Sort of Persian-inspired Fish and Rice

A random experiment to use up some broad beans, inspired by reading through some Persian recipes.
The result was tasty, and worth recording so we can repeat it another day.
Add more chopped fresh herbs if you have them - parsley, dill, chives, fenugreek leaves...

• 1 Onion, chopped
• a knob or two of Butter
• 1 bunch Coriander Leaves, finely chopped
• a few sprigs of garden Mint Leaves, finely chopped
• 1 cup Basmati Rice
• 1 mini carton of White Wine, plus water to make it up to 1.5 cups total liquid
• Salt, Pepper, Cinnamon and a little Turmeric to season
• 3 frozen fillets of White Fish
• Fresh Broad Beans, shelled.

Turn on the rice cooker to cook mode and melt the butter in its pan.
Saute the onions in the butter until translucent.
Add the rice, wine+water, chopped herbs and seasonings and stir to combine.
Layer the frozen fillets and the broad beans on top of the rice.
Put the lid on the rice cooker, switch it off and on again, and restart the cook cycle.
Once the rice cooker switches to keep warm, let it stand for a few more minutes to finish steaming the fish and beans.
Break up the fish into bitesize pieces and fold gently through the rice.

Pan-fried White Fish

I've mostly gotten over the 'orrible cold I had for the first half of this week, but things still taste slightly weird to me. I'm still finding that I don't fancy the usual foods. I am still drinking gallons of hot mint tea all day to keep my throat moist, even if I am no longer coughing and drowning in snot between cups.

I can't face my usual salad for lunch, and have been craving natural yoghurt for breakfast.

Naturally, this all wreaks havoc with trying to decide what to make for tea, and I've resorted to comfort food and easy stuff that can be thrown in the oven and forgotten about for the last few days. Stuff like Cheesy Potatoes (boil some potatoes, melt some cheese over them - it's raclette without the machine) hardly rate as a recipe.

Today was another can't decide want something easy quick type of evening, and having used up all the packets of sausages in the freezer, it fell to the frozen white fish fillets to provide.

I sort-of wanted fish and chips, but didn't have breadcrumbs to bread the frozen fish, so I ended up with pan-fried fish to accompany potato wedges baked in the oven.

With only 10 minutes left until the potato wedges were baked, I pan-fried the still frozen white fish fillets in melted butter. Seasoned lightly with salt and pepper, and sprinkled over some bottled lemon juice. Popped the lid on the pan and let them cook through over a low heat.

After dishing up the fillets, I then boiled down the lemony-buttery-fishy juices until they thickened into a syrupy consistency, and spooned this sauce over the fish.

This was quick, easy, and delicious. And now noted here so that I remember to consider it next time I am tired and looking for something simple to do with frozen fish.

Fish Pie

Fish pie is one of those traditional things that is unfortunately a bit of a faff for a normal week-night evening. Too many pans, and too many stages for if you're tired and rushed. Save it for a more leisurely night.

I generally make fish pie from frozen white fish, but some strange individuals have been known to adulterate it with smoked haddock, or salmon.

Fish Provencal

Another quick evening meal from frozen white fish fillets.

This time we're aiming for the flavours of Provence - tomatoes, olives, courgettes, aubergines, peppers, garlic and herbs.

Samak bil Tahini

And now for a quick evening meal, using white fish fillets from the freezer.

Samak bil Tahini is a Lebanese dish of white fish baked with onions and a garlicky tahini sauce.

Thai-style White Fish Curry

This is another quick-and-easy after work kind of thing. It takes about as long as the accompanying batch of rice takes to cook in the rice cooker, so I generally get that set up first.

Thai curry pastes are available in the ethnic aisles of large supermarkets, or from chinese supermarkets. I used Mae Ploy Red Curry paste today.

Coconut Milk Powder is also available from the same places - and is *perfect* for if you only want to add a small amount of coconut milk to recipes on an occasional basis as it lasts for ages in the cupboard whereas tinned coconut milk tends to go rancid after opening in the fridge, or end up languishing forgotten in the depths of the freezer if I turn the rest of the tin into icecubes.