Simple pan-fried trout

From Jamie’s Ministry of Food
Ingredients
Serves 2

2 chunky trout fillets skin on, scaled, and bones removed
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
olive oil
a pat of butter
a few big handfuls of spinach
1 lemon

To prepare your trout:

Put a non-stick frying pan on medium to high heat. Sprinkle the trout fillets with some salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Rub both sides of the fish until well-coated.

To cook your trout:

When the pan is nice and hot, add your trout fillets, skin side down, and cook for 3 minutes until crisp. While cooking, shake the pan around a little. When the heat has crept up nearly to the top of the fish and you think they’re ready, flip the fillets over for 30 seconds to cook from the other side-this will give you a crisp skin and a soft flakiness to the insides. Remove from the heat and place on your serving plates, skin side up. Add the butter and the spinach to the pan with a sprinkling of salt and pepper and place back on the heat. Keep moving the spinach around for just a minute using a pair of tongs. When it has wilted it’s ready to come off of the heat.

Serve your fillets with the spinach and lemon wedges for squeezing over.

Pepper-crusted salmon fillet with garlic chickpeas

From BBC GoodFood More One-Pot Recipes
Serves 4

Ingredients
4 skinless salmon fillets , about 150g/5oz each
2 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp paprika
grated zest and juice 2 limes
1 tbsp olive oil
2 x 400g/14oz cans chickpeas
3 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves , finely chopped
150ml vegetable stock
130g bag baby spinach

Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Put the salmon fillets in a shallow ovenproof dish in a single layer. Roughly crush the peppercorns with a pestle and mortar, or tip into a cup and crush with the end of a rolling pin. Mix with the paprika, lime zest and a little sea salt. Brush the salmon lightly with oil, then sprinkle over the pepper mix. Bake for 12-15 mins until the salmon is just cooked.

Meanwhile, tip the chickpeas into a colander, rinse well under cold running water, then drain. Heat the oil in a pan, add the garlic, then gently cook for 5 mins without browning. Add the chickpeas and stock, then warm through. Crush the chickpeas lightly with a potato masher, then add the spinach and stir well until the leaves are wilted. Add the lime juice and some salt and pepper, then heat through. Serve with the salmon.

Grilled mackerel with puy lentil salad of roasted tomatoes, feta and spinach

Modified from Lifestylefood.com.au
Serves 4
Ingredients

20 baby tomatoes, halved horizontally
Salt and pepper, to season
3 tbsp light olive oil
175g/6oz Puy lentils, shop bought ready-cooked
Juice of a lemon
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 mackerel fillets
1 small red onion very finely sliced
1 tbsp baby capers
4 tbsp parsley, very finely chopped
125g/41/2oz good quality Greek Feta cheese
50g/11/2 oz of spinach
1 green pepper, sliced

Method

1 Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

2 Place the tomatoes, red onion and green pepper into a roasting tray. Season generously with salt and black pepper then, drizzle over two tablespoons of the light olive oil. Place in the oven. Cook for 40 minutes. Place the mackerel fillets (seasoned with salt and pepper) on top and grill for 10 minutes.

3. While waiting for the tomatoes and fish to cook. Place the lentils (cooked) in a large bowl with the lemon juice,parsley and 5 tablespoons of the extra virgin olive oil.

4. When the fish is cooked,remove the fish to one side and add the tomatoes mixtures, capers and feta to the lentils, season to taste and mix well.

5. To serve fold the spinach into the salad with the remaining olive oil check the seasoning and then divide between four plates. Place the mackerel on top.

Spinach and cream cheese-stuffed chicken

From Waitrose Recipes
Serves 4
Ingredients

100g pack Waitrose Watercress
150g Paysan Breton Luxury Cream Cheese
2 tbsp Lingham’s Chilli Sauce
Pack of 4 skin-on essential Waitrose British Chicken Boneless Breasts
2 tbsp olive oil

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C, gas mark 5. Finely chop the watercress and beat into the cream cheese with the chilli sauce and seasoning. Using a small sharp knife, cut a pocket into the side of the chicken breasts, carefully push in the cream cheese mixture and securely close with a cocktail stick.

2. Place the chicken breasts in a small roasting tin and drizzle the skin with the olive oil. Season and cook in the oven for 25-30 minutes until golden and the juices of the chicken run clear when pierced with a knife. There should be no pink meat.

3. Transfer to warmed plates, remove the cocktail stick and serve with new potatoes and a sliced tomato and red onion salad or chantenay carrots.

Prawn, chorizo and chickpea stew

From Ramsay’s Best Menus
Ingredients

3 tbsp olive oil
4 fresh piquillo peppers, cored, deseeded and cut into 2cm squares
1 small red onion, peeled and finely chopped
150g good-quality cooking chorizo sausage, sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
1 ½ tbsp sherry vinegar
3 tbsp dry sherry
600g drained cooked chickpeas (freshly cooked or tinned)
100ml chicken stock
70g baby spinach leaves, washed
20 good-quality raw tiger prawns, peeled, deveined and heads removed
Large handful of basil, leaves only, torn
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large, wide pan and add the peppers, red onion and chorizo. Cook for a few minutes, then add the garlic. Cook for a couple of minutes again, then add the sherry and vinegar and reduce down.

2. Add the chickpeas, stir and cook for a couple of minutes, then add the chicken stock and cook for 10 minutes on a medium heat.

3. In a separate pan, fry the tiger prawns in the remaining olive oil for about 30-45 seconds each side. Once cooked, add to the chickpea stew with the spinach. Let wilt slightly, then scatter over the basil, season and serve.

Couldn’t find any tiger prawns at Marks and Sparks and so I settled for Honduran raw prawns. This is one GR’s recipes from his Channel 4 show, Ramsay’s Best Restaurants, and this is the main course for his Spanish Summer menu. The starter for this is Chunky Gazpacho and his dessert is Lime Mousse… Ok just by writing all this, it’s tempting me to actually do this whole menu. May do it for the next lunch / dinner party I do or back home in Singapore.

Chicken Saag

From Chicken – the best ever recipe collection
Serves 4
Ingredients
Ingredients

Fresh spinach Leaves, 200g, washed but not dried
8 chicken thighs, skinned
2.5 cm ginger
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 green chilli, roughly chopped
1 cup of water
1 tbsp oil
2 bay leaves.
1/4 tsp black peppercorns
1 onion, finely chopped
tomatoes – 4, peeled and finely chopped
Curry powder – 2 tsp.
Chilli powder – 1 tsp.
Plain yogurt – 3 tbsp.
Salt as per taste

Cook the spinach leaves, without extra water, in a tightly covered pan for 5 minutes. Put the cooked spinach, ginger, garlic and chilli with 1/4 cup of the measured water into a food processor or blender and process to a thick puree. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a large heavy pan, add the bay leaves and black peppercorns and fry for 2 minutes. Stir in the onion and fry for a further 6-8 minutes or until the onion has browned.

Add the tomatoes and simmer for about 5 minutes.

Stir in the curry powder, salt and chilli powder. Cook for 2 minutes over a medium heat, stirring once or twice.

Stir in the spinach puree and the remaining measured water, then simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the yogurt, 1 tbsp. at a time and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the chicken pieces and stir to coat them in the sauce. Cover and cook for 20-25 minutes until the chicken in tender.

Not too sure how authentic the recipe is but it tastes good to me – wonderful flavours coming from the spices and the chicken was so tender when I plated up. Definitely, one of the chicken dishes I will cook again. Added too little spinach, unfortunately and so the dish doesn’t look green enough.

Fettuccine (fuscilli) with sardines and spinach

From Let’s Cook – italian and pasta
Serves 4

Ingredients 120g sardines in olive oil
400g fettuccine
40g butter
2 tbsp olive oil
50g one day old white bread crumbs
1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
50g pine nuts
125g chestnut mushrooms, wiped and sliced
125g baby spinach leaves, rinsed
150ml creme fraiche
rind of 1 lemon, finely grated
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Drain the sardines and cut in half lengthwise. Remove the bones, then cut the fish into 2.5cm pieces and reserve.

Bring a large pan of lightly salted water to a rolling boil. Add the pasta and cook according to the packet instructions, or until al dente.

Meanwhile, melt half the butter with the olive oil in a large saucepan, add the bread crumbs and fry, stirring until they begin to turn crisp. Add the garlic and pine nuts and continue to cook until golden-brown. Remove from the pan and reserve. Wipe the pan clean.

Melt the remaining butter in the pan, add the mushrooms and cook for 4-5 minutes or until soft. Add the spinach and cook, stirring, for 1 minute, or until beginning to wilt. Stir in the creme fraiche and lemon rind and bring to the boil. Simmer gently until the spinach is just cooked. Season the sauce to taste with salt and pepper.

Drain the pasta thoroughly and return to the pan. Add the spinach sauce and sardine pieces and gently toss together. Tip into a warmed serving dish. Sprinkle with the toasted bread crumbs and pine nuts and serve immediately.

Lots of different ingredients in this recipe; but it seems to work well, the key two ingredients is of course the sardines and the pine nuts. I was too lazy to blend my bread into crumbs and I thought a more rustic way of doing it ala Jamie Oliver, is to tear the bread into large chunks and pop it into the oven with the pine nuts until it’s all golden and crispy.

Gratin of smoked haddock, spinach, emmental and crème fraîche

From Masterchef

Serves 4
Ingredients

2kg/4lb fresh spinach
2 large smoked haddock fillets, skinned and boned
4 large ripe tomatoes
240ml/8fl oz crème fraiche
125g/4oz emmental cheese, grated

Pick off the stems and wash the spinach.

Put on a large pan of salted water to boil. When rapidly boiling cook the spinach for 2 minutes, pour into a colander and refresh under cold water. Squeeze dry with hands.

Slice smoked haddock into bite-sized pieces.

Take a large earthenware baking dish or gratin dish, roughly chop the spinach and sprinkle on the base of the dish.

Next place on the smoked haddock, smear over the crème fraiche, then place sliced tomatoes sparingly onto the cream.

Finish with the grated emmenthal cheese.

Place in an oven at 160-180C/325-350F/Gas3-4 for 30 minutes and finish under a medium grill for 5 minutes.
Serve with crusty bread

Not too sure how far the cook for this dish – Sam Clifford advanced in Masterchef but I like this recipe, wonderful combination of ingredients and easy to cook as well. Being unadventurous when it comes to cheese, I decided to stick with the safer choice of cheddar.

Baked trout and pasta salad with horseradish dressing

Ingredients

1 trout fillet
1/2 tbsp of lemon juice
1/2 tsp of dried dill

For the dressing
1/2 tbsp horseradish sauce
1 tbsp cream
1 tbsp lemon juice
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp dried dill

Cooked pasta for 1 person (left to cool)
Portion of baby spinach for 1 person

Mix the dressing ingredients well
Season trout with lemon juice, dill, salt and pepper and baked in a grill for 4 minutes until the fish is just cooked. Flake the fillet.

Add half of the dressing to the spinach and mix well. Add the cooked pasta and the flaked trout. Add a dollop of the dressing on top and serve

This is something I made up while rummaging through my fridge to cook with trout (the ones I bought from Marks and Sparks). The horseradish dressing goes really well with the trout and the spinach.

Chickpeas and spinach

Ingredients

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, finely diced
1 celery stick, finely diced
A few sprigs of thyme
2 bay leaves
2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
300g streaky bacon or pancetta, diced
200g vacuum packed or jarred whole chestnuts, roughly chopped
1 tsp pimenton (hot smoked paprika)
100g young spinach leaves, washed and drained
350g dried chickpeas, cooked in boiling water until tender (reserve 150ml of the cooking liquid) or 2 x 410g cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Freshly chopped flat leaf parsley, to garnish

1. Heat the oil in a large pan and gently fry the onion for 3 – 4 minutes until it begins to soften. Stir in the carrot, celery, a few sprigs of thyme and the bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper and cook for 2 – 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Add the garlic, bacon or pancetta, chestnuts and pimenton. Gently fry until the vegetables become golden and the bacon is crisp. Stir in the chickpeas and 150ml of their cooking water, or plain tap water.

3. Bring to a simmer and cook for 1 – 2 minutes until the chickpeas are hot. Scatter the spinach over and stir through the chickpeas and bacon. Remove from the heat, season to taste and serve immediately, garnished with chopped flat leaf parsley.

This is one of the prettiest dishes I have cooked, with its myriad of colours. I also loved how the flavour of this dish comes together, this wonderful combination of vegetables, bacon and chickpeas. This is a Spanish dish and I got this dish from the show ‘A Cook’s Tour to Spain.’ Been cooking a bit of Spanish food these days, even the classic paella. I miss the tapa walks I had in Madrid and Barcelona, trying out the dishes at one tapas bar with a glass of red before moving on to the next: the patatas brava, the grilled octopus, the chorizo, the anchovies. It’s strange, I remembered having a great time when I was there and I was astonished to hear the ill treatment my asian friends had when they went over there. Oh well, maybe things have changed there since I last visited.