Cidered Haddock Casserole
Coconut Breaded Cod
Creamy Scallop Lasagna
Easy Bacon Wrapped Shrimp
Gulai Labu, Spicy Shrimp and Cucumber Curry
Cidered Haddock Casserole
From The Farmhouse Kitchen by Dorothy Sleightholme.
Used with a BBC production (with the same name, I believe).
1 to 1.5 lb haddock or cod fillet, skinned
(I've always used cod, and it works just fine)
8 oz tomatoes, skinned and sliced
2 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 Tbsp chopped parsley
salt and pepper
1/4 pint hard cider
2 Tbsp fresh white breadcrumbs
2 Tbsp grated hard cheese (I've used all kinds,
including parmesian and mizithra, but softer white cheese will
work too)
1. Wipe the fish, cut into cubes and lay these in an ovenproof dish.
2. Cover with the sliced tomatoes and mushrooms, the parsley and seasonings
and pour the hard cider over.
3. Cover with foil and cook in the centre of the oven at 350F or gas
4 for 20-25 minutes.
4. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with breadcrumbs and cheese, and
brown in a hot oven, 425F or gas 7, or under a hot grill.
From Mrs. Elspeth Foxton, Kirby Misperton, Yorkshire.
I encourage you to experiment with this recipe, adding ingredients that sound good to you. I've added dried currants and other things. Have fun!
NOTE from Julie: for those of you who might not know, "hard cider" is alcoholic apple cider. It might be difficult to find in your area. My recommendation for cider is the Taunton Blackthorn. It'll be fairly pricey, as it's imported, but worth it. The best ciders come from Taunton.
Recently I found a brand of domestic hard cider that is quite good! It's "Hornsby's Cider" - I've found it in "original" and "extra dry". The original is a just little sweeter than Taunton's, and the extra dry is quite a bit drier than Taunton's. I prefer the original.
Washington state also produces some domestic hard ciders, but they're usually combinations... apple/pear, apple/cherry, etc. If you can find them they're worth trying but they do not taste like the traditional English cider.
Coconut Breaded Cod
1 1/4 lbs thick cod fillets, boned, cut into 4 pieces
3 Tbsp lime juice
1 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground mace
1 tsp cayenne
2 eggs
3 Tbsp water
2 cups finely grated, unsweetened coconut
2 Tbsp butter
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Rinse off cod fillets well under cool water. Sprinkle well with lime juice and set aside.
Mix together bread crumbs, salt, mace, and cayenne. Pour into a shallow dish suitable for dredging. Beat together eggs and water. Put coconut in a shallow dish suitable for dredging. Melt butter and pour into bottom of a baking dish. (Or spray baking dish with cooking spray.)
Dredge each piece of limejuice-covered fish in the crumb mixture. Then dip in egg. Dredge in coconut. (You may repeat the egg/coconut step if you like a thicker coating.)
Lay thoroughly-coated pieces of fish in baking pan. Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until fish flakes easily.
Serve with good tartar sauce. Also good served along with baked bacon-wrapped shrimp.
Creamy Scallop Lasagna
6 Tbsp butter or margarine, divided
1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced
1 cup green onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 pounds scallops
1 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp salt
12 spinach lasagna noodles
1/4 cup flour
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup dry white vermouth or white wine
1 tsp dried thyme
1/4 cup half and half
2 cups Jarlsberg cheese, shredded
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Melt 1 Tbsp butter in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and saute until golden, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium. Add onion and garlic, cook 3 minutes. Transfer mushroom mixture to a bowl and set aside.
Rinse scallops under cold water. Pat dry and sprinkle with pepper. Increase pan heat to medium-high and, in the same pan, melt 1 Tbsp butter. Saute scallops until just opaque, 2 to 3 minutes. Do not overcook. Season with salt. Transfer to a strainer set over a bowl. Reserve drained liquid.
Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, rinse immediately with cold water and drain again.
For sauce: melt remaining butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and cook without browning 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add chicken stock, cream, and vermouth. Cook until smooth and thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove sauce from heat as soon as it starts to boil. Season with thyme and stir in 1/4 cup of the strained scallop juice.
To assemble: pour half and half in the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking pan. Lay 4 noodles in a single layer in pan. Layer with 1/3 each of the mushroom mixture, scallops, and Jarlsberg. Coat with 1/3 of the sauce. Repeat process twice, ending with sauce.
Cover with foil. Bake 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake 20 minutes longer. Remove from oven, cover, and let sit 15 minutes before serving.
From "Simply Classic," by the Seattle Junior League.
*Easy* Bacon Wrapped Prawns
This recipe is probably a lot easier than other bacon-wrapped prawn recipes you've seen. It's simple and delicious.
6 large prawns per person you're serving, shelled and deveined
1 five to six inch piece of raw bacon per each shrimp
1 to 2 cups spicy barbecue sauce (you can add some cayenne to taste if you
like)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Wrap a slice of bacon around each large prawn. Secure bacon by skewering each shrimp and bacon slice through with a toothpick.
Place in baking dish or on baking tray. Brush each shrimp/bacon with bbq sauce. (Or you can dip each one in the sauce before putting it on the tray.)
Bake in oven for about 20-25 minutes or until bacon is thoroughly cooked through.
Gulai Labu
Spicy Shrimp and Cucumber
Curry
From Madhur Jaffrey's Far Eastern Cookery
This curry is actually made with bottle gourd - a pale green vegetable shaped like a bowling pin. You can easily use cucumber instead as its taste is similar when cooked. The origins of this Malay dish probably lie in India - the use of ground coriander and fennel seeds as well as the final popping of seasonings in hot oil all testify to that. What I find utterly fascinating here is the use of white pepper. The original recipe calls for 1 tablespoon finely ground white pepper. This may sound unusual, and excessive, in the West. But if you travel in the regions where pepper has grown for thousands of years, such as Kerala in South India where black pepper may well have originated, you will find that the use of such large amounts is not at all uncommon. It makes the dish decidedly peppery. What must be kept in mind is that red chilies arrived in this part of the world only in the late fifteenth century.
If you cannot get ground fennel seeds, simply grind whole seeds in a clean coffee grinder or food processor. Serves 4-6.
3/4 lb medium shrimps
3 Kirby cucumbers or 1 1/2 regular cucumber
10 medium shallots (or 1 large onion)
6 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons ground coriander seeds
1 tablespoon ground fennel seends
1 teaspoon ground white pepper or to taste (Note from Julie:
try it peppery - it's good!)
1 tablespoon ground cumin seeds
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
3 to 4 whole dried hot red chilies
3/4 to 1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 3/4 cups thick coconut milk
(Mike used one can coconut milk with about 3/4-1 cup finely
grated, unsweetened coconut mixed in)
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon whole fennel seeds
Peel and devein the shrimps. Wash them and pat them dry. Peel the cucumber and cut it crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick rounds. Peel 7 of the shallots and chop them very finely. Peel and finely slice the remaining shallots. Peel the garlic cloves. Chop 4 of them very finely and cut the other 2 into fine slivers. Combine the sliced shallots and slivered garlic and set these aside.
In a medium-sized pan combine the chopped shallots, chopped garlic, ground coriander, ground fennel, white pepper, ground cumin, turmeric and 2 1/2 cups water. Crumble in the red chilies. (Note from Julie: if you like mild to medium spicy food, you might consider leaving the chilies whole instead. This is what Mike did and it was perfect for my non-spicy tastes.) Stir and bring to a boil. Boil, uncovered, on a medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add the cucumber rounds, stir and bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Then add the shrimps, salt and sugar. Bring to a simmer again and simmer gently for about 1 minute, stirring the shrimps around in the sauce. Give the coconut milk a good stir and pour it in. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 1 minute, stirring now and then.
Put the oil in a very small pan or small frying pan and set it over a medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, put in the slivered shallots and garlic. Shir and fry until they turn a golden color. Add the whole fennel seeds. Stir once and quickly pour the contents of the pan (oil and sesasoning) into the pan containing the curry. Cover the curry pan immediately to trap all the aromas.
Serve and enjoy!
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