The Hackney Butchers Association

These are from a Rick Stein recipe & they are damn good.  Crispy & very more-ish.  They are very easy to make & can be prepped in advance by a day if needed, just leaving the frying until you need them.  They do have to be cooked in small batches though,  so not the speediest of dishes.  Worth the wait though. This recipe makes about 20 fish cakes, enough for 6 as a starter, or 4 as a main, along with some home-made green chilli sauce, salad and some nice bread.  These are bistro standard beauties, that seem to be liked by everyone, including kids.  They are good hot, and also warm, so would be great for a picnic too. SALT COD RECIPE HERE There was no point in reproducing it, as it doesn't need any altering, it's spot-on as usual with Rick Stein's recipes! Also worth checking out is BAKED SALT COD WITH PEPPERS & POTATOES . Great comfort food...

This is really easy & quick. The amounts below feed two but could be very easily scaled up to serve any amount.

This was a quick mid-week experiment that really worked. Huss is widely sold as an alternative to Cod in Fish & Chip shops,  it's also known as Dogfish or Rock Salmon. It comes from the North Atlantic, Pacific & Mediteranean Seas.  It's a good, firm white fish.  For some reason I'd never bought or cooked it before this week.  After a mid-week bung-it-in-the oven meal for one, I'll now buy it again regularly.  Not only was it very cheap, but there was a lot of fish.  The piece I bought was £2 and could have fed 2 people, if I wasn't so greedy.... On the downside, there is a large spine that runs through the fish, but this comes out in one piece very easily once it's cooked. I will play about with various marinades now I know how easy it is, but the recipe I made up was as follows.. 1inch of fresh ginger, peeled, finely chopped & then crushed to a paste 1 fresh green chilli, finely chopped 1/4 teaspoon of fenugreek seeds, ground 1/4 tea...

This is the real McCoy and not pink like shop bought ones.   Don't be temped to use a good olive oil, it will all be way too strong.  If it still turns out too strong, keep adding bread to tame it. RECIPE BELOW:

This takes just a few minutes once you've done it a couple of times. It can be a fairly messy job with a fair bit of ink sometimes, so clear a decent space and have a watertight bin bag nearby for the unwanted bits. TO READ MORE CLICK BELOW

This is one of my favorite recipes.  It's an Eagle Pub creation & it's genius!  Cleaning Octopus can be a messy job, but once you've done it a few times it becomes very simple. The sauce can be made in advance and will keep in the fridge for months, good for next time....  RECHEADO SAUCE RECIPE HERE The smell is incredible, a cinnamon spice, it fills the room.  It's great with bread or rice.  You don't need much more. Well, maybe a few beers. This serves 4 .  Cooking time 1.5 to 2 hours . CLICK HERE FOR RECIPE:

This is sweet & very moorish.  It's a John Torode recipe.  It's very simple. You can leave it in the marinade all day & then take 30mins to cook in the evening. CLICK BELOW FOR RECIPE:

This was good!  Still loads to eat. Phew. The recipe is so simple, just sugar, salt & dill. It needs 4 days before opening it up.  It is very worth the wait.  Wow.  It is honestly the best Gravadlax I've ever eaten. There are many quicker methods about, but I can vouch for this one from a lovely book called, Falling Cloudberries.  You don't need any special equipment, just silver foil & a bit of space in the fridge! I got my fish un-gutted from an early morning Billingsgate Market session.  I had never gutted something so big, it was a bit daunting to be honest.  I had my brother in law staying over with his little boy, and I remember them waking up to find me in the kitchen elbow deep in fish guts. I think they were pretty horrified.  But that's what you get for staying the night at the H.B.A.!  My kids are getting quite used to seeing things like that now. FOR METHOD SEE BELOW:

A new Russian supermarket "Russkij Bazaar" has opened up on Cambridge Heath Road, East London  The array of sausages/salamis etc caught my eye, and a i had good look around last night.

This is usually done with smoked haddock, but kippers work well too. I didn't have any pre-made curry powder so I made my own quick blend.  Damn good it was too!  Phew. RECIPE BELOW:

With a cold beer on the side, this is my idea of heaven. MORE BELOW

This is a David Eyre recipe.  So it goes without saying that it's damn good! I have added a bit more olive oil, lots more tomatoes, and turned down the oven (fan-assisted). It takes an hour. RECIPE BELOW:

This was good! Definitely one to repeat. This would be good to cook for friends. The spuds, cabbage, fish stock can all be pretty much prepared in advance & then finished within 10mins.

Serves 4 For the Fish: 4 fillets of haddock (or any white fish) For the aoili: 2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed 50g tin of anchovy fillets in olive oil 3 egg yolks 300ml olive oil salt and pepper For the aoili: Blitz the anchovy & garlic in a blender. Then add the eggs one by one until well mixed. Then, with the blender still running, drizzle in the olive oil really slowly until you have a mayonaisse. It will keep in the fridge for a day, so could be made in advance. For the fish: Season & pan fry skin-side down in butter for 2-3mins, then turn over and fry on other side for 2mins.

1 large Sea Bream or 2 smaller ones( roughly 1.8kg) 1kg waxy potatoes (desiree are good) 1 lemon 1 onion 4 cloves garlic 1 pinch Saffron 7tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley 1 tsp salt 6 tbsp olive oil Prep time: 20mins Cooking time: 1hour & 5 mins Slash the fish a few times on both sides & season with salt/pepper & lemon juice inside & out. Thinly slice the onion & potatoes and put in layers into a greased oven proof dish. Bash up 5tbsp of the parsley, saffron, garlic & salt then slowly mix in 4tbsb olive oil & 4tbsb of water. Sread this over the potato & onions. Bake in the oven at 190°C for 40mins until almost cooked. Put the bream on top with 2tbsp olive oil & bake for 25mins if using 1 big fish, or 15mins if using smaller ones. Once just cooked, sprinkle with the zest of the lemon & the rest of the parsley. This is a classic Spanish dish called "Besugo al horno", traditionally eaten on Christmas Eve. You can swa...

A Rick Stein-er. Very simple & good. It looks very flash, but is really easy! Phew. I've served it a few times with Bubble & Squeak. It needs something crispy to soak up the fantastic sauce.  RECIPE

It works with any white fish, I tend to use Sea Bream. I wouldn't use anything too expensive though as the sauce is strong. It's spicy, salty, fishy, sweet & sour, and as good as anything I've had served up in a Thai/Vietnamese restaurant. I got the recipe from Thai Table. It's the only recipe I've tried of theirs, so far. It was so good I've cooked it many times now. In fact I might have to have it for dinner tonight. Mmnnn. The Tamarind I use comes in a block and lasts for months in the fridge. I got it from a local asian store. You soften it in boiling water before use. I know that the big supermarkets now sell Tamarind paste etc, so hopefully shouldn't be too hard to get. It's totally essential to this recipe and worth buying anyway. I improvised a bit last time and used Jamaican bell-peppers, big mistake... I like my spice, but even I had to take my time eating it. My wife cried, we had to open all the windows & even the fr...

10mins cooking 15mins to cool & then mix Grill kipper fillets with a little butter for about 4 mins a side. Let it cool and the flake it up with your fingers, removing any bones as you go. Mix in cream cheese and lots of lemon juice, and ground black pepper. It needs a bit of chilling now. It lasts for a few days & seems to get better & better. Brown bread, ale, eat. MMnnnn kippers.

150ml White wine vinegar 400ml Water 2 tsp sugar 1 tsp salt 1 Onion thinly sliced 1 tbs mixed peppercorns 1 tbs coriander seed 3 bay leaves 4 mackerel fillets Fennel fronds (the herby bit) (10min recipe) Put everything but the mackerel & fennel in a stainless steel pan. Bring to a boil, put in the mackerel & then simmer for 3mins. Let it cool & then chill overnight. Pop the fennel herbs in.