Crispy Skin Fish

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Steven Hodges at Fish Face restaurant taught me how to make crispy skin fish. This is a simple recipe that’s incredibly tasty and takes less than 15 minutes to make. It works with a variety of different fish fillets so choose your favourite and serve with salad or vegies for a light evening meal. Add some boiled new potatoes, brown rice or quinoa if you need something more substantial.

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons ghee
  • 2 x fillets of your preferred fish, skin on – I use snapper, bass grouper, salmon or ocean trout
  • Maldon sea salt
  • Quarter of a lemon

Method

Note: these instructions are for fillets that are around 2.5cm in thickness, cooking time will require longer if you use thicker fillets.

Heat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius or 180 degrees for a strong fan forced oven – it’s generally recommended to allow 10 minutes for the oven to reach a full, even heat.

A few minutes after you’ve turned your oven on, heat a stainless steel pan on high for 3-5 minutes – until hot.

Add ghee to the pan and allow to heat for around 30 seconds or until sizzling hot. Add your fish, skin side down and cook for 2 minutes. Your fish will cook evenly if you can put a weight on the fillets or if it’s safe use your fingers to push down on the fillets.

Remove from heat and place the pan in the oven for 5 minutes if you like your fish just cooked or 7-8 minutes if you like your fish well done. If you’re not confident putting your pan in the oven, quickly transfer the fillets from the pan to an oven-proof dish and cook skin side down for 6 minute or 8 minutes if you like your fish well done.

Sprinkle the Maldon sea salt over the skin of the fish and serve with a slice of lemon and a salad or vegies on the side, plus something more substantial if you need it.

Easy Turkey Bolognese

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This is a quick and easy recipe for turkey bolognese which is substantially leaner than its traditional counterpart without compromising on taste.

It can double as a dish for the health conscious as well as a more conventional family meal. I eat mine with cauliflower rice (pictured) and a side of broccoli, while my partner likes his served in a more traditional way with pasta and parmesan.

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons/60ml extra virgin olive oil (choose first cold pressed)
  • 500g/approx 1lb turkey mince (free range or organic if you can find it)
  • 1 large brown onion, finely chopped
  • 2-3 cloves of finely chopped garlic or 1 heaped teaspoon of minced garlic
  • 2 teaspoons of dried Italian herbs
  • 800g /approx 27 fl oz of tinned/canned tomatoes – crushed or diced (I choose organic as they’re generally easy to find in the supermarket)
  • 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
  • Salt and pepper (depending on how much you like – I use around a quarter of a teaspoon of himalayan crystal salt)

Method

Heat a pan (preferably stainless steel rather than non-stick) on a medium high heat for around 3 minutes. Add the olive oil and let it heat for 15 seconds or so, then add the onion and garlic and cook for 2 – 3 minutes until golden brown. Add the turkey mince and cook for around 90 seconds on each side (it should brown and look cooked through), then add the tinned/canned tomatoes, Italian herbs, tomato paste, salt and pepper and cook for around 5 minutes, stirring continuously. Reduce to a low to medium heat and cook for another 20 minutes. It will be ready to serve now, however if you have time leave it for an hour or even overnight and the flavour will develop.

Chicken Souvlaki

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chicken-souvlaki

This is one of my fiancé’s favourite home cooked meals. Succulent chicken skewers served with a fresh salad and plenty of tzatziki. It takes only around 10 minutes to prepare and marinate the meat then another 25 minutes to prepare and cook

Note that this dish needs to be cooked either on a BBQ or in a grill pan.

Ingredients

  • The marinade will suffice for up to 8 good size boneless chicken thighs (choose organic or free range, if using organic they’re generally smaller so you may like to use a little extra)
  • Juice of 1 lemon (I find this usually makes about 4 tablespoons)
  • 1 tablespoon dried oregano
  • 2.5 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 heaped teaspoon minced garlic or 2 good sized garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 6 – 8 skewers (I use bamboo but if you have stainless steel skewers these are great too)

Marinating the Chicken

You’ll need to marinate the chicken – preferably in a glass dish, for at least 2 hours but ideally overnight (the longer the better really).

Juice the lemon and add to the marinating dish along with the olive oil, oregano and garlic.

Trim the fat from the chicken thighs and cut into even size chunks around 2cm/1 inch square or a little larger if you like. It’s important to try to cut the chicken into roughly even size chunks so that they cook evenly.

Add the chicken thighs to the marinade and leave in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.

To Cook

Preheat the BBQ to high for around 10 minutes. If using a grill pan I usually find it only needs to be heated to a high heat for around 5 minutes.

If using bamboo skewers, most recipes will tell you to soak them in water for a couple of minutes before placing them on the BBQ to prevent them from burning or catching alight, however I’ve never really found this necessary.

Skewer the meat into even size skewers. Depending on how much meat you marinated you should have at least 5-6 skewers, if you like smaller size skewers or are serving more people you can stretch to 8 skewers.

Place on the BBQ/in the grill pan. I find it usually takes around 15 minutes to cook. Start with around 5 minutes on one side then turn and cook for around 5 minutes on the other side then a couple of minutes each on the other sides (I like to cook my meat on all four sides as we love the char grilled flavour and of course it’s imperative to cook chicken through).

While you’re cooking the meat, make your tzatziki. Serve with a Greek or garden salad.

Tzatziki

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tzatziki

Ingredients

  • 1 Lebanese cucumber
  • ½ cup natural Greek yoghurt
  • half a teaspoon of good quality, finely ground salt such as Himalayan crystal salt or Celtic sea salt
  • half a teaspoon minced garlic or a large garlic clove, finely chopped (if you’re a fan of garlic, add a bit more – tasting as you go to get the desired flavour)

Method

Peel the cucumber and finely chop it. Place in a sieve sitting over a bowl with enough room under the sieve to give the liquid space to drain. Sprinkle a little salt over the cucumber and allow to sit for at least 5 to 10 minutes (or a little longer if you have time). The process will leech the liquid from the cucumber and prevent the tzatziki from becoming watery.

Once complete, mix the cucumber with the Greek yoghurt and garlic and taste. If you like salt, add a little extra – same with the garlic.

The tzatziki makes a perfect accompaniment to my chicken souvlaki.

Quinoa and Chia Bread

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quinoa-chia-bread

This is a delicious bread that’s dense and nutritious. I generally bake, allow to stand for a day then slice and place in the freezer. It’s great served with poached or boiled eggs, nut butter or a sweet preserve.

Before I had a food processor I used to make it in a blender (not ideal but it works fine enough).

Ingredients

  • 500g / 17.5oz quinoa (whole, uncooked – use any colour or a mixture of colours)
  • 100g / 3.5oz  chia seeds
  • 100ml / 3.4fl oz or 6.5 tablespoons coconut oil
  • 3/4 teaspoon bicarb soda
  • decent pinch of salt and pepper (to your liking)
  • juice of half a lemon (approx 30ml or 2 tablespoons)
  • 1 x tablespoon of apple cider vinegar

Method

Overnight:

  • Activate the quinoa by soaking it in water over night (cover the quinoa with plenty of water)
  • Soak the chia seeds in around 3/4 cup of water – the substance will set

To prepare:

  1. Grease a loaf baking tin
  2. If your coconut oil is set, place the container in some hot water to allow it to become runny
  3. Drain the quinoa and rinse thoroughly. Add to your food processor (or blender if you don’t have one)
  4. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius or 355 degrees Fahrenheit (10 minutes should be sufficient to allow the oven to fully heat)
  5. Add the chia mixture, coconut oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar and 3/4 cup of water to the food processor (or blender)
  6. Blend on low for a couple of minutes until it forms a batter. Be careful not to liquify the whole mixture, at least half of the quinoa should remain whole
  7. Bake for 75 minutes. It should be firm but springy to touch. Insert a skewer to test, it should come out clean. If not bake for a further 15 minutes
  8. Leave to cool before slicing. I often leave overnight so that the bread doesn’t crumble when sliced, then cut into pieces approx 1.5com or half an inch thick. Keep in the fridge or place in an airtight container and freeze – it will keep in the freezer for several months

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