Next recipe: French

Ok, well the results of the poll mean I will post a French recipe within the next few days!

More fish! Herb stuffed sea bream with steamed potatoes and a herb and garlic yoghurt dip

I think it must be the weather these days but I have been eating a lot of fish and seafood recently. And usually, as a good French person, I tend to eat way more meat than fish.
Yet, I do really like fish, specially the fish that tend to be ignored by restaurateurs. You know, fish like sardines, mackerel, sea bream on the bone...etc.
And what I love with fish is actually steamed potatoes. As much as I find boiled potatoes boring. I mean they don't taste of anything unless you put a good bit of butter on them, I absolutely adore steamed potatoes. I find the texture so enjoyable: they seem to melt and be buttery and yet hold their shape! Surprisingly, despite the fact that I love steamed potatoes, I never seem to remember to cook them. Today though, I did!
So, anyway, D bought some sea bream on the bone from Deacy's on Shop Street and I remembered to make steamed potatoes with it!
And as we picked some wild garlic near the Corrib yesterday, I thought it would compliment the fish greatly in a yoghurt dip. I cooked the fish very simply, I stuffed it with herbs and roasted it with a little oil and seasoning in the oven. Yum! Nothing simpler.
So here is the quick, simple and healthy recipe!

For the fish:

- A sea bream, gutted

- A few slices of lemon

- A handful of herbs, here I used fennel and parsley

- Some olive oil and seasoning

For the potatoes:

- A few waxy potatoes

For the dip:

- A small pot of natural yoghurt

- Wild garlic (one or two leaves max. Wild garlic is very strong!)

- Parsley

- Seasoning

1. Preheat the oven at 180°C.

2. Peel the potatoes and cut into even pieces. Put them in the steamer for about 10-15 minutes.

3. Rub the fish with olive oil, season and stuff with the herbs and lemon slices. Bake at 180°C for about 10-15 minutes depending on the size of the fish.

4. Chop the parsley and the wild garlic for the dip, add them to the yoghurt along with a good bit of seasoning. 

Et voilà! That is all! 

Poll...

I have just checked the answers to the poll I posted a few days ago. Here are the results so far:
3 people voted for a French recipe, 1 for an Irish one, 1 for an Indian one, 1 for a dessert one...
You have until tomorrow to vote and change the results!

What to do with leftovers or Crab meat salad with beurre blanc

Yesterday's post was about John Dory with a lime, coconut and coriander beurre blanc. Well, tonight felt a bit like a Sunday night and I usually take it easy in the kitchen on Sundays. I tend to look at what's left from the week in the fridge and try to come up with some recipe to use the leftovers. So tonight, when I saw I had some of the beurre blanc left, and I had a pack of fresh crab meat... well it all made sense to me to make a crab meat salad with the leftover beurre blanc.

So here is what I added to it:
- 100 gr of Fresh crab meat
- the leftover beurre blanc (about half of the recipe from the John Dory)
- a diced ripe avocado
- some fresh chopped parsley
- some lettuce leaves
- some pink peppercorn sprinklings

1. Just mix the crabmeat, the beurre blanc, the avocado and the parsley.
2. Scatter some lettuce leaves on a plate, shape some of the crabmeat mix into quenelles and place them on the lettuce. Sprinkle with the pink peppercorn sprinkings.
Et voilà!

Pan-fried fillets of John Dory with a lime, coconut and coriander beurre blanc

I was at the market in Galway yesterday and I had a craving for fish. I called up to the fish stall and I saw some John Dory. I couldn't resist. I love that fish, the flesh is quite firm but yet delicate. I wasn't sure what to make with it. I was thinking about something French but I did not want anything too heavy. So I decided on doing an "Asian thing" with a French classic: I decided on trying out an Asian "Beurre blanc". For those of ye who have never had a beurre blanc, it is one of the nicest sauces to serve with fish.  However, because it contains quite a bit of butter, it can be quite rich. So by adding some coconut milk instead of some of the butter, by adding extra flavours, the sauce becomes much lighter and reminds me of holidays!

For 2 people:
For the fish:
- About 350gr of John Dory filleted (ask your fishmonger and keep the bones for stock or chowder)
- 1 tbsp of vegetable oil
- salt and pepper

For the sauce:
- 2 big shallots, thinly chopped
- 1 stick of dried lemongrass
- 1 kaffir lime leaf
- juice of 2 limes
- 10cl of white wine
- 10cl of coconut milk
- 50gr of unsalted butter cut into small cubes
- a small bunch of coriander leaves, chopped

Accompaniment:
- 2 medium courgettes, cut into shavings with a peeler
- 75 gr of basmati rice

1. Start by putting the chopped shallots with the lemongrass and the lime leaf into a saucepan with the white wine and the lime juice. Put on medium to high heat and reduce until the liquid is nearly gone. There should be about 1 to 2 table spoons of liquid left. (While this is reducing, cook the rice in salted boiling water).
2. Once reduced (this will take about 8 minutes), add the coconut milk. Bring to the boil. (Now you can cook the courgettes in salted boiling water for 3-4 min).
3. Take the saucepan off the head, now add the butter cubes one at a time while whisking energetically.
4. Put a heavy frying pan on full heat. Put the tablespoon of oil in it. Once hot, put your seasoned fillets of fish skin down. Cook about 3 mins on each side.
4. After you have added all the butter to your sauce, add the coriander leaves. Take the lemongrass stalk and the lime leaf out of the sauce.
5. By now, your courgettes, your rice should also be ready!
6. ENJOY!

My first tomato of the year!

Today was market day. I bought some delicious and organic bread from Layla of Coolfin Gardens Bakery. I also bought some fish which I will be cooking later. For the moment, I am delighted to report that I saw my first tomato this afternoon (see pic)! I only live in an apartment but it seems that this year will be good for tomatoes given the amount of flowers on my two plants! I can't wait...

And here is the second post already!

I could not really leave this blog without trying to post a recipe... And my first recipe is going to be about baking scones. I discovered scones in Ireland and I absolutely love them! They are such a treat: they are soft inside but crusty on the outside, they are sweet enough but not so much that you cannot put a good dollop of jam on them, and they are much lighter than most French pastries! Last but not least, they are super easy and fast to make as long as you don't overwork the dough.

So here is a recipe for fruit scones. Makes about 12-15 scones depending on how you cut them out.
450 gr of self-raising flour
50 gr of caster sugar
110 gr of unsalted butter
50 gr of raisins
50 ml of cream (single or double if you don't mind the extra richness)
200 ml of milk
1 pinch of baking powder
1 pinch of salt
1 egg beaten lightly
a little extra milk

1. Preheat your oven at 180°C. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt in a bowl. Stir in the sugar and the raisins.
2. Work in the butter with your fingers until you have breadcrumbs.
3. Add the beaten egg, the cream and the milk.
4. Roll the dough into a sheet about 1 inch thick, use a cookie cutter or oil the rim of a glass and cut scones.
5. Put them on a baking sheet. Put a little milk in the bowl you used to beat the egg, glaze the scones.
6. Bake the scones for 15-20 min.

My first post!

Hello all,

I am quite excited as this is my first post. I have decided to share my food experiments and experience. I hope you will have as much fun reading my blog and maybe following my recipes as I do. I am looking forward to reading comments!