Chocci's Bouillinade (fish and potato bake)

I first visited the "most romantic city in the world" when I was 16. We were in Paris for a week after the end of our big family tour of Europe. The tour was run by Trafalgar so we ended up sprinting through 17 european cities in 21 days. My parents loved tours and still do: they are attracted to the fact that you can pay someone to deal with the headache of choosing and booking hotels, researching the best travel routes and mode of transport, the places of interest to visit and where to eat. I think that trip was instrumental in shaping the way I travel now (in the opposite direction): firstly, I would never go on tour so that I can organise all the parts of the trip and secondly I try always to spend as much time as possible in each city. Though I suppose I may rethink it if we ever end up with 4 kids, 2 of whom are going through difficult teenage years at the time.

Back then, I was not impressed by Paris. Grubby, rude locals and expensive was how I would have described this city. My family and I tried our first escargots and I remember squirming them down, thinking, gosh I don't think I ever want to have them again, garlic butter or not.

Since then I have to say my tastebuds and travelling habits have changed. I now eat things that would have made my skin crawl. I like wandering around cities by myself and chatting to locals in my broken French. I like finding little nooks and crannies to eat in, though where time is short, preferably with prior verification that the food is good. Time is precious so are calories!

So in May last year I wandered into a small rustic Parisian bistro by myself. I'd read about the bistro in a local restaurant guide and it sounded lovely. (I now want to kick myself because I didn't keep a copy of the guide and simply cannot remember the name of this place). What I do remember really well is this fish and potato casserole which was so amazing that I've been wondering since then what was in it. So last Saturday I set out to find out, with the help of Le Cordon Bleu cooking, a cookbook and best of all google, I found that the following comes pretty close:

Serves:- 4, Preparation time:- 10 mins, Cooking time:- 30 mins

Ingredients

• 20-30 gm of butter
• 1 large handful of parsley and 1 large handfull dill, chopped thickly
• 3 medium sized potatoes, sliced around 5 mm thick
• 500-600 gm sea bass, cut into thick chunks
• 4-5 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
• two large shallots, chopped finely
• cayenne pepper or cracked black peppercorns (I used a hammer)
• 1/2 cup of pancetta, diced
• salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1/2 lemon
• 1 cup white wine

Method

1. Melt the butter in a large pan gently

2. Add the garlic and shallots and sauteed until golden brown.

3. Add the parsley, dill, salt, peppers and pancetta and fry for another 1-2 mins.

4. Add a layer of potato, fish, and then finish with potatoes into the pan

5. Just cover with the white wine and cold water and bring to the boil

6. Add the olive oil, when boiling, then cover and simmer for about 20 mins or until the potatoes are just done.

The making of a chocolate ripple cake

Ingredients:

• 1 pack chocolate ripple cookies from Australia
• 1.5 litre of cream, whipped until stiff
• 200 ml of XO
• blueberries & strawberries to decorate

Spread a layer of whipped cream on the plate. Dip one side of the cookie into XO, then whip cream on the other side and stand in layer of whipped cream. Keep adding cookies, try to keep them as tightly packed as everyone likes the cookie, but enough cream so that the cookies can absorb the moisture of the cream and soften overnight.

Keep overnight, decorate with strawberries and blueberries on top before serving.

(Many thanks to Steph for the recipe about 12 years ago)