Smoked mackerel on ciabatta with watercress and horseradish

Smoked mackerel on ciabatta with watercress and horseradish

Tonight's dinner was inspired a couple of days ago after a foodie chat with a friend and very tasty it turned out to be too.

A fresh ciabatta roll, crisp on the outside and soft and fluffy in the middle; layered with iron rich, peppery, crunchy watercress, a smoky and salty mackerel fillet with a lovely flaky texture and full of essential oils; all finished off with hot and creamy horseradish.

No instructions needed just warm the mackerel through as per the instructions on the packet, simply fabulous.

Stuart Webster Photography provide Food, Lifestyle and Commercial photography services throughout Hampshire and the UK.

Fish

Fish

I had the kids over for dinner this evening and wanted to share with them the joy of fish pie, sadly they had other ideas. They are usually good with fish dishes but were adamant that they were not having fish pie. After a quick bit of parental thinking I offered them fish in white sauce and cheesy mash, "yeh we'll have that", haha I win. Served with asparagus it went down a treat and they were none the wiser, I think a posh chef would have called it a de-constructed pie.

I am aware from previous posts that a lot of you support local producers and I get great feedback when I've mentioned my local suppliers. Sadly I have no fish mongers in my area and to be honest the local branch of my chosen national supermarket chain do a fab job of support sustainable fishing.

Ingredients

Cooking time: 60 minutes | Serves 4

- 400g Haddock

- 150g Salmon steak

- 200g Prawns

- 300ml semi-skimmed milk

- 1 Packet white sauce mix

- 6-8 Medium potatoes

- Milk and butter for mash

- Large handful of grated cheese

- 20 asparagus spears

Method

Peel and chop the potatoes in cubes approximately the same size, not to small. Place in a pan of cold water and bring to the boil, simmer until they are soft enough to push a knife through with minimal pressure

Once the potatoes are cooked removed from heat, drain and place back in the pan on heat for 1-2 minutes to dry them out. If you are using a ricer, rice the potatoes back into the pan or into a large bowl, if you are not using a ricer crush the potatoes slightly and then add a large knob of butter and a good glug of milk or cream. Cover with shrink wrap and leave.

To steam the fish I placed the Salmon and Haddock in a colander over a large pan with 1-2cm of boil water and then cover the top with foil. Steam for approximately 10 minutes or until the fish is almost done. Add the prawns for the last few minutes as these were already cooked and needed to heat through.

Whilst all this is going on make up the packet sauce as per instructions.

Once the fish is ready and whilst you finish off the mash boil the asparagus for 2-3 minutes.

To finish the mash simply mash or mix depending which method you are using, it should be rich and creamy. Place on a baking tray top with grated cheese and pace under the grill until golden. Now plate up

Download your recipe card here

Enjoy

Swedish Delights

Swedish Delights

A quiet day on the food front, however, I have been snacking on these pickled fish delights from those nice people at IKEA all day.

Flavoured with Garlic (Sill Vitlok), Sour Cream (Sill Graddfil) and Onions (Sill Lok) other flavours are available.

If you have an IKEA or a good Deli near you they are certainly worth a try, I have to admit I don't know how the Swedes serve them but they do go well with savoury pancakes.

Enjoy

Cod with asparagus and noodles

Cod with asparagus and noodles

Dinner with the kids beautiful fresh Cod, vibrant iron rich Asparagus and fresh egg noodles. Healthy, full of flavour and the kids really enjoy their fish.

Ingredients

- 500g fresh skinless and boneless cod

- 2 bunches of Asparagus

- 400g fresh Egg Noodles

- 2 spring onions (salad onions) for garnish

All ingredients from Sainsburys

Season the Cod with salt and white pepper, then steam the for 10 - 12 minutes. As I've said before I do not have a steamer so use a colander over a pan of water with a piece of foil over the top of the colander works perfectly. Once the Cod is almost cooked remove from the steamer and wrap in foil it will continue to cook whilst you prepare the Asparagus and noodle.

Prepare the noodles as per the instructions on the packet, if you are using fresh this is normally dropping them into boiling water for 2 - 3 minutes. Once cooked drain well and drizzle with olive oil, whilst cooking the noodles you can drop the Asparagus into boiling water for a similar amount of time. Once the Asparagus is cooked plate up immediately drizzling the Asparagus in olive oil and sprinkling with Maldon's sea salt, place the Cod on top of the Asparagus and drizzle with more oil. Plate the noodles and garnish with finely chopped spring onions.

That is it, if you use fresh ingredients, this dish will taste great, do not skimp on the olive oil extra virgin will give you the best flavours.

Download your recipe card here

Enjoy