Cob in foil on the fire

A friend of ours rang us up the other day and offered us a fish which he had just caught.  How can one refuse such a generous offer.  Even better was the gift of it being scaled, gutted and filleted.  BONUS!  Thanks Bernie, you are a star.

All ready to be wrapped up an put on the coals

With having Pete home the last while and the weather being so lovely in the evenings, it is no surprise that we braai (barbecue) just about every other night and enjoy dining al fresco.

This cob was so moreish that we have enjoyed it twice in one week.  Now to wait for another kind offer of more fish or get on the river and catch one ourselves.  You can substitute the cob with any other fish – the simple flavours will compliment anything from sole to stock fish.

There really is no recipe for this, more a guideline, a un-recipe if you like.

Fish in Foil

Ingredients

Fish fillet of choice
Butter
Olive oil
Coarse salt
Black pepper
Lemon zest
Fresh Dill

Method

1. Place the fish on a piece of tin foil.
2. Place all of the ingredients over the fish.
3. Wrap the fish in the foil tightly.
4. Hand the package to your husband to cook over the coals.

No prizes for this pic but the fish was delicious!

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Smoked Salmon Terrine

After John’s winning Christmas Lunch Menu and finalising the numbers for Christmas, it seems we have quite a few, let’s call them “particular eaters” so we have had to modify the menu quite substantially and still can’t seem to please everybody’s palettes.   Oh well, we have tried our best.

We have settled on a Smoked Salmon Terrine as our starter and just to ensure we have all of the ratios right, I made a test terrine and it is just perfect!  Think I may add a few prawns to the one for Christmas Day or possibly serve the terrine with a couple of prawns on the side, also I will make two double portions of the recipe listed below to feed the masses.

100g smoked salmon ribbons/slices
15ml gelatine powder
60ml hot water
125g Philadelphia cream cheese
100ml mayonnaise
15ml chives chopped
15ml lemon juice
212g tin pink salmon
Salt and pepper to taste

 Method

1. Rub the inside of a terrine or loaf tin with oil and line with cling film.  Line with the salmon slices arranging them so they overlay slightly and come far enough over the side of the terrine to cover the surface once filled.
2. Dissolve the gelatine in the hot water.
3. Place the cream cheese, mayonnaise, chives, lemon juice and gelatine in a bowl and mix together using a whisk.
4. Add the salmon and stir to combine.
5. Pour into the terrine and cover the top with the overlay of salmon.
6. Refrigerate until set.
7. Turn out of terrine and slice into portions and serve with crackers.

Sakura Sushi

What a treat; on my last trip to visit the folks, we went to Sakura Sushi twice – yes twice and I was only there for 10 days. Oh happy days. 🙂

Sakura Sushi have a special at the moment to celebrate their 10th anniversary.  For R100.00 you can eat as much as you like excluding 3 of the plates.  The prices work according to the colour of the plate, so it was easy to see what we were not allowed to eat as part of the special.  Well, let me tell you, I seriously battled to make up my R100.00 worth of sushi and I am a sushi fanatic.  I ate approximately R65.00 worth and was stuffed but fear not, I took my time and gobbled enough sushi to make up my quota.

As you are seated, you are given a nunu little bowl with pickled ginger and wasabi.  You have another cute little bowl which you can fill with as much soy sauce as your heart desires and obviously chopsticks which I seemed not to photograph.

Then it is time to dig in!  Where to start…  There are so many wonderful choices whizzing past on the conveyor belt of happiness.  And just when you think you have chosen the right one, another moreish option comes past.

It turned out that the black plates were all of our favourites – they all contained salmon or prawn and avo – wonder if that had something to do with it.

Here you can see why it is so difficult to make a decision – talk about being spoilt for choice.

Would you look at my skill using chopsticks. 🙂

The decor of Sakura Sushi is beautifully done with a minimalist feel, which I love.

We were wondering if there are any spelling mistakes in this magnificent wall hanging.  I wonder what is says.

Some jasmine tea was a perfect ending to a truly memorable meal.

I was in no way compensated by Sakura Sushi.  I merely wanted to share my experience with you, so they were kind enough to allow me to take photos.

Moms Fish Pie

Yep, this is yet another wonderful meal cooked by Mom, and this time I wrote down the recipe to share with you all.  This is wonderfully rich and comforting meal all wrapped up in one dish – I highly recommend that you make it ASAP.  Sorry about the picture quality – it does not do Moms food justice – one day though I will have a “real” camera and take much better shots, promise.

Ingredients

4 medium potatoes – peeled and chopped
Butter, milk, salt and pepper to taste
500ml milk
1 garlic clove crushed
60ml butter
60ml flour
2 x 25g sachets fish stock concentrate – Mom used Ina Paarman’s
120g salmon cut into 1 inch cubes – reserve any skin and bones
120g kingklip cut into 1 inch cubes- reserve any skin and bones
50g haddock cut into 1 inch cubes – reserve any skin and bones
30ml chives chopped
30ml parsley chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Boil the potatoes until tender, drain,mash and add butter, milk, salt and pepper to taste.
2. In a pot, bring the milk, garlic and any skin and bones to a boil and simmer for a few minutes.  Strain and set aside.
3. Melt the butter in a pot and add the butter to form a roux and add the strained milk and stir until thickened.
4. Add the fish stock conentrate and add additional salt and pepper if required.
5. Stir in the fish and herbs and place in a baking dish.
6. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
7. Spoon or pipe the mashed potato over the fish and bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the fish has cooked through.

Mom on ocassion will top the fish with puff pastry instead of mashed potatoes.

A guest post with Crab Carbonara

Natalie  over at What we ate today  and I first got to know each other when I starting blogging and as it turns out, we started our blogs at the same time in April 2010. Natalie was kind enough to ask for me to do a guest post for her and I am finally meeting my commitment to do so today – better late than never they say.   I feel that I do need to qualify my lateness.  Being like a dog at a bone, I was not willing to change my mind on the main ingredient – crab meat, which I battled to find.  I was quite set on doing a quiche from the get go, however, received a few unsavoury looks from a few family members so I asked the question on facebook:  Which would you prefer:  a)crab cakes, b)crab pasta or c)crab quiche.  I think the cakes won in number of votes but after a bit more thought and input from Mom, I settled on b)crab pasta.  What helped make the decision was with using king crab, I wanted to present it in all of its magnificence and not have it hidden away in a crab cake.  So with no further ado, I present you with the very moreish Crab Carbonara.

Crab Carbonara

Inredients

30ml olive oil
1 large garlic clove crushed
1 birds eye chilli crushed
Zest of 1 lemon (7.5ml)
30ml lemon juice
45ml green onion chopped
45ml parsley chopped – flat leaf or curly
45ml coriander chopped
150g cooked crab meat

100g homemade pasta cooked
2 eggs beaten
45ml parmesan cheese grated
Salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in a pan and add all of the other ingredients excluding the crab and stir for one minute.
2. Add the crab and stir gently until heated through and set aside and keep warm.
3. Place the pasta in the pan and toss to coat and heat through, adding more olive oil if it seems dry or is sticking together.
4. Add the eggs and toss constantly with tongs until the eggs are barely set.
5. Add the parmesan cheese and toss again. Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Divide the pasta into 2 serving plates and top with the crab mixture.

Pete’s Chicken and Shrimp Kebabs

I interrupt my scheduling again today for the brilliant recipe my husband made yesterday.  

We were having my brother and his family over for a braai (barbecue) and we were wanting to serve something different for a change so when my husband woke up yesterday morning and suggested kebabs, we set off to our local store to see what they had on offer.  We went through a few iterations of goodies in our basket until we settled on chicken breasts, shrimps, red peppers and onions.  For the marinade, my husband used a bottle of beer, which in hindsight should have been half a bottle, just because the marinade was a bit too watery for basting and a bottle of sweet chilli sauce.

These kebabs were absolutely delicious and are well worth making.

 

Ingredients

18 wooden skewers soaked in water
4 chicken breasts cut into cubes
1 packet frozen shrimps defrosted
2 red peppers de-seeded and cubed
1 large onion cut into cubes
1/2 bottle beer
295ml bottle sweet chilli sauce

Method

1. Combine the beer and chilli sauce in a bowl and add the chicken and shrimps and mix through.  Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
2. Alternate threading the skewers with the peppers, chicken, onion and shrimp – any order will do.
3. Braai over mediums coals basting with the marinade.

 

Submitted by:   Pete Frielinghaus, Mauritius

Cindy’s Fishcakes

I interrupt my own scheduling to share with you a recipe that a new blogger friend was kind enough to post on her blog for me – so special.  Cindy is a fellow South African who blogs about her fiction, poetry and recipes.

Patience has never been one of my strongest virtues so I pushed aside my original dinner plans for last night to make these super yummy fishcakes.  Sadly I am out of ginger so omitted this from the recipe and didn’t think that it was missing at all, however will be making them again soon including the ginger to appreciate the full Thai flavour.  Due to the heat here I popped them in the fridge for 20 minutes just to firm up slightly before cooking.

Best of all, these are an absolute cinch to make – just my kind of recipe.  Thanks again Cindy.

 

(slightly adapted from The Only Cin)

Ingredients

1 tin Alaskan or Norwegian salmon – (I used a 418g tin of John West Wild pink Salmon)
2 slices brown bread crusts removed – (I only had white so used that)
1 large egg lightly beaten
½ cup chopped parsley
½ cup chopped coriander
1 medium onion finely chopped
1 chilli finely chopped – (I used a small red chilli and removed the seeds)
Juice of 1 lime
1 teaspoon crushed ginger – (I omitted this and added salt and pepper instead)

Method

1. Drain the fish and reserve the liquid.
2. Remove the skin and bones from fish and place in a bowl.
3. Soak the bread in the reserved liquid and squeeze out the excess before adding to the fish.
4. Add all the other ingredients and mix together.
5. Divide the mixture into desired size cakes – I made 8.  Cindy does them in tablespoon size.
6. Fry over a medium heat in olive oil until golden brown on both sides. 

 

Low GI Hake Mornay

This meal is even a hit with those not so keen on eating fish and is great served with new potatoes and peas or alternatively with a green salad.  New potatoes are the lowest in GI in the spud family and big potatoes are very GI so another option as an accompaniment to this dish is mashed potato, so to help lower the GI, cook potato and sweet potato together.

 

Ingredients

400g hake fillets skin removed
5ml chicken stock powder
250ml skimmed milk
2 eggs
30g low fat cheese grated
15ml low fat margarine melted

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C.
2. Place the fish on a lightly greased (use non-stick spray) ovenproof dish.
3. Sprinkle the chicken stock powder over the fish.
4. Beat the milk and eggs together and pour over the fish.
5. Sprinkle the cheese on top and pour over the margarine.
6. Bake until the milk mixture has set, approximately 30 minutes.

 

Submitted by:  Desiree Visagie, Johannesburg

Fish Curry

I was introduced to this magnificent recipe by my husbands PA, shortly after we settled here in Mauritius.  It is true authentic Hindi cooking at it’s best.  Nanda knows it to be one of my favourites and I always get a portion when she makes it for her family.  She was even kind enough to make a special batch for my parents when they were visiting.

 

Ingredients

5 tomatoes
3 garlic cloves
3 curry leaves
2 small onions sliced
2 tbsp curry powder
Pinch chilli powder
Pinch turmeric powder
Salt and pepper to taste
45ml oil
Pinch fenugreek seeds
1kg hake fillets

Method

1. Grind the tomatoes, garlic, curry leaves and one of the onions to form a paste.
2. Add the curry powder, chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt and pepper to the paste and mix through.
3. Heat the oil in a pan and add the fenugreek seed and the remaining onion and fry for 5 minutes.
4. Rub the paste over the fish and place in the pan with the oil and place any remaining paste over the top of the fish and cover with a lid and cook over a low heat for 10 minutes per side.

Serve with basmati rice and a cucumber salad.

 

Submitted by:  Nanda Seebaluck, Mauritius

Kedgeree

This is another great recipe for when you are entertaining a lot of people.  It is much easier to serve a yummy meal like this, ensuring that you aren’t in the kitchen the whole evening cooking.  Not everybody enjoys basmati rice so you can replace it with your favourite.

 

Ingredients

680g smoked haddock fillets
2 bay leaves
250g basmati rice cooked
115g butter
1 medium onion finely chopped
1 garlic clove finely chopped
2.5ml curry powder
Juice of 1 lemon
Handful parsley chopped
Handful coriander chopped
4 eggs hard boiled

Method

1. Place the haddock fillets in a large frying pan with the bay leaves and cover with cold water.  Bring to boil and simmer for about 5 minutes until the fish is cooked. 
2. Remove the fish from the pan and when cool enough to handle remove the skin and flake the fish into chunks and set aside.
3. Melt the butter in a pan over a low heat then add the onion and garlic and soften gently for 5 minutes. 
4. Add the curry powder and cook for 2 minutes. 
5. Add the lemon juice, fish and rice to the pan and heat through gently.
6. Add the parsley and coriander and stir through.
7. Transfer into a serving dish and top with the eggs cut into quarters. 

 

Submitted by:  Mandy Frielinghaus, Mauritius

Seafood in Crispy Batter

Aah, the pleasure of biting into a crispy batter encrusted prawn dipped in a tangy tartare sauce; and then when you know you have had enough and you are full, you find space to fit in one more, just because they are yummy.  After all, it’s not as if they will stay crispy until tomorrow.

 

Ingredients

250ml cake flour
60ml cornflour
2ml mustard powder
5ml salt
1 extra large egg
160ml ice cold water
30ml lemon juice
1kg seafood of choice

Method

1. Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. Beat the egg, water and lemon juice and add to the dry ingredients and beat until smooth.
3. Leave the batter to stand for 15 minutes.
4. Dip the seafood into the batter and fry in oil until golden brown.
5. Drain on brown paper.

Serve with a tartare sauce.

Submitted by:  Mandy Frielinghaus, Mauritius

Baked Fish

I am all for comfort food and easy food and this recipe encompasses both.  I didn’t have any white cheddar so used yellow and it was equally as yummy.

 

Ingredients

500g hake fillets
1 packet white onion soup powder
250ml milk
250ml cream
Lemon juice to taste
Salt and pepper to taste

Topping

375ml fresh bread crumbs
250ml white cheddar cheese
125ml fresh parsley chopped

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Place the fish in a baking dish.
3. Combine all the other ingredients and pour over the fish.
4. Combine all the topping ingredients and place on top of the fish.
5. Bake for approximately 40 minutes.

Serve with a crisp garden salad.

Submitted by:  Mandy Frielinghaus, Mauritius

Fish in Cream

This is one of my all time favourite meals from as far back as I can remember.  The taste holds such fond memories.  It is incredible what a “taste-explosion” three ingredients can make, plus it takes all of 3 minutes to prep – brilliant!  You can also replace the hake (stock fish) with sole.

 

Ingredients

500g fresh hake fillets
250ml cream
Juice of a medium lemon

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Place the fish in a baking dish.
3. Cover with the cream.
4. Juice the lemon over the cream.
5. Bake for 35 – 40 minutes.

Serve with mashed potatoes and baby peas.

Submitted by:  Val Olsen, Johannesburg

Fish Cakes

These fish cakes are so delicious – they taste even better when my husband makes them 🙂  We have tried different varieties of fish and stock fish / hake is perfect and we usually serve it with a simple crisp green salad and balsamic dressing.

 

Ingredients

800g fish of choice
125ml milk
60ml water
7 medium potatoes cooked and mashed
60g butter
Salt and coarsely ground black pepper to taste
60ml fresh parsley chopped or 20 ml dried
1 extra large egg lightly beaten
250 ml cake flour
250 ml dried breadcrumbs
2 extra large eggs for crumbing
Oil for frying 

Method

1. Poach the fish in the milk and water until cooked.
2. Drain, debone, skin and flake.
3. Boil the potatoes, drain and mash. Add the salt, pepper, parsley and the egg.
4. Divide into approximately eighteen balls and form flat fish cakes.
5. Roll in the flour then the beaten egg and lastly the breadcrumbs.
6. Leave in the fridge for 30 minutes to allow the crumbs to set.
7. Fry in shallow oil until golden brown on both sides.

Submitted by:  Pete Frielinghaus, Mauritius

Stir Fried Thai Garlic Prawns

These prawns are one of those “taste-explosion” dishes that leaves you wanting more!  It is incredibly quick and easy and makes for a fabulous starter for a decadent dinner party.

Ingredients

2 garlic cloves
30ml oil
24 prawns (heads off)
15ml chopped fresh coriander

Dipping Sauce

1 garlic clove
2 sprigs fresh coriander
60ml lime juice
3ml sugar
3ml green curry paste
2ml minced chilli

Method

1. Peel and finely chop the garlic.
2. Heat the oil in a wok and fry the prawns and garlic for 1 to 2 minutes until just cooked.
3. Stir through the coriander.

Dipping Sauce

1. Peel and finely chop the garlic.
2. Finely chop the coriander and add to the garlic.
3. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.

 

Submitted by:  Mandy Frielinghaus, Mauritius