Sunday 15 April 2012

Yummy Fishcakes

 This was my first attempt at fishcakes and they were actually pretty good.

You will need (serves 4):

4 white fish fillets (no skin or bones)
1 onion
1/2 litre vegetable/fish stock
320g potatoes, mashed
large bunch of parsley
a pinch of chilli flakes
1 tsp creole spice mix
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 piece of bread for bread crumbs
1 egg, beaten
25g flour
salt and pepper

Cook the potatoes until they are soft and mash them for later. Cut the onion into quarters and put in a frying pan. Lay the fish on top and pour the vegetable stock in. Simmer the fish on a medium heat until it is cooked, this will depend on it's size.

Meanwhile finely chop the parsley and put it in with the mashed potatoes. When the fish is cooked, take it out of the stock and leave it to cool for 5 minutes. Then add the fish, chilli flakes and creole spice to the potatoes. Mix it all together and make large balls out of it. Rub each fishcake in flour, then dip them in the egg and breadcrumbs. Leave the fishcakes in the fridge for half an hour so they do not fall apart when cooking.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan and add the fishcakes. Continually turn them so they don't burn. Serve them with some vegetables and mayonnaise.

Saturday 14 April 2012

Easy Tarte Tatin

This is a delicious and easy recipe, with only 4 ingredients:

Light brown sugar, to layer the bottom of the dish
Butter, a few knobs to scatter over the sugar
Cooking apples, about 4
Puff pastry, half a packet

Start by turning the oven on to 180°c. Prepare the apples by pealing and coring them. Slice them into circles and don't worry if some are odd shapes.

Make a thin layer of sugar in the base of a large tart dish to cover the bottom. Then place small knobs of butter over the sugar, roughly 8 knobs for a large dish. Start to layer the apple slices neatly on top of the butter and sugar at an even level.

Put this in the oven for 5 minutes to slightly soften the apples. Meanwhile, thinly roll out half a packet of puff pastry. Remove the dish from the oven and place the pastry on top of the apples, make sure it covers the whole dish and fold in any excess bits.

Cook the tart for 15/20 mintutes, until the pastry is brown and cooked. When it is ready, put a plate on the dish and turn the tart upside down so that it becomes a tarte tatin. Serve both hot or cold, with creme fraiche, yoghurt or cream.