Anyway I need to get away from farm for a couple of days and I had my gorgeous niece Grace's Birthday, so when my new good friend offered a room at her place in town I jumped at the opportunity. I will call her my bbff - or "Bairnsdale BFF" (though I don't think that I have said that to her). I believe it is important to be a good house guest and do something special or make life a little bit easier for your host.
I am not sure whether this is because I have helped and been helped by my beautiful friends and I think that it is part of life, or maybe I just impose too much or when it is not necessary. I do believe in social karma in any case.
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| I also put my flower arranging skills to good use with these lovely Irises from the front yard. |
For this reason I think that it is important, actually essential, that you have basic items in your pantry at all times. My good friends would probably laugh at this but, while my fridge usually only has sparkling mineral water and champagne in it, the pantry always had basic herbs & spices, olive oil, garlic, onions and tinned tomatoes.
Last night, armed with fresh Ling, an onion and a can of tomatoes from the market I set about creating a gourmet meal with use of BBFF pantry and fridge. After said friend insisted (incorrectly) that there was not much there I was able to whip something up with the following ingredients:
- Ling Fillet
- Brown Onion
- Crushed Garlic
- Olive Oil
- Fennel Seeds
- Star Anise
- Chilli paste
- Tinned Tomatoes
- Chickpeas
- Borlotti Beans
- Cherry Tomatoes
- Fresh Basil
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- 1 tsp of Sugar
Before I start I need to advise that my cooking knowledge from observations, whether from the usual suspects from my family and an unnatural obsession for cooking shows. Usually I don't cook with a recipe or interpret one when I use it.
This was largely because, unless it was for a special meal or the first time cooking a certain style of cuisine like Thai (remember this is Australia in the 80's - my dad was going to use "Keen's Curry Powder" in place of Green Curry Paste) everything was cooked from memory.
When learning to cook I started with basic items, experimenting with flavours as I gained confidence. I have helped friends develop their cooking skills but I don't work with exact measurements as I believe that the preciseness of recipes can scare people off (also you will notice that they no longer give you exact measurements either). If you taste while you cook and add herbs spices and salt & pepper one at a time and little by little it is hard to mess up too much.
So back to the cooking:
Heat olive oil in fry pan and add diced onion, garlic, fennel seeds, star anise and chilli cook until onion is soft and translucent.
Then add canned tomatoes, an equal amount of water, chickpeas and borlotti beans (if you used dried chickpeas and borlotti beans you need to soak and cook then before adding them, for canned versions just strain and rinse for adding them) and bring to a light simmer. At this point I decided to add a handful of cherry tomatoes (I spied them in the fridge after I started cooking) this adds another texture to the dish but is the opposite of essential.
While this is coming to the boil slice the Ling fillet into portions (size is not important you are the one eating it I would say about the size of my Blackberry Bold is a good size). Once liquid has reduced 1/4 add torn basil leaves, salt and pepper to taste and a teaspoon of sugar (I also found some rocket/arugula that was not fresh enough to use in the green salad I was making to accompany the meal, so I added that too). Place the portions under the sauce, turn to a low heat and cover.
Once cooked to you liking (it only needs a couple of minutes but you will know when it is cooked as it will be firm and will no longer be translucent) remove the fish and allow to rest. While the fishes resting ladle the sauce into individual bowls and place ling fillets on the top.
Serve with fresh salad greens.
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