THE BOOYAH COOK: BAKED FISH

Yerrrr... so now we have this thing on Friday night's at my house called 'Family Dinner' only it isn't really a family dinner because we aren't family, but we do it cause we are homeless or orphans or new to London and we eat food together in the really Australian / European way which a few decades ago, the British also did. But now they don't so much cause the most organised meal of the week happens to be a Sunday roast which doesn't count.

Anyway I really wanted to make mussels at the last Family Dinner, only when I went to the shop, there were none there. Mussels are super easy, so we will come back to this another time. BUT I went into a tailspin at the supermarket cause I hadn't planned and alternative, I was fucking dead tired and wanted to die. Hmmm... With some quick thinking I came up with the ultimate solution: BAKED CHERMOULA FISH!!!



Chermoula is a middle Eastern thing and can be used for Lamb as well. You can marinade a piece of fish with it and fry it too.

INGREDIENTS**
1 bunch of coriander chopped finely as you can be bothered
1 bunch of flat leaf parsley chopped finely as you can be bothered
6 cloves of garlic [or less]
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1 tablespoon paprika
1 big pinch cayenne
Juice of 2 lemons or 150 mls vinegar
300mls olive oil

Beat all the ingredients together. Marinate the fish for an hour. Cook the fish. [Details to follow]

** With the ingredients list, you can freestyle to whatever is in the cupboard. I had no cumin so I skipped it and no cayenne but I had some green thai chilli.

I reckon you could keep the parsley, but use basil, garlic, lemon, red pepper, pine nuts or slivered almonds for pseudo Italian style. Or pan-asian and have coriander, parsley, lemon grass, chilli, lime etc. You get my drift.

SO IN THE CASE OF THESE BAKED FISH!
I used rainbow trout cause they were only £2.03 each and were already gutted. For each fish, I got a sheet of aluminium foil, drizzled some oil with my hands over it. Then I lay the fish on the foil, spooned some of the marinade inside the fish, and a bit on the top. Then I wrapped the fish up kind of loose in the foil, but tight enough so juices wouldn't go everywhere. I did it two more times and put all three on a biscuit tray side by side. I left them for about 40 minutes to let the flavours 'vibe' and then baked them in the oven at Gas Mark 6 [is that like 190 degrees centigrade or 200?] for 25 minutes. Then I put them on a big plate all together and impressed the Family Dinner guests with the big fish platter and I felt like a total expert. We ate them with rice and salad.

BOOYAH!!!

The next day, after another Xi Gong class which I have to say I am really into, V and I went to the Highgate Cemetery for a walk - WASN'T THE WEATHER AWESOME TODAY.



Here is a nice picture we took. I have been trying to coax the Cardinal into something like this, but it never happened. Not sure what I have been doing wrong... I'll keep trying.

Oh and if I might say, the other time in my life which I am enjoying IMMENSELY is Lady's Night where like a fake family we sit down and have a nice dinner together which somehow always ends up with Pippa pulling this face:



Not sure why.



And if only Pippa's knees weren't so pressed together!

Anyway I want to be in bed asleep now dreaming of other lovely things. I think next family dinner the french man is going to cook toad in the hole as a cultural experience for V.

xx Lektrogirl

P.S. UBM coming soon!

THE BOOYAH COOK: DESSERTS WITH BOOZE

After a really tedious day at work, after an argument with your ex, after treading in dog shit [which can potentially make you feel just as bad as the run in with the ex] or even at the end of a big dinner here is my refreshing and alcoholic dessert option that kills two birds with one stone - feeding something other than your appetite and getting drunk.

Elderflower, Cava and Fruit Jelly


The leftover portion photographed in a bowl cause I forgot to take a picture of the real ones and I smashed one as well I made these desserts and served them in sherry glasses. The fruit does all the decoration and if you put it in a glass you look really chic. Even guys could make this. [Roffing to myself]

Ingredients
Mixed soft fruit [you can use anything like blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries - MULBERRIES WOULD BE BANGING! In fact any fruit but not pineapple or kiwi fruit or there would be a reaction with the gelatine and it wouldn't set. Kind of a CSI thing.]
4 leaves of gelatine
140ml elderflower cordial
2 heaped tablespoons caster sugar
425ml prosecco or cava

Put the cava, fruit and serving bowls all in the fridge so that they are cold.
Soak the leaves of gelatine in bit of cold water for about 2 minutes.

If you have a double boiler put the cordial in over hot water and add gelatine. If you don't have a double boiler you can fake one with a bowl floating in a saucepan. And if you can't be bothered to do that [like I wasn't] just put the cordial and gelatine in a saucepan over a really really low heat and constantly stir it until the gelatine is dissolved. If it looks like it is going to get too hot boil, take it off the heat again for it to cool down a bit. If you boil it, the gelatine won't set. [It's a CSI kind of thing too.]
Then add the sugar. It should dissolve pretty quickly in the warm cordial mixture.

Take the saucepan off the heat and leave it to cool down a bit which will take as long as it does to get all the stuff out of the fridge you need, put the fruit into all the bowls or glasses [Take the green bits of the strawberries and cut them in half. You don't need to do anything to the other fruits.] and open the cava and measure it out.

Add the cava to the gelatine. It is going to froth up quite a bit so add the cava slowly. Once it is all mixed together pour over the fruit.

Put it back in the fridge to set. You can easily make this the day before so no sweat on the big night.
Serve with crème fraîche or on its own.

Don't drop and smash one on the kitchen floor though like I did and have sticky elderflower everywhere and a beautiful glass dead because you were a bit pissed already and miss handled it.

xx Lektrogirl