Seafood double

Well, it’s been a long time between blog entries!

Over the summer, smashing England 5–0, and trying to learn and teach my kids to fish and boat, took my full bachelor attention!

This photo shows why I deserve your forgiveness!

Now I have two fab recipes - one for a successful catch, and one for when you haven’t been successful, but still feel like seafood - but are too ashamed just to buy that fish you failed to catch.

So: Baked bream, and steamed mussels.

Baked bream, lemon and potato

I once saw Jamie Oliver on TV recommend barbecuing a whole fish, with its cavity absolutely stuffed with basil and other fragrant herbs. Nooo!

Most fish, especially white-fleshed fish, have delicate flavours that you absolutely do not want to overpower. This recipe balances the light and wholesome flavour of fresh-caught bream, with lemon, tomato and herbs (including basil), with thinly sliced potatoes to soak up the juices and get all crispy on the outside too!

This is a simple recipe that requires just one pan. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• Two whole bream fresh from Cowan Creek, caught by your children!
• Two potatoes thinly sliced
• Two tomatoes thinly sliced
• Two lemons thinly sliced
• Juice of another lemon
• Two tablespoons chopped herb (basil and parsley in this case)
• Half cup dry white wine
• Olive oil
• Pepper

Method

Preheat oven to 200º

Scale and clean fish, and make two diagonal slits on each side (see photo) Rub the chopped herbs into the slits you’ve made in the fish, along with some of the lemon juice.

Place everything in an oven-proof dish, with the fish last. Cover with a lid or foil, and place in the oven for 20 minutes.

Uncover and return to oven for another 20 minutes for the liquid to intensify and potatoes to crisp up at the edges.

Serve on a bed of rice.

Steamed mussels

This one I made last Friday for my boys for dinner, and provided a very tasty soup lunch the following day. Best eaten with crusty slices of baguette. I prefer local black mussels to the green ones imported from NZ - but that is your call.

Ingredients

• 1.5 kilo black mussels
• 1 cup all purpose tomato salsa
• .5 cup dry white wine
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 red onion finely chopped
• 1 tomato roughy chopped
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsely
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed

Method

Some dishes can handle/demand more garlic than others, which is why I put no garlic in my all purpose tomato salsa. And in any case, garlic is so much punchier fresh.

Rinse in cold water, and de-beard the the mussels.

Place all other ingredients (except the chopped onion and parsley) in a deep sauce pan.

Bring to boil, stirring occasionally.

Add mussels, onion and parsley.

Bring to boil again drop the heart, cover, and simmer for 5–10 minutes.

Done!

Serve in deep bowls with bread on the side.

For this recipe, I sometimes toss in sliced beans and julienne carrots, or steam up some rice to fill it out. Tossing in even 4 whole prawns also gives the flavour an extra dimension.