Thursday, December 16, 2004

Oil for the lamp...

I bought myself a neat utensil Sunday, a oil spray bottle for cooking, here is my first recipe using this nifty tool:
Haddock and Veg bake
This is what I had at hand ingredient wise,
4 baby gem squash
8 baby pear shaped marrows, approx 50mm long
Some left over cherry tomatoes and 2 bigger ones
2 medium sized sweet potatoes
punnet of button mushrooms
1 large onion
1 pack frozen haddock fillets approx 500g
Veggie Seasoning
and my new oil spray filled with Olive Oil.
Method
First peel the sweet potatoes and cube, rinse and put into a microwave/glass dish and Nuke for 4 minutes at full blast.
Put your Oven on HIGH in the meantime.
Then trim the ends of the squash and marrows, rinse and do the same as the sweet potatoes but only for 2 minutes.
Now it is time to get out the baking dish big enough for all the ingredients, spray with oil, dump the nuked veggies in and spray with oil and sprinkle with Veggie Seasoning.
Slide the dish into the oven while you do the next step.
Trim the tail bit off your fillets of fish and cut in half, wash the mushrooms and tomatoes, dice/slice the larger ones and do the same to the onion.
Now you can whip your dish out of the oven and add the fish, arrange at will and spray a tad more oil, pop back into the oven for another 10 minutes.
Finally add the tomatoes onion and mushrooms, sprinkle with Veggie Seasoning and spray lightly with oil.
Pop the lot back in the oven for 15 minutes, use a large spoon to mix the lot a bit and return to the oven for another 10 minutes with the Grill on, keep an eye on things from now on, as soon as things get brown do the mix thing and toast the rest... as soon as things go brown again shut the heat off and prepare to feast.
This recipe can be adapted regarding protein and vegetables, use whatever you have, the secret is in the light film of oil and the Veggie Seasoning. I reckon I could have served at least 4 people.
As we are talking of oil I thought this would be a good song for the day.
Oil for the lamps of China - Listening Pool.
So where's the place you call home?
Somewhere to call your own
You need some time to be alone
Somewhere to light up your life
And maybe you'll hold on tight
But now I hope it turns out right
You'd better stop sitting back
And open up your eyes
When are you gonna stop and realise
This is your prize
And now you're lying down
In an old forgotten town
Keep on hoping,
Keeping hope alive

Oil for the lamps of China
You've gotta believe in your pride
Shining from far and wide
Don't you think it's justified?
Somewhere to take by surprise
Under the moonlit skies
Now I hope it turns out right
But you'd better stop looking back
And open up your mind
Who are you gonna try and hope to find
One of your kind?
So here's the black and white
When you're running out of time
Keep on hoping, keeping hope alive
Oil for the lamps of China.
How I got to lamps I don't know but food is the fuel of the body which helps the mind be enlightened so lamps and light are relevant I suppose.
"Genius without religion is only a lamp on the outer gate of a palace; it may serve to cast a gleam on those that are without while the inhabitant sits in darkness." Hannah More

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