Thursday 17 September 2015

Hake Galician style


Ingredients: 
Hake fillet (2 portions)
1 romano pepper, sliced
4 medium potatoes, cut tandomly
1 red onion, sliced
6 kalamata olives
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Parsley

Method
Sautée the potatoes onions and red pepper in the olive oil until just lightly coloured. Add the garlic slightly later to avoid it getting to dark, which can make it bitter. Add a little water and the olives and pour into a suitable roasting dish. Braise/roast in a medium hot oven for 30 minutes. 
Season the fish fillet with sea salt about half an hour befor cooking. In a cold pan with just a little oil place the fillets skin side down and turn on the heat. Now cook on a medium flame. Make a cartouche from grease proof paper and place it over the fish, so the steam cooks the top. Do not turn the fish over, but let the skin crisp up and the flesh steam under the cartouche. Serve the braised vegetables and set the fish on top. Sprinkle with parsley and drizzle with a little good olive oil.

Friday 6 February 2015

Spaghetti Putanesca

This tasty Pasta Dish from Southern Italy can be easily made with ingredients from the store cupboard.


This is my version. Quantities can be changed to your liking and I'm only using fresh tomatoes because I have too many of them right now. Tinned will be great too.

Ingredients:
2 tbs Olive Oil
3 Garlic Cloves, chopped
1 long red Chilli Pepper, deseeded and chopped
4 Anchovy fillets, chopped
2 tbs Capers ( if using the salted variety, rinse the salt off)
About 10-12 black olives, I like mine whole, but pitted is fine of course
A whole bunch of Cherry Tomatoes, halved (or chopped tinned tomatoes)


I'm starting with the olive oil, garlic, chilli and capers in a large high sided chef pan, that will eventually hold the whole dish, including the pasta.


Turn the heat on high and sizzle everything until fragrant. This only takes a minute or two.


Next add the tomatoes. Mine are quite tart, so I'm adding a little sprinkle of sugar to balance them out, but if they are nice and sweet or from a tin, then no sugar is needed.


After the tomatoes have softened a little throw in the olives. Just warm them through, don't cook for too long or I find the dish gets too much bitter olive flavour.


Now the sauce is ready for the pasta. So cook yours as instructed on the packaging and toss it straight into the sauce. Also add a splash of the pasta cooking water, this will give the sauce a nice consistency and marry everything together.


There we are, ready to serve. If I had some fresh Parsley I would sprinkle some as I serve, but it's winter and my herb garden is not providing any.
So a grinding of fresh Pepper will do!
Bon Apetit!












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