Category: Fish

Moules Marinieres

Lots of places to pick fresh mussels around the coast. This is a great way to cook them.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2kg mussels, cleaned and scrubbed
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 4 shallots
  • 2 tbsp chopped parsley
  • 25g butter
  • 600ml white wine
  • 25ml pastis such as pernod (optional)
  • salt and pepper

METHOD:

  • Put the shallots, wine, pastis, garlic, and parsley in a large pan and simmer for five minutes
  • Add the butter and the mussels, turn the heat to high, and cook until the mussels are open. Shake the pan a few times to ensure that the mussels cook evenly.
  • Season, and serve the mussels in soup bowls with the liquor as a sauce, and chopped parsley as a garnish.

Lobster with creole sauce

We had a very large lobster, which isn’t usually that good a deal: lots of shell, not much meat, and a worry about what to do with it. Plus it had lost its claws along the way, hence the reason why it wasn’t that marketable. I made this with it; delicious and I reckon it would work well with monkfish as well, or prawn tails. I poached the lobster for 15 minutes and saved the liquor for use in the recipe. If you doubled the recipe to use 2 lobsters, then you wouldn’t be using half onions etcetera.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 large cooked lobster, meat removed from tail, plus save the liquor from boiling it.
  • 25g butter
  • 2 tsp creole spice blend (from seasoned pioneers)
  • 1/2 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • 1/2 green pepper, finely chopped
  • 1 carrot, finely chopped
  • 1 tin tomatoes

METHOD:

  • Roughly chop the cooked lobster meat and put it in the fridge in a plastic tub along with 2 tsp creole spice blend, shaken to distribute the spice.
  • Melt the butter in a large pan and gently fry the onion for several minutes, until translucent.
  • Add the garlic, green pepper and carrot, and continue to fry for a few more minutes.
  • Meantime, use a soup wand to purée the tomatoes in the tin. Add to the onion and carrot mixture
  • Simmer the sauce very slowly for around 45 minutes, adding a little of the liquor from boiling the lobster if it looks as if it is getting a little dry.
  • Add the chopped lobster meat, and simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the lobster is heated through. Serve on a bed of rice.

Microwaved Cod in a creole sauce

Cod Creole: I sniggered. Recipe adapted from The Microwave Kitchen Handbook. I picked this because we had some locally caught cod.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 500g cod, cut into bite-sized chunks
  • Salt and pepper
  • 15ml lime juice
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp creole spice mix from Seasoned Pioneers
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
  • 1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
  • 1 can chopped tomatoes

METHOD:

  • Put the cod in a plastic fridge container with a lid, and add the salt and pepper, lime juice and creole spice mixture, and store in the fridge until needed.
  • In an oven-proof bowl, put the olive oil, garlic, onion and pepper, cover and microwave on high for 10 minutes, stirring a couple of times.
  • Add the cod and chopped tomatoes, and microwave for another 8 to 10 minutes, stirring twice, until the fish is cooked, and flakes easily.

We served this with rice.

Cod, Chorizo and Sherry

MMMM

INGREDIENTS:

  • Olive Oil
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 1 red pepper, sliced
  • 1 clove of garlic, sliced
  • 1 chorizo ring, thinly sliced
  • 150ml dry sherry, such as Tio Pepe
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 can butter beans
  • 4 fillets of cod
  • 1 can of chopped organic tomatos
  • Chopped parsley

METHOD:

  • Heat the oil, and fry the onion on a medium heat until soft, then add the peppers for another couple of minutes
  • When the pepper is softening, add the garlic, then the chorizo (effectively, chop the onions, and fry, chop the peppers while the onion is frying, prepare the garlic while the pepper is frying, chop the chorizo while the garlic is frying.)
  • After a couple of minutes, add the paprika and allow the flavours to mingle.
  • Pour the sherry over the hot mixture, and let it bubble, then add the tomatos and butter beans.
  • Bring to a simmer then add the cod fillets, and season.
  • After 5 minutes or so, when the cod seems nearly done, take of the heat, add the parsley and serve with fresh crusty bread.