Fish Curry With Salmon And Coconut Cream

I'm trying to do a Marie Kondo, and get rid of stuff.  I have a massive TBR pile of books, and I came across this one called Our Delicious Adventure by Jane Grover.  I bought it several years ago, but have only ever flipped it open briefly.  Now I've discovered a few recipes to try out (so the next bacon post will have to wait).  Jane made her fish curry with bream that her hubby had caught on their travels, but I had to settle for fish caught in the local deli section of the supermarket :-)

Speaking of salmon, I have fond memories of visiting a salmon ladder in Scotland (where the salmon head back to spawn), and of eating the best smoked salmon - ever!!  I'm also reminded of the time Mr P.'s little sis decided to bake a massive whole salmon (stuffed with banana, pineapple and pumpkin - I kid you not) in our tiny gas oven.  I think she had to do a tail-ectomy on it to fit it in the oven.  It tasted as funky as you are imagining right now.  

ready to eat

I was dubious about this curry, to be honest.  It seems like a very old-fashioned way of making it, with a flour-thickened sauce, but it was delicious!  Smooth and creamy and comforting.  I made a few changes along the way;  reduced the amount of celery, increased the curry flavouring, and added chilli and coriander = Yum!  

Serves 4-6:

ingredients:

2-3 carrots, chopped into chunks

3 large potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped

2 tbs vegetable oil (I used EV olive oil 'cos we love it)

1 large red or brown onion, finely chopped

2-3 celery sticks, finely chopped

3 spring onions/shallots, roughly chopped

3 healthy tbs Thai yellow curry paste (or 1 tbs curry powder if you follow Jane's instructions)

1/4 cup (40g.) plain flour (or gluten-free cornflour)

3 cups (750 mL) vegetable or fish stock (gluten-free if need be)

500g./1 lb salmon, cut into chunks

270 mL/8-9 oz can of coconut cream

sea salt, to taste

ground black pepper, to taste

1 tsp gochugaru (Korean chilli flakes) or your fave chilli powder -(optional)

basmati or brown rice, to serve

cashews and fresh coriander leaves/cilantro, to serve (optional)

Method:

Throw the carrot chunks into a steamer/saucepan and cook till tender, then drain and put aside

Put the potato chunks in the same steamer/pot and cook till tender; also drain and put aside OR put the potato in with the carrot a few minutes after, as it takes less time to cook than carrots.  Does that make sense?  I mean you can cook them in the same pot, but the carrot goes first, then the potatoes

Grab a large frypan or saucepan, heat the oil, tip in the onion, celery and spring onions, and sauté on a low-ish heat for about fifteen minutes till really fragrant and tender - (meanwhile, heat the stock in a saucepan so it's ready to go when the veg is cooked)

Add the curry paste or powder to your sautéed veg, and stir for a minute or two

Then add the flour, stir it in, and cook it out for a couple of minutes

Now ladle in the hot stock a spoonful at a time, stirring in well, till you have a beautiful, thick sauce

Now add the carrot, potato, fish, coconut cream, salt, pepper, and chilli flakes

Let it simmer gently away (covered) for about ten minutes or till the fish is cooked to your liking

Serve with rice, cashews and chopped coriander

Notes:

Call 'em what you will: spring onions, shallots, green shallots, scallions - they are long, with a green top and a white bottom - you know what I mean

Choose whatever fish you like - using salmon is extravagant, (and so delicious), but use ling, or basa, or barramundi, or snapper, or whatever your fave dense, boneless fish may be

Don't stress about the amount of coconut cream; one ounce more or less won't hurt.  I'm assuming it's more likely to come in an 8 oz tin in the US or UK

Mr P. felt the potato and carrot should have been added in with the onion, celery and spring onions so it absorbed more of the curry flavour - not a bad idea!

ingredients (partly) gathered

a few more ingredients

cut the fish into chunks

sauté the veg.

stir in the curry paste and then the flour

stirring in the stock

sauce thickened, fish and veg and coconut cream added

and eat ... 

© Sherry's Pickings

Bourbon And Maple-Bacon Ice Cream

Hello again from bacon world.  Nah, just kidding.  But I am surrounded by bacon recipes at the moment.  You'll be seeing another bacon recipe (from a different cookbook) here soon.  You'll think I'm crazy, but as I've said before, I eat ham (sometimes) and I eat bacon, but I can't bear to eat pork.  Yep, totally mad!  And as I often say, it's all to do with cannibalism.  ????? I can hear you thinking.  

Now hear me out...  You know that cannibals (if there ever really were such a beast) called human flesh 'long pig', as it apparently looked like pig aka pork.  The same colour, the same texture, the same dense, pink flesh.  So every time I see a bit of pork, I see my sister's arm.  Whaaaaaat? Yep, 'cos when I was a kid, I bit a chunk out of her upper arm.  I can still see the toothmarks...

creamy, sweet, bacon-y ice cream

Niamh's recipe is for a proper French custard-type ice cream but I took the easy way out and made a condensed milk version.  Still delicious, and soooo easy!  I had the bright idea of adding the chopped nuts to an already fabulous idea :-)  Maple syrup, bacon and bourbon - winner, winner, chicken dinner!

(Linking up with Marg at The Intrepid Reader for Weekend Cooking.)

Makes just over 1 Litre/1 Quart:

ingredients:

600mL/20 oz thickened cream

1 can (395g./14oz) condensed milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

60mL bourbon (or liquor of your choice)

100g./3.5oz toasted pecans or walnuts, roughly chopped - you want big chunks

pinch of sea salt flakes

150g./5.5oz maple-candied bacon, blitzed in a food processor till you have fine pieces

Method:

Pour the cream into a large mixing bowl, and whip till soft peaks form

Gradually add the condensed milk, beating all the while

Add the vanilla and bourbon, and give it a quick whizz with the beaters

Take a large spoon, and stir in the nuts, sea salt and bacon pieces/dust

Now grab a monstrous piece of cling wrap or freezer film, line a large baking dish, making sure there is plenty of overhang so you can swaddle that ice cream like a baby!  Pour the mixture into the dish, spread it out evenly, cover with the wrap, and place in the freezer for several hours or overnight.  (I used my enamel baking dish which is  about 25cm x 30cm (approx 10 in x 12 in).

The next day, scoop out the mixture into a container with a lid, and whack it back into the freezer.  You can store it for a week, but I bet you eat it first!

Notes:

Toast your nuts on a baking tray till golden and fragrant (or buy ready toasted)

I asked Mr P. to chop the bacon finely for me; he gave up after a bit, as it was like chopping toffee!  I strongly suggest chucking it into a food processor and blitz, baby, blitz!  You want it quite fine

ingredients gathered

get Mr P. to blitz the bacon

beat the cream, condensed milk, vanilla and bourbon together

stir in the bacon, nuts and salt

pour it into the lined tray

wrap it up, and whack into the freezer

scoop it out

eat some

freeze some

© Sherry M.

Maple-Candied Bacon

Well, I promised you some bacon recipes from Niamh (Knee-uv) Shields' book Bacon The Cookbook, and here she be, my hearties.  The first cab off the rank; all the bacon and maple syrup flavour you could ask for.  Niamh uses this candied bacon in quite a few of her recipes, so I decided to post this recipe separately so it's easy to find on the blog.

This is a wonderful book, full of colour and fun, and really interesting recipes.  There are lovely, colourful drawings and photos, which are a pleasure to the eye.  Niamh has filled it with sweet and savoury dishes, and even tells you how to cure bacon yourself.  Eek, not sure I'll go there.  I think that's a pig too far for me :-)  (And she has researched the curing process and use of nitrites, which makes for interesting reading.)

sticky, sweet, savoury, bacon-y bacon

ingredients:

about 300g./10.5oz of smoked streaky bacon

100 mL/3.5oz of good quality maple syrup (not maple-flavoured)

Method:

Put the bacon slices in a large mixing bowl, pour over the maple syrup and massage the two together till well and truly married

Put aside for an hour, covered and in the fridge

Turn your oven to 180C/350F, then while it's warming up, place the bacon slices onto two baking paper-lined oven trays

Pour any lingering syrup over the bacon

Bake for ten minutes, take out the trays and turn the slices over

Bake for another ten minutes - you want to see sticky strands of syrup hanging off the slices - and if you don't, shove 'em back into the oven for a few minutes till you do (mine took about thirty mins. but I have a veeery slow oven)

Let them cool right down, as they will be hot hot hot!

You can store them in clingwrap or baking paper in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days

Notes:

I suggest getting your bacon from the deli section, rather than in a packet.  It will (hopefully) be fresher, and better quality.  Niamh suggests using 12 slices of bacon, but when I measured mine, they ranged from 30 grams to 50 grams, so go by weight rather than the number of slices

massage the bacon and maple syrup together well

lay the bacon on the trays after marinating for an hour

see the beautifully sticky threads?

mm just one tiny burnt bit - but still delicious

Our longtime friend Kara, formerly known as Karin, aka Karen, always said she could never be a vegetarian because of bacon!  I think I have to agree.  There is just nothing like bacon, my friends.  My cousin gave me some coconut faux bacon for Christmas.  Oh dear!  Hubby and I were vegos for a decade, and as many a lapsed vego has said: 'It was the bacon that drew me back'.  Niamh knew exactly what she was doing with this book!

© Sherry M.

In My Kitchen - March 2021

March already?  Gulp! And time for another IMK.  Autumn is almost upon us (yay!); we've had a hot and humid summer though hardly any rain or storms or cyclones.  So much for La Niña!  As I sit looking out my (pythonless) study window, it is intensely blue and sunny, and hot.  Winter ... please hurry.

I'm still trying to find my mojo this year; I'm finding it tough going, as many people are.  I feel kinda flat much of the time, even though I still cook a lot, and write a bit, and eat too much.  Oh dear, my waistline, friends, is just going berserk.  Enough of that; please join us for another IMK, all you brilliant, global bloggers.  You know the drill; we want to see what's been happening in your kitchen over the last month.

In My Kitchen:

grilled veg. cooked up by Mr P. for dinner

a gorgeous little ceramic bowl by Starr, a local artist

various oils from a Victorian olive farm

finally!  the Bacon Book is here

Niamh is an Irish blogger (Eat Like A Girl), writer and traveller who started up a Kickstarter for this maybe two to three years ago.  I actually pre-paid it eighteen months ago, but due to Covid etc, it has only just arrived on my doorstep.  Mr P. kept saying it was a scam, and I would never get the book!  But Yippee, here it is!  And it's fabulous.  You're going to be seeing some marvellous recipes from it, to be sure, to be sure ...  Maple candied bacon, bacon ice cream and so on.

local tracklements (what a wonderful word)

a pretty little bowl in Ink tones by Batch Ceramics

Once upon a time, there was a young, blonde Aussie actress called Joy Smithers.  She could be seen in local soapies, dramas etc.  And then one day, she decided to forge a new path, and become a ceramicist.  Hence she now has a ceramics business called Batch Ceramics.  I love her work, and I've already bought a few of her pieces.  (Painting by Catherine Reason Macauley showing in the background.)  

a gift from my Melbourne cuz

another spoon!  Oh yes!

This is made from Tasmanian (reclaimed) blackwood; it's milk painted and hand carved.  I love it!

Come on everybody!  Join in for another IMK post.  Here's the reminder again: IMK posts are about your kitchen (and maybe garden) happenings over the past month.  Dishes you've cooked, or preserves you've made, or herbs and veg in your garden, kitchen gadgets, and goings-on.  You get the picture:-)  And one curveball!  Throw in whatever you fancy.  And here's mine:

 

L'il Dusty

L'il Dusty is a small, bronze figurine made by Dion Parker, a Gold Coast artist.  I also have one of these in blue resin, and a couple of his other pieces.  Oh, I've just noticed you can see my reflection in L'il Dusty's face :-)

Please join us here for In My Kitchen.  All welcome.  I'd appreciate a mention on your post about this linky.  Thanks muchly!

Options for adding your post to IMK:

1. Add via the Add Link button at the bottom of this post.  Instructions can be found on the sidebar of this page, under the Add your IMK link OR:

2. Comment on this post, providing a link to your post so I can add it manually to the list below OR:

3. Email me: sherrym1au@gmail.com, with your link or any queries about the link process

In My Kitchen:

Not Quite Nigella

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake - a là Nigella Lawson

 Mr P. can still surprise me after all these years: he doesn't like chocolate and peanut butter together!  Quelle horreur!  I used to make a fluffy PB cheesecake on a chocolate crust.  He told me after some years that he didn't like it.  Whaaaat the?  Sacrilege, my dears.  But I love the salty, sweet combo, so this is right up my alley, and down my gullet.

Here we have another Nigella recipe, from her book Cook, Eat, Repeat.  I've said before that Nigella has been a lasting influence on my cooking - her simple techniques and family-friendly flavours.  A friend of mine recently spoke of her with disdain - to my horror.  He thought she was uppity and snobby and so on.  Hmmmph, is all I can say to that.  Though I have to confess, when I saw her 'in concert' so to speak a few years ago, she was - mmm - incredibly dull.  Perhaps if she weren't beautiful and rich and well-connected ...     

soooo delicious, she says modestly

Serves 8-12:

ingredients:

for the cake:

200g./7oz unsalted butter (use salted if you wish; I won't tell) which you have chopped into biiiig chunks

250 mL/8.5oz just-boiled water

50g./1.8oz cocoa

100g./3.5oz soft dark brown sugar 

125g./4.5oz caster sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

225g./8oz plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarb of soda

2 large eggs 

For the icing:

300g./10.5oz icing sugar (powdered sugar)

150g./5.3oz unsalted butter, at room temp.

200g./7oz smooth peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp fine sea salt

4 x 15mL/0.5oz tbs thickened cream/double cream

Decorate with:

a couple of palmfuls (Nigella says 60g./2oz) of roasted peanuts or nuts of your choice

Method:

Whack your oven on at 180C/350F

Butter 2 x 20cm/8 inch cake tins, and line with baking paper 

Grab a large and wide (ish) saucepan, into which you put the butter, the boiled water, the cocoa and both sugars

Have it on a low heat, and whisk gently away till everything is beautifully amalgamated

Take it off the heat, whisk in the vanilla, and leave to cool for five minutes

In a smallish mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and bicarb soda together

Grab a small jug and whisk the eggs lightly together

Pour and whisk the eggs gradually into the cocoa mixture till well combined

Lastly, whisk in the flour mixture gently till you have a beautiful, smooth, dark batter

Pour into the prepared tins, and bake for 18-20 minutes - till a skewer (yes, you guessed it) is plunged into its dark heart and comes out kinda/mostly clean

Let the cakes sit around (on racks) ruminating on life for fifteen minutes while you make the icing

Sift the icing sugar/mixture into a large bowl 

Grab another large mixing bowl (or the stand mixer bowl if using), and beat the PB and butter together for 3-5 minutes (five mins. with a hand whisk), then beat in the vanilla and salt

Now add the icing sugar bit by bit into the butter/PB mix; and keep going till all the sugar is incorporated (you can get a bit frisky after you've beaten half the sugar in, and go for it in three biiiig amounts)

Keep beating for three minutes; scrape the mixture down and beat for another minute

And add the cream spoon by spoon, (whilst still beating), then keep beating for six minutes until it's soft and light and airy

Peel off the baking paper from the cooled cake bottoms, lay one layer down on a serving plate, flat-side up and spread a third of the icing over the cake with an angled/offset palette knife/spatula   

On goes the second cake layer, flat-side down (dome-side up), and slap on another third of the icing, all over the top of the cake

The rest of the icing goes over the sides of the whole cake; smooth it out and top with the nuts (or not, as you choose)

The cake will last in an airtight container for 3-4 days, or in the fridge if you live in sunny, humid Queensland :-)

Notes:

Nigella says you can make this in 4 shallow cake tins; if you're interested in that, check out her website, 'cos I think 2 layers is fine

I quite like salted butter in sweets, so go ahead and use it if you wish in the cake and the icing

Okay, I confess; I used icing mixture, not icing sugar!  Who cares?  It's so much easier to use

And I reckon I'll use crunchy PB next time.  I like it crunchy!  Just don't use the health-store stuff; Nigella says to use regular commercial PB

whisk in the water, cocoa and sugars with the butter

whisk the flour, baking powder and bicarb soda, then the eggs, 

lastly you add in the flour mixture after the eggs

pour the batter into the prepared tins

beat the devil out of that PB and butter

till you get this

spread a third of the icing over the bottom layer

iced and ready to go

afternoon tea

Mr P. had his lady employee in on the day I made this beauty; he had a designer mate from up north visiting, and another northern lady designer in, and then another designer mate dropped by, and I took some over to our elderly neighbour, and then Princess Pia dropped by for a piece ...  By the end of the day, we had demolished much of the cake.  But I did put the rest in the fridge.  It's hot and it's humid here, and I didn't want buttercream icing slip-sliding away.  

(Joining up with Marg from The Intrepid Reader for Weekend Cooking.)

© Sherry's Pickings

Violet Crumble Friands

Mm, I haven't made friands for centuries.  Maybe it's the thought of using six egg whites in one go ...  So I saw this recipe the other day (on Facebook?) and decided I'd try it out.  I love a Violet Crumble, probably even more than the (British) Crunchie bar.  It's the original honeycomb bar, covered in chocolate, and is still made in Australia (after a hiatus of some years).  'They're big and they're crunchy', as the old saying goes, or not.  (Google Bobo from the Fat Pizza tv show.)  

I had to laugh when Mr P. told me he'd offered a 'freon' to our neighbour, Princess Pia.  As you probably know, this is a tasteless, odourless gas used in refrigerants, and is well poisonous!  I definitely didn't bake some of those :-)  Princess P. suggested strongly that I make them again, as her house painter had eyed them off, and she felt obliged to give him one.  I kindly gave her an extra one, so she didn't suffer.  Chocolate soothes the savage breast, or is that beast?  She's having her house lifted and renovated, and it is VERY stressful for her.  Those darn tradies stomping their way around the house in their dust-ridden boots ...

tender, chocolatey, tasty morsels

ingredients:

240g. (8.5 oz) icing sugar/powdered sugar

25g. (1oz) cocoa powder

120g. (4.2 oz) almond meal

75g. (2.6 oz) plain flour

185g. (6.5 oz) butter, melted and cooled

6 large egg-whites, lightly whisked with a fork or hand whisk till white and frothy

2 x 50g. (1.8 oz) Violet Crumble bars, chopped roughly (keep a dozen pieces to top the friands after baking if you wish)

icing sugar and cocoa powder for dusting

Method:

Sift the icing sugar and cocoa powder into a large mixing bowl

Whisk in the almond meal and plain flour

Make a well in the centre of the dry mix, pour in the butter, and add the egg whites

Whisk or stir till well combined

Add the pieces of Violet Crumble, and stir them in

Spoon (or pour from a jug) the batter into a well-greased 12-hole friand or muffin tin

Bake at 180C fan-forced, or 200C without the fan for about 15-20 minutes

Check with a skewer into its dark, chocolatey heart - if the skewer is clean, the friand is done

Let them cool for 5 minutes in the tin, then tip them out onto a wire rack

Dust with icing sugar and cocoa powder, and jam a piece of Violet Crumble into each friand if you feel so inclined

sift the icing sugar and cocoa powder together

whisk the dry ingredients together

bash your bars into pieces

whisk the egg whites till frothy

whisk in the egg whites

stir in the choc bar pieces

pour into the friand tin

after 20 minutes at 180C fan forced

dusted and ready to eat

artwork © Sherry's Pickings