Something fishy...?

It's been a while since I cooked anything from my website staples of BBC Good Food or Channel 4 Food. And after a weekend of indulgence - hello Mr Pad Thai, Mr Massaman and Mr Venison sausages with carrot & potato mash with LOADS of red onion gravy (yum) - it felt time to eat some delicious and light fish dish.

We all know fish is good for us (Channel 4 rammed it home with their recent week of programming) and I'm guilty of not eating enough, but at the same time I'd like to think I still eat more than most. Trouble is, all my faves are the so-called fish we should avoid - cod, sea bass, plaice, sole and more. I get slight pangs of guilt every time I flick through my Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall book, 'River Cottage Everyday' and he runs through the list of fish we should avoid due to their dropping numbers - I've tried replacements such as coley and gurnard, and I'm sorry, they just don't taste as good! Maybe this is a clue as to why certain species are more endangered than others!

I know it's irresponsible, but seeing as I don't eat fish too often I think I should be allowed a little treat don't you! So I've chosen the little number below to serve up tonight. I'm avoiding any boiled and buttered new potatoes, so this should be very healthy. I'm pretty confident it'll be a hit as it uses classic flavours that are some of favourites, plus they are tried and tested combinations. Take a look...

Fillet of sea bass with sweet and sour tomatoes and balsamic vinegar

For the tomatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
handful vine cherry tomatoes
2 tbsp sugar
For the fish
170g/6oz sea bass fillet
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
25g/1oz rocket
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
For the salad
25g/1oz rocket
olive oil
small bunch of fresh chives, finely chopped, to garnish

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
2. For the tomatoes, heat the oil over a low heat in an ovenproof frying pan. Add the tomatoes and the sugar and place into the oven for 10-12 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.
3. Meanwhile, for the sea bass, season the fillet with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and score the skin-side with a knife.
4. Heat the oil and the butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the sea bass fillet, skin-side down and cook for two minutes.
5. Turn the fillet over and cook for a further 30 seconds, or until cooked through, then remove from the pan and set aside in a warm place.
6. Tear the rocket leaves and add to the same pan with the balsamic vinegar. Cook for five minutes to reduce the balsamic vinegar to a thick sauce.
7. For the salad, place the rocket in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil.
8. To serve, place the rocket salad onto a large plate and top with the sea bass. Drizzle the sea bass with the balsamic and rocket pan juices and sprinkle with chives. Place the roasted tomatoes around the plate.

Sounds pretty damn good too me! I'll let you know how it comes out.

Dehesa, Ganton Street, W1

Post Christmas I'm trying to abstain from everything cocoa. Too much was munched over the festive season. Sometimes I'm more successful than others. So if I'm leaving chocolate alone I'm allowed to indulge in other areas right? Come on, I'm allowed one vice! Ok, several...

Actually I'm being harsh on myself. Overindulgence has always been a trait of mine, so it was with slight trepidation for my waistline and my wallet that I set foot into one of my culinary nemesis...a tapas restaurant.

Dehesa, tucked down Kingly Street and next to the bustle of Carnaby Street, is a beautiful little space, with the customary fat piggie legs hanging from the ceiling and as you can guess, food served on wooden boards - a trend that I still find fun and says the food can be fancy here, it still has rustic roots.

It's packed too! Unsurprising for a Saturday lunchtime in town. The first face I see when I enter is a seldom seen friend of my girlfriend! A proper foodie if I ever knew one, so this was a great sign I was onto a winner! We take seats at the bar and we're greeted with smiling, friendly waiter. I could stay here for hours. It's warm, welcome and not up its own arse!

If I had my way all restaurants would serve their meals tapas size, so I can try everything on the menu. I want it all and I want it now! However in my universe every dish wouldn't cost as much (the veal cheeks at Dehesa come in a wrenching £9.50!). So every dish would be about 2 pounds and you can have one of everything. Is that so much to ask. Well yes it is really, but who are YOU to argue with the King of my universe!

So this is why it took me and my fellow diner about 25 minutes to decide what we want! Do we want Charcuterie board with it's delectable selection of Spanish meats (Paprika edged pork loin WILL be devoured in the future) and/or (most likely 'and') the Italian cheese selection? Or do we want a selection of the wonderful sounding tapas dishes - including those tempting veal cheeks? It's all too much for someone who had a tad too much booze last night and for whom clarity of thought is not Premier League shall we say.

We settle for tapas. As you'd expect, everything came in stages and nearly every dish delivered on it's promise from the menu. The 'not on the menu' pork terrine that the very friendly waiter suggested was dense with flavour but light at the same time, wrapped in delicious parma ham and served with chutney and crostinis. Little spherical mozzarella balls were light, milky and topped with a nifty olive tapenade that worked beautifully. Our courgette flowers stuffed with Monte Enebro (me neither. Just think ricotta and you're there) were drizzled with honey were lovely. The only slight disappointment was our sauteed duck's liver. It lacked a bit in flavour and served with a bit too much caramelized onion, which overpowered the rich iron flavour of the liver. But back to the pluses: I knocked back a very respectable house red and at just £3.75 a glass was a bit of a bargain!

Hands down a very sold 8/10. I'll be back!

Tapas and two glasses of wine cost just shy of £40

www.dehesa.co.uk

Beanz beanz good for your heart...

I'm illing a bit at the moment. You know how it is. Your body can't make up its mind if it wants to be ill or not, so you spend 2 or 3 days feeling a bit groggy, bit of a sore throat, achy etc. But it never gets bad enough to justify saying your actually ill!

And even though it might be a bit lighter in the mornings and evenings, it's still a bit chilly in the evenings. My better half is out tomorrow night, so keep myself busy and feel good I'm going to make this comforting and healthy stew from the Channel 4 Food site.

The X-Factor comes in that this recipe serves 8, so I'll be freezing some and when it comes to having it again, maybe adding nice, firm white fish like cod or monkfish to jazz it up a bit.



This substantial casserole of two beans - borlotti and cannellini - will bring a hearty glow to all - and it's suitable for veggies too.

Serves 8
Ready in just over 1 hour
Nutritional Information

Per serving:
176kcals
5.1g fat (0.8g saturated)
8.5g protein
23.4g carbs
10.1g sugar
0.7g salt
Ingredients

* 3 tbsp olive oil
* 4 celery sticks, roughly diced
* 4 medium carrots, roughly diced
* 3 leeks, trimmed, washed and sliced
* 2 garlic cloves, crushed
* 100ml white wine
* 2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
* Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
* About 700ml vegetable stock, hot
* 410g can borlotti beans, drained and rinsed
* 410g can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
* Small handful fresh oregano or fresh thyme, leaves picked and chopped, plus extra whole leaves to garnish

Method: How to make Italian bean casserole

1. Heat the oil in a large casserole or saucepan over a medium heat. Add the celery and carrots and cook, stirring, for 7-8 minutes. Add the leeks, cook for 3-4 minutes, then

stir in the garlic and wine. Let the wine cook out and reduce for a few minutes.

2. Tip in the tomatoes and lemon zest and season well. Add the stock, bring to the boil, then simmer fairly rapidly for 30-35 minutes, stirring occasionally or until the vegetables are just tender and the liquid has reduced and thickened.

3. Stir in the beans (add a dash of hot water, if necessary) and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the oregano or thyme and the lemon juice. It's worth re-checking the seasoning now. Spoon the casserole into bowls and garnish with fresh oregano or thyme leaves.

© delicious. magazine

Hands up who thought cake in a mug wouldn't work

Yeah I can see you! Yes! You! You didn't think cake in a mug in 5 minutes would work. Well to be honest, neither did I really...so I tried it myself. Have a look...





How did it taste? Like a really yummy chocolate cake actually! Not exactly light, but still a dense, rich and delicious cake! Fully decorated with icing, cream etc and it wouldn't have been any different from buying a supermarket cake.

On to the next one...

An ode to Halloumi

Halloumi, halloumi I love you truly. Does that work as a rhyme? Almost.

Anyway, halloumi. Where do I begin with my love affair with salty, delicious Cypriot cheese?

It first danced over my taste buds a few years ago at Mildreds. Simply grilled with some oven roasted tomatoes, wilted spinach and balsamic vinegar. The dish remains on the menu whilst pretty much everything else around it changes. A sign of it's popularity!

It seems there's a growing trend to use halloumi as an accompaniment. No no no! Halloumi is and always will be the star of any dish. It must be complimented with sweet and sharp flavours (hence why tomatoes and balsamic vinegar are such good friends with their Cypriot friend next door).

I like to have as the lead role in a simple salad of rocked and tomatoes, with a dash of the ever present balsamic. Perfect.

Now with the warmer weather setting in, why not try it on the BBQ this summer. It's high melting points means it's perfect for the scorching bars of the barbie, on some skewers with tomatoes, red onion, pepper and maybe courgette.

Yummy yummy yummy.

Muffin Monday

After my rant at all the Jamie haterz, I got obsessed with making the muffins I posted about in the very same rant! Check it out here.

So I made a whole bunch on Sunday. Now, I know Jamie has declared himself dyslexic, so I don't know if that has anything to with it, or I'm a complete muppet...but I followed the instructions exactly and the amount of muffin/cake mixture made for 24, not the stated 12 muffins! Not that I'm complaining!

I took a whole load into work and many were sceptical at first, but everyone who tried them loved them. Including Allie, who felt compelled to post the following on Twitter.



Amazing.

Follow me on Twitter here: http://www.blogger.com/www.twitter.com/tomstabb

Mildreds, 45 Lexington Street, London W1

This week I'm going MEAT FREE! Abstaining from all things animal. Well, not ALL things animal...just the flesh. I'm not a complete mental.

Me and the lady headed to a veggie favourite of mine, Mildreds on Lexington Street. I've been going there for years with mummy and daddy Stabby as they've been vegetarian for almost 30 years (I was even a card carrying member of the veggie club between the years of 11-18). I know! Whoddathunkit seeing as now I dive headfirst into trying any bovine beauty or clucking bird - making up for lost time I guess.

They've recently changed the menu and sadly it didn't quite live up to the high standards they've set themselves in the past. Maybe it's because every time I've been before I haven't paid and everything tastes that much better when it's not making a dent! Plus, Mildreds has always had a special place in my heart as ground zero for when I discovered halloumi. The fall out was immense and will last until the day I die. Grilled halloumi is one of the greatest things known to man and I'm so happy the starter of panfried cherry tomato, halloumi and wilted spinach dressed with balsamic remains.

With its narrow bar leading into the just as narrow dining room what's immediately noticeable about Mildreds is just how packed it is! I've only come on Saturdays before, so I was surprised at just how many people were already eating and how many were waiting to be seated. Never one to be put off by a half an hour wait (after all, a packed restaurant is a good sign!), we propped up the bar and waited to be seated.

Our shared starter of pumpkin and ricotta ravioli with a creamy forest mushroom white wine sauce was a faultless start. Light, deeply filled pasta pockets were complimented wonderfully with a flavourful, but never overpowering sauce which featured juicy chunks of wild mushroom.

After a lovely start our mains didn't quite match the promise. Sunblushed tomato and buffalo mozzarella risotto cake was lacking in the vital mozzarella department. I was hoping for oozing strings of cheesy gorgeousness as the cake was pulled apart. No such luck. I also don't remember tasting too much of the promised sunblushed tomatoes. But the risotto in the cake was rich and tasty enough and the dish was saved by the star of the show - the zingy and prickly grape mustard sauce.

My Sri Lankan sweet potato, cashew nut and spinach curry would be considered a good home cooked effort, but eating out you expect a bit more omph and spice, plus the dish lacked seasoning and any accompanying moping side - some naan would have been lovely. It was pleasant enough and I ate the lot being a fatty boom batty.

Our waiter failed to note down our requested sweet potato chips, but by the time they arrived we'd more of less forgiven him as we were already stuffed and didn't really need them. Once again, they were ok, but I was really baffled is how a restaurant can charge £5 for cutting sweet potatoes into chips, cooking them and putting them in a bowl...late. Besides, my sweet potato chips are 10 times better. Here's the best (and only way) to have them: toss them in oil, salt, pepper and some paprika and roast for 25mins. BUFF.

Dinner ended with a delicious sticky toffee pudding that went in seconds. A very pleasing conclusion, although our waitress did try and charge us for an organic, rather than house Rose, but that turned out to be crossed wires rather than anything untoward. Shady minx. And she looked like Jamie Lee Curtis.



As we strolled into the night I couldn't help but feel satisfied. Satisfied is fine, but when you used to see on your school report 'Satisfactory effort' mum and dad were always a tad disappointed. You just feel that with a bit more effort you could achieve so much more.

Now where's the beef?

6/10 seems too harsh, while 7/10 is probably too much, so lets settle on 6.75/10.

Shared starter and pud, plus 2 mains, beer and wine cost £50. www.mildreds.co.uk