pan fried haddock with parsley sauce and boiled peas A mouthwatering three part plate of fishy goodness... Pan Fried Haddock Parsley Sauce Boiled Peas Pan Fried Haddock Ingredients: 4 haddock fillets (to serve 4 people) plain flour salt and pepper oil Method: Season the flour with the salt and pepper. Coat the haddock fillets with the seasoned flour. This is easy to do if you add the flour to a plastic freezer bag, then just pop in the fish and shake it around lightly. Fry the fillets over a medium high heat until they are golden brown golden brown on both sides, and the flesh has just become opaque. Golden Brown Coating the fish in flour helps add to the flavour as the high temperature causes browning reactions in the carbohydrates that make up the flour. These complex reactions produce a whole host of chemicals that can contribute to the flavour. Having a seared flour crust also helps to keep the fish from falling apart as it becomes very delicate when cooked. Just become opaque As the fish is heated, its constituent protein molecules start to uncoil from their original structures. As they stretch out they form new bonds with the neighbouring proteins and become locked together. These new structures scatter light rather than letting it pass straight through, so the fish becomes opaque. Take home tip Fish is more delicate than normal meat when cooked because it has little connective tissue holding its muscles together. Take care not to overcook fish - it is ready as soon as it has lost its transparency. Back to top

Parsley Sauce Ingredients: 40g (11/2 oz) plain flour 40g (11/2 oz) butter 600ml (1 pint) Milk 1 heaped tbsp freshly chopped parsley Salt and pepper Method: Melt the butter in a saucepan and then stir in the flour. Cook over a gentle heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring all the time. Gradually add the milk a little at a time, continuously stirring to make sure there are no lumps. Bring the sauce to the boil and simmer for 2-3 minutes, stirring all the time. Season with the salt and pepper. Add the parsley, stir well and serve. Cook over a gentle heat Heating the butter and flour together makes a roux - this disperses the fat evenly through the flour, making it far easier to add the liquid without forming a lumpy sauce. Bring the sauce to the boil Flour contains starch, long chains of molecules used by the plant as an energy reserve. In uncooked flour the starch molecules are all packed tightly into granules. As you heat the flour, the granules start to swell up as they absorb water from the liquid. Eventually the granules burst open and some of the starch molecules escape and freely enter the liquid. The long starch chains entangle each other and the remaining granules, forming a net throughout the sauce. This net prevents the free movement of the water so the sauce starts to thicken. Take home tip The longer you simmer the sauce for, the smoother but thinner the result. As the sauce is simmered the granules continue to break down, releasing more starch molecules. As the granules disappear the sauce becomes smoother but also thinner as there is less to get caught in the starch net. Back to top

Boiled Peas Ingredients: As many peas as you want Large pan of boiling water A sieve or colander Method: Make sure you bring the water to the boil. Add peas and simmer for 3 - 5 minutes. Drain peas using sieve or colander then serve. Peas are actually seeds that are sweet when young, but get tougher as their starch content increases with age. As we cook them their cell walls weaken and their starch granules begin to swell, making them softer and more palatable. 3 - 5 minutes Enzymes that remove vitamins are released from compartments in the cells as they break down. Therefore, it is important to cook vegetables for as little time as possible. If you stir-fry them they cook at a higher temperature more quickly. This means the enzymes don't have time to work before they are destroyed by the heat, so the vegetables lose less vitamins while retaining some of their crunch. Initially boiling the peas makes them appear greener because the chlorophyll has escaped from the ruptured cells. If over cooked the chlorophyll will break down and the peas take on an unappetising grey-green appearance. Take home tip When cooking vegetables use a large pan with a lot of water and pop them in once it has boiled. A large amount of water will lose less heat so the enzymes responsible for ruining the vitamins will have less time to work before they are destroyed. Back to top << Go Back