An easy menu to amaze Mammy on Mother's Day

Getting a meal up to Mum’s standards for her special day is not actually that hard. Roz Crowley shows how easy it is to pull out all the stops, and do the wash-up too

COOKING for Mum can be fun. Keep the meal simple and get your siblings involved for a family event that will give her a warm feeling of satisfaction.

My menu of proper fish and oven chips is so simple you will want to cook it again and again. I love a mix of sweet and regular potatoes and you can cook whole carrots at the same time, adding the fish towards the end of cooking. It cannot fail. You don’t even have to peel the potatoes, just scrub them well to get rid of all dirt. The only special ingredient you may have to buy is paprika pepper. If you can find the smoked variety, all the better, or you can use chilli powder if Mum likes spicy food. You can also serve some creamy peas on the side, along with a simple mayonnaise spiked with chopped gherkins or capers. Dessert is a simple ice cream topped with a blend I put together for the first time recently.

Make a fuss of setting the table, with napkins and a glass for wine, water or other drinks. Light a few candles. Even night lights in jam jars look great when there are plenty of them. Try to get all the family to sit down together and get them to switch off mobile phones and other devices while eating. Put your mother’s favourite music on to complete the treat.

Get most of the preparation done ahead so you can clean up before it all goes in the oven. There won’t be much with these recipes. The dessert sauce can be made a few hours ahead.

Afterwards, continue the treat by removing plates from the table and doing the washing up.

Oven fish and chips (Serves 4)

4 potatoes

2 sweet potatoes

4 large carrots

4 fillets fish — plaice, haddock, cod, hake or 2 monkfish tails

2 tbsp olive oil

Salt

1 heaped teasp paprika pepper

Half a lemon

To serve:

Mayonnaise

Gherkins or capers

Heat the oven at 220c/425f/gas 7.

Wash and dry the potatoes, sweet potatoes and carrots. Fennel bulbs are delicious, too.

Quarter the potatoes, and, if large, cut each quarter into half to make smaller wedges. Wash quickly and pat dry with a tea-towel. Leave the carrots whole, unless they are very thick.

Place on an oven tray and sprinkle with the paprika. Pour over half the olive oil and, using your hands, rub the paprika and olive oil into each one.

Bake for 30 minutes. Toss around the potatoes and carrots to ensure they crisp up, and put back in the oven.

When the wedges are cooked, push them aside side to make room for the fish. Place the fish, skin side down, on the tray.

A fillet of plaice will take 7-10 minutes to cook; cod, hake or haddock 10 minutes. Slice through the monkfish almost to the skin and press it out to increase the surface area and make it quicker to cook. It will need about 12 minutes. Sprinkle all the fish with salt and pepper, a little olive oil, and a squeeze of lemon juice.

While the fish cooks, mix the mayonnaise with chopped capers or gherkins and serve in a bowl on the side.

Serve the fish on a plate, while the wedges can go in a paper napkin, rolled up and placed in a bowl or favourite mug. If mum likes peas, cook them from frozen, as instructed on the pack. Drain and mash with a little cream or yoghurt. Serve in a pretty bowl. A salad of fresh, green leaves is a great idea on the side, too.

Ice-cream with easy lemon and orange sauce (Serves 4)

This needs no cooking and is easy for children to make.

4 scoops vanilla ice-cream

4 heaped dessp lemon curd

1 dessp fresh orange juice

Squeeze half an orange to extract the juice. I used a delicious blood orange, which turned the lemon curd quite pink and appetising. Mix it in, a teaspoon at a time, with the lemon curd until smooth. I found a bargain in Tesco — a jar of lemon curd for 79c.

Place a scoop or square of ice-cream in a glass or teacup, or on a plate, and pour over the lemon and orange sauce. Great on the side, with this ice-cream dessert, are delicious marshmallows.