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Salmon Fish-Cakes

Last weekend's cheer-up-Tuesy charm offensive delivered its grand finale on Sunday evening. Stop me if I sound too boastful, but I was very happy with how this turned out - for an amateur cook, it's always exciting when a recipe really works, and there are few cooks more amateur than me...

Prepare your fish-cake mixture 2-3 hours before you plan to cook them (they take a little under half an hour to bake). To make enough fish-cakes for four people you will need:

900g maris piper potatoes
900f salmon fillets

Juice of 1 lemon

4tbsp mayonnaise

pinch of cayenne pepper

large pinch of chilli powder (more if you like spiciness)

2 tbsp of chopped herbs (I used flat flat-leaf parsley, but tarragon or basil will work just as well
2 tbsp chilli oil.

Peel the potatoes, chop them into quarters and boil them. Once boiled to softness, drain away the water, and return to heat for a couple of minutes to dry them out. Then mash 'em. With a masher.

While the spuds are boiling, put your salmon and half the lemon juice into a pan with a pint of cold water. Bring it just to the boil and leave to stand in the water for a few minutes. It'll cook just enough in the remaining heat. Then drain the salmon, peel off the skin and flake it. It's good not to mash it up too much - the fish-cakes are delicious if you can still feel the "meatiness" of the fish (you don't want them to be too smooth).

Mix the salmon with the mashed potatoes and add the spices and herbs, the lemon juice and the mayonnaise. Mix well and season with salt and pepper.

Now make your fish-cakes on a non-stick baking tray. I lined my tray with non-stick baking paper, which worked a treat. If you're good with your hands, you can pat the mixture into eight thick cakes (maybe 2cm deep). If you have a large round biscuit/cookie cutter, you can use that to get them into a nice shape. I used a non-stick heart-shaped fried egg shaper, meaning that my cakes looked like this:

Not too shabby. Put your tray of fish-cakes in the fridge for a couple of hours. This will firm them up ready to be baked. Once they're ready, drizzle the chilli oil on top and bake at 200 degrees centigrade or until they go brown and a bit crispy on the outside. I served these with mangetout and baby corn and a little rocket. You can serve them with whatever you like. Nobody's checking.

Spiced Tuna Steak

This weekend, since Tuesy needed cheering up I thought I'd be extra-organised and prepare a couple of seafood dishes. Since she doesn't eat meat but will happily indulge in piscicide, tuna is an excellent middle ground between veggie and carnivore. I'll save the other recipe, which I think was even better, for another day. I need to pace myself...

Get yourself some big, thick tuna steaks. As much as you can eat/afford. You're going to marinade them. To make the marinade, mix the following:

2 tbsp tomato puree

1 tbsp oil

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp grated fresh root ginger. You might want a bit more if you're a ginger fan.

1 peeled, crushed garlic clove.

1 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp chilli powder. Again, if you like at spicy, double this. It's quite safe.

Salt and pepper as desired.

Mix this lot up, and smear it all over your tuna steaks, which you've already patted dry with kitchen roll, right? Leave this to marinate for a couple of hours.

(A quick aside. I'm listening to the US Open tennis semi-final. Andy Murray might be about to beat Nadal. Please, please, please...)

OK, here's the master-stroke. You're going to make some raita. This is easy, and it's delicious. You need about 150g greek yoghurt (standard-sized tub), which you mix with some chopped mint and about 50g of chopped cucumber. Chop it fine. Mix this up and it will be a great taste to dollop on your spicy tuna and offset its kick.

Grab your favourite frying pan or griddle. Heat a little oil. Heat it a lot. Cook the tuna steaks for a couple of minutes and then turn and cook for a little more. I like mine scorched on the outside and still pink in the middle. Tuesy likes hers well done. The choice is yours, but the marinade will blacken it a little if you fry it for a long time. That's still delicious, though.

Serve your tina with the raita and a green salad. I made it this time with boiled potatoes and broccoil because we were really hungry, but the salad really prioritises the fleshy goodness of your steak. If you cooked it, bask in the appreciation. If it was served to you, feel lucky.

(Murray might be throwing the match away in the time it took me to write this. Dammit. But there's still a chance...)

Pasta Pesto

I'm really pressed for time. I've so much work to do I barely have time to whine about it. But I'm still managing to blog. Some things are still important, and it's a good way to focus the mind and arrange the swirling thoughts into some kind of comprehensible pattern. And I've been pressed into blogging on this by the water-cress pesto that Tuesy has sent me. I urge her to post the recipe so that you, dear reader, can make pesto for yourself. She's done the real work (and presumably she got chance to use her new food processor): I just want to show you the lovely dinner I made with the pesto.

All it took was a few slices of halloumi, that king of cheeses (shallow-fry it in a little olive oil, or grill it), rocket and cherry tomatoes. Oh, and pasta, of course. I've used tagliatelli, but only because the fuselli in my cupboard looks a bit old. If I had any penne in stock, I'd have used that.

Dead easy, and generous in its delivery of deliciousness. So, dear reader (and I hope the use of the singular form of "reader" is not too close to the truth), pester Tuesy with your requests for the pesto recipe, so that you too can pep up your pasty pasta.

Bean Fajitas

This is a delicious dish whether you're a vegetarian or not. Obviously, you can put chicken or beef into fajitas if you prefer, but since the best bits are the spicy tomato, guacamole and sour cream, you may as well save that meaty goodness for something where you can really taste it. But I have to be honest, although this stuff is delicious, it really doesn't photograph well, which is why I don't have a mouth-watering image of the finished product to tempt you with. the above picture is not a full body shot, just a detail, but it gives you an idea. Just go with it and remember that even ugly messy food needs love sometimes.

Heat 2 tbsp sunflower oil in a big pan. Fry a sliced, medium sized onion for 5 mins. While that's going on you can chop two garlic cloves, or crush them. You will need:

Half tsp hot chilli powder (I also like to throw in some freshly chopped chillis to make it extra spicy. It's your call, though. This time, I also chucked in some red peppers that needed eating)

1tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

Add these to the onion with the garlic and fry for a couple more minutes. Then add:

1 tbsp tomato puree

400g can chopped tomatoes

Quarter pint of hot vegetable stock

Lots of beans. These should ideally consist of 220g tin of red kidney beans, 300g tin of brolotti beans, 300g tin flageolet beans. All these should be drained and rinsed. Actually, it's just as good if you use red kidney beans and make up the rest with chickpeas. Still delicious.

Season all this with salt and pepper, bring to the boil and simmer for about 15 minutes. In the meantime, you can either:

a) Make your own guacamole

b) Open a tub of shop-bought guacamole and spend the next 15 minutes getting in some quality time with your brand new Nintendo Wii.

You should also warm up a bunch of flour tortillas in the oven or microwave. Then, when the beans and sauce are ready, spread some down the middle of each tortilla, then dollop on some sour cream and guacamole according to your taste. Fold at one side and then fold in two other sides to form a fajita-shaped parcel. If yours are anything like mine, your fajita filling will dribble out all over the place and mess up your shirt, so take care. Grated cheddar cheese will also make your fajitas extra tasty if you can stand any more deliciousness. Serve with cold lager, preferably in a bottle with a slice of lime jammed down its neck.

Chickpea curry with quorn

I have cooked this recipe so many times before but never for Dan. He asked me to blog the recipe so he can give it a go. I told him to watch me cook it and try to remember it instead :-)

But because he asked really nicely last night, here goes:

I used:
medium onion, sliced
2-4 garlic cloves (I like mine garlic-y), chopped
chili flakes
a tin of chickpeas, drained
a tin of chopped tomatoes
capsicum or peppers
quorn "chicken" style fillets, cubed
2 tbsp of curry paste
coriander, roughly chopped


What I did:

1. Most of the time, I dry fry my onion with just a bit of salt. I was told that this caramelizes the onion. When the onion is a bit cooked, I add olive oil, a pinch or two of chili flakes, and the garlic.
2. Add the curry paste. I use Patak's curry paste. It's good stuff.
   
3. Add the quorn pieces and cook it for about 3-5 mins or just until it's brown.
4. Mix the chickpeas and cook for about 2 mins.
5. Add the capsicum/peppers. I like to add mushrooms, too, but Dan does not like mushrooms. I know, it's weird.
6. Add the chopped tomatoes. If it's still too dry, add some water.
7. Season with salt, pepper and coriander.

Rich dark chocolate cup cake

This recipe is from my favourite dessert cookbook called Divine and it uses a lot of the Divine chocolates which some of you might know is a fairly traded chocolate.

In doing this recipe, I was trying out 3 things:

1. my fan-assisted oven - I think the thermostat is not working properly and it emits too much heat. The first batch turned ok, a bit over-cooked around the edges but nice and soft inside. The second batch was quite burnt on the outside.
2. cake & biscuit set - a gift from Tonet and Dino
3. magimix 3200 compact food processor - I was deciding between a kitchenaid stand mixer or this food processor and decided to get the food processor this time and then think about getting the stand mixer another time. I want to learn how to make fabulous cakes and I read that a stand mixer is really good for making cake. For this recipe, I used the food processor to mix the cake and, you know, it's not bad!

Now on to the recipe!

Melt 2 x 100g bars of Divine dark chocolate by breaking it relatively equal pieces. Put in a heatproof bowl and set it over steaming water (not boiling!). Be careful not to get any water in the chocolate. When the chocolate is melted, remove the bowl from the heat and let it cool.

Put 200g of very soft unsalted butter and 200g caster sugar in a bowl of your food processor or stand mixer if you have one - lucky you! Mix until light and creamy.

You will need 4 large free range eggs (at room temperature is best). Beat in the eggs one at a time. Beat well after each egg.

Stir in the 100ml sour cream on low speed then mix the 200g self-raising flour. Lastly, mix the melted chocolate gently until it's all mixed up well and the mixture is smooth and looks really yummy!

Now you can make them into cup cakes by spooning them in muffin cases or you can make it into a chocolate loaf using a loaf tin (greased and base-lined).

Cook at 180˚C (or much less if you have fan-assisted oven) for 20-25 mins or until firm.

Optional topping or "icing": melt 1 x 100g bar of Divine dark chocolate and when it's all melted stir in the 1 tbsp golden syrup and 25g unsalted butter.

Did you like it Dan? :-)
It was delicious. And much tastier for having been so beautifully photographed...

Live Salad!

Today, I bought a living salad from the supermarket. I tried this once before, and it flopped worse than a Nicole Kidman movie. Dead within a day or two. But I thought I'd give it one more try. Well, it's still standing up straight almost twelve hours after arriving in my kitchen. But I'll keep an eye on it and report on its tenuous attempts at clining onto life. Check back to this blog to witness the ongoing, poignant struggle of a bunch of little plants fighting for their lives against the twin demons of inadequate sustenance and me putting them in a cheese and pickle bap from time to time. I'm not very good at keeping plants alive, but maybe the promise of cheap food will be a good incentive to try harder.



For those of us who live in garden-less flats with barely a window to show for it (I don't need your pity, really), salad still in its soil is a little piece of farming experience brought into your very home. OK, that's a bit much - it just seems more authentic and natural than those machined, air-tight salad bags they sell in their millions every day, which wilt and sag the minute the polythene bubble is burst. I hope it lasts. Watch this space...

Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagne

This is in the oven right now as I start writing this. It's my first attempt at lasagne. Ever. And the greengrocer seems to have sold me some slightly dodgy spinach, so I can't really vouch for its quality just yet. Maybe Tuesy can report back after I serve it up.

Here's what you need to do:

1 Butternut squash
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced
salt and pepper

Peel and halve the squash. De-seed that thing. Chop it into big chunks (1 inch square has to be good enough, I reckon), toss it all in a roasting tin with the olive oil, chopped onion and a tablespoon of water. Season with salt n' pepper. Roast at about 200 degrees (or considerably less if your oven is a fan-assisted raging furnace like Tuesy's) for 25 mins. While that's going on, you can get started on the sauce:

25g butter
25g plain flour
1 pint milk

Melt the butter in a pan, stir in the flour and cook for a couple of minutes. Gradually add the milk, stirring all the time (you don't want it to go too lumpy) and then simmer it for about five minutes. It'll go a bit thick, but not too stodgy.

In the meantime, cook 250g of baby leaf spinach in a few dribbles of water (use a separate pan!). Add salt and pepper.

To finish the sauce, you'll need:

250g carton of ricotta
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg (Tuesy: I did the grating!!)
6 sheets of that
lasagne that doesn't need pre-cooking (Tuesy: this means, use regular lasagne sheets but you don't have to pre-cook even if the packet says so. As this is very saucy, the pasta will cook anyway!)
50g of parmesan cheese, grated (we like it cheesy, so we'd go up to 80g for this one. I know, we're just wild...)

Mix the ricotta into the sauce, add the nutmeg and a bit of salt n' pepper if you haven't got enough seasoning already. Here, for atmosphere, is a picture of some nutmeg during the grating process:



Now you get to build your lasagne. In an ovenproof dish, put the squash and onion stuff, nicely roasted by now, in the bottom, add the spinach on top and in between and all over, then about a third of the sauce. Layer the lasagne sheets on top, pour on the rest of the sauce. Finally, sprinkle the cheese on top and still more salt n' pepper if that's your thing.

Bake for about half an hour, or until the top part achieves your ideal level of crispy, golden goodness. Mine is nearly ready. Hope it's good. Tuesy's getting ready to test out her new food processor with some cup cakes, so there may be a delicious dessert blog to come shortly.



Tuesy: The lasagne Dan made is the best lasagne I have ever had in my flat tee hee... it was the FIRST lasagne I've ever had in my flat :-) But but but! It was also the best lasagne in the whole world! I absolutely love it!

The picture below is a macro shot of the lasagne. We love a crispy top!

PS. Dan used the Good Housekeeping guide to cookery for this recipe. He got it from his brother for xmas and it has changed his life! And I am grateful, of course :-)

PPS. Recipe for the delicious dark chocolate cup cake to be published soon!

Salmon salad with chilli and coriander dressing

This is a "Tuesy cheats" (á la Delia) salad recipe. Ingredients were bought ready made (all from Marks & Spencer) and I am not ashamed of it!

Dan and I had this for lunch on Saturday. It was a really good summer lunch.

I used:

• bag of salad
• 6 pcs of crab stick
• a pack of Arbroath Hot Smoked Salmon Flakes
• Chilli and Coriander dressing

Just put everything together and serve! :-)

Duck!

In the absence of full introductions, I should probably explain who we are. We are united by a passion for food. Maybe "passion" is a bit strong. We're not experts, but we like to have a go in the kitchen. Tuesy is a bit more vegetarian than I am, but I have been eating a lot less meat since we met. We both eat seafood whenever we get the chance. There won't be too many fancy recipes and, particularly in my case, a lot of this stuff is a bit "experimental".

For instance, tonight I had duck for dinner. I had a couple of breast in the fridge, and no recipe book to hand. Time to improvise. I mixed some soy sauce, runny honey and wholegrain mustard (optional) in a bowl and dunked the duck into it. You can also roll the duck around in a bit of flour first if you like. I have no idea what this does (told you I wasn't an expert), but it might help the marinade to stick to the meat. Maybe.

Throw the duck into a frying pan and cook on both sides for as long as you like. I like mine to be a bit pink in the middle, and crispy on the outside. Some may be scared by too much poultry pinkness, though. If you prick the skin before you fry, it'll cook in its own juices. Because I can't be bothered washing up extra pans, I took the liberty of chucking in some courgettes and red pepper to cook in the same trickles, but you might find that repulsive. Steam some veg to eat with it if you prefer. It'll get very fatty in that pan. Sometimes I soak it up with some kitchen roll or just tip it away. You don't want it to get too greasy before you eat.

Hey, I'm a beginner. But this tasted great, took about twenty minutes to prepare, and I've got some left over for tomorrow. It looked like this:

morning muffin

This is from the recipe book GI High Energy Cookbook.


Ingredients
170 g dried apricots, coarsely chopped
170g unsweetened muesli
250 g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking poweder
250 ml orange juice (fresh is better!)
zest of 1 orange
3 tbsp vegetable oil
100 ml honey
1 large egg

What to do

1. Out apricots, muesli, flour, baking powder in large mixing bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, mix juice, zest, oil, honey and egg. Fold into the dry ingredients, but do not overmix.
3. Spoon the mixture into the paper muffin cases.
4. Bake in a preheated oven at 150˚C (fan-assisted oven) for 10-15 mins until golden and risen.
5. Remove from the oven and serve or transfer to a cooling rack for freezing.
   

Sweet chilli egg noodle salad

The recipe I have here is based on what I had (left over) in my fridge but really you can make this egg noodle salad with anything you fancy eating :-)

Ingredients (all estimation)

• 2 blocks of dried egg noodles
• cooked and peeled prawns
• 2 celery sticks
• 2 spring onions
• carrots
• pak choi
• garlic
• oyster sauce
• vegetable oil
• sweet chilli sauce

What to do:

1. Put noodles in a big bowl and then cover with boiled water. Cook for about 7 - 10 minutes. Drain it and wash with cold water so it will stop cooking.
2. Steam the pak choi or cook it with garlic and a bit of oyster sauce.
3. Add all the veggies in the noodles.
4. Lastly, mix the sweet chilli sauce.