Can I leave the butter out?
Of course! It’s an added, (very delicious extra) that I love as it’s so flavourful and just takes this dish to the next level but of course you can leave it out if you don’t want to add butter to the dish. Another thing I love to drizzle on this that you might prefer as it’s not butter based is a zingy jalapeño sauce. Blend together or crush in a pestle and mortar - 1 jalapeño pepper, small handful of coriander, 2 tablespoons green olives, pitted, 1/2 cup olive oil, 1 garlic clove, 1/2 shallot finely chopped and the juice of 1 lime. Season well and oof it’s so good!

Different topping ideas
I love the cool creamy tzatziki which only takes a few minutes to put together but you could get the same effect with spoonfuls of ricotta or crumbled feta or greek yog mixed with a little lemon juice or you can leave it as it is and it will still be very delicious.

Why do you add sugar to the tomatoes?
Good question! It’s only a little bit but really makes such a difference. It amplifies the sweetness of the tomatoes and brings out the flavour. A little splash of balsamic is also v good for the same reason.

Tinned tomatoes
I know I’ve said it before but I love the Mutti ones - they taste amazing so if you can get hold of some they are well worth it. In terms of tinned plum, crushed, whole, passata etc - I’m not that fussy. If you use whole just crush them with a spoon until reasonable well mushed or you can use your hands which is oddly enjoyable. When you add the water it really is worth doing this by refilling the tin and swirling it around so you get every last drop of tomatoey goodness - we had to do this in the restaurant I worked in and heaven help you if you forgot.

Flavoured butter
Flavoured butter, or compound butters are a really great way to add a lot of flavour to your dish. They’re so easy to make, just melt butter, add herbs, spices, or whatever you can think of and drizzle over fish, meat, noodles etc. Or you can chuck the butter in a. food processor with the accoutrements and then wrap it in cling film, or you can use the butter wrapper, roll it into a sausage shape and keep in the fridge ready to slice into rounds to use in your cooking. I love tarragon butter with chicken, maybe add a few chives. Chorizo butter is v good, obviously garlic butter - wild garlic butter is excellent, basil and pistachio butter, chicken skin butter…you get the picture, the possibilities are endless and very delicious. Having these rolled in your fridge (they also freeze very well) means you can cook a very simple bit of fish, add one slice of your flavour bomb butter and you’ve got something very delicious.

And that’s it for this week!

Does that sound good? Let’s do a poll!