pan-roasted bream

I didn't actually plan what to have for dinner tonight. This morning I went to my trusty fishmonger with Jamie's book and I just looked for whatever is available. I still have 18 recipes to do from the fish, scallops, crab, clam and lobster chapters.

Anyway, the bream caught my eyes and so for dinner tonight I made pan-roasted bream with a quick crispy fennel salad.

Jamie says that this dish represents the best of British: everyone should eat it; and I think so as well. The bream fillets were seasoned with salt, pepper and fennel seeds before pan-roasted and then served with fennel salad, finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes and balsamic vinegar. delicious. I especially love the crispy skin.



My friend Mark and Kelly are coming tomorrow to watch the football and I've been using a very good use of my time. My beef and sausage chilli is ready to reheat for tomorrow's dinner. If I plan to have things like chilli or curry, I like to make them a day ahead because I think they taste better the next day. Don't you think?



I'm off to bed now... Good night.

Lime and coconut chicken

I had a great night out yesterday with friends from work... lovely food, great company and lots to drink. I woke up this morning and I craved a burrito. I first discovered burrito when I lived in California during high school. My favourite has got to be the carne asada burrito with grilled steak. It's a little on a heavy side for the morning, so I made a breakfast burrito instead with eggs, bacon, cheddar cheese, salsa and jalapeños. Yum! and to drink I made banana and peanut butter smoothie.

Fast forward to dinner, this evening I made lime and coconut chicken, a recipe I found from a very scrumptious blog, One Perfect Bite. When I read about this recipe, I just got to try it and I did and it was utterly delicious. The chicken is marinated in coconut milk, soy sauce, lime zest, cumin, coriander, curry powder, sugar and cayenne (what not to like from that list?) before grilled to perfection. YUM! I want to thank Mary, the author of the blog for sharing this recipe.

I served the chicken with coconut rice with flaked almonds and coriander, and a crunchy salad with Asian dressing.



Have a good night everyone...

salad and tuna

On the menu last night was unbelievable root vegetable salad which consisted of beetroot, carrot, celery heart, radicchio, radishes, fennel and served with fiery, fresh and zingy grilled chilli dressing. If you’re looking for a dressing with a ‘kick’, this is the one. I’m sure you are all aware that you MUST wash your hands properly after handling chillies, and don’t go picking your nose or scratching your face or worse, going to the toilet before you done so, like I did, because it burns! (A little too much information there I know, sorry...)

I also made chargrilled tuna with oregano oil and beautifully dressed peas and broad beans. Delicious.



Gotta go to work now and it’s Friday! Yay! Have a good one everyone.

squid with black pudding stuffing and sticky tomato sauce

for lunch today I made squid with black pudding stuffing and sticky tomato sauce. If you're not familiar with black pudding, it is a type of sausage made by cooking blood (pig or cattle most often used) until it is thick enough to congeal when cooled (doesn't that sound delicious?). It is commonly served in a traditional English breakfast along with the fried eggs, baked beans, tomatoes, hash browns, bacon and sausages.

I'm not a fan of black pudding but I promised myself to eat it just for this recipe. I was glad the squid wasn't just stuffed with black pudding, but also with pancetta, red onion and lemon zest.

Cooking it couldn't be any simpler, I seared the stuffed squids in olive oil and to make the sauce, simply add a handful of both red and yellow tomatoes, a pinch of dried chilli, garlic and let it simmer with a lid on for ten minutes until it creates a lovely sticky sauce. And don't go anywhere, stay in the kitchen because the smell, oh... like summer in the medditerranean.

I surprisingly enjoyed the dish and inhaled it in minutes. However next time, I think I'll stuff the squid with minced pork or chorizo instead.

Day 232, Recipe 107

delicious crab crostini

I did it. I prepared and boiled my first whole live crabs yesterday. It was an 'interesting' process.

So let me start from the beginning:
After getting the crabs from the fishmonger, I was walking home and it's a strange feeling to have things moving in your grocery bag. I was very nervous.
I got home, put the bag in the sink and in a big pot I prepared the cold bath of fish stock and peppercorns for the crabs. I then put on my CSI rubber gloves for protection. I had Merlyn on speaker phone and using a pair of tongs, I tried to put the crabs into the pot. And what a challenge that was! All three crabs were holding their claws tight together which made it hard and they refused to co-operate. After 15 minutes of yelling to the crabs (which was no use) I finally got all of them in the pot (I won!). I put the lid on, and in case if they try to escape, I placed a heavy iron cast pot on top. I cranked up the heat, turn on some music, left the kitchen and did some cleaning in the bed room.

After half an hour, I went back to the kitchen to check the crabs and guess what, the song 'psycho killer' by Talking Heads was playing. My ipod was on shuffle and out of the 1195 songs in it, what are the chances?!?

I lifted the cooked crabs carefully out of the hot stock and left them in a big bowl to cool.

When cooled, I pulled the claws and legs and picked all the meat out with the handle of a teaspoon. I don't have the proper cracker, so I used a heavy rolling pin instead.

The picked crab meat was then dressed with fresh red chilli, lemon, olive oil, fennel tops and became the topping for delicious crab crostini. The title speaks for its taste.



I also made blackened barbecued pork fillets which was also delicious. And dessert was chocolate mousse from the latest issue of Jamie magazine.

I'm just glad it's all over with the preparing whole live crab business and I'm glad to have done it and learn something new. So, thank you Jamie.

And would I do it again? yes.