Fish Pie

I swear I made this better than my grandmother!! I eyeballed mostly everything, as I hate measuring things. I add more or less to my liking. It turned out really good, as YL will agree, as he hogged down the lot! Ahh comfort food!

My Fish Pie

 Why not have a whack at Jamie Oliver’s Recipe?

Ingredients:

• 6 large potatoes, peeled and diced into 1-inch squares
• 2 eggs
• 2 large handfuls fresh spinach, trimmed and washed
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, halved and finely chopped
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 good handfuls grated Cheddar or Parmesan
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 heaping teaspoon English mustard
• 1 large handful flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 1 pound haddock or fresh cod fillet, skin removed, pin-boned and sliced into strips (I used salmon)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Nutmeg, optional (I didn’t use this)

 

What’s Next:

Go ahead & preheat your oven to 450 F or 230 C.

Put the potatoes into salted boiling water and bring back to a boil for 2 minutes. Carefully add the eggs to the pan and cook for a further 8 minutes until hard boiled, by which time the potatoes should also be cooked.

At the same time, steam the spinach in a colander above the pan. This will only take a minute. When the spinach is done, remove from the colander and gently squeeze any excess moisture away. Then drain the potatoes in the colander. Remove the eggs, cool under cold water, then peel and quarter them. Set aside.

In a separate pan slowly fry the onion and carrot in a little olive oil for about 5 minutes, then add the heavy cream, and bring just to a boil. Remove from the heat and add the cheese, lemon juice, mustard, and parsley.

Put the spinach, fish and eggs into an appropriately sized earthenware dish and mix together, pouring over the creamy vegetable sauce. The cooked potatoes should be drained and mashed, add a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper, and a touch of nutmeg, if you like.

Spread on top of the fish. Don’t bother piping it to make it look pretty, it’s a homely hearty thing. Place in the oven for about 25 to 30 minutes until the potatoes are golden. Serve with some nice peas or greens, not forgetting the baked beans and tomato ketchup. Tacky but tasty, and that’s what I like.

Taken from:  http://www.bfeedme.com/jamie-oliver-fish-pie-recipe/

Beautiful, sensuous fruit

From Wikipedia,

“Mangoes belong to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous species of tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The mango is indigenous to the Indian Subcontinent. ^[1] Cultivated in many tropical regions and distributed widely in the world, mango is one of the most extensively exploited fruits for food, juice, flavor, fragrance and color, making it a common ingredient in new functional foods often called superfruits. Its leaves are ritually used as floral decorations at weddings and religious ceremonies. It is also the national fruit of India & the Philippines….

Mangoes have been cultivated in the Indian subcontinent for thousands of years^[3] and reached East Asia between the 5th-4th century BC. By the 10th century AD, they were transported to East Africa^[3] and subsequently introduced to Brazil, West Indies and Mexico, where climate allows its appropriate growth.^[3] The 14th century Muslim traveler, Ibn Battuta, reported it at Mogadishu.^[4]

Mango is now cultivated as a fruit tree in frost-free tropical and warmer subtropical climates like that of the Indian subcontinent; nearly half of the world’s mangoes are cultivated in India alone…

A ripe mango is sweet, with a unique taste that nevertheless varies from variety to variety. The texture of the flesh varies between cultivars, some having a soft, pulpy texture similar to an over-ripe plum, while others have firmer flesh like a cantaloupe or avocado. In some cultivars, the flesh has a fibrous texture….

mango is rich in a variety of phytochemicals and nutrients that qualify it as a model “superfruit“, a term used to highlight potential health value of certain edible fruits. The fruit is high in prebiotic dietary fiber, vitamin C, polyphenols and carotenoids.[1"

..... for more information about this delectable fruit, visit www.wikipedia.com"

TYL & I went to Brickfields today for one purpose: to get my INDIAN mangoes which came all the way from Andhrapradesh, India. I really look forward to devouring these delicious mangoes as there is no other type of mango like this: the texture is like smooth silk, and it's SO incredibly sweet and juicy. First time I tried proper mangoes was in CHENNAI, and boy was it sooooo worth it... to really enjoy this fruit, you have to use as many of your senses permit...sight, smell, taste and touch...which means yes.. using your hands to feel and touch the flesh and the seed...for all you unadventurous, use a bloody fork!

It is sad that our bloody supermarkets sell only Thai versions....but no matter...Brickfields or Little Indian Town as I call it, is only 15 minutes away from my house.

I am going to experiment with my big box of mangoes...mango lassi, mango halwa, mango milkshake maybe or hell, just plain chilled mango is good enough for me!

Since my nikon camera has gone wonky on me, I couldn't take pictures of this beautiful  fruit..so internet pictures should suffice.

Smell is just awesome

Hedgehog slices

And on to some good recipes…

Mango lassi

Ingredients:

Ripe mangoes – 2

Sugar – 3 tablespoons or as per taste

Milk – half cup

Yogurt – 1 cup

Cardamom powder – half teaspoon

Method:

Peel the mango skin and separate the pulp from the seed. Discard seed.

Substitute 1 cup canned mango pulp in case you don’t have fresh mangoes. If using sweetened mango pulp, reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe.

Combine all the ingredients in a mixer/blender.

Adjust the ingredients as per your taste.

Serve cold.

Recipe from Paajaka Recipes

Honestly, I would substitute the sugar with honey just to make it more natural.

Moving on to….

Mango Halwa

I am getting hungry

3 ripe mangoes or 6 cups of cut mango (3 Costco/Samsclub kind of mangoes)
½ cup fine semolina (Suji ravva works fine too)
¼ to ½ cup sugar (add less or more according to the mango sweetness)
1 tablespoon of melted ghee
3 cardamom pods – seeds finely powdered
1 cup of water

1. Peel the mangoes, cut them into cubes. Keep a quarter-cup of finely cubed mango aside. Take the remaining mango in a mixer, blend into fine, smooth puree, without adding water.

2. Heat a half tablespoon of ghee in a skillet, add and lightly toast semolina, just until it leaves raw smell. Remove and keep it aside.

3. In a thick bottomed, wide pan, take water and sugar. Heat them slowly until the sugar melts. Then increase the heat to bring the mixture to a boil. Wait for sugar syrup to thicken a bit and stir in blended mango puree and toasted semolina. Cook the mixture, on medium heat, stirring in-between to prevent sticking, until the mixture reduces by one third. It takes at least 20 minutes. At this stage, sprinkle the cardamom powder and finely cubed mango pieces that were kept aside. Stir, stir…for 2 to 3 minutes and then turn off the heat.

4. Coat a pan or tray with melted ghee and spoon the cooked halwa into the pan. Allow it to cool (halwa thickens further as it cools) and cut into squares. Remove and serve.

Mango halwa tastes great warm or cold. This time, I spooned it into muffin cups for individual sized servings and kept the muffin pan in the refrigerator for about one hour.

MMmm

Recipe from Mahanandi

This recipe is slighly different from regular halwa which is made with milk but notwithstanding, it still looks damn good and I am going to try it tomorrow!

Happy eating… and Happy Mangoes!