Sunday, May 16, 2010

Spaghetti with ocean trout and capers

Hello everyone, yesterday I went to one of the first events at this year's Sydney Writers' Festival http://www.swf.org.au/ which was a talk by the founders of the famous Bourke Street Bakery. It was held at the Surry Hills Library and the two speakers, Paul Allam and David McGuinness, shared some of the "secrets" of the bakery. It was fascinating, and a lovely addition was on that arrival they had a generous selection of their famous tarts set out on a big table, so that everyone could have one on the way in! It was a really good start for this year's Festival for me.

This week's recipe comes from Pete Evan's book Fish, from which I have had mixed results, but this one was a real winner, particularly as I had left work late that day, so was anticipating a late dinner, but despite the lengthy list of ingredients, found that it cooked up pretty quickly and was delicious.

Have a lovely week. Love from Jane xx

Spaghetti with ocean trout and capers

Serves four

(If you don't like capers by all means leave them out, I don't think their deletion will impact too markedly on the dish).

What you need:
  • 500g spaghetti
  • 1/2 cup light olive oil
  • 4 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped banana chilli
  • 6 anchovies, roughly torn
  • 60g choppped green olives
  • 2 tablespoons baby capers
  • A large handful of chopped flat leaf parsley
  • Juice of 2 lemons
  • 400g ocean trout, skin and bones removed and cubed (it's really important that the skin is removed, I forgot this detail when I purchased my fish and consequently had some difficulty with the cubing)
  • 3 handfuls of rocket
  • 4 tablespoons salmon roe (optional)

What you do:

  1. Cook the spaghetti in a large pot of boiling water until al dente.
  2. Meanwhile, heat the oil, garlic and chilli in a large pan until the garlic starts to turn golden.
  3. Add the anchovies, olives, capers and parsley.
  4. Drain the pasta, add to the pan with the garlic mix and toss well.
  5. Add the lemon juice and ocean trout and season with salt and pepper.
  6. Stir through for 30 seconds. The idea is for the fish to be served rare, so you are just warming it slightly around the edges and then allowing it to cook a little more when served from the heat of the pasta.
  7. Add the rocket and mix through until slightly wilted.
  8. Transfer the spaghetti and fish to a serving bowl and garnish with salmon roe, if using, before serving.