Domestic Goddess my arse!

These are the recipes I'm good at... quick, simple, out of the store-cupboard and onto the plate fare. I never spend more than 30 minutes faffing in the kitchen. So there.

This will be my recipe & homemadey remedy diary.

If you have those 'OMG! It's lunchtime and all I've got is a parsnip and a packet of boil in the bag rice.' moments, then you're a kindred spirit and you know that bad planning is often the mother of great food. So welcome to fast slurpy soups and 'really?' salads made from what's left in the fridge.


Never, ever believe there isn't something wonderful to make from the last 3 ingredients in your kitchen. Unless those ingredients really are fairy liquid, eggshells and dead flies.

Showing posts with label salmon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label salmon. Show all posts

Wednesday, 5 November 2014

Fancy Fishy Cakey Doo Dah!

Hello chums... I've had a few moments more than usual to fashion something fabulous for supper from the contents of my badly husbanded fridge. I used to love fish-cakes at school, one of the best days of any week would be made superb by the addition of fish-cakes for lunch or even better tea!

Your mum's fish cakes are always better than anyone else's - that is terrrue!

So I thought I'd have a go at making some. My only stipulation -is there shall be no spuds and no flour. Whenever I use plain flour in patty things - it ends up tasting a bit, well floury...

I just went with what I had in the cupboards - so if it feels a bit un-co. That's because it is.

No matter - soldier on my friends. To the recipe!




Ingredients List Starts Here:

1 leek (to be scrupulously honest it was 3/4 of a leek) - chopped finely
butter and oil (to cook leeks)
2 small salmon fillets - cooked and skinned and flaked
1 tin of tuna - well drained
A small handful of olives (cured black), chopped
2 x sun-dried tomatoes and a little oil, chopped
1 lime (zest of and juice of)
1/4 very ripe avocado (I'd say this is totally optional but did add some bindingness)

S&P

For making:

1 egg beaten
1/2 cup cous cous (or polenta whatever you've got)
2 - 4 dsrt spns oats (you can play with the mix and don't worry too much about the amounts)


Making:

Cook the leeks in a small amount of butter and oil until soft, but not taking on colour. Set these aside to cool a bit.

Whiz the cous cous and oats in a coffee grinder to make a finer flour. (You can bash in a pestle and mortar if you don't have a mini-whizzer).

In the meantime mix everything else together - and then add the leeks and the oil/butter from the pan. Mix well - you're going for a sticky mixture - not too wet, so make sure you drain the tuna well and keep an eye on the addition of the lime.

If it does feel a bit too wet - just add some of the cous cous/oats flour and mix it in.

Divide the mixture into 6 to 8. Wet you hands and roll each 1/8th into a ball.

Roll in the beaten egg and then roll in the flour mixture.

Pop on a plate and pat down into a fish cake shape.

Continue until you've made all of your fish cakes.

Put this lot in the fridge - this will help them keep their shape when you cook them, so an hour is good and longer is better.

When you are ready - heat some* oil in a deepish frying pan and cook the fish cakes for around 3 mins on each side, until they are crisp and golden. They should be warm and soft in the centre.

Serve:

I'd say 2 each for a light supper - but me and him are having all three so there!

I'm serving ours with shredded mange touts and blanched, spiralised courgette spaghetti with red, tomato pesto.

There may be some banana ice cream


*this really depends on your taste - I use Healthy Oil and or olive oil because that's what I like - but you can spray the pan, or use sunflower oil - chaque a son gōut! 

Monday, 10 January 2011

Griddled Salmon with Sweet Potatoe Tax Mash


If like me, you've got to fill in your tax return online before the end of January and your activation code has deactivated - then you'll need a double whammy fix of brain and comfort food to help you face your demons.

This my friend will do the trick...

Wednesday, 8 December 2010

Oh no Emergency Soup Emergency!

Unlike her curvacious highness Lady N'gella I am often caught out by a badly timed Tesco delivery. Today found me heating up an emergency can of organic leak and potato soup. How desperate do you have to be to resort to tinned soup? Carrot free and two hours to delivery desperate, that's how much Nigella love - walk a week in my slippers lady.

Calamity! The soup started to make such a poppin' and a thwoppin' (it's a word!) noises in the microwave that I was forced to put on my specs and inspect the sell-by-date on the already recycled can. Oh NO! and Ahem. Dec 2008! Emergency. Soup Emergency...

By now I'm freezing, starving and going off my Larmin'* So here's what I did - those of an organic knit yer own knickers disposition look away now.

Rice and Cheese a la Louise.

  • 1/2 packet of Tilda rice (I used the brown rice with corgette and red peppers, but you can use any and you can always, always make your own and add bits if you fancy it)
  • smoked salmon bits (left over from indulgent breakfast plans that never quite came off this week)
  • grated strong cheddar
  • big blollop of fromage frais (you can use yogurt or creme freche too)
Rice and cheese and yogurt are wonderful together. So this lot all mixed up makes a delicious bowl of loveliness and if you've got some mange touts or beans or sugar snaps - you're really onto something... 



*derivation of this phrase in another post perhaps - particularly if the originatrix submits a tasty treat for us to try. She is the most bodacious of all cooks. Proper job too, not my nonsense madey up stuff.