Tag Archives: fish

Aromatic Thai style steamed fish

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Asian baked fish

There are times in the last three months that I would have crawled over broken glass for a taste of fish. If my right arm had been made of fish instead of meaty flesh (or should that be fleshy meat?) then I probably would have gnawed on that. That’s what a two-week diet of nothing but meat and potatoes does to a person.

At that moment, if somebody had produced a plate of steamed fish, I would have considered something close to a miracle. Hell, I might even have converted on the spot. But they didn’t, and I didn’t. Instead, that need just quietly grew. Continue reading →

Baked Bream with aromatic herbs and lemony potatoes

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Baked bream

Has anyone ever told you that nothing in life is simple? Well, they’re wrong. Lots in life is simple. Like this dish. Simplicity itself. It’s one of those beauties that you can kind of throw together, leave in the oven to cook and end up with a really tasty dinner.

And that’s how it should be, because with a few exceptions, you don’t want to mess with fish, particularly white fish. Sure, bream is quite robust, but doing too much to it will dilute and overwhelm the wonderful, delicately meaty flavour and texture. Continue reading →

A feast for your Valentine: the #formanslovecookoff challenge and a chance to win some goodies

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Lightly smoked salmon sashimi

Valentine’s day. It’s fast approaching and whatever you think of it, and whatever that significant other (or object of unrequited desire) might say or do – or be overheard muttering – it’s not an opportunity any budding Romeo or Juliet should forget.

And talking about unrequited objects of desire, Forman and Field – purveyors of devilishly tempting packets of smoked fish and other goodies I could never quite afford – got me thinking about that very occaision. Specifically what to eat. Continue reading →

Wild salmon in a Bengali mustard sauce

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Bengali mustard salmon

Fish isn’t usually the first thing that you’d think of when you think of curry. Not most people anyhow. Chicken, lamb and prawns (not to mention cheese/paneer, spinach, okra and potatoes) tend to spring spicily to mind instead. At least for this South Asian food lover.

Which, when you think about the size of the subcontinent – and its 6000 miles plus of coastline, not to mention the mighty rivers – is ridiculous. And anyone who has travelled in the area will know that people there cook fish as well as they do everything else. Continue reading →

Pan fried seabass, lentils and a sort-of-salsa

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Seabass lentils

Land of the Rising Sun? Maybe. Land of the Myriad Fish? Definitely. I’ve just got back from three weeks with the greatest fish eaters on the planet. And, with an anthropological appetite for joining the natives, I consumed anything piscine that came my way. Except whale sperm.

Returning to the UK, still in awe of the selection of sparklingly fresh fish on display in Japan, I perused the fish counter in Waitrose with dismay. For an island nation we have an inexplicable lack of fishy passion. The usual suspects stared dully up at me.  Salmon, cod, mackerel, herring, haddock,  sea bass. Continue reading →

Fishcakes, salad and soba noodles

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Sea bass fishcakes and soba noodles

Hello pan. Hello cooker. And most of all, hello Global knives! God I’ve missed cooking. What with the onerous burden of eating out, socialising, going to Cornwall for the bank holiday, I feel like I haven’t cooked, really cooked, for a good couple of weeks.

Cooking for me, is an end into itself. Sure I love eating – and eating well, that is after all what led me into the kitchen in the first place – but it’s also solitary time for me to unwind. To really lose myself in the hypnotic rhythm of slicing, stirring, chopping that is the mainstay of making any meal. Continue reading →

The View

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Turbot with a lobster sauce and fennel mash
Treninnow Cliff Road, Milbrook, Cornwall, PL10 1JY 01752 822345 www.theview-restaurant.co.uk

Perched atop a cliff looking out over waves rolling in to Whitsand Bay in Cornwall, The View was a most unexpected gem. Forget Jamie’s 15 in Newquay, or Steinsville in Padstow, this remote restaurant is where you’ll get the best of Cornish cooking, and in a setting that knocks the socks off any other.

Housed in cabin, rather nondescript from the outside, are a scattering of plain tables on a warm wood floor, surrounded by white walls hung with local art. And some of the most consistently well cooked – and freshest – fish I’ve eaten in a long time. Continue reading →

Baked sea bass with honey and saffron onion marmalade

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Seabass with honey and saffron onion marmalade

I’m funny when it comes to fish. I don’t tend to cook very much during winter months, and when I do, it is often a far-eastern style braise, a fish pie or a spicy Creole stew. But when the sun comes out to play it’s like a switch has been flipped.

The strutting little tyrant in my head orders my appetite to about turn. Don’t focus on those oxtail stews, lamb tagines or slow cooked pork bellies! It’s time to turn back to fish. Continue reading →

A South Asian influenced feast

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Spiced wild salmon

Sometimes you start off with the kernal of an idea that just grows until it’s way beyond your control, taking on a life of it’s own, just like Jack’s magic beans. This started off when I glanced at What’s for Lunch Honey’s Channa Palak recipe a few days ago . I mentally filed it away as something I wanted to try out. That mind running along a South Asian spice track, and then, heading back to the same blog I found a Spicy bream recipe and thought I could adapt that to some wild salmon. I figured the strong almost gamey flavour of the fish would stand up to spices well.

And everything just sprouted uncontrollably from there. I needed rice to go with it, but rather than soothe and mollify, I wanted it to complement and almost compete with the salmon. So I matched the paprika-laced oily fish flavours with sweet and scented saffron and raisins. They made a glorious juxtaposition and both were backed up by the simpler, more rustic chickpea and spinach. Continue reading →

Miso soaked salmon

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Still going strong on Asian food, although last night’s dinner was something of a mish-mash of regional influences. It was ostensibly Japanese miso soaked salmon, but ended up with a fair bit of Chinese in there too. Not that that had any negative effect on the flavour. Quite the opposite in fact.

The influence and foundation of the dish is definitely Japanese with its balance of sweet, savoury and salty flavours. I wasn’t sure how it would all work out, but the first bite  was something of a revelation. The fattiness of the salmon was well balanced by the clean, salty-sweet sauce, and all the flavours were clear but still combined well. And because it was served with salad and tender-stem broccoli (apparently a choi-sum/broccoli hybrid), it was pretty damn healthy too. A perfect January antidote to December’s heavy eating. Of course, I spoiled the effect by indulging in baklava for dessert – all oily, syrupy, nutty finger-licking goodness. Continue reading →