Blue-Eye Cod with Cherry Tomato Stew

Fish. I just don't cook it enough. I love it but my creativity with fish usually stops at baked salmon. Having found a fish I love will definitely change this, though. Blue-eye cod (Trevalla) is firm, delicately-flavoured and just lends itself to so many ways of preparing.

Blue-eyes are huge for eating fish. The four cutlets I picked up from the fish monger weighed almost 1.6kilos. That's 400g of succulent fish meat in the photo above. I'd normally stay away from large fish as I haven't really got the knack for preparing them. Tuna and swordfish seem to always turn out too dry, obviously from overcooking. However, Blue eye was easy to get perfectly crisp on the outside yet moist and tender on the inside.

I was going to prepare this simply fried with a bit of tartare sauce on the side but the husband came home with an interesting loot after a fishing trip on the river. No, he didn't manage to bag a decent catch (the bream were too small and had to be tossed back in) but his fishing buddies sent him home with a bucket of beautiful, juicy cherry tomatoes and a few fresh bay leaves from their garden. These went nicely into a ratatouille-style vegetable stew that beautifully-complemented the fish.


Blue-Eye Cod with Cherry Tomato Stew
serves four

olive oil
1 fennel bulb, sliced thinly
1 medium brown onion, sliced
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 c very ripe cherry tomatoes, chopped finely
4 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp sugar
3 bay leaves, torn
1 yellow capsicum, sliced thinly
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1 Tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley

2 x 400g Blue-eye cutlets
1/2 Tbsp tumeric (optional)
1/2 c flour
salt and pepper

To prepare the vegetables, heat up the olive oil in the pan and toss in the fennel and onions.
Cook until soft. Add the garlic, chopped tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, sugar. Mix around until the tomatoes are soft. Throw in the bay leaf and cover with the heat on low. Simmer until the sauce has thickened up.
In the last few minutes of cooking, add the capsicum and cherry tomatoes. Mix around until thoroughly heated up. Do not let the tomatoes get overcooked. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm.

In the meantime, lightly dredge the fish cutlets in a mix of flour, tumeric (if using), salt and pepper. Fry on both sides until golden and the outsides are crisp.

Serve with the tomatoes and capsicum stew. Garnish with flat-leaf parsley.

Prawn and Green Mango Salad

Here I am desperately clinging on to summer and what better way to defy the seasons than by enjoying the last of the harvest? Sadly, ripe mangos have again pretty much disappeared from the fruit shops but I was lucky enough to stumble upon some cooking mangos.

Filipinos have an affinity for green, sour, under-ripe but crunchy mangos. They are usually simply sliced, dipped in salt or bagoong (shrimp paste) and enjoyed with puckered lips. The more sour they are, the better. Little did I know, though, that Filipinos didn't have the monopoly on the pleasures of this masochistic snacking. Trying to introduce green mangos to an Indian friend a while back, she said 'Oh yeah, we love those back home dipped in salt and chili'. A Kenyan friend declared, 'Hmm, delicious with salt and sugar'.

These days, green mangos are available not only in the Asian shops but at most green grocers in Sydney. Then I came across this Thai recipe for enjoying them with prawns. Bingo! It could only be a winner...

Prawn and Green Mango Salad

300g cooked prawns (shelled, tail left on)

1 cup julienned cooking mangos (the flesh should still be firm and green or very pale yellow)

2 stalks spring onions, sliced

2 red birds-eye chillis, finely chopped

2 Tbs chopped coriander leaves

2 Tbsp chopped mint leaves

3 c salad greens

Dressing

1/4 c water

3 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp minced ginger

2 Tbsp fish sauce

juice from 1 lime

dash of sesame oil

To prepare the dressing, simmer the water, sugar and ginger on low heat until the sugar has melted. When the mixture has cooled down, add the fish sauce, lime juice and sesame oil.

Assemble the salad by mixing together the salad leaves, coriander, mint, spring onion and chillis. Top with the mangos and prawns. Drizzle the dressing over and enjoy!

Chunky Smoked Salmon dip

Oh how I've missed posting and interacting with you my bloggy mates. I can't say I am back with a vengeance, for I am still time-poor and barely hanging on to my sanity just to keep the machinations of housekeeping going while holding down a paid full-time job.

I just thought I had better post some of the things I've made recently (or not so recently) before I forget the recipes.

Smoked salmon. Ah! I love this stuff. I made a dip to take to a friend's baby shower and couple of the ladies asked for the recipe. So, here goes...

Chunky Smoked Salmon dip

200g smoked salmon
1 baby fennel bulb
2 Tbsp creme fraiche
2 Tbsp chopped dill
1 Tbsp finely chopped spring onion
salt and freshly-ground pepper to taste

Roughly shred the smoked salmon into small pieces. Chop the fennel bulb into very fine cubes, you'll need approx. 1/2 a cup.

Mix the creme fraiche, dill spring onions and salt and pepper well.
Add the smoked salmon and fennel and very carefully toss together.


*The richness of the salmon is great with the fresh, crisp and slightly sweet bits of fennel. I served this with some store-bought crackers (baked with bits of caramelised onion) but this would also be lovely with thin pieces of white bread toast.

Pippies and Pumpkin Flowers in Coconut Milk

My family has been putting up with very unimaginative meals of late as I'd been busy preparing goodies for our Christmas give-aways:
Mango and Lime Jam
Atsara
Cinnamon Stars

This is actually the first year that I'm gifting homemade stuff on a large scale. Last year's fudgy brownies and biscuits for the neighbours were whipped up in an afternoon. Not these. Halfway thru, I seriously had to think up friendships and how they (did not) served me in the last year in an effort to shorten the list of recipients. Just kidding!;-)
The jamming and baking did take a lot out of me and I'm still not finished. Another 7 or 8 hampers to put together. Some of those will have these lovely Oreo-style cookies (from Patricia's Technicolor Kitchen) instead of the Cinnamon Stars, for friends who are allergic to nuts. Can't wait to bake and taste those. Now if only I could find the time. Or the energy. Spending too much time in the kitchen and having the kids fall ill totally sapped me of energy and inspiration.

Then, Mum dropped by on the weekend with these:
very pretty Pumpkin flowers from an aunt's garden. Couldn't wait to get my hands on those but the common ways of preparing gourd flowers (stuffed with cheese or in fritters) were not enticing enough.

Another inspiration came from a fellow blogger. Tigerfish' Clam Pasta made me think of Pippies (or Cockles or Surf Clams). The last time I had them were three years ago, on a short visit to Sydney (I was still living in Zurich then) while I was six and a half months pregnant. Hubby and I rented a beach house for a few days with another couple (the girlfriend was eight months pregnant!). The pregnant women suddenly decided that we were in the mood for Pippies and so off we went digging at the closest surf beach within the National Park. Dodging the park ranger (it wasn't exactly legal to gather the clams from the National Park but that's by the by...) and ignoring the eye-rolling by the husbands, two huge ladies had their fill of clams that wonderful sunny afternoon.

Anyhow, despite the long and digressing introduction, combining the Pippies and Pumpkin flowers in a dish was a simple exercise. Sautéed in garlic, onion, ginger and tomatoes, the fresh and clean flavour of the Pippies was not overwhelmed by any strong ingredients. The slight bitterness of the flowers added an interesting dimension to the dish.
I had this with steamed rice but it would also be lovely with some crusty bread for a summer's lunch.


Pippies and Pumpkin Flowers in Coconut Milk
serves 4

1 kg Pippies (or clams)
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp minced ginger
2 medium onions, sliced finely
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1tsp tumeric (optional, I only used for colour)
1 tin coconut milk (400mL)
salt and pepper
15 Pumpkin flowers
5 pcs red chillies*

To prepare the flowers, take out the stamen in the middle and rinse the flowers.

It is best to soak the Pippies in saltwater overnight to get rid of most of the grit.
After soaking, brush the shells in clean cold water.
Steam the Pippies in a large pot with a cup of water. It will only take around 5 minutes for the clams to open up. Drain in a colander, over a bowl to save the cooking juices. Discard any shells that did not open.

In a pan, heat up the oil and sautée the garlic and ginger. When they have coloured a little, add the onion ,tomatoes and tumeric if using. Mix around and cover. Cook until the tomatoes have softened and you have a sauce-like consistency.

Add the coconut milk and half a cup of the Pippies cooking juices.
Let the sauce boil and simmer until it has thickened a little. Throw in the Pippies in their shell. Turn the heat up until the sauce boils. Season with salt and pepper.

Add the Pumpkin flowers and chillies. Quickly and carefully mix, then turn off the heat.

*I left the chillies whole as I knew I would be sharing these with family who don't care much about spicy dishes. If you love your food with zing, chop up the chillies and add at the same time as the onions and tomatoes.

Flambéed Caipirinha Scallops

Since coming back from holidays, all I could think about are seafood and cocktails. Something clicked and I decided to combine the two!

Caipirinha is a favourite summer drink of mine. I finally found a bottle shop in the city that sells Cachaca and am looking forward to treating friends to a round of the refreshing cocktail one weekend soon. In the meantime, I enjoyed the flavours that go in this drink in an unusual way.

The sauce for this scallop dish is very simple, a mix of lime juice, rind and sugar. A glug of Cachaca is added and set alight (I do love some theatrics in the kitchen from time to time!).

The result is simple but special enough to be part of a festive meal with the closest of your friends. This is not a traditional dish served for a traditional festival but I believe that just getting the chance to sit down for a meal with your nearest and dearest is always worth celebrating.

I am sending this over to Anna of Morsels and Musings for the Festive Food Festival.
Pop on over and enjoy the buffet!




Flambéed Caipirinha Scallops

Serves 2 for a light lunch but if you're feeding the masses, bigger quantities are best made in small batches.
I had the scallops with some tumeric and butter rice but they would also be nice served as an appetizer/finger food, sitting on some lettuce leaves.

300g scallops (roe removed)
a knob of butter
2 Tbsp olive oil
4 Tbsp lime juice
zest from 2 limes
1 Tbsp raw or brown sugar
a dash of Cachaca

chives for garnish


Combine in a cup the lime juice, zest and sugar.
In a skillet/pan, heat up the butter and olive oil. Once the butter is melted, add the lime juice mix.
Swish the skillet around to keep the sugar from burning. Once the sauce has thickened and browned slightly, turn up the heat and toss in the scallops.
Stir-fry for around one minute. Add a dash of Cachaca. If cooking over a gas burner, tilt the pan slightly such that the alcohol catches the flame. Otherwise, light up with a match.
Do not let the scallops overcook. They are best flash-cooked to keep them plump and sweet.

Garnish with chives and extra lime slices.

Midweek Quickie#2- Pesto-Crusted Salmon

This is a quick and tasty favourite, not a bad way to get our weekly dose of Omega 3. My little girl loves salmon and usually enjoys this dish with some sweet potato chips (baked in the oven) and broccoli florets.

This time around, I served the fish with some vine-ripened tomatoes which were baked alongside the salmon, and some boiled french beans.

The recipe was adapted from Delia Smith's How to Cook, Book 2. In the original recipe, pecorino cheese was used for the topping. I used the same parmesan that was also in the pesto.

Pesto-Crusted Salmon
serves 2

2 pcs salmon fillets (approx 150g each)
squeeze of lemon juice
2Tbsp basil pesto
2 Tbsp bread crumbs
2 Tbsp grated parmesan
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
oil spray


Pre-heat the oven to 220deg C.
Line a baking tray with foil and lightly spray with oil. Place the salmon fillets on the tray and season with salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice.
Mix the pesto with 1Tbsp of breadcrumbs to form a paste. Spread this over the fish. Sprinkle the remaining breadcrumbs over the pesto paste. Lastly, scatter the parmesan over the breadcrumbs.
Cook the fish in the oven until the topping is golden, around 10minutes.

Sauteed Chokos with Prawns

They are not the prettiest of vegetables but chokos once helped sustain a generation during the Depression. In the temperate zones of Australia, the plant is evergreen and can produce abundantly for most part of the year. Apparently, chokos became a staple when times were hard and this humble vegetable was served up in various guises. It was also mainly used to bulk up dishes when traditional ingredients were too scarce or expensive. This,perhaps, is partly responsible for it being seen as an 'old-fashioned' vegetable now. Granted, it's not the tastiest of vegetables either but its very subtle flavour makes it more amenable to the influence of herbs and spices. The choko can be used in curries, stir-fries, mash and even pies.
Interestingly, there was a rumour that went around in Sydney (not sure if this was Australia-wide) that the McDonald's apple pie fillings were actually made from chokos! Of course, the company has went on to refute it. It would also have been improbable given that chokos are normally more expensive than Granny Smith apples.
*Hmm, this gives me a little project- use chokos as pie filling and see how it turns out...*

I actually grew up in the Philippines knowing this vegetable as sayote. Alternate names for it include chayote, christophene and mirliton. This is one of the few vegetables I actually liked as a little girl as there was no bitterness in it at all compared to other greens. Belonging to the gourd family, it has a pretty bland taste similar to cucumber or some melons. My Mum would usually put it in nilaga (literally 'boiled' meat with lots of vegetables like onion, potato, cabbage, carrots, etc) or as a substitute for green papaya in tinola (a gingery soup with chicken and pepper leaves). Mum tells me that the shoots and leaves also make for a popular Filipino dish although I don't recall ever having tried it. I first saw a choko plant soon after we moved to Australia where the hardy vine commonly swamp fences and outhouses. My dad and aunts also started growing chokos in their backyards and there's always too big a harvest for the family to eat. Chokos are most abundant from late summer to early autumn but it is not unusual for vines to fruit for most part of the year especially in warmer climates. A single vine can produce bucketloads of vegetable but you'd be lucky to find neighbours who would actually be glad to partake a share of the harvest. Chokos seem out of favour these days, which is a shame. They are high in fibre and low in calories, an important consideration in food ingredients considering current nutritional concerns.

One of the dishes my Mum makes with chokos (and the only dish I know where this vegetable actually takes centre stage) is a simple sautee with garlic, onion and tomatoes. She would throw in some pork in there or sometimes, prawns. I tried recreating this dish with prawns, to coincide with this week's Weekend Herb Blogging. It is such a great event as it always proves to be a forum for discovering unusual ingredients. Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen started this event. You should check out her fabulous blog which highlights fresh, simple and healthy fare. This week's host is Myriam, owner of the creative apron behind Once Upon a Tart-home to decadent and delicious recipes.

Preparing the choko for cooking is easy. Cut the vegetable in half and then into segments. I use a potato peeler to take the skin and seed off. At this stage, I rinse the segments thoroughly as choko sap is quite slimey and tacky. Then cut up into desired size.


To make 2 servings of this dish, you will need:

1 large choko, cut into bite-size pieces
1 clove garlic, sliced thinly
1 medium red onion, cut into crescents
1 large ripe tomato, chopped
300g prawns, shelled and de-veined
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
salt and pepper

In a wok or fry pan, heat up the oil. Add the garlic and onion and mix around until the onion is transluscent. Add the tomatoes, stir and then cover for two minutes or until very soft and the juices have turned into a thickish sauce.
Add the chokos and let cook until tender. Toss in the prawns and stir around until they turn pink (probably needs only a minute). Season with salt and a generous amount of pepper.

Whitebait Tempura on Eggplant

Any sensible homemaker will tell you to always have a list when you go out to do your shopping in order to save money, time and avoid unnecessary purchases. Well, I do go to the shops always armed with a list but sticking to it is totally a different matter. Going to the butchers, greengrocers and seafood markets are always a gamble and an adventure. My weekly menus usually go out the window when I see what's on offer. There's always something to tempt, interest, challenge anyone who enjoys cooking.

I was at the seafood shop on the weekend for some prawns when a tray of the cutest, tiniest fish (sorry guys, I guess Nemo beat you at the auditions) caught my eyes. Hmm, it seems almost sick to think of them cute and then have the intention to eat them :-(
Anyhow, I had to forgo the prawns this time in favour of whitebait, which I knew straightaway will be battered crisp and deep-fried. Whitebait refers to the young or fry of various fish species. In Europe (specifically the UK), it refers to young herring while in Australia and New Zealand, it predominantly refers to the young of some species of the Galaxias family. The fish would be on average, around 20-50mm in size and is eaten whole- head, guts and all.
There are strict regulations that apply to whitebait fishing in Australia and NZ to help conservation of native species so that alleviates my guilt a bit for feasting on these cute little creatures.

Whitebait dishes appear on many Australian restaurant menus but I've really only had them deep-fried and served with aioli. I wanted to try them with an Asian slant.

This recipe produced a plateful of fritters, enough for 4 people as a starter.

You will need:

300g whitebait, thoroughly washed and pat-dried
1 large eggplant, cut into 1 cm slices crossways
oil spray
oil for deep frying
a few sprigs of Thai basil

for the batter:
1 1/4 c self-raising flour
1/4 c corn flour
1 1/2 c cold soda water
4 ice cubes

for the sauce:
6 kaffir lime leaves, shredded
1 red chili, sliced thinly
2Tbsp soy sauce
1Tbsp oyster sauce
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 c water
1tsp cornflour dissolved in 2Tbsp water

Preheat oven to 200deg C. Place eggplants on a lined baking tray and slightly coat with oil spray. Bake eggplant in the oven for around 10mins or until tender then set aside.

To make the batter, mix the flours together in a bowl with a generous amount of salt and pepper. Put the soda water in another bowl with the ice cubes. Tip the flour mix into the soda water in one go. Very lighty mix (I did this with a chopstick) leaving some lumps of flour (I believe this gives extra crunch). Drop the whitebait into the bowl and again, only lightly mix. If the batter is too runny, add a bit more self-raising flour.

Get the oil up to heat for deep-frying. Take spoonfuls of the battered whitebait and drop in the oil. Fry until golden.

Meanwhile, make the sauce by mixing all ingredients in a small sauce pan. Slowly bring to the boil and stir until the sauce is slightly thick.

To arrange the dish, take a piece of baked eggplant and drizzle with sauce. Stack 2 or 3 fritters on top. Garnish with a few leaves of Thai basil and enjoy.
Just don't think of Nemo while you eat;-)

Fish Friday

I tend to experiment a lot with different spices to use with fish. What I have found is that it's difficult to stuff things up if you use a white fish with a mild flavour. For this dish, I used New Zealand hoki fillets (blue grenadier) but any firm white fish will do.
The fried fish was served with a citrusy couscous. To round up the vegetable component of the dish, I added slices of fennel (oranges and fennel are a classic pairing).


Spiced fish:

400g hoki fillets
1/3 c plain flour
1 Tbsp corn flour
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp paprika
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp sumac (optional)
oil for shallow frying

Mix all ingredients, except the sumac, together.
Dredge the fish fillets in the mixture.
Fry until golden then sprinkle with sumac, if using.

Citrusy Couscous (adapted from Australian Women's Weekly)

1 c couscous
1 c water
1 Tbsp butter
1 orange, peeled and sliced
1 small fennel bulb, sliced
1/3 c slivered almonds
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp grated lemon rind
1/3 c mint, torn into small pieces


Brown the almond slivers and set aside.
Boil water in a saucepan and pour in the couscous. Remove from heat and leave for 5 minutes to absorb the water. Put the saucepan back on low heat, fluff up the couscous with a fork and add the butter. Continue mixing with the fork until butter has melted.
Add in the lemon juice, grated lemon rind, fennel and almonds. Toss everything together and sprinkle the mint leaves over the couscous before serving.