Braaied Fish Pate

Hi!

So last Friday was National Heritage Day and National Braai Day, here in South Africa. We had the day off, and we were all amped for a big outdoor cooking-eating-drinking fest, with people posting tons of recipes and ideas for the week prior. Now, the boy and I went to his parents for the weekend, and we arrived pretty late. When we got there, we discovered they'd organised a fish braai (barbeque for my non-locals), making snoek (large barracuda) and angelfish. There being only 4 of us, there were tons of leftovers, and something about fish makes it hard to eat the next day. And so it sat.

After the weekend, we were sent home with leftovers, and (surprise!) a huge piece of braaied fish. Now, my hubby, lovely though he is, is a bit particular with leftovers. He'll eat almost anything fresh, but leftovers, particularly fishy leftovers, just don't appeal. And I can understand that. The hard, weird looking scaly beast was yummy when fresh off the fire, but a day or so later, and it starts looking funny. But do I just throw out a perfectly good piece of fish? No sirree! This was destined for the blender!

Now, we've all had tuna mayo, and maybe you've tried smoked snoek pate from the supermarket. But with some leftover fish, a little sour cream and a little effort, you can have your own fish pate, and you're safe in the knowledge that you didn't waste the precious fish!

Again, this is more method than recipe. Depending on how much fish you have, vary your other ingredients to taste.

Braaied Fish Pate (Snoek and Angelfish)

Makes about 250 g pate

Ingredients:

Leftover braaied fish

Sour cream

Mayonnaise

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. De bone the fish, and crumble the fish into smaller pieces. Make sure you get ALL the bones out, as you don't want to choke people. This is the most time consuming stage, but it's worth it, I promise!
2. Put all the deboned fish into a dish, and add a heaped spoon of sour cream, and 2 spoons of mayo.
3. Whizz all of it together with a stick blender (or put the whole lot in a food processor and whizz there).
4. Scrape down the sides, and add more sour cream or mayo, blending until you get the desired consistency. I like mine a bit thicker, and use it as a spread for bread, but you might want it a little thinner to use as a dip with chips!

And there you have it! Easy, quick, and a wonderful use for leftover fish!

Enjoy!

PS. Please forgive the absolute lack of pictures on this.. I couldn't find anything on the web that worked, and although I had the best intentions of photographing it, it was all finished before I had the chance. There'll be a next time, so I'll take photos then (yes, even with my bad photography) and I'll repost it then. Sorry!

I Heart Steak Sandwiches!

Hi!

I know I've been terribly lax lately, but I'm not good on Fridays. Or weekends. Or a lot of the days in between.

{Image source: FotoosVanRobin, flickr}

So, here's a little update from last week. Thursday night I cam home from work, tired. And I was going to be all alone, since my sister was working and the bf was studying. And what do I look like, a socialising machine? I was staying home with my book! And I wanted something that would be warm, would cook quickly and was satisfying. So, wandering around the shop, I decided on steak sandwiches. I like my steak quite rare, I only cook it for a few minutes a side, so what could be quicker? I had most of the other ingredients, salad and so on, at home, so I got a couple of small, floury Portuguese rolls, and I was away.

I cannot explain how incredibly delightful these were, and I don't think it would been expensive, especially if spread over more people. I'm a bit of a meat piggy, so I shared one steak between two small rolls, and took the other to work for lunch the following day, which was delicious. So here it is, my recipe for delightful steak sandwiches!

Steak Sandwiches
Serves as many as you cook steak for. This feeds 1 greedy, and 2 normal people.

{Image source: Sifu Renka, flickr}

Ingredients:

2 Rump/rib eye/porterhouse/sirloin steaks (amount varies depending on how many people you're feeding, but average one steak person, with a little leftover for second helpings if they're a hungry bunch, and choose whichever cut makes you happiest!)
Tomato sauce - I had some Ina Paarman's tomato and basil pasta sauce left on the fridge, which worked wonders on these rolls, but ordinary ketchup would be fine too
Tomato, thinly sliced
Cucumber, thinly sliced
Lettuce broken into managably small pieces for the rolls
Red and/or yellow pepper, sliced thinly (optional, I had some in the fridge that needed finishing, and it was delicious)
Couple slices cheese (any kind really, I usually have gouda or cheddar in the house, so I used that)
Salt and pepper to taste
Any other veggie you think would work well, I think fried onions would've been lovely, but I didn't have the energy to fry them!  

Method

1. Chop veggies thinly, so they're easy to lay on a sandwich or roll. 
2. Cut off excess fat from the steaks, and season with a bit of salt, white pepper and some braai seasoning, if thats what you like.  
3. Heat a cast iron, or heavy based frying pan with a little oil sprayed on the bottom. You want it quite hot, since you want to seal the outside of the steak quickly, to prevent all the juices leaking out during cooking. When the pan is hot, place the steaks in the pan, for a few seconds on one side, then flip to the other, to seal both sides. 
4. When both sides are brown, turn the heat down a little, to prevent burning the steak. 
5. Cook for a few minutes each side, turning often. Don't allow it to burn, and don't cook too long! 
6. I know I fly in the face of some when I say this, but a decent steak is at its best when its still pink in the middle! 
7. Good quality steak can be eaten nearly raw, so don't be frightened of it!! I, personally, like mine to be more than pink, I prefer my steak still mooing slightly, and cook it less than I've advised here. 
8. When the steak is cooked to your satisfaction, remove it from the pan, and let it cool, while you spread the salad ingredients, cheese, sauce and so on onto the rolls. 
9. When that's done to your satisfaction, the steaks will have cooled enough to handle, so slice the steak, into slice into 1cm thick strips and lay on top one side of the roll. 
10. I like to put the cheese next to the warm steak, and let it melt slightly, but it really doesn't matter which way you do it! The whole thing took less than 20 minutes, and I was eating and reading happily! 

Make these when you're tired, and you won't be sorry! You can serve if with chips, if you like, or to make it stretch further, but it's great just as a standalone meal! Enjoy!