Family Fish pie

From annabelkarmel.com

Ingredients

Potato topping

800g potatoes
30g butter
7 tbsp milk
4 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan
1 egg, lightly beaten
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
For the sauce

45g butter
1 large shallot, diced
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
45g flour
450ml fish stock
6 tbsp double cream
1 ½ tsp chopped fresh dill or chives, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to season

Salmon & Cod Filling
250g salmon, skin removed and cut into 2 cm chunks
250g cod, skin removed and cut into 2 cm chunks
150g small cooked prawns
70g frozen peas

Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/Gas 6.

Boil the potatoes in salted water. Drain and mash with the butter, milk and Parmesan and season to taste.

To make the sauce, melt the butter and sauté the shallot for 5–6 minutes until soft. Add the white wine vinegar and boil for 2–3 minutes until the liquid has evaporated. Stir in the flour to make a roux. Gradually, stir in the fish stock and then cook over a medium heat, stirring continuously. Bring to the boil then cook stirring until thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the cream and the chopped dill or chives. Season well as the fish is unseasoned.

Divide all the fish and peas among four or six mini ramekins (depending on the size) and pour over the sauce.

Brush the potato topping with a little beaten egg. Bake for 25 minutes.

Freeze, assembled but uncooked.

So the Spawn has arrived in London, and I am trying to learn how to cook for him. He’s tried it but I am still trying to figure out whether he likes it. I tasted his portion, and personally I thought it was fine. Nice natural flavours with the dill to give it a bit of a flavour kick.

In any case, I made a couple of modifications to the recipe. I did not use fish stock for his portion as I did not have the time to make baby-friendly fish stock. Instead I added more milk. I did not use any peas. My brilliant idea was to add 3 carrots to the boiling water, and I mashed it together with the potatoes. Not because he doesn’t like peas but because I had a lot of carrots. Also his portion did not include any prawns as we were not sure whether he had any allergies to prawns. Finally, his portion was not seasoned at all; he’s not at the age where he can take salt. I believe the recipe is for babies 1 year and older hence the salt.

For completeness, this is the adult’s version.

Broccoli (and cauliflower) soup

From Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares
Ingredients

1 large or two medium broccoli clusters (as fresh as possible)
Salt (3 tsp.)
Ground Black Pepper (4-5 turns on the grind wheel)
Water
Olive Oil

Bring water to a boil in a large stock pot. Add a large pinch of salt (1 – 1 1/2 Tbsp.). Add broccoli and boil rapidly.

Your broccoli is finished cooking when you can pierce it with little or no effort. Remove the stock pan from the stove burner. DO NOT POUR THE WATER OUT! Use a slotted spoon to add broccoli to a blender but be careful because it’s boiling hot! Pour enough of the water left over from cooking the broccoli to fill the blender half way. Add a pinch (or more) of salt. Use several pulses on your blender to break the broccoli up and then puree for several seconds.

Pour soup into shallow bowl. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and serve at once!

Anyone who thinks making soup is difficult should try this recipe

My modifications is (as always arising from the leftovers in my fridge) adding a grilled slice of ciabatta topped with pancetta and parmesan cheese to the soup.

And to adapt this to the Spawn’s dietary requirements. I made a batch of the soup but without any seasoning. Instead I added some mild cheddar cheese to it. Apparently he likes it.