Fish in a Parcel

Fish in a Parcel

This technique is one of the many influences I got from Jamie Oliver, I am a big fan of him. He has another way of doing the parcel, but I have my own way as well. Very easy and convenient to make and it’s like a surprise when you open the parcel in front of you coming straight from the oven! Each parcel is good for 1 portion, so each person gets 1 parcel on his/her plate.

Here’s what I did:

Ingredients:
2 Slices of lean fish
2 spinach leaves
1 knob of butter
1 garlic (grated)
Juice of half of a lemon
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Roll out a 14 inches long aluminum foil and fold equally into two. Place the foil vertically towards you in a flat surface or big flat plate. Place the 2 slices of fish on the foil ;about 1/3 of the foil allowing the half of the foil to cover and seal after later; add the grated garlic, knob of butter on top of the fish, squeeze half of a lemon unto the fish, season with salt and pepper, cover the fish with spinach and drizzle olive oil on top of the leaves and around the fish. Add a little salt and pepper on top of the spinach. Cover the rest of the foil by bringing the other opposite end. Seal the ends by folding 1 cm of the edges and pressing them forming like an envelope or parcel, taking care not to pierce the foil. Make sure the foil is completely closed to ensure that the steam can’t get out of the parcel. Bake for 15-20 minutes in a hot oven. To serve cut a slit on the upper side of the foil using small sharp knife vertically and horizontally. I’d like to cut the foil with a knife vertically first and use a pair of scissors to cut horizontally to a nice cross cut. Open the parcel by bringing out the four leaves of the foil you just cut to expose the surprise. Serve with plain rice.

Grilled Mussels with Apricot Sauce

Grilled mussels with apricot sauce


Ingredients:

12 Large Mussels
1 Teaspoon olive oil
Apricot sauce
Fresh Parsley (finely chopped)

Apricot sauce:
8 Pieces Dried Apricot (cut in half)
Juice of 1 lemon
2 Teaspoons Syrup
1 White Onion (sliced thinly)
1 Teaspoon Chili sauce
1 ½ Cup Water
1 Piece mussel

Preparation:
Prepare the mussels and set aside.

To make apricot sauce:
In sauce pan, mix all ingredients and bring to boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and pass through a fine sift. Take out the mussel and apricots then return back to the sauce. Blitz in a blender until the mussel and apricot are fine. Pass through a fine sift again to get rid of solids. Set aside.

Meanwhile, coat the mussels thoroughly with olive oil by tossing 2 ingredients together. Lay the mussels flat and cook in a very hot heavy-based pan or grill 2 minutes each side.

Arrange mussels and garnish with finely chopped parsley around the sauce. Place 1 dried apricot at the center. Sprinkle musses with freshly ground sea salt and black pepper.