EASY PEASY FISH PIE

Oh Jamie you are unavoidable!
This is the easiest fish pie to make for just one or two... In this case I only had some cod available, no prawns, no smoked haddock, no salmon. But it still rocked my world, or well it was damn tasty and really easy to make and gave me just that warm comfort food feeling I was looking for.

Here's Jamie Oliver's easy peasy fish pie adapted to a one person pie:

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
250g potatoes
1/2 carrot
1/2 sticks of celery
70g good Cheddar cheese
1/4 lemon zest and juice
1/4 a fresh red chilli
2 sprigs of fresh flat-leaf parsley
200g cod fillets, skin off and bones removed
(luxury versions can also contain raw king prawns peeled, smoked haddock, salmon - you know any good mix of fish)
olive oil

Peel and cut your potatoes into 2 cm cubes, boil them for 15 min (or until soft).
Straight in your pie shape you grate the carrot, the stick of celery, the cheddar, the chilli and the zest of approximate one quarter lemon. Cut your fish into bite size chunks (if making the luxury version, I would leave the prawns whole) and mix the fish into the vegetable and cheese mix with a squeeze of lemon and the finely chopped parsley.
The potatoes should be done by now, drain them in a colander and put them back in the pan. Drizzle with some good olive oil and add a pinch of salt and pepper, mash the potatoes till you have a smooth mash. Spread the mash evenly on top of the fish and vegetable (if you happen to have some 38% creme fraiche in the fridge as I did that night you can put some small dollops between the fish and the potato, approximately a big tablespoon). Now bake you pie in a 200 degree hot oven for 40 minutes.
Could be shared by two with some steamed vegetables and some salad... Or you can eat the whole thing in front of the telly straight from the tray.

Pasta alla Vongole for two

This dish feels like luxury, but it is actually fairly inexpensive. Pasta alla Vongole origins from Venice but is now a common pasta dish that you can get all over Italy. I got my latest Italian one at a cheap looking like you could only get chips beach bar in Sperlonga and it was super tasty but super simple.

This recipe is for two clam happy people:

200g dried spaghetti
400g fresh scrubbed mussels
1/4 fresh chilli finely chopped
1 handful of flat leafed parsley finely chopped
2 fat garlic cloves finely chopped
150 ml white wine
3-4 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

This is a quick everything needs to be ready at the same time dish. So get all your ingredients ready and chopped. Boil a large pot of water with a topped tbsp of salt, when the water is boiling add the spaghetti and cook according to the pack. When there's 5 min left of the pasta's cooking time add 2-3 tbsp of olive oil to a hot pan, add the chopped garlic and chilli to the pan and stir constantly until the garlic starts to colour, add the white wine and clams and give it a good shake and put the lid on. After 3-4 min the clams will start to open, keep shuffling the pan until all of them has opened. Now your spaghetti should be done, add the pasta to the pan and mix in the chopped parsley and about a tbsp pf good olive oil. Serve straight away!

Remember to discard unopened clams...

H A U S F R A U !

It's bought!
Here comes homemade mayonnaise and Italian meringue and bread bonanza...