Aline's fish cakes

Okay, so there has been some improvement on the posting frequency - twice a month instead of every six months. In my defense, I have been very, very busy with work. To toot my own horn, there are many projects in the works over there at Green Martha - you are welcome to check out the website and the shop. One of the things that happened was the opening of my first (yay !) exhibition. The tea shop provided drinks and sweet things to munch on, and I made the savory stuff. I made everything bite size (thanks to my silicon molds) - it's cuter and I didn't need to cut it for the opening.

Unfortunately, in the blur of everything I had to get ready, I only snapped a picture of one of the appetizers I made.

Aline's fish cakes

1 cup canned tuna
1 cup canned salmon
6 eggs
1/2 cup oat cream
2 tbsp flour
1 small can tomato paste

Preheat your oven at 360°F.
Beat the eggs, add the flour, cream, the fish (shredded into small bits with a fork), the tomato paste, a pinch of black pepper.
Pour into small silicon molds, bake for about 20 minutes, until the cakes are firm and slightly golden.

This recipe originally came from a family friend, Aline, and included regular cream and grated cheese. One of the things I learned when going dairy free is that fortunately, a lot of savory cake recipes actually function just as well without cheese.
And yes, I've just posted three fish recipes in a row. I promise I'm going to mix things up a little more with the next few posts !

Salmon-broccoli crumble, or how I broke my food processor (but it was worth it)

Well, it it not entirely broken. I can still make it work using a long stick and some fiddling around its insides. Which is good, given it gave up the soul when I had just started cooking today's lunch. I had broccoli int he fridge, and smoked salmon, in quantities that fit a lunch for one adult, two kids and some leftovers (always, always make leftovers, that's my motto) I looked around a bit. I didn't want to make a simple broccoli purée (the kids had pumpkin soup the day before, they need to use their teeth now and then), quiche sounded boring. I had Grana Padano in the fridge, too (like parmesan, but cheaper and good enough for cooking with it). And this is what I came up with.

Salmon & Broccoli crumble

3 broccoli heads

1 cup oat cream

2 large smoked salmon slices

1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup hazelnuts (or just a little more)
10,5 oz Grana Padano/parmesan

2tbsp butter (or substitute of choice)

ground black pepper

Rinse the broccoli ; cut off the hard part of the stem, separate the heads into small chunks. Cook in the pressure cooker for 15 minutes. Drain the broccoli and place it in a greased gratin dish. Pour the oat cream over it and roughly squash the broccoli with a fork. Place the smoked salmon over the mix so that it covers the broccoli.

Preheat your oven at 380°F.

If your food processor is sturdier than mine, use it to ground your cheese. When in doubt, resort to a manual cheese grater, you'll avoid plastic bits flying across the kitchen and the fiddling-with-a-long-stick to make the food processor work again. Do use the food processor to roughly ground the hazelnuts. Add the breadcrumbs, cheese and butter. Process briefly until all ingredients are mixed. Spread the crumbly mixture over the salmon.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until the crust becomes golden.

This was, however, a bummer with kids. The big one decided he did not like salmon this way, which is still a mystery to me as he adores salmon every other possible way.

History junkie - Poisson en croûte

The biggest part of my time is not spent in front of the stove, but in my almost-a-workshop, where I work with ink, paper, fabric and thread - not always together. One of "my" areas is historical costuming, more specifically (yes, I am very specialized... in a number of various domains) the late victorian to early edwardian era, roughly 1870 to 1900. On the other hand, I love books, especially old books. And images, I love images (well, I am a graphic artist after all). Which leads me to my point : I collect bound editions of late nineteenth century fashion magazines.

In case you would be wondering what this has to do with this blog, just open a modern "women's" magazine. browse the pages at the end. I bet you will find a cooking column. And guess what ? It was exactly the same back then.

The recipes are a weird mix to our modern concept of cooking - you will find endeavors most of us find too time-consuming to consider (canning, I'm looking at you), and very basic things. This busy mom is more inclined to try out the latest - as soon as it's not pizza with pasta on it (yes, I found the recipe for this. Carbs on top of carbs topped with carbs. No actual tomatoes included). I am only adventurous to a certain point. This one, I tried out once, and to is now a staple recipe - with a few modern conveniences. It works well with all the fishes I have tried - I would just avoid the small filets like red mullet.

Poisson en croûte - Fish in a crust
2 or 3 large fish filets - you need enough of them to almost fill your gratin dish.
1fennel bulb
1 small onion
1 cup breadcrumbs
parsley

Preheat your oven at 360°F. Grease your gratin dish. Place the fish filets at the bottom of the dish.
Place the fennel, rinsed and roughly diced, the peeled onion cut in four, the breadcrumbs (or stale bread if you don't have breadcrumbs ready) and the parsley in your food processor's bowl and process until no big lumps remain. Spread the mixture over the fish.
Bake until the crust is golden brown.

You can choose your own herbs and veggies mix to add to the crust, of course.
I usually have either stale bread at hand, when it starts to pile up too much and I don't feel like making brad pudding I just process it into crumbs and store them in an airtight container - ready to use, free breadcrumbs, and no waste !

Going nuts - Zucchini and tomatoes tart

This recipe was a casualty of this blog's hibernation, and of just too much happening in the rest of my life. I had it photographed, I wanted to post it, and then... I didn't post it right away. Winter came, and this definitely did not feel like a winter recipe, so I didn't post it either. But I've heard spring is scheduled to start soon (or has been so for a few weeks), and now this seems more season-appropriate.
It was another of those nut experiments I do now and then, when I crave something with fat diary cream and suddenly remember how bad of an idea that would be. The nuts of choice being, this time as often, hazelnuts from our garden (I hear your envy !). We collected them, opened them and roasted them lightly in the fall, and stored them in a metal box.

Zucchini and tomatoes tart
1 pastry dough
2 garlic cloves
1 handful hazelnuts
2 zucchinis
2 tomatoes
thyme, oregano
On the night before, place the hazelnut in a large glass with one or two cups of water.
Prepare the pastry dough, roll it out onto your greased form. Pre-heat the oven at 360°F.
Drain the hazelnuts - but keep about half a cup of the water. add the peeled garlic cloves and mix until you get a thick, not still slightly crumbly paste. Add a little water back if necessary. Spread the paste onto your dough.
Thinly slice the vegetable and place them over the nut paste. Fold the excess dough back over them.
Bake for 40 minutes to one hour (the vegetables tend to stay crispy).

And before I disappear again under a mountain of fabric and ink, here's a link to a fantastic french cooking blog : Goûte,j'ai testé un truc !