Crispy noodle fishcakes
Fun, fast and surprising, teaming up fish and noodles creates the most erratically exciting texture.
Serves 2 / Total time: 18 minutes
• 1 nest of vermicelli rice noodles (50g)
• 15g (½ a bunch) coriander)
• 2 x 150g white fish fillets, skin off, pin-boned, from sustainable sources
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• 1 free-range egg
• 1 lemon
• olive oil
• 60g dried apricots
• 2 teaspoons harissa paste
Scrunch and snap the noodles into a bowl, cover with boiling water and leave to rehydrate for 3 minutes, then drain, squeeze out any excess liquid, and return to the bowl.
Finely chop most of the coriander on your board, saving a few leaves for garnish, then chop the fish on top into a mix of chunks and super-fine and scrape it all into the noodle bowl with the sesame seeds.
Crack in the egg, finely grate in half the lemon zest, add a pinch of sea salt and black pepper and scrunch together well, then divide into 4 and, with wet hands, shape and press into 2cm-thick patties.
Put a large, non-stick frying pan on a medium-high heat and, once hot, add a thin layer of olive oil. Fry the fishcakes for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, or until beautifully golden and cooked through, then drain on kitchen paper.
In a blender, blitz the apricots and harissa with half the lemon juice and 60ml of boiling water until smooth, then season to perfection and spoon across two plates. Sit the crispy fishcakes on top, tear over the remaining coriander leaves and serve with lemon wedges, for squeezing over.
Jarred red pepper pasta
Who knew such big sunshine flavours could be made so fast? You need this sunny one in your life.
Serves 4 / Total time: 12 minutes
• 300g dried penne
• 1 bunch of flat-leaf parsley (30g)
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 460g jar of roasted red peppers
• 100g blanched almonds
• ½-1 tsp dried red chilli flakes
• olive oil
• red wine vinegar
• 150g cottage cheese
Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions.
Blitz the parsley (stalks and all) in a blender with enough extra virgin olive oil to make a vibrant green oil, then pour into a clean jam jar.
Peel the garlic and place in the blender (there’s no need to clean it) with the jarred peppers (juice and all), the almonds, chilli flakes, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar and half the cottage cheese. Blitz until super-smooth.
Drain the pasta, reserving a mugful of starchy cooking water, then return it to the pan. Pour over the pepper sauce and toss together over the heat, loosening with a splash of cooking water, if needed, then season to perfection with sea salt and black pepper.
Divide between serving plates, dot over the remaining cottage cheese, then drizzle with parsley oil, to taste, keeping the rest in the fridge for up to 3 days, or freezing in an ice cube tray for future meals.
Spiced haricot beans
Tinned beans are a brilliant and tasty source of plant-based protein. They’re budget-friendly, full of fibre and have a wonderful ability to take on flavours from all over the world, like these South Asian-inspired haricot beans, made with jarred curry paste and frozen leaf spinach.
Serves 2 / Total time: 16 minutes
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 4 sprigs coriander
• 1 heaped tbsp korma curry paste
• 1 level tsp ground turmeric
• 1 x 400g tin of haricot beans
• 160g frozen leaf spinach
• red wine vinegar
Put a non-stick frying pan on a medium heat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Finely chop the stalks from 4 sprigs of coriander (reserving the leaves) and add with 1 heaped tablespoon of korma curry paste and 1 level teaspoon of ground turmeric. Fry for 1 minute, pour in the tin of haricot beans, juice and all, add the frozen leaf spinach, bring to the boil, then simmer for 5 minutes, or until the spinach has defrosted, stirring regularly and adding a splash of water, if needed. Season to perfection with red wine vinegar, sea salt and black pepper. Add the coriander leaves. Nice with paneer. l
An edited extract from Simply Jamie by Jamie Oliver (RRP$65, Penguin Michael Joseph © Jamie Oliver Enterprises Limited ‒ 2024 Simply Jamie).
