Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Spanish Fish Stew

Sorry to everyone who reads this blog, as there were no new posts for a few weeks? The reason behind this is due to the fact that I was unwell. I managed to catch Swine Flu from someone in my work and it basically floored me for over a week. But I am back at work now and feeling much better.


I have been trying to think of some good recipes to add to the blog, but can never think of any, then it comes to me usually when I have to make dinner and open the fridge to see what we have, and that’s how this dish came about. It was a Thu night and we do not do our shopping until a Friday, so the cupboard was a little Mother Hubbard. We had some frozen fish and that got me thinking about a dish my wife and I had in Spain.

Spanish Fish Stew

Ingredients
500g of mixed fish. (Best to use a mix of smoked fish, white fish prawns and some shell fish; to be honest any fish will work with this)
2 tins of chopped tomatoes
2 cloves of Garlic crushed or finely chopped
2 heaped teaspoons of Smoked Paprika
A good handful of chopped basil and parsley
A little corn flour mixed with water to thicken the sauce.
2 table spoons of lemon juice
½ a teaspoon of Tabasco sauce

Method: -
1 – Take the garlic, tins of tomatoes and add to large saucepan or cast iron casserole dish, and heat over a medium heat until the tomatoes are simmering.

2 – Add the chopped basil and parsley, and reduce to half

3 – Add the paprika lemon juice and Tabasco sauce.

4 – Turn down the heat to low and add the fish, and the corn flour if required.

5 – Let the fish cook for about 10 mins on low or until the fish is cooked, and try not to stir the dish as this will break up all the fish.

6 – Now serve in a bowl with some crusty bread.

This is a great winter meal as it is warming and the taste is really great with the smoked paprika. Simple but yet so delicious.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Roast Haunch of Venison

Sorry I’ve been away for a while, but I have just moved jobs from Glasgow office to the site office at the Grangemouth refinery and have not had time to do much this week.


Well at the weekend my wife and I went to Mitchells in Carmunock for our annual birthday meal and it was great. She had fillet steak and I had Venison, so in honour of the venison I had here is my own recipe for Haunch of venison.

Ingredients: -
1 off Haunch of venison
1 table spoon of Chinese five spice
2 glasses of red wine

Method

1 - Take the haunch of venison and rub the five spice into the meat. Leave overnight to marinade

2 - Preheat oven to 190deg C / Gas Mark 5

3 - Take a roasting dish and place a large piece of tinfoil in the base. Place the venison in the foil and pour over the red wine. Close the foil around the venison ensuring it is sealed.

4 - Cook the venison for about 1.5 to 2 hours dependent on the size of the meat. The foil will allow the venison to steam in the red wine and the meat should be tender when cooked. Baste half way through cooking as this will allow you to check how the meat is cooking.

Serve this with either creamy mash potatoes or crispy roast potatoes. It is so amazing you will never go back to roast beef.

I like to get my venison at a place near my mother-in-law's in Kinross. They are called Fletcher's and they do mail order. Here is the link:

Fletchers of Auchtermuchty

http://seriouslygoodvenison.co.uk/index.php