Caitriona Redmond: Family-friendly fish dinners you can make in 30 minutes 

Baked salmon is quick and easy to prepare

As I write this week with the window open, I can hear the sounds of kids calling out and playing below but most importantly the sea. The sea is like the backing track to my life; it’s always there and at night it lulls me to sleep. When it’s wild outside I love feeling safe inside my home while listening to the roar of the waves on the rocks not far away, but I also say a silent prayer for our local fishermen, that they are home safe and in the harbour.

When we go on a walk we can see if the fishmonger on the pier is open when the door to his container is wide open and the radio is blaring. There is nothing like seafood that has been caught just a few hours before. Fish is such good value and I’m lucky to live in a town with more than one fishmonger. The closer you are to the catch the better value in my experience.

If you’re not close to a fishmonger the freezer is the next best substitute for seafood on a budget is the freezer of your local supermarket. Keep an eye out for prawns with the shells on which tend to be better value than deshelled prawns. For fish, watch out for plain fillets marked for ‘steaming’ rather than breaded or battered fillets which may have a higher salt content.

Caitriona Redmond Picture: Moya Nolan

The tinned food aisle is generally full of fish that people tend to discount as unpleasant. A tin of line-caught tuna in brine is a beautiful lean seafood on a budget to buy because it’s so versatile and is already cooked you can add it to salads and sauces with little effort. Add that tin of tuna to sweetcorn and mayonnaise and you have a dynamite sandwich filling on a budget that is far cheaper than pre-prepared tubs.

Traditionally Friday was fish day in Ireland, in my house it’s 'Fresh Fish Friday' and it’s the one day of the week that we try our best to eat local fish; at the moment we are eating a lot of haddock and when they are in season scallops pan-fried in a little butter with lemon zest to finish is a mighty treat.

For my two recipes this week I’m cooking fish as fast food with two main meals that take 30 minutes each to prepare. Both dishes are packed with flavour and are food that my family enjoy eating.

Meal Deals

For the first time since I started tracking the shopping basket for the Irish Examiner we have two supermarkets tied for first place and these are Aldi and Dunnes Stores whose overall basket price is identical. Lidl are following extremely close behind with their basket being only 20c more expensive. There are variations in the types of products for these prices though and from this week you will see more information such as the fat content in the minced beef.

There are multi packs of meat for grilling in all of the supermarkets this weekend.

Today being the Saturday of the Bank Holiday weekend you can pick up ready-to-grill packs of meat and seafood across all the main supermarkets on special with Dunnes Stores, SuperValu, and Tesco having 3 for €10 offers. However, Lidl have a 3 for €9 barbecue bundle which is a little bit better value so worth checking out.

Finally, if you are planning on making jam this summer it would be a good idea to stock up your cupboards with sugar and pectin or jam sugar at the moment to insulate your home produce against price increases. Jam sugar costs €2.75 per kg in all the main supermarkets as of today.

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Baked Salmon

recipe by:Caitriona Redmond 

Baked salmon is tasty, quick and easy to prepare

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 20 mins

Total Time

 30 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 Irish

Ingredients

• 4 salmon fillets (skin off)

• 200g of bulgur wheat

• 40g of butter

• 2 spring onions

• 1-2 lemons

• 1 red pepper

• 1 carrot

• Black pepper

• Salt

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180°C. Cut the greaseproof paper into 4 equal pieces.

2. Pour the bulgur wheat into a large heatproof bowl and pour in enough boiling water to cover it, then cover tightly with cling film and put to one side.

3. Slice the lemon thinly. Place two slices of lemon dead centre in each piece of greaseproof paper. Put a fillet of salmon on top of the lemon.

4. Season with salt and black pepper then place a knob of butter (10g) on top of the salmon. Take the 4 corners of the greaseproof paper and pull them together then twist to seal the salmon into a parcel.

5. Scrunch the paper together so that it is tightly sealed. Place your parcel into an ovenproof dish then put it directly into the oven. Set a timer for 20 minutes.

6. Finely chop the red pepper, spring onions and carrots into equal-sized pieces. Remove the cling film from the bulgur wheat as it should have soaked up all the hot water at this stage. Stir in the chopped vegetables.

7. When the timer goes off, remove the salmon parcels from the oven.

8. To serve, spoon the bulgur wheat salad into a bowl. It can be served warm or cold. Open a parcel and flip the salmon upside down on top of the salad. This will allow the juices captured in the parcel to be used as a dressing for your salad.

Fish & Chips Tray Bake

recipe by:Caitriona Redmond 

A healthier version of the chip shop classic

Servings

5

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 45 mins

Total Time

 55 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 Irish

Ingredients

• 7 medium potatoes, peeled

• 4 tbsp sunflower oil

• 2 cloves garlic

• 2 green peppers

• 1 large handful of fresh green herbs of your choice (I used chives and parsley)

• 300g white fish chunks (a packet of fish mix is absolutely fine)

• 200g fresh tomatoes to serve

Method

1. Preheat a fan oven to 180°C. Line a large baking tray with tin foil (to save on the washing up).

2. Chop the potatoes into small cubes about 2cm in diameter. There's no need to be too precise, this just helps the spuds to cook quicker and get crunchy on the outside. Dry off the potato cubes with a bit of kitchen paper or a clean tea towel before pouring 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil on the baking tray and tossing cubed potatoes in the oil until they are completely covered. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, turn the potato cubes over halfway through cooking.

3. I use a mini-chopper for the next part, but if you have a knife you'll need to finely chop the garlic, peppers and green herbs together. If you have a mini-chopper, lash the lot into the jug and blend with the sunflower oil. Ensure that your fish has no skin left on it and then toss the fish chunks in the green paste you've made in the chopper.

4. Remove the roasted potato cubes from the oven and sprinkle the fish chunks evenly on top. Return to the oven for 15 minutes.

5. Serve with some fresh chopped tomatoes and a herb salad if you like, although tomato relish would go just as well.