Recipe: Fish Poached In Coconut Sauce

I have made this fish dish poached in coconut milk and spices a few times now and it is the perfect way to cook fish. Poaching is a quicker method than a traditional curry but you still get a delicious flavour without the fish drying out.

This is a perfect mid week dinner it's quick to make, with just a few ingredients and is super tasty - the coconut sauce will have everyone begging for seconds guaranteed!

Fish Poached In Coconut Sauce

Serves: 4
Original recipe source: Taste (this is my tried and tested and amended version of the recipe) 

Ingredients
1 tin coconut cream
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 tbs fish sauce
1 tbs brown sugar
2 tsp sambal oelek (chilli paste)
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 brown onion, finely chopped
4 x fillets of firm fish, cut into small chunks

To serve
Spring onions
Fresh coriander
Steamed Rice
Vegetables (I add mixed vegetables green beans, peas, cauliflower and broccoli)

Method

1. In a large pan heat oil and fry garlic and onion for a few minutes. Next add sambal oelek and cook for a few minutes.

2. Add to pan a tin of coconut cream, finely grated lemon zest and juice, fish sauce and brown sugar and turn up heat to bring to the boil, stirring often.  

3. Reduce heat to low and put the lid on and cook for about 20 minutes so flavours come together. 

4. Add fish and simmer gently, put the lid on and cook for about 10 minutes until fish is cooked through.

5. Meanwhile, cook steamed rice and vegetables (I add my vegetables to my rice cooker half way through and they cook perfectly).

When ready to serve spoon the rice into a bowl, top with vegetables, the fish and sauce and don't be shy about ladling on some extra spoonfuls of the delicious sauce, top with spring onions and fresh coriander.  Enjoy!

What's your favourite way to cook fish?


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Recipe: Steamed Fish With Chinese Vegetables

Whenever I pull out canned tuna or salmon Mr P thinks he's being punished and made to eat cat food! So I've been cooking with fresh fish more in the effort to encourage us add more fish to our diet.

I like to cook fish in different ways so it doesn't feel like it's the same fish dinner every week - while I love a spicy fish curry and beer battered fish and chips, I've discovered that it's much healthier to steam fish.

This recipe for Steamed Fish With Chinese Vegetables is delicious, the vegetables are steamed too so there's less washing up and less cooking time too which makes it perfect for a quick and easy mid week meal.

Steamed Fish With Chinese Vegetables

Fish and Vegetables

4 x fresh fish fillets (we used trout)

Spring onions, sliced

1 long red chilli, thinly sliced

Fresh coriander, leaves picked and stems chopped

Bok choy, chopped

Button mushrooms, quartered
Steamed rice to serve

Sauce

1/2 cup soy sauce

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 tbs ginger, grated

1/4 cup kecap manis

1/4 cup brown rice vinegar

1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 cup water

Method

1. Boil a pot of water slightly smaller than the steamer basket so the basket will sit on top.

2. Line a steamer basket with baking paper, top with fish and on top of the fish add the chilli, spring onions, coriander stems, bok choy and mushrooms and place the lid on.

3. When the water is simmering place basket on top for 5-7 minutes or until fish is cooked, the flesh will turn white and flake easily.

4. Meanwhile, in another smaller pot heat the sauce ingredients. Simmer on low for 5 minutes or until fragrant and slightly reduced, stirring occassionally.

5. Fill each serving bowl with rice, top with the fish and pour over the hot sauce, top with extra coriander leaves and spring onions.

The steaming baskets look so pretty you could almost get away with serving them on the dinner table like that with some steamed rice on the side. 

This is a healthy and easy meal that can be on the table in less than 30 minutes.

How do you cook fish at home? I could do with some more fish recipes!

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Favourite Pie Recipes

The Aussie icon the meat pie has it's place on weekends when a quick lunch is needed and you can pop them straight from the freezer into the oven and easy peasy lunch is served.

There's nothing that makes me feel more domesticated than making a home made pie, especially if I make the pastry as well, that's when I feel like a true domestic goddess! But I need to expand my pie making repertoire and I'm hoping that these pie recipes from Taste are going to do just that.

Here are my favourites now printed out and stuck to the fridge to try out in the kitchen .....

Three Cheese Pie

Fish Pie

The Ultimate Chicken Pie

Curried Beef Pie

Mr McGregor's Winter Garden Vegetable Pies

Spinach and Polenta Pie

I think the vegetable pie with mini carrots would be perfect to make for Easter!

What's your favourite pie filling?





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[Images via Taste - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

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Recipes: Home Made Burgers

It's a bit of a treat to make burgers at home and much healthier than getting take away which we try to avoid as much as possible. 

Mr P's in his element firing up the BBQ while I busy myself making a salad and it's a quick and easy mid week meal.

These burger recipes from Taste are on my must try list .....

Bacon and Avocado Burger

Classic Fish Burger

Aussie Kangaroo Burgers

Chicken Schnitzel Burgers with Radish and Cucumber Salsa

Hoisin Beef Burgers with Chilli Mayo

Brie Stuffed Beef Burgers

I would be happy to cook up any of these burgers for dinner tonight!

What's your favourite home made burger?




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[Images via Taste 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

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Recipe: Creamy Smoked Salmon Fettuccini

If you're looking for a dinner party dish to impress your guests then a serve of this rich and decadent pasta is perfect.

With only a few ingredients, it's fairly quick and easy to prepare because it's all about the smoked salmon. I smoked my salmon at home in my awesome Bradley Smoker but I'm sure it would taste just as good with quality store bought smoked salmon.

 

Creamy Smoked Salmon Fettuccine

Serves 2
Home Smoking Basics: For Meat, Fish and Poultry by Maria Sartor

Ingredients

1 fillet smoked salmon, cut into thin strips

1 brown onion, finely diced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tsp capers, rinsed and chopped

2-3 tbs cream
1 tbs butter

Fresh parsley, finely chopped

Freshly ground pepper
Fresh fettuccine

Method

1. Heat a large pan, add oil and fry off onion and garlic. Add cream and capers and stir frequently on low heat until combined.

 

2. Meanwhile cook fettuccine pasta until al dente. Reserve a cup of cooking water. Drain pasta and then return to pot with a knob of butter.

 

3. Add salmon and pasta to cream sauce and gently combine, add some of the reserved cooking water until the pasta is coated in sauce. Add fresh parsley and lots of cracked pepper.

 

4. Serve this indulgently rich pasta garnished with extra fresh parsley and enjoy!

Do you have a favourite smoked salmon recipe?
 

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Photo A Day: October Days 26 - 31

Well I did it! I played the October Photo A Day challenge run by Fat Mum Slim and shared a photo every single day for the whole month of October right here on the blog and on my Facebook page.

 

I don't see myself as a great photographer, pretty average really, I don't even edit my photos before publishing them I'm that slack so this was a pretty big challenge for me. I took all my photos using my smart phone and I admit it does have a pretty great camera which helps.

I found myself looking around for my daily word prompts all the time it kept me on my toes with my eyes open and camera at the ready! It also meant I was sharing more of my personal life and happenings instead of just the latest renovation or DIY project which I really liked and hope you did too!

You can see photos from my October days 1 - 9 here and 10 - 18 here and 19 - 25 here

 

 

These are Days 26 - 31 of photos from the prompts above ...

26 Depth of field my nuts are in focus and the background is not;
27 Peaceful view from deck overlooking winery on my girls weekend away;
 28 Just for me we converted our hallway cupboard into my very own shoe cupboard;

29; My Friday night date hair worn ala natural with a hint of cheeky auburn shining through
30; My bar themed fish tank has an all round wet theme
31; Treat using my funky fluro pink tea cup for the first time

 

That was my first FMS Photo A Day monthly challenge but it definitely won't be my last!

 

Although I'm not playing the November list as it's going to be a crazy busy month for me ... I'll join in again soon.

 

[1st Image via Fat Mum Slim all other images my own]
 

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The Perfect Beer Batter Recipe

Unfortunately this isn't a meal I can make in my makeshift kitchen the garage but it won't be long until I'm cooking in the new kitchen! This is a recipe I made a little while ago and want to share because it was delicious.

 

I was always a bit hesitant to make beer battered fish for fear it's not too healthy and would be heavy and oily. But I'm glad I tried this recipe, surprisingly it was light and fluffy because of the yeast in the beer and the batter was crunchy and tasty.

 

Deep-Fried Fish Fillets in Beer Batter Recipe
(In The Kitchen Cookbook by Allan Campion and Michele Curtis)

Ingredients
250ml (1 cup) beer  ... you can finish the rest!
2 tbsp olive oil
1 egg
170g (1 cup plus 1 tbsp) plain flour
pinch of salt
500g firm white fish fillets   ... caught fresh by my big brother, thanks bro!
seasoned flour
oil for deep frying

Method
Whisk together beer, oil and egg.
Sift flour and salt and add to beer, whisk until smooth.
Set aside for 30 minutes.
Heat up oil in saucepan for frying.
Coat fish in seasoned flour, then batter, allowing excess to drip off.
Ease fish gently into hot oil and cook until golden, turning fish over once.
Drain on absorbent paper and sprinkle with salt.

 

Serve with lemon wedges, a green salad and chips - don't be naughty like me and have frozen chips, make your own hand cut oven baked chips tossed in olive oil, sea salt and dried mixed herbs.

If you're like me and afraid of this being an oily dinner don't be, it was delicious!
 

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Easter Weekend Happenings

Is it just me or did Easter really sneak up on us coming early in March this year ...

It was so good to have a 4 day break. We didn't go away we spent the time around home but managed to have equal parts relaxing and doing things which is always a good feeling.

 

Drove around visiting friends and family for Easter catch ups and a house warming party. Handed out mountains of chocolate eggs, bunnys, humpty dumpty and treats.

 

Ate too much chocolate and drank too much wine. Made a delicious fish and prawn curry on Good Friday from fish caught by my big brother ... it's quite a step up from the fillet-o-fish burger I use to get from McDonalds on Good Friday!

 

Took Lexi to the park she splashed around in the River and got all muddy. She loves playing with other dogs she's a bit of a tramp really! We've had her for 3 months now she has really settled into our home so well and is much loved and spoilt.

 

 

I read some of my home design books getting inspired about the kitchen renovation. Lazed about on the couch watching Foxtel and my favourite Lifestyle shows and getting my dose of house envy. I pretty much watched Sarah 101 reruns all afternoon she has such an engaging personality and is so damn talented I have a major girl crush on her!

 

Finished the last of my lessons for the BYW Blog Boss course and have made lots of notes and goals I want to achieve in the coming months. I spent hours updating my blog by added some new tabs to my top header to make it easier to find things.
 

Got a few jobs done around the house like cleaning out the garage and getting it ready to be turned into the makeshift kitchen while we're renovating. Also installed a new dishwasher at my apartment to keep the tenants happy.

 

 

So that was our Easter break!

How was yours? What did you get up to?

 

[All images my own]

 

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Our Kitchen Renovation Action Plan

When I first started dreaming about my kitchen renovation I worked out the first steps for planning a kitchen renovation and now that the renovation is underway I've prepared a more detailed and step by step action plan.

 

My action plan is a 3 page list with dates of when something needs to be done, what it is, and who is doing it (us or trades). I need to be super organised with a big project like this so it flows from one thing to another - if I'm not, I'll end up pressured to buy things on the spot, the project will drag on forever and undoubtedly I'll end up spending more money which nobody wants to do.

 

So this the short version of our kitchen renovation action plan:

1. Start inspiration file / Visit showrooms for ideas (I've been doing this for years in anticipation!)
2. Get 2 quotes from kitchen companies - Design 1 and Design 2
3. Compare and pick the kitchen company and compare the designs
4. Choose cabinetry, handles and bench top
5. Choose splash back
6. Buy new appliances (oven, stove, range hood, microwave, dishwasher)
7. Buy sink and tap ware
8. Turn the garage into a makeshift kitchen with microwave, fridge, pantry etc
9. Pack up the kitchen cupboards and keep out only the essentials
10. Pack up pantry and keep food essentials in makeshift pantry
11. Move from dining area the wine buffet and fish tank into Study/Craft Room
12. Order new french doors to be made for dining area (doors will go out onto a deck - still to be built!)
13. Final meet up and measure with kitchen company
14. Demolition time!
15. Rip out all the old cupboards
16. Knock down brick wall of walk in pantry
17. Knock out exterior brick wall and window to make doorway for french doors
18. Double check measurements for french doors and have installed
19. Repair hole in ceiling where pantry wall removed (most likely we will need to replace entire ceiling)
20. Patch and prepare walls, window and door frames, skirting and ceiling (paint some areas now and the rest once new kitchen installed)
21. Repair hole in floorboards where pantry wall removed
22. Sand and fill gaps in floorboards (ready to be sealed and restored once new kitchen installed)
23. Go shopping for bar stools, rug, lights and wall art
24. Organise plumbing and electrical work tradies
25. New cabinetry and bench tops to be installed
26. New oven, stove top and range hood to be installed
27. New sink and dishwasher to be installed
28. Organise tiler to do splash back
29. Finish painting - walls, window and door frames, skirting and ceiling
30. Seal and restore floorboards
31. Unpack the boxes of kitchenware in storage that I've long since forgotten about!
32. Bring the fridge back in and stock with well earned beers and wine
33. Unpack food into the shiny new pantry
34. Stand back and admire our awesome new kitchen
35. Throw a kitchen party to thank all those that fed us during the renovation!

So far we're working our way towards No 14 we haven't finalised anything but the wheels are in motion ... we've been appliance and door shopping the last 3 weekends in a row but not actually bought anything yet!

I will keep you posted over the coming weeks as to how I'm coping with no kitchen comforts, what products and appliances we chose and why, how we go with the installation and whether my insanity is in tact after weeks of having no kitchen!
 

[All images my own]
 

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Put It On A Kitchen Tray

The thought that my kitchen renovation plan is underway has had me wandering around kitchenware shops these last few days getting inspiration for the kitchen decor for the new kitchen.

 

The extra bench space I'll have to display things on is what is getting me most excited, I won't know what to put where! I don't want it to look cluttered and think that putting items on a kitchen tray or plate keeps them neat and tidy and in their right zones.

 

My coffee machine can finally move from the fish tank wine cabinet and onto the kitchen bench by the sink. I want to put a tray next to it to display my espresso cups and collection of tea pots and the tea/coffee/sugar canisters. Turning this into a coffee station will be so much more practical and I won't be running from one side of the kitchen to get cups and the other to get the sugar like I am now.

 

 

 

 

I've also got my eye on a modern silver oil can (like this Curtis Stone one except a cheaper version if I can find it!) to sit next to the stove top with my new Peugeot Tahiti Salt and Pepper Mills I won thanks to Real Living Magazine 7th Birthday Competition. A pretty plate will probably work here if it's large enough. It will be so much easier to access these every day items right next to the cooker instead of going into the pantry.

 

 

 

 

Is it just me or does everything look so much prettier on a tray?

 

[Images via Pinterest Coffee 1, 2, 3 and Stove 1, 2, 3]

 

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My Fishy Friends

In my bar fish tank I've added a few more bottles and steins to give the fish more places to hide and swim around

 

My fishy friends are 2 angel fish, 2 spotted catfish, an algae eater and a striped clown loach that loves to lay upside down and play dead freaking me out each time I see it!

 

 

 

This wine buffet has come in so handy not only does it hold the fish tank, but we have set up the coffee machine on one side and a bar tray on the other so its the morning caffeine station and evening wine station!

 

 

 

I never tire of watching my fishy friends swim around and it's always a great conversation piece when friends are over!

Have you ever thought about having pet fish?
They are the easiest pets to look after!

 

[All images my own]



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My Blue N Silver Christmas

This is my 3rd Christmas in the Jarrah Jungle and each year the tree has been put up in a different spot, this year the tree up in the dining area next to the bar fish tank which looks really nice at night time when the lights are on. The tree is covered in blue and silver ornaments and tinsel, I've heard tinsel is out of vogue but I don't agree I think it looks pretty!

In the Living Room I've filled an ornate bird cage with red beads and ceramic balls and a glass cylinder with some silver baubles to add a bit of chrissy style

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