I cannot begin to tell you how much i miss Fish n' Chips loaded with salt n' vinegar on the pier stylee or Claphams Fish Club shop... sigh. That, and a good pie, not beta, i mean like a chicken and mushroom pie, oooh and whilst i'm on a roll a good Cornish Pasty or even West Cornwall's Steak and stilton pasty, yum. These are proper lard-fest foods, but i'm a foodie, so on tonight menu I bring you beer battered fish and chips with peas (not a fan of mushy - reminds me of school dinners).
Jamie's Dinner has a taste-tastic recipe which i've made numerous times and is a crowd pleaser - only you can't really cook this recipe for more than 4 peeps unless you have a huge deep fat fryer.
What you need:
• Sunflower oil for deep-frying
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 225g nice white fish fillets, pinboned
• 225g flour, plus extra for dusting
• 285ml pint good cold beer
• 3 heaped teaspoons baking powder
• 900g potatoes, peeled and sliced into chips
Make it!
Pour the sunflower oil into your deep fat fryer or a large frying pan and heat it to 190ºC/375ºF.
Mix the salt and pepper together and season the fish fillets on both sides. This will help to remove any excess water, making the fish really meaty.
Whisk the flour, beer and baking powder together until nice and shiny. The texture should be like semi-whipped double cream (i.e. it should stick to whatever you're coating).
Dust each fish fillet in a little of the extra flour, then dip into the batter and allow any excess to drip off.
Holding one end, lower the fish into the oil one by one, carefully so you don't get splashed – it will depend on the size of your fryer how many fish you can do at once.
Cook for 4 minutes or so, until the batter is golden and crisp.
Meanwhile, parboil your chips in salted boiling water for about 4 or 5 minutes until softened but still retaining their shape, then drain them in a colander and leave to steam completely dry.
When all the moisture has disappeared, fry them in the oil that the fish were cooked in at 180ºC/350ºF until golden and crisp. While the chips are frying, you can place the fish on a baking tray and put them in the oven for a few minutes at 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4 to finish cooking.
This way they will stay crisp while you finish off the chips. When they are done, drain them on kitchen paper, season with salt, and serve with the fish and mushy peas.
There comes a time in the Greek calendar when excess is out and getting trim again is in and all the magazines, TV ads are spurring a whole load of interesting 'lose weight' diet plans including tea bags which will apparently make you lose weight.
This week (and it's only Tuesday) I've heard the word 'Diaita' or 'diet' whispered so many times, it's becoming the thing you 'must' do and start now. Hitting the beach o'clock is not far off so i can understand the craze at the moment.
Diet is such a dirty word, i just don't believe in it, so I just eat according to what makes me feel good with the occasional 'excess' of sweet candy and cake love. Ok, admittedly since i've been living here it's been a bit of an occupational hazard of mine to try out new chocolates, new flavours and well much more... But detoxing is pretty good for you though and once a year i like to get rid of the yucky toxins in my body by eating more healthily & cutting out certain types of food (be it meat and sugary snacks etc) - I'm just not really one for juices, or liquid diets! I'd probably fall flat on my face after day 2 of juicing or whatever! And don't get me started on leafy salads - ugh! I love a salad like anyone else but just not the plain boring leafy type - it's all about variety for me!
So anyhoos, here's something that's yummy and fulfilling from Jamie Oliver's book 'Jamie's Dinner's'.
"This salad is a great one for making up as you go along; you can use different spices, sun-dried tomatoes and spicy chorizo sausages, for instance."
Starters - feeds 4 hungry peeps
What you need:
• 1 small red onion, peeled
• 1–2 fresh red chillies, deseeded
• 2 handfuls of ripe red or yellow tomatoes
• 2 lemons
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 x 410g jar or tin of chickpeas, drained, or around 4 large handfuls of soaked and cooked chickpeas - I find that if you soak and drain your own it tastes way better than the tinned stuff!
• a handful of fresh mint, chopped
a handful of fresh green or purple basil, finely ripped
• 200g/7oz feta cheese
Make it!
First of all, finely slice your red onion. Once that's done, finely slice your chillies then roughly chop your tomatoes, mixing them in with the onion and chillies. Scrape all of this, and the juice, into a bowl and dress with the juice of 1½ lemons and about 3 times as much good extra virgin olive oil. Season to taste. Heat the chickpeas in a pan, then add 90 per cent of them to the bowl. Mush up the remaining chickpeas and add these as well – they will give a nice creamy consistency. Allow to marinate for a little while and serve at room temperature.
Just as you're ready to serve, give the salad a final dress with the fresh mint and basil. Taste one last time for seasoning – you may want to add the juice from your remaining lemon half at this point. Place on a nice serving dish and crumble over the feta cheese.
I cannot begin to tell you how much i miss Fish n' Chips loaded with salt n' vinegar on the pier stylee or Claphams Fish Club shop... sigh. That, and a good pie, not beta, i mean like a chicken and mushroom pie, oooh and whilst i'm on a roll a good Cornish Pasty or even West Cornwall's Steak and stilton pasty, yum. These are proper lard-fest foods, but i'm a foodie, so on tonight menu I bring you beer battered fish and chips with peas (not a fan of mushy - reminds me of school dinners).
