Chargrilled Salmon with Avocado & Corn Salad

Posted on March 13, 2012 by timeforalittlesomething

This is another dish that I actually cooked some time ago, but hadn’t got around to posting yet. But this is surely the time for it, given the abundance of corn at the moment… I’m sure the next time I go to the supermarket they’re going to offer to pay me to take corn away from them.

I’ve had this recipe in my book for ages… but I’m not quite sure where it came from. It’s not my own. So if anyone recognises it let me know! And if nobody does, then we can send a collective thank you to its author.

It’s a lovely summer meal and doesn’t take long to make. It’s extra good for you, too – fairly low in fat with lots of omega 3 and coloured veges. My camera or photo editing has captured some eerily bright colours – the salmon doesn’t in fact look so thermo-nuclear in real life. Try it and find out!

Grilled Salmon with Avocado & Corn Salad
Serves 2

corn kernels – from say 1 cob (or about half a can if you’re using the tinned variety)
½ a medium avocado
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 ripe tomato, copped – or use a few halved cherry tomatoes
½ a red onion, finely chopped
¼ cup chopped fresh coriander
salt and pepper, to taste
2x salmon fillets, skin removed if you prefer (or if you want the even healthier version)
2 tsp moroccan seasoning
cooking spray – canola or olive oil
baby spinach or lettuce leaves, to serve

Cook the corn in the microwave until just tender (this won’t take long at all). Set aside to cool.

Place the avocado and lemon juice in a medium bowl and toss to coat the avocado. Add the warm corn, tomato, red onion and coriander. Toss gently to combine and season to taste.

Heat a char-grill pan, barbecue, or frypan over medium heat. Sprinkle the salmon fillets with moroccan seasoning, salt and pepper, and spritz with cooking oil spray. Cook the salmon for 4-5 minutes each side.

Place salmon on plates with salad leaves, and serve with the corn & avocado salad.

Bengali-style fish curry

Posted on February 28, 2012 by timeforalittlesomething

I’m not sure if “Hot and Sour” or “Bengali-style” to describe this fish curry caught my eye first. How interesting, thought I.

I came across it in a magazine-y book thing that Dish magazine put out late last year, I think called “everyday”. I believe it was a collection of their best recipes – simple and fairly quick ones you can cook on weekdays.

I’ve adapted their fish recipe here. It’s a curry sauce that you pour over grilled or pan-fried fish, rather than cooking fish pieces in the curry itself. It’s pretty easy and super tasty. It’s good for you, too!

Hot & Sour Fish – Bengali-style Fish Curry
Adapted from Dish magazine’s “Everyday” issue

2 tsp yellow mustard seeds
2 tomatoes (truss is nice), diced – or you could use ½ tin of chopped tomatoes
4 green chillies, 2 chopped and 2 left whole (you can reduce quantity if preferred)
1 shallot, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp turmeric
½ cup flour (plain or chickpea, if you have it)
4 firm white fish fillets (about 600-800g) – I used lemonfish which was perfect for the job
1 Tbsp rice bran or canola oil
2 small bay leaves
some fresh, frozen or tinned veges (optional)
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup water
1-2 tsp finely grated palm sugar
sea salt

First, lightly grind the mustard seeds in a mortar and pestle – not too vigorously, take it easy, tiger – and set aside.

Put the tomatoes, chopped chillies, shallot, garlic and turmeric in a food processor and blend to a coarse paste. Also set aside.

Put the flour in a shallow dish or on a plate, and season with salt. Dust the fish in the flour, and shake or pat off the excess. You want a nice thin coating of flour all over the fish.

Heat the oil in a large frypan and cook the fish over medium to medium high heat until just cooked through and golden brown. Remove to a clean plate and cover with tin foil to keep warm (or put it in a warm oven).

Add the lightly ground mustard seeds and bay leaves to the hot frypan and sizzle for a few seconds. Adjust the heat to medium. Add the tomato paste mixture and cook, stirring, until the paste is fragrant and most of the liquid has evaporated. Add the whole chillies, lemon juice and water. Add any veges you’re using, too (I had half a tin of baby sweetcorn so threw that in, worked well! And anything that increases vege content is good; I think green beans would be good here).

Season and simmer for a few minutes, or until the mixture has reduced by half. You might need to leave it longer if you’ve added frozen veges (unless you zapped them in the microwave first, which would have been smart). Add the first teaspoon of palm sugar, taste, and add more if needed – it should still taste a bit sour, though. You can add the fish fillets to the sauce in the pan – or, I preferred to plate the fillets up and pour the sauce over top. Good served with wild rice.

Hot Smoked Salmon Pasta with Asian Flavours

Posted on January 24, 2012 by timeforalittlesomething

I read an article some months ago in the Listener about smoked salmon – in fact, now that I come to write this post, I find myself googling it – it turns out the article is available here. It’s a great introduction to salmon if you’re new to cooking with it.

We don’t eat a lot of hot smoked salmon – it is rather expensive as far as meat and fish go – but for every once in a while, it’s a really healthy option, it doesn’t require cooking, and tastes like luxury.

At the time of reading the article, I was seduced by the fresh-sounding flavours in the recipe for a ‘hot smoked salmon salad with hints of Asia’, and cut it out. It’s a recipe for a dinner party entrée-type salad with cos leaves, hot smoked salmon and salmon caviar. Reading back I now see it was invented for a ladies’ golf tournament at the Sheraton in Fiji, which is rather a different setting to my brief: at home in Porirua on a Friday night.

As you can appreciate, the dinner party entrée feeling quickly fell by the wayside, but I adapted the dressing into a pasta sauce and added in some extra veges, and lo, Friday night dinner was born. I love the asian flavours in Lauraine Jacobs’ dish, so kept all of those in.

If you’re looking for an easy, healthy, tasty, weeknight meal, but still something classy, this is a great option. Or, feel free to mess around with quantities and keep it as a dinner party entree, either as a pasta dish, or returning it to its original salad form.

Hot Smoked Salmon Pasta with Asian Flavours
Serves 4. Adapted from this recipe by Lauraine Jacobs.

Dressing/Sauce:
Note: you may like to increase this recipe if you like very ‘saucy’ pasta.
4cm piece of fresh ginger, roughly chopped
stalk of lemongrass, bruised and roughly chopped
6 peppercorns
1 small fresh red chilli (tip: I have a huge bag of little red chillies in my freezer from Moore Wilson’s; I use them for everything)
1 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp rice (or red) wine vinegar
pinch finely grated palm sugar
1 lime, finely grated zest and juice
2 Tbsp avocado (or olive) oil

Place the ginger, lemongrass, peppercorns and chilli into a food processor and whiz until finely chopped. I am lucky and have a tiny whiz designed for just this. If you don’t, just finely grate the ginger, pound the peppercorns in a mortar and pestle, finely chop the lemongrass and chilli, and mix all together. Add the fish sauce, vinegar, palm sugar, lime zest and juice, and oil, and either whiz again or mix well together. Season and set aside.

Pasta:
280g pasta, fresh or dried, over to you
4 shallots, finely sliced
2 courgettes (zucchini), sliced diagonally
2-3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
baby spinach leaves
200g wood roasted/hot smoked salmon (I used Aorangi this time)
2 limes, cut in wedges, to serve (not crucial)
chopped fresh coriander, to garnish

Cook pasta according to packet directions. Meanwhile, spray a frying pan with a little oil, and gently cook the shallots and courgettes over medium heat, adding splashes of vinegar as required, just to keep them moist, soft and delicious. Once they’re just tender, add the spinach leaves and just stir over gently heat until the leaves wilt. Place the cooked and drained pasta in shallow bowls (toss with a little oil here if you feel it is deeply necessary), and arrange the courgette mixture on top. Gently flake the salmon into pieces and top the pasta with it, and drizzle the dish with dressing. Serve with lime wedges and garnish with chopped coriander.

Winter Seafood Risotto

Posted on August 6, 2011 by timeforalittlesomething

I couldn’t think how to begin this post. So I asked Mr. J, “What can I say about risottos?”

“They’re full of rice,” he replied.

Yes. Yes, they are.

I usually have a lot to say about foods for which I feel great enthusiasm. And I love risottos. But oddly enough, I don’t have a lot of commentary about this dish. I can’t even remember where this recipe came from, but I don’t think it was a particularly gourmet source. I’ve adapted it slightly, although you could do a lot more with it – perhaps add more lemon-y zing, or if you have saffron threads, you could make it a cheery yellow. You could change the veges (in spring I want to try asparagus).

But for now, let’s just enjoy the moment and be grateful that risottos really are Full of Rice. Delicious Rice.

Winter Seafood Risotto for Two

1 Tbsp olive oil
½ onion, peeled and finely diced
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1 cup Arborio rice
2 cups fish or chicken stock
½ cup white wine
finely grated zest of ½ a lemon
300-400g seafood of your choice (I used salmon, calamari, prawns and added
steamed mussels at the end)
2-3 Tbsp parmesan (shaved or shredded)

Heat the oil in a large frypan over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot and celery and cook for around 5 minutes, until the onion
softens. Add the rice and stir to try and coat all the rice in oil. Keep cooking, stirring occasionally, for a couple of minutes until the little grains turn mostly white. Add one cup of the (hot) stock and mix well. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer, uncovered. As the liquid evaporates, keep topping it up with the wine and stock, about ¾ cup at a time.

When all the liquid has been added, and has evaporated (this will take about 20 minutes), the rice should be tender and yummy!

I actually quickly sautéed the seafood in a separate pan, but if you were desperate to keep dishes down, you could just cook it in the risotto pan – add it 5-10 minutes before the end of the cooking time. Mix the cooked seafood through the risotto gently. Stir the parmesan through, or just use it to garnish, depending on your preference.

Spicy Seafood Gumbo

Posted on July 24, 2011 by timeforalittlesomething

I saw a seafood gumbo on the Food In A Minute show a few weeks back and was reminded that it’s not something I’ve ever got around to making. The restaurant I used to waitress in while I was at university had an awesome gumbo on the menu, so I’m not sure why. Anyway here is my take on the dish…

Spicy Seafood Gumbo

for the stock:
trimmings from vegetables
prawn tails
1-2 fish heads
2 cloves garlic, peeled
sprig fresh rosemary
bay leaf
1/2 tsp fennel seeds

for the gumbo:
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely sliced
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 long red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely sliced
1 carrot, finely diced
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
1 chorizo sausage, sliced
about 5 cups fish stock (see above)
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 400g tin chopped tomatoes (I used Mexican flavoured)
seafood – use firm white fish pieces, prawn meat, scallops, mussels, squid - or buy marinara mix
spring onions and/or Italian parsley to garnish

Stock
Start by chopping up all your gumbo veges – the onion, garlic, celery, carrot and potato. Throw all the peels, ends, leaves and whatever else is left into a big pot as you go. Put the prepared veges away for later. If you’re using prawns in the gumbo, and they’ve still got their tails on, take the tails off now and throw those in the pot too. I also bought a snapper head from the supermarket. It was only about $2.50 but I think it made the stock. So if you’ve got a fish head, pop that in too. Add an extra clove of garlic and whatever herbs you have handy. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Simmer for a couple of hours. Strain the stock through a sieve – line it with a tea towel if you’ve used fish heads, to stop any tiny bits getting through – and set aside for use in the gumbo. Once it’s cooled down, skim any fat off the top.

If you can’t be bothered to make the stock … no probs! You could use chicken or vege stock instead.

Gumbo
Heat the oil in a large saucepan or stock pot. Add the onion, garlic, celery, carrot and potato and cook for 5-10 minutes until the onion and celery have softened. Add the spices and chorizo and cook for a further minute. Add the stock, tomato paste and tinned tomatoes. Bring to the boil and simmer for 30-40 minutes, until the vegetables are tender and the soup is tasty.

Add any seafood that will be cooked in the soup – so fish, scallops, calamari, prawns, and gently simmer for a few more minutes until the seafood is just cooked. I also used fresh mussels – but steamed them separately and just added them to the soup in the serving bowls.

Serve with crusty garlic bread – I toasted some sourdough and rubbed it with a cut clove of garlic while still hot. Yum!

Rice Paper Rolls

Posted on July 8, 2011 by timeforalittlesomething

I love rice paper rolls. They’re simple enough to make on a weeknight, can be as super healthy as you want, and seem somehow more impressive than the effort they require. My only complaint is that they’re not that photogenic.

OK, so maybe the problem is I’m not the greatest food stylist or photographer. Whatever. I’m still complaining.

You can put all kinds of delicious into rice paper rolls. This week, I used poached chicken as my main filling. I added soy sauce, sherry, brown sugar, five spice and fresh garlic and ginger to the poaching water following an Alison Holst recipe — often adding a bit of water to a marinade mix makes good poaching liquid! Then once the (whole) chicken breast has been cooked, remove it from the pan, let it cool and slice it thinly or shred it.

While the chicken cooks, you can get your salad-y type fillings ready. I had shredded cabbage, mung beans, grated carrot, chopped cashews, spring onions, mint and coriander.

Prawn or shrimp meat, lettuce leaves, cucumber, peanuts, and softened vermicelli noodles also make good rice paper roll fillings.

I don’t want to tell anybody how to suck eggs, but I needed pictures to help me make these the first time! So … for the rice paper novice: rice paper wrappers come in flat circles. You get a dish big enough to hold one whole, and fill the dish with warm water. Then you gently dip the rice paper in and let it soften. This only takes 10-15 seconds – less than that it’s still too hard to roll, more than that and you’re trying to pick up mushy rice glug from the bottom of the dish. Lay the softened wrapper on a board, or a clean black tea towel so it shows up in photos.

Lay a bit of filling in a strip about 2/3 of the way down the wrapper. I learnt the hard way not to try and fit too much filling in. This is about right:

Then fold up the bit at the bottom:

Then fold in the sides:

Then roll it up and all done.

Now for a tasty dipping sauce. I made chilli and lime. Mix together, and leave to stand for a few minutes:

1 lime, juice and finely grated rind
3-4 Tbsp water
3-4 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp caster sugar
2 cloves finely chopped garlic
the white part of 1 spring onion
as much finely chopped chilli as you can handle

Annabel Langbein also has a Vietnamese Dipping Sauce recipe that she hopefully won’t mind me sharing… 3 Tbsp fish sauce, 1 Tbsp sugar, 2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar and 2 Tbsp Thai sweet chilli sauce.

Yum!

Shoestring Sunday night

Posted on July 6, 2011 by timeforalittlesomething

I really wondered whether to post about this meal … the kedgeree recipe you are about to read is NOT elegant. It is NOT refined. It is probably NOT a recipe you would use for entertaining. But there is something very comforting about it.

There are a couple of things I like about this kedgeree. Firstly, you can really make it to suit your tastes and your budget. The ingredients in this recipe are at the student flat end of the spectrum, but if you have a bit more room to move, try using a really good smoked fish. Haddock is traditional but I don’t think we get it in NZ – alternatives might be trevally or mackerel.

If you feel like it, you could also add lemon or lime (add juice and finely grated rind at the same time as the fish). Jamie Oliver also uses fresh ginger and mustard seeds. Maybe kedgeree can be more elegant than I gave it credit for.

The second thing I like about this recipe is that I usually have all these things in my pantry and can make this up if I have forgotten to take meat out of the freezer and we need. food. now.

Kedgeree

1 Tbsp canola oil
1-2 onions, finely chopped
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 cup rice
2 1/2 cups water or fish stock
1/2 tsp salt
450g tin smoked fish fillets, drained, flaked
4 eggs, hard boiled and chopped
1 Tbsp lemon juice
fresh herbs (try coriander, dill or italian parsley)
3 spring onions, chopped

Heat the oil in a large frypan, and gently cook onion until soft (but not browned). Add the spices and cook for a minute before adding rice and stock.