Roasted Fish w/ garlic, lemon zest & baby tomatoes

This is one of my favourite, simplest fish dinners. It is inspired by (though not identical to) Donna Hay's Modern Classics (Book 1). I have used several Donna Hay recipes before, but can't remember what I wrote about her! I think her recipes are very good: they almost always work. Some of you may remember when (most of us?) were in high school, and some 'Marie Claire' cookbooks were released: they were fantastic, and really revolutionised not only how cook books were published in Australia, but how home cooks cooked. 

Donna Hay was the force behind them (the first 3 or so books that is, not the later ones). I am a big fan: if I am every trying a dish 'new / for the first time' I will either look through Donna Hay's stuff, or Stephanie Alexander. 

That said, I do find the magazine, and some of her later books a little annoying: it often feels like a book that I have bought is then basically published in the magazine, and vice-versa. But that is bye-the-bye: her stuff works, every time, and she doesn't suggest ridiculous ingredients that would see you spend $18 on a small sachet of something that will go off before you can ever use it again (I huge pet hate of mine). 

I served this w/ boiled potatoes that I mixed w/ olive oil & parsley, I was going to add green beans, but was so busy chatting to an old friend on Facebook that I forgot to put them on . . . . thus: beanless.

Simple Roast Fish

olive oil   

zest of 1 lemon

4 cloves of garlic, crushed

10 baby tomatoes (whole)

4 small potatoes

handful fresh parsley

any fish fillet of firm white flesh

(I used flathead fillets in these pics)

Preheat the oven to 180'c. Put a pot of water on to boil, and once boiling add some salt, and pop in the potatoes (I prefer not to peel mine: this is absolutely a matter of preference: do them however you prefer). 

Put the crushed garlic, tomatoes, and lemon zest into a roasting dish and put a good glug or so of olive oil into the dish. Mix well to combine it all, and pop into the oven for 20 minutes. 

After 20 mins remove the dish from the oven, and put the fish fillet/s into the pan. Add another glug of olive oil & carefully (don't burn yourself!) mix in w/ the tomato mix, ensuring the fillets are well coated in the oil & cook for another 15 - 20 mins: until fish is cooked. You can tell that it is cooked by pressing your fork against the fillet. The flesh will come away slightly, and if it is still pink-ish, it needs longer (duh).

Drain the potatoes & quarter (if using larger potatoes, maybe cut into 6ths). Slice/tear up the parsley, and together with another glug (love that word!) of olive oil, mix through the potatoes. 

Put a heap of the potatoes on a plate, and then top w/ the roast fish/tomato mix. Season w/ salt & pepper to taste. 

Bon Appetit! 

Meatless Monday Veg & Ricotta Pie

And a big shout out to Naomi! This is not really a pie, but I don't know what else to call it. Basically you sauté a heap of veg, pop it into an ovenproof dish, pop some cheese on top & pop it under the grill.
I wasn't following a recipe, and am actually not much of a 'vegetarion' cook, so I was more than a little surprised by just how yum, yum, yummy this was! And to make it even better, there are 2 containers of left overs that will make a yummy lunch to take to work the next couple of days.

I had a heap of lovely mixed roasted veg (eggplant, carrot, capsicum, zucchini etc) left over from the roast veg tartlets that I had made a few weeks back. I had just kept the extra veg in a zip-lock bag in the freezer. Before I went to work Monday morning I pulled the bag of veg from the freezer & popped it into the fridge so the veg would thaw slightly.

If I am making something, say a roast, I tend to cook more veg than I need as they always fantastic for throwing into a salad, a frittata, or into the pot randomly (i.e. this!). Veg keep very well in the freezer, just make sure no air can get in to the bag you're storing them in. I know I sound a little bit too-keen, but if you're making a heap of veg, it is basically no effort to add an extra handful or so, and you will have the reward of a yummy meal ready to be easily put together a couple of days later.

You could use raw veg , but you will need to cook this for much longer. I would do it by following the below (so the veg get a crisp outside), but instead of putting the dish under the grill, out into an oven heated to 180'c for 25 mins or so (however long you think it will take your veg to cook through). Then pop under the grill for a few mins to turn the top golden.

Random Vegetable 'Pie'

Feeds 2 normal hungry people, or 1 very hungry person

Half a spanish onion, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed & finely sliced
2 cups mixed mushrooms (I used button & swiss)
8 baby tomatoes, quartered

1/2 can butter beans, drained (or you could use lentils, chick peas etc)
6 cubes feta, sliced (or keep as cubes if you prefer)
Bunch of parsley, chopped
1 cup fresh ricotta
Parmesan for the top
Any other veg you care to ad
For Example:
I used left overs from the roast veg tarts, that I had then frozen.
Any frozen veg you have peas, carrots, broccoli, corn.
If you've done a roast & have any veg left over
Etc, etc

 Put a pan on a medium heat, and add some olive oil. When warm add the sliced garlic & stir for a minute or so, then add the sliced onions. Stir well to combine, and coat in the oil. Make sure you don't turn the heat too high: you want the onions to soften, not to brown/burn. Once softened, add the mushrooms & stir to combine.

Add whatever other veg you are using: I tipped in the mixed roast veg at this point. Stir occasionally until well warmed through.  

Add the 1/2 can of butter beans (or lentils/chickpeas), parsley & sliced feta & stir through.

Once the beans are warmed through, transfer the whole mix to an ovenproof dish.

Place spoonfuls of ricotta on top of the veg, then shave some parmesan over the top.

 

 Place under grill, remove once the top has turned golden.

Enjoy!

Dinner: Roast Lamb w/ a Gremolata Crust

This is one of the easiest recipes I know, and is just so yummy.

Traditional gremolata is lemon zest, parsley, and garlic. I know that lemon zest might seem like a strange thing to put with lamb, but it works so well.

This version isn't the 'traditional' one, but the flavours really compliment the lamb. I used a rolled leg of lamb, which, whilst the flavours were fantastic, didn't work too well when it came time to carve as the string holding the roll together had to be removed, taking most of the crust with it. No matter: scattered over the top it was still delicious! The best way to do this is with a frenched rack of lamb.

This will serve 4 people.

Roast Lamb w/ a Gremolata Crust & Butter Beans
1 rack of lamb (minimum 2 points per person)
1/3 cup mixed peel
very large handful of parsley
1 leek, sliced thinly
1 onion, sliced thinly
2 cloves of garlic, crushed & thinly sliced
2 tins butter beans
olive oil

Preheat the oven to 180'c.

Heat a saucepan over medium heat. Rub the lamb w/ olive oil & season w/ salt & pepper. Sear in the saucepan, and set aside. Don't rinse the pan!

Finely chop the mixed peel, and the parsley, and combine. Add enough olive oil (about 2 tablespoons) to form a paste.

Take the 'paste' and spread in a layer over the top of the lamb. If using a rack of lamb, spread on the back (outside?), i.e. so that you can place the lamb in the oven dish w/ the gremolata on top.

Place in an oven-proof dish, and roast in the oven until cooked to your liking. I know this is an infuriating phrase! It depends on what sort of lamb you are using! A rack of lamb should take around half an hour. A rolled joint of lamb should take around 50-60 minutes, or one hour per kilo.

Start this step about  20 minutes before you will be ready to serve up.

In the same pan you used to sear the lamb, heat another tablespoon of olive oil over gentle heat & add the sliced veg to the pan. Gently sauté, you want them to soften, rather than colour. Stir every so often to ensure nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pan. When the vegetables are soft, increase the heat to medium, and add the drained butter beans to the pan, and stir to incorporate with the onion, leek & garlic.

When the lamb is cooked to your liking, remove from the oven & allow to cool for 5 minutes or so before carving.

Place a couple of spoonfuls of the vegetables onto a plate, top with the lamb & serve.

Wine Match!
This goes really well w/ a lovely Pinot Noir. I find a shiraz too heavy, and it overwhelms the citrus & parsley flavours.

It's Italian for Fried Rice!

Hello!

So, wondering home after a long day, and still feeling rotten from awful cold that just refuses to leave me be, my mind turned to dinner. Tempted as I was to pick up a take away Indian (meal that is), I thought for a few moments about what I had at home that might make a nice meal.

* left over prawn risotto

* 1 egg
(how I came to have just 1 egg I do not know)

* some crab meat in the freezer

* a few slices of pancetta

A quick swing by the F&V shop under my building for half a bunch of spring onions, and I had all that I needed to turn my left over risotto into a fried rice!

Crab meat may sound like an exotic thing to keep in one's freezer, but it is so handy to have. We have a wonderful farmers markets on every Saturday, literally outside my front door. As I have previously posted, their is a wonderful fishmonger there, and he sells me packets of frozen crab meat for around $12-$13 a packet. I get so many meals out of it (toss it through pasta, add to risotto, throw into an omelette or frittata!).

And you know what? It was so yummy! Prawns, crab meat, pancetta, spring onions & left over risotto: awesome meal of left overs!

My Random, Left Over, Italian Fried Rice

Crack the egg into a bowl & whisk gently to mix it all together.

Slice the pancetta into strips, finely chop the spring onion. The crab meat I have is in a block, so I just slice of 'slabs' like you would a loaf of bread (bottom left of this photo). Once it has thawed slightly (a few minutes), break it up into smaller bits. This is just a meal of left overs, you could use bacon or ham instead of pancetta, a leek instead of spring onions etc etc.

Heat some vegetable oil in a wok, and swirl it around to coat the base. Once it is very warm, pour the egg mix in & swirl it around to make a thing layer that cooks very quickly & remove from the wok.

Add a little more vegetable oil to the wok, and when very warm, throw the spring onions into the wok. Cook, stirring, for a minute or two, then add the pancetta. Cook that for a couple of minutes then add the crab meat.

Add the left over risotto to the wok, and stir, stir, stir (sound familiar?)! I found that some of the rice caught on the bottom of the wok, but I didn't want to add any more oil, as the rice was already quite saturated from the stock etc.

Once the rice has been cooked through, season to taste, spoon into a bowl, and pop the egg on top.

Enjoy!

Wine Match!
Umm - whatever you have in the fridge! In my case a Margaret River Sauv Blanc.

Easy Seafood Risotto

Hello!

I'm not sure if you are a big risotto fan; I enjoy them on occasion . . . I wouldn't call myself a 'fan' but by that same token I don't mind having one now & then.

I know I haven't blogged about this before (forgive me!), but I regularly make my own stock. I have a wonderful seafood stock in my freezer made from the remains of a large snapper my brother dissected (he is an excellent seafood chef). I followed Donna Hay's recipe for making seafood stock (email me if you'd like the recipe). It smells amazing, largely due to the quality of the fish I am sure.

So anyhoo: following on from Mum's 60th, I had a few uncooked prawns in the fridge that I was keen to use up, along with arborio rice, white wine, a leek, and some frozen peas . . . . in short, all that I needed to make a lovely risotto for dinner! I would like to stress that I just did this on the fly, and didn't follow a recipe, so the below is guess-ti-recipe, but I assure you the end result is lovely!

And by the way: the 'Campbells' stock sold in Coles/Woolies is just fine!  Just remember the better the stock, the better the flavour will be, so do try & purchase the best quality stock you can.

Anth's Seafood Risotto
(Serves Two)

1/2 onion, thinly sliced

1/2 leek, thinly sliced 

zest of one lemon

2 cloves garlic, crushed & sliced

olive oil

knob of butter

1.5 cups arborio rice

1 cup white wine

3 cups seafood (or veg) stock

 large handful of green prawns

3/4 cup frozen (or fresh) peas

                                                      Parmesan cheese (as good as possible)

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat, and once warm add the knob of butter. Let it bubble a little, and then add the sliced onion, leek & garlic cloves. Reduce the heat to low-medium, and gently cook for 15 mins until they are translucent, with a little bit of colour. 

In a separate saucepan, heat the stock to a gentle simmer. 

Add the arborio rice, it will fry a little, so be sure to keep stirring. After a minute or so, add the wine. It well smell a little harsh, but as the alcohol cooks off, it well smell lovely. KEEP STIRRING!

Once the wine has soaked into the rice, add a ladle worth of the warm stock, and a good pinch of salt.  Lower heat to a gentle simmer: just like when you make pancakes, you don't want the rice to cook from the outside leaving the inside raw. You need gentle heat & LOTS OF STIRRING! Keep adding ladlefuls of stock, making sure that you 'massage' the stock into the rice before you add another ladle. Try the rice to see if it is cooked: keep adding ladles of stock until it is. If you run out of stock, boil some water & add it (a ladle's worth at a time).

  

 Once the rice is just about done add the lemon zest and stir for a  minute or so. Once that has settled in, add a large handful or raw prawns.  Gently stir them in until the begin to colour. 

Once the prawns begin to colour, add the peas. Increase the heat to medium to bring the prawns to full colour and gently cook the peas. Take a vegetable peeler & drop several large strips of Parmesan into the mix along with another knob of butter. Place a lid on the pan & allow to gently cook for 2 or so minutes. 

Check for seasoning & serve: if you like your citrus flavours, squeeze some of the juice from the lemon you zested over the risotto. 

I didn't do this, but then my stock had a strong seafood flavour, and I didn't feel it needed it, but this is completely a matter of taste. 

Wine Match!

I would serve this with either a Sauv Blanc w/ lovely citrus flavours, or a lightly oaked chardonnay (I hate big oak flavours, and though if you have good quality prawns their creaminess may match a more heavily oaked white wine).

Kangeroo Pasta

Just a brief little recipe, something I made up for a mid-week meal.

The FM loves kangaroo, as do I, and haven't been eating enough of it: it is so good for you!!

Take 2 spanish onions, cut them in half and slice thinly. Crush 2 cloves of garlic (or less if you prefer). Add some olive oil to a pan over med-high heat, and add the onions & garlic & fry gently until softened & fragrant.

I used about 5 small fillets of kangaroo, and cut them into pieces about the size of your top thumb joint. Turn up the heat, and add to the pan, and brown quickly. If you wanted to you could take some plain flour, add some salt & pepper, and lightly coat the cubes before adding them to the pan.

Once the meat is brown, turn the heat back down to medium, and add 2 cans of tomatoes, and some tomato paste. I also added a few shakes from a jar of dried chilli flakes, to give it a little kick.

Stir through, and bring to a gentle simmer. Once it has started to simmer, add a punnet of baby tomatoes.Try and push them into the juices as much as possible so they will cook through.

Let it cook for as long as possible - kangaroo is a meat that loves to stew, the longer you cook it, the tastier it will be.

A couple of mins before you take it off the heat, and some torn basil leaves.

Serve with pasta and parmesan cheese.

I cooked up some beans and served them with this, as well as some gluten free pasta.

Yum yum!

A x

PS -- it would also probably make a nice pie filling, or even shepherd’s pie type thing with mash on top.