If I was cooking this weekend it would be…..

I’m away so no cooking at all in my kitchen, instead we will be celebrating Janine’s birthday.  Can I tell them you will be 40?  No one will believe it. 

Lunch at Otto, very happy with that - good food, great view it’s a very Sydney thing to do and we are hoping that we get the sunshine with it.

If I was at home we might repeat an all time favourite, why – probably because Nick turned up with one of the largest bags of potatoes the other day and what better to do than mash them.  Almost getting too hot for this but all our friends on the other side feeling a little cool give this one a try.  Its also a great dish for your new slow cooker Maggie and that way you won’t heat the whole house cooking it.

Slow-Cooked Lamb Shanks

Serves 6

6 small lamb shanks

Plan flour for dusting

salt and pepper

2 tablespoons Olive Oil

6 red onions, finely sliced

A handful of fresh chopped rosemary leaves

4 garlic cloves peeled and chopped

175 ml balsamic vinegar

300 ml red wine

Preheat the oven to 200

Dust the lamb with the seasoned flour

In a heavy bottomed saucepan with a lid, heat the oil and brown the shanks, then remove.  Lower the heat, add the onions and cook for about 10-15 minutes until brown.  Add rosemary and garlic and cook for another couple of minutes.  Raise the heat and add the balsamic vinegar and the wine.  Reduce for a couple of minutes.

Return the shanks to the pan, reduce the heat and cover.   Cook for about 2.5 hours check occasionally basting and add more wine if they look dry.  Serve whole, with the juices over a great mash potato.

My mouth is watering just contemplating this dish.

Enjoy

Love Mary

You asked for Lasagne Janine, its an all time favourite in our house and this one is special.

James, Jimmy, Jimbo or Jimmy da Man, call him what you like but he’s a bit fond of a slice of my lasagne and this ones from a book he gave me a few years ago.  Thanks James. 

It takes a little time to prepare so worth making a couple of trays or one really big dish.  It freezes well, great for a Sunday night when you just got home from one of our frequent 3.5 hour drives.

 I’ll give you the cheat version using shop bought pasta – fresh but not home made is okay for this one.  Go to the bottom of the page to see all the ingredients for this one before shopping .

Lasagne Al Forno

Adapted From the book ‘the food of italy – a journey for food lovers’

Meat Sauce

30g butter (I use olive oil )

1 onion, finely chopped

1 small carrot, finely chopped

½ celery stalk, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

120g pancetta (or prosciutto and if you can’t get either bacon will do)

500g minced beef

¼ teaspoon dried oregano

Pinch nutmeg

90g chicken livers, trimmed and chopped (it’s worth it if you can get them, if not leave it out)

80ml white wine (I’ve used red when that what I have)

330 ml beef stock (I’ve just added red wine and that works too)

1 tablespoon of tomato paste

Heat the butter or oil, add the chopped vegetables, garlic and pancetta.  Cook for 5-6 minutes over a medium heat until soft and golden.  Add the mince, cook for a further 8 minutes, add the oregano and nutmeg and season well with salt and pepper.  Stir in the chicken livers and cook until they change colour, pour in the wine (1^st lot) and increase the heat and cook until evaporated.

Add beef stock and tomato paste and simmer for 2 hours!  Add a little water to keep moist but towards the end let the liquid be absorbed.

Bechamel Sauce

65g butter

40g plain flour

Pinch nutmeg

2 ¼ cups milk

1 bay leaf

Heat the butter in a saucepan over low heat.  Add the flour and nutmeg and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.  Remove from the heat and gradually stir in the milk.  Add the bay leaf, return to the heat and simmer, stirring often, until the sauce thickens.  Season, and remove the bay leaf.

Putting together

2 packets of fresh lasagne sheets, buy the ones that don’t need pre cooking and as you can see in the photo spinach pasta looks great

1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Lightly grease a large oven proof dish, spread half the meat sauce in the dish.  Scatter with mozzarella, and then cover with a slightly overlapping layer of pasta sheets.  Spread half the béchamel over this and sprinkle with half the Parmesan.  Repeat the layers, finishing with a layer of béchamel and Parmesan.

Bake for about 40 minutes until golden brown and leave to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Wow I might have to make this one myself this week.

Love

Mary

"Qu'ils mangent de la brioche"

LET THEM EAT CAKE

Many of you will have tried the following Orange Cake made by either Nick or myself for numerous friends.  Moist and dense, its tasty and not because we are so fond of Orange NSW, this recipe moved with us and its one of the best cakes you can make for all of the following reasons

1. Even if you stuff it up it still tastes great
2. Its impossible to stuff up
3. Its easy
4. Everyone loves it
5. You can eat it with ice cream and berries

Oh what a big mouth you have.....

The only reason you can’t make this cake would be not having a food processor in your kitchen, its essential. 

John you asked for the recipe, so here goes.  Let me know how yours turns out.

Any Orange will do, last one I made we used blood orange just because that was what was in the fruit bowl.  It was interesting, a little darker in color and the syrup was quite intense but worked well.

It comes from one of my favourite French cook books this one by Damien Pignolet simply titled….. French

Serious Orange Cake

1 Orange, washed and diced, with pips removed

200g sugar

3 eggs

150g self-raising flour, sifted

A small pinch salt

180g butter, melted and cooled a little

Orange syrup

60ml orange juice

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon sugar

1-2 tablespoons cointreau

Place the orange and sugar in a food processor and process until smooth, add the eggs one at a time, mixing well between additions.

Add the flour and salt and combine well.

With the machine running add the butter.

Transfer to a prepared tine (24cm greased) and bake at 170C for about 35 minutes.  A scure inserted should emerge clean and dry when ready.

While the cake is cooking prepare the syrup.  Combine juices and sugar, bring to the boil1-2 minutes.  Add the cointreau and simmer 1 minute longer.

When the cake is ready, remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 5 – 10 minutes.  Use a bamboo skewer to pierce the cake all over then spoon the syrup over the cake and laeve until completely cook before turning out. 

Love

Mary

How big was that Trout?

Growing up in New Zealand we had the benefit of living in one of the best trout fishing areas in the world.  I spent many days up and down the river with my brothers,  in the river and on the surrounding lakes fishing with my dad.  The purest trout fisherman these days don’t eat trout they just catch (weigh & photograph) and release.  Kiss before popping back I hear you say, well obviously NOT in NZ.  Trout can not be sold in NZ.  If you do want to eat it fishing it has to be and you can then cook what you catch. 

We have a friend that owns undisputedly the best fly fishing lodge in NZ (www.owenriverlodge.co.nz) and he would laugh his head off at the size of the fish I am about to present to you, and not be in the least interested in eating it.  This is a picture I took form him lodge looking over the Owen river from my room.

Not a bad view....back to the point....I’m in Australia not NZ and we farm, sell and eat trout here, any size.  I’m very keen on eating trout either fresh or smoked and was happy with these two little fish I found lying in a bed of ice on Friday.

So we invited John, Tash and Airen to join us for Saturday dinner.   After introducing them to the new chickens who where wandering around the yard being tormented by Tana.....

We sat back to enjoy the last of the day and try some freshly baked focaccia with roasted garlic, olives and rosemary (we will come to that recipe another day).  I served this with red and yellow peppers, simply charred, peeled and sliced and grilled Haloumi cheese and sliced salami.  Tash added a hummus that she will have to send me the recipe for, it was great.

Once the angel child went off to sleep we sat down to have the trout.

Trout wrapped in prosciutto with pine nuts

2 baby trout, cleaned and dried

¼ cup of sultanas

2 tablespoons of pine nuts

rind on 1 lemon

a handful of parsley

¼ cup of white wine

8 thin slices of prosciutto

200gms butter

Put sultanas and wine into a small pot and bring to the boil, set  aside and cool.

Finely chop parsley, add lemon rind 1 tablespoon of the pine nuts and the drained and chopped sultanas.  Season with a little salt and pepper and the stuff mixture into the cleaned and dried trout.

Lay 4 slices of prosciutto onto a board and place the trout on top wrapping the fish in the prosciutto and place into a foil lined baking tray.  I popped a slice of lemon over the head of the fish for those with a slight delicacy about these things (he shell remain nameless).

Bake for 20 -25 minutes at 180C, the prosciutto will become crisp.

Just before serving heat the butter and the other tablespoon of pine nuts until the butter browns and the nuts start to turn then serve this over the fish.

We served this with steamed asparagus and potato I had finely sliced and oven baked in chicken stock.  

The picture above shows the plate as served for 2 to share.

Enjoy, Love Mary

Is it just me or does everyone love spuds?

We had Keith, Ro and Chris for dinner last night and put some spring lamb racks on the barbeque. It was such perfect meat that I just spread it with a paste of fresh lemon, garlic and rosemary that I had pounded in the mortar and pestle with a little olive oil and salt and pepper.  Left to do its thing for a couple of hours.  Nick cooked these rare and we served them with asparagus and french beans, just steamed with a touch of lemon infused olive oil to finish and best of all - the following potato dish.

Originally a recipe from Antonio Carluccio, I’ve adapted it to suit us.  Can’t remember what it was even called but we will call it…

Antonio’s Potatoes

This will be enough for 4 people

750g potatoes, cut in half (I use chat or kipfler or similar)

2 red onions peeled and cut in quarters

1 punnet of cherry tomatoes

A whole bunch of fresh basil – leaves only, I have also done this with other herbs, any soft herbs, mint, coriander, parsley or a mix is great too.

Put all ingredients into a roasting pan, toss with salt, pepper and plenty of olive oil and pop into an oven to bake 180C for about an hour.  You will need to toss this a couple of times while cooking.

Try this it really is tasty and will be an easy addition to your  summer barbeques.

Chook Chook Chookie….

This is a huge occasion at our house, finally the chickens have arrived!

It’s a whole new world of chook houses, chook food, chook feeders and chickens.  We are now the proud owners of three chickens of the laying variety or at least that’s what we are hoping.  Fresh eggs yipee. 

We celebrated by sitting on the lawn beside the chook house with a glass in hand fixated for far too long on how much time it would take these girls to realise they had a large upstairs bedroom and lots of fresh hay to lay (haha) their not so pretty heads. The spring weather has returned so it made the evening even sweeter.

So was it in bad taste that we where having barbequed chicken for dinner?

Here is a standard marinade we use often.  With a fresh simple salad it makes for a very quick, easy and tasty dinner.

Easy Chicken Marinade

1 red chilli (remove seeds if you don’t like the heat)

½ lemon chopped skin and all

1 clove garlic

A Fresh herb or choice (anything will do, basil, thyme, marjoram, mint, rosemary preferably something straight from the garden)

Pop it all in a large mortar and pestle with some salt and a drizzle of oil

Toss the chicken pieces and leave till your barbeque is hot. I’d suggest a minimum of an hour if longer pop it in the fridge.

It snowed, it hailed, it rained and it blew and then the power went off……

We knew it would be cold so had lit the fire early, we had a list of wonderful things to cook and Nick had prepared all the ingredients he needed to start baking. 

Nothing to do but wait.

A friend popped over with baby Aerin for coffee and no power.  So we pulled the chairs up to the fire and without anything else to do - opened a bottle of wine!  Even little Aerins baby bottle wasn’t a problem; it got warm on the fire.

Very lucky, the power came on late afternoon, some frantic cooking and we had a wonderful dinner of Twice Cooked Gruyere Soufflé with a  salad of Spinach, Walnut and Red Onion followed by a Chocolate Mouse Cake with Pomegranate and Pine Nuts.

To top that off we opened a bottle of 2001 Freycinet Cabernet Merlot from Tasmania, fantastic.

Try this Souffle its much easier than you would think and if you are cooking for a few people it can be pre prepared right up to the first cooked stage and refrigerated for up to 48 hours.

Twice Cooked Gruyere Soufflé

40gm butter

40 gm flour

190 ml milk

70 gm Gruyere cheese (grated)

2 eggs

250 ml (1cup) cream – I used less than this!

Heat over to 180C, melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat, add flour and stir continuously until just coloured.  Gradually add milk, beating continuously until smooth.

Add 40gm of the cheese stir to combine – cool slightly then add egg yolks and season to taste.

Whisk egg whites and a pinch of salt until firm peaks form then fold one third of egg whites into cheese mixture, fold the remaining egg into the mixture then divide amongst 4 floured moulds.  Place moulds in a roasting tray and pour enough water into the tray to reach about half way up the moulds.  Bake until golden (about 25 minutes) and then cool in the moulds.

Transfer the souffle's to heatproof bowls, pour over the cream and scatter the remaining cheese. Bake again for 20 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve with the salad on top or on the side.

Spinach, walnut and red onion salad.

Finely slice ½ a red onion – sprinkle with a little salt

Finely slice baby spinach leaves that you have removed the stalk, add to onion

Toss a small handful of walnuts in a hot pan until cooked then chop these finely, combine with spinach and toss with a little extra virgin olive oil, a little verjuice and season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Friday night in!

The weather has turned from spring back to winter, we have the fire going again, the first time since returning from Europe.  All the blossom that we have been enjoying so much is floating around landing on the windows and ground.  Even Tana is not keen on venturing out to chase the rabbits!

The positive side is that cold weather always encourages food.  Nick has a beer in hand and after a late interview with the UK I’m deserving of a glass of something.

Dinner will take a little while and it’s a bit early to start so a nibble is required.  We loved the following crab and coconut dip. I had to use a tin of crab meat as there isn’t a place to buy fresh where we are but this worked well.

Crab and Coconut Dip - Served with light Asian crackers

1 small tin crab meat

1 red chilli

Juice of 1 lime

20 finely chopped mint leaves

Coconut, ½ cup, fresh would be great but I used desiccated

1 tablespoon of good quality whole egg mayonnaise

We followed this with Steamed eggplant with three flavours it was a recipe published in the Gourmet Traveller magazine – September 2010, the recipe is from the Spice Temple in Sydney.

If you don’t subscribe to the magazine I’ve included the recipe below, simple and really good.  With some steamed rice it’s also a healthy option.  I didn’t use the peanut oil, just a non stick wok so you can eat without care….

This is my version, photo by Nick

It’s now Saturday morning and we wake up to snow, good thing the newspaper is at the gate and the fire wood just outside the door. So much for spring.

Spice Temple's steamed eggplant with three flavours

Serves 4 Cooking Time Prep time 20 mins, cook 25 mins (plus draining)

2	eggplant, cut into thick batons
12	garlic cloves
30 ml	peanut oil
400 gm	coarsely minced pork
80 gm (¼ cup)	sweet bean paste (see note)
350 ml	chicken stock
120 ml	dark soy sauce
½ tsp	sesame oil
2 cups (loosely packed)	coriander, coarsely chopped

1	Place eggplant in a colander, scatter with 2 tsp fine sea salt, set aside to drain (1 hour). Lightly rinse eggplant under cold running water, drain and pat dry with absorbent paper. Steam in a single layer in a large steamer placed over boiling salted water until soft (12-14 minutes), keep warm.
2	Meanwhile, blanch garlic in boiling water until tender (3-5 minutes). Drain, cool, finely chop and set aside.
3	Heat peanut oil in a wok over high heat, add pork, stir-fry until golden (3-5 minutes), remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add bean paste to wok, stir-fry until fragrant (30 seconds-1 minute), add stock, soy sauce and pork and simmer until thick (5-7 minutes), then stir through sesame oil.
4	To serve, scatter eggplant with garlic, pork and coriander and serve hot.

Note Sweet bean paste is available from Asian grocers.

Tight arse Tuesday!

So I spotted some free range chicken legs on special…we had an old colleague of Nicks to stay overnight and I wanted something really easy and tasty and not at all time consuming. 

If you don’t feel like being tied to the kitchen this one is a winner.  The chicken goes all sticky and gooey and literally is finger licking.  And yes it did keep me well out of the kitchen.

Just pop the chicken legs (without skin if your watching your weight) in a large oven dish with a punnet of baby roma tomatoes (cherry would do), a good handful of green Sicilian olives, lots of fresh marjoram (just the leaves and just about any herb will do – try fresh basil or oregano), 2 peeled and quartered red onions and a few kipfler potatoes – just halved long ways.  I then grated 2 cloves of garlic over the top, a light drizzle of olive oil and some black pepper and salt, get your hands into this and give it a good mix up.  (You can put this asside until you are ready to pop it in the hot oven.)

Into the oven (200C) for about an hour, turning the legs once.  

We served this with a mix of steamed asparagus and sugar snaps with a drizzle of lemon infused olive oil.

How easy was that!

Nick produced a bottle of Pinot Noir from a box that James had given us and we where very happy indeed.

Fresh herbs are a must!

Love

Mary

The fish that Nick bought!

Last night Nick arrived home with 2 pieces of Tasmanian Salmon. 

We had a couple of very large kipfler potatoes already so I thinly sliced these and mixed with finely sliced red onion, a touch of oil and salt and pepper.  I popped this in the oven to bake for ½ an hour (200C) then when almost crisp covered it with a couple of handfuls of baby spinach leaves and then the two pieces of fish which I had lightly seasoned and  coated in a little more oil. 

This I baked for a further 8 minutes and it was done. 

A squeeze of lemon juice and popped onto a warm plate, it covered most bases – tasty, easy, fast, healthy and in one pan – perfect Monday night dinner!

Love
Mary

Gabi, I promised you the Apple Cake...

When we saw Gabi and Jim recently in London I promised to send Gabi the cake Nick has been cooking recently, it’s from a book I was given as a school prize so obviously getting on a bit!

(The New Zealand Radio and Television Cookbook, first published 1974!! - not much I'd cook in there these days but the baking is great)

Spicy Apple Cake

1 cup peeled, cored and chopped apples

1 cup sugar

125g butter

1 egg

1 ½ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon allspice

½ cup raisins

½ cup walnuts

Put chopped apples in mixing bowl.  Sprinkle with sugar.  Stir to coat and leave to stand 2-3 minutes.  Blend melted butter and beaten egg into apple.  Sift flour, baking soda, salt and spices together.  Add dry ingredients, stirring until just mixed.  Add raisins and nuts.

Bake at 180C for 50-60 minutes.

Cool for 10 minutes before turning out of tin.

Cool completely.  Sprinkle with icing sugar and enjoy…..

Happy baking

Love Mary

Here’s one for you Liz…

Healthy food; I love this dish, tasty and easy.  Many of you will have eaten this with us since the days at Mary Street - we still cook it.

This has got to be my favourite barbeque chicken dish, great for crowds and the chicken thighs are a cost effective option but the taste is huge.  I serve this with a simple Asian salad and have included one of mine below.

The salad is also worth considering if you want a simple 1 plate dish, just add enough cooked prawns, shredded poached chicken or finely sliced beef or pork and you have a great summer meal.

Yes Liz I can hear you say there is salt and even sugar but I’ve cut it down here for you and everyone needs some salt!

Grilled Chicken with Pepper Lime Dip, served with a simple Asian salad  

serves 6

Chicken thighs – enough for 6 people

1 teaspoon white pepper corns

1/2 teaspoon salt   

6 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon fresh ginger

½ tablespoon lime zest

2 tablespoons light soya sauce

2 tablespoons light palm sugar

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Coriander to garnish

In mortar and pestle, crush the white pepper, add garlic, salt, ginger and lime zest and pound to a paste.

Transfer mixture to bowl, stir in soya sauces, sugar and vegetable oil. Add chicken, toss to coat well and marinate for minimum of 2 hours or overnight.

Barbeque or grill at medium heat, turning often. Transfer to serving platter, garnish with coriander and serve with pepper lime dip.

Pepper Lime Dip:

Juice of 2 limes

1 tablespoon ground white peppercorns

½ teaspoon sea salt

Combine all three ingredients and stir until salt is dissolved.

Either dip the chicken pieces or spread them with the dip.

My Asian Salad

I put this over any mix of julienne vegetables including: carrots, cucumber (seeds removed), bean sprouts, red and yellow peppers, chilli and always include loads of fresh Asian mint, coriander, basil and finely chopped shallots.

If you want to dress it up add crushed peanuts, crispy shallots (from your Asian grocer), shredded green pawpaw or green mango.  I’ve even used ripe mango if I’m serving this salad with prawns and it all works.

The dressing

1 large red chilli

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 tablespoons fish sauce, to taste

2 tablespoons of fresh lime juice

1 teaspoons palm sugar, to taste

Pound the chopped chillies and garlic together until forming a paste texture. Transfer to a bowl, add the fish sauce, lime juice and sugar to taste. Stir well to mix. Adjust the flavours so that the sauce is equally salty and sour with a light touch of sweetness.

Let the sauce sit for at least 15 minutes before using, to allow the flavours to merge.

Enjoy

Love Mary

Saturday night with friends

A simple tasting platter, Vegetable Salad with Barbeque Spring Lamb

Tonight we have Cilla and Karl coming over for an early barbeque.  As we are in the city staying at our friends wonderful home I don’t have at hand many of the ingredients available in my pantry so have decided to keep this very simple indeed.  We do however have some of the best and freshest ingredients available just down the road so fresh it is!

I’ll put a platter together to have with a glass of beer or wine, some roasted garlic bread from Brasserie Bread in Botany, Black Olives, a chunk of Blue Castello and to keep it simple 2 dips from the deli  -  easy.

I found a great piece of spring lamb – boned shoulder that will be wonderful slowly cooked with lots of basting (just a bit of lemon juice, garlic and mint) but I’m hoping today the highlight will be vegetables.

Spring peas, sugar snaps, asparagus and new potatoes with a sprinkle of lemon infused olive oil and  a squeeze of fresh lemon juice – it should be very tasty indeed.

I have pre cooked separately each of the veg making sure I dressed each part while they are still hot, you will get much better flavour that way.  Don’t forget also to leave the lid off the pot when cooking green veg – you will notice the difference.

For my weight conscious friends just go a bit lighter on the olive oil and for you steaming through your high blood pressure not as much salt but do use some!

As a side I also found some Roma tomatoes that looked so good I couldn’t walk past so they are currently in the over cooking at 100C (very slowly) sprinkled with a little sugar and a touch of salt, a little fresh thyme and a splash of olive oil, they will take a good 2-3 hours, will be semi dried and delicious to have with the lamb.

Serve the vegetable in a big mound over some baby spinach leaves, surrounded by that pink lamb, simple and tasty. For those at the table not concerned about their waist line the addition of a bowl of garlic aioli was a big plus.

As Nick was out playing golf this afternoon I got to pick the wine so a it’s a bottle of Scarborough Chardonnay from the Hunter and an El Coto Rioja, just to remind us of our recent time in Spain - I think that should work nicely.

Last minute Martin has arrived too, a little less meat than I would like but plenty of delicious vegetable and a big platter of starter, we had a great night with friends and family.  A few games of pool, a few laughs and maybe just one wine too many, it is Saturday after all.

If you would like more detail about any of this please ask,

Fresh is best,

Love Mary

Cooking in Radlet

We stayed recently with Nick’s Mum and Dad and to make the time more special we also had my Mum staying from NZ.  I put myself in the role of cook and had loads of help from both Nick and Steph.

Looking in someone else’s kitchen is always harder than your own but there is one single factor that make this one really fun – I have a love affaire with a kitchen appliance that I’ve never seen before– The Bean Cutter.  It attaches to the bench and as you turn the handle the bean (green and flat, I call it a runner bean) gets pushed through the machine and out comes perfectly fine cut pieces – I don’t know anyone in the would that shares the level of my excitement for this simple and quite old machine (it squeaks badly enough to send my sister in law running)…but it did mean I had to find a way to use this machine!!

So Jamie Oliver came to the rescue.  Luckily I had cooked this so many times we didn't need the book.

Beans with Cod, prosciutto and pine nuts.  As a starter we served the food with a simple salad of pear, witlof and walnut dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. Some new potatoes with the fish and finished with roast peaches which we had simply added a little honey and popped in thte already hot over served with a very good quality vanilla icecream.

Did I mention we where in a village outside of London, finding prosciutto was interesting but all the other ingredients came from a great farm store with a butcher and a fish monger and is now going to be the only place I buy food while I’m there.

Here’s Jamies recipe – It’s really good and simple and best of all everyone really enjoyed it.

Baked cod with French beans, pancetta and pine nuts

Jamie Oliver's The Naked Chef Takes Off

So easy and so delicious -- one of our all-time favorites.

Ingredients

350gms French beans, trimmed and sliced at an angle

1 Small clove garlic, finely sliced

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil

Cod steaks for 6, on the bone if you can get it or any fish is firm and think enough that it doesn’t over cook

6 Strips of smoked pancetta or thinly sliced bacon (but I usually use proscuitto)

1/2 Good handful pine nuts

1 Lemon, halved

Preparation

Preheat oven to 220C

Place French beans in roasting pan. Throw in garlic and a little salt and pepper, add just enough olive oil to coat the beans, and mix it all around.

Nestle the cod steaks in among the beans, lightly season again, and then place some pancetta over the cod and among the beans. Sprinkle with the pine nuts and drizzle a little olive oil over the top. Take your lemon halves and place them in the pan -- they will cook and colour slightly, going jammy, sweet and lemony.

Cook for roughly 15 minutes in the middle of the preheated oven. Lightly lay aluminum foil over the fish for the first 5 minutes and then remove it. This is a meal in itself, so serve with all the lovely juices from the pan drizzled over the top.

Fresh is best,

Love Mary