Quick food for busy people

Wanna play a game?

There are days that are really busy and productive when I can't wait to do stuff and others when I find it hard to get going.  Today was a good busy day, hence the late post.  There were chores to be done and preparations to be made for our building works (more on that another time).  Keith the dog tried his hardest to distract me - it was very difficult to resist.

Being busy usually means that food needs to be quick but we still don't want to compromise on taste.  Yesterday, I made a lovely oven-baked fish dish for dinner which I can highly recommend.

 I love food that can be done in the oven and "forgotten about" - mind you, I almost did with this one and the crust turned out to be a little darker than planned.  Anyway, that aside, this easy and yummy recipe with a Mediterranean twist went down a treat and was prepared and cooked in just over half an hour.  Ideal for those busy times during the week.

Have a lovely weekend!


Mediterranean Fish Bake (serves 4)

Ingredients:
4 pieces of white fish filet
2 large handfuls of breadcrumbs (ideally made from stale bread)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tsp tomato puree
3 tbsp of olive oil
1 tsp of butter
2 tsp each of dried basil, oregano, rosemary, tarragon and thyme (you can vary these according to what you have in your larder)
salt, pepper
Optional: sun-dried tomatoes, chopped and/or chopped olives

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (fan oven).
Place the fish filets into a lightly greased ovenproof dish and season with salt and pepper.
In a small saucepan, sweat the onion and garlic in olive oil and butter.
Remove from the heat and add the herbs and the breadcrumbs, then stir in the tomato puree until you have a thick paste.  Season with salt & pepper.
Evenly spread this paste on top of your fish filets and bake these in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes until the top has formed a crust - if you find this to brown too quickly, simply cover the dish with foil.

Serve with new potatoes or chips and a side salad or on top of rice.

If you like, why not make this easy mustard & cream sauce to go with it:

Ingredients:
150 ml cream (I used whipping cream as that was all I had)
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp grainy mustard

1 tsp honey
1 tsp cornflour + 1 tbps cold water
salt, pepper


Method:
In a small saucepan gently simmer the cream, then stir in the mustard and honey.
Mix the cornflour with the water and stir into the cream - continue to simmer until you are happy with the consistency.
Season with salt and pepper.