The best way to enjoy fish (my new favourite recipe)

 

Hey friends,

One of our lovely neighbours dropped by one night recently and offered us two beautifully fresh just-caught crayfish.

It was so thoughtful of him to think of us.

(They’re only called crayfish in New Zealand, but I think they’re like lobster or rock lobster elsewhere? They live in the ocean anyway.)

When I was a child my family had a boat and dad would catch crayfish. I remember him dropping them into a big pot of boiling water and we’d eat it freshly poached.

He always told us the legs were the best bit and us kids would sit there with our pile of legs drawing out the fine straws of meat while the adults tucked into the tails 😂

Was that actually true that the legs were the premium part??? I have my doubts now 🤣

Paul and I, having never cooked a crayfish in our life, did some research online.

We found out the humane way to cook them, and also came across a simple recipe.

We served the cooked meat over boiled new potatoes, with melted butter and lemon juice poured over top, and plentiful fresh chives.

Here is the recipe we used although it’s so simple you don’t really need a recipe. I didn’t do the butter sauce with water, just melted it and it was just as delicious.

We liked this recipe so much we recreated it with fresh white fish on another night (see below). With slightly less butter though, and I added steamed veggies 😍

I always get fresh fish when I do the groceries each week; it’s a good routine for us to get those different nutrients.

Paul wasn’t a fan of the weekly fish at first, he felt like it didn’t really fill him up, but if I don’t try to make it too light and healthy he’s a happy boy. Hence the butter and potatoes 😊

I actually really think potatoes get an unnecessarily bad rap. In my healthy slim lifestyle I eat them pretty much every night. I might have trimmed down the quantity, but I still love spuds. They have so much fibre and nutrition.

Are you a seafood fan? What is your favourite and how do you cook it?

 

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And here is how I recreated the crayfish recipe with snapper (it was a hit too!)

It really was so simple to make:

💫 Air-fried or roasted potato chunks (or you can boil little new potatoes like the original crayfish recipe)

💫 Steamed broccoli (I like mine lightly cooked, still crunchy, bright green, and tossed in a dash of olive oil)

💫 Pan-fried snapper (I use olive oil spray in the pan, not butter, since I’m using butter for the sauce)

💫 Melt some butter in a pot on a low heat and let it brown while you’re cooking the fish. Those speckles on the white fish are toasted milk solids from the butter. YUM! Once it’s nicely browned, pour over the fish and potatoes at serving time, and add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice too.

I am such a fan of browning butter in recipes, it provides a beautiful caramelised flavour. I remember often making a Donna Hay recipe in the early 2000s for ‘fish with brown butter’. It was always a favourite.

[I recently made a blondie recipe from Smitten Kitchen and it calls for the butter to be browned too. I made it for Micky dog’s funeral and everyone said how good it tasted. It was the browned butter that made all the difference!]

💫 Then a scattering of something green. Here we have spring onions, but I’d use parsley or chives at other times. A fresh green sprinkle is always a welcome addition both for sight and taste.

💫 Also, I really think part of the appeal lies in using a bowl to serve as well, rather than a dinner plate. In restaurants they often use big bowls, and the food is stacked up rather than spread around the plate. It really did look more restauranty to me, arranged like this.

And this, my friends, is how to get your husband to be excited about fish for dinner! 🤣

 

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Spotted: A real cutie when visiting the library this week.

Who wouldn’t want to sit on the seat in preference to cold looking cobblestones?

I do love a girl who has standards.

xoxo Gossip Girl 😍 Oops I mean Fiona :)

Have a great week!