The Cottage Smallholder

Photo: Fresh haddock with lemon and basil

“Do you remember we used to use Jamie Oliver’s method of cooking fish in aluminium parcels? Let’s do that for supper tonight.”
We used to use this method a lot a few years ago. It’s simple and quick and the foil seals in the flavours.

Danny had found some CFC haddock marked down to a third of the original price so he snapped it up. All afternoon I played mentally with combinations of flavours and eventually ran them past Danny as he lay on the swing seat enjoying the sun.
“Haddock with black butter and pickled nasturtium seeds.”
He shook his head.
“I don’t like the idea of the nasturtium seeds being baked with the fish. They might taint it.”
“How about haddock with butter and dill.”
He perked up a bit.
“Or haddock with Greek basil and lemon.”
“Yes please.” Danny is a big fan of Greek basil.
“With pickled nasturtium butter on the side.”
“O.K. then.”

I was determined to use some of our pickled nasturtium seeds from last Autumn. The butter turned out to be extremely tasty and a perfect accompaniment to the fish. It would also be good with pork chops.

I’m not very happy about using aluminium foil. In my twenties I used to visit San Lorenzo (in London) for a treat. There I always ordered sea food spaghetti that arrived in a bag and was out of this world. So I’m going to experiment with using greaseproof paper instead.

If you don’t have pickled nasturtium seeds to hand you could substitute capers.

Haddock baked with lemon and Greek basil served with pickled nasturtium seed butter

Ingredients:

For the fish parcel
400g of fresh haddock (two large fillets)
The zest of half a small lemon and then the same half sliced fine
A large pinch of garlic granules
Good dash of freshly milled black pepper
A large pinch of sea salt
3 grams of Greek basil leaves – torn
A 10g knob of butter cut into little pieces

For the nasturtium seed butter
Half an eggcup of room temperature butter
1 heaped tsp of pickled nasturtium seeds

Method:

Start with the nasturtium seed butter. Rinse the nasturtium seeds in cold water and crush them (I used a rolling pin). Press the crushed seeds into the butter and distribute evenly. Put the eggcup into coldest part of the fridge to chill.
Meanwhile cut a piece of aluminium foil to create a generous sealed parcel for the fish. Lay the fish on the foil and distribute the rest of the ingredients evenly over the fillets. Seal the parcel tightly and bake for 15-20 minutes at 220c in a pre heated oven. I cooked this in Andrew our halogen oven, bless him.