Easy cod baked with cheddar cheese and crispy breadcrumb topping recipe
This recipe is so simple and delicious. The melted cheddar cheese and crisp topping keep the fish moist and the combination is true comfort food. Fish can be a bit tricky to cook. If you grill/broil or fry it the window for the fish to be perfectly cooked is very small. However, if you bake your fish that tiny window often extends to a vast 30 minutes. Two or three minutes will not ruin your supper either way. If oven baked fish takes 30 mins it means that you can have oven baked chips too! The problem with developing our own recipes is that...
read moreRecipe for delicious breaded cod and a simple love story
I must have been about five or six years old when I first noticed The Man. We were on holiday in Hunstanton. A favourite family holiday destination when I was a child. My childhood memories are of weeks of sun, shrimp nets and feeling a bit embarrassed about my knitted woollen bathing suit. I hated that knitted suit. When it was wet it would droop in heavy folds towards my feet and the thin straps cut into my shoulders as I exposed my chest to the world. In fact these holidays were just a long weekend and once a whole week. It was during this...
read moreRecipe for squid in marinara sauce over spaghetti
This may sound crazy but up until the past month or so I’ve always though of squid as a starter. It’s often knocked right down in price at the supermarket but I’ve tended to avoid it – my eye being on ingredients for a main course. When I made my yummy squid soup I suddenly realised that this seafood had enormous potential. Surely if soup could be this easy and this good there must be other ways to use squid? I spent a couple of hours researching squid as a pasta sauce. 95% of sauces used tomatoes so I decided to go with that. This is...
read moreRecipe for Celia’s potato pancakes: canapés, starters, light lunch
We don’t tend to have a starter on Christmas day as I prefer to serve canapés if people are feeling peckish. Traditionally these are smoked salmon on thinly sliced brown bread. Danny is a bit picky about the sort of salmon that he likes, ideally the salmon should be wild and not farmed. But as we were having a budget Christmas this year I secreted a pack of farmed smoked salmon trimmings in the fridge and planned a different sort of canapé. Initially I considered making blinis and asked on Twitter for a good recipe. Celia – of Purple...
read moreRecipe for Spanish style squid and tomato soup
I picked up a whole squid a couple of days ago. I had not come across this wonder before – just those lovely white open ended envelopes that regurgitate a baby squid when pressed. This half priced one had skin and an eye! Maybe two, I couldn’t/didn’t want to work out the physiology. But I did venture onto the Internet to learn squid preparation skills. I was so pleased that I did as I was tempted to just slice it up, skin and all. I didn’t know about the stomach, quill or the beak. Yes a squid has a beak! Generally I think of squid as...
read moreEasy and deluxe recipe: Prawn, Pak Choi and gnocchi supreme
When I first noticed Pak Choi (bok choy or Peking cabbage) twinkling on the supermarket sheves, I wasn’t exactly sure what it was or how it would taste. Even though it seemed rather expensive it was attractive so I invested in a pack and rushed home. Simmered gently for a couple of minutes it was a revelation. Wilted upper leaves with crunchy fleshy ends. Clean tasting and yummy. We ate it as a vegetable on the side and later in stir fries. Surely in the right place this vegetable could really shine? This thought was put on the back...
read moreQuick and easy smoked salmon spaghetti recipe
Sometimes I get bored with our old favourites when it comes to rustling up the evening meal. Although the freezer is full of my own ‘ready meals’ nothing appeals. I pick through the shelves and even consider a takeaway. Last night I found a pack of Atlantic line caught smoked salmon – 100g for £3.99 happily discounted to £2.50 on the CFC. Danny refuses to eat farmed salmon so I only buy the good stuff on offer and stash it away for chic canapés or scrambled eggs and smoked salmon for a very special breakfast. Last night was a...
read moreFoodie treats for under a fiver
Perhaps it’s because I remember happy seaside holidays and those weirdly shaped shrimp nets at Hunstanton as a child. Or the dinkiness of the little tempting pots that hold them in all their buttery glory. All I know is that I’m passionate about potted shrimps. Danny does not share my love for this culinary delight. So generally I buy potted shrimps when he is away. The little pot is something of a Tardis – as the contents will always cover two slices of gently browned toast. And of course this always adds to the enjoyment – going...
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