Gurnard Treat

I was walking through the Granger fish market today and spied a couple of Gurnards on sale so I snapped them up for £1.20 ,  Back home I gutted and filleted them and there was just enough meat for 1 person, or two generous starters.  I cooked them to this recipe and the fish was absolutely delicious - really top notch.  I wasn't too keen on the base due to my lack of fondness for feta cheese - however if its your thing then you will probably love it.  I cannot stress how tasty the fish was however:

Ingredients: 4 x 100g gurnard fillets, flour for dusting, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp dried mint, sea salt and pepper, 2 tbsp olive oil. 

For the green beans: 300g fresh or frozen green beans, 3 tbsp natural yoghurt, 100g feta cheese, diced,2 tbsp chopped fresh dill, half tsp dried mint, half tsp smoked paprika, half a red onion, finely sliced

Mix the flour, paprika, mint, sea salt and pepper on a dinner plate.

Heat the olive oil in a large non-stick fry pan.

Coat the fish in the spiced flour and fry gently for 3 minutes each side until golden.

In the meantime, cook the broad beans in salted simmering water for 4 minutes and drain the fluid.

Return to the pan (off the heat) and lightly toss with yoghurt, feta, dill, mint, paprika, sea salt and pepper.

Serve the fish on the broad beans and scatter the plate with red onion.

One Pot Chicken (River Cottage)

Place chicken in big roasting pot with lid.

Add:

• 3 carrots roughly chopped
• 3 Potatoes roughly chopped
• 3 leeks roughly chopped
• 3 onions sliced
• 3 sprigs of Thyme
• 1 dessert spoon of Salt
• Pepper
• glass of wine
• glass of water
• Rub knob of butter on chicken breast

Cook with lid on 50-55 mins at 190 celecius.  Remove lid and then cook for futher 30 mins.

Server with fresh bread. Nom Nom.

Japanese Dumplings : Yasai (Vegetable) Gyoza

My wife and I both LOVE Chinese dim sum. Gyoza are a Japanese dumpling that follows in the same basic vein as dim sum.  Our favourite gyoza come from the restaurant chain Wagamammas from which this recipe is taken.

• 250g canned water chestnuts
• 50g White Cabbage
• 10g Chinese leaf (or as a substitute Pak Choi)
• 1 small carrot
• 1/2 Onion
• 1 Stick of Celery
• 25g Cornflour
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of sugar
• Pinch of white pepper
• 1 Packet of Gyoza skins (You can get these at Chinese grocers in the frozen section, possibly as wanton skins)

Preparation:

Put the water chestnuts, cabbage, Chinese leaf, carrot, onion and celery in a food processor and pulse briefly until finely chopped.  The actual consistency to aim for is a bit of an art form - you don't want big lumps that wont cook properly resulting in gritty gyoza. But you DEFINITELY don't want to over blend and end up with a purée.

Once  you have your chopped mix, tip it into the centre of a clean tea towel, draw together the cornors and gently squeeze the mix into a tight ball over the sink to drive out excess liquid.

Tip the resulting ball into a bowl and go tidy up the mess in the sink and the tea towel!.

Stir into the bowl the corn flour, soy sauce, seasme oil, salt, sugar, and white pepper. You can optionally add a splash of fish sauce here if you happen to have any. If you haven't don't worry.

Now seperate a gyoza skin from the pack and place a teaspoon of the mixture in the centre.  Moisten the edges with a little water and fold over into a half moon shape. Using your thumbs , press down hard along the edges to make a) a tight seal and b) a nice looking gyoza (see pic for my best efforts)

Repeat to fade - the recipe should make about 20 to 30 gyoza.

You can freeze the gyoza at this stage in packets of 4 or so, and defrost and cook when wanted.

Cooking:

This is a bit of a faff on if i'm honest, not bad for cooking 4 or 8, but to cook all 30 takes a while due to the limitations of the cooking methods used at Wagamammas.  

Heat a large pan over a medium heat for 1-2 mins and add 1 tablespoon of veg oil. Put in 3 or 4 dumplings in the pan and turn down the heat to low.  Saute gently for 2 mins on either side until brown.  Dont be tempted to over crowd the pan or the dumpling will stew.

Remove the pan from the heat, add 3 tablespoons of water and cover immediately with a lid/plate. Return to the heat for 1 min, then remove and let stand for a futher 2 mins.  Remove the lids, and inspect you wonderfully cooked gyoza.

Serve with any nice dipping sauces : soy sauce / sweet chilli /teriyaki etc.