Crispy fried whitebait

The inspiration for this crispy whitebait dish comes from the Bel & the Dragon restaurant in Reading. My boyfriend first took me there for a birthday celebration, and I had Crispy Cornish Whitebait from their starter menu.

Fast forward two years later and we ordered several portions at my Dad’s 60th birthday celebration. It’s a great, simple starter, and easy to replicate at home.

Whitebait is a small white fish that’s eaten head, eyes, tail and all. The big plus here is that this means zero preparation required.

You should be able to purchase a frozen bag from your local fish monger – I got a 450g bag for £5 and using the quantities below you can get 6+ portions out of this. A pretty good deal.

The following serves two as a very generous starter, although can be stretched to 3-4 people if you’re just looking for something light. If you’re cooking for a larger party just increase the volumes.

You’ll need
• 150g whitebait
• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 1/2 cup panko or breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• Sunflower oil, for deep frying

Mix together the flour and panko/breadcrumbs in a shallow bowl.

Crack an egg into another shallow bowl and whisk lightly.

Lightly flour a baking tray – you will put your coated fish onto this until ready to begin frying.

With one hand, place a whitebait fish into the egg mixture to coat, then remove and transfer to the flour mixture.

Using your other hand, coat the fish in the flour mixture. Remove and place on the tray. Continue with the other fish until you’ve coated them all.

Make sure to keep your hands separate else you’ll end up in a sticky mess (speaking from experience!).

Heat your oil in a frying pan, about 1 inch deep, until very hot and shimmering.

Lightly drop the coated whitebait into the hot oil (be careful of splashes) in a single layer. You may need to do this in more than one batch.

Let the fish cook for 3-4 minutes until lightly browned and crispy.

Remove with a slotted spoon and add to a bowl lined with kitchen roll to absorb some of the oil.

Once drained, remove the kitchen roll and serve!

Homemade meatballs

Spaghetti and meatballs. Homemade comfort food that is up there with macaroni cheese. My parents live next to a great butchers shop in Cornwall, and whenever they’re coming to visit I put in an order for a portion of their meatballs. The quality compared to the packaged supermarket versions is undeniable.

But when there are no Cornish meatballs winging their way to you, and you have a craving for some authentic American cuisine (you will not, unfortunately, find spaghetti with meatballs in Italy), there’s only one thing to do. Make your own. 

This recipe for everyday homemade meatballs from Smitten Kitchen is perfect. I halved the ingredients to make enough for 2, but otherwise pretty much stuck to the recipe. I did switch up the tomato sauce with some different ingredients though; my version is below.

Serves 2 (generously) Makes approx 16 1.5 inch meatballs

You’ll need:

For the meatballs:

• 500g minced beef – not lean or it will be too dry
• ¼ cup panko or bread crumbs
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
• 1 tablespoon grated parmigiano reggiano
• 1 teaspoon ground salt
• Pinch of crushed chillis/red pepper flakes
• A couple grinds of black pepper
• ¼onion, finely chopped (you’ll use the rest in the sauce) or ¼ teaspoon of onion powder
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 egg

For the tomato sauce and spaghetti:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ¾ onion, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 red chilli, diced
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme
• ½ teaspoon dried basil
• 1 400g can tomato passata or crushed tomatoes
• 1 beef stock cube
• Dash of balsamic vinegar
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 300g spaghetti
  

Place all of your meatball ingredients into a large bowl and mix together using a fork until evenly combined. 

Using your hands, form the mixture into 1.5 inch meatballs and place on a tray. You should have enough to make around 16 meatballs. You’ll want them to all be a similar size so that they cook at the same rate.

If you have time, cover the tray in cling film and put in the fridge for 30 mins to help the meatballs set and maintain their shape when cooking.

In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil and then add the onion, garlic and red chilli. Mix in the thyme and basil, then cover with a lid and leave to simmer on a low heat for 5 minutes. 

Add the tomatoes, followed by the stock cube and vinegar. Mix everything together. Cover and leave to simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add grinds of black pepper to your taste.

Add the meatballs gently to the sauce one at a time, to prevent them losing their shape. Keep the heat at a low simmer, and cover the pan with a lid. Do not disturb for 20 mins, or you risk your meatballs breaking up!

After 20 mins, give the meatballs and tomato sauce mixture a stir. At this stage it should be almost ready; keep it on a low heat whilst you cook the spaghetti.

Boil a large pan of salted water and cook the spaghetti to packet instructions. Once cooked, drain and return to the pan. Now add 3-4 ladles of the tomato sauce mixture into the spaghetti, and stir to evenly coat. 

Now plate up the spaghetti, and place the meatballs on top. Add extra sauce on top to your preference.

Homemade yorkshire puddings 101

Light, airy, and bigger than your head (almost)

A roast really isn’t a roast without Yorkshire puddings. And I don’t just mean roast beef. Chicken too, or any other meat for that matter.

The Telegraph published this article debating whether Yorkshire’s should be served with anything other than roast beef. The poll at the bottom of the page overwhelmingly shows that YES – we should be eating Yorkshire’s with everything! The public has spoken. Phew.

Not that any of us actually needed permission to stuff these puffy clouds of dough into our mouths with a side of gravy and meat each Sunday.

But the real question is, are you making your own or throwing a dozen Aunt Bessies in the oven?

I’m not condemning an occasional shortcut, but homemade Yorkshire’s really are the easiest thing if you have the right recipe, and they’re infinitely better than the frozen versions.

As for the right recipe? It’s this one from the BBC.

I’ve been using it for years now and it’s never failed. I used it the first time I ever made them, and they were perfect. In a rustic, uneven yorkshire pudding type of way. Crisp on the outside, light and airy on the inside.

If you’ve never tried making your own, I urge you to do this next time. You’ll wonder why you ever ate those chewy frozen versions.

4 simple ingredients, resulting in golden, puffy, well risen puddings.

• 140g plain flour 
• 4 eggs 
• 200ml milk
• sunflower oil, for cooking

The recipe makes 12 puddings so I usually halve it if I’m cooking for two. Adjust to suit your needs.

Simply pour your flour in a bowl and beat the eggs in until smooth. Gradually add the milk and continue mixing until the mixture is lump free. Season with salt and pepper to taste and pour the batter into a jug. Leave to rest until ready to go in the oven. Preparation: complete!

Drizzle half a teaspoon of sunflower oil into each hole of a pudding tray (I use a muffin one) – 12 if you’re making the full recipe, or 6 if you’ve halved it.

If your oven is small and you’re cooking a roast, like me you may not have enough room for the tin until you take the meat out of the oven. No worries – take the meat out, cover with foil and leave to rest on the side – it’ll taste better rested anyway.

If your oven is already on, turn it up to 230/fan 210 (if not, preheat 10 mins before). Put your pudding tray in the top shelf of the oven to heat (around 10 mins).

Now take the tray out of the oven and pour the batter evenly into each of the oiled holes. If your oil is hot enough it will sizzle – this is what you’re looking for!

Place the tray back in the oven and leave undisturbed – the recipe says for 20-25 mins but this will depend on your own oven. For me by around 15 minutes they’re done.

Don’t be tempted to open the oven door, especially in the first 10 minutes of cooking – the air you let in will cause the puddings to deflate and sink.

Remove from the oven once nicely puffed up and browned.

Once cooled, you can freeze for up to a month. Or they’re equally great reheated the next day with leftover roast potatoes, veg and meat for a quick and easy lunch (if not the most healthy!)

Cooking a whole fish - herb stuffed sea bass

I’ve never been a huge fan of food with a face. I’ll happily enjoy a pulled pork roll but the sight of a poor pig spinning on a stick in the middle of a party has always felt slightly barbaric.

I used to feel a similar way about a whole fish, eyes and all, presented to me on a plate. Which is all really the ultimate contradiction but I think a lot of people feel the same way.

However I’ve gradually become more experimental with food. Just last weekend I found myself stood in my kitchen with a handful of innards that I’d pulled bare-handed from a pigeon (yes it was already dead in case you were wondering, but that’s a story for another day). 5 years ago that would not have been me!

Cooking a whole fish is slightly lower on the scale than that, but equally something I hadn’t done before. I attribute my fish cooking success to two people. My Latvian colleague, who is a big advocate for cooking whole fish rather than spending more money on fillets. And the wonderful Chrissy Teigen, who dedicated a section in her new cookbook ‘Cravings’ to ‘Things That Intimidate People But Shouldn't’. Whole fish is definitely on that list.

After I posted a couple of pictures on Instagram of my fishy experience, a friend messaged me to say how impressive it was. It wasn't something she'd tried before or thought she could. I think phrases like ‘stuffed with fresh herbs’ conjured horrifying images of stuffing your hands inside a fish, guts and all.

In reality it was the opposite of any gory nightmare – I purchased the fish gutted and cleaned from the fish monger (£5 each for a whole large sea bass, which I thought was excellent value) and there is a nice clean slit along the underside of the fish which you just politely place some lemon slices and herbs into and job done.

No guts. No actual stuffing. Just a bit of what we will call ‘gentle placing’.

Furthermore; no skill needed, barely any time to be dedicated. But it is something that *looks* impressive and tastes delicious.

Admittedly the head was still an obstacle for me – not in terms of  preparation but I wasn’t brave enough to eat it. The cheek flesh is supposed to be the most flavoursome part of the fish, and you can also eat the eyes. Next time I might tackle the cheeks but the eyes will probably take another few years for me to master yet.

This recipe for cooking whole sea bass is so simple that I’m not even going to write out a long winded method. Just buy 2 whole sea bass and follow these 3 simple steps à la Chrissy for a fabulous meal for 2:

1. Mince 10 cloves of garlic and mix in a bowl with a teaspoon of crushed chilli flakes, generous pinch of salt and pepper, and a tablespoon of olive oil. Massage all over the fish and inside. (Do not choose this moment to get squeamish about that head – the eyes are not looking at you!)
2. Slice a lemon and place 2 or 3 slices in each slit, along with sprigs of sage, rosemary and thyme (or other fresh herbs of your choice). Now lay the fish on a baking sheet – line with foil if you prefer easy cleaning.
3. Bake in the oven at 200 c / 390 f for 30 minutes

Done! I served with crushed new potatoes (just par boil, add to roasting tray and crush lightly with the back of a spoon. Drizzle with oil, salt and pepper, sprigs of rosemary, and roast for 30 mins alongside the fish) but you can serve with any side of your choice.

I also chopped up a few tomatoes and threw them around the fish whilst it was baking, and steamed a pack of samphire for a few mins.

So wait, you now have a beautifully cooked whole fish but you’re not sure how to fillet it?! Please just check out this uber useful post from the Serious Eats website which takes you on a simple step by step tour of perfectly filleting your fish, pictures and all.

Mac and cheese with a twist

Cheesy indulgence with a spicy, smoky kick

Macaroni cheese. My mum used to make it when me and my brother were young; with tomatoes and bacon, and served with toast cut diagonally. Double carbs? Yes please. Yet as an adult, for some unknown reason, it wasn’t something I made very often at all.

Until one evening last year I went to a friend’s house with a few of my colleagues. She and her boyfriend served up a macaroni cheese dish that had us all shouting and/or mumbling variations of “THIS IS THE BEST MAC AND CHEESE IVE EVER HAD IN MY LIFE” and “I NEED THIS RECIPE NOW” in between mouthfuls of cheese dripping pasta and swigs of homemade mojitos. And garlic bread was the side dish.

The holy grail recipe didn’t actually exist as apparently it was a ‘do what feels right at the time’ kinda method, but two secrets I took away with me were chorizo and extra extra cheese.

I’m a believer that chorizo makes most things in life taste better so I didn’t need convincing on this, or the advice to ‘just keep adding cheese’.

In the weeks after that historic night, I kept thinking about and craving that mac n cheese. So I did a bit of research (including getting my mum to take a photo of her old cookbook recipe and whatsapp it to me), and came up with my own version.

I was a bit nervous about presenting this to my boyfriend to try, as he is generally furiously against any white or cheesy sauces. I think the spicy, smoky, rich chorizo flavour of this dish alongside the shallots and garlic counterbalanced any aversions and it got the nod of approval. It even resulted in him instigating a couple of ‘shall we have mac and cheese’ tonight convos. All hail the cheese.

Serves 4 (but it’s even better for 2, giving you leftovers for the next day)

You’ll need:
Olive oil
3 shallots, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
115g chorizo (approx half a 225g chorizo ring) sliced into ½ inch pieces and then cut each slice in quarters
400ml milk
1 tablespoon plain flour
30g butter
110g cheddar cheese, grated
40g Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated
Splash of worcestershire sauce
2-3 gratings nutmeg
2 bay leaves
275g macaroni
225g plum tomatoes
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees c / 350 degrees f

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large saucepan and fry the shallots for a couple of minutes. Add the garlic and chorizo and fry over a low heat for a few minutes until the shallots are softened and the chorizo has emanated its intense colour and flavour.

Remove the chorizo mixture from the pan and set aside.

In the same pan (you want to keep all that delicious chorizo flavour!), heat the butter until melted and then stir in the flour to produce a paste.  

Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly so that you get rid of any lumps.

Add the bay leaves.

Bring the mixture to a boil, turn the heat down to low and leave to simmer, stirring occasionally.

Prick the tomatoes with a sharp knife and place in a roasting tray. Drizzle over a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Put the tomatoes in the oven to roast for 15 mins. Remove from the oven and cut into quarters.

Bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil, drop in your macaroni and cook to packet instructions (approx 10 mins).

Drain the macaroni and add to your sauce. Remove the pan from the heat, then add:
•    the chorizo mixture
•    approx three quarters of the grated cheeses
•    the chopped roasted tomatoes.

Remove the bay leaves.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Keep in mind the chorizo will be salty so you probably won’t need to add much, if any, salt.

Pour the mixture into a casserole dish and sprinkle over the remaining cheese.

  Bake in the oven for 40 mins until bubbling and lightly browned on top.

Asian marinated guinea fowl with noodles

Are you tired of eating chicken week in, week-out?

Guinea fowl is available all year round and is a great alternative to chicken, with a taste learning towards pheasant. Excellent simply roasted with your usual Sunday lunch trimmings, or you can mix things up with this Asian influenced recipe.

As guinea fowl is slightly drier than chicken, marinating the bird before cooking helps to tenderise the meat and keep it moist. I used this simple WomanandHome asian influenced marinade.

This dish turned out to be lots of firsts for me. First time spatchcocking a bird. First time using lemon grass, and first time using pak choi.

If you’re also a spatchcock newbie, I’d recommend taking a look at this simple 2 minute video from the BBC before attempting anything. Then arm yourself with a good pair of kitchen scissors and a sharp knife. If you have the right tools the process is very simple. My knife however was slightly blunt so at times it turned into a bit of a hackathon, but I won in the end!

Tip: Don't discard the backbone, it'll be great in a stock!

As for lemongrass, I learned a few things about this also – whole lemongrass can be used in stews and curries (removed before eating), or chopped and used in marinades, which is what we’re going to do here. Again, a sharp knife helps as the woody stalk can be difficult to cut through with a blunt one… (I think what I need to take away from this experience is to buy new knives!).

We’re also welcoming pak choi to the family! I’ve eaten it several times at Asian restaurants but never prepared myself. It can be stir fried in a few minutes so it was a no fuss addition to the noodles , providing a burst of vitamic C, A and fibre.

Serves 2

You’ll need:
1 guinea fowl, spatchcocked and cut into 4 pieces

For the marinade
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
2 teapsoon sesame seed oil
2 tablespoon groundnut oil
1 lime; zest and juice
2 sticks lemongrass
1 tablespoon chilli sauce
2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
1 green chilli, roughly chopped
Black pepper

For the noodles
2 nests of noodles (rice, udon work well)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 red chilli, sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
small bunch of spring onions, sliced
4 small pak choi, leaves separated

To serve
1 lime, halved

Method:
Once you’ve mastered cutting up your guinea fowl into 4 pieces, place them in a bowl. 

Mix together the marinade ingredients and pour over the guinea fowl, ensuring to mix well so all the meat is coated. Cover with cling film and place in the fridge for at least 3 hours, or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees c / 350 degrees f

Heat a frying pan with a little olive oil and sear the guinea fowl skin side down for a couple of minutes.

Place in a small roasting tin and put in the oven for 40 mins until cooked. 

Remove and leave to rest for 10 mins.

Just before the guinea fowl is done, cook your noodles in a pan of lightly salted, boiling water.

Re-heat the frying pan you used to sear the guinea fowl, adding a little extra olive oil if needed.

Add the chilli and garlic and fry for a couple of minutes, then add the spring onions and pak choi leaves.

Cook for a few minutes, allowing the pak choi to wilt down. 

Once the noodles are cooked and drained, add to the pan along with the sauces and stir fry for a couple of minutes, ensuring the ingredients are evenly coated.

To serve, put the noodles in a circular shape on the plate and place the guinea fowl pieces on top. Squeeze fresh lime juice over the meat to taste.

Sea bass with parsnip purée and parsnip crisps

Looking for something a little extra to cook on a Friday night in, we settled on this Michel Roux recipe as published on BBC goodfood. I’m not usually a massive parsnip fan, but this parsnip loaded dish is de-licious! Crunchy parsnip crisps contrast with the creamy parsnip purée, complementing the crispy skin and tender flesh of the sea bass.

In any Michel Roux recipe there’s usually at least one ingredient I don’t have in the cupboard or can’t easily buy in a local store– this time it was veal stock which I switched out for chicken stock. I also didn’t have the fish bones as my sea bass was already filleted, so simply left these out of the method (although I’d advise you to include for depth of flavour if you have them).

My adjusted/simplified version with a couple of tweaks is below. I’ve also removed the caramelised garlic and shallots – my personal preference is against large chunks of shallot/garlic on my plate, no matter how caramelised, and Michel’s method of boiling for 2 minutes, draining and repeating 4 times is a little too tedious for me.

You’ll need:
Olive oil
2 fillets of sea bass
2 shallots, sliced
40g button mushrooms, sliced
½ tbsp white wine vinegar
200ml chicken stock
½ tbsp butter
For the parsnip purée:
2 ½ parsnips
60ml milk
½ tbsp butter
For the parsnip crisps:
½ parsnip
Oil for deep drying (sunflower)

For the the parsnip crisps:
Peel the parsnips and then use a vegetable peeler to slice as thinly as possible.

Heat enough oil (a couple of centimetres) in a saucepan to allow you to deep fry the strips of parsnip until very hot.

Drop the parsnips into the hot oil until lightly browned (they will crisp up more once you take them out of the oil).

Remove from oil with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen towels to absorb the excess fat.

Depending on the size of your frying pan you may need to do this in batches – you only want a single layer of parsnips at a time in the hot oil. Set aside in a dry place until required – you can make up to a day ahead, stored in an air tight container.

For the parsnip purée:
Peel the parsnips and cut into big chunks. Drop into a saucepan of salted, boiling water until tender – about 20 mins.

Drain well, then put in a blender with the butter and some of the milk and blend until smooth: you’re aiming for the consistency of double cream so add more milk as necessary. Season to taste.

For the sauce:
Heat a little olive oil in a saucepan and cook the sliced shallots for 5 mins until softened and golden.

Add the mushrooms and cook for a further 10 mins, stirring occasionally. Add the vinegar and bring to the boil for 3 mins. Now add the stock, season lightly and simmer for 30 mins.

(At this stage Michel advises you to pass the sauce through a fine sieve into a clean pan. I wanted to keep the shallot/mushroom mixture though so I skipped this step.)

Whisk in the butter to thicken.

For the seabass:
Score the skin of the fish with a sharp knife – to help prevent curling during cooking.  Season with salt and pepper

Add a few drops of olive oil to a frying pan and heat until shimmering and very hot. Then add the fish, skin side down. Press down on the fish with a spatula if it begins to curl up.

Once the skin is browned (should take around 5 mins), turn the fillets over and cook the other side for a further 1 – 2 mins (timings dependant on the thickness of your fillets).

To serve:
Re-heat the puree if required and spoon on to warmed plates.
Pour the sauce around the purée and place the fish on top.
To complete, sprinkle over a few parsnip chips as a deliciously unhealthy garnish.