Tag Archives: capers

Smoked salmon omelette

June 21, 2021 The Captain & the Cook 2 Comments

I often make myself an omelette for lunch. Sometimes I fill it with ham, mushroom and tomato. At other times I treat myself to an omelette with smoked salmon. I love the flavour of smoked salmon with capers, so I throw a few on top for flavour.

I used chopped chives with this omelette, but it would be super delicious with fresh dill also. That is the best thing about omelettes – just add your favourite flavours! The following is a recipe for one omelette – it’s easy to double, triple, or quadruple the ingredients to make two, three, or four omelettes.

Ingredients

For one omelette you will need –

2 large eggs
2 teaspoons sour cream
1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1 tablespoon of fresh chives
A small dob of butter
15g of smoked salmon, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons of grated cheese

To top the omelette
40g smoked salmon
1/2 tsp of chopped capers
Sour cream and chives to garnish

Beat the eggs, sour cream, pepper and chives until just mixed.

Melt the butter in a small nonstick pan. Add the egg mixture and cook for one minute. Then sprinkle one half of the omelette with the chopped salmon and the grated cheese. Cook gently until almost cooked through, about two minutes.

Using a flexible spatula (or two), flip the bare omelette side over the side that has the salmon and cheese. Cook omelette for another minute or two, until cooked to your liking.

Arrange omelette on a plate, top with smoked salmon, a dollop of sour cream, capers and chopped chives.

Bon Appétit

Like this recipe? Please share or pin using the image below… thank you!

Fish, Seafood

Smoked Salmon and Potato Cakes with Horseradish Cream

April 12, 2021 The Captain & the Cook 3 Comments

I often make this recipe as an entrée at dinner parties. It is always well received by my guests and is one of my favourites. Change up the flavours by substituting fresh dill for the chives.

Very easy to make. Create the potato and salmon cakes hours before your guests arrive (even the day before) and have all the toppings and garnishes ready to go. Super easy! In fact, the last time I cooked this dish was while we were camping at Moana Caravan Park in our camper trailer with our small outdoor kitchen… one gas burner.

Ingredients

For the salmon and potato cakes

500g of peeled potato, chopped
200g salmon fillet, finely chopped
3 spring onions, finely sliced
1 egg, beaten
Black pepper and salt to taste

For the toppings and garnish

Capers*
Olive oil*
20 – 40 grams of smoked salmon per plate to serve.
Chives, finely sliced
Horseradish cream (I used Masterfoods Horseradish cream or make your own).

Method

Boil the potato – do not overcook. Mash the potatoes roughly, leaving some lumps.

Mix the potato, egg, spring onions, salmon and pepper and salt. Mix well, then form into six patties/cakes.

Place the cakes on a plate on top of some baking paper, and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Heat a little oil in a non-stick frying pan and cook the cakes until they are cooked through and golden brown.

Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan and heat the capers. *Use 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of capers per serving (entree or main). Use 1 to 2 teaspoons of olive oil per serve.

To serve

As entrée (serves 6)

Place each potato cake in the centre of each plate. Sprinkle the capers and olive oil around the plate. Top each potato cake with salmon, a dollop of horseradish cream and sprinkle with finely chopped chives.

For the main serve (serves 2-3)

Place two or three potato cakes on each plate, top with smoked salmon, a dollop of horseradish cream, sprinkle with finely chopped chives and some capers and olive oil. Serve with a green salad.

Like this recipe? Please share or pin using the image below… thank you!

From the galley

Delicious Salami Pizza

April 24, 2020 The Captain & the Cook Leave a comment

I love pizza, and I love homemade pizza because I can make it exactly how I like it. I love all things salty, and this is a salt lovers pizza – anchovies, capers, olives. Seriously, does it get any saltier! The best thing about pizza is that you can top it with anything you like. Change-up the toppings until you have your perfect pizza.

The last time I made this pizza was a month ago while we were sailing through Indonesia. Sailing through Indonesia during the Coronavirus Pandemic was an experience I won’t be forgetting soon. Not all good – gunshots fired in warning, but not all bad – swimming with a wild dugong. Click here to read my story.

Ingredients

For the base

Olive oil, to grease
250ml (1 cup) lukewarm water
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp (7g/1 sachet) dried yeast
450g (3 cups) plain flour, sifted
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbs olive oil

Topping

Homemade pizza sauce*
1 onion, thinly sliced
4 – 8 anchovies, roughly chopped
1 Capsicum sliced
2-3 Tablespoons sliced olives
1-2 Tablespoons of capers
16 – 20 slices of Salami
400g grated cheese (pizza mix is delicious)
Dry Italian herbs and chilli flakes
- amounts are a rough guide only

Method

Preheat the oven to 220°C. Brush two or three 25cm pizza trays with oil to grease. (I used 3 oven trays and got yummy thin crispy bases).

Mix the sugar and water in a jug or small bowl. Sprinkle the yeast on top and place it in a draught-free place for five minutes, until bubbles form on the surface.

Put the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add the yeast mixture and the oil. Mix well with a spoon until blended. Dump the mix onto a floured work surface and knead for six minutes.

Divide the dough into 2 or 3 pieces and cover and rest for five minutes. Now is a good time to prepare your topping ingredients.

Roll each dough portion out. Use your hands to stretch the dough gently. Line the greased pizza trays with the dough, pushing the dough to the edges of the trays. Spread the bases with pizza sauce, and top with onion, anchovies, olives, capers, capsicum, salami and cheese. Sprinkle with Italian herb and chilli flakes.

Bake in preheated oven, at 220c for 8 minutes or until cheese is bubbling on top and base is crispy.

* I make pizza sauce with a tin of chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic, pepper.

* Another delicious alternative to pizza sauce is using sun-dried tomato pesto for the base. This pesto is a delicious option!

Like this recipe? Please share or pin using the image below, thank you!

From the galley

Eggplant Mini Pizza

March 10, 2020 The Captain & the Cook Leave a comment

It is hard to cut back on processed bad carbohydrates such as white flour when you absolutely love pizza! I know there are stacks of recipes using cauliflower or almond meal as the base, but I wanted something even easier to throw together. Eggplant turned out to be the best base for a low carb pizza, in my opinion. Quick and easy to prepare and lovely creamy texture that complements all the other ingredients. I ended up with all the flavour of my favourite pizza without the empty calories from the flour base.

For me, a pizza just isn’t a pizza without anchovies! The following recipe does not have measurements, simply top your eggplant with your favourite toppings.

Ingredients

Large eggplants, sliced to make rounds
Pizza sauce (I made mine with a tin of tomatoes, garlic, tomato paste, a little stock, salt, pepper and mixed Italian herbs)
Cheese, grated ( a mix of mozzarella and cheddar)
Anchovies, roughly chopped (I cut mine so I can spread them around the pizza; I love a taste of anchovy with every bite)
Capers, whole or roughly chopped
Olives, sliced
Onion, finely diced
Ham
Chilli flakes
Cracked black pepper
Italian herbs

Method

Sprinkle the eggplant with a little salt and leave for 10 – 20 minutes. I do this to remove some of the excess water from the eggplant. Rinse the salt off and pat dry with a paper towel.

Preheat oven to 200C. Spray an oven tray with oil, place the eggplant slices on the tray and bake for 10 – 15 minutes. Remove from the oven.

Top the eggplant slices with pizza sauce, ham, olives, capers, anchovy, onion and cheese. Then sprinkle with chilli flakes (if you like it spicy), little black pepper and Italian herbs.

Place the tray under the grill or back in the oven to melt the cheese and heat the toppings.

Once lightly brown or cooked to your liking, serve it up with a nice green salad.

It is unlikely you can eat this pizza with your hands; however, you will definitely cure your pizza craving!

Like this recipe? Please share or pin using the image below, thank you!

Travel Insurance

Do you have insurance organised for your travels? Take a look at our Travel Insurance page to get a quick quote! I just booked travel insurance with World Nomads again and it always impresses me how quickly I get the quote, and in fact, the entire process, from quote to policy in hand, only takes minutes. Furthermore, you can book when you are already overseas, as I did this time!

From the pantry

Tapenade

May 3, 2018 The Captain & the Cook Leave a comment

I made a double batch of tapenade to have on hand when we sailed from Langkawi to Phuket. As we were island hopping, we were often at our destination in time for lunch. Our lunches, for this trip, consisted of Chinese tea eggs, salami, smoked duck, pickled vegetables, tomato, cucumber, cheese, crackers etc…. and this yummy tapenade! (Did you know we live on a boat?)

I love the saltiness of tapenade… it has all my favourite ingredients in this one little dish. I keep my tapenade a little chunky. Of course, you can puree it to make it more spreadable.

Ingredients

2 jars of pitted black olives (345g jars – drained weight about 170g)
2 cloves of garlic
2 Tbs of capers
1-2 fillets of anchovy
1 tsp lime juice
5 Tbs of olive oil
1 Tbs chopped basil

Method

Rinse the olives and place in a food processor. Add two tablespoons of drained capers, the anchovy and the lime juice. Start blending the ingredients for a minute. Then gradually add the oil as you continue to blend the ingredients. Stop the food processor when you have the consistency you want. I then stir in the basil and store in glass jars in the fridge.

Like this recipe? Please share or pin using the image below… thank you!

Cooking Our Catch, Marlin

Marlin fettuccine with Cherry Tomatoes and Capers

November 30, 2014 The Captain & the Cook Leave a comment

This pasta meal was another simple way we enjoyed the marlin we had ample supply of.

While the fettuccini was cooking, I simply sautéed baby capers, finely diced capsicum and garlic in olive oil. After a few minutes I added halved cherry tomatoes and the diced marlin and cooked for a further few minutes until the fish was cooked through but not over done.

To serve I topped the fettuccine with the marlin and tomato, garnished with sliced spring onions and drizzled with a little olive oil. Simple and delicious.

Cooking Our Catch, Fish

Mackerel Cutlets with Tomato, Olive and Caper Salsa

November 10, 2014 The Captain & the Cook 3 Comments

This meal was made with a fresh catch while we were anchored at Hope Island, on the Great Barrier Reef. It was a few days out of Cairns and we still had some fresh vegetables from our shopping trip that we needed to use. The green beans were on their last days so, as it often happens on a boat, what we decided to cook for dinner was determined by the veg we had and what needed to be eaten first.

Dwayne caught, cleaned and cut the spanish mackerel into cutlets. He then barbequed the cutlets while I made a salsa.

For the salsa I diced tomato, kalamata olives, red onion, anchovy, chilli, capers and added a little olive oil.

The beans, which were begging to be cooked, were blanched in boiling water for a minute or two and set aside. I sautéed a little garlic in butter and tossed the beans and some chopped pistachio nuts through it.

We enjoyed a delicious meal of BBQ mackerel topped with the salsa and served with the beans on the side. We love mackerel… don’t think we’ll ever get sick of it!

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Like this recipe? Please share or pin using the image below, thank you!

Share this:

Like this:

Like this recipe? Please share or pin using the image below, thank you!

Share this:

Like this:

Like this recipe? Please share or pin using the image below… thank you!

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: