Welcome to this week in my kitchen I am still recovering from Christmas…All the Christmas cake has now gone…eaten…although I did share some of it…

I managed to get my fresh sprouts so we are making the most of it and having sprouts and purple carrots at nearly every meal we are loving them although the carrots do need to be cooked separately as they bleed…We made shepherds pie last night and used purple carrots diced and they bled somewhat into the mix although once the gravy was added it just looked like we had added some red wine so no great shakes…

As I prefer fish to meat I had a nice piece of seared pan-fried salmon…Quick and easy to do…this dish will be ready in as long as it takes your rice to cook…The dip I made just enough for one which is the beauty with this one …It is a favourite dip here especially with young Lily who when she was here last week and I had fish while they had spag bol…put some over her spag bol…she likes it that much..weird child…haha

Pan-Seared Salmon.

120 -150 gm of Salmon or sea bass per person.

Olive oil and a little butter to cook the fish.

For the spicy sauce…

• 2 nice sprigs fresh coriander
• 2 coriander roots (optional)
• 1 spring onion(green onion) or shallot finely chopped
• 1-2 red chillies finely sliced
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 cheeks fresh lime /lemon
• Splash of water

Let’s Cook!

To make spicy dip wash and chop coriander finely. Finely slice green onions or shallots.

Finely chop chilli( I leave) the seeds in but they can be removed if you want a milder dip.

Put in a small dish and add the fish sauce and lime juice and a splash of water…

Taste and adjust…

Set to one side while you cook your fish…Score the fish skin and season with salt and fresh ground pepper…

Heat a pan and add the olive oil and butter when hot add your salmon skin side down. I cook for about 2/3 mins on the skin side and then turn and cook for 1-2 mins depending on the thickness of your fish and how you like your fish cooked we prefer ours just cooked rather than overdone. With salmon still pink in the middle. Baste the fish with the butter to keep it moist…

 

Place the fish on your rice skin side up and spoon over the chilli sauce…as little or as much as you like…

 

Enjoy!

How are the Christmas pounds going are they going or gone? Mine have gone although as I said I have been walking I had to walk off all that cake…It was yummy…I have upped my veggies as I am trying to cut down just a little on the meat…Eating more fish which I love…Now if you like lists so that you know where you are then Sally has published her part One of her shopping list by nutrient…I think it is a great idea as we all know what we love to eat, should eat and this handy guide helps you through the diet jungle…Jungle it is with plenty of tigers …We all know that gimmicks don’t work and here in my kitchen we eat proper food that we like and balance our intake with a few yummy treats…Nothing banned just moderation…So pop over to Sally’s before you go shopping and have a browse…

As it is National Soup Month this month I have another soup recipe for you…Soup is one of those dishes that whatever the weather sometimes all you want is just a bowl of soup and although it is hot here all the time even when it rains…Soup is eaten in fact most meals eaten here are hot meals …Go figure…

Soup can also be a bowl of healthy goodness….

Today I have for you… one of my favourite Thai soups which is so easy to make from scratch. It also brings back memories of a certain lady…Keeleigh who when she visited us could not get enough of this fabulous soup.

Ingredients:

• 2 litres of water
• 4 stalks of lemongrass
• 1-inch chunk of galangal
• 10 kaffir lime leaves
• 10 Thai chillies
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 500 gm Prawns
• 300 grams of oyster mushrooms
• 2 medium tomatoes cut into quarters.
• 2 white onions (medium-sized) cut into large chunks.
• 1 and a half tsp of sugar
• 7 – 10 tbsp of fish sauce (depending on your taste)
• Juice of 5 -8 limes.
• A handful of cilantro ( Coriander)

For cooking instructions…See original post

I will say please don’t get put off by the list of ingredients I know how daunted I was when I first started Thai and Indian cooking and now it is second nature…

Taste is the key...however although Thai ingredients can be found now in Asian stores around the world…They also do sell packs of a selection of just the ingredients you need rather than buying them all individually and then not using them all so when you first start experimenting that is what I would do and only buy the ingredients that either keep or you use quite regularly and build up to a full larder of Thai /Indian condiments and ingredients.

These can be purchased either fresh or dry…

You can also buy tom yum soup mix and then you just add your prawns, veggies and aromatics…The only difference and it is also how you know if a Tom Yum is made from scratch is the colour…A tom Yum made with a mix has an orange colour if cooked from scratch it is white liquid like mine.

At this point do not confuse it with Tom Kha prawn or chicken soup this has added coconut milk they are two different soups.

 

A lot to learn but baby steps and don’t forget to taste…

Check the two images and you can see the difference in the colour the one with coconut milk is a milkier white.

What’s planned for my kitchen? Bone Broth and some recipes using bone broth I also found an awesome recipe for sprout wraps and before you wrinkle your noses up you sprout haters …I am going to do a tester and try it on one’s grandson who is picky with his sprouts he doesn’t hate them but doesn’t love them either but he eats them…In a wrap..which he loves and with fish sauce, chillies, coriander and a few other bits I think he will love these…I have read the reviews and I think it is about the fish sauce and chillies as much as it is about the sprouts as other reviewers raved about the unusual combinations…More next week…

I hope you have enjoyed the recipes if you have any questions please just ask…

About Carol Taylor:

Enjoying life in The Land Of Smiles I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them.

I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetable ones I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.

Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have become to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I use contain to improve our health and wellbeing.

The environment is also something I am passionate about and there will be more on this on my blog this year

Exciting for me hence the title of my blog, Retired No One Told Me! I am having a wonderful ride and don’t want to get off, so if you wish to follow me on my adventures, then welcome! I hope you enjoy the ride also and if it encourages you to take a step into the unknown or untried, you know you want to…….Then, I will be happy!