Today I invented a new recipe

[susie123]

Haven't been doing much cooking recently as the drugs I'm on make me a bit wobbly and shaky so don't feel confident at the cooker (well that's my excuse anyway). Today I thought I'd have a go and gave it some thought.

Don't know if you know of or have tried Cullen Skink - it's a Scottish fish soup with smoked haddock, potatoes and onions, usually with milk or cream added and sometimes leeks. Yummy! Then there's Mediterranean fish soup usually made with white fish, tomatoes and garlic plus some other veg and sometimes prawns and other shellfish.

Well I looked in fridge and freezer and came up with a collection of ingredients which inspired me to combine the two recipes and I thought of calling it Mediterranean Skink till I remembered that there is a type of lizard called a skink so the recipe still awaits a name - though it was delicious.

Here's what I found for ingredients: from fridge, one very large potato, two small leeks, a large tinned tomato and some juice, left over from a tin I used earlier, some cherry tomatoes going a bit squishy, plus a small onion from the veg box. From freezer: two pieces of smoked haddock a bit past their best but good enough for soup.

Peeled potato and cut into bite size chunks, cut up leeks and onion and cooked all lightly in olive oil till a bit golden (actually stuck to pan which gave it more flavour). Added chopped tomatoes and some crushed garlic, cooked a bit longer, added tomato juice (there was only a spoonful or so), covered with boiling water and simmered about half an hour. Meanwhile skinned fish fillets, removed any bones and cut fish in bite size chunks. Added to pan cooked another 15 mins or so with a tad more water added and voila - it was delicious! I was a bit worried about the combination of smoked fish and tomatoes and garlic but it was fine. And no salt needed as the fish provided it.

All in all a great success and the good news is there's enough left for tomorrow. These things are great when they come together - like my experimental Christmas day game casserole in the new slow cooker - again just things that were at hand in fridge or freezer including a bit of black pudding which I found lurking in the bottom of the freezer and cut up and threw in. No I don't always have game in the freezer - just so happens I'd bought a packet of game bird breasts a few months earlier and stuck in there. I'm still thinking about what to do with the squirrel and the goose legs which have been there much longer. (Sorry folks must be fed up with me mentioning them on this forum - I must use them up then I can stop talking about them!)

[cashman]

Never heard of it, but sounds good to me.

[susie123]

Originally Posted by cashman

Never heard of it, but sounds good to me.

It was, Cashy, it was.

[Mick]

I made something like a Venison casserole for Christmas dinner although it was my own and not in any book
looked great but the antibiotics i am taking have made me loose my sense of taste so cant comment on how it was.

[susie123]

Originally Posted by Mick

I made something like a Venison casserole for Christmas dinner although it was my own and not in any book
looked great but the antibiotics i am taking have made me loose my sense of taste so cant comment on how it was.

Yeah I'm having taste problems too with my drugs - sometimes feel as though I'm sucking on a galvanised binlid (well I imagine that's what it would taste like!). But that fish soup really hit the spot.

Last time I made a venison casserole I put some black pudding in as I did with the game bird one mentioned above. Makes it even richer.

[susie123]

Originally Posted by susie123

Well I looked in fridge and freezer and came up with a collection of ingredients which inspired me to combine the two recipes and I thought of calling it Mediterranean Skink till I remembered that there is a type of lizard called a skink so the recipe still awaits a name - though it was delicious.

Think I'll just call it My Fish Soup and if you use the recipe you can call it Susie's Fish Soup. Then folks you serve it to will say who's Susie? Is she a new chef? Did she have a book out at Christmas?

Well it makes a change from Delia's this, Jamie's that and Nigella's (bit of) the other.

Sorry feeling silly today, must have rubbed off from Davemac yesterday (see Today in pictures thread post 3303 onwards...).

[DaveinGermany]

When you lob in the leftovers, or things you've found lurking in the backs of cupboards just prior to them going critical, plenty of garlic, salt & pepper, even a couple of oxo cubes if it'll take it covers a multitude of sins. We tend to call it an "all-in" but if you're after being posh, "Chefs surprise", believe me we've surprised ourselves sometimes as to how absolutely gawd awful it was !

[shillelagh]

the spugster does that .. when i came up there was something bubbling away in the slow cooker.... it was good ... he'd chucked pork ribs, barley, bacon lardons? (whatever they are), onions, lentils, mixed herbs, garlic, season all in one, pepper, paprika, carrot and swede, and 2 pork stock cubes ... looked disgusting ..but tasted good ... he does say he forgot to add the tin of tomatoes to make it look good .... he calls it gloop!!!

oh and dave .. he says why do you think curry powder was invented?

[DaveinGermany]

Originally Posted by shillelagh

he calls it gloop!!!

oh and dave .. he says why do you think curry powder was invented?

In our house Cauldron And yep, the Curry is always a good option Shill, the lads got class.

[shillelagh]

Originally Posted by DaveinGermany

In our house Cauldron And yep, the Curry is always a good option Shill, the lads got class.

he has to ... i dont cook when he's around its safer ... hes the better cook ... he does say my broth is better tho ...

i know he has class .. thats why he asked me out ..

[Mick]

I was going to do Haggis but still have not got one
hint hint

[DaveinGermany]

Originally Posted by Mick

I was going to do Haggis but still have not got one
hint hint

Patience venerable one, she's still in the land of the Jockeens. I'm sure Shill won't forget you.

[shillelagh]

Originally Posted by Mick

I was going to do Haggis but still have not got one
hint hint

you've got 2 ... and theyre not like the ones the spugster brings down .. these are massive .. they look just like them big long german sausage's ...

[Eric]

Originally Posted by susie123

Yeah I'm having taste problems too with my drugs - sometimes feel as though I'm sucking on a galvanised binlid (well I imagine that's what it would taste like!). But that fish soup really hit the spot.

Last time I made a venison casserole I put some black pudding in as I did with the game bird one mentioned above. Makes it even richer.

Trouble is with my drugs is that they give me the raging munchies I think I'll head to the fridge and pull out a couple of cold slabs of tourtiere, dump some branston pickle on, and go for it. Maybe wash the whole mess down with a beer.

Mmm ... maybe I should of said "slabs of cold tourtiere"

[susie123]

Originally Posted by Eric

Trouble is with my drugs is that they give me the raging munchies

Same here Eric. Sadly I don't have any meat pie in the fridge, just working my way through a tin of Christmas choccies...