Fishy Fishy Fish Cakes

So there it is, I’ve done it, I’ve finally added a pinch of salt to a children’s recipe. I feel like a complete rebel – I’m like Thelma and Louise – I’m in a ‘take me on if you think you’re hard enough’ mood!  In my defence I tried this recipe on the boys without the salt and despite the fact they ate it, it really tasted quite bland. I’m sure it’s actually ok in terms of their maximum recommended daily intake but I honestly can’t be bothered to research the internet to find out. If you get a doorstep visit from the food police then you can just tell them that I said you could!

 

Seriously, did you know that the ‘food police’ really do exist? Back in January the Government launched a new scheme which sees officials making doorstop visits to households to advise on how to minimise the quantity of food we throw away and to offer advise on portions sizes, ‘best before’ dates and how to make better use of our freezers.

 

Can you believe that? I can think of so many cheaper ways of educating families in ‘home economics’ – like letting the celebrity chefs tell us what to do with our leftover mash potato – and I can think of so many better ways of spending tax payers money – other than just giving it to the banks of course! Anyway, I hope they don’t roll this out in Surrey as I just know if they turn up here and look in my fridge it wont be the day I am chilling my gorgeous home made fish cakes, it’ll be when I’ve just loaded the fridge with Pinot Grigio!

 

Fishy Fish Cakes – Serves 4

 

• 1 salmon fillet
• 2 cod or haddock fillets
• 3 medium potatoes
• Pinch of salt
• Finely chopped herbs – such as parsley, dill, chives or dried mixed herbs
• 1 beaten egg
• Fresh or ready-made breadcrumbs or polenta

 

Cook the fish by either baking covered in the oven for 20 minutes at 180 degrees C or cover in a little milk and microwave for 3-4 minutes. Remove any skin and flake into a bowl – take care to watch out for bones.

 

Boil the potatoes and drain well. Mash with a little butter or margarine. Mix the potatoes with the fish and the herbs and add a pinch of salt.

 

Take the mixture and separate into eight equal pieces and mould into fish shapes. Chill in the fridge for ½ hour if you have time.

 

Now take two shallow bowls or plates and put the beaten egg into one and the breadcrumbs/polenta in the other. Dip each fishcake first into the egg and then into the breadcrumbs/polenta.

 

To cook, either place under a moderate grill for 5 minutes each side, bake in the oven at 200 deg C for 15 minutes or fry for a few minutes each side. Whichever way you cook them just ensure that they are piping hot all the way through.

 

If you wish to freeze half of these for another day as I tend to do, then do so at the chilling stage before you have put on the breadcrumbs.

Smug smug smug smug smug!

Every birthday my son flicks through the ‘Australian Women’s Weekly Kids Birthday Cakes’ book to choose his cake.  This year he announced he’d like the pirate ship cake.  Eeek!  Although it’s a truly legendary book (I had to scour e-bay to get a copy) its problem lies in that some of the ingredients are only available down under.  Thus I turned to the trusty Google for some further inspiration and some pictures of cakes that I could copy – and with ingredients that I could buy in the UK

 

Well, you would not believe the amount of smug mothers who post pictures of their cake creations on the internet. I found a website called Coolest Birthday Cakes where there were in fact no less than 80 pictures of Pirate Ship cakes posted from all over the world – from Manchester to the Philippines! It really is fantastic website and I’m happy to give them a plug and a link here.

 

Anyway having used the website for inspiration and plagiarism, once I’d finished the cake I decided to draw the line at uploading a photo to it.  I was however so fantastically impressed with my own creation I decided to put a picture of it here and lavish you with details of how you can create any sort of cake they ask for – without feeling you’ve got to cut it quickly and get it in the party bags before anyone sees it!

 

This blog is supposed to be a recipe site but the big cheat is that there’s barely no recipe this time.

 

Tescos sell slabs of plain un-iced Madeira cake for little over a pound. I used six of these - stacking four of them to create the oblong hull of the boat and then I laid the other two across the front and back creating the raised decks. Allow the rear one to overhang the back of the boat. I used some icing to sandwich the slabs together and then I cut the front diagonally to resemble the bow.

 

I then covered the cake with 2 batches of Delia Smiths Chocolate Fudge Icing. This is great icing as it sets nicely and gives a great shine. The recipe is on her Delia Online website and in her Complete Cookery Course book. I then decorated the ship using Rolos down the side for canons, Maltesers stacked on the deck as canon balls, Curly Wurly (cut in half lengthways) for barriers around the deck.  I then printed out a birthday message on some white card and cut out 4 sails and a jolly roger (plenty on Google images) and thread these onto kebab sticks. I cut two of the sails bigger than the others for a more authentic look. Voilà!

 

Whilst the shop bought cake might be a bit heavy on additives, cutting this corner does give you more time to be creative with the icing and decoration and ultimately each child is not going to have very much of it.  It’s cheap enough to buy plenty of slaps and play around at creating any shape cake you want.  If you want the icing a different colour then use white sugar and white chocolate in the icing recipe and then use a drop of food colouring to create the colour you need.

 

Having discovered these slabs of sponge you really can build any shaped cake you like – just turn to the smug mums for inspiration!  www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com

Let’s get cooking!

Having recently helped out at some launch events for the School Food Trust’s ‘Lets get Cooking’ clubs I was interested to see how children react to food when they’ve prepared it themselves. During these events children aged between 5 – 16 years come together from a variety of schools and backgrounds and get the opportunity to cook. For one of the cooking activities the children make ‘Dips and Dippers’, comprising various freshly made dips with some healthy crudités of carrot, cucumber, celery and pepper to dip in.  I did have to laugh to myself when before the activity the children were asked for ideas of what sort of things you could use to dunk in a dip– most of them chanted ‘Doritos’ (except for one boy who in fact said Turkey Dippers!) Not a thought for a carrot – love it!

 

Anyway, you have to understand that these children are not middle class kids whose parents boast that they can’t wait to get their hands on the organic veg box when it arrives each week.  Many of them are specifically chosen to take part in the programme because they and their families think a leek is just something you get the plumber to fix. One little boy that I spoke to had never eaten an apple before and no coaxing from me was going to make him start then!  Because of this, I had every idea that these children would not go any where near those gorgeous dips and sliced vegetables but so proud they were of their own creations I watched bowls of it dissapear before my eyes. I learnt an interesting lesson – if you want your children to be enthusiastic about eating their food, then get them to cook it themselves.

 

In the spirit of the raw veggies above, this next recipe post is for Kids Salad or you might want to call it Rainbow Salad as it’s so colourful. I’ve found that most children’s objection to salad often comes from a dislike of lettuce, so this is lettuce free zone! This is great for the kids at a BBQ (if you can prise it from the adults), or serve with jacket potato for a vegetarian tea. Inspired by my experience with Let’s get Cooking I think with some supervised grating and chopping you can get them to pretty much make this themselves – hopefully they will then be enthused to eat it!

 

Kids’s Salad – For 4-6

•  2 medium carrots
• ½ a cucumber
• 2 large handfuls of frozen sweetcorn
• 1 large handful of grated cheddar
• 1 handful of small cherry tomatoes

 

Cook the sweetcorn and run under cold water to cool. Grate the carrot and cheese and cut the cucumber into ½ cm dice. Slice the tomatoes in half and then mix altogether in a bowl.

 

Just vary this salad by adding or taking away any ingredients that your children like or dislike – such as adding in diced beetroot, bacon bits, diced ham, cooked chicken etc.  A handful of sultanas might also work well.  Cover well and this will keep in the fridge for a couple of days.

Ravenous for Risotto!

Sorry I haven’t posted for so long, it was more a case of writers block rather than the boys not having been fed for months!  It’s just that I like to write something profoundly interesting before the recipe but I just don’t seem to have had anything to say!

 

So failing anything really note worthy, I might just share with you an observation that I made recently about how our bodies very cleverly take exactly what they need from what we eat and get rid of the rest.

 

I made this observation when changing my youngest son’s nappy recently as in it I found one of the little ball bearings that you get with the Geomag magnetic construction toys. I was at my sister’s house at the time and when I went downstairs laughing to tell her what I found she looked quite shocked – not, I tell you because she couldn’t believe I left them lying around (I’m blaming No.1 son for that) – nor that it had passed through with no problems – but purely because I told her I had debated whether to fish it out and wash it! Well, can you blame me – anyone whose kids have got Geomags will know that there always seem to be more of the magnetic rods and not enough of the ball bearings! For the record, I didn’t!

 

Swiftly on to the cooking! If you think that cooking risotto involves standing over a pan ladling in vats of hot stock and stirring constantly then stop, it’s not true! Whilst the stirring constantly does give it a creamer texture it comes out just as well if you just boil it.(Well good enough for the children)  So here is an easy recipe for Chicken Risotto which is great when the children are tired as it’s not lot of effort to eat it!

 

Chicken Risotto – For 2 children

• 1 small onion finely chopped
• 1 Chicken Breast
• 150g of Risotto Rice
• 500ml home made stock or half strength stock from cubes
• Handful of frozen peas or veg of your choice
• Some grated parmesan or cheddar (optional)
• Dessertspoon of crème fraiche (optional)

Add some oil to a saucepan and gently fry the onion until soft – add in the chicken and fry off for a couple of minutes. Add in the rice and keep it moving around the pan for about one minute until it starts to go translucent. Now add in the most of the stock and simmer on a low heat as per the packet instructions which is probably 20 mins but I always think it takes more like 25.  Five minutes before the end add in your peas.

 

Towards the end of the cooking time keep adding the remaining stock until it has all been absorbed. You will need to do a bit of stirring at this stage to ensure it doesn’t catch. If you require any additional liquid then use some boiled water.   To finish add a handful of parmesan or cheddar and a dessertspoon of crème fraiche for that restaurant quality richness!

 

This recipe is also nice with bacon and mushrooms, just add them in place of the chicken. Obviously you can also use any vegetable you have in, my boys like green beans in it -  you just need to add them earlier than the peas or par boil them first.

 

Currytastic!

As a couple of curry lovers we want nothing more than our boys to embrace the joy of all things curry and we hope it wont be too long before we’re regularly down at Mogul’s again – just like we used to be before they came along!  Sadly for the time being we’ve just had to increase our repertoire of home made dishes -  mostly with credit to Jamie Oliver – but more and more these days just made up on the spot like this one!   

Getting them to like poppadoms and mango chutney is the easy bit – after all it’s much like crisps with jam – but in an effort to broaden their tastes I’ve started them off on a good old Chicken Korma. This recipe is nice enough for all the family (unlike a lot of restaurant Kormas) so I’ve written the recipe for four. It’s soooo easy! (Promise)  

Chicken Korma – for 4  

• 3 Chicken Breasts cut into chunks (4 if feeding older children)
• One Medium Onion
• 2 tablespoon of Korma Powder (Fiddes Payne Authentic Korma Powder is nice)
• Tin of Coconut Milk (400ml)
• Tablespoon of Mango Chutney
• Small handful of chopped Corriander (optional)

 Finely chop the onion and fry gently in a little oil until soft. Add in the Korma Powder and fry for a further minute. Then add in the chicken and cook for a further minute before pouring in the coconut milk. Cover and simmer for about half an hour. At the end of the cooking time add in the mango chutney and corriander. Serve with rice and poppadoms.  

If you use free range meat then do consider using free range turkey steaks instead of chicken as they’re much cheaper and taste the same in this dish. If you prefer to use low fat coconut milk then simmer without the lid on and it will give you a thicker consistency. The corriander really lifts the colour of this dish (and tastes great) but if you have fussy little people who think they don’t like herbs then you can just sprinkle on the adult portions!

Fast food for lunch and fast food for tea!

I write my very first post as my 3 year old son is off on a little day trip with his preschool. They are taking the train just the one stop to Camberley where they will visit the library for World Book Day and then have lunch at Macdonalds – or as it’s known by him at ‘Donalds’!

I have no real objection to Macdonalds but with pressure on schools to gain Healthy School Status and to say no to the Turkey Twizzler you might think they would choose somewhere healthier to eat!  The reality is though; there aren’t any organic café’s in Camberley, particular any which could accommodate over 25 pre school kids and about 13 adult helpers! So Macy Dees it is for them and my son for one is delighted – even though I suspect he thinks the hamburger I have ordered for him is actually a ham roll!  If nothing else we’ll have another useless toy for me to discreetly lose into the bin in a few weeks time!

Anyway, to compensate for the junky Macdonalds lunch I should be spending the whole afternoon cooking something incredibly healthy and nutritious but as ever it’s been a really busy day so out comes a failsafe tea which is a real favourite of ours – and takes under 15 minutes!  Here you go: –

Quick Cheesy Ham and Sweetcorn Pasta – for 2 children  

• 100g (about 3 handfuls!) pasta of your choice (Fusilli, Penne or Shells etc)
• Handful of frozen sweetcorn or peas, or both
• Two slices of ham or cooked bacon – chopped into small pieces
• Dessertspoon of cream cheese (such as Philadelphia)
• 25g (handful) of mature grated cheese  

Boil the pasta as per the packet instructions. In the meantime cook the sweetcorn and peas separately, or if preferred just toss them into the pasta water towards the end but do allow the pasta a bit extra cooking time while the water to comes back to the boil!

Drain the pasta and sweetcorn and return to the pan on a low heat. Immediately add all the other ingredients and stir until all the cheese has melted and made a sauce. Serve!

Adapt this recipe to suit whatever you have in – whether that’s ham or bacon, sweetcorn, or another favourite vegetable.  Mature cheese gives the sauce more flavour but if you only have mild then adding a bit of Parmesan as well will pack a bit more punch!  If you haven’t got any cream cheese then a bit crème fraiche or double cream along with the cheese also works well as an instant cheesy sauce.