Baked Fish with Lemon Cream Sauce

Mr P. and I don't eat much meat these days (a throwback to our youthful vego. days perhaps), but we do like a bit of fish.  In fact, we had salmon just the other night, but we don't let that stop us from having fish again :=)  So this time, we went for some good old Aussie barramundi (tho' thinking on it, it was possibly from Vietnam or Thailand).  Though you have to be careful, as some naughty restaurants and seafood mongers like to trick us with cheaper fish.

Oh yes, here we have another recipe from Nagi Maehashi's Dinner.  Good old Nagi!  She never lets us down, with her fabulous recipes.  Sadly her gorgeous pup Dozer died recently (at a ripe old age).  I wonder if she will get another beautiful boy soon?  I keep threatening to get another pup, but Mr P. is not keen.  Two of our pups are buried in the backyard (maybe a tad illegal? Nah, I've checked; go ahead!), just as several of our pets are buried at our previous house.  I wonder if the new owners ever dug them up by mistake? :=)  

lemony, fishy and creamy!

Serves 4:

ingredients:

4 x 180g./6.5 oz skinless white fish fillets (about 1.5 cm thick)

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1.5 Tbs very finely minced/chopped French shallots/eschalots

Lemon Cream Sauce:

50g./1.8 oz butter

60 mL (1/4 cup) thickened cream

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 Tbs mustard (Dijon or your fave - I love my homemade wholegrain)

1.5 Tbs lemon juice

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

To serve:

2 tsp parsley, chopped  (seems stingy; maybe you need more - hehehe)

some chives, finely chopped - 1 tsp? - or more if you please

lemon slices

Mashed potato, and some green leaves if you want to feel virtuous

ingredients gathered (ignore the coriander seeds jar)

yep a bit of mustard does the trick!

Method:

On goes your oven to 200C/400F to heat up

Now onto the lemon cream sauce:

Put all the saucy ingredients into a heatproof jug or bowl, so you can microwave for 2 x 30 second bursts (give it a stir after the first 30 seconds!) - you want it wonderfully smooth and combined

And now for the fish: which is going into a baking dish (Nagi says 30 x 20 cm/12 x 8 in)

Season both sides of the fish pieces, and place them in the baking dish, with a bit of space between them

Cast the French shallots over the fish, and pour the sauce over

Bake for 10-12 minutes, or till the flesh flakes easily

Place the fish fillets on serving plates, and give 'em a five minute rest

When the 5 minutes are up, spoon the sauce (that's still lurking in the baking dish) over the fish, sprinkle with the parsley and chives, and serve with lemon slices, mashed potato and some green leaves tossed with a bit of oil and lemon juice (or your fave dressing)

love me some chives :)

lemon cream sauce, heading for the microwave

Notes:

Nagi says to use thick, white fish fillets; I bet you could even use crocodile!  I do love a bit of gummy shark (flake) myself, though not so easy to get in sunny Queensland.  Happily, the GoodFish Sustainable Seafood Guide says they are not endangered which is a good thing (not sure about crocodiles tho!)

fish into the dish, then the shallots and sauce over

chop your parsley in a jug with scissors - so easy!

throw on your lemon slices

and now throw on the parsley!

is that Hagrid overlooking my dinner? :=)

Moroccan-Style Tuna With Eggplant And Spicy Yoghurt

We like to eat fish in this household.  We have salmon once or twice a fortnight, (tinned) tuna for lunch once or twice a week, and I also enjoy some tinned sardines now and then.  Meat on the other hand - mm, probably a bit of beef mince once a month!  Hubby and I were both vegetarians in our youth (quite separate to each other).

To be honest, I think this was the first time I had ever cooked with fresh tuna.  I do enjoy a bit of sashimi, but sadly am a bit wary these days due to getting food poisoning from some salmon.  But I am very happy to have fish lightly grilled or baked, like this dish.   

we had the tuna with rice vermicelli noodles

Speaking of all things fish, reminds me of a trip to China years ago, where we were given a dish of ... jellyfish (?) in a clear, sweet liquid.  Of course, there were also chicken feet, and things of which we knew not.  Will never forget the sight of a businessman in his suit, briefcase in one hand, and live, squawking hen in the other.  I'd imagine his wife was awaiting the chook so she could start dinner ...

(Recipe from Belinda Jeffery's Utterly Delicious Simple Food.)

Belinda gives this recipe for 6 diners; I reduced it to 4, so pretty much halved the other ingredients

Serves 4:

ingredients:

Tuna marinade:

1-2 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 tsp ground cummin

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp sweet Hungarian paprika

a big pinch of cayenne pepper, or chilli flakes

1/4 cup fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped

1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped

30 mL/1 hefty ounce of lemon juice

120 mL/4 oz EV olive oil

sea salt flakes and black pepper, to taste

Spicy yoghurt:

200g./7 oz plain Greek yoghurt

1 very tiny clove of garlic, finely chopped

40 mL/1.4 oz EV olive oil

1 tsp ground cummin

sea salt flakes

The Tuna and Eggplant:

4 tuna steaks around 100g./3.5 oz each (or bigger, if you fancy)  see Notes

600-700g./21-25 oz eggplant

80 mL/2.8 oz EV olive oil

mint or coriander leaves, for garnish

lemon wedges, to serve

ye olde eggplant

not a hint of soap here :=)

Method:

Start early! - make the marinade a couple of hours before you want to cook the fish

So, grab a large bowl, chuck in the marinade ingredients, give it a good whisking and then: leave the tuna in a flat (non-reactive) dish, pour over about a third or so of the marinade (you want the fish all covered), cover the dish with clingfilm or a lid, and let it rest easy for a couple of hours in the fridge (and Belinda suggests giving the steaks a turn every so often)

The rest of the marinade goes into a jug, and into the fridge

Now the eggplant: 

Oven on to 220C/430F to heat up; and line a large baking tray with baking paper

Slice up your eggplant lengthwise into quarters, then wedges

Chuck 'em into a bowl, and toss with the olive oil, then on to the tray in a single layer

Bake for around 30 minutes or so, till golden-brown (and turn 'em over halfway thru' the cooking time)

While this is happening, mix up the spicy yoghurt and put into the fridge while you get on with cooking the fish

Either whack the steaks onto your BBQ, or grab a grill pan, and cook till as tender as you care for - Belinda suggests 1 to 2 minutes per side!  You may want more cooking time

Now put a steak on each plate, pour over a bit of the marinade from the jug, and serve with eggplant and lemon wedges 

who, me?  Yep you Mr Tuna!

Notes:

Belinda suggests making this recipe for 6, using "6 tuna steaks", without giving a weight, but Googling shows the average weight of a tuna steak is around 180g./6.5 oz.  I just happened to only be able to buy small ones!  But grab some bigger pieces, or a couple more steaks to feed another two people (and increase the amounts for the marinade and yoghurt accordingly, if so)

ingredients gathered

prepare your marinade

pour the marinade over the fish

looking golden and delicious

spicy yoghurt at the ready

Mr P. grills the tuna (in his bare feet)

strew (is that a verb?) the coriander leaves over the eggplant

feeling hungry ...

nearly ready to dig in!

dig in!

and/or throw on some mint

Capsicum Salad with Capers and Red Onion (And Salmon Cakes)

Crikey, I made this one for Cookbook club waaay back in early 2024!  Procrastinate?  Nope, not me.  This is my take on a recipe called Raw Capsicum salad with capers and red onion, from The Food Saver's A-Z by Alex Elliott-Howery and Jaimee Edwards. 

But as you can see, I decided to go for the roasted capsicums (in a jar), rather than the raw capsicum.  When I was a uni. student back in the day, I moved into a share house with some vegans and vegetarians.  I had never eaten capsicum in my life (mum and dad were the meat and 2 veg. types - think of boiled potatoes and tinned peas), so I got to try it for the first time.  I did NOT like it, my friends, but I was determined to, so I just kept on trying it till I did like it.  As I have done with many foods (and things) in my life :=)  Ah yes, a free bit of life advice there for you all - hehehe ...

salad, fish cakes and potatoes

Serves 2-3 as a side, or 3-4 as a main with the fish cakes:

Ingredients:

1 x 260g./9 oz jar of roasted/chargrilled capsicum, drained to give you 160g./c. 6 oz roasted capsicum  see Notes

1 small red onion

2 small cloves of garlic

1 Tbs EV olive oil

1 Tbs vinegar (they say apple cider, but use white wine vinegar or whatever you fancy, or have lying around the pantry)

a big pinch of salt, and of sugar

as much freshly-ground black pepper as you like - maybe 10 grinds?

some paprika, they say - half a teaspoon, a whole teaspoon? - you choose

1 Tbs capers

an amount of chopped dill or parsley - you know what I chose - parsley! how much? 1-2 Tbs? or more or less, as you please

Salmon cakes - 2-3 for each person - Yes I used frozen ones!

and 500g./18 oz baby potatoes   see Notes

        red capsicum/pepper

red/Spanish onion

Method:

Cut the capsicum/peppers into strips or chunks as you please

Finely slice the red onion into strips (or chunks)

Place the capsicum and onion into a medium-sized salad bowl

Add the EV olive oil, vinegar, salt, sugar and black pepper to the bowl

Don't forget to add the finely sliced/chopped garlic 

Add your paprika and capers

Throw on the fresh herbs when serving with the fish cakes and potatoes

I bought baby potatoes, that I sliced (not too) thinly, then tossed in salt, pepper and a wee bit of EV olive oil   see Notes

I microwaved 'em for 3 minutes, and then baked for around 20 minutes at 220C/430F, till tender

The salmon cakes came out of my freezer; I baked them as per the packet instructions

you guessed it!

Notes:

The authors suggest using one whole raw capsicum, sliced thinly but they give jarred, roasted capsicum in brine as an option - which I took!

I bought baby potatoes (which come with butter and herbs), which I sliced fairly thinly, before tossing in oil etc

yep, it's them!

ingredients gathered

capsicum, onion and capers in the bowl

serve with salmon cakes, baked potato slices, and a dash of Kewpie mayo

Smoked Salmon, Wasabi and Radish Finger Sandwiches

Well yes, for sure, I know this is a wee bit late or a wee bit early, but here we have a recipe from Donna Hay's cookbook Christmas, for your delectation.  I love a bit of smoked salmon any time of year, don't you?  I made this for Cookbook Club in December 2023, can you believe?  And honestly, the way this year is flying by, it WILL be Christmas before I can blink.

I know I've mentioned before checking out the salmon run in Pitlochry in Scotland; we've also been to the Salmon Ponds in Tasmania.  They have salmon and trout in the ponds, and you can throw in some fish food, or check out the museum.  Or walk through the Gardens and enjoy the heritage trees.  Oops, I sound like an ad, but truly it's worth a trip to any part of Tasmania at any time of year.

Anyways, let's enjoy some fishy fingers!  Reminds me of Dr. Who.  Remember the first episode with Matt Smith?  He was voraciously eating weird foods, and then he tried (and loved) fish fingers and custard.  Mm, maybe not for me ...  Though you never know - a salty morsel with some sweet custard could be a thing :=)  

creamy, fishy, herby - what's not to like?

Makes 12 fingers:

ingredients:

225g./8 oz cream cheese, at room temp.

2 tsp wasabi paste

2-3 tsp lime zest

2 tsp lime juice  (my optional extra)

8 thick slices of white bread (or bread of your choice)

4 small radishes, thinly sliced

200g./7 oz smoked salmon   (Donna says to use 250g. but she didn't add the boiled egg mash-up)

2 large eggs, hard-boiled and mashed, with salt, pepper and mayo

your choice of herbs, to be strewn on top of the fingers - Donna says to use miso leaves but you can add chives or parsley or whatever ...

Freshly-cracked black pepper, to serve

Method:

Throw the cream cheese, (well, gently) wasabi, lime zest and juice into a small bowl and combine well with a fork or whisk

Lay out your bread onto a board or bench, then spread two thirds of the cream cheese mixture over the 8 slices of bread

The radish slices go over 4 slices of the bread, and then you place the other 4 (un-radished) bread slices over the tops, cream cheese-side down (so, resting on the radish), so now you have 4 lovely sandwiches!

So spread the other third of the cream cheese over the top of the 4 sandwiches, and then spread over the mashed egg mixture

On go the smoked salmon slices over the eggy, mayo mixture - beautiful!

Trim the crusts of your sandwiches, and then cut each into three fingers (the bread, not your own)

On go the herbs and the pepper!

Serve daintily on a pretty platter

Notes:

Donna gives slightly larger quantities of the cream cheese, radish and salmon, but I decided to add the boiled egg mixture to these fingers, to give some Swedish smörgastarta vibes

Use lemon zest and juice if you prefer

gather your ingredients

combine the cream cheese mixture

spread the egg mixture over the cream-cheesed slices of bread

and slap on the fish!

the Grinch was eyeing these off :=)

Oops, nearly forgot to mention the verdict for the Mushroom Killer trial - she was found guilty on three counts of murder, and one of attempted murder!  I feel sorry for her kids, and the fellow who survived but without his wife, sister and brother-in-law.  Very sad.

so tasty, so fishy :=)

zest and juice your lime

radish

you guessed it!

Poached Coconut Salmon Salad

We are pretty keen salmon eaters in this household, and we have it often.  There has been a scare on Tasmanian salmon recently, but I was still able to buy some fillets - and they were very edible.  I think we had better enjoy it while we can, as there is much debate on the future of salmon farming here.  

But on a brighter note, I have to say this salad is delicious!  I decided to halve the recipe for me and Mr P., but I kinda wish I'd made the full quantity.  So definitely double it if you are feeding more people, or just fancy a tasty supper snack before bed.    

This recipe is from Donna Hay's Too Easy, her latest cookbook.  There are lots of interesting recipes to try, but I decided to make this one for (Lambs' Ears) Cookbook Club.  I know I've mentioned it before, but Donna is such an Aussie icon, and you can always rely on her recipes.  I came late to the party, as I hesitated to add another cook to my list of faves, but here we are!  I now have two of her books on my groaning shelves.  

so delicious!

Serves 2:

ingredients:

For the salad:

125g./4.5 oz dried rice vermicelli noodles

2 Lebanese cucumbers

3/4 cup mint leaves

3/4 cup Thai basil leaves

1-2 long green chillies, thinly sliced

2 Thai lime leaves, thinly sliced

2-3 heaped Tbs roasted, unsalted peanuts

Poached coconut salmon:

100 mL/3.5 oz coconut milk  (I used light)

1 Tbs lime juice

1 Tbs fish sauce

1 tsp fresh ginger, finely grated

1 tsp caster sugar

1 long green chilli, halved (seeds and all, or not)

4 Thai lime leaves

250g.-300g./10.5 oz salmon fillets, skin-off

Extra peanuts, some sea salt flakes, and white sesame seeds (all optional) scattered over the top, when serving

cukes!

ginger root

Method:

Cook the noodles a là packet directions - which for me meant drowning 'em in boiling water in a bowl :=), then run under cold water, drain really well, and let 'em sit for a bit

Now grab a medium saucepan, and put it over a medium heat

Add the coconut milk, lime juice, fish sauce, ginger, sugar, chilli and lime leaves to the pan 

Give it a good stir, bring to a simmer, and let it rip for 4 minutes

Add the fish, turn down the heat, and let it cook for 4 minutes on each side, or to your liking (I poached it for about 6 minutes all up)

Remove the fish, strain the liquid and pour into a jug, as you want to keep it for the dressing

Cut the cukes into thirds, place on a board, and whack 'em with a rolling pin or muddler!  You want big, juicy chunks!  see Notes

Grab a large platter, and scatter on the cuke chunks

Add the herbs and peanuts, and toss together, gently

Now you place the noodles and the fish on top, and the poaching liquid over the salad   see Notes

Throw on extra herbs, peanuts, sesame seeds and sea salt, if using

Delicious!!

mint leaves

Notes:

Thai basil and Thai lime leaves were not in the shops this week, so I used a heap of lime zest instead

Mr P. asked 'why can't you just chop the cukes?'  But I think you get a better mouthfeel (sorry) with the squishy bits :=) but you do you

I'm not a big fan of cuke skin, so I (mostly) peeled mine, but peel or not, as you please

I suggest grabbing your kitchen scissors, and giving the noodles a bit of a snip before adding the fish et al - makes it so much easier to eat!

ingredients gathered

start up your poaching liquid

slip the fish into the poaching liquid

get out your rolling pin!

and into the platter/bowl

on go the noodles, fish and nuts

dressed and ready to demolish

a beaky/nosy little fishy!

When I drew these, Mr P. said: 'But salmon don't have noses!  And I said: 'Oh yes, they do!'  (Like a pantomime queen).  Check it out, my friends; some species of salmon are indeed very nosy :=)