Recipes from...

Fishy Family Fun

WITH JAMES CHUBB

EAST DEVON DISTRICT COUNCILS

EDUCATION RANGER

Please see the slide show of photos on You Tube by Clicking Here

During October half term James Chubb shared his new feature film ‘Think Deep’ featuring Chef Michael Caines, Darts Farm Fish Shed, Exmouth Mussels and many other recognisable local faces and businesses. James then used his own culinary skills to recreate some of the dishes from the film, with a bit of audience participation and a lot of tasting, we have all decided these dishes should be shared with all We hope you enjoy the recipes...

Grandma’s Fish Pie

2 fillets of any white fish, such as Pollack, cod or haddock as per the fishmonger’s recommendation

750ml/1¼ pints milk

1 bay leaf

half an onion

250g garden peas

1kg floury potatoes, such as Maris Piper or Desirée, mashed 75g butter,

75g plain flour

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place the white fish in a shallow pan and cover with milk, bay leaf and sliced onion, bring to the boil and remove from the heat, leave covered for 10 minutes. Remove fish from the milk and flake in the bottom of your pie dish, scatter with peas. Make a roux by melting the butter over a medium heat and adding flour, stir into a paste and add the milk the fish poached in little by little to make a thick white sauce, season well with salt and plenty of black pepper. Pour this sauce over the flaked fish and cover with mash. To make the mash easier to spread on the top of your pie, pop it into the fridge for half an hour to chill. Bake in a moderate oven for 45 minutes, until the mash is crusty and golden and the white sauce bubbles tantalizingly around the rim of the dish.

Crab linguine

150 g white crab meat

500g linguine

1 medium onion chopped

1 clove garlic chopped

splash of white wine

100g cherry tomatoes, halved

50g each of chopped basil, mint and chives

50g chopped florets of purple sprouting broccoli

Juice of 1 lemon

Firstly cook the linguine as per the pack instructions, until it is al dente. drain and set to one side. Heat a good glug of olive oil in a large frying pan or non-stick wok and fry the onion gently without imparting any colour. Add the garlic as the onion is softening and fry for a further minute. Add the broccoli florets, the halved cherry tomatoes and a splash of white wine and reduce to cook off the alcohol. Reduce the heat, add the chopped herbs, lemon juice, cooked pasta and finally stir through the white crab meat. Season and serve with NO parmesan! Just lashings of good olive oil.

Moules

1.5kg cleaned blue mussels

1 large onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 small bunch of tarragon

275mls white wine

400mls double cream

black pepper

As you clean the mussels check each is alive by giving them a light tap on the work surface, if the mussel does no close don’t use it. Over a medium flame, heat a glug of olive oil in a large casserole, fry onion until soft and add the garlic and fry for a further minute. Add the chopped tarragon leaves. Turn up the heat and add the cleaned and de-bearded mussels, add the white wine and put a lid on the pan. Leave to steam for 5-8 minutes, or until all the mussels have opened. Strain the mussels through a colander or conical strainer and reserve the cooking liquor. return the liquor to the pan, carefully pouring it to retain any grit or sand which may have fallen out of the mussels while cooking. Bring back to the boil and add the double cream and boil for a couple of minutes to concentrate the flavours, return the mussels to the sauce, stir well and ladle into a large warm serving bowl, topped with the sauce. Ladle carefully and any remaining sediment from the mussels will stay in the pan and not in your finished dish!