What are you making for dinner?

So, a little review of our Seafood Themed cooking lesson...

Chef showed us how to salt cod, a generous handful of Malden sea salt over a whole fillet of cod, best left over night in the fridge to take as much water out as possible, rinse of after and then portion up - he also showed us a Wild Garlic and Parmesan crust which could be whizzed up in a food processor, and then rolled out to a pound coin thickness between 2 sheets of baking parchment, this can be frozen, cut into rectangles, still in its paper (dont forget to peel off the paper before use).

We made a Tomato Fondue, which was like a thick ketchup, this was spooned onto the thick cod steak and topped with the garlic crust, grilled for a couple of minutes till blistering, then into a hot oven for 5 minutes - delicious

Whilst the cod was salting, he produced the most enormous Halibut we have ever seen and showed us how to fillet that, using the bones and head for stock - did you know to remove the gills and eyeballs (sorry to the sqeamish) before making stock as it makes it cloudy.

Next was Squid, cleaning it, scoring it and frying it - we eat a lot of squid, knew how to prep it, but learnt some new ways to cook it.

Last was Thai Mussels- coconut milk, Lemon grass, Kafia lime leaves, ginger, chilli and coriander - a lovely fresh change to Moules Mariner

So, to sum up our lunch we had me first/Hubby

A taster of Ham-hock presse

Pan fried squid with chilli and ginger

Thai Mussels/Pork terrine with Remoulade and pickled season veg

Herb crusted cod with Tomato fondue, Griddled purple sprouting broccoli and a fish valloute/Slow roasted Jacobs ladder of beef with Savoy Cabbage pur!e and deep fried Savoy crisps

We both chose Creme Brulee with pressed Rhubarb and a Rhubarb syllabub Icecream

I have learnt a lot of new techniques, and chef really pressed home, the message we all know that wasting food is wasting money - so use it all...

Its a hard life, but someone has to do it......

My lovely Hubby also presented me with tickets for a weekend in France this weekend for Valentines, its a poshish booze cruise but how lucky am I x

Wow Islandmaid your lesson sounds amazing - and extra points for Mr I for his idea of a romantic booze cruise :beer:

Well I've had a somewhat trying day today - decorator has been in doing the home office, gave him a lift back and in the time I was out the cat not only threw up all over the floor and sofa but then walked on the freshly painted windowsill :mad:

There's also a crack in the ceiling where two plaster boards meet which we thought would be easy to fill - but the paint already there seems to be flaky and the crack seems to keep reappearing / blistering despite being filled. It's as if it's damp, but there's no leak that I can tell / any other staining on the ceiling which would indicate a leak. Can't think what it might be, and the loft of course is boarded so it's not easy to find out what's going on above. The neighbours do have a loft conversion but I can't think that would be affecting it? It's not somewhere there would be obvious pipe work either (boiler other end of the loft / party wall room that is a flying freehold so not a natural route to track any pipework) Answers on a postcard appreciated.

So between that, and a dentist appt I'm glad I made a batch of chilli last night which we've polished off tonight.

Shepherds pie with peas and sweetcorn.

Ive made Nadiya Hussain's lamb, pea and mint pasties along with a saucy potato side dish and mange tout followed by HM apple pie for him and milk jelly for me!

Islandmaid, your cookery school day out sounds wonderful - I am quite envious!

It's fish for supper here tonight: I have some skinless basa fillets which I am going to wrap in baking parchment parcels with some crushed butter beans, preserved lemon and fresh parsley which will be baked in the oven for around 15 mins and served with steamed green beans. Skyr yogurt and mixed berries for pud. Plus a glass or two of wine, yay Friday!!