Fish Pie

While browsing the Internet I stumbled upon very cool fish pie. The original can be found here.

For the dish we will need these igredients:

• 1 kg (2.20lbs) of potatoes
• 400 g (0.89 lbs) of fish (cod, trout or salmon is recommended, I took what turned out in the shop - Alaska pollack)
• 200 g (0.45 lbs) of frozen green peas
• 160 g (0.36 lbs) of cheese "Cheddar"
• 1 glass of milk
• butter
• sunflower oil

Here is what we will do with all these ingredients, step-by-step:

1. Grease the bottom and the sides of the baking form with sunflower oil. You can do this either with fingers or use special brush. Put filleted fish there.

2. Pour milk on fish fillet so it is about half covered, then salt and pepper.

3. Peel the potatoes and put them in the saucepan. Oven must be heated up to 180 degrees centigrade (356 F).
When potatoes begin to boil put the fish into the oven (make sure, that it has required temperature).

4. Put the frozen peas into a saucepan and cover them with water. Add a some salt and put them on the hob - low heat will do. 20 minutes there will be just fine.

5. While waiting for the peas we can grate the cheese.

6. When 20 minutes are up take the fish out of the oven and drain off the milk into the glass. Using fork tear the fillet into pieces. Rise temperature in the oven up to 220 grades centigrade (428 F).

7. Wait when peas start to boil. Then get them from the hob and drain water off.

8. By that time potatoes will be ready. You can drain water off and hold it on the hob for some time, hence remnants of the water completely evaporate. Add butter to potatoes, salt and pepper. Then add part of the milt and thoroughly mash it. In my case, all the milk was required to make them very smooth and creamy. In your case not all milk may be required - so do not hurry to pour all milk. The goal is to have smooth and creamy potato mash.

9. Add peas to potato mash and mix carefully.
Be careful don't mash up the peas.
10. Put potato mash with peas on top of the fish and spread it evenly using the fork.11. Sprinkle the shredded cheese.

12. Put the dish into the oven and leave it there for 20 minutes. Check later if pie is baking evenly. Turn the dish around if it is brown on one side. After 10 minutes you should see something like this:

Bon appetit!

Sweet noodle soup

The weather recently was rather cool so I decided to cook noodle with milk. The package of milk appeared to be spoiled, though shelf-life date hasn't come yet. By that time noodles were almost ready. After short thinking process with my husband, we decided to cook the dish he knew from his childhood. I tried it only once it was a year or two ago. Maybe on that time we had similar situation with milk;-)

So, here's the description step-by-step:
1. Cook short and thin noodle. 2. Get fruit-berry compote from the closet (or supermarket). It can be with cherry or plum. It has to be red and taste sweet and sour altogether. 3. Put cooked noodles into separate deep bowl. 4. If compote is too concentrated, it is better to dilute to the desired consistency. After that fill the noodle with it. The above described actions will lead to medium heated soup. Depending on the season and your mood it can be made cold or hot. To make it cold just cool down noodles and compote. Being cold it is the best in the summer heat. On the other hand to make it hot all components must be warmed.

Isn't that simple and easy?

Bon appetit!

The Japanese plum wine Choya Umeshu Kishu Herb

On the last weekend my husband and I visited my Mom. We were greatly surprised because at that day my parents had wedding anniversary :). Everyday life has such a high speed pace that I completely forgot about it.

But it is not that I want to share with you. In one of the supermarkets parents bought Japanese plum wine for the holiday. It looks like this:


Title: Choya Umeshu Kishu Herb
Alcohol: 12%

I managed to get some information from the manufacturer's web site Choya.

Choya Umeshu Kishu Herb - is a unique Japanese wine from plum (Ume) fruit that has a lot of curative properties. Plum fruit is unusually rich in minerals, fruit acids and vitamin C. Moreover, according to Japanese folklore, Ume reduces fatigue and gives quiet sleep.

The recipe of making wine from Ume plum was discovered by Japanese people near four hundred years ago and from that time Umeshu is considered to be the national drink of the inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun . Thanks to perilla (perilla - aromatic plant used in Japanese cuisine) it has red color and delicate mix of exotic flavor and a pleasant taste.

The very company Choya, formed in 1914, at the moment, took a leading position for the production and worldwide distribution of plum wine Umeshu. Choya Umeshu production doesn't use any artificial dyes and additives, it is made of best fruits, gathered and processed manually during the day.

I want to add that the wine is very pleasant, has a delicate, slightly sweet flavor with the scent of plums and herbs. It is recommended to drink it chilled or even better with 2-3 cubes of ice in the glass to make it have even more delicate taste.

Well, you may want to try a plum. Don't be so fast! They have a lot of alcohol in them :-)

Bon appetit!