Fish Pie

This is one of those recipes that I was strangely attracted to. If someone had told me about a pie made from tinned tuna, spinach and a white sauce I would have made a mental note to avoid it at all costs. But for some reason, when I saw this in the Good Living, I ripped it out and filed it in my mystical green folder to try later.




I tried it for the first time when FH Alphie wasn't feeling to good, and he opted not to have any, for the same reasons I did above. But, I loved it, so it made another appearance, and the second time, FH Alphie was a convert too.


Today I made if for semi-veggo (or pescetarian) FSIL and Mr FSIL, and omitted the parsley - I forgot to put it on the shopping list...


Fish and potato pie
from SMH Good Living, July 8 2008
(serves 6-8; I usually halve it)

• 120g butter
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• sea salt
• freshly ground white pepper
• 3tbsp seeded mustard
• 120g plain flour
• 750ml milk
• 1cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
• 150g baby spinach
• 800g blue eye, diced, or 2x 425g tins tuna in springwater
• 6-8 medium-large potatoes
• extra butter

Put the whole, unpeeled, potatoes in a large pot of salted water, bring to the boil and simmer until cooked through. Cool, then slice into 5-10mm rounds.


Preheat oven to 180C.




Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the onion, garlic & bay leaves, and cook on medium-low heat until the onions are soft.



Add the mustard and flour, stir well, and cook for five or so minutes.



Take the saucepan off the heat, and add the milk a bit at a time, stirring well between additions. Put the saucepan back on the heat, and bring to the boil.




Once volcanic-like bubbles start to come to the surface, turn off the heat again, and stir in the parsley and spinach.




Gently stir through the fish, and spoon into a baking dish. Layer with the potato slices, overlapping each one, and dot with some extra butter.


Bake for 30-40minutes, until potatoes are golden, then allow to cool for 10 minutes (or more) before serving.


-Alphie

Red curry with fish and bamboo shoots

I have been meaning to make this for a few weeks - since I visited Ms Red in Bunbury. I hastily scribbled down the recipe from one of her cookbooks, only to find that FSIL's partner has the same cookbook, noticed while he was recommending another fish curry recipe to me.


I'm not usually a big fan of Thai coconut milk curries, but this one may have won me over. It was tasty, and not overly rich or creamy, which is what usually turns me off this style of curry.

Red Curry with Fish & Bamboo Shoots
from the food of thailand: a journey for food lovers
serves 4

• 60ml coconut cream
• 2tbs red curry paste
• 440ml coconut milk
• 1.5-2tbs palm sugar
• 3tbs fish sauce
• 350g firm white fish fillets (skinless)
• 275g tin bamboo shoots, drained & cut into matchsticks
• 50g galangal (or ginger), finely sliced
• 5 kaffir lime leaves, torn
• Thai sweet basil and sliced chilli, for garnish

ingredients ready to go...

Put the coconut cream in a wok and simmer for about 5 minutes, or until it separates and a layer of oil forms on the surface. Stir if it starts to brown around the edges. Add the curry paste, stir to combine, and cook until fragrant.


Stir in the coconut milk, and add the palm sugar and fish sauce and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until the palm sugar has dissolved. add the fish and bamboo shoots, and simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the fish is cooked.

Add the galangal (or ginger) and kaffir lime leaves. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve with steamed rice and sprinkle with Thai basil and chilli.

NOTE: I used a 400ml can of coconut cream, and made up the rest of the liquid with water - we didn't have coconut milk, but even if we did, I wouldn't have been too keen to open two cans for one recipe.

-Alphie

PS. Exciting cooking related news - FSIL bought me a book on macarons!! So, there will be another post on macarons in the near future - stay tuned!

Tuna pasta bake

Ok, so a bit of pasta overload here, but it's easy to eat one handed, which is a requirement in our house at the moment - FH Alphie has a busted wing.
 
This is something I have never cooked before, as it brings back bad memories from my childhood, as Tuna Mornay, as it was called in our house, had a long stint as my sisters FAVOURITE MEAL EVER, and we ate it at least once a week. It took me a long time to recover from that period in my life, however I think I am now over it. I saw a recipe for Creamy tuna and pea pasta bake in Super Food Ideas (SFI) magazine recently and it caught my interest (the fact that I even noticed suggests that I have recovered from the tuna mornay overload) and mentally filed it away for a future time.

This is a bit of a bastardised version of that recipe. The recipe in SFI used peas, and since FH Alfie has a thing against peas, and I made him eat them yesterday, I substituted that for baby spinach, the recipe also used evaporated milk, which I didn't have, and don't usually buy, so I made up a basic bechamel/white sauce instead.


FH Alphie rated it 7/10

Tuna pasta bake
(adapted from SFI, June 2010)
serves 6 hungry people

• 3 cups short pasta
• 1 head broccoli, cut into small florets
• 90g butter
• 1 or 2 onions, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 90g plain flour
• 2 heaped tsp mustard (seeded or smooth)
• 750ml milk
• 425g can tuna in springwater, drained and flaked
• 100g (approx) baby spinach
• 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs (or 1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs)
• 1 - 1 1/2 cups grated cheese (I used Colby)
• salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 170 degrees.

Cook pasta in a large saucepan of boiling salted water until tender. Add broccoli for the last 1-2 minutes of cooking. Drain, and set aside.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a medium saucepan, add onion and cook over medium heat until just soft, then add garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes. Stir in flour, and keep stirring until flour has 'cooked off' a bit, then stir through mustard. Add the milk slowly, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Bring to the boil, stirring, then stand aside.

Combine pasta and broccoli, white sauce, tuna and spinach. Season and pour into a 3L ovenproof dish. Sprinkle with combined cheese and breadcrumbs.
 
Bake for 30 minutes until heated through and the top is golden.