Back on the Boat Again - Chilli and Cheese Bread – Salmon and Pineapple Fish Cakes

So we returned home after the wedding and it was time to unpack – wash everything and get ready to embark on our new few weeks on the boat.
We stopped at Keri Keri New World, which is a very good supermarket and shopped for the next week or so.
The poor little car was so stuffed
We treated ourselves to a coffee and I have to say the presentation of my coffee was very impressive.
I always have a long black. It came with my own little jug of hot water and a baby chocolate fish. Isn’t that classy?

Of course the worse bit is unloading but we did that without too much arguing and went and found a nice bay.
Our friends Elphie and Pete were coming to join us for the weekend so I made

Chilli Cheese Bread
Got this recipe off a TV show called Huey’s Cooking Adventures. It’s a good one.

The dough is very wet and little messy to handle but I guarantee it works.
The wet dough technique also works exceptional well for pizza dough
and foccacio bread.

400 mls hand hot water you may not use the full 400
15 gms packet yeast these come in 8 gms packets

Sprinkle the yeast over the water stir and leave to prove 5-10 minutes.

This gives you time to assemble the other ingredients.

500 gms plain hi-grade flour sifted
4 little 2 med chilies de-seeded and finely chopped
1 spring onion cleaned and finely chopped
240 gms grated tasty cheese (buy ready grated for this recipe, its easier)
2 tsp salt
½ tsp sugar
1 tbs sambal olek (optional for those with more tender mouths)
1 tbs olive oil

1 loaf tin

Egg wash
1 egg beaten with 2 tbs of milk

Place the flour in a large bowl if using stainless steel warm the bowl first…
yeast likes a bit of warmth.
Add all the other ingredients mix with your hand then pour in the yeast mixture
Stir first with a wooden spoon till the liquid is blended in
don’t add it all…try about 300 -350 first to get it to a nice wet dough,
then start to knead with your hand in the bowl, you may need to add a
little more flour so that you can handle it.
When you have a nice ball (shouldn’t take more than a 1-2 minutes) cover with plastic wrap and leave to rise till double its size (pictured below)
This will take about an hour depending on the air temperature.

Then collapse the dough into the bowl and drop onto a floured bench.
Knead for about 1-2 minutes adding a little more flour if it is too hard to handle.

Shape into loaf shape and push into a greased loaf tin
Leave to rise lightly covered probably best with a clean cloth
until doubled in size again. It really rises up good for first time bread makers.

Brush with egg wash and into hot oven 190◦
for 30 - 40 minutes till golden.

Turn out from tin, tap the bottom; if it sounds hollow it’s done,
if not, back in oven for another few minutes.

So we ate the bread with cold cuts and salad
Elphie and Pete working off the lunch!

Pete was as unsuccessful, as we seem to be, at catching fish
His best haul of the two days!

In fact the only person to catch a fish on Cajun Moon was our daughter Katie during their visit in the New Year.
Her first ever fish. It broke the rod.

Hey, it's not the only fish the boat has caught.

We moving through really big seas to a safe haven last week, it was horrible but luckily short.

In the morning Dale found a fish on the deck... unfortunately he threw it away before I could take a shot. Pity.It must have flown on with the big crashing waves.

But I digress, and back to Pete and Elphie.
Elphie is about to market an excellent wholegrain mustard dressing.
She gave us a bottle and Pete painted a special label just for us.

There will be more about this as time goes on.
There were drinks on the poop deck

I made some tasty little fritters to accompany the drinks…from the left over pasta from the previous night.

It really is glorious here in Whangaroa

But I do want to share probably some of the nicest fish cakes I have made.

Salmon and Pineapple

I had some leftover mashed potatoes.
I do extra on purpose there is always a good dish to be made from day old potatoes
The quantities wont be exact
But you can get the idea
So
1 spring onion chopped
1 stalk celery chopped
1 slice pineapple peeled and chopped finely
Good shake hot chilli flakes or 1 fresh chilli if you have it
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil

Gently sauté the above in the oil till just soft.
Cool
In a bowl add
1 cup mashed potato (approx)
100gms hot smoked salmon
And cooled ingredients
Add more seasoning if it needs it
Add 1 beaten egg

Form into patties and dip in Panko Breadcrumbs

Leave for at least an hour to firm and the flavours to meld

Fry in vegetable oil till golden brown.

You could make a sauce to have with them but the flavours are so good
Just a squeeze of lemon and some freshly ground black pepper

I kid you not…these are sensational.

(By the way we ate them all...I'm never going to be slim again in my entire life.

Quelle domage!)