Griddled Squid

Continuing their daily series of Hugh’s fish recipes, the Guardian today publish a very nice griddled squid recipe.

I do like squid and I have cooked squid in this manner myself and it is delicious. If you have only ever had pre-battered calamari rings then you are doing squid a diservice and you really must try freshly cooked squid.

Beer Battered Fish

Another excellent recipe from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall in today’s Guardian, beer battered fish.

Generally I like to use beer in my batter, but I found it interesting that Hugh said to use proper beer and avoid lager. I am sure I recall from another chef that lager was best for batter.

Ah well, the next time I make batter I will use a decent proper beer and see how that works.

Sea Bass Recipe

The Guardian has published another of Hugh’s recipes, sea bass baked in a salt crust.

This is one recipe I won’t follow due to the amount of salt involved though I know a salt crust is more a cooking process then a seasoning process, having done this in the past (with a chicken), the end result is still quite salty.

Oriential Monkfish and Prawn Soup

This dish was inspired by regular visits to a fantastic Vietnamese restaurant for lunch. Don’t recall the name or the address, but it was in the vicinity of Liverpool Street Station and you could see the Gherkin… anyway onto the recipe.

I did this for two people, but by increasing the quantities you could do it for more.

In a large pan heat some sunflower oil. Once hot, add some oriental spices, I used Thai Seven Spice, but you could use Chinese Five Spice or what ever spices you like.

Add some sliced onion and some red pepper cut into strips, stir fry for a few minutes. If you like your oriential food hot and spicy add some chilli at this point as well.

Whilst this is cooking fry the monkfish in a little oil, keep the fillets whole. You could use other fish and this could be fried or steamed depending on the fish.

Add some courgette (zucchini) cut into strips and sliced mushroom to the stir fry.

After this has cooked (after a minute or two) add some sliced spinach (I would have used pak choi, but I only had spinach in the fridge).

Then add some stock, plain water will be fine or chicken or fish stock, don’t add too much as you don’t want your soup too watery.

Add the noodles, if you are using dried noodles they will need some cooking, I used prepared wok noodles for speed. If you are using raw prawns add these now (also if using other shellfish such as mussels or scallops and using squid, add these now as well.

Once the raw shellfish and noodles are cooked serve into bowls, ensuring that there is sufficient broth in each bowl.

Take the cooked monkfish, slice into thick slices and arrange on top of the soup bowls, there should be sufficient vegetables and noodles to ensure that the monkfish doesn’t sink!