The BEST Fishcakes I've managed...

Make sure you've got mash to hand- from the night before (so it already tastes good, butter, egg, cream, salt & pepper) 

Then... Melt butter and add the following:

1/2 Onion White and finely cubed or finely slice red onion

Finely Diced leeks

Zest of half a lemon

Salt & pepper

Sliced up capers

Cook until soft and translucent

Smoked Haddock Fillet

Place in a tray and pour boiling milk over the fish with a bay leaf and some tarragon sprigs, this cooks the fish through but doesn't overcook it so you still get big chunks. Leave for 10 mins with cling film over the top, then drain but keep some of the fishy milk just in case you need to moisten mixture at a later stage. Make sure there are NO bones, ask your fish man to pin bone and skin the fillet. 

Mix together the mash, fish (gently so you don't break up the fish), freshly sliced parsley, extra lemon zest to taste and add capers and extra salt and pepper if needed. Don't be shy to taste this as you're going. Add a big handful of breadcrumbs  (use stale bread mixed with parmesan and lemon zest if you have, I tore this up with my hands as couldn't be bothered to get the blender out- rustic works)

If you have metal cutters use these to make the shapes uniform or take the lid off both sides of a tin of tuna and use this. Once you have the fishcakes in shape leave them to set in the fridge for 1hrs, they hold their shape better this way.

Gently cover each cake with flour then whisked eggs and finally roll in breadcrumbs. 

Breadcrumbs- Stale bread, finely chopped parsley, parmesan, lemon zest, black pepper.

Gently fry in a generous amount of oil, at least 2cm deep for about 4minutes on each side until golden then drain on paper towel and get ready to serve, if you're doing a load you can keep these warm in the oven.

These are worth the effort...

As a coleslaw obsessive this was a perfect combination...

Coleslaw:

Red Cabbage finely sliced

White Cabbage finely sliced

Capers coz I love them

Dijonaise because its a compromise between salad cream and mayo.

red wine vinegar to add tang

Salt & Pepper

Sweet Chilli Sauce...

FIT

Thai (ish) Fish Stew with Rice & Black Beans

Fish Shop stock, not what I actually ended up buying, got distracted

Gurnard- Very sustainable and a bycatch, filleted by Fishman Adam.

All the smoked things I haven't got round to trying, along with homemade fish and crab cakes...

3 cloves of Garlic

Big Handfull of cherry tomatoes chopped up finely

1 Fresh Lime

1 Fresh red chilli (wiht seeds for extra spice)

Fresh Coriander- big handful

Add 1 tin of tomatoes

Dash of Tequila or big splash of white wine

Grated ribbons of courgette (use the potato peeler)- These cook in no time

Once you've seasoned with salt and black pepper your sauce and are happy with it (plus everything else is ready to go) add the mussels and white fish.

Then Add courgette on top of the fish and give it all a big shake up so the mussels open. 

- A great tip that my Mum taught me was to give all mussels a tap with a knife before cooking and when washing them, if they're open and still alive they will close back up ready for cooking- as you want them. Mussels are cooked when they open up.

Add extra chilli and coriander. The fish is cooked once its no longer transparent.

The sauce is light, fresh from the lime juice and coriander and not too thick.

So good and healthy, a perfect balanced meal and not too bad if dieting ( rice can be left out and can be had like a soup) I obviously had it all and seconds!

Easy for a dinner party too.

:-)

The FITEST Roast this year...Get prepared for your Sunday lunch NOW!

Ted keeping an eye on the neighbourhood 

Rinse the chicken under cold water, cover in Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper, Oregano, you can push butter under the skin with garlic if you like, but this was a good free range chicken and not sure always need to do that to keep them moist and juicy. I put chopped onion inside and some underneath so the chicken didn't stick to the pan.

It wasn't huge so cooked it for 1.10 ish- Pierce one of the thighs and make sure the juice runs clear before serving. The chicken can rest for up to 30mins before serving (good if you need oven room)

Crumble recipe

I used apples, raspberries and raisins

190g of butter for crumble topping

Let the cubes rest covered in flour for 30mins them crumble it through your fingers for around 8-10mins so the crumble goes beyond just small crumbs.

Yorkshire Pudding Mixture- I always cheat with this and do maybe 200g of plain flour then add 4 eggs a good pinch of salt and then add milk until the mixture is runny but still quite thick as I like my yorkshires a bit eggy.

If there's still lumps put in the fridge and mix again before pouring into the moulds. Make sure you oil the yorkshire pudding tin first so they come out after cooking on 200 for 20/25mins.

Boil Potatoes until they're about to break, 15mins at least or until the knife won't stay stuck in the potato. Give them a shake so they're bruised and fluffy. then sprinkle with flour. Heat the oil for the potatoes and cover the potatoes all round with oil so they go crispy while roasting and not just on one side. Salt them, you can add rosemary and garlic 20 mins before taking them out the oven for the best flavour.

You can put your potatoes in around your chicken, they'll take around 50mins so get the chicken cooking first.

Bread Sauce- 

3 slices of white bread, crusts removed

a big splash of milk, enough to cover the bread

3/4 cloves

1 bay leaf

Salt & Pepper

A nob of butter

Keep stirring until the breads dissolved then re heat on low when ready to serve.

Apples for crumble- Granny smith do work if you can't get cooking apples...you might need to add a splash of water before adding crumble as these don't have as much water as the cooking apples do.

Cover with sugar and a generous amount of cinnamon, plash of water.

Baste the chicken with it's on juices to make the skin go crunchy and stop the chicken drying out.

Bread sauce all done.

Roast Chicken

Paxo stuffing balls, if you're going all out mix with sausage meat

Cook for 25/30mins

Oil heated first (also make sure your tin -I use a muffin tin to get them higher) is non stick, it helps!

Make the non cooks lay the table...and do the washing up.

YUM and stick a bit stodgy in the middle :-) I could go less cooked than this.

PERFECT

Veggie version ( Pre meat)

Meaty version

SO GOOD

Perfect, even if I do say so myself/ a bit smug!

Mikey (my food partner) has his very own way of managing to eat his roast- The stuffed Yorkshire pudding way, I wasn't convinced, but equally not against it.

Pleased!!!

The Crumble...cook for 30/40 mins on 180

ice cream & double cream...I'm indecisive!!