by Simone Conti
Haddock and Prawn Gratinee – Serves 8
Ingredients:
450g haddock fillet, skinned,
25g butter,
1 medium onion, skinned and finely chopped, 30g plain flour,
300ml milk,
30ml white wine,
175g peeled prawns,
75g Gruyere or mature cheddar cheese, grated,
2 handfuls of chopped parsley,
Salt and black pepper
Preparation
1. Cut the haddock fillet into 16 small strips. Fold the strips in half and place two of each in eight individual ramekins or gratin dish.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the onion and fry gently until soft. Add the flour and cook gently, stirring for 1-2 minutes. Remove from the heat and gradually blend the milk and wine. Bring to the boil, stirring constantly, then simmer for 3 minutes.
3. Remove the sauce from heat, add the prawns and 50g of the cheese with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Spoon a little sauce into each ramekin, to
cover the fish. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
5. Bake in the oven at 190C, mark 5, for 30 minutes. Serve immediately with some crusty bread and chopped parsley to garnish. I’m sure it will uplift your spirits.
Recommended Wine: Albarinho (Spain)
Salmon Baked in Sea Salt – Serves 4
Ingredients:
1x 2-2.5kg salmon farmed salmon, gutted (skin and fins left intact),
3kg rock salt,
2 medium avocado,
16 cherry tomato, halved,
Small bunch of basil leafs,
50ml Olive oil,
Salt
Juice of 1 lemon
Preparation
1. Preheat the oven to 180c mark 4. Mix the salt with 150ml of water in a large bowl to make a salty sludge. Spread a flat bed in a large roasting tray. Put the basil into the cavity in the salmon and add a sprinkle of salt. Lay the salmon on the salt bed and cover with the remaining sludge so you form a salt pack that covers the salmon completely. Bake for 1 hour.
2. Begin the salad: once you have cleaned the avocado from the skin and the stone, chop it into pieces around 1inch thick. In a large
mixing bowl, place avocado pieces and the halved cherry tomatoes. Now to dress our salad add the olive oil, salt, the juice of half lemon and 3-4 basil leafs. Toss salad to blend all the ingredients and place it in the fridge, the lemon will prevent any oxidation to happen like the avocado turning black.
3. Remove the salmon from the oven and set aside for 30 minutes. After that using a bread knife, carefully cut around the salt crust so that it comes off in big chunks and exposes the fish. With a sharp little knife, cut up from the tail so that the skin comes off in one piece. Serve the salmon warm with avocado and tomato salad, making sure to remove the salad from the fridge so when it is served it will be room temperature.
I often add a bit of hollandaise sauce on the side, mayonnaise or guacamole will work too. Enjoy!
Recommended Wine: Riesling (Austria)
Home-made Italian Ice Cream – Serves 6
Ingredients
500g whipped cream,
300g condensed milk,
120g dark chocolate powder,
2 Kinder eggs
Preparation:
1. Place the whipping cream in a large mixing bowl and, with the help of an electric whisk, bring the whipping cream to a firm consistency. Now add condensed milk and with a wooden spoon (or a silicon spatula) gently mix until it is well blended in.
2. Now out of this main mix we will obtain 2 ice cream flavours: in this case dark chocolate and Kinder egg (children love this one), but you can personalize it to your own taste by adding other ingredients, for example strawberry jam or Nutella.
3. Divide the mix into 2 mixing bowls. Into 1 add the dark chocolate powder and mix it gently with a whisk until well blended. In the other bowl, add 2 Kinder chocolate eggs roughly broken into pieces.
4. Finally place the two mixes into freezable containers with a lid and put the containers in the freezer for a minimum of 6 hours.
5. After 6 hours we are ready for our Italian ice cream. Delicious!
