and distribute between little pots - ramekin dishes, or small containers that can go in the oven! (the ones you get Gu puddings in are perfect!) Pour over the spinach and cheese mixture.
Poach your eggs until soft yolked and place one on top of each of the haddock and sauce pots, sprinkling with grated cheese to finish. Pop back into the oven to finish or under the grill to brown if you have slightly overcooked your fish to begin with! Serve hot!

Great as a lunchtime treat served with brown bread and butter to dip in, or as a starter! Mmm!

Merlotti x