I'm changing track here
Published on November 21, 2006 By anothermaso In Cooking
Well, I've been really bad at blogging about stuff (as I warned Mark I might be), but today I thought to myself I should write about the topic that excites me every day - and that's FOOD.

I love the stuff. I love to cook and I've recently discovered I like to grow it, too. If I could talk the other people in our apartment building into it, I'd have chickens in the yard! So here's my latest invention, a pasta sauce that even I thought was pretty darn good.

To begin: I needed a portion of roast vegetables, which I do and freeze regularly as a time-saver. It's pretty much anything that roasts well, including sweet potato (do the Americans call these yams?), eggplant, zucchini, carrots, onion, garlic and bell peppers in multi colours. I put parsnip in last time which was a mistake, I should have par boiled them first because they ended up hard little rocks in my veggie mush. Anyway, after peeling and chopping things that need it and chucking them all into a large baking dish, I drizzle over extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper and some fresh or dried herbs. Roast till tender and freeze in portions to suit your family size.

Toni's yummy fish sauce for linguine or spaghetti

Boneless fillets of firm white fish (I had snapper and used 1 fillet per person)
Corn flour
Paprika
Salt & pepper
Tinned tomatoes (1 tin per 2 people)
Roast vegetables
Fresh basil (optional)
Pine nuts

Cut the fish fillets into cube-type chunks. Put a couple of tablespoons of corn flour, one tbs of paprika and salt and papper to taste into a clean plastic bag; add the fish chunks and toss well to coat.

In a deep-sided non stick frying pan, heat a small amount of oil and a knob of butter or margarine to medium-hot. GENTLY add the cubed fish and fry well on all sides. Add chopped tinned tomatoes (use all the juice in the tin) and roast vegetables, stir gently and reduce heat to low. Simmer while cooking your pasta and toasting the pine nuts (don't let them burn!) either in a dry pan or on a tray in the oven.

To serve, place sauce over the top of the well-drained pasta, top with toasted pine nuts and finely chopped fresh basil. (I'm growing mine so I add it to everything now, but I appreciate it's not on hand for everyone.)

More recipes will follow...

Comments
on Nov 21, 2006
It's only 6:20 in the A.M. as I read this, but, mmmm....I could do this for breakfast!

Sounds delicious!
on Nov 21, 2006

Sounds good! (I like food too!).

As for Sweet Potatoes and Yams, they are actually 2 different vegetables.  IN the same family tho.  And Yams are not grown here, but in warmer climates like the caribean and Africa.  So what we sometimes call yams are really Sweet potatos (curse a mother who actually knew the difference and corrected us! )

on Nov 21, 2006
Let me tell ya, folks, this tastes better than it sounds. The fresh herbs add so much more to any dish too. I'm so proud of her - the garden is looking (and tasting) spectacular.
on Nov 21, 2006
Yummy...lucky guy you are maso!
on Nov 21, 2006
lucky guy


Don't I know it
on Nov 21, 2006
Sweet potatoes....

Yeah, they're a hot weather crop. Their planted here about the same time you plant cotton -late May/early June. Regular Irish potatoes around here you plant on Valentine's day.

Yep, I knows my taters...  
on Nov 21, 2006
Thanks for the comments, everyone...

Dr Guy - thanks for putting me straight on the Yam/sweet potato thingy. But do you have Yams or Sweet potatoes with marshmallows with the turkey at Thanksgiving? Always thought that sounded a little strange, but as a convert to syrup with my bacon and eggs, I have vowed never to trash US recipes again!
on Nov 22, 2006
I'm just getting to this and let me tell ya my mouth watered reading it! I don't cook fish too often, that's another dish I love to eat but don't do well. I know, it's easy, but for me it always ends up mashed and then I'm a mess! But your sauce is really good. It's great that you're growing vegetables. That's a thing we caribbeans do when we have a back yard!