Category: Sustainable Fish
Fish Pie for Easter
FISH PIE
Finally the weather is cooling and with it the food we cook.
But, my goodness, it’s lovely to be home – and very exciting to come back to two book parcels – April it seems is the time for new book releases – My Darling Lemon Thyme by Emma Galloway, and Tasty Express by Sneh Roy (the very aptly titled Cook Republic). Incredibly exciting, I love, love receiving books and they are both beautiful. Can’t wait to take them down south with me after easter for our holiday, I am going to pour through them and start cooking! I’ve also been tempted by two from overseas – Whole Grain Mornings by Megan Gordon, and the new one by a favourite of mine, Bryant Terry – Afro Vegan (sorry, I couldn’t connect you to his website, I think it has been hacked !)
There’s not going to be a lot of talk here today, just some photo’s of what and where, and fish pie. It’s the easiest thing to make, and deeply nourishing – perfect for the cooler Autumn weather. We are having it for dinner tonight, but it would be perfect for the Easter Weekend coming up. It’s easy to digest and a great option for young children, or anyone with a dodgy digestive system or simply anyone looking for a delicious and deeply nourishing meal. If you’re looking for a cake, why not try this Apple Shortbread (oh, it would be delicious with Rhubarb and Quince too) or this delicious Walnut and Yoghurt Cake
Have a lovely Easter weekend and I’ll see you after…
x Jude
FISH PIE
Use a fish that is sustainable where you live – this will vary from place to place. I like to choose a some strong tasting oilier fish such as sea mullet, bonito or mackeral and something a little lighter – black bream, flathead or one of the snapper family is great also. If you can, buy the fish as a whole and ask the fishmonger to fillet it for you. Keep the skin on or off, it’s up to you – it will just be a textural thing in the mouth. In the picture I’ve used Spanish Mackeral (skin on) and Goldband Snapper (skin off). Please, no salmon. Unless it’s being flown in from the northern hemisphere, in Australia, this is all farmed – this is not the place to go looking for your very desirable long chain fatty acids, when we have plenty of high omega fish that are wild caught and not farmed. If you live in the northern hemisphere, and they are in season, go for it.
The recipe is incredibly loose and forgiving – basically, if vegetables have less water in them (onion or leek instead of spring onions), or more carbohydrate or cellulose such as carrot and celery, cook them first. Today, I lightly cooked some leek from the garden, finely sliced celery, fine diced carrot in good dollop of ghee and a sprinkle of sea salt. Added that to the baking dish, then sprinkled roughly chopped garlic chives and lemon thyme. And, honestly? I don’t even bother weighing the fish, I just decide how much I’d like in the dish.
2 – 3 medium potatoes, well scrubbed and cut into 2 – 3 cm dice
100 or so gm broccoli – roughly cut
sea salt to taste
1 generous tablespoon butter or ghee
1 – 2 extra tablespoons butter or ghee
2 stems spring onions, roughly chopped or 1 small onion finely diced (I used leek today)
2 tablespoons fresh herbs – lemon thyme, parsley or basil
grated zest of 1 small lemon and generous juice
Vegetables – you can read above what I used, with corn in season, that would make a lovely addition too. English Spinach and Silverbeet (Chard) can be added straight to the dish, but some of the kales might need a little cook with the root vegetables to help break down their strong cellulose structure.
4 – 6 tablespoons cultured or sour cream (be generous)
1 teaspoon seed mustard
pinch sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
300 gm fish, checked over for bones and roughly cut into 3 cm chunks
Pre heat oven 190c
Steam the potatoes and when nearly ready, add the broccoli and cook until the broccoli is just soft. Take care not to overcook and dull the colour of the broccoli. Add 1 generous tablespoon butter, salt to taste or ghee and roughly mash. Set aside.
Choose a shallow, ovenproof dish.
Melt the remaining butter or ghee in a small saucepan and if using onion or leek, add this and cook over a gentle heat until soft. If using spring onion, just throw it in let it soften for a minute or so. Add any root vegetables to cook for a few minutes until soft, and if using kale, give that a little go in the frying pan also.
Add your vegetables of choice to the baking dish and if using English Spinach, add that now too. Top with the chunks of fish. Sprinkle with a little sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Add the lemon zest, juice, cream and mustard t0 the warm frying pan. Stir through gently – the cream will ‘melt’ and relax. Spoon the mix over the fish and vegetables (and if you have more sour cream, go ahead and use it – make sure the fish is well covered) and top with the mashed potato.
Place in the oven and cook for approx 20 mins or until the top is lightly golden and the juices are bubbling. I like to serve this with greens – I’m serving this with green beans from the garden tonight.
Sustainable Fish & Seafood Seminar – Saturday 3 March 2012
**** Seminar Canceled *****
Regrettably we have decided to cancel this seminar due to low bookings. We simply don’t have a workable number of people at this stage and have decided it only fair to give people adequate notice. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and hope to bring you a new seminar program later in the year.
Our first Everyday With Wholefood Seminar for 2012 will focus on the issue of Sustainable Fish and Seafood, a hugely important and topical issue. Even Coles is unveiling a new green fish stamp to indicate a sustainable choice. But is it really? Fish remains an exceptionally well priced and nutrient dense food, but do you know what to choose?
Our special guests include sustainable fisheries expert Jeremy Prince, Associate Professor at Murdoch University’s Centre for Fish and Fisheries Research and member of the Sustainable Seafood Program for the Australian Conservation Foundation representing Wild Fisheries and Greg Jenkins from Challenger Institute of Technology runs the Aquaculture research arm of the ACAAR. Greg will shed some light on the more sustainable options for cultured seafood.
I’ll talk to you about cooking nourishing, quick and thrifty meals with sustainable fish including some great take home recipes.
KAILIS BROS FISH MARKETS will be there also and will share how they source their fish and to help guide you with your fish choices.
PS there is even a Sustainable Seafood Day Australia coming up on 16th March. Take a look at the Facebook page and join the WA conversation during the Seminar.
For enquiries please email: events@wholefoodcooking.com.au
Refund Policy
Just like a concert or theatre, if you are unable to attend, the cost is not refunded. In some cases with enough notice, a credit may be given for another seminar.
Panforte and Sustainable Fish
As promised, this is the Panforte I made for last weeks Everyday with Wholefood Seminar. It was so lovely to see so many of you there, and I hope it provided you with a few more tools to help you include good, wholesome food in your everyday life. I also promised to post the list of sustainable fish mentioned by Jeremy Prince, you will find them below.
Thus we begin December – I am getting out my much loved Christmas Teapot and cup today, and preparing the Christmas music (I love both) – I’m also going to be posting 12 meals before Christmas… stay posted, and I’ll look forward to seeing you here….
x Jude
Sustainable Fish for Western Australia:
Black Bream
Shark Bay Sea Mullet
Yellow Eye Mullet
King George Whiting
Australian Herring
Blue Swimmer Crab
Cobbler
Squid, Cuttlefish, Occy
Pilbara Trap and Shark Bay Fisheries:
Shark Bay Pink Snapper
Red Emperor
Gold Band Snapper
Rankin Cod
Prawns:
Shark Bay or Exmouth Gulf or Spencer Gulf
Oysters:
Ask for Albany rather than Pacific Oysters
Thus we come to the Panforte – an oldie but a goodie. I played with this recipe, pretty much using what I had on hand. I replaced the figs with glace ginger, and threw in a tablespoon (or 2) of cocoa nibs! Otherwise, it was as the recipe.
PANFORTE:
Makes 1 x 23cm panforte. Wheat and dairy free:
I have been making this for years, and as the mixture is being prepared in the bowl, the kitchen is filled with the smell of Christmas. It keeps forever, and is a lovely alternative to a Christmas Cake. Try to find the very best quality Glace fruit – it is available. Simon Johnston’s would be a good place to start.
185 gm natural almonds
185gm hazelnuts
1/3 cup dried figs
1/3 cup each glace peaches and glace apricots
fine zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon
2/3 cup white spelt flour
2 tablespoons Dutch cocoa – I use the Green & Blacks
½ cup rapadura sugar
bare 1 cup honey
3 teaspoons cinnamon
Pre heat oven to 180c or 165c if fan forced
Line a 23/24cm x 3.5cm tart tin with baking paper
Roast the almonds and hazelnuts in the oven lightly – until lightly roasted. Place the hazelnuts in a tea towel and rub together to remove the skin. Roughly chop the nuts and add to a medium size mixing bowl.
Add the finely chopped glace fruit, zest, flour, cocoa and cinnamon to the mixing bowl. Mix through together well – breaking up the sticky fruit.
Add the sugar and honey to a small saucepan and heat gently until the sugar is just dissolved. Pour into the dry ingredients and mix through well.
Spoon the mix into the tin and pat down with slightly wet hands (this will stop the mix sticking to you) .
Reduce the oven to 170c or 155c if fan forced.
Bake for 35 – 40 mins. The panforte is cooked when the colour has lightened and this change of colour is evident throughout the surface.
Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before removing.
Blog Topics
- Afternoon Tea
- autumn
- Baking
- Beans
- books
- Breakfast
- Cakes
- Celebration
- Chef Training
- children
- Christmas
- chutney
- Core Recipes
- Dairy
- Dairy Free
- Desserts
- Dream
- Easy
- Equipment
- events
- Fats
- Fish
- Frugal
- Fruit
- Gluten Free
- Grains
- Grass Fed Meat
- Greens
- Invitation
- Late Summer
- Life
- lunch
- Making a Book
- Meals from my Garden
- Pastry
- Picnic
- Preserving
- Quick Dinner
- Ramble and Roam
- Seasonal Cooking
- seminars
- Snacks
- Soaked Grains
- Soup
- Spring
- Summer
- Sustainable Fish
- Sydney
- Tomatoes
- Travel
- Treats
- Uncategorized
- vegan
- Vegetarian
- Wedding Cake
- Whole and Natural Foods Chef Training
- Wholefood Kitchen
- Winter
