MM. RICHARDSON

Cod's Roe Ramekins

Smoked cod's roe has a very distinctive flavour. You do not need much, a little goes a long way. These soufflés are very light and cook quickly. You need to serve them straight away.

Serves 6

Smoked cod's roe - 225g (8 oz), skinned
Fresh breadcrumbs - 50g (2 oz)
Parsley - 1 tbsp, chopped
Lemon juice - 2 tbsp
Egg - 1, separated
Single cream - 150 ml (¼ pint)
Ground mace - pinch

METHOD

1. Pre-heat oven to 200 °C / 400 °F / Gas 6. Grease 6 ramekins.
   
2. Put the roe, breadcrumbs, parsley, lemon juice, egg yolk, cream and mace in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
   
3. Whisk the egg white until stiff, carefully fold into the roe mixture. Spoon into the ramekins. Bake for 15-20 minutes until well risen and golden brown. Serve immediately with some fingers of toast.

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Cod in Butter Sauce

This excellent and simple recipe can be used with haddock, coley, turbot or brill with equally good results.

Serves 6

Onion - ½ medium
Butter - 75g (3 oz)
Small cod steaks - 675g (1½ lb)
Salt and pepper
Fresh lemon juice - squeeze
Fresh chopped parsley - a little

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180 °C / 350 °F / Gas 4.
   
2. Chop the onion finely.  Melt 25g (1 oz) of the butter in a frying pan and soften the onion, without letting it brown, for 5 minutes.
   
3. Put the fish into a buttered shallow ovenproof dish.  Season it with salt and pepper and spoon the onion and butter mixture over the top.  Put in the rest of the butter and cover the dish with foil.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.
   
4. When the fish is just cooked, spoon the butter and cooking juices into a small pan.  Keep the fish hot.  Add a squeeze of lemon juice and a little chopped parsley and whisk it over a very gentle heat with a fork.
   
5. As you whisk it will become creamy and opaque.  When it is thoroughly whisked pour it over the fish and serve at once.

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CATCH AND CURRY

I'm told one of the purposes that curry was served was that it was a good way of disguising meat that had gone past its "use by date". This may or may not be the case but I would suggest that if you are going to use seafood in your curry, you should make sure that it is very fresh.

The heat level of the curry can be varied to suit the taste and tolerance of yourself and your family or guests. If in doubt, err on the side of caution, there is little point in making it so hot as to be inedible.

There are many types and varieties of prepared curry mixtures available or you can make your own from the raw ingredients. I would recommend that to start with, you purchase a good quality curry paste rather than the containers of curry powder from the supermarkets which tend to be a little lacking in flavour. Remember, curry is not just to make a spicy meal - it should be a mixture of complex flavours (plus some heat of course) and now that the colder weather is again with us, this fish curry is just the thing for a winter's night. Enjoy.

The Ingredients
(To serve 4).

500 grams thick fish fillets or steaks (eg kingfish, mulloway, tuna or similar)
200 grams green king prawns (optional)
2 cups of coconut milk
1 large onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 pinch of chili powder or cayenne pepper (optional for extra bite
1 large tomato
Ground turmeric
2 teaspoons of fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 tablespoon of curry powder or paste
good quality cooking oil

The Steps
1. Wash and dry the fish steaks well and cover the flesh with the ground turmeric. If including prawns in the dish, remove the heads and shell, just leaving the tails, wash and dry well.

2. Cut the fish steaks into "bite-size" pieces, and put into a heated fry pan with some oil and cook until golden. This should only take 2 or 3 minutes. Like-wise with the king prawns, again only for a couple of minutes.

3. Chop the onion and put it into a blender with the ginger and the tomato which you have also roughly chopped. Blend to a smooth paste consistency.

4. Heat a little oil in a saucepan and then add the blended paste and cook for about 5 minutes over medium heat.

5. Add the curry powder and chili (cayenne) powder if desired, the coconut milk and bring to the boil while stirring constantly. Allow to simmer for a few minutes and then add the fish and prawns and cook over for 10 minutes, or leave over a very low heat until you are ready to serve.

6. Serve with boiled rice and pappadums and side-dishes of banana and coconut, mango chutney, or cucumber and yoghurt (very cooling if you over did it with the amount of curry).

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Blue Cod in Banana and Gherkin Sauce

• 4 cod fillets
• 1 large banana
• 8 gherkins
• large onion (finely chopped)
• 2 tablespoons thyme (chopped)
• 100g butter
• 100ml wine
• 2 cups fresh bread crumbs
• Seasoned flour
• Egg and milk

Method

To make the sauce bring the wine to boil with onion, gherkin and thyme. Add the soft butter, whisking always.

Cut cod into 3 even sized pieces per fillet egg and crumb. Slice banana into 8 with the skin on. Cook the fish in oil and butter until golden brown, remove from pan and allow to rest.Pour off the oil and with the pan back on the heat, grill the bananas on both sides.

Serve the fish and banana atop the sauce.

Serves 4

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Honey-Mustard Cod

Serve the fish with herbed rice, steamed spinach and lemon wedges.

164 mg.

4 cod fillets (4 ounces each)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon coarse mustard
1 tablespoon nonfat yogurt
1 tablespoon nonfat mayonnaise
1 tablespoon honey

Coat a baking sheet with no-stick spray. Place the cod on the sheet.

In a small bowl, combine the Dijon mustard, coarse mustard, yogurt, mayonnaise and honey. Divide the mixture among the fillets, covering the top surface of each. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes. Lay a sheet of foil over the fish, turn off the oven, and let the fish stand for 5 minutes.
Serves 4.

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Poisson Salé
Ingredients:

• 250 grams poisson sale (alternatively use salt cod) cut into 4 cm pieces

• 1 onion cut in halves then sliced

• 2 spring onions finely chopped

• 3 "piment carri" green chillies sliced (optional)

• 1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves

• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 1/2 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves to garnish

 

Method:

1. Soak and wash alternately poisson sale (or salt cod) pieces in cold water. Do this at least three times over a half hour period (adjust time depending upon dryness of salt fish). Drain and set aside.

2. Place poisson sale (or salt cod) pieces in saucepan with enough cold water to cover. Bring to the boil and allow to simmer for about ten minutes until tender, but not too soft. Remove from pan and hand-break into small pieces (refer to photo).

3. Heat oil in frying pan and fry poisson sale (or salt cod) small pieces until nearly golden brown. Stir in the rest of the ingredients and continue to stir fry until onions become transparent and poisson sale (or salt cod) pieces turn a rich golden brown colour. Do not overcook however.

4. Serve hot as an accompaniment for rice with lentilles rouges (noires) or bouillon bredes.

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Cod Creole If you love Creole, this dish is for you. Season to preferred hotness by adding more or less pepper.	Ingredients: 1 lb cod fillets, skinned 4 small red potoates, skinned & boiled to just barely tender 3 tsp olive oil 1 TBS lime or lemon juice 1 med. onion, chopped 1 garlic, minced 1 tsp red pepper flakes* 15 oz of tomatoes, chopped 1 tsp cayenne pepper brown rice * if you like your Creole hot, add more hot pepper.
Slice the cod fillets into bite size chunks and sprinkled with lime or lemon juice. Heat oil in a large nonstick fring pan and sautee the onion until tender. Add cayenne pepper and minced garlic. Stir in the cod and potatoes, cover and simmer for about 5 minutes until the fish flakes easily. Serve over rice. Serves 4.