Bridget Jones’ Pan Fried Salmon with Pinenut Salsa

 

"Bridget, this baby situation threw me initially. We squashed an entire relationship into one night and skipped straight to the starting a family phase. We never even had a real second date, but just so you know I would have taken you to Ottolenghi’s, an amazing place in Notting Hill. You would have had the grilled salmon and pine nut salsa. It’s unbelievable AND healthy." Jack in Bridget Jones' s Baby

In the movie, Bridget Jones' Baby, Jack tells Bridget that he would have taken her to Ottolenghi's restaurant for their second date, and that she would have ordered the grilled salmon and pine nut salsa.  That dish did not exist  on Ottolenghi's menu, but to fill the gap, Ottolenghi developed a recipe for this dish for his cookbook, Ottolenghi Simple.

I have Ottolenghi Simple, and I am also a Bridget Jones fan, so I had to make this salmon dish for myself.  And I am glad that I did.  It is tasty, with a mix of sweet (from currants) and savoury flavours.

If you fancy bringing a little movie magic into your life by making this dish, you will need:

100g currants

4 salmon fillets, skin on

100ml olive oil

4 celery sticks cut into 1 cm dice

30g pine nuts, roughly chopped

40g capers + 2 tablespoons of their brine

40g large green olives cut into 1cm dice

a pinch of saffron mixed with a tablespoon of hot water

20g parsley, roughly chopped

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon lemon juice

salt and pepper

Cover the currants with boiling water and soak for 20 minutes.

In the meantime, mix the salmon with 2 teaspooons olive oil, salt and pepper.  Set aside.

Put 75ml olive oil into a large frying pan over high heat.  Add the celery and pine nuts and fry for 4-5 minutes.  Once the nuts have browned, remove the pan from the heat, and stir in the capers, the brine, the saffron in its water, the olives and a pinch of salt.  Drain the currants, then add them, the parsley, the lemon juice and lemon zest to the mixture.  Stir through, then set aside.

Put a tablespoon of olive oil into a fry pan, and once hot, add the salmon, skin side down, and fry for 3 minutes or until the skin is crisp.  Flip the salmon and cook for another 2-4 minutes, dpeending on how you like your salmon.  Remove from the pan and set aside. 

Place each of the salmon filets onto a plate, and spoon over the salsa.

Enjoy!  

One-Pot Sticky Salmon

Recently, searching for new ways to cook salmon, I found this One-Pot Sticky Salmon on Taste.com.au. I liked this recipe because the salmon is flavoured with oranges.

Not only does it taste good, but it looks pretty:

If you would like to try this dish, you will need:

4 salmon fillets

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves garlic

2 teaspoons cornflour 

1 teaspoon fennel seeds (I skipped these)

1/3 cup chicken stock

1/2 cup orange juice

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/2 orange, thinly sliced

Season the salmon with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large frying pan, and cook the salmon, roughly 3 minutes per side, over medium high heat.

In a jug, combine the cornflour, garlic, fennel seeds, stock, orange juice and maple syrup. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Pour the maple syrup mixture over the salmon, and cook for 4 minutes or until the sauce is thickened.

Top the salmon with the sliced orange. (I cooked the orange for a minute or so in the pan.)

Serve with rice and vegetables.

 

Tuna Pasta Bake

I have said before that I struggle to find good dishes to make for lunch that go beyond the stodgy sandwich.  Recently, in a Taste magazine newsletter, I found inspiration in a really good recipe for a simple Tuna Pasta Bake.  This pasta bake only uses six ingredients.  I bumped it up to seven by adding frozen vegetables to make it a true "one pot" dish that is transportable and can be heated up in the microwave for lunch at work.

This is the kind of dish that speaks for itself, so without further ado, here is how to make it.

Gather together:

300g dried macaroni
40g butter or margarine
2 tablespoons plain flour
2 cups skim milk
3/4 cup reduced fat melty grated cheese
425g can of tuna in springwater, drained
250g mixed frozen chopped vegetables
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 220 degrees Celsius.  Lightly grease a large casserole dish.

Cook the macaroni according to packet instructions then drain, reserving a quarter of a cup of the cooking water.

Melt the butter or margarine in a saucepan, then add the flour and stir for a minute over the heat.  Remove the saucepan from the heat and pour in the milk.  Stir to combine then return to the heat, and continue stirring until the sauce thickens.  Season with salt and pepper, and stir through a quarter of  a cup of the cheese.

Combine the cooked macaroni, tuna, frozen vegetables and reserved cooking water, then arrange evenly on the bottom of the greased casserole dish.      Sprinkle the top with the rest of the cheese, then bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden.

Serve and enjoy!  (I got 6 servings out of it.)

Tuna with spaghetti, peas and borlotti beans

I am very proud of me.  I recently commenced on the seemingly insurmountable task of weeding out my cooking magazines, which  had started to take over my apartment.  I started this mammoth task with a set of about 10 magazines that were still in their plastic  and had lived under the bed three apartments ago ands been lugged around ever since.  I opened the mint condition plastic around those magazines and went through them one by one, tearing out recipes I might make and discarding the rest.

I have since done the same with the mountains of food magazines perched on furniture in my spare room.  I have gone though nearly five years worth of food magazines.  Now all that is left are the more fortunate magazines that found a place in my bookshelves.

One of the recipes that I tore from that first batch of magazines was a recipe for Spaghetti with Tuna, Peas and Borlotti Beans, on p 88 of the February 2009 edition of Delicious magazine.  I am forever searching for work lunch dishes - I need something hearty and filling, and I get bored easily. 

This dish exceeded my expectations.  Spaghetti with borlotti beans sounded - well weird.  However, the combination of ingredients was really flavourful, and the beans make it a really filling dish.  I made it even heartier by using wholemeal pasta.

To make this dish, you will need:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 finely chopped onion
3 finely chopped cloves garlic
1/3 cup tomato paste
pinch of dried chilli flakes
4 tomatoes, skinned, deseeded and chopped
400g borlotti beans, rinsed and drained
400g can tuna in springwater,  drained and flaked
1 cup thawed frozen peas (I used frozen mixed vegetables)
400g spaghetti (I used 250g - heaps!!)

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook for 1-2 minutes until soft.  Add the garlic and tomato paste and cook for 1 minute, stirring from time to time.  Add the chilli flakes, fresh tomato, borlotti beans and 1 cup water, then bring the mixture to a simmer.   Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes or until the sauce has thickened, stirring from time to time.

Stir in the tuna and the peas/vegetables, and cook for around 3 minutes or until the vegetables soften.

While the sauce is simmering, cook the spaghetti according to the packet instructions.  Serve the spaghetti topped with the sauce and ton basil leaves (if desired).

Fish Curry with Ginger and Turmeric

The dish in the photo to this post may not look like much, but it is one of the most delicious fish curries I have had in a long time.

The recipe comes from the Woolworths magazine for October 2017 (p80).  I have made a number of fish curries with coconut milk which seem to taste like coconut.  This curry uses Greek yoghurt instead, and all the other flavours shone through.

The original recipe did not include any vegetables other than onion and chilli; I added frozen vegetables to the curry to make it more of a one pot dish.

The use of curry powder gives the curry a pleasant kick of flavour.

To make this curry, you will need:

750g skinless barramundi fillets (I used half this amount!)
200g Greek yoghurt
2 teaspoons turmeric
2 crushed cloves of garlic
3cm piece of ginger, grated
1 tablespoon oil (I just used olive oil, recipe says coconut oil)
1 sliced brown onion
1 tablespoon curry powder (I used Keen's mild)
2 sliced green chillies (I used just one)
coriander to serve (optional)

Cut the fish into large chunks.  In a large ceramic bowl, combine the yoghurt, turmeric, garlic and ginger.  Coat the fish with the yoghurt mixture and allow to marinate for 15 minutes.

Heat the oil in a fry pan or wok.  Add the onion and cook until softened.  (Also add 1 cup frozen vegetables here if using.) Stir in the curry powder and cook for 1 minute.  Add 1/4 cup water and stir well.

Add the fish and marinade to the pan, and bring to a simmer.  Scatter over the chillies, cover and cook for 10 minutes or until the fish is cooked through.

Garnish with coriander (optional), and serve with brown rice (and steamed asparagus for me!).

Wattleseed Blinis - Red Tractor September

This month's recipe from my Red Tractor calendar is Wattleseed Blinis.   As the name suggests, these blinis are flavoured with wattleseed, from the native wattle tree.  Wattleseed gives a mild coffee flavour. 

Here is the calendar quote for this month, appropriately referencing the wattle:

These blinis were easy to make, but don't taste as good as my favourite blini recipe.  The wattleseed is a novel flavour that you could add to any blini recipe.

To make these blinis, you will need:

1 tablespoon wattleseeds 
1 cup plain flour
1 tablespoon sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 pinch salt
2/3 cup milk
1 egg 
50g melted butter
mashed avocado and smoked salmon to top the blinis

Toast the wattleseed in a frypan and grind in a mortar and pestle.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and wattleseed in a large bowl.  Combine the egg and milk in a jug, then whisk into the dry ingredients, then half the melted butter.

Rest the mixture for 30 minutes to soften the wattleseed.

Heat a large frying pan, then brush the pan with some of the remaining melted butter.  Drop two teaspoons of batter into the frypan for each blini (don't overcrowd the pan), and cook until bubbles appear on the surface.  Gently flip each blini and cook the blinis on the other side, and repeat with the rest of the batter.

Top the blinis with mashed avocado, smoked salmon and ground pepper to serve.

Salmon Curry

I try, but fail, to include enough fish in my diet.  I like to cook in advance for the week, and many fish dishes do not accommodate this.

However, I recently found a recipe for Healthy Salmon and Vegetable Curry on Well Nourished that allowed me to cook in advance and freeze. 

This lovely curry, the recipe for which is here, has lots of good things - vegetables, oily fish and spices and herbs that support the digestive system or have anti-inflammatory qualities.  Fantastic!

This curry was delicious.  The thing of course that made it expensive was the salmon, but I am think thinking that canned salmon  could be used as a substitute to reduce the cost.

It is winter here now, so I enjoyed this spicy, warming curry to comfort me on the inside.

EwE - Pasta with Sardines and Broccoli Rabe - Mama Mia! Let's Cook Italian!

Mama Mia! Let's Cook Italian!  That is the enthusiastic theme for Eating with Ellie this week, chosen by Margaret.

Ellie has lots of Italian-inspired recipes, including plenty of pasta recipes, and it is a Sicilian- style pasta recipe that I dialled up for this week.  The recipe is for Pasta with Sardines and Broccoli Rabe.  It comprises wholemeal pasta (Ellie used fusilli, I used penne), canned sardines, toasted pinenuts, raisins and crispy-fried greens.  Broccoli rabe is something that I have never seen here, but from a quick Google search, I understood that kale would be a good substitute, and that is what I used.  (Contrary to its name, broccoli rabe is not like broccoli - it is more like bitter greens.)

This pasta is super delicious - the only tweak that I would recommend for next time is using some chilli flakes to give it a bit of kick.

To see what our other Italian mamas made this week, visit the LYL section of the EwE website.

EwE - Fish with Almond Topping, Saffron Rice and Lemon Broccolini - One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

For this week's Eating with Ellie, Margaret chose One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish as our theme, harking back to the title of a well-known Dr Seuss classic book. 

I chose to make Fish with Almond Topping, Saffron Rice and Lemon Broccolini from So Easy.  I cannot begin to adequately describe how scrumptious this meal was.  It took a little bit of fussing around with three dishes to make, and a food processor involved to make the almond topping, but in the end, it was worth it.  The nutty topping on the fish, glued on solely by moisture, was a simple but very tasty way to jazz up plain old white fish.  The fish is then baked, making the cooking process fat free.  The rice is cooked in chicken stock and saffron, and I used brown rice to up the nutrient factor.  The broccolini is steamed and then drizzled with a mixture of  lemon juice and oil.  Together, these three components make magic.

To see what everyone else made for Ellie this week, visit the LYL section of the EwE website.

Hairy Dieters' Tuna and Sweetcorn Pasta Salad

Recently, I acquired a couple of books from The Hairy Dieters series.  From The Hairy Dieters Book 1, I chose to make the tuna and sweetcorn pasta salad one week for work lunches.  The recipe is also online here.

This pasta salad was very easy to make, and was quite tasty.  The only criticism that I have is that in the suggested serving size, I found the amount of salad a tad unsatisfying.  I normally have the opposite problem with recipes in that the serving size is way more than I want, but here, I could actually have done with a little more - perhaps dividing the salad into  3 portions instead of 4.

However, I am overall impressed with The Hairy Dieters' recipes, as they are just good old home cooking dishes made more calorie-friendly, and I will continue to try out some more. 

EwE - Ceviche Salad

Glennis's pick for this week's Eating with Ellie is Ceviche Salad. 

I only noticed when it was too late that the fish was supposed to be skinned - oops.  Hence, as you can see, my ceviche fish has skin.

Other components of the salad were lettuce, avocado, ruby grapefruit and chilli. 

Overall, I didn't mind this salad.  I don't think I'll be making it again, but as a once off, give it a go meal, it was perfectly fine.

To see what the others thought of this salad, visit the LYL section of the EWE website.

WWDH - Red Curry of Swordfish - err, Dory

Kayte's pick for this week's Wednesday with Donna Hay is Red Curry of Swordfish.  I have never seen swordfish in the shops, so combined with Kayte's warning of it being expensive, I went for "firm white fish" - in this case, dory.

I served my curry with boiled brown rice and boiled mixed veg.  From my perspective, it was delicious.

To see what the others thought of this dish, visit the LYL section of the WWDH website.

WWDH - Tuna and Chickpea Fritters

For Wednesday with Donna Hay this week, Sarah chose tuna and chickpea fritters from the April/May 2013 edition of Donna Hay magazine.

These fritters contain chilli flavoured tuna and chickpeas bound together with egg whites, and  they have quite a bit of zing. The yoghurt serving suggestion was very welcome, as it put out some of the heat in the fritters.

This dish was OK - I didn't love it, but these fritters were fine for a change as dinner.  I nearly added some tabasco or chilli sauce on top, but when I tasted how much heat came from the chilli flavoured tuna, I was glad that I didn't.

To see what the others thought of this dish, visit the LYL section of the WWDH website.

WIAFK (CB) - Boston Mackerel au Vin Blanc

Our Weekend in a French Kitchen (Cafe Boulud) dish this week is Boston Mackerel au Vin Blanc.  Essentially, this is mackerel fillets pickled in white wine that has been flavoured with spices.  This was not what I envisaged from the title of the dish, so I was a little disappointed when I went to make it.

I bought two mackerel from the fishmonger:

and had the not fun task of gutting and filleting them - and I made a bit of a hack job.  The hot pickling mixture is poured over the raw mackerel fillets, and the fish are left overnight to pickle.

The end result is pictured at the top of the post, on toast spread with tomato relish (Kayte, look away!).  I ate it for breakfast and it was fine, though not a repeat - pickled fish are not exactly my thing.

To see what the other Cafe Boulud cooks thought of this dish, visit the LYL section of the website.

EwE - Pacific Rim Salmon Burgers

For Eating with Ellie this week, Sarah chose Pacific Rim Salmon Burgers.  I wasn't too sure if I'd like this - minced salmon and spice patties with cucumber, carrot and lettuce on a wholemeal bun.  However, in the end, I was pleasantly surprised.  The pattie had a really nice flavour, and in my case, didn't suffer from the lack of capsicum (I didn't have one).

Here is the pattie sans its glad rags:

These were also  very quick and easy to make - bonus.

To see what the others thought of this dish, visit the LYL section of the EwE website.

WIAFK (CB) - Skate with Brown Butter and Capers

Happy 4th of July to my US readers!

Today is an auspicious occasion  of a different kind - it is the inaugural Weekend in a French Kitchen (Café Boulud Cookbook) post. Weekend in a French Kitchen is a new cooking group started by Christy, Tammy, Alice and Emily to cook through two cookbooks - the Café Boulud Cookbook by Daniel Boulud and Dorie Greenspan on Saturdays, and A Kitchen in France by Mimi Thorisson on Sundays.

I have decided just to cook from the Café Boulud Cookbook because I don't think I have room for more than one extra group post in a week.  My decision on which book to pick was made by the fact that our beloved Dorie Greenspan co-wrote the Café Boulud Cookbook book (I had never heard of Daniel before).

Our first recipe from the Café Boulud Cookbook is Skate with Brown Butter and Capers.  Skate seems to be a rare commodity here, because on this, the second occasion when I have tried to buy it, I once again drew a blank.  I asked the fishmonger what he thought would be a good substitute, and he suggested blue eye trevalla - so that it what I bought.

Once you have the fish, the rest is a breeze - the fish is lightly poached and served with a delicious garlic and caper browned butter sauce, and boiled cubes of potato.

I really enjoyed this subtle but perfect dish - and because it is easy to make, it would be a recipe I'd repeat again.

To see what the other CBCB cooks thought of this dish, visit the LYL section of the WIAFK (CB) website.

WWDH - Pasta with Smoked Salmon and Dill Sauce and Asparagus with Balsasmic Butter

For our Wednesday with Donna Hay dish this week, Chaya selected Pasta with Smoked Salmon and Dill Sauce from New Food Fast.  The recipe can also be found online here. 

This was a quick and simple dish to make.  I made it for Sunday lunch and had two serves left over for later.  The classic flavours of lemon, salmon and dill made this dish sing.

To see what the others thought of this dish, visit the LYL section of the WWDH website.

I also caught up on the simple but tasty asparagus with balsamic butter chosen by Margaret last week:

Definitely a good one to make again; check out the LYL section for the others' opinions.

WWDH - Hot Potato Mustard Dressing

For Wednesday with Donna Hay this week, Kayte chose Hot Potato Mustard Dressing from p143 of Off the Shelf.  This involves boiling kipfler potatoes, and while they are still hot, tossing them with a mustard based dressing (ingredients here).  I don't like red onions, so I swapped them for shallots.  The dressing was very tasty.

As suggested by Donna, I served my potatoes with some pan fried salmon.

To see what the other Donna cooks thought of Hot Potato Mustard Dressing, visit the LYL section of the WWDH website.

FFWD - Sardine Escabeche

 

Life is rather like a tin of sardines - we're all of us looking for the key.

Alan Bennett

This week is our second last French Fridays with Dorie seafood dish.  Unfortunately, it comprises a rather oily fish concoction called Sardine Escabeche.

This challenge required us to use fresh sardines, so I dutifully went to the Queen Vic Market to find some (knowing that my suburban fish shop would not stock such a thing).  Fresh sardines were only $6.50 a kilo.  When I asked the fishmonger to fillet my sardines, he flatly refused, but was keen to sell me a 500g tray of frozen sardine fillets for $13!  Ahem - no.  (For the record, my 12 fresh sardines cost the princely sum of $2.55.)

Accordingly, on the night I made this dish, I set about filleting these little guys a la Karen Martini's video:

 

 

I have to say that it is quite a gory process.  I was prepared for it from the video, and wore food gloves to limit the mess.  Still, filleting 12 little fish with all of their organs still intact was not exactly a pleasant task.

 

Once the filleting was done, the rest of the process (flouring and shallow frying the sardine fillets, frying up some veges, adding a large quantity of oil to the veges and simmering,  then pouring over the fish before chilling for 6 hours or so) was quite easy.

 

Unfortunately, I do not understand the European love of putting large quantities of oil on fish.  I can understand that back in the day, it was a means of preserving them, but in the era of modern refrigeration, I just don't get it.  But then, I guess, some people really like oil-covered fish (see Salmon in a Jar). 

 

Thankfully, although this is definitely not a repeat dish for me, it tasted way better than salmon in a jar.  It was pleasant enough for cold oily fish with vegetables - at least everything was pre-cooked.  However, it still doesn't grab me.

 

To see what the other Doristas made of this dish, visit the LYL section of the FFWD website. 

FFWD - Salmon Tartare

Things are a little fishy again around here at French Fridays with Dorie this week, as our assignment for today is Salmon Tartare. 

This salmon tartare is a colourful dish that, although fairly quick to make, looks impressive as a result of its presentation in food rings so as to show off the layers.

I ate this tartare as an unusual breakfast dish, and really enjoyed the clean, fresh flavours.

To see what the other Doristas thought of this version of salmon tartare, visit the LYL section of the FFWD website.