THIS week’s recipes are two delicious and really comforting dishes that are perfect for home cooking. We always find that they are great for using up ingredients that might be lurking about the fridge, but they are also great sharing dishes, so perfect for any or many of those get-togethers happening at this time of year.
FISH PIE
30g butter, unsalted
1 onion, finely diced
1 bay leaf
20g flour
200ml fish stock
100g pale skinless smoked haddock, cubed
100g salmon, skinned and cubed
100g coley, skinned and cubed
100g monkfish, skinned and cubed
75ml whipping cream
½ lemon juiced and the zest
25g flat leaf parsley, chopped
salt
pepper
For the topping
8 large maris pipers, halved
100g butter
100g cheddar cheese, grated
100ml milk
Start by melting your butter in a pot on a medium heat; add the onions and cook until soft. Add in the flour and cook for five minutes. Add the stock in slowly and cook for a further 15 minutes on a medium heat.
Next, add in the cream and lemon juice and all the cubed fish; mix together slowly. Mix in the flat-leaf parsley, remove from the stove and place in an oven-proof dish, then set to the side. Now you can preheat the oven to 120C.
At this stage, you want to also have your potatoes boiled and cooked through; drain the potatoes and remove all excess water and then leave for five minutes. Using a stick blender, add your butter, milk and cheese and mix until it comes together to form a smooth mash.
For the restaurants, we pipe our mashed potato on to the top of the pie – you can do the same at home using a piping bag, otherwise a spoon will work fine. Cover the top of the fish with the potato and place in the oven at 120C for 20 minutes.
For any particularly fussy kids who think their one Brussels sprout is sufficient for the year, this is the perfect dish to hide some vegetables in. Should the mood take you, add in sweetcorn, peas or finely sliced leeks.
BAKED RICE WITH CHORIZO AND CHICKEN
300g paella rice, rinsed
400g uncooked chorizo sausage
2 x red peppers, chopped
2 x medium onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
4 x skinned chicken thighs, sliced
1 x tin diced tomatoes
250ml chicken stock
Start by preheating the oven to 180C. Slice up the chicken breasts and in a frying pan; cook off in a little rapeseed oil, then remove from the pan. Next, cut the sausage into 1-inch slices and cook in a large frying pan until browned. You now want to cook off the onions and the peppers until the onions are translucent.
It is OK to use the same pan for all of these steps. You can use the juices from the pan in the casserole and it is always a good idea to deglaze the pan. This simply means adding a little of the chicken stock to the pan to remove all the flavours that may be stuck to the bottom.
Place the ingredients in a large casserole dish with the rice, pouring over the tinned tomatoes and stirring thoroughly. Then add the chicken stock. Cook for 30 minutes with the lid on. Season to taste.
At home and when we have it on the menu in the restaurant, we serve this dish with a good drizzling of herb oil. To make this, finely chop 50g parsley, 25g spinach, 25g mint, three anchovies, two teaspoons of capers in brine, one clove garlic, and mix these all together with 25ml of olive oil, together with salt and pepper to taste. Place in blender and blend until smooth. This can be saved for one day but you need to store it in an air-tight container. You will also need to wrap the container in tinfoil as the oil discolours in the light.
