Spicy Scallops With Lime & Chilli

Ingredients

• 16 large scallops
• 1 tsp butter
• 1 tsp peanut oil
• 1 tsp crushed garlic & 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
• finely sliced spring onions
• grated rind of lime
• 1 small fresh red chilli (de-seeded and finely chopped)
• 3 tbs lime juice
• ½ tbs brown sugar

Trim the scallops to remove intestine, then wash and pat dry. Separate the corals from the white parts, then slice in half horizontally, making 2 circles. Heat the butter and peanut oil in a preheated wok. Add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the onions and fry for another minute. Add the scallops and continue stir-frying over high heat for 5 minutes. Stir in the lime rind, chilli, lime juice and sugar and cook for another minute. Serve garnished with lime wedges and cooked rice.

Tomato Whiting

Ingredients

• 4 whiting
• lemon and parsley to garnish
• 4 tomatoes
• little lemon juice
• seasoning

Clean the whiting and split down the centre. Season well. Fill with half the sliced tomatoes, top with the rest of the tomatoes, cover with buttered paper and bake for 20 minutes in a moderately hot oven (400°F). Serve garnished with lemon and parsley.

Sole With Asparagus

Ingredients

• 1 or 2 fillets of sole
• 1 small knob of margarine
• seasoning
• little milk
• little lemon juice
• 4 asparagus tips, cooked until just tender

Cut the stalks from the asparagus, leaving pieces about 1 inch in length. Pound the rest of the stalks, adding lemon juice and seasoning. Put into the fillets and roll tightly. Steam with the margarine and milk between 2 plates over boiling water. Drain and garnish with the tips.

Crab and Avocado Salad

Ingredients for 4 main course servings

• 4 avocado pears
• lettuce

Ingredients for Salad

• 2 cans crabmeat (or 1 large crab, or equivalent lobster or shrimps)
• 3 tbs finely chopped celery
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ pint mayonnaise
• 1 tbs tomato purée
• few drops chilli sauce
• 1 tbs lemon juice

Mix all the salad ingredients, saving 1 teaspoon lemon juice. Chill. Before serving, halve the avocado pears, sprinkle with remaining juice, pile filling high and serve on a bed of lettuce.

Variations:
Cheese and Avocado Salad - dice Blue, Rocquefort/Roquefort, Stilton, or Gruyère cheese very finely. Put either into the dressing as given above and serve in the avocado pears. More suitable for light main course.
Prawn and Avocado Salad - fill the avocado pear halves with prawns in mayonnaise.

Prawns In Piquant Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 cup shelled prawns
• 1 cup white sauce
• 2 tbs sherry or white wine
• 1 tbs tomato sauce or puree
• pinch sugar
• 1 tbs mayonnaise
• ½ tsp salt
• a pinch of chilli powder or cayenne pepper

Prepare the prawns by peeling and removing the black vein running down the back. Cook in a little salted water until done. Mix the white sauce with the sherry, tomato sauce, mayonnaise, salt, chilli powder and sugar and cook for a few minutes. Pour over the prawns and garnish with parsley.

Shark Steaks With Crab Sauce

Ingredients

• 4 shark steaks about 175 g (6 oz) each (or halibut, cod or turbot if sharks are not available in your area)
• 25 g (1 oz) Margarine
• 25 g (1 oz) plain flour
• 300 ml (½ pint) milk
• salt and pepper
• 50 g (2 oz) crabmeat
• 1-2 tbs sherry
• 4 tbs soured cream
• 1 small onion, sliced
• a few parsley sprigs
• a little white wine or water
• 2 tbs grated Parmesan cheese

Heat the oven to 190°C, 375°F. To make the sauce, melt the margarine, stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and gradually stir in the milk. Return to the heat and bring to boil, stirring. Season and cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat and cool.

Put the sauce, crabmeat, sherry and soured cream into a blender/ food processor and blend until smooth.

Put the fish, onion and parsley into an ovenproof dish and add wine or water. Cover and bake for about 20 minutes until tender. Put the drained fish into a heatproof dish. Cover with sauce and sprinkle with Parmesan. Grill until hot and golden brown.

Squid With Anchovies

Ingredients

•  1 kg small squid
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves
• 4 spring onions, finely chopped
• 1 tbs chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tbs chopped fresh basil
• 25 g anchovies, drained and chopped
• 150 ml dry white wine
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tbs vermouth (optional)
• coriander sprigs, (to garnish)

Prepare the squid and cut it into strips. Heat the oil in a pan. Add the garlic, spring onions and squid and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the herbs, anchovies and wine. Cover and cook for about 40 minutes until squid is tender and easily pierced with a fork. Add lemon juice and vermouth just before serving. Garnish with coriander sprigs. Serve with boiled rice.

Mackerel With Red Currant Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 mackerel
• tarragon or wine vinegar (boiling)
• red currant jelly

Clean the fish, rub the inside only with salt and pour over boiling vinegar. Stand the fish in a draught for ten minutes.
Make three slits across the back and cook in a stock or boiling water for ten to fifteen minutes. Serve with melted butter.

(Tuna) Salad Niçoise

Ingredients

• 1 small onion (red if available)
• 225 g (8 oz) French beans, lightly cooked (optional)
• 50 g (2 oz) button mushrooms, sliced (optional)
• 1 avocado, stoned and cut into cubes (optional)
• 225 g (8 oz) firm tomatoes, quartered
• ¼ cucumber, cubed
• 1 crisp lettuce
• 200 g (7 oz) can tuna, drained and flaked
• 2 eggs, hard-boiled and quartered
• 50 g (2 oz) small black olives
• 50 g (2 oz) can of anchovy fillets

For the dressing

• 4 tbs olive oil
• 2 tbs red wine vinegar
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• salt and pepper

To make the dressing, put all the ingredients into a screw-top jar and shake vigorously. Slice the onion and separate it into rings. Put it in a salad bowl with the beans, mushrooms, avocado, tomatoes and cucumber. Pour over half the dressing and toss together.

Arrange the lettuce, tuna, eggs, olives and anchovies decoratively on top. Trickle the remaining dressing over the salad.

Cod (White Fish) Tandoori

Ingredients

• 4 cod cutlets approx 175 g/6 oz each

For The Marinade

• 4 tbs natural yoghurt
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• 1-2 tbs tandoori spice mixture
• 1 tbs wine vinegar
• 2 tbs vegetable oil
• coriander sprigs & onion rings to garnish

Put the fish in one layer in a shallow dish. Mix together all the marinade ingredients. Spread over the fish, turning it over so it is well coated. Leave in a cool place for about 8 hours.

Place under a hot grill and cook for about 5 minutes. Turn over and coat with marinade again and cook for a further 5-7 minutes. Garnish with coriander and onion. Serve with braised okra and aubergine.

Steamed Fish With Mustard Sauce

Fisch Gedämpft Mit Senf-Sauce

Any white fish (cod, haddock, hake etc.) may be used for this dish. Trim and wash the fish, and place in a well-greased deep plate. Sprinkle it lightly with salt and pepper and a little lemon juice, and cover with greased paper. Place the plate over a pan of boiling water, cover with another plate, and steam for about 30 minutes. turn the fish once during the cooking.

Mustard Sauce
Ingredients

• 2 tbs German mustard
• 3 tbs of fat
• 4 tbs of flour
• fish stock or water
• salt and pepper

Melt the fat and add the flour. Cook for 3 minutes. Thin with the water or stock, add the mustard, salt and pepper, and pour over the fish while both are still hot.

Cold Chambo (Tilapia) Mousse

Mousse Froid de Poisson
Ingredients

• 6-8 fillets chambo (tilapia)
• 2 cups butter
• milk
• herbs
• 4 peppercorns
• 1 small onion (chopped)
• 3 tbs margarine
• 2 tbs flour
• cream (optional)
• 2 tbs sherry (optional)

Poach the fish in enough milk to cover. when cooked (10-15 minutes), remove from the milk and mash well. Add herbs, onions and peppercorns to the milk and leave for 10 minutes to infuse. Melt the butter in a pan, add the flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring well to avoid lumps. Strain the milk and gradually add it to the flour, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Remove from the heat, cool a little, and add cream and sherry and season to taste. Stir in the mashed chambo. Put in a rinsed-out mould and leave in a fridge to set. When set, turn out and serve with salad.

Trout In Sherry Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 large trout
• 3 tbs butter
• chopped parsley
• 1 cup creamy milk
• 1 wineglass sherry (medium)
• slices of lemon

Clean and behead the trout. Melt the butter in a flat fireproof dish until very hot. Place the trout in the dish and turn until well coated with butter. Put the dish in a hot oven (425°F) for 5 minutes. Pour milk and sherry over the fish and return to the oven for 15-20 minutes. Garnish with chopped parsley and thin slices of lemon.

Grilled Herrings With Onion Stuffing

Ingredients

• 4 herrings
• 2 thinly sliced onions
• tomatoes
• sections of lemon
• seasoning
• little fat
• watercress

Slice and simmer the onions in boiling salted water until tender. Slit the herrings, clean well, fill with seasoned onion rings. Make several slits in the fish. Season the fish and brush with little fat on the outside (you can use very little fat as herrings have a high percentage of natural fat). Cook for 6-8 minutes on the grid of a grill pan, with halved tomatoes in pan. Garnish with lemon and watercress.

Grilled Scallops (or escallops)

These delicious shellfish keep all their flavour when grilled.

Ingredients

• Scallops
• butter
• 1 lemon
• chopped parsley
• 1 red pepper
• soft breadcrumbs (optional)

Remove from the shell, wash and brush with melted butter. Cook steadily, turning well until tender. Garnish with lemon, chopped parsley and red pepper.

If preferred, roll scallops first in melted butter then in soft breadcrumbs before grilling.

Devilled Crab

Ingredients

• 1 medium crab
• 1 tbs starch-reduced breadcrumbs
• seasoning
• 1tsp mixed mustard
• ½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp butter

Mix crab meat with all seasonings. Put back into the shell, cover with breadcrumbs and the butter and brown under grill or in the oven.

Shrimp And Tomato Mould

Ingredients

• 425ml (¾ pint) tomato juice
• 20g (¾ oz.) gelatine
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 2 or 3 minced gherkins
• endive, cucumber and shrimps to garnish
• seasoning as required
• dash of Worcestershire sauce
• 275g (½ pint) picked shrimps (fresh, frozen or canned)

Soften gelatine in 3 tablespoons cold water, then dissolve over heat. Stir in half the tomato juice and mix until gelatine is dissolved. Cool down with remaining tomato juice and add flavourings and seasoning to taste. Stir in shrimps last. When mixture shows signs of thickening, spoon into prepared individual moulds. Turn out shapes on to a lettuce or endive-lined dish, garnish with more shrimps and cucumber. Serve with salad dressing.

Baked Skate With Sauerkraut

Ingredients

• 450g (1 lb.) skate
• 2 tbs butter
• flour
• salt
• 1 small sliced onion
• bayleaves, peppercorns, cloves
• 275 ml (½ pint) milk

Cut the fish into steaks, rub with salt and leave for one hour. bring the milk with onion, cloves, bay leaves and peppercorns to the boil, then add the fish. Let the milk boil once more and leave the fish to simmer for only five minutes - no longer.

Strain from the liquid and leave to dry on a sieve. Rub with melted butter or warm olive oil, and roll in seasoned flour. Wrap in cooking paper, bake in hot oven. Serve with boiled sauerkraut and a tomato salad.

Cold Salmon With Remoulade Sauce

Ingredients

• 900g (2lb.) cold cooked salmon
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• ¼ tsp anchovy essence
• 1 tsp German mustard
• 1 tsp chopped chervil
• grated lemon rind
• parsley
• 1 tbs chopped gherkins
• 1 tbs capers

In a cool bowl mix the mayonnaise, gherkins and capers and leave for one hour. Rub through a fine wire sieve. Add the chopped parsley, chervil, mustard and anchovy essence and lemon rind. Serve this sauce in a sauce-boat.

Arrange the salmon on a wooden platter, garnished with slices of lemon and sprigs of parlsey. Accompany with a cucumber salad.

General Purpose Fish Stock

Fischbrühe
Ingredients

• 2280 ml (4 pints water)
• 1 leek or onion
• 2 carrots
• Peppercorns and a bayleaf
• 25g (1 oz) butter
• 1 tsp salt

Bring to the boil and cook for ten minutes before adding the fish.

Fish Stock For Fresh Water Fish

Fischbrühe

Ingredients

• 2280 ml (4 pints water)
• 1 Glass white wine
• 2 sliced onions
• Parsley, thyme, bayleaves
• salt and peppercorns

Cook all ingredients together for thirty or forty minutes. Strain before using.

Spanish Cod

Ingredients

• 25g (1 oz) butter
• 1 tbls vegetable oil
• 4 cod steaks, approx 175g (6 oz) each
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 tbls plain flour
• 4 tbls tomato  purée
• 300 ml (½ pint) water
• 150ml (¼ pint) dry white wine
• 25g (1 oz) anchovies, chopped
• 50g (2 oz) black olives, stoned
• 1 tbls capers
• 1 tbls lemon juice
• freshly ground black pepper
• ½ tsp dried oregano

Heat the butter and oil and quickly brown the fish on both sides. Remove the fish, drain and reserve. Add the onion to the pan and cook until soft.

Stir in the flour. Cook for 1 minute. Stir in the tomato purée, water and wine. Bring to the boil, stirring.

Add the anchovies, olives, capers, lemon juice, pepper and oregano. Put the fish into the sauce. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes until the fish is tender.

Serving idea: Serve with rice and French beans

Prawn Chop Suey

Ingredients

• 3 tbls vegetable oil
• 6-8 large spring onions, cut into thick rings
• 1 green pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips
• 1 large carrot, cut into matchsticks
• 2 sticks celery, thickly sliced
• 1 tsp cornflour
• 3 tbls soy sauce
• 225g (8 oz) fresh bean sprouts
• 100g (4 oz) Chinese cabbage, shredded
• 450g (1lb) shelled, cooked prawns

Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok. Add the onion, pepper, carrot and celery. Stir-fry until just cooked. Mix the cornflour with the soy sauce and stir into the vegetables. Add the bean sprouts, cabbage and prawns and fork the mixture well together.

Toss over a moderate heat for a few minutes and serve immediately.

Suggestions for Flavouring Salt-Free Diets

Some diets tell you to serve as little salt as possible with your foods. This means you must cut out the use of salt at the table, and as much as possible in cooking. If you have been told for health reasons 'no salt at all', the salt should be kept out of cooking entirely. The following suggestions could help you in making the food more appetising.
Many starch-reduced products are very low in salt content but, of course, you cannot have them if you have to cut out salt completely. Here are a few suggestions for flavouring a salt free diet.

1. Use pastry without salt.
2. Get a chemist to make up for you a salt-free baking powder from cream of tartar and tartaric acid.
3. There are 2 products which act rather as saccharine does to sugar called NEOSELAROM and ANALOS. Both contain potassium.  NEOSELAROM  is strongly flavoured so you will have to experiment to find out how much to use for your own taste. A good pinch of  Neoselarom put in the water for boiling, and not scattered about on the food, ensures evenness of taste. When flavouring for sauces or thickening, mix it well with the dry ingredients. ANALOS is used in exactly the same way as Neoselarom.
4. A good grocer can supply salt-free vinegar.
5. Yeast extract is often free of salt and very good for flavouring savoury dishes.
6. Also one can buy salt-free margarine, butter and lard for cooking and eating, and you should find no difficulty in finding shops which stock these products.

How To Prepare A Cooked Lobster

How to prepare cooked lobster in six easy steps

1. Twist off the claws and the adjoining 'arm' segments. Crack them and remove the flesh, taking out the blade-like cartilage in each claw.
2. Snap off the eight legs as close to the body as you can. Break at the central joint and remove the flesh from the legs with a skewer.
3. Using a sharp knife, cut down the back of the lobster from head to tail and open out.
4. Remove and discard the thread-like intestinal canal and the white gravel sac from between the eyes.
5. Scoop out the greyish-green liver, known as tomalley, and any roe (coral) from a female lobster. These are both edible.
6. Lift out the flesh and remove the greyish-brown, feathery gills. Chop the flesh for cooking or serving and clean the shell if using.

How To Prepare A Squid

How to prepare a squid in 5 easy steps:

1. Rinse the squid in cold water. Pull back the body pouch and pull out the quill-like 'pen'. Pull the head and viscera away from the body.
2. Pull away the mucous membrane in the pouch under running water. Peel the skin off the pouch. Pull off and skin the fins.
3. Put the head and viscera on a work surface and cut off the tentacles above the eyes. They should come away connected by a rim of flesh.
4. Remove the ink sac if you wish to use it for cooking and discard the head and viscera.
5. A toothed beak lies in the flesh which connects the tentacles together. Squeeze the beak out of the flesh with your fingers and discard it.

The squid is now ready for you to cook; the body pouch, the tentacles, the fins and the ink sac.

How To Clean, Split and Bone Round Fish

How to clean, split and bone round fish in six easy steps:

1. Wash the fish and scrape off the scales with the back of a knife, working from tail to head.
2. Cut off the head just behind the gills with a sharp knife. Cut off the fins and tail with scissors.
3. Slit open the underside of the fish to the vent and scrape out the innards. Wash in cold running water and pat dry with a paper towel. Rub the flesh with a little salt to make it less slippery and easier to handle.
4. Open the fish out and press down on a working surface, skin side uppermost. Press hard along the backbone to flatten the fish.
5. Turn the fish over and lift the bone away with the flat of a knife.
6. Wash in cold running water and pat dry with a paper towel.

How To Fillet A Flat Fish

How to fillet a flat fish in six easy steps:

1. Lay the scaled, cleaned and gutted fish on a working surface, white side uppermost, with the tail towards you. Using a sharp flexible knife cut between the fins and the body, down the centre line of the body and under the head.
2. Working from head to tail and from the centre outwards, cut away the left hand fillet, keeping the blade of the knife flat against the bone.
3. Turn the fish so that the head is towards you and remove the second fillet in the same way.
4. Turn the fish over so that the black skin is uppermost and treat as for the white side.
5. To remove the black skin, rub the fish with a little salt and, gripping the tail end of the fillet, saw gently along the skin to remove the flesh.
6. Wash the fillets in cold running water and pat dry with a paper towel.

Cooking Fish

Whichever method you use to cook your fish, the basic rule is: do not overcook. Overcooking is a common mistake resulting in flesh which is tough or soft and flavourless. For a healthy meal, steaming or poaching is recommended but if you are going to fry it, using polyunsaturated oil (e.g. sunflower or corn oil) is the way forward.

Baking is an ideal method for cooking oily fish such as mackerel, as they need little extra fat. White fish will need a lot of basting. Cooking should be done in a covered dish or in foil parcels.

Deep frying is perfect for fillets or small whole fish coated in breadcrumbs or batter. A deep pan, which should never be more than half full of oil, is required. Heat the oil to between 172°C-190°C and fry a few pieces at a time (cooking too much at once will reduce the heat and the coating will be soggy instead of crisp).

Grilling is a quick method suitable for small whole fish, steaks and fillets. If cooking larger fish make two or three diagonal cuts in the flesh to allow the heat to penetrate. White fish should be brushed with a little fat before putting under the grill.

Poaching is suitable for most types of fish, particularly white fish and shell fish. You can use a fish kettle or large pan on the hob or in the oven. Place the fish in cold liquid - water, wine, milk, cider or stock - and bring to the boil. reduce the heat and simmer very gently. In the oven, the fish can be poached by wrapping the fish loosely in foil with herbs and seasoning and a little liquid.

Shallow frying is a good way of cooking flat fish, fillets and small whole fish. Coat the fish in seasoned flower. Fry until brown on each side in equal amounts of butter and oil over a moderate heat.

Steaming is a delicious and healthy way of cooking fish, best for small fillets and cutlets. Place the fish on a plate or steamer over a pan of simmering water, season and cover tightly. Cook until tender and flaky when pressed with a fork.

Why Fish And Seafood?

With the increasing interest in healthy eating, fish has come back into favour and with so many varieties available it makes a very welcome change from red meat. Fish is high in protein but low in fat, and the fat it does contain is higher in polyunsaturates than most other animal/protein foods. It is also a rich source of minerals and iron plus it is quick to prepare and cook.
There are three groups of fish: white fish, where the oil is found mainly in the liver leaving the flesh relatively fat-free, e.g cod, plaice and whiting; oily fish, where the oil is found mainly in the flesh, e.g salmon, mackerel and herring; and shellfish, which could be crustacea, e.g. lobster, crab and prawn, or molluscs, e.g oysters, scallops and mussels. All fish are described as round or flat.

Selecting Fish
Fresh fish should have bright eyes, shining skin and healthy pink gills. The flesh should feel firm and the tail stiff. It should not have more than a slight odour.

Storing Fish
Fish will keep for up to two days in the refrigerator but it should be wrapped loosely in foil so that other food does not absorb its smell. To keep fish frozen, the fish must be gutted and scaled first. Small fish may be left whole, but remove the heads and tails from larger fish. Skin and fillet flat fish.

How to Scale
In general, fish should only be scaled if the intent is to eat the skin. the fish should be scraped from tail to head, using the the back of a knife.

Gutting and Cleaning
All fish must be cleaned, gutted and washed in cold running water. Large fish should be cut open from the gills to halfway along the body and the contents, including the roes, removed. Wash the roes thoroughly if they are to be used. Smaller fish can be merely opened under the gills and the contents squeezed out with your fingers. Flat fish should have the gills cut off and a small hole made behind the head, through which you can remove the innards. Eels should be skinned before they are cleaned.