Mixed Fish Grill, Mediterranean Fennel & Couscous

Meal 119 - January 4th - Mixed Fish Grill, Mediterranean Fennel & Couscous

So this is it - the end. I don't really know what to say - my writing talents were never exactly Shakespearean in the first place but I'm a bit lost for words. I feel I should thank my family, and possibly Jesus for their love and support over the last 12 months. To the readers of my blog, thank you - without you, what really would have been the point? Jamie Oliver - he will almost certainly never read this blog, but he has been the inspiration to it all. And of course Lolz - without her washing up skills, and her, ahem, honest comments and criticisms I would never have seen it through January, let alone December.

Anyway, before I descend into a Paltrow-esque breakdown, onto the matter at hand. So I didn't strictly complete the challenge - eagle eyed readers will notice that I made this final meal on January 4th, four days after the end of 2013. But am I bovvered? Well not really - I decided it wouldn't really be fair to force Lolz into eating a meal which I don't think she was too keen on, on a night that is supposed to be one of celebration. So we went out for dinner and my 15 minute meal obligations got pushed back a few days.

That meal is of course the "Mixed Fish Grill". As the biggest in the book by far I think it was inevitable that fish would be the last chapter standing and I've been putting this one off not because it looks unappealing, but because I thought it would be best enjoyed by more than two people. To be honest though, it did look a bit unappealing and Lolz is still off shellfish, so I thought it would be best to just get it over and done with. I headed to the fishmongers for one last time (well, last in the context of this challenge) and purchased a couple of mullets and a snapper, and a handful of king prawns. Naturally I was unable to source multi coloured tomatoes, but overall I was quite happy with my haul of shopping.

After watching 90 minutes of deeply unsatisfying football (and drinking three pints in the process), I started cooking, and it turned out those 3 pints may have been a bad idea. The fishmongers, normally such reliable suppliers of ready-to-cook fish had only gone and given me unfilleted fish! What the hell, I thought, if I can cycle home in the dark after three pints, I can certainly fillet a couple of fish so I found a decent knife and got to work. My technique probably needs a bit of work (there was fish both on the bones and splattered around the kitchen by the time I'd finished) but I ended up with six fillets, of sorts, and the rest of the cooking went by without a hitch.

Overall it was a little disappointing - the fish was a little soggy, the couscous was a little plain and the fennel salad tasted a bit weird (I think our sundried tomatoes were slightly past their best). So it was a bit of a damp squib of a conclusion to the challenge, but again, am I bovvered? No because I've learned that when you're cooking meals in 15 minutes (give or take) they're not always going to be resounding successes. My "hit" rate is probably somewhere north of 60% though (75 of the 119 meals scored an 8 or higher) which definitely rates as a success for me.

And anyway, two people have bought the 15 minute meals book from clicking through the link in the "recipe book" tab, which means this blog has earned me £1.20!!!!!

Lolz gave the dish 7/10. Difficulty rating 8/10 (would have been a 2 if I didn't have to fillet the fish).

 

Over and out... Cheers!