My mother, while a great cook, is not an adventurous one and often sticks with ingredients she is familiar with.
So, when I presented the idea of serving her fish with a crust of garam masala and ‘nduja, that thick Calabrian salami and chilli paste, she was a bit cautious. My mother stared bizarrely at the brashly orange ‘nduja paste. I smiled back because I knew I was about to convert her.
And I think a few people have been converted on this website actually. In my Food Talk newsletter many moons ago, I published a recipe for Beef & ‘Nduja Ragù which surprisingly became one of my most popular recipes on this blog, alongside my Coca Cola Cabbage, Welsh Cakes, and Cardamom & Mandarin Yogurt Cake.
It shocked me because I thought ‘nduja would be a hard sell for those who had never had it, but alas, every month, it sits within the top 3 most visited recipes on this site, so I felt it necessary to show how else I put that fabulous paste to good use.
And that’s with fish.
‘Nduja has a dense, spicy and almost acidic bite and the closest I can think to describe it is to imagine a spreadable chorizo and you’re halfway there. And it’s no secret how fish fried in bacon fat takes it to a higher plane, so imagine the plane it’s flown to when covered in this paste.
Some rocket and a few chopped, oiled and salted tomatoes would be perfect on the side of this, but I also like to serve a big bowl of buttery Herby Pistachio Couscous.
This is nothing more than 200g of couscous poured into a bowl with ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon butter and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Pour over 200ml of water from a recently boiled kettle and cover the bowl with a bigger plate or some cling film. Leave this to swell up while you get on with the fish, stirring through a handful of bashed pistachios and a handful of chopped herbs – whatever you fancy – just before serving.
Serves 2
50g ‘nduja paste
½ teaspoon garam masala
1 clove garlic
1 orange
1 tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary
2 slices of stale white bread
1 egg
2 thick pieces skinless white fish (haddock or cod would be great)
Generous handfuls of rocket (to serve)
- Preheat the oven to 150°C
- In a bowl, combine the ‘nduja paste with the garam masala. Grate in the garlic and orange zest before halving the orange and squeezing in the juice. Mind the pips.
- Add the chopped rosemary with a little salt and a generous grind of pepper.
- Ideally you would blitz the stale bread in a processor to create breadcrumbs, but if you don’t have a processor just chop them up as finely, finely, finely as you can. Add your crumbs – crusts and all – to the fragrant ‘nduja paste.
- Crack in the egg and fork everything together to create a thick paste.
- Lay your pieces of fish on a baking tray. Using your hands (or a spoon if your squeamish) divide the paste in half and carefully press on top of the fish to create a proud coat for them.
- Salt them gently and slide in the oven for 20 minutes.
- If you are making the couscous (see introduction), now would be a good time to get started on that.
- Once the fish has had its time, take out of the oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes before carefully spatula’ing them on to plates of a waiting tangle of rocket.
MIKEY AND THE KITCHEN. 