Category: fish

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Fish and Chips at the Seagull Café

There is something classic and very British about having fish and chips at a seaside resort. Down in Weymouth for the day and wanting a late lunch (or was it an early tea) made the decision to have fish and chips.

After walking around for a while decided to go to the Seagull Cafe on the harbourside which had tables and chairs outside. This was a really nice place to sit, watching the world go by, enjoying (that rare thing) a sunny summer afternoon.

Fish and Chips at the Seagull Café

Looking over the traditional menu, I found that they did deep fried mackerel and chip, so I went with that. After a short wait it arrived. The fish was wonderful, you could tell it had just been cooked to order, fresh crispy batter and perfectly done fish. Really lovely. The chips were okay, but they tasted as though they had been cooked a bit of time before and kept warm. Still nice though.

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Kids’ Fish and Chips

Fish and Chips

Should point out that I didn’t actually eat these, it’s what my son got, at a recent kids party at my local pub. Should also point out that the pub has a soft play barn attached, which runs kids parties, not that they run kids parties in the bar!

My son said he enjoyed the fish and chips, the batter was very crisp, the fish was tasty and the chips were nice.

What was weird was that it came in a box, but no plates and no cutlery. Yes I can see why if the box contained sandwiches you might not need a plate or cutlery, however when it contains hot food then I personally think a plate and cutlery is essential.

One of the things I have noticed about the popularity of these kids sandwich boxes at various eateries, attractions and other places, is that you never get a plate! Too often I have had to find plates so that my children can eat off a plate rather than out of a box! You would think finding plates would be pretty easy in a restaurant or cafe, well it’s not.

My favourite places for childrens’ meals are the places that offer smaller portions of the adult meals for a cheaper price. My children may not agree…

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Liking Mackerel

Mackerel

Decided to cook some mackerel for the first time in years. I’ve not had a huge amount of success cooking mackerel in the past, so have avoided it and gone for other types of fish.

After eating out recently at Café Rouge and having a very nice piece of mackerel there, decided that I would get some myself at some point and cook it.

So having bought some salmon for the rest of the family I also bought a fillet of mackerel.

I prepared the mackerel, though it was almost prepared by the fishmonger, it still had some bones in, so I removed that. The mackerel was then coated in seasoned flour. In my heavy frying pan I heated up a splash of olive oil and a knob of butter. With the butter bubbling I added the floured mackerel fillets. Once they were nearly cooked I added pink peppercorns and chopped parsley. They were stirred through and cooked for another minute.

I placed the mackerel fillets onto a plate and poured the butter, peppercorns and parsley over the them.

They were really nice and I will certainly be cooking mackerel again.

The salmon by the way, I roasted in the oven.

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Fish on Noodles

In December 2009 I went to a conference in Auckland in New Zealand. After the conference I went out for a meal with some friends.

I like to think I am adventurous when I come to eating out, but more usually than not I will go for something that sounds familiar, or I like. Fish is a prime example where I will go for squid, but unlikely to go for a fish dish. Not that I don’t like fish, on the contrary, but I do find I might choose something else…

However this time….

I ordered a grilled piece of fish on noodles (I forgot to note what fish).

It was very nice and I was glad I ordered it.

I try now when eating out, order things I might not usually order…

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Grilled Trio

In December 2009 I went to a conference in Auckland in New Zealand. I had passed the Harbourside Ocean Bar Grill numerous times on my first few days and really liked the look of the menu. However too often I was eating with friends, or at the conference. I decided on what was my last night in Auckland that I would go and eat there.

Having had a delicious starter of scallops I went for the Grilled Trio for my main course. This was a really interesting dish comprising a trio of grilled fish.

It was like having three separare main courses, which was the reason I chose  it as it was difficult to make one choice from the menu.

The three fish were from left to right.

Kingfish, with lemon potato, chorizo and a chermoula butter sauce.

Salmon with spice avocado and salmorejo sauce.

Hapuku served with hummus, pomegranate syrup and crisp onions.

This was a really excellent dish, full of flavour and just the kind of thing I like from a restaurant meal, creativity, flavour and textures.

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Northland Scallops

In December 2009 I went to a conference in Auckland in New Zealand. I had passed the Harbourside Ocean Bar Grill numerous times on my first few days and really liked the look of the menu. However too often I was eating with friends, or at the conference. I decided on what was my last night in Auckland that I would go and eat there.

For my starter I went with the Northland Scallops.

Grilled scallops with a pineapple salsa, skordalia and beurre blanc.

Beautifully cooked and presented scallops. Nice accompaniments. Delicious.

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Beignets de Cabillaud

Earlier this week I mentioned the starter I had had at Café Rouge. It was part of the fixed price menu, for my mains I had Beignets de Cabillaud, which is deep fried cod goujons served with French Fries and remoulade sauce.

So it’s fish and chips!

I did enjoy this dish, I liked the fries, the batter was cripsy, the fish had flavour, the sauce was tasty.

I think I should have ordered a salad to go with it, but if the rocket leaves were anything to go by on the starter than maybe it was a good idea I didn’t.

This dish almost made up for the disappointment of the starter.

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Lemon Sole with Shallot and Tarragon Butter

Had another one of those dishes from Marks and Spencers’ The Cook Menu range: Atlantic Lemon Sole fillets with Shallot and Tarragon butter and Cherry tomatoes.

A simple dish, pan fry the fish for a few minutes with the tomatoes and then add the butter. Serve.

I served mine with some salad and steamed asparagus.

It was simple to cook and importantly very quick. Yes this is a dish you could throw together yourself from raw ingredients, but unless you have all the ingredients can result in either an expensive dish or one missing that vital piece of the jigsaw.

I am not a fan of precooked cook chill products you bung in the microwave, however this range from Marks and Spencers (and other supermarkets like Waitrose and Tesco are now doing them too) are quick and easy, but also give you ideas and inspirsation for when you do have the time. They are also just the ingredients and are raw products that need cooking.

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Lemon Sole with Shallot and Tarragon Butter

Had another one of those dishes from Marks and Spencers’ The Cook Menu range: Atlantic Lemon Sole fillets with Shallot and Tarragon butter and Cherry tomatoes.

A simple dish, pan fry the fish for a few minutes with the tomatoes and then add the butter. Serve.

I served mine with some fresh pasta and steamed vegetables.

It was simple to cook and importantly very quick. Yes this is a dish you could throw together yourself from raw ingredients, but unless you have all the ingredients can result in either an expensive dish or one missing that vital piece of the jigsaw.

I am not a fan of precooked cook chill products you bung in the microwave, however this range from Marks and Spencers (and other supermarkets like Waitrose and Tesco are now doing them too) are quick and easy, but also give you ideas and inspirsation for when you do have the time. They are also just the ingredients and are raw products that need cooking.