By the end of the week, my daughter and I are nothing if not inventive in the kitchen. The contents of the fruit and veggie bowl have been eaten down, the pantry’s bare and I’m lucky to find anything in the fridge other than wilted Wombok and some milk on the turn. This is what I had remaining a few days ago:
A stale baguette, one enormous sweet potato beginning to mould on its ends. Sitting underneath the sweet potato, some very ordinary looking spring onions. A jar of fresh (only just) pine nuts, a Tussie Mussie (herbal, edible posy) sitting prettily on the kitchen bench, some frozen salmon fillets, a jar of incredibly hot horseradish, two starving children and a hungry husband on his way home.
Sigh. I immediately thought of takeaway thai or fleeing the house and leaving everyone to their own devices.
But… Instead, Grace and I set to and this is what we came up with. Pan-fried Salmon Fillet atop sweet potato smash, sprinkled with a herb crumble and a dollop of horseradish. Grace made the herb crumble and insisted we share the recipe so here it is. Do try it; it is dead easy and fun for kids to make….
Ingredients
- Half a baguette (preferably stale) torn into bite-sized chunks
- 6 spring onions, sliced and chopped
- Any herbs you have to hand (enough for a big handful) chopped roughly. We used sage, parsley, dill, basil, mint and coriander (an odd mix!)
- A large handful of pine nuts
- EVOO
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Coat a heavy based frying pan with the oil and add the onions. Cook until softened.
- Add the pine nuts and bread and dry fry until they begin to turn golden.
- Add the chopped herbs and another glug of oil.
- Continue to pan fry until oil has disappeared or all ingredients are cooked and crisping.
- Serve immediately as a garnish.
It was truly delicious. You could use this crumble over fish, chicken fillets, atop a fish pie, tuna mornay or over a veggie gratin. Try mixing different combinations of herbs together to better suit the dish. For example, I’d use tarragon if I were serving it with chicken…
Until next time…
YUM, Ladies! Well, Grace will make some family very happy when She has Her own!