Pan Cooked Asparagus And Mixed Fish Food

PAN-COOKED ASPARAGUS AND MIXED FISH

Steps:

• Get a really large frying pan, or 2 smaller ones, on the heat and add a glug of olive oil. Score the skin of your fish fillets all over, about 1/2-inch deep, and season. Put the fish fillets into the pan, skin side down, with the squid tentacles. Add the scallops. Run your knife down 1 side of each squid to open them out, then quickly and lightly score the inside in a crisscross fashion. Lay them in the pan, scored side down. Add the asparagus and gently shake the pan. Cook for a few minutes, then turn everything over and cook on the other side. Sprinkle over the thyme tips.
• You're the one in control of the pan, so if something looks cooked, take it out and keep it warm. Don't watch things burn! When the fish has crispy skin, the scallops are golden brown with caramelized edges and the squid has curled up and is nicely charred, remove the pan from the heat. Put the squid on a chopping board and roughly slice it into pieces at an angle, then return to the pan. Lay the fish fillets on each plate. Toss the asparagus, scallops and squid with half the chile, a good drizzle of good quality extra-virgin olive oil and the lemon juice. Lightly season and mix together. Divide on top of the plated fish. Sprinkle with the rest of the chopped chile and the fennel tops, and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil.

PAN COOKED CHICKEN WITH ASPARAGUS, PANCETTA AND OLIVES

Steps:

• Slice the chicken into 3 finger size pieces, but ensure that you keep it as 1 piece (fan it out). This will help to cook the chicken much faster. Season with salt and pepper.
• Heat a medium-sized frying pan, add some oil, and brown the chicken on all sides. Place the pancetta on top of the chicken and the asparagus around it, let it char a little, then put the pancetta on the bottom of the pan to crisp up and turn the chicken over. Turn up the heat, throw in the tomatoes, olives, basil, and a good knob of butter. Take off the heat once the butter has melted and add a splash of wine to make a sauce, squishing in a few of the tomatoes to finish it off.

PAN-FRIED ASPARAGUS WITH ONIONS

Steps:

• Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
• Cook and stir asparagus in melted butter until bright green, but still firm, 3 to 4 minutes.
• Stir 1 tablespoon butter and onion into asparagus; sprinkle with onion salt.
• Cook and stir until onion is slightly browned and asparagus are tender, 3 to 5 minutes.

CRISP-SKIN FISH WITH ASPARAGUS

Steps:

• Snap the woody ends off the asparagus, and discard. Cut the tomatoes in half, spoon out and discard the seeds. Finely slice the tomato flesh, then cut into small dice. Set both asparagus and tomatoes aside.
• Heat the 1 tbsp olive oil in a large frying pan. Season the fish with salt and pepper, and cook skin-side down over medium heat for about 3-4 minutes, gently pressing, until skin is crisped and golden. Turn and cook the other side for 3-4 minutes, depending on the thickness, until cooked.
• Meanwhile, cook the asparagus in simmering salted water for 3-4 minutes. Drain well. For the dressing, gently warm the 3 tbsp olive oil in a small saucepan with the tomatoes, olives, capers and parsley leaves. Toss the asparagus in a little of the dressing. Arrange the asparagus on each of four warmed dinner plates, top with the fish, and spoon the warm tomato dressing around the fish.

PAN-SEARED ASPARAGUS WITH CRISPY GARLIC

Steps:

• Place a paper towel-lined plate next to the stove. In a medium or large skillet, combine the garlic and olive oil over medium-low heat. Cook, shaking the skillet often, until the garlic is very light golden, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat, tilt it, then use a slotted spoon to transfer the garlic to the towel-lined plate, leaving the remaining oil in the skillet. Season the crispy garlic with salt.
• Return the skillet to medium-high heat. Add the asparagus, season with salt and pepper, and cook, shaking often, until bright green, crisp-tender and browned in spots, 4 to 5 minutes. Slide onto a platter, including any oil in the skillet. Top with the garlic chips and season again with salt and pepper.

BAKED FISH WITH SPINACH

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Melt 1/4 cup of the butter in a large frying pan over medium-high heat.
• Add mushrooms and saute until limp.
• Add onion, dill, bread crumbs, salt, and pepper. Stir until thoroughly mixed.
• Add thawed and drained spinach, mix but do not cook spinach.
• Spray shallow round cake pan with cooking spray (or a similar pan with low sides).
• Spread spinach mixture over bottom.
• Arrange fish on top of spinach.
• Melt remaining butter and add lemon juice.
• Brush fish with lemon butter and bake, uncovered, basting several times with more lemon butter until fish flakes when prodded in the thickest portion with a fork. Cooking time is approximately 10 minutes per inch of fish thickness.
• Remove from oven and pour any remaining lemon butter over fish.
• Serve immediately.

PAN-FRIED ASPARAGUS

Steps:

• Melt butter in a skillet over medium-high heat.
• Stir in the olive oil, salt, and pepper.
• Cook garlic in butter for a minute, but do not brown.
• Add asparagus, and cook for 10 minutes, turning asparagus to ensure even cooking.

ASPARAGUS WITH LEMON AND MINT

Steps:

• In large pot of boiling salted water, cook asparagus 3 to 5 minutes, until crisp-tender. Drain in colander; dry on paper towel.
• In serving bowl, combine olive oil, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Add hot aspargus. Toss mixture to bring to room temperature.
• Just before serving, stir in mint and lemon juice.
• Serve at room temperature.