Mediterranean Fish Casserole

Many, many years ago I decided that I wasn't eating fish on a regular enough basis and I resolved to eat a fish meal at least once every week.   It didn't take me very long to discover that, even though I had my resolution, weeks would sneak by and I would discover that, once again, I'd not eaten fish for another week.

Reflecting on this, after one particularly long fish free period, I decided on a new resolution.   Every Friday, I would consider whether I had eaten enough fish in the past week, and if not, I would make a fish supper.

Of course, for a fish lover like me, the answer is very rarely, yes I've had enough fish this week.

Today was just such a day.  I considered what fish I had eaten in the past week....  I had a Jacket Potato with a tuna topping, I had a salad with shrimp and surimi in a hot marie rose sauce, and a tuna sandwich for lunch.    Oh only two meals, so No, that's not nearly enough!

I looked around to see what I had.

There were left over shrimp from the salad.

There was also a bag of frozen hake.

I decided to throw together a fish casserole

Now, many of you will know that when I say throw together a dish, that is exactly what I mean, so no accurate measurements for today.

I took 3 fillets of hake out and left them to thaw.

At the same time I also emptied a good handful of tiny cocktail shrimp to drain.

I found a casserole with a good fitting lid.  I didn't want to let too much moisture out whilst the dish was cooking.

The fridge also revealed a good handful of green olives, which I pitted.

In the stock cupboard I had some lemon juice and a bag of Herbes de Provence.

I found a couple of cloves of garlic, which I crushed and peeled.

In the casserole, I first put the hake, cut into about 2" squares.

Then I added the shrimp and the olives

I sprinkled the herbs over and added a splash of olive oil and the zest and juice of a couple of lemons.

It looked ok but a bit dry, so I added just a small splash of cider, (left over from the pork in cider)

Then I put the lid on and put it to cook in a hot (240C) oven for about 30 minutes

Finally, after 30 minutes cooking, I took the lid off, stirred everything and put it back in the oven for a further 10 minutes

I enjoyed it with some sweetcorn.

Pork chops in a Creamy Mushroom Cider Sauce

I often like to cook pork chops in cider and have various recipes I use.  I like the way cooking pork in cider really enhances the flavour and renders the meat so deliciously tender.

I was thinking about all this today and, as always, turned to the Internet for inspiration, which is exactly what I got.

A blog I had never visited before jumped off the page at me, Called "Girl Interrupted Eating", the quirky title was exactly my cup of tea, and when I read that Becky was a 30 something year old from Nottingham in the UK I knew I had found my source.

I like Nottingham.  It's famous for being where my brother lives, but it's probably more famous for the infamous....  the infamous Robin Hood, who allegedly stole from the rich to give to the poor.  Well, on this occasion, Becky, I guess I'm sort of keeping up the tradition as I unashamedly studied your recipe for "Pork Chops with Cider and Rosemary" in order to steal the ideas.....  erm, I'm not exactly sure where the giving to the poor comes in but give me time!!!

Becky's recipe sounded delicious to me,and, apparently, lucky Beccy discovered this wonderful dish when her boyfriend cooked it for her.Having got my inspiration, I rebuilt the recipe with my own variations.  In fact, I changed very little but I completely changed the taste with the addition of mushrooms and cream.

 

Here is my recipe:

 

INGREDIENTS

Two Pork Chops
2 tbps of olive oil
1 knob of butter
2 tbsp of rosemary finely chopped
1 medium onion finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 handful of roughly chopped mushrooms
1/2 a bottle of cider
200ml single cream

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 180C

Sprinkle the pork chops on both sides with salt and pepper

Fry the pork chops in butter and olive oil. Use an oven proof lidded saucepan.

Once browned, remove the pork chops and set aside

Add the onions , garlic and rosemary into the pan and fry till onion is soft and translucent.

Add the mushrooms and cook a further minute or two.

Pour the cider in to the pan and bring to a simmer before returning the pork chops to the pan

Remove from heat, cover and place in the preheated oven for 120minutes. Then, remove lid and leave in oven a further 15 minutes

Remove the pork chops and whisk in the cream, thickening a little if needed.

 

To serve, place the pork chops on plates and pour the sauce over .

Serve with mustard mashed potato and cabbage dressed with nutmeg, and the remains of the bottle of cider.

 

Now for those readers thinking that I might have made a heck of a lot of potato and cabbage to accompany this simple dish, I have one word to say...  Well, I could probably come up with one word but the real reason probably needs three....

 

Bubble and Squeak....     which will be supper tomorrow.