Monthly Archives: April 2013

Starter for Ten

Starter for Ten

This book just like The Wrong Boy, except that this boy is a little older. A harmless, quick read which probably appeals most to those who went to university at the same time i.e. in the 80’s. Nowhere near as good as One Day though.

Capital

Capital

This is brilliantly perceptive. John Lanchester is a man who is clearly in touch with the real London. The end was a slight anti-climax but for such real, well-researched characters I have to forgive him.

Whole baked trout

Accidentally discovered a better way to bake whole (scaled and gutted) trout today:

Preheat large oven to 50C. Oil the inside of a piece of file big enough to wrap the fish. Put some flavoured butter and perhaps herbs into the fish’s cavity. Wrap the fish up in the foil and bake until the internal temperature reaches 45C (about 30 mins, check after 20 to see how it’s getting on). Quickly remove bones and serve on warmed plates, immediately as the fish loses heat fast!

Prawn fajitas, avocado cream & courgette salad

Based on: www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2138644/prawn-fajitas-with-avocado-cream and www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2991/

What I did:

Coarsely grated 2 courgettes in the processor, sprinkled with salt and left for water to come out. Then squeezed by hand and dressed with a tiny amount of minced garlic, lime juice, fresh chilli and plenty of chopped coriander.

Used the processor to blitz 2 avocados, 2 heaped spoons Greek yogurt, a little minced garlic, lime juice, fresh chilli.

Lightly fried king prawns and roasted red pepper (bottled) in a little minced garlic (not with lime juice etc as I used those flavours in the courgette salad)

Tip: Adding (raw) bird’s eye chillies finely chopped with seeds left in gave too much heat, but without seeds it’s not hot enough, so try adding just half the seeds.