Day 22

Yes, you are correct. It’s Friday so it was a fish dish and this evening it was the turn of Fish Stew. Well, never in a million years would I have collectively put these ingredients together but then again, that’s one of the many reasons why I’m not a famous chef.

As the recipe contained mussels, I was better prepared and faster at getting them scrubbed clean this time.  I then added rapeseed oil to the saucepan before sautéing chopped leeks, one chopped red pepper, salt and pepper. After about 4 minutes, I added freshly chopped tomatoes (which I peeled), chicken stock and a pinch of sugar. I brought it up to the boil and then simmered with the lid on for 8 minutes. I then tipped in the mussels, prawns and chopped cod, brought to the boil and simmered for 3 minutes. Finally, I dished it out and sprinkled freshly chopped parsley to garnish and accompanied it with fresh crusty bread which lots of Kerrygold, of course!

The verdict…

Dear Husband gave it 7.5 out of 10. He said that the prawns were particularly nice. There we are – back to the half-marks again! As for the prawns, they would need to be particularly nice as they were fresh tiger prawns. He also liked the way the mussels were in the dish whilst still in their shell. He said that made the dish a bit more interesting. Dear Son wouldn’t look at it twice.

As I said, I would never have put all these ingredients myself without having read the recipe. You know when you go to make something and just rummage around the fridge and cupboards and throw something half-decent together?! Well, I would never have put red peppers, leeks and tomatoes with cod, fish and prawns altogether. Very glad I have my cookbook though! That’s the thing about this challenge, it gets me to put ingredients together that I normally wouldn’t put together and that’s half the battle when you’re faced with that never-ending question…“what will I make for dinner tonight?”