Smoked Mackeral Baked Hash

I haven't blogged much; caring for my dad means cooking stuff he likes which means mainly meat & potatoes. Lots of mashed potatoes, he does love mashed potatoes.

Anyway, heather at work told me a recipe for a mash based baked corned beef hash - super easy & tasty and dad LOVES it (next time I make it I'll take a pic). Last time I made it I was thinking about other versions and this is the result. Kind of like an incredibly lazy fish pie!

-  Maris piper potatoes (i forgot to count but enough mash for 2-3)
- 2 leeks, sliced
- 4 smoked mackeral fillets
- butter substitute
- horseradish sauce

Chop the potatoes, don't bother with peeling them - really, you can't tell - then boil. While they're cooking saute the leeks until they are soft and remove the skin from the mackeral breaking it into chunks. When the potatoes are done mash them with plenty of butter sub & pepper and a tsp of horseradish sauce before mixing in the leeks & mackeral. Tip it all in a shallow dish & rough up the top a bit like you would with a cottage pie. Put in the oven for 20ish minutes at about 220c - until the top is crunchy. I had this with sweetcorn (pic) dad had his with broadbeans - I'm not an accompaniment nazi, have what you like!

Pork cooked in cider

Pork and Cider Hotpot

Excuse my laziness but as I didn't change anything there didn't seem a point in typing it out again! This was very nice & pretty low maintenance - thoroughly recommended!

Tuesday's Bento

I forgot to take a picture until I was nearly done! Today's bento was left over pork belly & avocado sushi rolls and fennel & cabbage coleslaw (that I made to go with the pork last night).
Sushi doesn't have to be fish - I put what's in the fridge in! Sushi refers to the rice I believe.

Fish en Papillotte

This is my favourite way to cook fish - I'm sure I had a recipe once but I don't use one now!

Basically get a whole white fish & get your fish monger to gut it for you* - if you're squinny you can get them to cut the head off too. Your choice of veg - funnel here, but finely sliced potatoes, onion, cherry tomatoes ... The worlds your oyster (in that vein I do pop a few mussels in sometimes!) Salt & pepper, olives, lemon, herbs - various things to make it taste good! Pop some of the veg/flavourings on a bit of tinfoil then add the fish & some more veg/flavourings. Seal the tinfoil up, almost completely, then splash in some wine & seal. If you're making them for guests seal them neatly - piercing them & the scented steam coming out provides an ideal show off moment (you can always open yours a bit to check everything's cooked through). Cook at around 200 for 40 minutes or so; do check it depends on what you've added & how thinly you've sliced. 

Easy peasy & tastes great.

*you could gut it yourself but why?

Quail Egg Bento (yesterday)

I left my phone at home yesterday (doh) so I had to take the pic on @OurReceptionists rubbish phone! Not a lot of effort in this bento but the quail eggs made it feel posh! Sushi rice with furikake, quail eggs with celery salt & mini turkey kabanos with some mayo. Nom!

I learnt something too, quail eggs are a LOT easier to peel when they've gone cold!