You know you’re getting on a bit & happily content when your best imaginable Friday night would be to have no plans and to stay in and enjoy a family dinner on the deck followed by our family show ‘Better Homes & Gardens’. Yes, I said it ‘Better Homes & Gardens’. Our youngest daughter asked upon waking this morning ” Mum, do you have a class tonight”? “No, I don’t actually” was my reply. Her wee little five year old arms were flung around my neck so fast and in one quick breath she blurted out “so does that mean we are altogether for family night tonight “. You betcha!

It’s busy for everyone I bump in to right now. The craziness seems to start earlier every year. Do you think so too? The busier I get, the bigger point I make to eat really well. I can cope with things so much better when I am well fuelled. As a family, we would eat fish at least two, but usually three, times a week. If I have a Friday night off work, it is my ultimate & without exaggeration, I feel instantly better for throwing that creature from the sea on to my surbuban plate. My fave (at the moment) is to steam a baby snapper and to infuse it with asian flavours and serve it with steamed brown rice and topped with lots of coriander. Tonight however, I cooked a dish that is very much an old faithful. It is a sentimental little number. I think it was the dish that won my husbands heart. Actually, I am hoping it was I that won my husbands heart but this fish dish, well….. it might have been the sealer. I still remember the first time I cooked it for Michael 12 or 13 years ago. He didnt talk (unusual for us over dinner) but his face was everything. I live & breathe food so when you get those expressions (everyone who loves to cook for others will know what I am talking about here) it is everything. This dish is sentimental for another reason also. It was the main meal for the very first Relish Mama cooking class. This class was lovely & it is so nice to remember it now. It was essentially a room filled with friends or friends of friends who were gorgeous enough to come and show their support. I will never forget that night. It was the start of me following my dream. This gorgeous fish dish is still on our ‘Sensational Seafood’ menu / cooking class & this is what I write above the recipe for this particular class:

This is a simple recipe and I have cooked this for many years. It is a beautiful dish. It is impressive without dominating and the flavours are so vibrant & the colour so wonderful – you know it is going to be good for you just by looking at it. This dish was the main meal at our very first ‘Relish Mama’ cooking class and I do love that it is still being cooked and enjoyed today. It’s very much an old favourite.

I explained to a recent class that I was about to pull the dish as I wanted to do the snapper. A lovely lady at the class asked me to thank Michael for putting his foot down and for keeping this on the menu. She loved it & she loved what it meant to us. Sometimes you dont need to move from a good thing. The fish & the marriage ….well…………I’m glad to say, they are here to stay!

Salmon fillets with lime, ginger & soy
Serves 4

4 Salmon fillets
2 teaspoons of finely grated or finely sliced ginger
2 teaspoons of lime zest
1 red capsicum, seeded & thinly sliced
4 or 5 spring onions finely chopped
2 limes cut & the juice squeezed on to the fish
4-6 teaspoons of soy sauce
4 tablespoons of port or muscat
Cracked black pepper & a small pinch of Murray river salt

Preheat your oven to 180 C. Line the fish fillets in dish. Evenly distribute the ginger, lime rind, capsicum & spring onions on top of the fish fillets. Squeeze the juice of the 2 limes on top. Pour the soy sauce & port on top also.
Bake for approx 15 minutes. Halfway through the cooking, spoon sauces over the fish to help keep it all lovely & moist.

If I were to have this in the cooler months, I would enjoy it on a bed of creamy mash and add some lime zest to tie it all intogether and really make it sing. In the warmer months, it is lovely to serve this with ‘al dente’ asparagus or a lovely crisp green salad. A delicious yoghurt sauce is what I would serve it on top of. To make this, simply combine natural yoghurt with lemon juice, sea salt & cracked black pepper, to taste.