Black Pasta with Red Mullet

Red Mullet. Not an Irish man's haircut in the early 90s. Rather the other red mullet which is apparently a delicious fish. I unfortunately have more experience with the hairstyle than the fish. And to my great disappointment it shall stay that way. I was not able to lay my hands on a red mullet....at least not the fish. Nigella has an answer for this problem; Bream. So that's what I went home with. I picked up a whole bream fish at the market and had them clean the fish for me with the head off please and thank you. However, when I got home the fish was not quite in the shape I was hoping for. I guess what I should have asked for is to have the fish filleted. This I will chalk up to my innocence and ignorance of what is involved in dismembering animals - which I'd like to keep that ignorance and innocence thank you very much. What I had on my hands was a headless gutless fish. A fish with quite a strong spine that I was not prepared to deal with. But I knew I'd have to get the bugger apart somehow and when faced with this task I was also faced with a childhood trauma. When I was very young, I'm not sure how old exactly, my father decided to show his youngest daughter how to clean a fish. A life lesson for certain. The only problem here is that my father's youngest daughter (me) is incredibly sensitive to animals being harmed in anyway shape or form. She tends to prefer watching humans be dismembered as opposed to animals. And, at around this same age, would cry for hours when a farmer struck a donkey in a Christmas claymation special titled "Nestor" (Nestor is the donkey that carries Mary to the stable in Bethlehem). So my father decides it's time to show me basic survival skills and that even in my innocent and sensitive state of mind, I should know how to clean a fish. I guess in the event I took off and was alone in the woods for days with no food source. So, things were going swimmingly in the beginning. We caught a fish (oooo how exciting!), we took the fish off the hook (not my favourite part) and, here's where we strayed from the normal routine I was accustomed to. Instead of throwing the fish back in the river my father pulled out a knife and sliced open the belly of the poor bugger. Then came the blood and guts, then came the tears. Ridiculous amounts of tears. I didn't eat fish after that until I was 16 years old. No joke. 16.

So with all this trauma in my back pocket I have to now fillet this fish. Lemme tell ya, it did not go well. I did not fillet this fish so much a butcher it up. After a few minutes I realized I would not be successful at this and just did what I could to salvage this dinner.

Filleting was the hardest part of the dinner. So if you can buy just a straight up fillet - do it. The rest of this meal prep is all about timing. Getting your pasta cooked and ready at the same time your sauce is ready for the pasta. And I'll tell you this is much easier to do if you prep all your ingredients ahead of time.

Taste wise this is alright but not fantastic. Because I'm bollocks at filleting a fish, we had a few bones to contend with but it was alright. This recipe will not make my top ten but if you want something a little different give it a try. It does have great visual appeal.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Sundae

This I was going to have be my very last recipe but it seems that is not to be the case. I actually made this because I realized in the grocery store today that it has been quite a while since I made the last recipe and I knew that all I needed for this recipe was some chocolate, some ice cream and peanut butter. I was also putting this recipe off for so long because I couldn't fathom buying tubs of ice cream that I knew would go to waste because I never eat ice cream. And if I do eat ice cream it's usually on a stick. Whenever I buy a tub of ice cream after I eat 3 scoops of it, it sits in my freezer for a year, gets freezer burnt and then I throw it out. So even as I was heading towards the freezer section in the store I was mourning the ice cream I was about to purchase and throw out in a year. Then I saw a little bit of genius in the freezer. Haagen Daaz has released a product that is one scoop portions!!!!! I couldn't believe my luck. Exactly what I needed. I bought 3 scoops and was on my way. Perfect.

I get back home and make myself a sundae. But first the sauce. Cream, peanut butter, chocolate and honey melted together. Then just pour over ice cream, top with peanuts and your afternoon treat is ready for enjoyment.

If you like ice cream then you will of course like this. I have to tell you that what is amazing to use for this sundae is Haagen Daaz Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream. That really made it for me. Only 2 recipes left! I can't even believe this shit.

Peaches in Muscat

I should have been done this project ages ago, but I still have around 3 recipes to make. Even after having made this one. I feel like this book is growing recipes and I'll never be done. It of course doesn't help that my production line has all but ground to a halt on this project. I'm painting pictures, sewing dresses doing everything BUT cooking it feels like these days. Husband has been picking up the slack there, but him cooking doesn't get the this project done. And I have to tell you I kind of feel like - why did I think this was a good idea? Am I really in my third calendar year of doing this? That's a little bit shameful. But I am finishing. One thing I am good for is coming thru on my word. Generally if I say I'm going to do something I do it - which isn't always a good thing when I'm suddenly stuck by conviction if I've had a few drinks. God knows that my drunk ideas are not usually my best ideas. However those events do usually turn into good stories later down the road of life. Once I'm over the trauma and can laugh off the embarrassment that is. But here I am now with Nigella Express in hand - I can see the finish line but it feels like a mirage. Three bloody recipes to go and it will probably take me 3 bloody weeks to crank them out. But oh the glory I will feel once this is done. Well, perhaps glory isn't the right word..I'm thinking relief, good riddance and thank effing god that's over with I must have been drunk or insane when I had that idea....

Today though I don't get to close the book for good but rather make another check off on yet another recipe "peaches in muscat". All I can say is I am so glad this is absolutely NO effort whatsoever. All I did was cut up a peach and poor booze over it. This is about all the level of effort I had for this today too. As it turns out this is actually highly rewarding in the flavour department. I think I'm becoming a fan of the late harvest vidal which is my north american suburban replacement for a muscat wine. I'm starting to think you can soak any fruit in muscat wine, serve with a variation of cream and it will be delicious. I do recommend this recipe if for no other reason than because we all need to eat more booze soaked fruit.