This cured ocean trout recipe is adapted from a recipe from Rick Stein and from a recipe from Maggie Beer.
You must start this recipe at least 1 day early for the curing to take place. Rick Stein’s recipe said 2 days, Maggie Beer says 8 hours. I did mine the afternoon the day before the dinner.
Ingredients:
- 150 g of sea salt flakes
- 100 g of caster sugar
- 1 cup of dill chopped
- 2 tsp peppercorn, crushed
- Finely grated zest of 1 lemon and 1 lime
- 1 to 1.2 kg ocean trout fillet skin-on (which is basically one of the sides of the whole ocean trout)
Method:
- Get to your fishmonger or fish market and buy an ocean trout. Have it filleted and if possible bones removed. If the bones are still in, use some tweezers and patience to remove them one at a time. This video is a “how to” video found online.
tip – the other half of the ocean trout can be frozen (after being deboned) and used at a later time for a meal.
- Combine the ingredients together.
- Place a plastic wrap at the bottom of a long dish, coat the skin side part with half of the cure mix, and place on the plastic film. Then spread the rest of the cure mix on the top part. Close tightly the film over the whole fish filet (add more film if required).
- Place in the fridge overnight. Turn over in the morning until ready to serve.
- When ready to serve open the wrapping and wipe the excess cure from the ocean trout using a paper towel or a clean tea towel. Some dill will remain on it, it’s OK.
- Cut thinly and serve with creme fraiche and wedges of lemon.
Find a nice piece of salmon fillet for the number of people you want to feed (ask your fishmonger) for this baked salmon fillet dish and prepare it in a gratin ceramic dish. This recipe is very easy.
Serve this with a green salad or blanched french beans. If you would like a meal a little more consistent add couscous semolina or rice.
Ingredients:
For 4 people.
- 1 large piece of salmon fillet (bones out if possible)
- 1 tbsp of capers
- 1/2 red onion
- fresh thyme, fresh rosemary or fresh sage (your choice, if you don’t know choose what you have at home or some thyme – my favourite)
- 1 punnet of cherry tomatoes (10-15 cherry tomatoes, if you only have normal size tomato, go for two of them but in eight pieces each.
- Olive oil
- Rock salt (1 tsp)
- Cracked pepper
- in the photo above I had some chestnuts to use. If you want to use some, incise each of them, place them one minute in boiling water, then peel and put in the bake.
Method:
- Heat Up the oven to 180ºC.
- Place a dash of oil at the bottom of your gratin ceramic dish.
- Place your piece of salon in the middle, the tomatoes on the side, the apers and oinion scatred all over.
- Put a fillet of olive oil over the dish, add the salt and cracked pepper, then herbs.
- Cook for about 20 minutes. The time will vary depending on the thickness of your piece and your oven. To check for doneness, use a small pointy knife and pull apart the flesh of the fish. If it pulls apart, it is ready. Salmon is beautiful when just done, that is when there is still a little pinkness in the flesh (just cooked).
- Remove from the oven and serve with blanches greens or a salad. Add some couscous or jasmine rice if you want something a bit more nutricious.
Find a nice piece of salmon fillet for the number of people you want to feed (ask your fishmonger) for this baked salmon fillet dish and prepare it in a gratin ceramic dish. This recipe is very easy.
Serve this with a green salad or blanched french beans. If you would like a meal a little more consistent add couscous semolina or rice.
Ingredients:
For 4 people.
- 1 large piece of salmon fillet (bones out if possible)
- 1 tbsp of capers
- 1/2 red onion
- fresh thyme, fresh rosemary or fresh sage (your choice, if you don’t know choose what you have at home or some thyme – my favourite)
- 1 punnet of cherry tomatoes (10-15 cherry tomatoes, if you only have normal size tomato, go for two of them but in eight pieces each.
- Olive oil
- Rock salt (1 tsp)
- Cracked pepper
- in the photo above I had some chestnuts to use. If you want to use some, incise each of them, place them one minute in boiling water, then peel and put in the bake.
Method:
- Heat Up the oven to 180ºC.
- Place a dash of oil at the bottom of your gratin ceramic dish.
- Place your piece of salon in the middle, the tomatoes on the side, the apers and oinion scatred all over.
- Put a fillet of olive oil over the dish, add the salt and cracked pepper, then herbs.
- Cook for about 20 minutes. The time will vary depending on the thickness of your piece and your oven. To check for doneness, use a small pointy knife and pull apart the flesh of the fish. If it pulls apart, it is ready. Salmon is beautiful when just done, that is when there is still a little pinkness in the flesh (just cooked).
- Remove from the oven and serve with blanches greens or a salad. Add some couscous or jasmine rice if you want something a bit more nutricious.
This is a recipe you should feel free to adapt with what you have available at home. It is designed to have a few roasted vegetables, a few fresh vegetables, herbs, a little feta or similar fresh cheese and of course a piece of salmon.
There were two cooking stages, all in the same roasting dish. First, the cauliflower and sweet potatoes first, then the fish and a little chickpeas. And finally herbs, a few crumbs of feta and some cherry tomatoes. Over that, a dash of balsamic vinegar and olive oil, a splash of lemon and dinner is ready.
Ingredients:
This is for 2 adults for a light meal, increase the amount of fish per person for a more copious meal.
- 1 piece of salmon fillet skin on
- 1 cup of cut heads of cauliflower
- 1/2 tin of chickpeas
- 1 sweet potato
- a few brussels sprouts ut in quarters
- 5 cherry tomatoes cut in quarters
- 1 cup of finely shredded red cabbage
- about 1/4 cup of pomegranate seeds (omit if you don’t have, you can put walnut pieces or pepitas as an alternative)
- Coriander, chives herbs (or other fresh herbs, about 1/4 cup)
- Lemon, olive oil, balsamic vinegar
- A little feta or other soft fresh cheese
Method:
- On a plate, sprinkle a little olive oil over the salmon and a little salt.
- Peel the sweet potato and cut in pieces of 2 cm size maximum.
- Place in a small roasting dish the chickpeas, the sweet potato, the cauliflower. Pour a fillet of olive il and a little salt, toss and place in a 200 °C oven (middle rack). Allow to cook for about 10 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are half tender.
- Add the fish in the middle of the vegetable and return to the oven another 10 minutes about until the fish is just cooked.
- Remove from the oven, add to the dish all other vegetable, placing on top the herbs, feta and pomegranate.
- add a fillet of balsamic vinegar over the dish, of olive oil and squeeze half a lemon over it. Serve.
Note: if some people do not like lemon, you can let other people squeeze it on their serve themselves.
This poached deep seabream with carrots dish is simply easy and delicious. The key: very few ingredients! The fish cooks very quick (a couple minutes) so best to do it last.
I like serving with a side salad which again is rather simple and does have very few ingredients, here lettuce mostly and one tomato or two.
The whole is ready in half an hour.
Deep seabream can be found at your local fishmongers or at Sydney Fish Market. Check out the sea bream ID sheet (Sydney Fish Market).
Ingredients:
For 4 people
- 1 fillet per person of seabream (they are generally quite small, if you have some larger one, decrease the number)
- one bunch of dutch carrots (about 12 of them)
- 3 carrots
- 15 g of butter
- 1 tsp of fennel seeds
- Parsley to garnish
- Side salad (lettuce and tomatoes with balsamic vinaigrette)
Method:
- Peel the dutch carrots. For this use a vegetable peeler and try to keep the peel as thin as possible or you won’t have much left of your carrots. Cut the leaves about half a centimetre above the collar and cut the end bit of the root if it has not yet come off while peeling.
- Peel the “normal” carrots and slice about half a centimetre thick.
- In a large thick bottom fry-pan, place 15 g of butter, allow to melt, add the carrots, a sprinkle of salt and a ladle of water. Cover and leave to cook on gentle heat (half heat). From time to time, shake the fry-pan. The carrots should not stick , nor burn. It will take about 10-15 minutes to cook. If you like them still a little crunchy, it will be closer to 10 minutes than 15 minutes. You can heck for doneness with the point of a knife, it should not meet much resistance going through a piece of carrot.
- For the fish, use another frypan, place in it two centimetre of water, a fillet of olive oil, a teaspoon of rock salt and the fennel seeds. Bring to the boil. Then place the fish and reduce the heat to a simmer. The fish will cook in 2-3 minutes (it will be white and no longer translucent).
- PLace the fish and the carrots in a serving dish. Garnish with parsley and serve warm.
Barramundi fillet on a bed of greens
I love a large family dish to share. This is a perfect one for dinner. Add a green salad to it if you are a bit more hungry.
Serves 6.
Ingredients:
- a 750 g fillet of barramundi
- 7 brussels sprouts
- 2 bunches of green asparagus
- half a large white onion
- 15 g butter
- Mixed spice ground (basically all spice and nutmeg mix)
- parsley
For the (quick) hollandaise sauce:
- 1 full egg and 1 egg yolk
- 50 g butter
- 3 tablespoons of just boiled water
- juice of one lemon
- Salt and pepper
Method:
- Trim the base of the brussels sprouts and cut thinly. Similarly peel the onion and cut thinly.
- In a large deep bottom pan, place the butter and melt, add 1 cup of water, the onion and the Brussel sprouts.
- In the meanwhile salt each side of the fillet.
- One the water shows a little boil, place the fish on top, squeeze a lemon. Dust a little mixed spices on top and the few heads of parsley.
- Cover and reduce heat to half, cook gently for minutes.
- While the fish is cooking, snap the bottom part of the asparagus, discard them. Steam the asparagus until bright green and just tender.
- For the hollandaise, use a small size thick based saucepan and a whisk. Melt the butter in the saucepan. Mix the egg and egg yolk with the hot water in a bowl. Keep mixing and add the melted butter (away from the stove) and lemon juice. Sometimes the heat of the butter is sufficient to make the sauce thicken without placing back in the saucepan and on low fire. If this is the case, complete the seasoning adding salt and pepper. Otherwise, place back in the saucepan and on a very low fire, whisk continuously until the sauce starts to thicken. Transfer immediately back to the bowl and season to taste.
- When the fish is cooked through (insert a skewer or a pointy knife through the flesh, pull aside gently, it should come apart with no effort), place the pan in the middle of the dinning table with the asparagus and the hollandaise sauce.
Fried sardines are such a summer classic. They have a feel of holidays, warm days, leisure around the house or by the seaside. Love them for what they represent! For me they are associated to that great summer evening spent in Algeria with project team colleagues and local host Kamal who did such a great job at making us appreciate Bejaia.
This time, my older child asked to buy them, so here we go.
Ingredients:
- 2 to 4 sardines per person
- Plain flout and salt
- oil for shallow frying
- fresh lettuce leaves or mixed salad leaves
Method:
- mix 2 tablespoons of flour with 1 teaspoon of salt, coat the sardines. Depending of the quantity, you may need more. Adjust the salt if you prefer more salty.
2. Heat up 1 cm of oil in a thick based fry-pan, when the oil is hot, place the sardines, reduce slightly the oil, turn over when golden-brown.
3. Serve immediately with fresh salad leaves.
This rainbow trout risotto could be done with other fish. Increase the quantities to reflect the number of people. You may need to get a wider (shallower) pot if you need place for more than one fish.
I did not garnish it much or embellish it much, it was a midweek dinner main.
The key to any risotto is A GOOD STOCK !!! Oh yeah!
Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 750 ml to 1 litre mussel (moules) marinieres stock (or good fish stock)
- 1 head garlic
- 1 rainbow trout
- 1 glass dry white wine
- 220 g of arborio rice (rule of thumb is 50 g/pers)
- Garden herbs (if using)
Note: no need for salt as the stock (at least mine) is salty enough.
Method:
Warm up the stock until simmer. Peel and crush 4 cloves of garlic.
Place some oil at the bottom of a thick based pot (I used my long Creuset), when hot, place the rice, crushed garlic, unpeeled garlic cloves and garden herbs in the pot and stir from time to time until half of the grains are white.
Add the wine, reduce the heat to low.
Then place the fish over the rice and slowly add all the stock. Cover and cook on very low for 20-30 minutes. Turn off the heat when the rice is almost done but still a bit al-dente and with the lead on top, let the dish cool down half an hour. The rice will keep developing and be just right.
This potatoes and prawn salad can be made early. It is a great family dinner or picnic dish, even a great camping meal!
Use kipfler potatoes for this dish, they are a bit firmer and their taste is a bit nutty.
Ingredients:
- 2 potatoes per person
- About 10 prawns per person
- For the mayonnaise: 1 egg yolk, 1/2 spoon of mustard, olive oil (about 1/2 cup), salt, juice of half a lemon, pepper
- Coriander or chives or spring onions.
Method:
- Place the potatoes in cold salted water, bring to the boil and cook until soft
- Drain the potatoes, remove the skin, cut in slices.
- Bring to the boil a large pot of salted water, throw in the (uncooked) prawn. Cook for a minute or two until pink and cooked through. Drain the prawns. If you have purchased cooked prawns, discard this step.
- Peel the prawns, feel free to leave the tail end. Add to the potatoes.
- Prepare the mayonnaise: mix the yolk and mustard slightly, keep mixing while adding slowly the olive oil. The consistency will thicken, extend the mayonnaise until you reach the volume you need. Add the lemon juice, salt and pepper. Use straight away by mixing with the potatoes and prawns.
- Add cut herbs.
This baked salmon tail with capers and grape tomatoes is perfect for a light lunch or diner. It serves 5 people. You can bake a slice of salmon the same way if you want. We generally get the salmon tails from the fish market, I have also seen them at some grocers vacuumed packed.
I did not get the time to take a nice shot when the dish was cooked, but you can guess it was yummy!
Ingredients:
- One salmon tail
- 2 tablespoons of capers
- 1 long tomato grape (1 punnet)
- 1 carrot peeled and sliced
- Salt, pepper, olive oil
- 1/2 cup white wine
- Fresh rosemary
Method
- Pre-heat oven at 180°C.
- Place the salmon in a large sheet of baking paper in a roasting tray, you want to aim at keeping the juices close to the fish (i.e. no leak). Place wine, rosemary, tomatoes and carrot in the tray. Season with the salt and pepper. Drizzle olive oil over salmon and tomatoes. Add the capers.
- Bring back the baking paper more or less over the fish.
- Place in the oven. After 20 min baste the fish with the juices.
- Cook until the fresh pulls apart when inserting a knife along the main bone. Do not overcook.
- Serve with Steamed broccoli or beans and a green salad.
