Sea Bream with Pak Choi and Tomato and Ginger Chutney

Having been fortunate to have eaten in several of Jason Atherton's restaurants, a few years ago I was drawn to his book Gourmet Food for a Fiver. If you're looking to impress with your dinner party, this is a great place to start. The dishes are fairly simple to create, but are a level above your standard home cooked food. Furthermore, as the title suggests, you won't damage the credit card too much in the process.

Enough waffle, this dish is so easy to make and is so light and flavoursome. I actually treble the chutney ingredients as it keeps well in an airtight container in the fridge and goes well with cheese or cold meats.

For 4 people:

Ingredients: 4 Sea Bream Fillets with skin. Seasoning. 3 tbsp Olive oil. 2 Heads of Pak Choi. Lime Wedges.

For the Chutney - 40g Brown Sugar, Tbsp Honey, 40ml Rice Vinegar. Cinnamon Stick. 4 medium Tomatoes chopped. Tbsp grated Fresh Ginger. 1/2 tsp cracked Coriander Seeds. Tbsp chopped Mint Leaves.

Method:

1. Rinse the Fish, pat dry with kitchen paper. Check for bones. Season both sides, cover and chill.

2. To make the chutney, put the sugar, honey, vinegar and cinnamon into a medium sized pan and stir over a medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Reduce the heat and add the tomatoes, ginger and coriander. Cook for about 30 minutes on a low heat, stirring occasionally until the mixture has thickened. Discard the cinnamon, add the mint and season. Keep warm.

3. Heat 2 tbsp. of olive oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Fry the bream skin side down for 2 minutes or until the edges are golden. Turn and cook for a minute or two until the fish is cooked through.
4. At the same time, saute the trimmed Pak Choi in 1 tbsp. of olive oil until wilted. Season with salt.

To serve, place the fish in the middle of a warm plate and top with the chutney. Arrange the pak choy and lime.

Beetroot, Kale and Mozzarella Salad

Beetroot is such a flexible veg and has become rather trendy these past few years. It goes great with creamy cheeses, particularly Goats. I've started growing my own Kale which tends to be less fibrous than supermarket offerings. Anyway, this salad is courtesy of Madeleine Shaw's Ready steady Glow . It's filling enough for a midweek supper like tonight or I tend to have it for lunch as it's super healthy (maybe except for the Mozzy) which leaves me the evening to indulge further.

For 2 people:

Ingredients: 

Tsp runny Honey. 3 tbsp olive oil. 2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar. Grated Zest of an Orange. 1 Orange, peeled and segmented. 100g Kale Leaves chopped. 2 tbsp Pumpkin Seeds. 4 Cooked Beetroot, thinly sliced. Mozzarella ball. Salt.

Method:

Combine the honey, olive oil, vinegar, orange zest and a pinch of salt. Massage the dressing into the kale until it starts to wilt. Transfer to a serving plate.

Toast the pumpkin seeds in a dry pan with a pinch of salt under golden. Decant to a plate to cool.

Scatter the beetroot over the kale, then tear the Mozzy into pieces and add. Finally arrange the orange pieces and top with the pumpkin seeds.

Sea Bass with Spicy Butter Bean Stew

Madeleine Shaw has been in my life now for a few years. It's great when a new chef or writer comes onto the scene who's recipes are fresh and inventive and obviously taste great. This fish dish is from her excellent debut book Ready steady Glow

The stew could actually be eaten on its own with some crusty bread. I've added some Kale chips for added colour, texture and the fact that I just thought it lacked a bit of veg!

For 2 people, you will need:

Ingredients

2 Sea Bass fillets. 2 tbsp Coconut Oil. 2 tbsp Chopped Rosemary. 2 Crushed Garlic Cloves. 1.5 tsp Smoked Paprika. 100g Finely Chopped Chorizo. Red Pepper Diced. 400g Drained and Rinsed Butter Beans. 200ml Chicken Stock. 2 Hand fulls of Kale Leaves. Tbsp Olive Oil. Seasoning.

Method

Heat 1 tbsp coconut oil in a pan and add the rosemary, garlic, paprika, chorizo and pepper. Cook until the Chorizo starts to crisp up and then add the butter beans. Reduce heat to low and add the stock. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, season the fish on both sides and heat another pan on high. Meanwhile again, toss the kale in the olive oil and salt and roast in oven (200c) for 5 minutes or until crispy. Add 1 tbsp coconut oil to the pan and fry the fish skin side down for 3 minutes for crispy skin. Turn over for a minute until just cooked through.

To serve, spoon the stew onto plates, top with the sea bass and then the kale. I love chorizo with anything, but it works really well with the fish and the creamy beans. Rosemary which can be too strong for fish sits quite comfortably alongside the smoky chorizo and if you want to do posh fish and chips, this is a great example.

Beetroot, Labneh & Dukkah Salad

I was raised on salads of bland lettuce, watery tomatoes, cucumber, jarred beetroot and celery. Thankfully, Heinz salad cream was on hand to add some flavour. Those days are long gone and sexy, funky salads with bags of attitude, texture and layers of flavour are here. Yesterday's offering was courtesy of my preferred airport stop off, Leon. Leon Happy Salads There are a few processes involved, however once everything comes together you are left with a hearty, yet refreshing salad. For two people....

Ingredients

400g Roasted Beetroot, cut into chunks. 200g Cooked Puy Lentils. Half finely sliced marinated Red Onion (2 tsp soft brown sugar, tbsp. red wine vinegar, pinch of salt). 2 tbsp. Olive Oil. Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar. Bunch of Watercress. 2 finely sliced Radishes. 50g Labneh or Thick Greek Yoghurt. Tbsp chopped fresh Mint. 2 tbsp Dukkah. Seasoning.

Method

Mix the beetroot with the red onions and lentils. Then stir through the olive oil, balsamic and seasoning. Arrange the watercress on a large plate and add the beetroot mix. Sprinkle the radishes on top, then drizzle the labneh. Dress with the mint and dukkah.

The sweetness of the beetroot works well with the peppery leaves, creamy labney and the fragrant dukkah. (Dukkah is basically a blitzed mix of seeds and nuts) One final note. You don't need two slices of Mother's Pride to mop up the residual dressing.

Charred corn, kale and sweet potato salad.

Remember I said that recently I had fallen for a woman or two. Well one of them is a lady called Anna Jones. One of the most important things in life is trust. When I saw the list of ingredients for this dish, I thought, Really? But as I trust Anna implicitly, I went for it and its now in my top 10 salads. It has a great variety of textures, tastes, heat and colour. What is most satisfying and the clever bit is that you can taste each item individually, yet it all works collectively. Anna has just released her third book, but this one comes from her debut publication

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Modern-Way-Eat-Anna-Jones/dp/0007516703/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1507835730&sr=1-4&keywords=anna+jones

For 4 people you will need : 4 sweet potatoes unpeeled and cut into bite sized chunks, 1 tsp paprika, cumin seeds and runny honey, 1 tbsp. olive oil, 200g bag of kale, juice of half a lime, 2 corn on the cob, 2 ripe avocado peeled and finely sliced, seasoning. (For the dressing : juice of the other half of the lime, handful of cashews, small bunch of coriander, 2 tbsp. coconut milk and water)

1. Preheat oven to 200c
2. Place potatoes on tray and sprinkle with the oil, paprika, cumin, honey and seasoning. Toss together and roast for 40 minutes until golden and crispy.
3. Empty the kale onto a board and chop down and of the large pieces and discard the stems. Place in a bowl, squeeze over the lime and some salt. Scrunch together, this will break down some of the fibres and make the raw kale more pliable.
4. Heat a griddle pan until hot then roast off the corn on each side. Once charred, remove the kernels and add to the kale with the cooked potatoes and avocado.
5. Blend the dressing ingredient together until you get a silky sauce. Check the seasoning and acidity.
6. Pour over the salad, get your hands in and toss gently.

I tend to serve the potatoes and corn warm rather than hot. As there's so much going on already, there's no need to serve it with anything else, except maybe a cheeky glass of sauvignon blanc.

Euskal Etxea, Barcelona : Restaurant review

To many blokes out there, a basque night out may set the pulses racing. I'm no different. Spain has a varied culinary scene, however Basque cooking from the North West is one of my favourites. They have their own tapas which are called pintxos and are usually served on small rounds of toast.

In the heart of the El Born area of Barcelona which is just food heaven, Euskal Etxea provides a fantastic insight into one of the worlds great cuisines. This falls into the category of food porn, your eyes light up as soon as you walk in, you want to try everything on offer and never want to leave. You forget about what anything costs and just become embroiled in the whole atmosphere.

Anyway, down to the food. Everything was perfecto as they say in Spain, but the highlights were: Black pudding and Serrano ham, Crispy tartlets filled with a membrillo paste and topped with cream cheese, Anchovies with pickles, Serrano ham, Bombas - round croquettas filled with ham and cheese, topped with aioli and a mackerel paste topped with crab. The bar / restaurant teems with life and the food provides a natural source of conversation. I remember a while ago when the so called 'best job in the world' was advertised, a caretakers job on a desert island. Well, chief taster is this place can't be far behind.

http://gruposagardi.com/restaurante/euskal-etxea-taberna/

9 Reinas, Barcelona : Restaurant review

Being a big fan of Argentinian steak, expectations were high and we weren't disappointed. What I like about these restaurants is that they allow the main ingredient to be the star of the show. Of course, one can order sauces, sides etc., but they don't overshadow what IMO is the finest beef on the planet. After a delightful amuse bouche and some bread, we both opted for the 200g fillet. It was simply presented alongside both sweet and new potatoes, and to accompany, we had an array of grilled vegetables including asparagus, chicory, artichoke and wild mushrooms. The meat was incredibly tender and moist, but most of all, it just mooed of beef. To compliment such a fine piece of meat, the waiter suggested an excellent Malbec that was only 22E.

Dessert was tempting, but wanting to savour every last after taste of the beef and wine, not to mention my ever expanding waistline, it was declined. The service is very professional, yet friendly and the décor is simple, yet chic. Highly recommended.


http://www.nuevereinas.com/index.php/restaurantes/restaurante_argentino_barcelona/