I was so excited to share these recipes I couldn’t wait to have the time to sit down and write.  On our first real warm day, after my kids had a fun and muddy playdate with some friends’ children, I had one boy wanting to stay for dinner.  He seemed especially keen when I said I was making fish.  He said he loves fish and seafood and got so excited to not only to stay to eat, but continuing to play with my sons.  I’d bought some Haddock and decided to make a variation of a recipe I’d created a month or so ago.  He loved it! But besides that I knew I had to make the kale chips.  So many people I follow (SC, FER, SK) have been blogging about them lately and I’d never made them before.  But I thought I’d change it up a bit by making it similarly to the roasted seaweed chips my sons adore. Sort of more Asian-style.  And, it not only worked, it far exceeded my expectations!  Woo-hoo! When my friend came to pick up her son she tried them and although she was full, she couldn’t stop eating them and took home what I had remaining for her husband.   I love that.  I love to see kids and people I care about eat well, enjoy food that I’ve served them.  It’s such a great gift to give them pleasure.

Roasted Kale Chips

• 1 bunch kale
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• sea salt to taste

Strip the leaves of the kale off the stems and tear them into smaller pieces.  Put them in a mixing bowl and add the oils and salt.  Toss well then place on cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven at 350º F* for about 10 minutes until crisp. You might want to turn them halfway through. They are so light and crisy, you’d be surprised how thin they become.    *I found recipes that had higher temps but I found this worked well.

Roasted Haddock with Singaporean Spices

• 1 pound Haddock
• 1 large handful cilantro, chopped
• 2 spring onions (scallions), chopped
• 1-2 tsp Penzy’s Singapore Spice blend
• ¼ cup dry white wine
• 2 Tbsp grape seed oil (or canola)
• juice from ½ lemon
• sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350º F Cut haddock into serving-sized portions.  Put 1 Tbsp oil into bottom of oven-proof pan. Place haddock in pan, skin side down and sprinkle spices over tops of fish.  Pour oil, wine and lemon juice over fish.  Cover with herbs and put in oven.

Bake for 10-15 minutes (depends on thickness of fish) until flaky but not dry. 

Now, my friend’s son wasn’t as into the kale as the fish, he did eat all his broccoli and most of his coleslaw.  All my sons liked the kale chips but funnily enough my eldest was the only one who didn’t care for the fish..   Friend’s son’s plate after he’d devoured the fish!

The coleslaw I made was very simple with just Savoy and red cabbage, carrots, lemon juice, mayonnaise, sugar, salt and pepper.   The whole dinner was perfect for a warm spring-like day that started with shirtless mud making and ended with sharing good food.