Memoirs of an Amateur Cook

I am writing this post whilst watching ‘Saturday Kitchen’ and eating a late, lazy breakfast of strawberries with fat-free greek yogurt drizzled with honey; yum!!  Saturday and Sunday mornings in our house tend to be about watching ‘Saturday Kitchen’ and ‘Something for the Weekend’ whilst having a leisurely breakfast and preparing for the day ahead.

I am a big fan of cookery programmes and regularly watch ‘Masterchef‘, ‘Come Dine with Me’ and laterly, ‘Little Paris Kitchen’; I love picking up different tips and recipes.  My absolute favourite cookery programme has been, for a long time, ‘Something for the Weekend’ and I must admit that I was a little bit gutted when the show was cancelled a few weeks ago.  I love the banter between Simon Rimmer and Tim Lovejoy, the simple yet stunning recipes and the tasty sounding cocktails.

I lived in Manchester for many years and am still a little bit in love with the place; I think my being a fan of Simon Rimmer started when I lived in the street opposite his restaurant ‘Greens‘ in West Didsbury.  Having eaten at the vegetarian restaurant, I quickly became a big fan of his cooking as everything I tried was delicious!

Surprisingly perhaps, I don’t often try recreating recipes I have seen on television but, a few weeks ago Simon Rimmer made ‘Thai Spiced Fish Pie’ which sounded and looked divine so I thought I would give it a shot.  The recipe can be found here.

As I had the day off yesterday, and I don’t like being rushed when trying new recipes, I thought it was the perfect day to try out the dish and make my boyfriend a nice romantic meal.  Unfortunately, this did not turn out quite as planned as I was tired and grumpy but stubbornly determined to stick to my original plan.

The result?  The dish did not turned out quite as I would have hoped and was instead rather soggy with some of the sauce escaping over the potato topping.  There could be a few reasons for this. Firstly, I think I could have let my coconut bechamel sauce cook a little longer and thicken a little more.  Secondly, I did use low-fat alternatives wherever possible however, my Mom did the same when making this recipe recently and her pie turned out perfectly so I don’t think this is the main issue.  Thirdly, I was a little bit heavy-handed when mashing the potatoes with fat-free fromage frais (instead of butter) which made it a little too wet

The finished result as it should look (Image courtesy of BBC Food); I was too ashamed to take a photo of mine!

Me being me, I ended up having a bit of a strop when I was having difficulty dishing up the pie so Mr MAC had to come and take over – he is a saint!

Would I make this dish again?  Yes because it was packed with lovely flavours and was not too complex plus, it can be made waistline friendly if you substitute some of the ingredients for low fat alternatives.  Next time I will make sure I cook Simon’s ‘Thai Spiced Fish Pie’ on a day when I am feeling livelier and I’m sure it will turn out much better.

Am I still a Simon Rimmer fan?  Of course!  It is not his fault the dish didn’t turn out quite right and after all, Mr MAC and I still had a romantic meal sitting at the table, listening to music and enjoying each other’s company.  I will definitely be tuning into to Rimmer’s new programme, ‘Sunday Brunch’ tomorrow and will perhaps consider cooking a few more of his recipes….