Two Dishes to Try

We had guests over for dinner on Sunday and I wanted to try something different and came up with a couple of ideas based upon stuff I'd done before or seen on TV with some alterations.

The first was a fish pate and the second was a gratin of swiss chard.

FISH PATE

This is all about making use of what you have hanging around because I made it from with the leftover fish I had from a whole baked fish with a parsley garlic oil that I made for Wife the night before.

Leftover fish

Anyone who made some simple fish fillets and had leftovers could do the same thing (though probably not if they were battered).

I didn't have quite enough fish so I cooked up some frozen shrimp with the same olive oil, garlic and parsley flavoring and then added the leftover fish to meld the flavors.

Fish and shrimp warming up in flavored oil

All you do next is put the whole thing in a food processor and blend with a little half and half.

Blended fish and shrimp

I added some finely chopped onions soaked in water to get rid of the sharpness and put it into a serving container.

Finished product

Served it with french bread and tortilla chips as a nosh before the sit down meal started

GRATIN OF SWISS CHARD

I like making mini portions of things to serve as a first course because it allows for portion control. I like working with vegetables because you can be lighter and save room for the main course. I especially like Swiss Chard. It has a lot of positives of spinach with less of the negatives. It's a bit firmer. Less bitter.

Processing any of the greens is a bit of a pain.

First you wash them real well to get rid of any dirt

With Chard you need to separate the stems and the leaves because the stems have to cook longer

Parboil the stems in a big pot of water for about 4 minutes then add the leaves and boil for another 4 minutes. Drain. Then put into a big bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. Drain again. Grab handfuls and squeeze out the water. Then chop it up.

This is what you end up with

Make simple cheese sauce by making a roux of flour and butter, whisking in milk, then adding small pieces of cheese - the cheese choice is yours. I like fancy schmancy cheeses but to be honest I'm sure a good quality cheddar would be just fine. Put your Chard into a large bowl and add enough of the cheese sauce so when you taste it it has a nice flavor but is not all soupy. Put it into little oven proof ramekins - in this case these are creme brulee dishes.

Sprinkle with some bread crumbs and olive oil

Bake in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes