Canned Fish and Rice Patties

So I got to do a Daring Cooks again! I love fishcakes, they are one of my favourite foods, but I have never tried them with rice and I have to say I really liked them. I followed the recipe exactly and made no changes, and they were really good.



Canned Fish and Rice Patties

1 can (415 gm/15 oz) pink salmon or tuna or sardines, (not packed in oil) drained well
1 can (340 gm/13 oz) corn kernels, drained well
1 bunch spinach, cooked, chopped & squeezed dry or 60 gm/2 oz thawed frozen spinach squeezed dry
2 cups (300 gm/7 oz) cooked white rice (made from 2/3 cups of uncooked rice)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
about 3 tablespoons (20 gm/2/3 oz) fine packet breadcrumbs for binding
3 tablespoons (45 ml) oil, for frying
2 spring (green) onions, finely chopped
1 tablespoon (15 ml) tomato paste or 1 tablespoon (15 ml) hot chilli sauce
1 tablespoon (15 ml) oyster sauce
2 tablespoons (30 ml) sweet chilli sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
½ cup (60 gm/2 oz) seasoned fine packet bread crumbs to cover patties

Place all of the ingredients into a large bowl.

Mix and mash using your hands or a strong spoon the ingredients with much force while slowly adding tablespoons of breadcrumbs to the patty mixture) until the mixture starts to cling to itself about 4 minutes the longer you mix and mash the more compacted the final patty. Day-old cold rice works best (only needs a tablespoon of breadcrumbs or less) but if the rice is hot or warm you will need more breadcrumbs to bind the mixture. Test the mixture by forming a small ball it should hold together. Cook the test ball adjust the seasoning (salt and pepper) of the mixture to taste.

Form patties using a ½ cup measuring cup.

Cover in seasoned breadcrumbs.

Use immediately or can be refrigerated covered for a few hours.



Preheat fry pan (cast iron is best) to medium hot add 1½ tablespoons of oil and heat until the oil shimmers place the patties well spaced out onto the fry pan lower heat to medium.

Pan fry for about 3 minutes each side for a thin lightly browned crust about 10 minutes for a darker thicker crisper crust. Wait until the patties can be released from the pan with a shake of the pan or a light turning of the patty using your fingers before flipping over to cook the other side of the patty add the remaining 1½ tablespoons of oil when you flip the patties. Flip only once. You can fry the sides of the patty if you want brown sides on your patty.

10 Minute Miso Fish Soup

I'm still playing around with healthy recipes and possibly making them less healthy than they should be! This again is a Gillian McKeith recipe that I've messed with. For Asian soups I generally use the veg that I have in the fridge rather than following the recipe. So long as there's veg in it, it doesn't really matter what it is. I think the original recipe had peppers and mange tout but I added to that with some choi sum, mushrooms and green beans. I also added some somen noodles to the soup to round it out as a meal. Delicious!



10 minute Miso Fish Soup (adapted from You Are What You Eat Cookbook)
(Serves 4)

1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
2.5cm piece ginger, peeled and finely sliced
1 packet instant miso soup
100g skinless boned white fish, cut into chunks
100g somen noodles
handful mange tout, trimmed and sliced
handful green beans, trimmed and cut in half
5 dried Chinese mushrooms
2 heads pak choi, sliced

Put the dried mushrooms in a bowl and cover with boiling water, soak for 15 mins.

Bring 500ml water to the boil, add the garlic, ginger and miso soup. Boil for 1 minute, then add the fish, noodles, mange tout, green beans and mushrooms.

Bring back to the boil and cook for 2 mins.

Add the pak choi and spring onions and cook for a further minute.

Divide between bowls and serve immediately.

Baked Salmon with Spinach and Leeks

I'm not all that good at following these diet cookbooks and tend to use what ingredients I have in my house instead of going out and buying new lower fat versions. I have, from a long time ago, a Gillian McKeith cookbook, and although I loath the woman and disagree with most of what she says, some of the recipes looked quite tasty. But, I haven't actually made any of the recipes properly from the book but rather pimped them up to give more taste and flavour.

So I changed the topping on the salmon to make it tastier and added garlic to the spinach and leeks. I also served it with orzo and pesto, and avocado with vinaigrette.



Baked Salmon with Spinach and Leeks (adapted from You Are What You Eat Cookbook)
(Serves 4)

2 leeks, sliced
500g spinach leaves
4 salmon fillets
1 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic coves, finely chopped
1 tbsp grated ginger
juice half lemon

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Gently boil or steam the leeks for 5 mins to soften.

Place the spinach leaves in a medium baking tin and top with the leeks. Place the salmon on top.

Sprinkle some old bay seasoning over the salmon and pour over the lemon juice.

Place in the oven and bake for 10 mins. Remove and allow to rest for 5 mins. Serve.

Tandoori Fish

This is really not worth writing out the recipe but it was so good, I thought I'd share it. I use tandoori paste all the time, usually on chicken but I had never really thought of using it with fish, and actually it turns out to be a fantastic combination! The original recipe used tilapia, but I used coley and actually you could use any white fish, I also baked the fish for 8-10 mins rather than grilled it and that worked fine too. I served it with, white rice, stir fried beans and sugar snap peas with Indian spices and yoghurt, and mango chutney. Delicious!



Tandoori Fish (adapted from Good Food Magazine November 2011)
(Serves 4)

4 white fish fillets
1 tbsp tandoori paste

Coat the fish with the tandoori paste and set aside.

Heat the grill to high. Grill the fish for 8-10 mins or until cooked through.

Parsnip and Lemon Soup

It is definitely soup weather out there. It was so cold this morning! I am stocking up my freezer on easy and warming soups and this one comes from one of my new Weightwatchers cook books. I actually didn't enjoy this soup all that much, I found it a bit sweet for my liking, even when I added lemon juice to the recipe.

I have to say that despite joining Weightwatchers and buying the cookbooks, this dieting thing is not going well! I think I just like food too much!



Parsnip and Lemon Soup (from Weightwatchers Cook Smart Easy Everyday)
(Serves 4)

600g Parsnips, peeled and sliced
1 onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Grated rind of 1 lemon
750 ml vegetable stock
300ml skimmed milk
Olive oil spray
salt and pepper
handful of chopped parsley or coriander (optional)

Spray a large saucepan with the oil spray and heat. When the oil is hot, stir in the onion. Turn the flame under the pot to low, cover and leave for approximately 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

When the onion is soft, stir in the parsnips then sprinkle over the cumin. Fry for approximately one minute, stirring all the time, or until the aroma rises.

Pour over the stock, stir and bring it to the boil. Cover and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes or until the parsnip is soft.

Remove the pot from the heat and transfer the contents to a blender and blend the contents until smooth.

Return the soup to the pot. Stir in the milk, lemon rind and parsley. Season with salt and pepper.

Bacon and Mushroom Pasta

I had a lovely weekend of vampires, my first visit to Nandos and watching the Chinese New Year celebrations in Chinatown and Trafalgar Square. It was even more fantastic as I had good company and had originally had no plans for the weekend at all! I needed something warming after standing out in the cold for a bit yesterday, so I had this lovely bacon and mushroom pasta dish which did the trick. I added a bit of samphire which needed using up and also used yoghurt rather than creme fraiche as that's what I had in the fridge and it was delicious and easy too!



Bacon and Mushroom Pasta (from Good Food Magazine October 2005)
(Serves 4)

400g penne pasta
250g pack chestnut or button mushrooms
8 rashers streaky bacon
4 tbsp pesto
200ml carton 50% fat crème fraîche
handful basil leaves

Cook the pasta in boiling water in a large non-stick saucepan according to pack instructions. Meanwhile, slice the mushrooms and snip the bacon into bite-size pieces with scissors or a sharp knife.

Reserve a few drops of the cooking water in a cup or bowl, then drain the pasta and set aside. Fry the bacon and mushrooms in the same pan until golden, about 5 mins. Keep the heat high so the mushrooms fry in the bacon fat, rather than sweat.

Tip the pasta and reserved water back into the pan and stir over the heat for 1 min. Take the pan off the heat, spoon in the pesto and crème fraîche and most of the basil and stir to combine. Sprinkle with the remaining basil to serve.

Stir Fried Chicken with Barbecue Sauce, Kai Lan and Rice Noodles

Back in November I went on a guided tour of Chinatown and then went back to the cookery school where the leader of the tour cooked us lunch. She picked up all her ingredients as we were walking round Chinatown and one of the dishes that she made was Chinese sausage with rice noodles and sa cha or Chinese barbecue sauce. I recreated that dish a couple of weeks ago, but completely forgot to take any photos. I will hopefully make it again and share the recipe with you.

I bought a jar of the barbecue sauce, so I was looking round for recipes to use up the rest of the sauce and stumbled across one for Beef with Chinese Barbecue Sauce but when I looked in the freezer I didn't have any beef, so I used chicken instead and it tasted fantastic. I served the chicken on a bed of rice noodles (which I am having a love affair with at the moment) and kai lan or Chinese broccoli.



Stir-fried Chicken with Barbecue Sauce (adapted from userealbutter.com)

450g chicken breast cut into pieces
1 tbsp shaoxing Chinese cooking wine
1 tbsp water
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp cornstarch
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 tbsp Chinese barbecue sauce (sa cha)
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp vegetable oil
4 spring onions, sliced

In a medium bowl, mix the beef with the cooking sherry, water, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, cornstarch, and 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil until the chicken is evenly coated. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the Chinese BBQ sauce, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, and sugar. Stir together.

Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a wok or sauté pan on high heat. Toss in the green onions when the oil is hot (they should sizzle when they hit the oil) and stir for ten seconds. Add the chicken and sauté until the chicken is mostly cooked. Pour in the BBQ sauce mixture and stir fry until the meat is browned. Remove from heat. Serve.