Cod-Gette Bites! Or What to do With Leftovers When You're Bored...

This is boredom food. I wasn't even really hungry, having had a big lunch and a snack at the pub on the way home. But I looked in the fridge and noticed a yellow courgette (zucchini!) left over from the Courgette and Lemon Spaghetti, I did for T&T, and a bowl of spicy cod and prawn mousse left over from the trilogy of seafood I prepared for the Royal Foodie Joust last month*. I had a couple of friends coming to share a few glasses of wine, so decided to cook up something random, just for something to do!

Spicy Cod-Gette Bites!

It isn't much of a recipe, so I'll just tell you what I did...

I sliced the courgette into thickish slices, and brushed each one with olive oil. Then I griddled them until just cooked - but still very al dente - no soggy courgette allowed please people! Whilst the first side was cooking, I ground some red chilli flakes and sprinkled some sea salt on the other side.

Meanwhile I shaped spoonfuls of the cod mixture into balls, dipped each one into beaten egg, before coating with panko. I deep-fried them for 5/6 minutes each in moderately hot oil. It took me a couple of goes to get the oil heat/time ratio - the first one was raw in the middle still. Next time I would probably make them a bit smaller and cook them for slightly less time.

Drain on paper towel.

Right, so take one of the cooked courgette slices and spread with some sambal. I used sambal brandal - but be warned it is pretty hot! I like it that way - but if you would prefer it less burny (bah), you could try some chili jam or even sweet chilli sauce here.

Place the spicy cod ball on top - and it's ready to go!





* No, it hadn't been in my fridge for a month - this is just a tardy post :P

Spicy Trout... Waste Not, Want More!

The wine was poured, the curry was almost ready and the rice resting, when I spotted a pack of trout fillets in my fridge. I had bought them for the bargain price of £1 earlier that day - but had totally forgotten them!

After initially cursing myself at the waste - I decided to give myself 10 minutes to turn them into something to go with dinner. (After all, they had to be used that day and couldn't be frozen - I'd be as well trying!)

I remembered I had a courgette* left in the bottom of the fridge from the week before... would it be a pile of mush in the bottom of the veggie bag? Huzzah, it was as green and crisp as the day I bought it.

So... I chopped the trout into bite sized pieces, then tossed them in a mix of garam masala and chilli powder - rubbing it in a bit for maximum flavour. I put them to one side while the courgette was effectively (if not neatly) chopped into similarly sized chunks.

I heated a wee bit of ghee (or it may have been olive oil) in a heavy frying pan and threw in the courgette along with a good pinch of fenugreek leaves. After frying for a couple of minutes, a dollop of ginger/garlic paste followed it in (see I knew there was a reason I kept a jar of that stuff!)

Another minute passed then the trout went in. I fried them all together until the trout was just about cooked, then seasoned with salt and squeezed over the juice of half a lemon.

And y'know something - it was absolutely delicious! I think with a wee dod of yogurt, and this will be on my mid-week menu for some time to come!

Spicy Trout with Lemony Courgette

Less than 10 minutes from finding the trout - howzzat?!?

(edit) * courgette = zucchini! What? I am British, y'know ;)

T&T: What's For Lunch, Honey? Zucchine and Lemon Spaghetti, that's what!

As you may have guessed from the title, this is my contribution to the monthly Tried and Tested event from Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen. The event showcases a different blog every month, and invites participants to create and blog one or more dishes from that blog.

The first time I took part was for Tastes Like Home - a blog that was new to me (though very familiar now!). This time, the nominated blog is What's for Lunch, Honey? - one of the very first blogs I ever subscribed to!

It was so hard to choose what to make - in the end I narrowed it down to gnocchi with garlic sage butter (I have tried to make gnocchi several times... but consistently failed. They either come out as bullets... or weird clouds of soggy mashed potato... nice!!) or veal vilanese - a kind of veal schnitzel with parmesan, yum!

But I had only tonight left to make and blog my dish - and after spending all last night madly preparing for the Royal Foodie Joust, I really need a more relaxed dinner tonight! Which - after my problematic previous endeavours - puts gnocchi out of the picture! And then I couldn't get a hold of veal!

In the end, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise... I went back to the archives and found this gorgeous summer pasta dish...

Spaghetti with Courgettes (Zucchini!) and Lemon!

Courgettes are plentiful right now, and I had lemons in the fridge! I followed the recipe almost exactly as written - though I used half green and half yellow courgette. and my sage in my herb garden has gone!!! I have no idea where. Come to think of it, I haven't seen it for a while - I think it might have been swamped by the rosemary and oregano! So instead, I substituted greek oregano - which I think worked very nicely. I will be making this again - and I'll replant my sage first!

Find Meeta's orginal recipe here! Thanks for a great recipe Meeta!