Cooking Up a Storm

I like nothing better then having the house all to myself with plenty of time and space to cook or clean and otherwise putter around. My favourite day would be one where I get a chance to do both and feel that I have accomplished something at the end of it.

Today, I had a few hours to myself to get some things done and ended up just playing in the kitchen doing some cooking - it's amazing the things we will do when we believe we have all the time in the world. Today I made my spelt breads as usual, then some goat's cheese & rosemary muffins, next I started on our dinner which ended up being fish cakes and spelt pasta.

For the muffins, I decided to use up some goat's cream cheese that I had on hand which went well with fresh rosemary from the garden. For these savory muffins I sautéd some onions in butter, then made the batter (an egg, flour, soda, herbs, goat's milk and yogurt) and at the end once all the ingredients were folded into each other, I crumbled in the cheese and topped with more rosemary.

Goat's Cheese & Rosemary Muffins

They smelled divine and did not last long, but now I have requests for more! Muffins make great treats and snacks, are so easy to make and you can put nearly anything into them. In only a few minutes (18 minutes in the oven) you have a fresh batch of muffins that are far better than anything from the shop. 

Usually on Saturdays we get to the market for our fish (and nearly everything else) today I got a lovely piece of silver hake to make fish cakes. Long ago we gave up Night Shades, so these were to be made using sweet potato, carrot and onion. 

Sweet potato adds a pleasant, more subtle flavour to the overall fish cake and it looks really nice too. Today, I cooked everything up separately, then combined (sautéd onions, cooked sweet potato and carrot, steamed fish) each of these main ingredients together with some herbs.

Fish, vegetables, onion - ready for mashing

Where herbs are concerned, more is always better and for these fish cakes there was no exception. I used fresh dill, coriander and parsley from the garden, chopped them finely then tossed them into the fish mixture. The results were spectacular!

Herb scissors from France are fab for chopping! 

Now, I have to let you know that where fish was concerned I was stuck in a rut. I grew up eating piles of fish (Canada's east coast) and ate some variation on fish cakes every week of my childhood. However, I had not made them myself in years, mostly because it always seemed like so much work and with children being small, going through the fish for bones was a priority. I usually ended up baking the fish in a sauce and serving it with a rice dish and vegetables of some sort.

For the last few days however, as part of my challenge for myself, I wanted to expand on my meal base. You must have realized by now that we seem to have about 3-4 meals that we make ALL the time. Well, for me, this was getting old and I needed a little push forwards.

Of course, not using any kind of processed foods has perhaps helped to expand my mind a little bit further when it comes to eating, so I am trying to make the dishes I dream about, but would not have considered before or made often enough. Yet everything is proving to be easier then I had thought.

In the same way that canning, making jams and preserves is not difficult either. You know, this really is all in our minds - once that door gets opened though, you find you do have time, you do have space and you can make anything you want.

Oh, and for the pasta, I gathered fresh basil (growing in pots all around the place) and fresh baby rocket leaves, the usual garlic, lemon, olive oil and then some walnuts for added flavour. This became a pesto sauce added to a quick stir-fry of fresh vegetables from the garden and this mornings market and the meal was complete.

Fish cakes cooking in skillet

Often it is something simple, such as this meal when prepared with care and attention is bursting with flavour and goodness. Those fish cakes were delicious, nothing coming from a shop could have matched them and will be back on the menu again soon!

Well, off to think of something new and different for tomorrow,

April