Ooh, a little twist

Earlier today I was having a chat with two of the loveliest ladies I have ever had the pleasure to meet. (Tina and Beverley, you know I am talking about you...) The three of us have a couple of things in common: we are all reasonably old-fashioned in our way of thinking, are all just a tad crazy and are all super smart... In the space of half an hour we chatted about hats, to having a party, to party-poopers, to old-fashioned foods such as deviled eggs and tuna casserole, to husband-bashing (regardless where they are, if something goes wrong they are to blame)...

At the mention of fish, all three of us independently decided that since fish was brought up in the chat we all of a sudden had a craving for fish for our tea... Fish and Tartare Sauce (nearly there for a gorgeous fish finger sandwich), Fish with mash and peas (getting close to the perfect fish pie)... But I couldn't decide on what I fancied. That was until I saw the lasagna sheets in the kitchen cupboard. At this point in time I decided that I just had to have Italian Fish Pie...

It's been nearly 20 years since I first tried this recipe. And it wasn't even a proper recipe, more like an idea in my head that I thought would work. People who know me, know that I love pasta but I am not keen on traditional lasagna as this comes with a minced-meat-and-tomato based sauce... Nothing wrong with it but I am just not that keen on the texture. But I did like the idea of layers of pasta with a rich sauce, Béchamel, vegetables and cheese. Then again, anything drenched in cheese is alright in my book...

It was then that I decided to try the standard old lasagna with fish instead. As the fish wouldn't be able to stand up to the rich tomato sauce I decided to leave this out and just use a good white sauce instead. It was an instant success and over the years I have made many variations with different types of fish and seafood, vegetables and cheeses but always sticking to the same principal; layers of pasta, good white sauce, fresh fish, seasonal vegetables and good cheese. Besides the fresh fish, I also like to use some smoked fish, like natural smoked haddock, for that little extra something. Although many variations are possible, here follows my 'standard' version as I like to call it

Italian Fish Pie

Ingredients:

• 250 gram fresh cod (cut into bite sized pieces)
• 250 gram salmon (cut into bite sized pieces)
• 250 gram smoked haddock (cut into bite sized pieces)
• enough lasagna sheets to make four layers (use dried pasta as fresh will overcook in the time it takes to cook the fish)
• 500 gram fresh spinach, washed and dried
• 4 soft-boiled eggs (optional)
• 50 grams butter
• 50 grams flour
• enough milk to make a medium thick sauce
• 4 spring onions, very finely chopped (optional)
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced (optional)
• salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste
• 100 grams grated cheddar cheese
• 1 ball of mozzarella

Method:

1. Use the butter, flour and milk to make the medium thick Sauce Béchamel (white sauce) and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg
• For extra flavour add the finely chopped spring onion and minced garlic to the butter before you add the flour
2. Preheat the oven to 180ºC
3. Add a little sauce to the bottom of a large, rectangular, ovenproof dish
4. Place lasagna sheets on top of the sauce, enough to fill the dish lengthwise (don't worry if you need to overlap the sheets slightly)
5. Divide the fish into three even portions and place the first portion on top of the lasagna sheets
6. Divide the spinach into three even portions and place the first portion on top of the fish
7. Cover the fish and spinach with the sauce and repeat steps 4 to 6 two more times
• If you are using the eggs, peel the eggs, cut into half and place them on top of the spinach after the second layer
8. After the third layer of pasta, fish, spinach and sauce; place the last layer of lasagna sheets on top and cover with the rest of the white sauce
9. Sprinkle the cheddar over the lasagna and tear the mozzarella on top of the cheddar
10. Bake the lasagna in the middle of the oven for about 20-25 minutes

For an extra luxurious filling try adding some prawns or other shellfish or add some ricotta to every layer. The vegetables can be adjusted to what is readily available or personal preference but I would stick with green vegetables such as broccoli and spinach.

Enjoy

The base is white.

Some meals just wouldn't be the same without a bit of sauce. Just think of Lasagna, Fish Pie or Eggs Benedict; you just wouldn't eat it without a sauce. The Romans used sauce to mask the flavour and smell of ingredients that were... let's say... less than fresh.

Did you know that there are five sauces, called mother sauces, that are the basis for most other sauces? The mother sauces are: Sauce Béchamel, Sauce Espagnole, Sauce Velouté, Sauce Hollandaise and Sauce Tomate. The reason that they are called Mother Sauce (Sauce Mere) is because each of them is the 'head of a unique family' of sauces. The sauces based on the mother sauce is called 'small sauce'. Velouté is the exception as this has three 'daughter sauces'.

1. Sauce Béchamel: milk-based sauce, thickened with a white roux
2. Sauce Espagnole: a fortified brown stock sauce, thickened with a brown roux
3. Sauce Velouté: light stock-based sauce, thickened with a roux or a liaison, a mixture of egg yolks and cream
4. Sauce Hollandaise: an emulsion of egg yolk, butter and lemon or vinegar
5. Sauce Tomate: tomato-based

So, what is a sauce exactly? In principle it is a liquid that is combined with some sort of thickening agent and flavourings. Each of the five mother sauces is made with a different liquid, and a different thickening agent — although three of the mother sauces are thickened with roux, in each case the roux is cooked for a different amount of time to produce a lighter or darker colour.

Roux is melted butter (or fat) and flour: melt butter in a pan until 'frothing', add an equal amount of plain flour and stir (using a whisk is the best method to prevent lumps) until a thick paste forms, cook at least until the raw flour taste is gone (it will start smelling biscuit-y).
How long you cook it for depends on which type of sauce you want to make. How much butter and flour you use depends on how thick you want your sauce to be:

• Pouring sauce: one tablespoon each of butter and flour to 240 millilitre of milk
• Medium sauce: two tablespoons each of butter and flour to 240 millilitre of milk
• Thick sauce: three tablespoons each of butter and flour to 240 millilitre of milk

Sauce Béchamel, or white sauce, is one of the easiest to make and seems 'boring' to a lot of people but, made well, can be very tasty and is a must if you want to make Lasagna or Fish Pie.

Sauce Béchamel

Ingredients:

• Butter
• Flour
• Milk
• Salt and white pepper
• Flavourings such as onion (studded with cloves), bay leaf and nutmeg are all optional

Method:

1. Add milk to a pan with a whole onion (studded with a few cloves) and a bay leaf and bring to a simmer
2. Remove the flavourings (if used)
3. Make a roux as above
4. Add the warm milk as soon as the roux starts smelling biscuit-y but is still white or pale-yellow
5. Whisk the milk into the roux and leave for a couple of minutes to thicken
6. Season the sauce with salt and white pepper and a pinch of nutmeg (optional)

Sauce Mornay

Make a medium sauce béchamel and add 60 gram grated gruyere. Mix the cheese well with the sauce and leave to melt.

Sauce Moutarde (or Mustard Sauce)
Make a pouring sauce béchamel and add one tablespoon of whole grain mustard. Mix the mustard into the sauce and leave for a further minute to cook off the harsh flavour.

Sauce Soubise
Heat 30 gram butter in a frying pan and add two roughly chopped onions. Fry the onions until soft and translucent. Add the onions to a blender and puree until smooth Make a medium sauce béchamel and add the onion puree.

Sauce Nantua

This is by far the most complex sauce, not because it is difficult to make but because there are several more ingredients and steps necessary to make this sauce but the effort is well worth it.

Ingredients:

• 30 gram butter
• 1 carrot, finely chopped
• 1 onion, very finely sliced
• 250 gram raw shrimp or crawfish (with shells and heads on)
• 2 tablespoons cognac
• 125 millilitre white wine
• 375 millilitre fish stock
• 2 teaspoons tomato paste
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• pinch of ground paprika (mild)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 fresh sprig of thyme
• medium sauce béchamel

Method:

1. Heat the butter over low heat
2. Add the carrots and onions and fry for 2 minutes
3. Chop the shrimp/crawfish and add them to the pan
4. Turn up the heat and fry until the shrimp/crawfish turn bright red, about 3 minutes
5. Add the cognac and white wine and reduce the liquid by half
6. Add the stock, bring to a boil and reduce the liquid by half again
7. Add the tomato paste, cayenne, paprika, bay leaf and thyme and cook for 30 minutes
8. Stir in the medium sauce béchamel and let bubble a further 10 minutes
9. Remove the bay leaf and thyme and pour the contents of the pan into a blender and blend
10. Strain the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing with a ladle to get as much of the 'juice'
11. Pour the sauce back into a pan and return to the boil
12. Reduce the sauce by a third and season to taste with salt and white pepper

So now you have the perfect sauces but what do you use them for? Here is a list of ideas:

1. Sauce Béchamel
• Cream of ... soup - thin out the sauce with a little more milk or good stock and add fried mushrooms, asparagus, chicken, or anything else you fancy
• Lasagna
• Souflé (use the thick sauce for the best result)
• Gratins
• Meat croquettes (use the thick sauce for the best result)
2. Sauce Mornay
• Gratins
• Cheese souflé (use the thick sauce for the best result)
• Eggs
• Vegetables
• Chicken
• Seafood
• Veal Prince Orloff
3. Mustard Sauce
• Cold cooked meats
• Vegetables
• Fish
• Steak
• Pork
4. Sauce Soubise
• Vegetables
• Chicken
• Fish
• Cold roasts
5. Sauce Nantua
• Fish
• Shellfish

Four different sauces for any occasion and all based on that simple, classic, white sauce. But there are many more varieties: Parsley sauce, Crème sauce, Cheddar sauce, Mushroom sauce to name but a few.

Tomorrow I will post the next mother sauce, so stay tuned and, most importantly

Enjoy

Comfort guaranteed

Every now and then I am in need of real comfort food; when I'm ill, when mother nature is wreaking havoc, when I'm sad or depressed. For the last six weeks all of the above have been going on. I've been suffering with severe abdominal pain, money is (as always) very tight and together they are starting to cause mild depression. Comfort food is what I need and crave!

Visits to the doctor and the hospital have concluded that the pain is most likely gynaecological in origin and I am awaiting a referral back (don't ask) to gynaecology for further testing. As the abdominal pain is (probably) caused by mother nature, I thought to look on the internet to see if there are certain foods I should, or should not, be eating. There is plenty of advice on this and I struck lucky... Wheat, red meat, refined carbohydrates, refined sugar and honey, caffeine, chocolate, dairy produce, eggs, fried foods, butter, margarine, lard, soy, tinned foods, anything with additives and preservatives, alcohol. Perfect! All the things I love to eat. Oh, I made a mistake. These are the foods I have to cut out? But, but, but... My idea of a quick snack is a slice of brown bread with butter and cheese. My idea of a tasty breakfast is soft boiled eggs with toasted brown bread. A quick pick-me-up is chocolate. I need some sugar or honey in my tea, at least six times a day. My favourite meal is beef stew with dumplings.

The idea of having to give up everything I love to eat is not a pleasant one but I do think that some of this could help and so I have changed certain things: green tea instead of black tea so I don't need sugar, chicken instead of beef (although I am still going to eat that beef stew tomorrow night...), no white bread or pasta but the whole grain variety, no eggs for breakfast but I will use eggs when baking, butter and lard in moderation, no alcohol (with the morphine that's not wise anyway)...

Tonight's tea? Chicken Chimichangas. A Mexican recipe with chicken, chilli and spices and a firm favourite in this house. Yes, it uses wraps. Yes, they need frying but I am going to bake them in the oven instead. Yes, it uses cheese but I never said I would cut out dairy products. The white sauce that is served with it is traditionally made with stock instead of milk and I am leaving out the sour cream... Below is the original recipe...

Chicken Chimichangas

Ingredients:
For the chicken

• 2 large skinless, boneless chicken breast fillets
• 750ml water
• 1 tablespoon chilli powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic granules
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 130 gram chopped pickled chillies (red and green)
• 80 gram onion, finely diced
• 3 large cloves garlic, finely chopped

For the sauce

• 30 gram butter
• 2 tablespoons plain flour
• 250 millilitre water
• 1 chicken stock cube
• 125 millilitre soured cream
• 15 gram chopped pickled chillies (green) (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste

To finish the dish

• oil for frying
• 8 flour tortillas
• 225g Cheddar cheese, grated

Method:
For the chicken

1. Place the chicken breasts into a large saucepan
2. Pour in the water and season with chilli powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, cumin, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, garlic granules, onion powder and cayenne pepper
3. Bring to a simmer over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 15 minutes
4. After 15 minutes, stir in the chillies, onion and garlic; continue simmering until the liquid has reduced by about two-thirds
5. Remove the chicken, shred with two forks and return to the onion and chilli mixture

For the sauce

1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat
2. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute
3. Whisk in the water and stock cube until the water has thickened and the stock cube has dissolved, about 4 minutes
4. Whisk in the green chillies (if using) and the soured cream; season to taste with salt and pepper and keep warm

To finish the dish

1. Heat the oil in a deep fat fryer or large saucepan to 190°C
2. Place a tortilla onto your work surface, then spoon about 5 tablespoons of the filling halfway between the bottom edge and the centre of the tortilla and flatten the filling into rectangle shape with the back of a spoon
3. Sprinkle some of the Cheddar cheese over the filling
   
4. Fold the bottom of the tortilla snugly over the filling, then fold in the left and right edges. Roll the chimichanga up to the top edge, forming a tight cylinder; secure the ends with cocktail sticks
5. Repeat with the remaining ingredients
6. Cook the chimichangas, 2 at a time, in the hot oil until they are crisp and golden brown on both sides, about 1 minute per side. Drain on a kitchen towel-lined plate and remove cocktail sticks
7. Top with the white sauce to serve

For some added vibrancy you can serve this with some freshly made tomato salsa and guacamole. If you cannot find pickled chillies try using fresh chillies to taste and add a dash of vinegar.

As they say in Mexico

¡Buen provecho!

or even

Bon appetit!