The ray of sunshine that kept me going, was that I knew I would leave the office and head to my BFF's for some much needed girl time. We don't see each other often enough for our liking, but life's like that. I've got kids and a full-time job and she owns her own business. No matter how crazy life gets, we try to get together every couple of months for a one-on-one dinner, for an in-person catch-up session - one of this girl's secrets to good mental health!
Tonight was the night! I got there before she arrived, so cracked open a bottle of white wine and went and found a chair in the backyard, where I snacked on some bread and cheese in the garden. It was glorious. The weather was perfect. It was sunny, and warm enough that I ditched my shoes and socks for Crocs and barefeet. The song birds sang, the squirrels foraged and the local kids made their way home from school. It was so relaxing.
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| Crocs and legs that haven't seen the sun in months: They aren't beautiful but after the Winter and Spring we've had bare feet and crocs feel so good! |
After Nikki got home, we chatted the night away, sharing news, venting, laughing and solving the problems of the world. Both hungry and needing something more than wine for dinner, she rummaged through her freezer and found a container of her homemade fish stew. Fish is a limited menu item in our house, so I jumped at the opportunity. It was SO YUMMY!
As the evening went on, the temperature dropped and Mother Nature put on a good rain storm. This crazy Spring weather has been wreaking havock on our heads, so we counted the blessings we have in each other and called it a night reasonably early. The food and the conversation were so good that I almost forgot to ask her for her recipe. Of course, being the amazing chef that she is, she "kind of made it up off the top of (her) head." LOL! It was very reminiscent of the one I make, by our mutually favourite chef, Jamie Oliver. Here's that recipe in lieu of Nikki's.
Hope you had a good mental health day too!
bpj
Recipe of the Day
A Traditional Greek Fishermen's Stew
Source: http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/fish-recipes/aegean-kakavia-beautiful-fish-stew- Ingredients
- olive oil
- 2 onions, peeled and roughly chopped
- 4 sticks celery, trimmed and roughly chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
- 3 beef tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 500 g potatoes, peeled and cut into 3-4cm chunks
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 litre organic vegetable stock
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 700 g fresh fish fillets, scaled and pin-boned
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 small bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
- 1 small bunch fresh dill, roughly chopped
- greek extra virgin olive oil
Directions
Heat a good lug of olive oil in a large pan on a medium heat. Add the onions and celery and cook for 5 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft but not coloured.
Add the tomatoes, potatoes and bay leaves and pour in the stock. Season lovingly with salt and pepper and bring it all to the boil. Reduce to a low heat and simmer for 15 minutes. At this point, add your fish fillets and bring back to the boil, then reduce to a medium-low heat and simmer for a further 15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender and the fish is cooked through and flakes apart. Stir in the lemon juice and herbs, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, then have a quick taste to make sure you've got a good balance of acidity, freshness and seasoning. Jamie serves h is with chunks of rustic bread but Nikki and I had steamed brocolli and mashed potatoes with ours. SO YUMMY!
Add the tomatoes, potatoes and bay leaves and pour in the stock. Season lovingly with salt and pepper and bring it all to the boil. Reduce to a low heat and simmer for 15 minutes. At this point, add your fish fillets and bring back to the boil, then reduce to a medium-low heat and simmer for a further 15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender and the fish is cooked through and flakes apart. Stir in the lemon juice and herbs, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, then have a quick taste to make sure you've got a good balance of acidity, freshness and seasoning. Jamie serves h is with chunks of rustic bread but Nikki and I had steamed brocolli and mashed potatoes with ours. SO YUMMY!
"What's great about this recipe is that you can use whatever fish you like. Sea bass, wrasse, pickerel, pollock, bream and red mullet all work well. You could even use lobster if you have it and feel like splashing out! Just talk to your fishmonger and get him to recommend a few of his freshest fish. Greek fishermen make this out at sea, using whatever they've hauled into their boat that day, and cooking it in seawater. That's how I learnt to make this. Because their water is ready salted they don't need any seasoning at all to achieve a perfectly delicious stew. Genius! Try to use a mixture of fish, so you get all sorts of different flavours and colours in this wonderful stew."
-Jamie Oliver
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