Cooking Club Theme #2: From The Sea

Dizzyblonde

Yes, fish and all the other wonders of the deep blue sea.
Do you have a delicious recipe, something that would tempt even a fish-dodger like myself to give it a try. I can only seem to eat it when it's covered in batter or breadcrumb

Please share your recipes, or try someone else's and report back

IvyTheTerrible

I love the French dish Rouille de Seiche (cuttlefish stew). It's a fish tomatoey spicy stew.

Cuttlefish stew

Ingredients
1 kilo of cuttlefish/squid (not rings, the mantle cut into flat pieces)
1 medium onion, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tins of chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp concentrated tomato purée
1 jar (about 200ml) of Rouille (spicy garlic mayonnaise, see recipe here)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Method

• Peel the cuttlefish (there is often a "skin" on the flesh, if you leave it on, the squid will be tough to eat) and cut into cubes
• Fry off the onion in a large pot in the olive oil until softened. Remove the onions from the pot with a slotted spoon and set aside.
• Turn the heat up and sauté the cuttlefish cubes for five minutes or so until a lot of liquid has come out and the cubes have reduced in size. Drain off and discard the liquid.
• Put the onions back in the pot with the cuttlefish. Add the tinned tomatoes, tomato purée and season. Cover, turn down to medium heat and simmer for about an hour (if you do it for a shorter time, the fish won't be tender). You can simmer it for as long as you want, it's very forgiving. If you find the sauce is too thick, you can add some water. Sometimes I like to add a chopped courgette or two.
• When you are ready to serve, add the rouille, and mix well.
• Serve with pasta or steamed rice.

I like to make this for big groups, when I don't know exactly how many people are coming, or if I'm not sure when everyone will be ready to eat, as once it's cooked, it can be kept warm no problem, and ingredients can be multiplied up easily too.

Dinkie

Ivytheterrible.

Where would I get cuttlefish?

thanks

Malari

*sharp intake of breath* Cuttlefish are like the puppies of the sea! (But recipe still sounds tasty)

I attempted the spinach and salmon roulade from the Sport Relief Bake Off - http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/spinach_and_smoked_16291.

It was a few more steps than something I'd usually try but it turned out quite well. Not star baker material but I think Mary and Paul would be happy enough ;-)

It would be a nice dinner party starter. Now my husband thinks I should do a roly-poly themed dinner party - roulade, beef Wellington, Swiss roll!

huskerdu

A favourite easy recipe is our house is white fish with welshrarebit topping.

This works with all white fish, but particularly good with hake. Try to use thick even sized pieces of fish.

Grate cheese very finely ( cheddar and gueyere both work, Im not very adventerous with cheese, so I havent experimented with other cheese). Mix some grain mustard and a small amount of cream - just enough to make a thick paste.

Put the pieces of fish is a buttered dish that they fit snugly in. Spread the paste on top.
Cook at 180 for 15-20 minutes. Like all fish recipes, its hard to give exact timings, as its very dependent on the thickness of the fish.
If the cheese mixture cooks too quickly, cover in a small piece of tinfoil for the last 5 minutes.

Serve with spuds and any green veg.

mirrorwall14

I'm not into fish personally but have a baba to feed. Anyone got a decent fish stew recipe of some kind? Like Irish stew sort of idea with fish. He loves dishes that he can dig hands into and grab the bits he wants

convert

I love fish, and will eat pretty much anything, but having moved out of Dublin (and inland) it's much harder to source fresh fish so haven't been able to enjoy it as often. However, with the recent opening of a new fish shop not too far from us, hopefully this will change!

The below is one of my favourite recipes, as I love the smell of the fish and herbs while cooking, and the flavours are lovely and delicate.

Baked sea bream with thyme, chilli and garlic recipe

Ingredients (for 2 people):
1 large/2 small sea bream
4 sprigs fresh thyme
6 cloves garlic, finely sliced
1 dried red chilli, crumbled (I generally use a fresh chilli, and it's fine)
85ml (3fl oz) dry white wine (I don't always use the wine, I must admit, but often include a little lemon juice/sliced lemon slices as a substitute)
good extra-virgin olive oil, to serve

Lay out two large pieces of foil (each big enough to form a 'tent’ round the fish) and lightly oil the centre and put the sea bream on top.

three slashes on each side, season inside and out and tuck in a couple of sprigs of thyme, the garlic and half the chilli. (I'd also add some small lemon wedges here).

Scatter over the top the rest of the chilli and the leaves from the remaining thyme.

Drizzle some olive oil inside and over the top of the fish.

Fold up the foil and pour in the wine.

Scrunch together the edges of the foil to make a tent, leaving enough space for the fish to steam (it must not be 'wrapped’ in the foil).

Place the parcels on a baking-sheet and cook in an oven preheated to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6 for 20 to 25 minutes.

Check to see whether the fish is cooked by looking at the flesh near the bone in the thickest part. It should be opaque and not at all 'glassy’.

Scrunch the foil back together, place the parcels on warmed plates and take to the table (I generally don't do this, I tend to 'plate them' and then serve. I also use the 'juices' in the parcels to pour over the fish).

I like to serve this with roasted baby potatoes and a salad, but it also works well with crispy roasted potatoes/wedges, or rice.

Larry Bee

I'm a big fan of monkfish. Ages ago I posted a recipe for monkfish curry here .

Here is a another monkfish dinner I make every so often

The Fish
o Monkfish fillets 150g per person
o Parma Ham
o Shallotts
o White Wine (no idea who much)
o 100 mils cream
o Some Peppercorns,
o Herbs (Tarragon)

Season the fish and cut the fish into bite size bits (not too small). Its a bit fiddley but get a sprig of tarragon and wrap a bit of fish around it. Then wrap the fish up in ham and stab with cocktail stick to keep them from falling apart.
Seal the ham in the pan until caramelised (don’t seal any fish showing). AFter the ham is sealed take the stick out
Fry shallots and add wine, salt, peppercorns, herbs (a bit of fresh and some dried tarragon) and 100 mls of cream. If you want to ad a shot of Pernod go for it. Bring to the boil and let reduce a bit.
Put the fish balls in the sauce cover and cook for 10mins

Pilaw Rice
o 450g Basmati Rice
o 1 Medium Onion, Finely Chopped
o 1 Large Knob Of Butter
o 1 Bay Leave
o 600ml Chicken Stock

Wash the rice in several changes of cold water and let soak in for half an hour. Or put it in a sieve and put under running water for 10 mins
Cook the onion in the butter and add the rice and bay leaves and stir until the rice is coated in the butter. When the rice going translucent add chicken stock bring to the boil and cover tightly. Leave it to cook for 10mins, turn off the heat and leave for 5 mins before opening the lid.

Mrs Fox

I love clams. I don't cook them as often as I'd like 'cause they're flipping expensive, but I'm happy to use this thread as an excuse to buy them

I was going to cook Kam Heong Clams; Kam Heong, meaning Golden Frangrant in Cantonese, is a unique Malaysian dish that showcases the cultural and culinary diversity through it's ingredients: dried prawns (Chinese), curry leaves (Indian) and bird's eye chillies (Malay).
I had to improvise since I didn't have any dried prawns left, which unfortunately is a vital ingredient in a Kam Heong sauce for texture. I did however use XO sauce instead, which contains dried shrimp so all is not lost in the flavour department. The result is a marriage of several recipes, including one from Rasa Malaysia, and one from a certain Mr Stein of Padstow.
All ingredients, bar the clams unless you're lucky, can be found in Tesco.


Kam Heong Clams

2lbs fresh clams, cleaned and soaked in salted water for 30 minutes.
3 tbsp sunflower oil
6 shallots, sliced
4 fat garlic cloves, minced
a thumb-size of ginger, grated
6 bird's eye chillies, sliced
2 sprigs curry leaves
1 tsp palm sugar
2 tsp yellow bean paste
2 tbsp XO sauce
2 tbsp Shaoxing wine/dry sherry
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp cornflour, mixed with a little water
2 spring onions, sliced
a handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped


Heat oil in a wok/pan over high heat.
Add shallots, garlic, ginger, chillies and curry leaves and stir vigorously for a few seconds. Add palm sugar, yellow bean paste and XO sauce and saute for 2 minutes.
Throw in Shaoxing wine, oyster sauce, fish sauce and clams, give a very quick stir before covering the pan with a lid, and cook for 2 minutes on high, shaking the pan a few times.
Add in the cornflour mixture to thicken the sauce. Sprinkle with spring onions and coriander, and give a final toss before serving.

Note: If you do use dried prawns, soak 1 tbsp of them in water, drain and then mince. Add along with the aromatics. I'd still use some XO sauce though, maybe reduce it to just 1 tbsp.

Minder

Wow. Love clams. Love all the Asian flavours. Love that bowl - sets the food off beautifully.

Moody_mona

I don't cook fish as often as if like - looking forward to using this thread!! Go on the cooking club!

Curry Addict

My battered cod method. I make it once a week for the last year or so. Its simple and fast. faster than going to the chipper and better too

200g piece of cod. i use tesco frozen cod, its surprisingly good and a great price. I let it defrost naturally for an hour before cooking.

the batter

---

1 small cup of flour approx 200g
1tsp curry powder
0.5tsp paprika
0.5tsp turmeric
0.5tsp salt
200ml approx. sparkling water, chilled(i get packs of small bottles in lidl, its really cheap).

Start with the flour in a bowl and add all the dry ingredients. whisk in the water until you have a thickish batter(takes only a couple of minutes).
coat your cod fillet in the batter and straight into a preheated deep fat fryer(200 degrees).
Cook for 6 minutes.
take out, drain, put on kitchen paper and squeeze fresh lemon juice liberally on top add salt and its yum yum time.

The batter is enough for about 6 pieces of cod.

.red.

I love fishing, i dont eat much seafood tho so i dont have much to contribute by way of a recipe.
What i can do tho is if anyone in Cork would like to try razor clams and doesnt want to fork out for them, i have a very good spot for collecting them. It can only be done on big tides, a few times a year and the next time is about 4 weeks away in April. It very easy, safe and really good fun if you bring kids.
If anyone wants directions send me a pm.

Larry Bee

.red. wrote: »

I love fishing, i dont eat much seafood tho so i dont have much to contribute by way of a recipe.
What i can do tho is if anyone in Cork would like to try razor clams and doesnt want to fork out for them, i have a very good spot for collecting them. It can only be done on big tides, a few times a year and the next time is about 4 weeks away in April. It very easy, safe and really good fun if you bring kids.
If anyone wants directions send me a pm.

Jesus I'd love to do that but no way I'd get to Cork for that. On a long shot, do you know anywhere in Wexford that you can do that?

John

.red.

Larry Bee wrote: »

Jesus I'd love to do that but no way I'd get to Cork for that. On a long shot, do you know anywhere in Wexford that you can do that?

John

Sorry i dont, they can't be gotten just anywhere. Their only in certain places. Could be loads of spots in Wexford or maybe none. If you know any sea anglers ask them as their a good bait.

SB_Part2

Fish Tacos with Pico de Gallo & Chipotle Mayo

Batter & Fish
200g Raw Prawns
200g Cod
150g Flour
100g Cornflour
100ml Cold Sparkling Water (You might need more or less)

Pico de Gallo
2 Tomatoes
1 Red Onion
1 Green Chilli
1 Red Chilli
1 Scallion
1/2 Lime
Salt & Pepper

Chipotle Mayo
From scratch: http://amexicancook.ie/recipe/homemade-chipotle-mayonnaise
Cheat: Mayo & Chipotle sauce from can of chipotle in adobo

To Serve
Corn tortillas
Lettuce

Vegetable oil for frying.

To make the batter add the flours to a bowl and mix
Add in the cold sparkling water slowly until you have a batter that coats the back of your finger. Try not to over work it. It's ok if there's a few lumps.
Dip the fish in the batter and then into your oil/fryer.
Fry in oil for 3-5mins until a light golden brown.
Transfer to some kitchen paper and pat off any excess oil.

To make the Pico de Gallo chop the tomato, onion, scallion, chillies and place in a bowl. Squeeze over half a lime and season with salt & pepper.

Tom Dunne

I would eat seafood morning noon and night if I could. Though it still troubles me that oysters don't agree with me, I miss them terribly.

Anyway, here's a recipe I modified from a BBC cookbook - it's for bourbon and chilli prawns. It's kinda like the Jack Daniels glaze you may have seen around. I have done these when we have had friends over and they literally disappear within seconds. The lime/chilli/sugar combo gives a kind of sweet chilli taste, but with a nice sour kick from the booze.

Boozey Prawns

Juice of 2 limes
finely grated rind of 1 lime
90ml Bourbon (JD/Jim Beam/even regular whiskey. Just don't use the good stuff)
180g brown sugar
1 chilli pepper, chopped as finely as you can
1 pack of big prawns (I use the frozen, cooked prawns, but defrost them before use)


Heat the oven up to 200C.

Throw the lime juice, booze and sugar into a saucepan and heat until the sugar has dissolved, stirring continually. This usually takes 5 mins or so.
Now turn up the heat to boil for 5-7 mins. It should thicken into a nice, gloopy syrup.
Remove from the heat and stir in the lime rind and chilli.
Once this is done, add in the prawns, stirring well to ensure they are well coated.

Place the whole lot onto a baking tray and cook in the oven for 10-12 mins, turning once or twice to ensure the prawns are hot through.

Enjoy!

convert

Tom, I tried your recipe last night as a starter. You're right - they disappear very quickly, hence the lack of a photo! It's quick and easy, so perfect for entertaining or rustling something up at the last minute. I found there was loads of sauce, too much for the amount of prawns I had, so I have some left over for this evening.

Tom Dunne

Here's one of those ridiculously simple recipes to try with mussels.

During last summer, I literally opened the fridge to see what was there and made this up as I went along. It's very tasty, very quick and very easy to make.

I've actually just eaten this dish, there' a bowl full of empty shells on the table as I type.

Ingredients
One large glass of white wine (hint: I usually use what is leftover from the previous day, don't go opening the good stuff for this recipe)
Around 200ml of cream
Two cloves of garlic, crushed
A pinch of parsley (mainly for colour, I actually don't think it adds any flavor )
A handful of chopped spring onions (don't add too much, or it will dominate the sauce, 1-2 tablespoons is rough estimate)
Around 500g of mussels in the shells
Around 750ml water to cook the mussels

Method
Throw everything except the mussels and water into a saucepan and gently bring to the boil, stirring continually

In another saucepan, boil the water and leave it on the heat.

When the sauce has started to boil, reduce it to a simmer.

Put the mussels into the boiling water and bring the water back to the boil. Always ensure all the mussels are covered. Discard any that do not open. They don't need to be cooked for long, literally 2-3 mins.

Drain the mussels (give 'em a good shake to get rid of all residual water) and put them into a large bowl.

Pour the cream sauce over them.

Serve with chips and crusty bread and, most importantly, you can now break out the good white wine. But please - not Jacobs Creek or Santa Rita. Have some class. :pac:

hardCopy

I am not a fish lover but have made a concerted effort to eat a weekly fish meal. Naturally this comes on a Friday which is also one of my cooking nights.

Risotto purists look away now, this is not traditional or authentic. Serves 2.

ingredients:
2 Skinless Boneless Salmon Fillets
130 gm Arborio rice
1 Tbsp Garlic Herb Philadelphia
1 Tbsp of Butter
1 Large glass of white wine
750ml of chicken stock
Handful of frozen peas
Grated parmesan or similar to serve over rice.

Gently poach your salmon fillets in the stock.
Melt the butter and fry the rice in it until it starts to colour.
Once the rice starts to soak up the butter you can add the wine.
Once the salmon is cooked, remove it from the stock.
Once the wine is soaked up add some stock to the rice.
Flake the salmon apart on a chopping board.
Continue adding stock to the rice as it is absorbed.
When the rice is almost cooked, add the last of the stock along with the cream cheese, peas and flaked salmon.
Stir the cream cheese through the stock.
Portion into bowls and cover generously with cheese.

Pure comfort food and an easy introduction to fish. It's like boozy salmon milupa.

If I can't get skinless fillets I grill a regular fillet and flake the flesh away from the skin once it's cooked.

ems_12

One of my favorite fish recipes is salt encrusted sea bass (http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/salt-crusted_sea_bass_20066). No epic cooking skills required, a bit of a financial outlay as you ultimately don't 'use' the egg whites or salt but the fish is AMAZING! If I see sea bass on offer it's the perfect recipe

(One tip; make sure you cook it until the 'crust' has fully risen and hardened (even browned), as you need to break it away from the fish to eat).

Edited to add; I also love salmon fillets with some fajita mix as a coating, pan fried. So easy, and nice for a change from usual salmon. If you don't want to eat it as fillet, flake it up and put it with pasta, peas, and a creamy/cajun sauce.

convert

I've always wanted to try one of the salt encrusted fish recipes, but I'm always put off by the 'effort' rather than the cooking. If there's sea bass on offer in the fish shop I might give it a go!

ems_12

Convert, it's very easy! The hardest bit is probably taking the yolks from the eggs, otherwise it's just whipping up some egg white & salt and chucking it over a fish (Can you tell I'm not very culinary blessed!!?) It works best if the fish isn't topped or tailed, so the fish is all juicy but none of the actual crystals of salt get into the fish meat, but I understand people's reluctance on this if they don't like staring their fish in the face.

Mystery Egg

The fish dish we eat most regularly is gambas pil pil - prawns with garlic and chilli.

Use fresh raw tiger prawns for this, peeled and deveined. A good handful per person - we usually have about 15 each.

Pat the prawns dry with paper towel.

Crush as much garlic as you like - we usually have 6 cloves for two servings. Likewise, prepare as much chilli as you will enjoy - we normally have one red chilli between us, seeds in, and finely sliced.

Put a substantial glug of olive oil into a cold pan (more than you think you need) and turn up on high. Add your prawns, garlic and chilli at the same time, and season well with fresh ground salt and pepper. The prawns are ready when opaque, pink and slightly curled - it should take no more than 5 minutes. Once cooked, the less time they spend in the pan the better, as overcooking makes them chewy.

Serve with lots of crusty bread for dipping in the garlicky oil, and a tomato salad drizzled with balsamic vinegar and black pepper. Scrumptious.

Curry Addict

convert wrote: »

I've always wanted to try one of the salt encrusted fish recipes, but I'm always put off by the 'effort' rather than the cooking. If there's sea bass on offer in the fish shop I might give it a go!

there is no effort involved in salt baking fish

I eat salt baked whole bream very often.
get a bag of salt ~50c in a supermarket, nothing fancy needed just a cheap bag of salt.
pour salt into the bottom of a baking tin just to layer the bottom.
pop your bream into the baking tin.
pour the rest of the salt over the bream until it is covered.
bake for 30mins at 170 degrees.
take out of the oven and tap the salt crust all around the fish with the back of a knife to crack it open. The salt comes away easily. lift out the bream onto a chopping board so you can work on it easily. peel the skin off the upside with the help of a knife from the tail end to top, it comes away easily as it will be very dry. you can now slide off top halves from the center. then pull the main fish bone upwards and it should come away in one piece, leaving the bottom fillet ready to plate.

it will still need a sprinkle of salt and a squeeze of lemon. The bream will be amazing, super juicy and well worth the no effort involved

Malari

Curry Addict wrote: »

there is no effort involved in salt baking fish

I eat salt baked whole bream very often.
get a bag of salt ~50c in a supermarket, nothing fancy needed just a cheap bag of salt.
pour salt into the bottom of a baking tin just to layer the bottom.
pop your bream into the baking tin.
pour the rest of the salt over the bream until it is covered.
bake for 30mins at 170 degrees.
take out of the oven and tap the salt crust all around the fish with the back of a knife to crack it open. The salt comes away easily. lift out the bream onto a chopping board so you can work on it easily. peel the skin off the upside with the help of a knife from the tail end to top, it comes away easily as it will be very dry. you can now slide off top halves from the center. then pull the main fish bone upwards and it should come away in one piece, leaving the bottom fillet ready to plate.

it will still need a sprinkle of salt and a squeeze of lemon. The bream will be amazing, super juicy and well worth the no effort involved

The effort here sounds like taking the fish apart! Would a whole sea bream be enough for two people? I've never cooked one like that.

Curry Addict

Malari wrote: »

The effort here sounds like taking the fish apart! Would a whole sea bream be enough for two people? I've never cooked one like that.

a whole bream is a nice feast for one. it will do 2 people but i hate to share it
one whole bream is about much as two of the standard fillets of sea bass you see everywhere.