Moroccan Mackerel and Citrus Couscous

I'm rather proud of this one. Whilst I was supposed to be working, I naturally began thinking of what I was going to cook for the rest of the week. I've been thinking about the delicious Mackerel superfood salad from Leon for a while- its all Moroccan sweet and spice with dried apricots, hazelnuts and lemon zest. I couldn't glean much from the menu so did a little recipe investigation online and came up with the recipe below.

Happily, it turned out exactly as planned, I used orange zest and juice, which goes perfectly with the oily fish. Some toasted almonds add texture and parsley for freshness along with ground coriander and ginger for spicy depth. I was also unsure about using the broccoli, it seemed such a strange combination to me, but it works perfectly adding some welcome crunch.

Next time, I'm keen to try other variations...Fennel and black olive with dried apricots or cucumber instead of the broccoli, rocket for added punch. Either way, try this and let me know your thoughts/variations.

Ps: yes, more mackerel. This time, we used a mixture of smoked mackerel and tinned, purely because that's what we had. I've never eaten tinned mackerel before, it actually tasted pretty good and works perfectly fine in this recipe. Given the choice, I would use smoked mackerel next time though for extra flavour. In other news...I'm also mourning the addition of anchovies to the fish to avoid list (you can still buy them from sustainable sources though).

Ingredients

Serves 4
350g couscous
2tsp ground ginger
2tsp ground coriander
½tsp salt
350ml vegetable stock
1 head brocolli
75ml orange juice - about ½ large orange
zest 1 orange
4tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
½ red chilli, finely chopped
100g flaked almonds, toasted in a dry pan until golden
1 small red onion
250g smoked mackerel

• Toss the cous cous with the ground ginger, ground coriander and salt. Pour over the stock, cover and allow to steep.
• Cut the broccoli into small chunks, I did mine as small as possible but you might like it chunkier. Either steam or boil for a few mins until cooked but still with a little bite. To maintain the vibrant green of broccoli when boiling, mak sure its tipped into boiling water, not cold.
• Once the couscous has soaked up all the stock, fluff with a fork and add the garlic, chilli,red onion, orange juice and zest and olive oil.
• Once the broccoli is cooked, drain and add to the cous cous with the smoked mackerel, parsley and flaked almonds. Stir well and taste, you may need a little more orange juice or olive oil to lubricate, it should be zinging with flavour.
  
• Pile onto a plate to serve and top with some parsley, flaked almonds and extra orange zest.
  

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Smoked Mackerel, Radish and New Potato Salad

I was a bit stumped when the we got these radishes in the veg box, lovely and pink as they are. They taste a bit like turnip and add crunch and colour to a simple salad. But I wanted something new and exciting. I found an interesting one in my Abel and Cole Cookbook, a salad of new potatoes and radish with olives and feta, all good but several ingredients I din't have and had no intention of buying.

So, as usual, in between dozing off on my tube journey, I planned my dinner for the evening and thought of this. Crispy little slices of roast new potatoes, fresh, crunchy pink radish and parsley, flakes of smoked mackerel and zingy little capers. All doused in a lemony, mustardy, yoghurt dressing. If I do day so myself, the flavour combinations worked perfectly, capers and lemon are smoked mackerel's best friend. We happily gobbled it up for dinner.

Ingredients

Serves 4

750g new potatoes
3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
4 tbsp capers
1 bunch parsley, chopped
1 lemon, juiced
300g radishes, quartered
400g smoked mackerel
200g greek yoghurt
2tsp english mustard

• Heat the oven to 200°C and heat a large roasting tray with the olive oil.
• Meanwhile clean the potatoes and slice into 1cm thick coins. Add to the baking tray, stir until well coated in the hot oil and season well.
• Roast for 30mins, stirring occasionally until golden and soft inside. Don't worry if the slices become a little stuck, use a spatula to scrape them off the bottom, this just creates more crispy bits. After 20mins place the mackerel fillets onto the potatoes in the oven to warm up.
• Meanwhile, add the english mustard and half the lemon juice to the yoghurt along with a pinch of salt and pepper and stir well.
• Once cooked, transfer the potato slices to a large bowl along with as much of the roasting oil as possible. Flake in the smoked mackerel and add the red onion, capers, parsley, radishes and the rest of the lemon juice.
• Dollop on the dressing and mix very gently, you don't want the salad to be completey covered.

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Smocked Mackerel and Sweetcorn Chowder

I've been thinking about making chowder for a while. Something about it just appeals, kind of like a liquid fish pie - in a good way. Unfortunately, a certain someone is allergic to white fish so this has been off the menu until I realised that smoked mackerel would work just as well as haddock, imparting the same smoky flavour and healthier too. I tend to add smoked mackerel to everything these days, but the haddock would be just as good, as would peas or fresh sweetcorn I imagine.

This is certainly filling, but not as rich as it looks, the milk base is surprisingly light. Eat with plenty of bread and butter of course.


Ingredients

serves 4

50g butter
2 large leeks, white part finely chopped
small bunch parsley, leaves and stalks separated
750ml whole milk
250ml vegetable stock
400g (about 2 medium) potatoes , peeled and cut into small cubes
400g smoked mackerel fillets, skin removed
1 small can sweetcorn, drained (approx 160g can)

• Heat a large saucepan and drop in the butter. Once melted, add the leeks and fry on a medium heat until softened.
• Meanwhile chop the stalks of the parsley as finely as possible and add to the pan. Reserve the leaves for sprinkling over the finished soup.
• Pour in the milk and stock and stir in the potatoes. Bring to the boil and simmer for a 10 minutes. Flake in the smoked mackerel and stir in the sweetcorn. Simmer for another few minutes. Add plenty of black pepper and serve sprinkled with chopped parsley.

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Smoked Mackerel Kedgeree

I always entertained ideas of making kedgeree, it fits with my penchant for decadent brunches. In the end we ended up making this for dinner, but there was enough left for a suitably indulgent breakfast the next day. Using smoked mackerel slightly more sustainable take on the classic smoked haddock variety. I also thought it might be fun/nicer to have a fried egg on top instead of chopped boiled egg in the rice. I also added some broad beans from my veg box to up the vegetable content.

Ingredients

Serves 2

1 onion
50g butter
1 red chilli, finely chopped
2tsp curry powder
1tsp cumin seeds
1 mugful rice
2 mugfuls vegetable stock
2-3 fillets smoked mackerel
2 eggs
½ bunch parsley, chopped

Fry the onion in the butter and a little oil until soft, add the spices and chilli and fry for a few minutes more. Add the rice and stir to coat in all the aromatic juices. add the juices, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 10mins until all the liquid is absorbed. Then turn off the heat and allow to stand for 5mins, fork through, add the smoked mackerel and parsley and season to taste. You could soft boil the eggs, poach them or fry to add to each plate. Read more...

Big Mack Cakes

I've become mildly obsessed with reading other people's blogs (a list of my favourites to go up soon) and fantasising about 1. taking pictures as good as theirs and 2. being given my own book deal. I soon realised that I need to get a much flashier camera in order to take those kind of pictures, in the meantime, I'm getting increasingly frustrated with my own. So whilst I don't like this picture (bad lighting), I had to post it as these were the BEST THING EVER when we had them for tea last night.

These are not your run of the mill fishcakes. Firstly we used smoked mackerel, fast becoming my favourite omega 3/protein/fishy source, these add much more smoky flavour than the traditional smoked haddock and are obviously the sustainable choice. We also used organic potatoes from the veg box, I'm not always convinced that organic tastes better per se, but with potatoes you can really taste the difference, even against all these strong flavours. After a little research, I also decided to add some capers, chopped boiled egg and chives (mostly because we had them and no parsley). And there you have it, the ultimate fishcakes.

We just coated them in flour, but there's a nigella recipe where she coats them in flour, then egg, then crumbled ritz biscuits for crunchy coating. The joy with these is that you can then bake them in the oven. A bit labour intensive for me and the flour and fry method worked out just fine for us.

The other key component was a lemony creme fraiche sauce that we had alongside and worked really well. All I did was add some seasoning, lemon zest and the juice of ½ lemon to a pot of creme fraiche and set aside.

We had ours with salad, a particularly good one is pea, spinach and avocado or an astringent salad of baby gem lettuce, capers and chopped gherkin, both with a mustardy dressing.

Ingredients
250g smoked mackerel, flaked into large pieces
250g potatoes
2 free range eggs
50g butter
milk (for mashing)
2tbsp capers

Chop the potatoes and cook in plenty of boiling salted water until tender. Add the eggs to the pan for 8mins and remove. One the potatoes are cooked, drain and mash with the butter, adding a little milk to loosen if necessary. Peel and chop the boiled eggs and add to the mash along with the capers, ½ the lemon zest, chives and smoked mackerel. Stir together and taste, you may or may not want to add some lemon juice at this stage. Now divide the mixture into roughly 8 and shapes into cakes, roll in flour and set aside in the fridge for 30mins to firm up.

Meanwhile add the juice and zest of ½ lemon to the creme fraiche along with slat and pepper.

Heat some oil in a pan and fry the fish cakes on each side on a medium heat for 4-5 mins until warmed through and crispy on the outside.

Eat with salad and the creme fraiche sauce. Happy food dance optional. Read more...

Carrot and Green Mango Salad

Every so often it feels really good to eat a bowl of raw, shredded vegetables doused in an interesting dressing or perked up with some cheese or toasted seeds. The simple act of chewing your way through is enough to make you feel virtuous and purified. Perhaps even virtuous enough to squeeze in a sticky toffee pudding for afters?

This recipe came from Rick Stein's Far Eastern Odyssey - shredded carrot, mango and smoked mackerel with a spicy and sweet dressing of lime juice, palm sugar and fish sauce - all topped off with crunchy peanuts.

While it might sound like a strange combination, the flavours actually come together really well to create a colourful, light and refreshing salad. If you don't have palm sugar or Thai basil and don't mind veering from authenticity, then I imagine you could substitute honey for the palm sugar and basil for the Thai basil.

Ingredients

serves 2

4 smoked mackerel fillets, broken into large flakes
1 green mango, cut into matchsticks
1 large carrot, cut into matchsticks
1 red onion, finely sliced
1 red chilli, finely chopped
small handful peanuts, roasted and chopped
small handful Thai sweet basil
2tsp palm sugar
1tbsp fish sauce
1tbsp lime juice

*Mix the smoked mackerel, mango, carrot, onion, peanuts and Thai basil in a large bowl.
*Mix the palm sugar, fish sauce and lime juice together in a separate bowl. Pour over the ssalad and toss together.
*Pile onto plates.

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Couscous Salad

I went camping this weekend, no ordinary camping, to a tipi! Camping trips always conjure up thoughts of lovely local shops selling lovely local food and cosy pubs with lovely warm fires. In reality, depending where you are, it can be hard to find a good pub and even harder to find one with good food. So, as we arrived late on Friday and wanted to make the most of our tipi, I planned ahead. Out came some sausages from the freezer, some homemade bread, leftover haloumi and... busy trying to use as much things from the fridge that were on the turn as possible, I decided on couscous, the perfect snack for the journey.

In reality of course, the campsite was brilliant (another winner from The Cool Camping Guide), with a delightful cafe on site, selling delicious breakfast and several pubs all within walking distant selling grat pub food, mostly mussels, which were literally caught over the road. Still... being the country, by the time we arrived on Friday, nowhere was selling food so I glad of my pack lunch (and the bottle of wine I thought to pack).


I love couscous, its such a pleasing vehicle for so many things - roasted carrots, smoked mackerel and brocolli.. I like it fresh and zingy as below with feta, parsley and lots of lemon juice, or with roasted vegetables and flaked almonds. The recipe below is obviously just a starting point, use whatever you have handy - peppers always nice, as are olives, anything you'd put into a salad really... Hummus is another great partner, or some leaves packed into the top of the box so they don't get soggy.



Serves 2

150g couscous
225ml hot vegetable stock
1/2 can chickpeas
200g cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cucumber, cut in half, the middle scooped out and sliced
100g feta, crumbled
1 medium carrot, grated
bunch parsley(and some mint too if you have it), chopped
juice 1/2 lemon
3tbsp olive oil
1/2 red onion, diced
1 small clove garlic, finely chopped
1 small handful toasted sunflower seeds or pine nuts

This is really just an assembly job...

• wiegh the couscous out in a large bowl, pour over the hot stock, cover a with a large plate and leave to steep for about 5mins.
• Once all the stock has been absorbed, fluff up using a fork. Pile all the ingredients into the bowl and mix thoroughly.
• Squeeze the lemon juice over and pour in the olive. Mix really well and taste, it'll probably need some salt and pepper.

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January Recipes

I don't know about you, but I feel like I over indulged just a little at Christmas and am in need of food to make me feel a bit perkier again. Not a diet, not even a detox, just trying to cut back on the coffee, alcohol and cake that all too easily becomes a permanent fixture, and trying to do more of the good stuff, sleeping, drinking lots, eating more vegetables. With everyone around me falling ill, it seems a good time to nourish myself a little.

With the cold bleak days and not much to look forward to, I certainly don't want to punish myself, just eat tasty food that makes me fell a bit more virtuo, below are some of the recipes I plan on cooking this month, all brimming with healthy stuff and all completely delicious.


Salads
Perfect for lunchboxes, bulk things up with brown rice or pulses.
Winter coleslaw: an old favourite, finely slice or grate any vegetables you have.
Brown Rice Salad: a must try - completely addictive
Cous cous: try this version with Smoked Mackerel for a dose of essential fatty acids.
Roast Parsnip Salad: my new favourite, delicious hot or cold.

Soup
Warming and comforting - you can't go wrong really. I like mine with a bit of texture, at the moment I like to add a can of beans to bulk things up and stop me eating lots of bread too!
Bacon and Cabbage
Easy butternut Squash
Split Pea Soup - a favourite!
Cauliflower and Cannellini Read more...

Pea and Leek Tart

So, I've been a bit lax with the blogging, christmas seems to have come even earlier this year and time is just slipping away from me!

I have of course, still been cooking, dutifully storing up pictures to share... I've also really gotten into cooking lots at the weekend so there's always something tasty and filling at the end of the day. I made this tart in the same vein and it worked perfectly - leeks sweated down slowly and sweetly with peas thrown in, all encased in a cheesy, eggy custard and baked in flaky pastry ( although I did cheat and buy it from a shop!). Perfect for lunchboxes, or a little slither as a snack, not that is lasts that long...

Most vegetables work well in this quiche-like set up, try this Swiss Chard and Onion Tart, or Potato, onion and Goat's cheese. Combinations on my list to try are:

Bacon, cheddar and tomatoes

Smoked mackerel and dill

Roast tomato, pesto and mozzarella

Broad bean and goats cheese

Asparagus, Lemon and Ricotta

Broccoli and blue cheese

Ingredients

300g shortcrust pastry
2-3 large leeks, finely sliced
50g butter
200g frozen peas (or fresh peas when in season)
3 eggs
400ml cream
175g cheddar, grated
1tsp dijon musard

• Line a 24cm tart or flan tin with the pastry and bake blind
• Boil a kettle and cover the peas in boiling water. Leave to sit for 5mins, then drain.
• Meanwhile fry the leeks gently in the butter for 5mins until completely soft and pour in the defrosted peas, seasoning well.
• Whisk the eggs, cream and mustard together with plenty of seasoning.
• Once the pastry is cooked, tip the pea and leek mixture in and spread out across the whole pastry base, sprinkle over the cheese and pour over the eggy custard.
• Bake at 190C 25 mins until the top is golden and firm to the touch.

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Smoky Baked Sardines and Potatoes

The inspiration for this came from this month's Observer Food Monthly, I'm not sure whether it was pleasant or not reading all those summer recipes in the rain, but they were delicious and I've cooked one already, so they must be good!

I set out to use mackerel, but the fishmonger only had sardines, so I thought I'd give them a go. Sardines are even higher on the sustainability scale than mackerel and another of your omega-3 rich oily fish.. (see Fish online). So, sardines in hand, I merged several recipes and came up with this fiery little dish, I have that amazing Spanish smoked paprika which added a lovely sweet depth and you can't go wrong with crsipy potatoes and slow cooked onions, a meal in itself. We had it with salad, but in retrospect this would probably also go really well with some good quality (homemade?) mayonnaise.

Smoky Baked Sardines and Potatoes

Ingredients
500g new potatoes, sliced into thick coins
3-4 sardine fillets, depending on the size
2 onions, sliced into rings
1tbsp paprika
olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 bunch pasley, finely chopped
1tbsp white wine vinegar
½ lemon

Add the potatoes to a large roasting tray so that they're in one layer, drizzle over oil, sprinkle with salt and half the paprika. Roast in a hot oven for about 20mins until the potatoes are pretty much cooked through.

Meanwhile cook the onions sloowly in oil until very soft, add the rest of the paprika, garlic, vinegar and parsley along with a little extra oil and take off the heat. Lay the sardines over the potatoes, add the onion mixture and bake for a further 8-10mins until the fish is completely cooked through. When cooked, squeeze over a little lemon juice. Read more...