From the sea

The breadless sandwich

Did you say NO bread? Uh, yep, I certainly did.

Why? Cause sometimes bread and carbs make me a little, ummm, gas-ey and bloated of the not so pleasant kind. Not all the time, but in spouts of bad carbo loaded eating, it sure does cause a problem. Introducing my sandbo of choice,  a-la-fillet-o-fish-finger-sandbo. Crispy and golden fish fingers with sirarcha mayo and shredded cabbage.

Addictive. Quick. Hell tasty.

This sandbo is my homemade cure for my fillet-o-fish burger craving. It’s so disappointing that the fillet-o-fish is the much forgotten Maccy Dee’s burger – but, it’s my pick of the lot. Followed closely by the McChicken then those tiny crispy nuggets with some sweet mustart or sweet n’ sour sauce. Hush, you cheeseburger lovers, I can hear you hissing.

This quick snack is so fast to make, requires hardly any skill and are best consumed on your lonesome – so you don’t have to share. Now, don’t blame me if you get hooked on these. Try it and see. Maybe you’ll swap sides and join team fillet-o-fish.

Gathering the ingredients from the freezer, fridge and pantry

Place your fish fingers onto an oven tray, it's upto you how many you'd like to eat in one sitting

Shred the cabbage as finely as possible

To make the sirarcha mayo, mix the sirarcha chilli sauce and kewpie mayo in a snaplock bag (you can also just do this in a bowl and spread along fish finger)

I like it H-O-T, but adjust the sirarcha to your desired heat level

Snap the sirarcha mayo bag shut

Push the mayo into the corner of the snaplock bag then twist to form a blob

By the time you've shredded the cabbage and made the sirarcha mayo your fish should be golden and crispy

Snip the corner of the bag then squirt the sirarcha mayo, as you can see I had a slight blow out

Next pile on some shredded cabbage

Layer on the other fish finger, woop, woop!

Hello little fishys

I should have made a few more. Epic. Fail.

Bite time. Nom.

Look who else wanted a little bit of my sandbo. Dog-nom.

Not exactly the healthiest sandbo but utterly delectable & finger lickin' good


THE DEETS YOU WANT TO KNOW

INGREDIENTS
Sirarcha Chilli Sauce (available from asian grocers)
Kewpie Mayo (Japanese mayonaise available in Coles or from asian grocers)
Fish Fingers
Cabbage

LET’S GET COOKING

STEP 1 Take two to six fish fingers, cook at 200 degrees till golden (around 15 minutes)
STEP 2 Whilst fish fingers are in the oven finely shred some cabbage
STEP 3 To make the sirarcha mayo, mix siracha and kewpie mayo  in a snap lock bag. I like one third sirarcha to two-thirds kewpie, but do this to your desired taste. Shut the snaplock bag and push to one corner and twist to form a little blob in the corner. Set aside.
STEP 4 Once golden take the fish fingers out of the oven.
STEP 5 Snip the corner of the sirarcha mayo blob and squeeze along one fish finger. Next place shredded cabbage on top of sirarcha mayo. Layer another fish finger on top of the cabbage.
STEP 6 Repeat for remaining fish fingers.


Home Cured Nemo, The Reveal

It was rather nerve racking taking this burtha-of-a-beast out of the fridge after 48 hours. Over the last couple of days, each time I’d open the fridge my curing Nemo was staring at me. My temptation to lift the cans, unravel the cling wrap and just prod n’ poke had to be kept under control until the 48 hours had passed. “Leave it alone, leave it alone” became my mantra. Patience is trait I’m still conquering, especially with all these fashionable preserving techniques that are resurfacing in the kitchen.

ALAS, THE TIME HAD COME. HAD I CURED CORRECTLY?

All in all, the process was really straight forward, at times a little messy but that’s all in the spirit of curing. Take a look at the how it all worked out.

Here it is straight outta the fridge

You can see the amount of liquid which has come out

First take the cans off, hello squashed Nemo!

Then, remove all the curing mixture from the top of the ocean trout, put on gloves here if you don't like stained hands

SQUEEEEEZE, all the excess liquid out before discarding, I opted for the trusty plastic bag option

Here is what it looks like after removing most of the curing mixture

I set up a chopping board loaded with paper towel ready to wipe the ocean trout down

Brush off as much of the excess curing mixure as you can...

... before patting the fish down. I used the 'paper towel sandwich technique'

Then give it a good brush off as some of the rock salt hadn't completely dissolved, see the small specks on the fish

The beetroot has stained the ocean trout and it looks magenta-ery gorgeous

I can't wait, I have to cut through and taste my home cured ocean trout *chefs treat*

Ohhh, looks promising!

Cutting slices out thinly is a little tricky, a test of my knife skills

I'm stoked with the result! The contrasting colour is stunning. The taste is quite salty at first, so I recommend you wash the ocean trout when you first take it out of the curing liquid.

It's almost as good as the Luxe Bakery version. I say 'almost' cause the Luxe version has a more prominent dill overtone. Ahhh, it can only get better the next time I HOME CURE NEMO!

I don't skin fish that often, a little tricky but after the first piece I got the hang of it. Be sure to trim off any of the residual skin left on the fish.

I decided to portion the trout into four...

And coat in dill before...

Cling wrapping and popping it in the fridge. That way I can save fridge space and use piece by piece or give some to other avid cured fish eaters.

I can't help but serve up a portion, just to enjoy the moment

As Jamie did in his recipe, I made a rosette then drizzled with good olive oil

A little cured ocean trout side view. Would have gone well with some sour cream or yogurt. But, I didn't have any!

SUCCESS! I'm so happy that I did cure such a large fillet. Double servings every single day for me now!

WHO KNEW, CURING COULD BE SO ADDICTIVE AND UTTERLY EASY?!

If you’ve never cured ocean trout before I would highly recommend it, this is going to be my new monthly ritual. Curing a la Nemo is definitely for those who crave the double serving or a pure cured fish addict such as myself.

LET’S GET COOKING

Adapted from Jamie Oliver’s Salmon Gravlax recipe
1  fillet of ocean trout, skin on and pin boned (about 700g)
160g rock salt
50g Demarara sugar
50ml Vodka
1 orange or you can use lemon (zest only)
1 large beetroot
A big bunch of dill

TO CURE

STEP 1 Place Ocean Trout skin side down into an oven dish with high sides
STEP 2 Cover the ocean trout evenly with the rock salt, then the demarara sugar
STEP 3 Grate the beetroot over the salt and sugar already on the ocean trout
STEP 4 Finely zest the orange (or lemon) over the beetroot then cover with dill
STEP 5 Pour over the Vodka, tightly cling wrap then weight down with cans
STEP 6 Refridgerate for 48 hours and don’t touch it!

POST CURING

STEP 1 After 48 hours, discard all the curing mixture (dill, salt, sugar, beetroot, orange zest and excess liquid)
STEP 2 Wash the cured ocean trout in water then pat dry with paper towel
STEP 3 Skin the ocean trout and trim off any excess residual skin
STEP 4 Portion the cured ocean trout, coat in fresh chopped dill and cling wrap. This will last 2 weeks in the fridge!

TO SERVE

Slice very thinly, serve with a drizzling of olive oil and some sour cream or yohurt
Thinly sliced over mixed lettuce leaves with fresh cucumber and ranch dressing
Thinly sliced with runny poached eggs or truffled scambled eggs  and toasted sourdough