Archive for the 'fish' Category

Thai red prawn curry

Published by Lucina, on 7 maggio 2016 in Cucina regionale, English Recipes, fish and rice. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .
Thai red prawn curry

Thai red prawn curry

Hello hello hello and welcome back to me (and to messing about in the kitchen). I confess that not much experimentation has been going on in the last month or so.  What a lazy so and so. In my defence this is mainly due to the fact that I was in Italy for 2 weeks. When I get back from my holidays I am always out of the swing for a little while. This doesn’t mean I am not doing any cooking, you understand, but I tend to opt for the tried and tested. Anyway, enough trying to justify myself. And what’s wrong with being a bit lazy in the kitchen, now and again?. 😉 This recipe comes from the Jamie Oliver’s 30 minutes meals recipe book which I must admit, I haven’t used all that much. Anyway I was astounded by how good this curry tasted and how easy it was to make. I thoroughly recommend it. I slightly adapted it. For example in the original recipe Jamie uses two different types of prawns: the bog standard ready cooked ones and some raw ones. Well, bollocks to that. Too complicated! I went for the easy ready cooked option and ignored the raw ones, which incidentally made the recipe even easier. Also Jamie cooks sugar snap peas in the curry. I chose to serve them separately, hence they are omitted from the recipe. Continue reading ‘Thai red prawn curry’

Prawn and spinach curry

Published by Lucina, on 21 giugno 2015 in English Recipes, fish and Pesce. 0 Comments
prawn and spinach curry

prawn and spinach curry

Technically speaking this is a bit of a cheat as I didn’t make this curry. It was my youngest son Tom who cooked it for me when I went to visit him. I honestly couldn’t believe how good it was hence I am sharing the recipe with you! I am so glad that both my sons are interested in cooking (and good at it) as it’s such a useful skill to have, whether you are male or female.  I always encouraged them to watch/help me while I was cooking when they were little. Something must have rubbed off then! :-) I will definitely have a go at it myself in the very near future as it was delicious (trust me). I am not sure where the recipe comes from but here it is. By the way  please note Tomik’s baby sister- Tomik being the china salt dispenser cat which always makes its appearance in my pictures-. Here you have the stripey purple version of it, which was a present from me to my son after my trip to Budapest a few years ago. Candi has the third one (the black and white one). Continue reading ‘Prawn and spinach curry’

Mousse de thon à la Pomme Verte

Published by Lucina, on 23 febbraio 2014 in Antipasti, sfizi, finger food..., English Recipes, fish and starters. 4 Comments Tags: .

tuna and green apple mousse

Come on admit it!!!  Aren’t your taste buds tickled by the name of this recipe alone? The English translation would be: tuna and green apple mousse but I think the French version is MUCH more va va voom, don’t you think?  Plus it is the original name as it comes from the Parisienne food writer Clotilde Dusoulier. She runs this excellent blog called Chocolate and Zucchini, which has become a book. And this is where I have found this recipe. The name of her blog alone sounds very outlandish: chocolate and zucchini….. Not exactly an obvious combination, I trust you agree, albeit, ironically, the very first recipe I blogged was a courgette tea bread.  Anyway, I was duly intrigued by her blog and proceeded to buy the book second hand on Amazon paying the princely sum of 1 p! Yes! 1 p. (ok,plus P&P. But still: a bargain)! How good is that, eh? I was dead chuffed considering it looked brand new.  Good, old Amazon market place! Anyway, the book  is full of very interesting and unusual recipes with a French twist.  The author clearly belongs to the no nonsense school of cooking, which I also subscribe to. All her recipes  seem appealing without being complicated or particularly difficult to follow. A major plus here!  Continue reading ‘Mousse de thon à la Pomme Verte’

Tuna steak with pistachios and sun dried tomatoes

Published by Lucina, on 23 maggio 2013 in English Recipes and fish. 1 Comment

tuna steak with pistachios

Before I share with you this quick but impressive recipe let me update you on both Tomik the sourdough and Herman the German. I know some of you will be curious to know whether they are still alive and thriving. Well….the simple answer is : YES to both. Tomik is a happy little chappy AND I have now given a couple of his “babies” to friends (David and Annalisa, if you are reading this , I am keeping an eye on you! :-))so his legend goes on! Herman is also doing well and doing the round. I got him back last week, fed him, used him to make a lovely carrot, almond and polenta cake and passed him on again. I’ve worked out that I all I need to do to create a new one is to use my sourdough starter and feed it with milk, sugar and flour. Simple! Now to the tuna recipe of the day. As you know fresh tuna is really expensive but now and again it’s nice to treat oneself to a nice steak. If the quality of the fish is good and the tuna is fresh there is nothing better to eat and you don’t need any fanciful recipes to cook it. You can simply marinate it quickly in a bit of olive oil and lemon and grill it. The mistake I used to make in the past was overcooking it. I hadn’t cottoned on to the fact it has to be pink inside so I always ended up with a disappointing dry steak. Continue reading ‘Tuna steak with pistachios and sun dried tomatoes’

Salmon fish cakes

Published by Lucina, on 22 giugno 2012 in English Recipes and fish. 4 Comments

salmon fish cakes

These have got to be one of the easiest fish cakes around. I love salmon (as you can tell from the many salmon recipes I’ve already blogged) and this is a nice way to have it. I’ll definitely make them again. They have a really delicate taste. I saw the recipe on the BBC Good food magazine and , as they looked rather appealing and pretty straightforward to make, I decided to try them out. I steamed the fresh salmon using the Jamie Oliver tip which is to wrap the salmon fillet in foil together with some herbs and pop them on top of the potatoes while they are steaming (for the last ten minutes). It worked a treat. Of course you can poach the salmon, if you wish, or even cook it in the microwave. Only make sure not to overcook it. In fact it should still be a bit pinkish in the middle. Continue reading ‘Salmon fish cakes’

Baked sea bream with fennel and onion

Published by Lucina, on 17 febbraio 2012 in English Recipes, fish and Pesce. 1 Comment Tags: , , .
baked sea bream with fennel and onion

I am blogging this  über healthy recipe to counter balance the very indulgent ones we have been sharing recently. We seem to favour cakes and all manner of sweet, and may I add unhealthy, delights on our blog but not as many main courses (meat/fish, etc). I wonder why that is. :-) Anyway this particular dish can’t be accused of being “bad” for you or fattening so here I am promoting it to our little group of foodie friends. An interesting thing to report here is that I had NO idea what the Italian word for sea bream was when I embarked on the idea of cooking it. I had had sea bream in restaurants before, of course, but had no idea what the Italian word for it was. In truth something linguistically very peculiar has been taking place with fish ever since I moved to this country many many years ago. Namely, I know the English- Italian translation of many bog standard fish (like salmon, trout, sole, cod, etc.) but navigate a little further afield (in the world of the sea bream, sea bass, red snapper and such like) and I’m totally and utterly lost. Clueless in fact! Continue reading ‘Baked sea bream with fennel and onion’

Fillets of salmon with dill and capers

Published by Lucina, on 5 gennaio 2012 in English Recipes and fish. 1 Comment

fillets of salmon with capers and dill

Well…..happy new year everyone! Sorry for the absence from the blog but Christmas time is no time to go on a computer! I have been extremely busy and I’m only now getting back to some sort of normality and into cooking mood. Actually, that’s not quite true as I have spent a big part of my holidays cooking for a houseful of men! Anyway…..time to start experimenting in the kitchen again. Last night I tried this very simple salmon dish from the BBC Good food magazine. It was really simple but very tasty so I’ve decided to share it with you. And that’s what we want, us busy ladies with jobs: straightforward, no fuss recipes! By the way I had to look in the dictionary the Italian word for “dill”. I confess I didn’t know. Apparently it’s “aneto”. Not sure how common it is in Italy or whether it is readily available. It goes very well with fish and potato salads. Do you use it Candi? I really like it. Anyway, enough chatting. Let’s get cooking! Continue reading ‘Fillets of salmon with dill and capers’

Salmon fillets with avocado and creme fraiche sauce

Published by Lucina, on 26 agosto 2011 in English Recipes and fish. 0 Comments

salmon fillets

I invited some people for dinner last week and I had to come up with something quick and hassle free as I didn’t have much time to cook in the afternoon. So I thought of this nice and easy summer recipe (slightly adapted) by the mighty Delia Smith (I love her, I do confess). I’ve done it many times before and it has never failed me. So here I am sharing it with you. It’s so simple to make even my husband could have a go (ha ha). What is good about it is that you cook the salmon in the oven first and then you let it go cold, so you could easily cook it in the morning and then forget about it until just before your guests arrive. The sauce takes no time at all in the food processor (yes, you will need one). The only thing you have to make sure of  is that you buy a ripe avocado. If it’s too hard the sauce won’t work. Avocados are strange things, aren’t they? I find that they are either too hard or too soft. A bit like pears. One minute they are not soft enough, the next you have to chuck them in the bin as they have gone brown and mushy. I’ve thrown away many in my lifetime!

Continue reading ‘Salmon fillets with avocado and creme fraiche sauce’

Fish chowder with Asian flavours

Published by Lucina, on 9 giugno 2011 in English Recipes and fish. 1 Comment Tags: .

fish chowder with Asian flavours

Hello hello hello! And sorry for not publishing for a little while. The reason was very simple: partly I have eaten out a lot (hence ZERO cooking) and partly I have been bogged down with marking (this is the exam season and I’m a teacher…) which meant I have had very little time to experiment in the kitchen or to assemble anything more complicated than scrambled eggs or salads. I don’t think you would have been impressed if I had blogged what I have been eating for the past ten days. Trust me.  But I’ve finished marking now soooooooo………. back to cooking! And quick! I am getting fed up with opening my fridge and grabbing the first thing I can lay my hands on. Plus Candi is in Ecuador at the moment leaving me in charge! I can’t let her down… :-) Enough rambling on…..The recipe I’m blogging tonight comes from Nigella Lawson. I have made it several times. It’s ever so quick but really tasty. PLUS it is healthy too. After the latest calories ridden recipes I thought that we had to atone.

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Baked cod with pesto, baby spinach and cherry tomatoes

Published by Lucina, on 27 aprile 2011 in English Recipes and fish. 10 Comments

baked cod with pesto, spinach and tomatoes

As promised here’s a quick and healthy recipe using  one of our “local” fish, namely cod. (Sorry Candi, I was getting fed up with reading your lovely recipes knowing I couldn’t get hold of the  fish you used). I made it tonight in next to no time at all and it turned out very tasty indeed. I had some home made  pesto left over from a few days ago so I decided to use it in a  context other than pasta. By the way I NEVER buy pesto in a jar. I don’t like the taste. Plus it’s so easy to make that there is really no need to resort to the ready made one.  I will add the pesto recipe at the bottom of the recipe for those English friends who have never tried it but would like (and should…he he) have a go. Continue reading ‘Baked cod with pesto, baby spinach and cherry tomatoes’