Chorizo & saffron baked cod

First of all and before I say anything else, let me just say how much I love this dish.  We thought it up during one of our brainstorming sessions and I liked the idea immediately.  It has everything I could like about a fish dish - it's simple, it only needs a few ingredients and it involves a fillet of fish rather than some broken up pieces in a sauce.

It's hard to imagine, but once upon a time I despised fish.  Couldn't bear the smell of it and certainly wouldn't eat anything more than a fish finger. Although, the seeds were there because I would happily tuck into a fillet of rock salmon (Huss) in batter from our local chippy.  However, all that changed when I fell pregnant with our son (who adores fish of all kinds) and suddenly I was craving fish.  Weird but true.  Since then, the liking for fish has thankfully stayed with me and since we've started shopping at Lidl stores, I have discovered an affordable source of proper fish fillets.  Yay!

As Lidl had their extra large packs of cod fillet on special offer it seemed rude to not take advantage of that, hence we thought up this lovely recipe. 

I reckon that as winter is coming to a close here, that might explain why my culinary head was concentrating on sunnier recipes from warmer climes and I was thinking along Spanish lines, although I do hear tell that this is very much a Portuguese recipe in spirit.  Atlantic or Mediterranean, it's all good to me.

As I've said, I loved this dish.  The cod is beautifully cooked and the en papillote (in a bag) cooking retains all its moisture.  The lovely tasty oils from the chorizo and saffron bathe the fish and just add that extra bonus to the flavour.  Inevitably, there will be some cooking juices from the fish that amalgamate with the oils and provides a perfect light sauce so if you enjoy your fish, you're going to love the simplicity and unfussiness of this recipe.

Again, I don't have many Cook's Tips for you.  Most importantly is not to be scared and cook the fish for too long.  It's far better to open the package and then have to put it back in the oven for another 2-3 minutes, than to overcook and dry the fish out.

Now I know that saffron can be quite expensive, however this recipe isn't asking for a lot so if you can devote some saffron threads to it you'll benefit from the improved flavour.  However, if all you've got is ground saffron, don't sweat it - it'll be fine.  Just add a small amount.

So, there we have it.  This cod dish would go well with paprika roast potatoes and any kind of Mediterranean vegetable, but I served it with Nigella Lawson's rapid roastinis (to which I added some dried rosemary), petit pois and green beans, which were very good indeed.  Now, onwards to the recipe!

CHORIZO & SAFFRON BAKED COD   (serves 3)

Ingredients :

3 good sized, chunky and skinless cod fillets
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 shallots, diced finely
70g finely cut chorizo slices, cut into fine strips
a small pinch of saffron strands
10g salted butter
a pinch of ground black pepper
a small pinch of sea salt.

Method :

Firstly, cut a long strip of silver foil or greaseproof paper that is twice as long as your pieces of cod when laid in a row.  Fold it in half and lay it onto a baking tray, opening up the top layer.

Take the cod pieces and starting from the folded end, lay them along the centre of the foil right side up, then set aside.

Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a small frying pan over a moderate heat.  Add the shallots and fry for 3-4 minutes, until they have softened.  Then add the chorizo strips and the saffron and cook for another 5 minutes or so or until the chorizo has released some of its tasty oil.  Reduce the heat to low and add the butter, pepper and sea salt and stir to combine.

Spoon the chorizo mixture evenly across the top of the fish, making sure to use all the flavoured oil.  Quickly fold up the sides of the foil package, folding each side at least three times, to secure it well.

Place the fish into a pre-heated oven (180degC/350degF/Gas4) for 20-25 minutes, a little bit less if your fillets aren't of the chunky kind.  When the fish is cooked, the foil package will be puffed up like a balloon.

To serve, simply make an incision across the top of the foil package and using a fish slice, plate up each piece of fish onto hot plates, making sure to capture as many of the chorizo pieces as you can, placing them on top of the fish.  Drizzle with the cooking juices.  Serve with roast potatoes, or rosemary fried gnocchi, along with a few vegetables of your choice.

Printable version

Smoky Chicken with warm corn & potato salad

This is one of those "disgustingly good for you" recipes that I was talking to Marcus about in the previous post's comments.

However, not only is it disgustingly good for you, it is quite simply delicious.

The original recipe (from a BBC Good Food Magazine, but you can see it on the website as well) states that per portion, this meal is only 343 calories.  Now add a little extra for the salad leaves that I included to make it a bit more of a main course and less of a lunch and it is still extraordinarily healthy.

It is a funny thing, but up until very recently I really didn't like smoked paprika very much at all.  Then, after a period of not having the "good stuff" and making do with a lesser grade of smoked paprika, we got a tin of the proper thing again - and bingo! I like it.  Weird.

However, for this recipe, it stated that sweet smoked paprika was required.  Well we couldn't find any of that for love nor money around here, so I improvised by using a half a teaspoon of the hot smoked and half a teaspoon of just plain paprika.  It tasted fabulous, so obviously worked fine!

Have I told you, recently, how much I love this griddle pan?

Another area where I made a change to the original recipe was in its use of olive oil.  It stated to use just "olive oil", but I felt that a distinction between plain old olive oil (suitable for frying etc.) and extra virgin olive oil (better for salad dressings, as it has a much better flavour) would be a help.  So I used plain old olive oil for the chicken coating, as it is cheaper and more suited to being used in a hot environment.  The more expensive extra virgin olive oil, I saved for the salad dressing.

The Jersey Royals were just perfect for this salad.  Unfortunately, I had to quarter them in most cases as they were so big.  However, this didn't seem to make any difference and the flavour appeared to be just the same.  I only wish I'd have thought to add a little sprig of mint in the cooking water!

Considering how simple the ingredients and their cooking methods are, this is a quite outstanding dish both for flavour and appearance.  I was extremely pleased by how it looked on the plate - and it certainly made son & heir's eyebrows disappear into his hairline, which I can only think was a good thing.  He ate everything except the salad leaves which took dire threats of no ice cream for dessert to make disappear - but then, we can put that down to his natural resistance to anything green, rather than the flavour!

For anyone looking for an extra-light meal that delivers on just about every front possible, this is definitely a winner.

SMOKY CHICKEN WITH WARM CORN & POTATO SALAD  (serves 3)

Ingredients :

Enough Jersey Royal potatoes for 3 people (I quartered mine, as they were so big)
2 large Corn on the cob
a mint sprig (optional - to go in the cooking water)
a small red onion, thinly sliced
juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped finely
half a tsp hot smoked paprika
half a tsp paprika
3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, each cut through to make two thin escalopes
small bunch of coriander leaves, chopped
salad leaves (I used spinach, watercress & rocket).

Method :

1.  Bring to the boil a saucepan of salted water big enough to hold all the potatoes and corn.

2.  While you wait for the water to boil, in a salad bowl mix together the red onion with the lime juice and the extra virgin olive oil.

3.  In a smaller bowl, mix the plain olive oil with the garlic, paprika and some seasoning.  Add the chicken and stir until each piece of chicken is completely coated in the mixture.

4.  Add the potatoes and corn cobs to the boiling water and cook until both are tender, making sure that the potatoes are cooked all the way through.  Drain well and keep warm.

5.  Heat a griddle pan and griddle each piece of chicken for 3-4 minutes on each side, until cooked through.  You will probably need to do this in batches, to save overcrowding the pan, which will cool it too much and result in your chicken braising instead of griddling.

6.  Once the chicken is done, add the potatoes to the bowl with the onions.  Take the corn cobs and cut the niblets off them by standing each cob on its thick end and running a sharp knife down from top to bottom.  Add the corn to the potatoes.  

7.  Add the chopped coriander to the corn, along with a little seasoning, and stir through gently, so as not to break up the potatoes.

8.  Serve the potato mixture on top of a bed of salad leaves, placing the chicken pieces on top of the lot.

Printable version
.

Sugar-free Banana & Blueberry Muffins

I bet that caught your attention!

Initially, I wrote this blog for my online blog with the Bournemouth Echo, "Jenny's Week" where I report back on the nicest thing I've eaten or cooked that week.  So I have to admit, I was a bit stuck for something to talk about up until I made the muffins.

Yes, the Pasta Alla Amatriciana that I made last Thursday really is a superlative recipe that knocks all other Amatriciana recipes into a cocked hat.  

Oh, and let’s not forget the Lancashire Haggis that we managed to track down after an exhaustive Haggis hunt, all ready for Burns Night last Wednesday.  

However, even those two jewels haven’t upstaged these muffins.

Why, you may ask?  Well, because they ARE sugar free (if you discount the natural sugars in the fruit), and they don’t taste of yukky sweetener, they’re totally aspartame free (which is very important) and most of all, they are light, fluffy and fabulous!

To be able to eat an American style muffin with the minimum of guilt, is really something new.  In the past, we’ve had to close our eyes to the amount of sugar involved – which if you couple it with the oil involved as well, wasn’t good.

However, with diabetes in the house, a teenager who could do without growing sideways instead of upwards and myself (who grew sideways a long time ago), it has become important that I pay attention to whittling down – where possible – the calorific input of our food.

So, do you think there's enough blueberries?

You have to decide to start somewhere, so we opted for the sugar in our drinks.  Having had a look for the new Stevia sweetener (without success) we decided to go with Splenda (sucralose-based) as we knew it was the least intrusive for inclusion in tea and coffee.  Naturally, I began to consider what else I could use it in – and baking was an instant winner.

Now you must bear in mind what a complete numpty I am where figures are concerned, when I tell you that I had to work out the comparative amounts.  The box said that you could use it like for like, i.e. a teaspoon of sugar equates to a teaspoon of Splenda, but that didn’t help me much when considering the equivalent in Splenda for 100g of light muscovado sugar!  100g of Splenda would probably be a bucketful, it’s that light!  So after a bit (actually, quite a lot) of brain-wracking, I came up with the brilliant solution of weighing a tablespoonful of sugar (20g) then working out how many tablespoons amounted to 100g – and the answer, 5, is how many tablespoons of Splenda I used.  I’m quite proud of that equation, especially as it worked perfectly.

The end result is a light, fluffy, sponge-like muffin that has none of the heaviness of a “normal” muffin.  Even with the two mashed bananas in the mix (which can often make a muffin batter quite heavy), they rose beautifully.  The blueberries did what blueberries in a muffin should do, in that they burst and lent gorgeous blue-purple streaks of lovely fruity flavour to the whole.

I’ve since eaten these muffins with ice cream, with coffee, with a cup of tea and even, in a moment of madness, with a slice of cheese – and they stood up perfectly to the challenge.

So, if you’re busy watching your waistline but are craving something sweet and baked – I can’t recommend these enough.

SUGAR-FREE BANANA & BLUEBERRY MUFFINS  (makes 12)

Ingredients :

300g self raising flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

5 tbsp Splenda sugar alternative

50g porridge oats

2 medium over-ripe bananas

280ml (or thereabouts) of live greek yoghurt

5 tbsp sunflower oil

2 eggs, lightly beaten

200g punnet blueberries.

Method :

1.  Pre-heat oven to 180degC/350degF/Gas 4.

2.  Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper muffin cases.  (Don't just put the muffin cases onto a baking tray - as I did - or you'll have deformed muffins).

3.  Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda, Splenda and oats to a large bowl and stir to combine.  Make a well in the centre and set aside.

4.  In a smaller bowl, mash the bananas until almost smooth.  Add the yoghurt, oil and eggs into the bananas and stir to combine.

5.  Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients and quickly give a rough mix until they are just combined.  Don't worry if you still see some flour and lumps, muffins thrive on not being mixed too much.

6.  Tip in the blueberries and give one more stir to coat them in the batter mix, then divide between the twelve muffin cases.

7.  Place into the oven for 20-25 minutes until risen and golden.

8.  Cool on a wire rack and guard closely or you'll find several have disappeared before you can get back to them!

.