It was an awful Christmas Day as I came down with an illness. Thinking COVID-19, I decided not to visit my family and stayed in bed. All I ate that day was 4 chicken nuggets. My dear Housemate, Ciaran, had a burger, he said it was the most boring and tasteless Christmas ever. I agreed.

Ciaran doesn’t cook – well he CAN’T cook – yes, he’s one of those people. A few days later when I was feeling well, I remembered we’d scored two Western Australian Lobsters, frozen, at a bargain price.. (not really sure whether to thank China at this point..) and so, I whipped up a Pescatarians feast.

Let’s get back t the garden though. I’m growing heaps of stuff, you’ll see more of it soon, but one of the best side dishes was simply my home grown rocket with shaved Grana Pardano

I’ve got tomato’s coming out of my… garden. I’d bought a six cell punnet of cherry tomatoes some months back and they are all starting to ripen, thankfully at different stages, so i paired them with some Greek feta a a few sprigs of lemon thyme. Yum.

Choy Sum with a few dollops of oyster sauce. I love Choy Sum, the leaves are greater and the stems thinner than Buk Choy. Sometimes, after blanching them, I fry them up with some garlic and chilli which then serves as the perfect bed for a piece of salmon, trout or really any sort of fish.

And now, the pièce de résistance! Ok, not the flashiest of pictures, but all the lobster needed was a warm through as it was already cooked. I toyed with the idea of doing a mornay, a thermidor even, but Ciaran said nope, he wanted his a la naturale, so all I did was make a garlic lime butter which, I may add, turned out the best accompaniment for the sweet meat of this crustacean.

To make the Garlic Lime Butter:
– Zest of 1 lime
– Juice of 1 lime
– 125 grams unsalted butter
– Handful of parsley

Soften the butter, mix well then make a roll with parchment paper. Pop in the freezer for 1 hour and slice into discs.

Also great on fish, prawns or any seafood.

It all sounds decadent doesn’t it? Yes, maybe it was, but it’s not out of reach for all, just simple fresh seafood and some greens from my garden.