I’ve got the munchies!!

All day today, and all day yesterday, I’ve been plagued by this never-ending craving for chips, crisps, biscuits and sweeties. It’s been an awfully long time since I’ve felt this way or felt such a need to snack on something. Don’t get me wrong. Snacking is something I definitely do but this massive force or urge compelling me to trek down to the kitchen every 2 minutes is not only unbearable (I can’t bloody focus on work since I’m on the constant move for food). It’s starting to seem very suspicious. Maybe I’ve been spiked (not with a date rape drug) with the can’t-stop-eating drug!

Actually, there’s probably a more logical reason for this whole shnazzle. I’ve got a cold. I’ve been trying to fight it off for ages. It’s here, happy and healthy in my system as my white blood cells fight off the freaking cold. It’s definitely getting better but I’m told, one needs to feed a cold - thus, my voracious appetite and the bottomless stomach.

And because of Diva’s inherent greediness which is made very much worse, like feeding oil to fire, by her hungry cold, she has now accepted FREE chocolate chip cookies from strangers on the streets.

What? Did someone just call me ’silly’? Oh…’mental’ is that what you said? No no. I wasn’t lured away to someone’s evil lair by cookies, not to worry. I got free cookies in exchange for giving away some details to Unibutler - a new freebie service for university students. Quite a cool new company that I foresee might be a competitor to the ever-dependable Studentbeans.com. And even though the cookies were worth 59p from Premier, Steph and I were rather pleased with our little freebies. To be honest, a cup of tea and a free cookie and I was sorted! It was the best thing that happened to me that whole boring day.

Do you believe in lucky stars? The human ones, not ones that form constellations. I firmly believe that Steph is my Freebie Lucky Star. When I’m with her, freebies seem to come my way. So far, I’ve had a free Cadbury Freddy and a box of chocolate chip cookies. It doesn’t seem like much and I’m really not one to go hunting after free stuff. But one must understand that Diva NEVER has and ever gets freebies. What a pleasant surprise to finally be noticed by the God of Free Things.

Anyway, the day I had free cookies was also the very day my craving for fish gave me cold turkey. I would’ve used a nice white fish for this dish - something like monkfish or haddock - but having not been able to visit the fishmonger in town and wanting not to be such a self-indulgent Epicurean, Tesco’s Healthy Living salmon fillets were mighty fine. The fillets require little seasoning except for the all-important garlic powder. Good parma ham should be used as this is what will flavour the fish and therefore, minimizes your job of having to prepare the fish really. I have a bad habit of not paper-towelling off any excess moisture off fish and so it usually results in a white liquid discharge. Forgive me for describing it as such, but it isn’t a pretty thing and you can see it very clearly in my pictures. Word of advice: cutting corners has its consequences.

The vegetables were quite messily put together and I went a tiny bit overboard on the white wine vinegar. Hence, resulting in a way too piquant plate of veggies but it seemed to cut through the smokiness and saltiness of the fish and ham. That was a relief. The fish was amazing. I might re-attempt the veggies with less vinegar but the flavours definitely worked.

Here’s a recipe good for 2.

Roasted Parma Ham Wrapped Salmon, Runner Beans & Red Peppers with Dill, Mascarpone & Pesto
Ingredients

For the fish:
2 fresh salmon steaks
2 slices of parma ham
1/2 tbs basil
1/2 tbs thyme
a few shakes of garlic powder/ garlic & herb powder
freshly ground black pepper

For the runner beans & peppers:
2 servings of runner beans
1/2 a red pepper, sliced into strips
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 tsp dill
2 tsp sundried tomato pesto
1/2 tbs mascarpone (or use a ready-made mascarpone & pesto combination easily available from the shops)
quick light splash of white wine vinegar
a few drops of Worcestershire sauce, to taste
salt and pepper, for seasoning
olive oil, for cooking

Preheat oven (or you can always use the grill if you prefer) to 170d Celsius.
Season salmon steaks with herbs, garlic powder and pepper. As salmon is an oily fish, I did away with drizzling it with olive oil. Wrap tightly with parma ham. I find placing the fish slightly diagonally on the parma ham a little easier but this depends on the shape and size of your fish really. You might find that you need more than a slice to each steak.
Place in a prepare foil, close over the sides and scrunch it up at the top so it looks like a little wonton. You want to be able to open up the bag towards the end of the cooking process just so that parma ham browns and crisps up at the top.
This should cook for 25-30minutes.

Towards the end of that cooking time, re-open the foil bag and let it brown up.

For the vegetables, heat some olive oil in a pan. Sauté the garlic, then add the vegetables. Add white wine vinegar. Be careful not to add too much - which was exactly the mistake I made. Geez.
Add pesto, mascarpone, Worcestershire sauce and dill. Finally, season to taste.
This should be done just about the time your fish is ready to be removed from the oven.

Plate up - placing vegetables at the bottom and fish on top. I was very tempted to serve this with chips or rice, but I’d already had the indulgence of having chicken & chips this afternoon (and a ridiculous amount of snacks, obviously) so that was not on the cards for me. Shame.

On the other hand, the meal was pretty fantastic other than the ridiculously obvious note of vinegar on our plates.