Steamed lime haddock with mango and pepper salsa

This chilly wet summer has sent me scurrying back to favourite dishes I'd never normally cook between May and September. On the rare nice days we've had, though, I've been buying the best seasonal veg at my local market and seeing what's on the slab at the fishmongers. In warm weather I don't want heavy food that lies like a stone in my stomach fish is my first choice for something light and healthy as well as versatile. Whatever fish I buy, I usually steam it or bake it en papillote, as it traps all the flavours and juices and you don't need to add oil.

What you need: 
For the fish
Haddock fillet
1 lime
2 spring onions
1 small stalk of fresh lemongrass
a few slivers of sliced fresh ginger

For the salsa
1/2 a ripe mango
1/2 a red pepper, deseeded
2 spring onions
A few sprigs of fresh coriander

What to do:
Put the fish on a large sheet of tin foil and pull the edges up slightly to start making a pocket. Zest the lime and scatter it over the fish. Shred the spring onions lengthways, slice the lemongrass finely and scatter these and the ginger slices over the fish. Squeeze the juice from the lime and drizzle half of it over the fish. Close the foil parcel tightly.

Bring a pan of water to the boil and then pop a steamer over the top and steam the fish for 10-12 minutes, depending on the size and thickness of the fish.

Make the salsa. Cut the mango into cubes, dice the red pepper and slice the spring onions on the diagonal. Chop the coriander finely and add, then pour over the rest of the lime juice. Season to taste then mix well.

Plate up, keeping the spring onions and ginger with the fish (if, like me, you plan to eat them) and pile the salsa alongside.

Cook's tips: 
En papillote means "in paper", but tin foil works just as well as baking parchment. 

You don't need a special steamer pan to steam food. One of those Chinese bamboo lidded steamer baskets works just as well in a pan as in a wok. Or you can improvise, as I do - I use a metal sieve over the top of the pan, which also makes lifting the food out very easy.

Preparing a mango can be a bit fiddly but I've always found the easiest way is to quarter it with a sharp knife then insert the knife blade inside to cut round the stone and ease each quarter off it. Once the stone's out, cut the flesh lengthways and across then carefully cut the cubes off the skin.

Thai-style curry paste

Those jars of Thai red or green curry paste you can pick up in any supermarket are the sort of thing it's useful to keep in the back of the larder. Gawd knows I've been bailed out of a dinner dilemma on more than one occasion by a jar of paste, some leftover cooked chicken and a carton of creamed coconut.

Fresh paste is so much nicer though, the flavours more intense, the colours brighter. And of course, you can tinker with the quantities to suit your own taste.

This takes about 5 minutes to rustle up and makes a decent quantity, with enough left over to freeze a few portions.

What you need:
3 chillies, red, green or mixed, deseeded
4 cloves garlic, peeled
About 3ins fresh root ginger, peeled and cut into chunks
3 stems fresh lemongrass
1 large or 2 small limes, halved
10 black peppercorns
1/2 tsp each of ground turmeric, ground coriander and ground cumin
1/3 tin coconut milk
Very generous handful of fresh coriander

What to do: 
Put everything into a food processor and whizz to a paste. That's it! Use in a recipe in the usual way - add it once you've fried the onions and before you add the other ingredients.

Cook's tips: 

A generous tablespoonful of this mixture is about the right quantity for one portion of curry or soup. You can keep the leftovers in a sealed jar in the fridge but you should use it up quickly in that case. I freeze it in small portions - my local curry house delivers the relishes in little plastic cartons when I order in a takeaway and they are the perfect size for this. 

You can also use the paste as a marinade for prawns or meat. Give the two about an hour to get to know each other, or marinate overnight in the fridge.