Comfort cuisine

EAT IN:You don't have to be a kid to appreciate home-made versions of baked beans and fish goujons. In fact, you'll be hard pressed not to snaffle a few while you pretend to dish them up

MUCH AS I HATE to admit it, there are some commercial, capitalist, industrially made products that beat the home-made ones time and time again. Ketchup is the main culprit. Yes, I’ve tasted some fantastic versions, and even enthused about my own creation flavoured with horseradish on these pages; and yes, it was lovely. But it’s hard to beat Heinz.

Baked beans are another type of food that is reassuringly consistent. The sinking of metal teeth from the can opener, followed by the dribble of cold beans that will soon be transformed into a mass of gently bubbling, sweet yet tangy combination of soft beans slathered in a well-seasoned sauce is a very nostalgic process. All this talk of ready meals or commercial condiments may sound contradictory when located on a recipe page, but bear with me.

Sometimes, I hanker after fish fingers with home-made mashed potatoes and frozen peas that have just been cooked with a splash of water and knob of butter. The potatoes would be lightly mashed with some hot milk and a knob of butter. Well, actually, a little more than a knob. The fish fingers would have to be baked until very crispy and the entire dinner would have to be put down in front of you, to be devoured quickly before watching a Disney film. Such is the longing I have when I pass the fish fingers in the frozen-food aisle. But then I remember that I am not likely to be fed a kids’ dinner – considering I am now officially middle-aged – and indeed, I should be hankering after something altogether more home-made and high-brow.

Anyway, I was delighted with the results of both of these recipes which went down a bomb in our house with everyone from toddler to teen and I can say, hand on heart, that both of these recipes would beat the commercial varieties hands down. Ideally you should get a ham hock for the beans dish, but we couldn’t get one in time for the photo shoot, so we did it instead with a loin of bacon which worked pretty well and is a lot easier to get. The fish fingers are from The Food Hospital, a cookbook devoted to recipes to cure most ailments. It’s one of those books that you flick open and think how lovely and helpful it looks as your eyes skim across chapter headings such as foods to fight “insomnia” or battle “colds and coughs”. But every now and then you’ll come across a chapter on, say, “gout” or “flatulence” that you wouldn’t want to leave open if the neighbours arrived in.

Fish fingers

Serves 4

500g skinless salmon fillet

Approx 75g breadcrumbs

1 tbsp Parmesan, finely grated

1 egg, beaten

1-2 tsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 200 degrees/gas 6. If your fishmonger is a friendly individual, ask them to cut the fillets into thick, finger-sized strips. Or just do it yourself. I cheated and used white breadcrumbs, but meant to use brown-bread ones. Mix the breadcrumbs with some Parmesan and if you think you can start to broaden out the flavours, this is a good way to smuggle in some lemon rind, herbs or even a little black pepper. Dip the salmon into the egg and then the breadcrumbs. When they are coated, place them on a lightly oiled baking tray.

Bake for about 12 minutes. Maybe turn them over after 10 minutes and leave them on for a few more minutes until nice and crisp on all sides.

Once they’re crisp, they’re cooked. Try not to eat them sneakily at the cooker while pretending to dish them up. Serve with some peas and mash.

Baked beans

Serves at least 6

500g haricot beans

1kg loin of bacon

2 onions, peeled and diced

Bay leaves

4 tbsp ketchup

3 tbsp Dijon mustard

2 tbsp molasses

3 tbsp dark brown sugar

3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp English mustard

Black pepper

Few cloves garlic, sliced

You need to soak the beans overnight in lots of cold water. The next day, drain, rinse and simmer them for about 45 minutes, take them off the heat and add in the rest of the ingredients: the onions, bay leaves, ketchup, Dijon, molasses, dark brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, English mustard, black pepper and garlic, and leave it to sit until you get the loin of bacon sorted.

In a separate saucepan (but at the same time), bring the bacon to the boil and simmer for about an hour.

I didn’t do this part in the same saucepan as the beans because I didn’t want the beans to get too salty.

Drain the bacon and cut it into hunks or large chunks. It may be a bit raw in the centre; but don’t worry, most of the cooking has happened.

Put the bacon chunks in with the beans, stick a lid on it and then bung it in the oven for at least an hour at 160 degrees/gas 3. There should be enough of the bean liquid to submerge most of the ingredients. If not, add more water.

Check it halfway and see if you need to take the lid off or add more water.

Have a quick taste and add more seasoning (ketchup, molasses, Dijon etc. You can add some salt at this stage if required, but we found it didn’t need any. Needless to say, this is also great reheated the next day. After the hour in the oven, the loin will start to fall apart and it lends the dish plenty of flavour.

Domini recommends:

I’m a big fan of all the sprouting bean mixes from livingfoods.ie – aka The Happy Pear. They’ll do mail order if you can’t find them locally. They’re brilliant chucked into salads for a nutty taste that’s also great for you