Mr Blue Sky.

"Sun is shinin' in the sky,
There ain't a cloud in sight
It's stopped rainin'
Everybody's in a play
And don't you know
It's a beautiful new day."

Mr Blue Sky by ELO.

You know what usually happens the sun bursts through to burn away the rain clouds for a few days while your at work and then when your off it gloom's over again and your left wandering around in your shorts and tee-shirt while everyone else who was fortunate to be off while the sun shone have gone back to wearing their coats underneath their umbrellas.

Well today until 3.25pm I basked in the glorious sunny warm weather and yes the treat that my legs are were on show to all.

It is amazing how a day off is enriched by the sun.It can lift your mood drastically and even caused me to forget about work while I dipped my feet in the usual arctic temperatures of the Geordie Sea !

It was only cold for the first 10 minutes dipping my feet in the sea. After that my feet were numb so I could not feel a thing ! ha ha !

Out came the posy designer Ray Ban sunglasses !

And then after a nice walk on the beach followed by lying in the garden reading a book I thought about a nice spot of food for my tea.

Tandoori Monkfish with Jersey Royal Potato Thai Salad.

Ok I do not have a Tandoori type oven in the garden so I was always going to pan fry the Monkfish and finish it off in the oven so forget the term Tandoori like all writers (!!!!!) don't let the facts get in the way of a good story. Ha ha !

I made a really simple marinade using the juice of one Lime !

To the juice I added 3 teaspoons of mild curry powder, 1 small crushed  clove of garlic and about a teaspoon of grated ginger. I cut my Monkfish fillet (Thank you Joanne x ! ) into goujons and then placed them in the marinade for about 3 hours. The longer the better as the Tetley man used to say to "let the flavours flood out ! I mean in !"

Ok I went back into the garden to catch some more rays and sip a beer or two. Then it was the salads turn to get my culinary attention.

Jersey Royal potatoes are FANTASTIC ! the small window we get in order to enjoy these little bundles of deliciousness has to be savoured. The wonderful flavour of this potato when a little butter and seasoning is added to it is truly WONDROUS.

Today though I thought I would try making a potato salad with a bit of a Thai influence.

So I cooked the Royals in salted water and then let them cool. When they were cold I added some finely diced red onion, a large bunch of ripped fresh Coriander, some chopped fresh mint, a nice handful or two of watercress and a few quartered tomatoes. I gently mixed it together and then added my Thai Mayo.

The Thai Mayo was a couple of dollops of Mayonnaise, the juice of half a lime, and then I added some Tom Yum Thai paste. Any Thai paste will do. I know Tom Yum is more used to make soup with but I loved it in my mayo.

Ok I could not be bothered to mix it in a mixing bowl so used my Dennis the menace mug ! Lazy !

The Monkfish was now nicely marinaded so I got a saute pan hot and then added a little oil to it and then sauteed the monkfish for a few minutes and then finished them off in the oven for about 6 minutes.

Then I plated it up and wow it was absolute delight ! A few sips of cold beer helped wash it down nicely  !

Ok I had a little space in the old belly for a little more indulging so as I do not put many desserts on my blog here's a quick pudding and it will set in a couple of hours but your best off making it the day before and letting it set for at least 24 hours.

Strawberry and White Chocolate Marquis.

I made a Chocolate Marquis a few Xmas's ago while working for Stewart and Co in Jesmond. I set a Xmas Fayre menu which we served at the garden cafe at the now reopened Meldon Park near Morpeth. It was a lovely venue for a lunchtime pre-xmas dinner and we had some very kind comments from the diners.

Anyway it was a Gordon Ramsey recipe which had layers of after eight mints running through its rich velvety chocolate mouses texture.

Now this is a slight take on that from Mary Cadogan on the Good food website using sponge fingers and fresh Strawberries which makes it a bit more of a summer dish I think.
You will need a small loaf tin with about a litre capacity. You will need to line this with cling film so you can lever the set Marquise out easily.
Now place 6 to 8 sponge fingers on the bottom of the tin.
In a pan add about 8 to 10 sliced Strawberries. I had some blueberries left so added a small handful of the to the pan also. Next sprinkle about 2 Tablespoons of caster sugar over the fruit and add about 100mls of orange juice to the pan and the simmer until you end up with a lovely thick syrup surrounding the fruits.

You will need to blitz the fruit syrup and then pass through a sieve.

Next let it cool and then pour over the sponge fingers.

In the microwave melt 300gms of White Chocolate. Keep checking and stirring it every 30 seconds. Add the melted White Chocolate to 200mls of lightly (soft peaks) whipped Double cream which contains 3 tbsp of Icing Sugar. Pour some of the mixture onto the sponge fingers in the loaf tin until about a third full.
Next slice some strawberries and form a layer over the gooey mixture.

Now pour the rest of the mix over the layered strawberries and place in the fridge for 24 hours to let it set. I took mine out after 2 hours and it was fine but to be on the safe side give it more time.

Place in the fridge.

Ok it had a slight accident when it came out the mould but instead of photographing it from the other perfect end I thought I would let you the public realise that I am not a Masterchef all the time ! ha ha !

BEAUTIFUL ! enjoy !

A Couple of extra pics !