Simple supper - pan fried trout with chickpeas

After a hard, late night at work, I needed something quick and tasty for dinner. I was inspired by a great looking dish I saw Nigella cook over the weekend. So using some of my favorite ingredients and one pan, here you go, super supper in 10 mins!

Ingredients

2 trout fillets

1 can chickpeas

Chorizo - chopped into small chunks

A couple of handfuls of curly kale

1.  In a large pan over medium heat, heat the chopped chorizo until the oil comes out.

2.  Move the chorizo to the edge of the pan, turn up the heat and place the trout skin side down. Cook for appox 4 mins until the skin is crunchy.

3.  Turn the fish over and lower the heat to medium.

4.  Scatter the chickpeas and the kale in the pan. Cover loosely and cook for another 5 minutes or until the fish is fully cooked through.

Season with some pepper to taste et voila, dinner is served!

Sushi from a belt

It has been a long time, but with the help of the new blogger app, I'm going to see if this is easier to keep up!

I return with a review of Sushi Hiroba (www.sushihitoba.co.uk). It is located just around the corner from Holborn and is made up of a sushi conveyer belt where you can sit at the bar on low stools or booths where you can order dishes.

This evening we feasted on sushi from the belt. We started with a soft shell crab roll, rolled in roe and covered with mayo and a brown sauce (picture below). The mixtures of flavours and textures was amazing! We followed that with selection of maki of salmon eggs, crunchy prawn tempura, salmon roll topped with a slice of blowtorched salmon and the winner, eel maki with brown sauce (plus couple others I can't remember now!) There were plenty more choices available but we got too full.

It is quite busy so it can sometimes be a challenge to get the waiters' attention - but better busy than empty, right? The seats at the bar are not the most comfortable, but I guess that is so you don't stay too long once done eating. This was my second visit and I will definitely be returning again to try more!

Simple Thai dinner

I've found that more and more I cook Asian dishes.  Thai, Chinese, Filipino, Indian - I just love the spices.  And coriander is a flavour I really enjoy - I even occasionally use it in scrambled eggs to jazz it up!  Yes, I know I'm strange.

The other thing is I like my food super spicy.  So this particular evening I was on my own and decided to try and cook some fish.  This is something that I hardly ever do - not because I don't like fish but because I'm never really sure how to cook it and what to do (there were a couple unfortunate incidents).  So this time, to make it as easy as possible, I used a recipe I'd made many times, but instead of adding chicken I used fish.

Fish Thai green curry
Serves 4
2 large pieces of cod (or any other white fish) cut into chunks
2 tablespoons Thai green curry paste
1 can of coconut milk
Soy sauce/fish sauce to taste
1 teaspoon cane sugar (optional)
Chillies, finely chopped (optional)
1 handful of fresh coriander
1 tablespoon vegetable
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach
Rice (I like brown rice, but you can use Jasmine or any other long grain rice)


1.  Cook the rice as per the instructions on the packet
2.  In a heavy pan, heat the oil.  Add the onions and fry until translucent then add the garlic.  Fry for a few more minutes.  Add the curry paste and fry for a few more minutes.
3.  Add the coconut milk and cane sugar - stir until it becomes a smooth sauce. Add the frozen peas, spinach, chillies and coriander.  Bring to a boil.
4.  Reduce to a simmer and add the fish.  Cover and simmer for 7-10 mins, until the fish is fully cooked.
5.  Taste and add soy sauce (or fish sauce) as necessary.  Serve hot over rice.