SmarterFitter Daily

This was good, but admittedly it made me feel a bit greasy.

Not a bad use of last night's leftovers: sea trout, potatoes, carrots, celery, spring onion, lettuce, parsley, basil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, argan oil, salt and pepper.

See also: New Wave Fish Shop and a Great Recipe for Sea Trout

Perhaps THE best fish dish I've ever made.

Blogged: New Wave Fish Shop and a Great Recipe for Sea Trout

This was really really good. The mashed swede recipe is well worth remembering. Fish was simply seasoned with salt and pepper then pan fried. Served sauteed kale and lemon. Super.

This was the first Ottolenghi recipe I've made that I've found merely average. But maybe that's my own fault: I didn't know what "escabeche" was all about going into it. I saw saffron and garlic and shallots in the recipe, and though "mm that sounds good", but I seemed to glaze over the wine and vinegar bit that makes the resulting dish almost like a pickle. Very very vinegarry. I thought it needed some sweetness and spice, so had a bit of mango chilli sauce with it (really yummy stuff from the Wiltshire Chilli Farm). 

In addition to mackerel, the salad also had carrot, kidney beans, olives and chillies (yes, I like chilli with my chilli sauce).

Adapted from this recipe: Mackerel escabeche salad

Gosh, this picture is really unappetising. The dish was... OK. Admittedly, the escabeche (an Ottolenghi recipe) was supposed to marinate overnight and I only gave it an hour. I also had never had escabeche before and didn't realise it would be so vinegarry. Not sure if that's what I was up for tonight. It will be interesting to see what I think of the dish after a night of marination. 

Also had a glass of red wine, despite promises to self that I wouldn't. Oh well.

This was deeelicious. I bought the red gurnard on a whim, knowing it was amongst the fish you can eat with a clear conscience, but having no idea how it tastes. Then I saw this recipe for gurnard pan fried in chilli with a rustic avocado salsa and was inspired.

This is definitely something I'll be making again. The fish gets coated in this terrific spice mix that would be just as good on pollock or other white fish.:

• 2 tsp salt
• a good grind of black pepper
• 1 tsp dried chilli flakes (I skipped this as I was planning to have some super-hot mango chilli sauce on the side)
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 tsp oregano (I used Mexican oregano)

This spice mix was also stunning on the potatoes: I had some leftover baked potatoes which I cut into wedges, sprinkled with the spices and pan-fried in a bit of oil. So good. 

My avocado salsa consisted of red chilli, red romano pepper, avocado, tomato, lime juice, cilantro, spring onion, salt and pepper.

Had a glass of red vino to drink, followed by a cold pear. Stellar meal.

This was pretty outstanding. From Ottolenghi's first cookbook, the recipe is also available on metro.co.uk: Grilled Mackerel with Green Olive, Celery and Raisin Salsa.

Had this with some boiled new potatoes and rocket. Will make again.

Served with new potatoes, roast tomato and spring greens with leeks. This was pretty good! I will eat more fish with tapenade.

Delightful lunch today at Brunswick House Cafe in Vauxhaul, London. I was there for a Christmas celebration with one of my clients. This wasn't your usual stuff-your-face Christmas party. Just nice light salads, soups, stews and sandwiches - I went for a roasted vegetable and bulgar salad, plus a beetroot and mackeral salad. Their bread is also very nice. And we all shared two bottles of Prosecco - it is Christmas, after all!

Worth noting: Brunswick House Cafe is a really cool architectural salvage house and I could resist taking lots of pics. You can them on Flickr.