Category: fish

shandy cobbler

Being sent mystery packages in the post is intriguing. When an odd cardboard box arrived in the office, I took one look and then let people have a rummage through it. Cue lots of “ooohs” and “aaahs”. The good people at Ben Shaw’s sent me a box of their retro drinks, with flavours like Dandelion & Burdock, Cloudy Lemonade and Cream Soda. For the record, Dandelion & Burdock tastes just as weird as you remember. The Cream Soda was a massive hit.

Along with the drinks they asked me to incorporate it into a recipe. And so Shandy Cobbler was born. When I told my Dad what I was having for dinner, he thought I was on about some sort of pie, but no, cobbler is a type of river fish. And I used Ben Shaw’s Bitter Shandy in the batter for lifting foam and savoury flavour which works really well with the meaty and slightly bland fish. A neat twist on regular batter.

shandy cobbler

Course Main Course

Cuisine English

Keyword deep fried, fish

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 8

Author Gary @ BigSpud

Ingredients

1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon honey
330 ml Ben Shaw's Bitter Shandy
1 egg beaten
250 g plain flour
2 river cobbler fillets

Instructions

Get a deep pan ready to deep fry with oil at 180C.
Put a dish aside with 2 tablespoons of the flour.
Mix the baking powder, honey, egg and flour. Add enough shandy to make a custardy-batter. Dip the fish in the flour, then in the batter mix.
Deep fry the fillets for 6 - 8 minutes (depending on thickness) until the batter is a deep golden brown. Serve immediately with chips and peas, and plenty of malt vinegar.

chips cod curry curry powder fish food potatoes

empire fish and chips

Just the other week I was bowled over by Jamie’s empire chicken. I was also taken by his prediction that if you ask the British public what their favourite meals are, they’ll say “roast chicken” and “a curry”, hence his Imperial mash-up. But my mind wandered to that other pinnacle of British food, the fish and chips. What would this look like as a crossover?

As it turns out, hilarious fun. Spicy yet familiar.

Empire fish and chips

Course Main Dish

Cuisine English, Indian

Servings 2 people

Author Gary @ BigSpud

Ingredients

For the chips:
2 - 3 medium maris piper potatoes
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon nigella seeds
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon madras curry powder
For the fish:
150 g plain flour
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon honey
Carbonated water enough to make a gloopy batter, approx 300ml
2 cod fillets

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Cut the potatoes into nice fat chip shapes and drop them into salted boiling water. When tender drain them and allow to steam dry a little. Toss in the spices with a big pinch of salt, toss in oil and pop in the oven for 45 minutes until crispy.
Meanwhile make the fish. Heat some rapeseed or vegetable oil in a pan or fryer to 180°C. Whisk up the batter ingredients and then lay the fish in the batter. Allow the excess to drip off and fry the fish for approx 8 - 10 minutes until golden brown on both sides. Serve immediately with lemon wedges.

cod coriander fish food rye bread

cod rye fingers

When I think of “rye bread” I think of “pastrami on…” and that’s about it. Yet I can’t think I’ve even tried it or not. So I was sent some Village Bakery Rye Bread recently and looked at it with arched eyebrows. Mrs. Spud jumped on it, being a fan of the German bread of this type.

I tried some with a little cream cheese at first – it was the savouriness that really got me, and deep flavour. I really enjoyed it. I tried some lightly grilled too and the crispness gave it an interesting texture.

I was sent some with a view to promoting the Try Rye challenge – replacing regular wheat bread with rye bread to lose weight and / or feel less bloated. It’s definitely an interesting alternative, head over to the Facebook page for more information.

I’m always looking for the recipe angle – and it was the flavour possibilities of the rye bread with coriander that interested me. Combined with some superb Farmer’s Choice cod I had the idea of making chunky fish fingers. With a few extra spices and flavourings the rumbling rye flavour and silky cod are brought together to create a great combination.

Cod rye fingers (makes 8):

1 cod fillet

4 slices of Village Bakery Rye Bread with Coriander

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 tablespoon flour

¼ teaspoon paprika

1 egg, beaten

A lemon

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C, and have a baking tray in there already warming up.

In a hot dry pan toast the cumin seeds until popping and then tip on to a plate. Whizz the bread in a food processor to crumbs and then tip on to the cumin and mix together.

Mix the flour and paprika together and season well.

Slice the cod into 8 pieces. Roll the cod in the flour, dip in the egg and then press the breadcrumbs on to the fish. Brush with a little olive oil and place on the baking tray. Bake for 10 -15 minutes until the crumb is crispy and the fish cooked through. Serve with a drizzle of lemon (and pretend it’s fish & chips & peas like in my pic above).

coley egg fish rice

coley kedgeree

I’m a big fan of Great British Menu and love to watch real working chefs and pros sweating and creating to challenge each other. Who are more competitive than top-flight chefs? Real gems come out of it and I’m sure bookings are a dead cert to increase for everyone involved.

This week Michael Smith made an inviting (if not entirely appropriate for this year’s sharing banquet theme) salmon kedgeree which inspired me to have one myself. I winged it, adding what felt right and what I was in the mood for. It usually features boiled eggs but they don’t really do it for me so I’ve gone for scrambled here. Fresh, spicy and filling – what more could you want?

Coley kedgeree (serves 1):

1 frozen coley steak

1 tablespoon madras powder

2 handfuls Basmati rice

1 teaspoon turmeric

½ teaspoon cumin seeds

½ teaspoon coriander seeds

½ teaspoon nigella seeds

1 egg

Splash of cream

Large handful chopped fresh coriander

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Mix the madras with a pinch of salt on a square of foil. Rub the fish into the powder all over and then wrap the parcel up and bake for 20 minutes, or until flaky.

Get a large pan of water on to boil and add the rice and turmeric. Boil for 12 minutes or so until tender, then drain and keep warm while you get on with everything else.

Beat the egg with a pinch of salt and the cream. In a frying pan toast the seeds over a medium heat. When they start to smoke add the drained rice and egg. Keep everything moving around to break the egg up.

The fish should be done now so get it out of the oven and flake into the rice. When the egg is set to your liking take off the heat, stir through the coriander and serve.

Tags michael smith