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!

Winter Warmers

Oh no - we've got no food in. It's ok, we can walk to the supermarket. No we can't, it might not be open...you get the point how I was feeling this morning, after I'd been informed that there was no school today! Hurrah! I have been up since 6.30 am though in order to update the website so the parents know as well as the staff. I've watched the snow all morning and pottered in the Cabbage Patch to clear the snow so I might have a few veggies this spring / summer to cook with!

I'm into the wintery, warming dinners at the moment and last night was no exception. It was inspired by 2 pieces I'd read or watched this week - 1) Jamie cooking a shoulder of pork on t.v. the other night, and 2) a recipe from the Food Stories blog. I bought an incredibly cheap cut of British Pork (cheap because it was shoulder and everyone prefers a leg joint), scored the fat on top, rubbed in salt and olive oil, blazed in a very hot oven for 20 minutes, then put on low for several hours. It was delicious, the crackling being the best part as you can see - or not see, as I'd actually picked off most of it by the time I remembered to take this photo!

I also made Jamie's Baked Onions, (I do have other recipe books, but his are so warming for this snowy weather.) I found that the Parmesan flavour was overpowering and would use a mature cheddar next time.

The World's Best Baked Onions

Jamie's Book "Happy Days with the Naked Chef. - serves 4.

4 tennis ball sized white onions, peeled

olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, peeled & finely chopped

4 twigs of fresh rosemary, lower leaves picked & chopped

8 tablespoons double cream

a couple of handfuls of grated Parmesan

sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

4 slices of pancetta or smoked streaky bacon rashers

Boil the onions in plenty of water for 15 minutes until slightly tender.

Remove from the pan and allow to cool.

Then, with a sharp knife, remove the top 2.5cm/1 inch of each onion, finely chop and place to one side. If need be, slightly trim the stalk end of the onions so that they will sit flat on a roasting tray.

Cut about a heaped tablespoon out from the inside of each onion, keeping the outside intact.

Finely chop and add to the rest of the chopped onion.

Pre-heat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.

Heat a frying pan and add a little olive oil, your garlic, the chopped onions and just a little chopped rosemary.

Fry for a couple of minutes until softened, then turn the heat down, add the cream and remove from the heat.

Stir in the Parmesan and season. I (Jamie) like(s) to wrap a nice slice of pancetta around the middle of each onion and just spike it in place with a sharpened twig of rosemary or half a cocktail stick. The rosemary and pancetta will make the onion taste lovely as it cooks.

Place the onions on a roasting tray and spoon some of the chopped onion mixture inside each one.

Bake in the preheated oven for around 25 minutes until soft and tender, depending on the size of the onions. It's cool to experiment with different cheese, so give it a bash.

I have got food in, btw; I'd forgotten I'd bought several pieces of fish for fish pie. Will save it for something to do a little later on!