Recipes with no measurements
Pan-fried Welsh sea bass fillets with olive oil new potatoes, rosemary and peas recipe
People often remember their grandmother making cakes or cooking meals without a recipe book in sight, and rarely weighing anything out. And yet, they will tell you, it always turned out perfectly and tasted delicious. And no doubt this is true, but it's likely only because the years of practice - perhaps making the same dish thousands of times – means they knew how big a handful, how many shakes of a packet, how quickly it runs off a spoon etc. the method is supposed to have at each stage of the process.
My Nanna Lena never weighed anything for making cakes but we always roughly measured things with a teacup – except when we added splashes of Jif Lemon to the mixture and there were always a few extra 'for luck'. My Nannie Gwen made gravy every week for Sunday dinners, never once measuring how much flour or potato water or gravy browning to add to the meat juices and fat. But that's only as she'd made it twice a week for nearly 50 years.
When frantically scribbling down a recipe from my Tía Juani (not my real auntie but rather my adopted Spanish one from the time I lived in Spain) and I asked how much flour to put in to make tortillas de carnaval (think half-doughnut half-pancake laced with anise and lemon), she told me "enough until it gets thicker". Makes perfect sense.
Of course, the more you cook, the easier it becomes to "just know" if something is right. I'm the worst for just shaking in herbs and spices by hand, throwing in sizeable pinches of Halen Môn sea salt and adding a bit for luck (some habits die hard). But I'm terrible at tasting and seasoning as I go. My friend and former flatmate Lily, is the best I know at doing this, carefully tasting and then adjusting the salt or spice or sweetness accordingly. I have gotten better at doing this since writing recipes, starting with 1tsp and then adding various +1’s to it as I realise it needs more.
Of course, everyone's tastes are different and people are free to use more or less than the recipe says to suit their palate. Recipes for anything with cinnamon in never have enough for my liking (also see garlic, sherry, chilli). And so I will sprinkle more in until I think it's enough. And so we're back to not weighing anything out and the circle of home cooks that just seem to know how to make things continues. It’s a quite a nice feeling really. Join in!
The Recipe
Sea bass fillets with olive oil new potatoes, rosemary and peas
I love sea bass, and even though most of what we get in the UK comes from Europe, you can catch bass all around the Welsh coast – although there are some restrictions in place in order to maintain stocks. I always think it should be cooked simply, as in this recipe, but it can pair with lots of sides and flavours. As much as I’m a fan of butter (I wrote about that a while back if you missed it), I always cook with olive oil. This recipe uses a generous helping – but then that’s the point – as it takes on the wonderful flavour of the rosemary, beautifully softens the shallots, and gives the potatoes a silken quality and beautiful shine.
Ingredients (serves 2)
2 boneless Welsh sea bass fillets
4 tbsp olive oil
3 banana shallots, sliced
1 clove of garlic, thinly sliced
300g (about 12-15) new potatoes, sliced into rounds of about the 5mm (about the thickness of a one pound coin) – it’s a touch late for Pembrokeshire Earlies, but if you can get you hands on them, they are delicious
3 sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves stripped
100g frozen petit pois garden peas
Juice from half a lemon
Sea salt and black pepper for seasoning
Method
1. Put two tablespoons of olive oil in a large frying pan and add the onion and garlic. Turn on the heat to medium/low.
2. When the onion starts to sizzle, add the potatoes, a generous pinch of sea salt, and the rosemary leaves. Drizzle over two more tablespoons of olive oil and give everything a good mix so it’s all coated in oil.
3. Turn down the heat to low, cover the pan with a lid or some foil and cook – stirring and turning every few minutes – until the potatoes are soft enough to stick a fork into easily. It should take 15-20 minutes or so. The idea is to part steam them, part slow fry them in the oil.
4. Meanwhile, season the sea bass fillets with salt and pepper and place skin-side down in a hot frying pan. Cook for a few minutes until the skin is crispy and the fish mostly cooked through (you’ll see it change colour from translucent to pearly white), then turn over and cook for another minute or two on the other side.
5. While the fish is cooking, remove the lid from the potatoes and add the frozen peas. Stir and cook for a few minutes until the peas are thawed and cooked but still hold their firmness.
6. Pile up the potato mix on a plate and squeeze with lemon. Pop the crispy sea bass on top and give it a final squeeze of lemon.
If you try the recipe out, don’t forget to tag any photos with #mywelshkitchen.
The Playlist
To me, cooking and music go hand in hand, whether that’s singing at the top of your voice using a wooden spoon as a microphone while waiting for pasta to boil, or dancing around with the oven gloves on as the oven timer counts down. Here are this week’s ideas for your Welsh Kitchen playlist.
It was such a delight to be back at an in-person choir rehearsal this week with the fantastic Côr Y Boro, and we got cracking with Hafan Gobaith. You can see how we got on here, or hear classical star and former X-Factor contestant Rhydian with his version below. Secondly, we have the absolutely gorgeous, soulful tones of Wales-born Kat Eaton.
Hafan Gobaith by Rhydian
All Kinds Of Crazy by Kat Eaton
The Pantry
Good food is nothing without good ingredients and thankfully there are plenty of fantastic Welsh products on the market. Here is where you’ll find recommendations to stock up your cupboard, fridge or fruit bowl.
Barti Salted Caramel Spread
There was a time a few years ago that you couldn’t buy anything caramel without it being salted. Thankfully, the trend has dissipated somewhat but that doesn’t stop it being a rather good combo once in a while. Mix a little spiced rum into the equation and what do you get? Joy in a jar. If you want to get your hands on some, then rum makers Barti Ddu sell it by the pot – ideal for slathering on fairy cakes, drizzling over slices of apple, or in an emergency, just going in with a spoon.