baked cod with sweet creamy sauce

I literally conjured up this recipe in my head whilst showering this evening before i enter my kitchen to cook for dinner. I had two slices of cod thawing but no idea how to cook it. Then i had a revelation of combining the element of salty from the fish and sweetness from the accompanying sauce and hey presto! It worked and my missus loved it.

Serves 2

2 pieces of cod fillet

a stick of salted butter

half a lemon, to squeeze for juice

¼ cup of breadcrumbs (or use cracker, smashed until bits)

olive oil

for the sweet creamy sauce

one onion, finely chopped

a stick of unsalted butter

a cup of cooking/single cream

Preheat oven to 200°C. To prepare the fish, melt the salted butter. Once melted, remove from heat and stir in the breadcrumbs until all coated with the melted butter. Finally squeeze the lemon to get the juice out. Prepare a baking dish, drizzle some olive oil on the surface. Place the cod side by side, top-off with the combination of butter-breadcrumbs. Bake inside oven.

Heat a small skillet or sauce-pan. Lug in some olive oil and add in the onion. Carefully under low-heat you want to caramelize the onion without browning it. The caramelized onion is the one that will give the sweetness of the onion. Once caramelized, melt in the unsalted butter. The reason for the unsalted butter is because i do not want the saltiness of the salted butter to overpower the sweetness of the onion but if you have no choice, add in a teaspoon of sugar to help to get it sweet. Once the butter is melted, add in the cooking cream and let reduce until the sauce is thick.

Spoon out the sauce onto a plate and serve the cod on top of it. Optionally add some greens onto the plate as i have done on the pics.

pan-seared tilapia with salsa

For this recipe, instead of using normal tilapia like most recipes you can find on the net, i opted for red tilapia because it is not as strong as to overpower the sweetness of the salsa.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped

1 large onion, chopped

a small slice of watermelon, diced

1 orange, peeled and diced

2 tablespoons of diced feta cheese

juice of half a lemon

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

6 fillet of red tilapia

salt and freshly ground black pepper

all-purpose flour/wheat flour, for dusting

To make the salsa, stir in the tomatoes, onion, watermelon, orange, feta cheese in a bowl. Add in the lemon juice and the olive oil, and season with salt and black pepper. Toss everything together and check the seasoning. Once satisfied, set aside in a refrigerator to chill.

Now for the fish, season them with salt and pepper. Heat a good drizzle of olive oil on a pan. Dredge the fillet in flour and shake off the excess. Sear the fillet in the pan until golden brown and the skin crispy.

Serve the fish on a plate with a few generous spoonful of the salsa on top.

a proper fish & chips

The easiest way to prepare a fish & chips is to buy the ready to fry, frozen dory fillet from the Pacific West brand. Of course that’s only suitable for losers whose experience in the kitchen is only limited to cooking instant noodle maggi mee. God knows if the fillet they used is actually dory fish.

To prepare a proper fish & chips is to buy an actual dory fillet. Here you can get one in the frozen section you’d normally find your frozen mackerel, cod, salmon and other continental fishes. Dory is the cheapest one, they sell about between RM8.90 – RM10.90 per pack of which each pack contains four fillets, enough for two dinner for 2.

Now the crux of cooking fish & chips is the batter. I have sample a lot of recipes on preparing the batter from the most complicated 10 ingredients one to the most simple, by far the best in my opinion is the one below. It resulted in a good, sufficient crispy fish that is to my liking.

Preparing the batter

½ cup all purpose flour (or regular wheat flour)

½ cup of corn flour/corn starch

a teaspoon of baking soda

½ cup of milk

½ cup of ice water

salt for seasoning

That batter is sufficient for all 4 fillets you would find in one pack as i described above.

Some recipe call for the use of an egg but i find that it hardly make any difference on the end result so i omit the use of an egg. Stir everything in a mixing bowl, don’t worry if the batter is lumpy, the lumpier the better as it is a signature for home cooking. I never like perfect smooth batter, i think that’s pretentious. Season the batter with salt to your liking by dipping your finger into it and having a little taste.

Heat your oil, dip the fish into the batter, pick it up and always, ALWAYS allow the excess to drip off. Let only a thin coating of the batter left clinging on the fillet. The biggest mistake Malaysians always do when frying fish dipped in batter is that they allow the batter to coat the fish heavily, as if they are preparing cekodok/cucur/cucoq which is the stupidest thing you can do. Remember, you want to taste the fish, not the flour!

Holding one end, lower the fish into the oil one by one, carefully so you don’t get splashed – it will depend on the size of your pan how many fish you can do at once. Cook until batter is golden and crisp.

For the chips, take some russet potatoes, cut it into wedges with the skin left on, boil in salted boiling water until soft, drizzle with a good lug of olive oil and bake in an oven at 230°C until golden and crispy.

pan-fried pollock with parsley sauce

Pollock is the poor man’s cod. But unlike what those kind of statement normally imply, it’s actually delicious. Couple with the parsley sauce, which is essentially a modified bechamel sauce you use to bake lasagna, it’s a match made in..a plate!

Serves 2

4 pollock fillet

olive oil

freshly squeezed lemon juice

salt & freshly ground black pepper

for the parsley sauce

200ml of full fat milk

1/2 medium onion, quartered

1 bay leaf

a stick of butter

a tablespoon of flour

small bunch of curly parsley, chopped

salt & freshly ground black pepper

First, make the sauce. Pour the milk into a saucepan and add the bay leaf and the onion. Turn on the heat and bring to a gentle simmer for 5 minutes. Then turn off the heat and once cool, remove the leaf and the onion. Set aside.

Sprinkle the pollock lightly with salt. Heat the olive oil in a non-stick sauté pan over medium heat. Fry the fish in the pan, skin-side down. Turn down the heat and let fry until the skin browned, then flip it over, turn back the heat to medium and fry until just done. When the fish is about done, squeeze some lemon just over it and season with the black pepper.

Set the fish aside and finish off the sauce. Melt the butter in a small pan and stir in the flour. Cook for 30 secs. Slowly add the milk to the pan, stirring and simmer gently for 5 mins, all the while stirring continuously. Stir in the parsley and add a little extra milk if the sauce seems too thick. Season with salt and pepper. Keep warm over a low heat, stirring occasionally until ready to serve.

roasted mackerel with garlic and paprika

Mackerel is a wonderful fish that most people take for granted. In my opinion, mackerel is superior than the over-hyped salmon which is more expensive and sometimes overrated. It’s such a lovely fish, cheap and plentiful, and, served with aioli makes it the perfect dinner you can have with little fuss.

Ingredients

mackerel fillet, skin on

2 cloves of garlic

2 tsp of paprika

extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp of lemon juice

freshly ground black pepper & salt

Preheat oven at 210 dg C.

Start by preparing the marinade. Put the garlic and paprika into a mortar (lesung batu), add the salt and pepper, and pound to a smooth paste. Add a few drops of olive oil and lemon juice, mix well and then rub the flesh side of the mackerel fillets with the paste and set aside.

Line a baking sheet with tin foil and drip some olive oil onto the surface. Lay the mackerel fillets skin side up, give a final seasoning with salt and pepper. Drizzle some olive oil and roast for 10-15 minutes until the skin is crisp and the fish is cooked through.

Once cooked, lay the fish to rest for a while and serve with any side you wish for.

roasted crab with creamy-butter sauce

In order for this dish to be worth your time you need to be using mud crab, dungeness crab or stone crab.

The serving size for this recipe is for two large crab, cut into pieces, sufficient serving for two. When increasing the serving size, always ensure every can of condense milk is exactly for half a brick of butter, and take ot forward from there.

Ingredients

Crab, obviously, cleaned and cut into pieces
Half a brick of unsalted butter
A can of evaporated milk
One onion, diced
Two cloves of garlic, crushed
Chili, thinly sliced (optional)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Start by melting your butter in a large saucepan or a large wok. Once melted, stir in your garlic and the onion and fry until translucent. Add in some chilli if you like some heat in your sauce, then pour in the evaporated milk. Let reduce for about 10-15 minutes while stirring constantly. Season well with salt and pepper.

Then stir in your pieces of crab. Stir for about a minute or two, ensuring all pieces are coated by the sauce. Finally transfer the crab and the sauce into a roasting dish and finish the cooking in a pre-heated oven at 230 °C for 15 minutes.

roasted red snapper

I learned this dish casually while reading Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential. He always stressed that a good quality dish should be simple, only needed at most 4 to 5 ingredients. Finding a fresh fish is crucial. Look for firm fish with bright eyes and red gills. It should smell sweet, not fishy.

olive oil
1 yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced
2 large cloves of garlic, one peeled and chopped, the other smashed
a stick of butter
a few sprigs of rosemary
1 lemon
a whole red snapper, cleaned, with head and tail intact, scored
1 tomato, quartered
1 whole red chilli, seeds removed and sliced

Preheat your oven at 220 degree C. Rub the fish inside and out with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

In a large sauté pan over medium heat, warm the oil. Add the onions and sauté, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the chopped garlic and sauté, stirring occasionally, for a minute. Add in the butter and let it melt, then squeeze the juice from half the lemon, continue cooking until the mixture is reduced.

Put the snapper in a roasting pan or in a tin foil. Stuff the cavity of the fish with half of the onion mixture, along with the smashed garlic and the rosemary. Spoon the remaining onion mixture over the fish and in the score marks. Add in the tomato and the chilli surrounding the fish. Drizzle some olive oil and squeeze the other half of the lemon juice. Put in the oven and roast for 30-35 minutes, until crispy and thoroughly cooked.

linguine with crab, lemon and chilli

It is quite imperative to use the freshest, best-quality crab available, to make this dish worthwhile. Otherwise you might as well chuck in a can of tuna flakes and call it a day. Adjust the heat from the chilies and the amount of lemon juice to your liking.

Serves 2
250g linguine
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/4 cup minced shallots
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 red chilies,  seeded, sliced into thin rounds, divide into 2 portions (add more or reduce to adjust the heat)
1 1/2 tablespoons (or more) fresh lemon juice, divided
salt & freshly ground black pepper
200g crab meat, cooked

Cook the pasta according to the packet instruction until al dente. Reserve some of the pasta cooking water.
 
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt 1 tablespoon butter with 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add shallots and stir until just soft, 3 to 4 minutes. Add garlic and one portion of the chili and cook, stirring often, until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice and 3 tablespoons pasta cooking liquid; season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir until liquid is reduced; until almost evaporated, about 1 minute.

Stir in the pasta into skillet and add 1/2 cup reserved pasta cooking liquid. Increase heat to medium-high. Toss around the pasta and stir, until liquid is reduced and pasta becomes glossy, about 2 minutes. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons butter, 1 tablespoon oil, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, crab, half of mint, and the rest of the chili.

Stir pasta until butter melts and pasta is well coated, adding more pasta cooking liquid if dry. Serve immediately, and top with a teaspoon of lemon zest if desired.

grilled salmon, green beans and couscous

There’s nothing like a piece of perfectly cooked salmon with a crispy, crunchy skin, perfectly complemented by boiled green vegetables. Couscous is also a great companion to fish fillet whether grilled, poached or steamed. Any combination with vegetables when you’re serving grilled fish are acceptable, but i prefer to combine them with soft boiled vegetable, whether green or starchy, such as green beans or potatoes. If the fish is prepared by poaching or steaming, then my preferred choice of vegetables would be those hard crunchy one such as broccoli done by grilling. Contrast is the concept when pairing fish with vegetables. It’s important to prep your fish before it goes into the pan to ensure the seasoning is done well. Lay the fillet flat on your chopping board, skin-side up, and score through the skin about half inch deep – you can use the score marks to push herbs (in this dish i’m using rosemary and thyme) into it. Season the fish using fine-salt and freshly ground black pepper, fine-salt is the preference since the grain of a coarse salt could “burn” the fish. Drizzle a bit of extra virgin olive oil over the top.

Serves 4

4 6-8oz (about 200g) salmon steak, scored

4 handfuls of slender green beans, tops removed

4 large handfuls of couscous

a few sprigs of rosemary, leaves picked

a handful of thyme, leaves picked

salt and freshly ground black pepper

extra virgin olive oil

Bring a pot of hot water to boil and salt. Add the green beans into the pot and boil until softer, about 10 minutes or so. Put your couscous in a bowl, then pour over just enough boiling water to cover it. Add a slab of butter into the bowl and let melt. Set aside for 3 minutes to allow the couscous to soak up the water. Heat a small non-stick frying pan and add the salmon steak on their side. Cook for 2 minutes, turning the salmon over halfway. Remove the salmon strips to a plate. Prepare another plate, spread the couscous all over and covering the plate, acting as a “base” for the dish. Slide the salmon on top of the couscous, with the green beans to the side. To serve, spoon over some pesto or crème fraîche.

flounder poached in Court-bouillon

Poaching most any fish, is an easy way to ensure perfect cooking. The gentle heat, low temperature, and the fluid environment are a perfect match for the way that fish, delicate by composition, respond to heat. By deep poaching fish, in this case flounder, you’re less likely to overcook it or dry it out.

Court-bouillon is a flavored liquid for poaching or quick-cooking foods. Loosely translates as ‘briefly boiled liquid’ or “short broth” because the cooking time is brief in comparison with a rich and complex stock, and generally is not served as part of the finished dish. Since fishes do not cook for very long, court-bouillon is the perfect medium to us for poaching. Typically, cooking times do not exceed 60 minutes.Traditional uses include poaching fish and seafood, but it is also used for poaching vegetables, eggs, sweetbreads and delicate meats. The traditional court bouillon, as the French always made it, is water, salt, white wine vinegar, vegetable aromatics (such as of carrot, onion, and celery). However, always substitute the white wine vinegar with lemon juice, since it’s the acidic nature of the vinegar that we need, and lemon juice substitute that just perfectly. Court-bouillon need not be elaborate.

Use the amount of water that would just be enough to cover the flounder fillet. If you’re unsure how much to make, put your fillet in the pot and cover with cold water, then measure the quantity of water and make that much court-bouillon.

Make the court-bouillon

6 cups of water

whole yellow onion, thinly sliced

2 carrots, thinly sliced

2 bay leaves

small bunch of fresh thyme

half cup to 3/4 of lemon juice

a nice and lean flounder(ikan sebelah) fillet

Please note that the above is for reference only. Use as much water just so that the fish is completely submerged in the water, so adjust the quantity of the ingredients by aportioning. Combine the water, onion, carrots, bay leaves and thyme in a pan just large enough to containe the flounder. Bring the water to a simmer, reduce the heat, and cook for 20 to 30 minutes. Raise the heatto high and add the lemon juice. Bring the liquid just below boiling temperature, about 82 degree C (if you don’t have kitchen thermometer, just observe the water that it does not completely boil but in a state of wildly simmering). Slide the flounder into the pan, cook for about 10 minutes to medium-rare. Use a slotted spatula to remove the flounder from the court-bouillon and serve (in this case, with some couscous and topped-off with a spoonful of pesto).

The same technique works just as well if not even better, with salmon, since they responds so well to the technique. Good salmon, properly poached, will become almost buttery in flavor and texture.