The hubster has been out working a few more evenings recently, meaning dinner for one, meaning a choice of anything for dinner! I had a fillet of cod in the freezer and a recipe in mind just waiting for a special occasion like this!

Thanks to Jamie Oliver for this one from Ministry of Food!

Curried Cod Fillet

Ingredients
1 portion of cod fillet
2 tbsp curry powder
olive oil

Recipe
1. Roll the cod in the curry powder to coat evenly.
2. Heat a frying pan to a medium high heat and add some olive oil.
3. Fry the fish in the pan on each side for 3-4 minutes until cooked through.


Simple and beautiful.

When I heard the ingredients for this month's Royal Foodie Joust I had all sorts of ideas of what to do with something from the sea, coconut and lemon or lime. I thought of Thai curry, coconut crusted fish, fish pie all sorts.

The past couple of years I've fell in love with a good Fish and Chips and came upon the idea of making a batter for some fish that included coconut milk and lime as well as chilli, garlic and ginger.

This was delicious!!! And it satisfied my craving for some fish and chips too!



Coconut lime battered fish and chips

Makes 2 portions

Ingredients
1 kg white fish fillet (I used haddock), skinned, boned and cut into goujons
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp lime zest
1 tsp red chilli, chopped finely.
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tsp freshly grated ginger
1/2 egg, beaten
1/4 cup cold water
1/4 cup coconut milk
half a lime
sunflower oil for frying

7 or 8 medium sized potatoes, cut into wedges
sea salt
crushed black pepper
olive oil

Recipe
1. Parboil the potato wedges for 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 200˚C
2. Heat the sunflower oil in a wok or fryer.
3. Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, lime zest, red chilli, garlic and ginger. Stir in the egg, water and coconut milk until smooth.
4. Drain the potatoes and spread over a baking tray. Drizzle oil over the top and sprinkle with the salt and pepper, then place in the oven for 20 minutes until crisp and brown.
5. Test that the oil is hot enough for frying by placing a drop of the batter in it, if it floats to the top the oil is ready.
6. Place the fish goujons one at a time in the batter than straight into the oil. Leave them to cook for 4-5 minutes then remove to some kitchen roll to dry a little.
7. Serve the fish and chips with half a lime to squeeze over the top.

I've mentioned before about how I'm trying to get more fish into my diet, well I bought 2 salmon fillet portions in anticipation of trying something new. I was slightly nervous about this because I've tried salmon from friends' and families' dishes when we've been out for meals and never really liked it, but thought I'd give it one more go.... well 2 goes really because I made 2 recipes with the salmon. I didn't like it, but I'd imagine the recipes are tasty for people who do like salmon so thought I'd post them anyways.

The first recipe I got from a friend, the second is from one of my cook books (Delicious Healthy Eating, Anne Sheasby)

Soy honey salmon

1 portion

Ingredients
1 salmon fillet
1 tbsp runny honey
1 tbsp soy sauce

Recipe
1. Mix the honey and soy sauce.
2. Brush over the salmon fillet.
3. Place on a baking tray and bake at 190˚C for 15-20 minutes




Salmon risotto

1 portion

Ingredients
1 tbsp butter
2 spring onions, chopped (white part only)
1/4 cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
100g arborio rice
1/4 cup white wine
350ml chicken stock
125g salmon fillet, broken into about 5 or 6 pieces

Recipe
1. Heat the butter in a saucepan, add the spring onion and cucumber and cook for 2-3 minutes.
2. Add the rice and stir until it is covered with the oil.
3. Add the wine and stir.
4. When the wine is absorbed by the rice, add half a cup of the stock and allow to absorb. Continue doing this until all the liquid is used.
5. Stir in the salmon with the last half cup and continue to cook for 5 minutes.
6. Serve topped with a pinch or parsley.

I've never really had a lot of fish in my diet, when I was young fish fingers was all the fish I had and even then it wasn't that often. The past few months I've felt more conscious about the lack of fish in my diet, so I recently bought and froze a portion of haddock waiting for another night when I'd be dining solo. Tonight was the night, so I researched a few recipes for white fish and found what sounded delicious and very simple in a book my sister had bought me for Christmas, Anjum Anand's Indian Food Made Easy.

The original recipe has 8 fenugreek seeds in the marinade but I don't have any and left them out. The original recipe also uses halibut but I used my haddock.

It was incredibly simple! And fantastically delicious! A great way to kick off on getting more fish into my diet.

Coconut and chili pan fried haddock

Serves 1

Ingredients
1 Haddock steak (or any other firm white fish), skinned
1 tbsp dessicated coconut
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp vegetable oil

Marinade
1/2 a large red chili, deseeded and finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or grated
1/2 inch of ginger root, peeled and grated
1 tsp white wine vinegar (I substituted rice wine vinegar)
1 tsp ground coriander
salt to taste
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp vegetable oil

Recipe
1. Mix the marinade ingredients well, and pour over the fish. Leave to marinate for 30 minutes.
2. Mix the flour and coconut. Coat the fish in the mixture.
3. Heat the oil in the pan to a low medium heat and place the fish in the pan.
4. Cook on 1 side for 4 minutes, turn and cook a further 3-4 minutes.

The recipe book suggests serving with a warm salad, I decided I wanted chips instead!

PS sorry about the slightly blurred photo. I promise looked amazing and tasted better.

I used to have dinner with a lot of families in church before I got married and had to cook for myself all the time... not that I couldn't cook back then, but it was much more fun to have company for dinner and also have someone cook for you! Well this dish is something I would have regularly had with one family because the kids loved it, and I loved it, despite not really liking tuna!!! So I decided to try making up my own version of the recipe to see how it turned out. Very quick, very easy and very tasty!

Spaghetti with tuna in garlic & white wine

Serves 2

Ingredients
3 cloves of garlic (sliced)
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/8 cup of white wine
4 button mushrooms (sliced)
1 tin (180g) of tuna
Spaghetti (enough for 2)
Parmesan Cheese

Recipe
1. Cook spaghetti as per packet instructions.
2. Gently simmer the oil, white wine and garlic for 4/5 minutes
3. Add the tuna and mushrooms and continue to simmer for 4/5 minutes
4. Drain the pasta.
5. Mix the tuna with pasta and serve. Sprinkle some parmesan over the top.

Bon appetit!