Grilled Mackerel with couscous salad

 

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

 

After making the Devilled Mackerel recipe and finding out Steve really didn’t like the bones, I decided to try filleting the whole fish myself and simply grill them. I watched a How To Fillet Mackerel video on the uktv.co.uk site by James Martin, but I found it easier to start at the tail end (instead of the head end) and cut along the backbone and against the spine, all the way down towards the head. Filleting the fish was easy, it was just pulling out all the bones that was time consuming!

 

Mackerel is so cheap - two whole fish cost just £1.67 from Tesco and this was the reduced price! We’re trying to eat more of it because it’s good for you and we need to eat more oily fish. I have developed eczema as I’ve grown older and I take Omega 3 fish oil supplements (when I remember!) to help my skin, but I prefer to get the nutrients from my food.

 

Luckily I’d kept an article from my Delicious magazine about how to cook fish and it said grilling was the best method for fish like mackerel and sardines. I just slashed the skin to stop the fillets from curling up, drizzled both sides with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. I loved the simplicity as it allowed the flavour of the fish to shine.

 

The couscous salad is something that Steve and I make quite a lot in the Summer. It’s just plain couscous with chopped up bits of whatever veg we can lay our hands on (like carrot, cucumber, tomato, sweetcorn) and then we mix in a dollop of Salad Cream and chilli ketchup. I’d never thought of adding Salad Cream to couscous, but Steve puts it on everything and it really works with the couscous by giving it a nice zing!

 

During my cooking course at Tante Marie I learned a new way to prepare couscous from one of the teachers called John. He said to add the olive oil to the dry couscous, then to add the hot water. The oil coats the grains so they become more fluffy and separated. Today I saw a chef on Saturday Kitchen toast the couscous first in a pan with oil and butter to give it a nutty flavour, so I might try that next time.

 

TASTE TEST:

I was worried Steve wouldn’t like this meal as I thought he wouldn’t like the amount of olive oil I’d used in the couscous and on the fish. But he loved it! He said it was absolutely perfect and it made him feel like he was eating dinner on holiday in a sunny country like Greece. So I was really pleased and it made all the effort of removing the bones worth it!

 

• Serves: 2

 

Ingredients:

• 2 whole mackerel, filleted or 4 mackerel fillets
• olive oil
• 90g couscous
• hot water
• ½ spring onion, finely sliced
• ½ carrot, diced
• 4 cherry tomatoes, diced
• some cucumber, diced
• Tablespoon Salad Cream
• teaspoon Chilli Ketchup (we like the Heinz fiery hot one, but the mild one is good too)
• salt and pepper

 

Directions:

1. Slash the skin on the mackerel 4-5 times to stop it from curling. Drizzle with olive oil on both sides, then season with salt and pepper. Place under a hot grill for 5 minutes with the skin side up. Turn off the grill and leave the fish under the grill to rest for 2 minutes.
2. Meanwhile make the couscous: place the dry couscous in a large bowl and drizzle with about a Tablespoon of olive oil to coat all the grains, mixing well. Add just enough hot water to cover all the grains, then add the spring onions and quickly cover the bowl (with a large plate is fine). Leave the couscous to absorb the water and soften for about 5 minutes.
3. When the couscous is soft, fluff up the grains with a spoon and then mix in the chopped vegetables, the Salad Cream and the chilli ketchup (don’t add too much of the sauces otherwise the couscous will be soggy, add just enough for flavour). Season with salt and pepper then serve immediately with the fish.

Devilled Mackerel with potatoes and spinach

 

MUNCH RATING: 4/5

 

We got two whole mackerels in the weekly shop so I searched for a recipe on the BBC Good Food website and found this one.

 

CHANGES TO THE RECIPE:

I halved the recipe as I was only cooking for myself and Steve. I stuck to the majority of the recipe, except I fried the potatoes on their own for about 10 minutes to get them nice and brown, then I added the chopped onion. I also used an ovenproof pan instead of using a roasting tray.

 

TASTE TEST:

We really liked the dish except Steve wasn’t too keen on the bones in the mackerel! He would have much preferred fillets of fish as it took him so long to pick out the bones that his fish went cold. I would definitely make the potatoes and spinach again as it made a quick and easy side dish.

 

I had to gut the fish myself and Steve’s Mum asked if they had any roe inside. I said one had soft roe and the other one had hard roe. She was a bit gutted (no pun intended!) that I’d thrown them away as she loves eating the hard roe! So I must remember to save them for her next time!

 

• Serves: 2
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 7/425°F/220°C

 

Ingredients:

• 2 mackerel, cleaned, gutted and heads chopped off
• 2 tbsp curry paste (I used Patak’s Rogan Josh)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 400g potatoes, cubed
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 3 large handfuls of spinach

 

Directions:

1. Heat oven to Gas mark 7/425°F/220°C. Make a couple of slashes in both sides of the fish and rub with half the curry paste. Heat the oil in an ovenproof frying pan/roasting tray, then fry the potatoes for about 10 mins until starting to brown, then add the onion and cook for a further 5 minutes.
2. Stir the remaining curry paste into the potatoes, then sit the fish on top and roast for 20-25 mins (I cooked mine for 20 mins as they were quite small) until the fish and potatoes are cooked.
3. Lift the fish onto plates, then place the potatoes back over a high heat. Add the spinach to the pan and cook for 1-2 mins until completely wilted. Scoop out and serve with the fish.

 

COOK’S NOTES:

• If using fillets of fish, roast the potatoes for 15 mins before adding the fish, then roast for 10 mins more.

Anzac Biscuits

 

MUNCH RATING: 4/5

 

These biscuits were traditionally baked by wives and mothers during the First World War and sent packed in food parcels to the ANZACs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps). They don’t contain any eggs so they survived the long journey. ANZAC Day is celebrated on 25th April.

 

They are delightfully chewy and the coconut provides a lovely toasty nutty tropical flavour and texture. They contain rolled oats so they are sort of in-keeping with our healthy eating regime, providing valuable fibre! Unfortunately, although coconut is actually part of a fruit, it's nutritionally classified as a nut so it doesn't count towards fruit and veg portions, but at least it contains similar nutrients to nuts!

 

CHANGES TO THE RECIPE:

For my first batch I followed the recipe and used teaspoons of the biscuit mixture, but these turned out quite small and very thin. So for the second and third batch I made the balls about the size of a walnut and they were a better size and thickness (on the left of the photo). I increased the cooking time by a couple of minutes.

 

TASTE TEST:

They were incredibly easy to make and got big thumbs up from everyone. Steve’s Mum said she’d heard of Anzac biscuits from watching Home & Away and Neighbours! Steve said they’d be even nicer topped with melted chocolate.

 

 

• Makes: 24-28
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 3/325°F/170°C
• Oven shelf: middle
• Cooking time: 10 minutes per batch

 

Ingredients:

• 100g rolled oats
• 60g plain flour
• 45g desiccated coconut (I used Waitrose)
• 95g light brown sugar
• 75g butter
• 2 Tablespoons golden syrup
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 Tablespoon boiling water

 

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 3/325°F/170°C.
2. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper/Magic liner.
3. Combine the oats, flour, coconut and sugar in a large bowl.
4. Place the butter and golden syrup in a small saucepan and melt over a medium heat, stirring until well mixed, then remove from the heat and allow to cool a little.
5. Mix the bicarbonate of soda with the Tablespoon of boiling water in a small cup, then add this to the melted butter and syrup. Tip the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well.
6. Place teaspoons of the biscuit mixture onto the lined baking sheets, leaving about 5cm space between them so they can spread. Bake for 10 minutes for the smaller biscuits and 12 minutes for the larger ones, or until they are evenly golden brown.
7. Use a fish slice to lift the biscuits onto a wire rack to cool - they will be very soft but they will firm up as they cool down.

Minced soy pork with noodles

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

 

In the April issue of BBC Good Food magazine there was a recipe by Ching-He Huang for this noodle dish. It looked really tasty, but what tempted me most was that it was quite healthy at around 500 calories and 12g fat per serving. I thought this would be the perfect dish to start our healthy eating plan as it’s quick and easy to prepare and cook.

 

I do make quite a few stir-fries so I already had most of the ingredients, but there are some ingredients that I had to get from the Chinese supermarket, such as the dried mushrooms. Steve was a little dubious about the dried mushrooms as he didn’t have very fond memories of them from dishes he’d eaten in restaurants. But once he saw that I’d chopped them up into small pieces he cheered up and after tasting them in the dish he declared that they were actually quite nice as he couldn’t really taste them, but they added a depth of flavour to the dish. He’s even suggested we try putting them in Bolognese and Massaman curry!

 

CHANGES TO THE RECIPE: 

I also used some chow mein noodles (Lion Brand) that I’d bought instead of the rice noodles that Ching used, as we prefer this type of noodle. Ching added noodles that were already cooked, whereas I added mine when they were just rehydrated as I preferred to finish cooking them in the pan so that they could absorb more flavour.  I used 2½ blocks of the dried noodles and this made quite a lot when rehydrated, so I added a bit more soy sauce than the recipe suggested and I also added some oyster sauce for extra flavour. Ching added dried shrimps, spring onions and coriander to her dish, but we ran out of spring onions and I can’t stand dried shrimps and coriander so I left them out. Instead I added some mange tout for some colour and one of our 5-a-day!

 

TASTE TEST:

I haven’t really used pork mince much before, which is funny because the Chinese love to use pork! But we both really liked the texture of the meat and it wasn’t greasy like lamb or beef mince. I will definitely be using more pork mince in future, especially as it was so nice in the Potsticker Dumplings we made!

 

• Serves: 2 generously

 

Ingredients:

• 2½ blocks dried chow mein noodles rehydrated (see notes below)
• 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 Tablespoon grated ginger
• 3 dried Chinese mushrooms, rehydrated and finely chopped (see notes below)
• 250g lean pork mince
• 1 Tablespoon Shaoshing rice wine
• 1 Tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon chicken stock powder (I used Knorr granules)
• 100ml water
• 1 Tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 2 big handfuls of mange tout

 

Directions:

1. Heat a wok over a high heat and add the oil. When it’s really hot add the garlic, ginger and finely chopped mushrooms. Stir well for a few seconds, then add the mince and stir-fry. When the meat starts to turn brown, add the rice wine, both soy sauces, oyster sauce, stock powder and the water and bring to the boil.
2. Add the rehydrated noodles and mix thoroughly, allow to cook for 2 minutes, then add the mange tout and cook for another 2 minutes until they’re cooked but still a bit crunchy.
3. Add the sesame oil, mix well and serve immediately.

 

COOK’S NOTES:

• To rehydrate the noodles: place them in a deep bowl or saucepan and pour over enough boiling water to cover them. Allow them to soften for a couple of minutes and then loosen with a pair of chopsticks until they’re all separated. Drain and rinse with cold water.
• To rehydrate the mushrooms: place them in a bowl and pour over enough boiling water to cover them. Leave them to soak for 45 minutes, then drain.

Mandy’s ‘Healthy’ Cajun Calzone & Dough Balls

MUNCH RATING: 4/5

I totally made up this recipe for the filling and I’m calling it ‘healthy’ because there’s no fattening cheese. I basically used tomatoes and ½ fat crème fraiche to make a creamy sauce so that the filling ingredients wouldn’t be dry. I have to say that for a total experiment it worked really well! I will definitely make this again as it’s a great way to use up leftovers and it was actually tastier than the pizza.

I made up the dough as per this pizza recipe and I used half the dough for the calzone and the other half I used to make dough balls (like the ones you get from Pizza Express).

• Makes: 1 calzone to serve 2 people and 8 dough balls
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 8/450°F/230°C
• You will need: at least 2 baking trays 

Calzone Filling Ingredients:

• 1 small chorizo sausage, chopped into small pieces
• 4 mushrooms, sliced
• 3 tomatoes, roughly chopped
• handful leftover roasted butternut squash chunks*
• leftover sliced and roasted red onion*
• 2 large handfuls of spinach
• 2 heaped teaspoons Cajun seasoning (I used Bart’s)
• 2 heaped Tablespoons ½ fat crème fraiche 

Calzone Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 8/450°F/230°C and place a baking tray in the oven to get hot (or ideally use a pizza stone!)
2. In a large non-stick pan fry the chorizo (no need to add oil) until crispy and the chorizo has released its oils.
3. Add the mushrooms and fry until soft.
4. Add the tomatoes with a splash of water, cover with a lid and cook for about 10 minutes until they have broken down.
5. Add the butternut squash, onion and spinach (or any other vegetables you want), the Cajun seasoning and the crème fraiche and mix thoroughly. Set to one side to cool whilst you roll the dough.
6. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out to a 10 inch/25cm circle and so that it is about 3mm thick.
7. Spread the filling onto one half of the circle, brush the edge lightly with water, then fold over the dough and pinch to make a semi-circle pasty shape.
8. Lift the calzone onto a baking tray and place this tray on top of the preheated one in the oven.
9. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown (I spread some leftover garlic butter over the calzone 5 minutes before the end of cooking). 

DOUGH BALLS:

1. Portion the other half of the dough into 8 even sized balls and roll so they have a smooth surface.
2. Place on a baking tray and bake for 10 minutes until golden brown and they sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Serve with garlic butter (1 clove of crushed garlic mixed with 1 Tablespoon softened butter). 

*To roast the butternut squash and onion I just cut the squash into chunks and the onion into 8 wedges, tossed in a little oil and dried rosemary, then roasted on Gas mark 6/400°F/200°C for 45 minutes, turning occasionally.

You might also be interested in: Homemade Pizza

Granola Bars

MUNCH RATING: 3/5
 
This is the latest experiment for the perfect snack bar for Steve to take to work to stave off the munchies!
I’ve called them Granola Bars because they contain the ingredients that I bought to make granola and even though they taste a lot like flapjacks, the fruit makes them soft and chewy, whilst the cornflakes make them nice and crunchy.
These are by far my favourite, but this recipe has quite a lot of butter, sugar and golden syrup which doesn’t make them very healthy, so I’m going to try and cut down on the sugar next time as there’s a lot of sweetness in the fruit.

• Makes: 16-18
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C
• Cooking time: 20-25 minutes
• You will need: 12 x 7inch tin (or two 8 inch square tins), lined with greaseproof paper as it makes removal from the tin easier. 

Ingredients:

• 175g/6oz butter
• 175g/6oz light brown sugar
• 5 Tablespoons golden syrup
• 1 eating apple, peeled and chopped into small pieces
• 75g/3oz dried apricots, chopped into small pieces
• 75g/3oz dried pineapple, chopped into small pieces
• 300g/11oz porridge oats
• 50g/2oz cornflakes, slightly crushed 

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C.
2. In a large saucepan gently melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup over a low heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
3. Remove from the heat and stir in all the fruit, porridge oats and cornflakes, until well combined.
4. Tip into your tin/tins and gently press down with the back of a spoon to bind the mixture.
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes near the top of the oven until golden brown and firm.
6. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then cut into bars.
7. Leave to cool completely before lifting them out of the tin.