I should probably be feeding my family more fish...

[Chepstowmonkey]

....but we hardly eat any. My husband loves fish and is a good cook so I left him in charge of finding fish recipes but I don't think it's going happen so I better do it myself.

My problem is that we don't have massive amounts of money so we can't afford to buy expensive ingredients. I am totally confused about what I should or should not be buying. I only know one fishmonger and it is so expensive that I end up buying things like kippers because they are cheaper and then they sit in the freezer for months as I don't actually fancy them.

Do any of you have any decent fish recipes or have any advice on how to negotiate the ethical and financial minefield of fish buying?

I usually make fish pie, can get a pack in supermarket with various offcuts of fish, salmon, haddock etc.

Or just haddock of Lemon sole with butter and lemon done in tinfoil in oven.

I just keep fish dishes pretty simple.

or

Coley is your friend! It's a bit grey but great in soup and fisherman's pie. Buy it frozen in chunks.

easy fish pie

mackerel bake

These are my favourites. I buy the mackerel in aldi for £1.50 a pack, and I buy frozen haddock and white fish fillets from aldi for the fish pie.

(my fish ethics are unfortunately dictated by my budget)

Fish pie is a really good way, and frozen fish is great for it.

Tuna pasta bake? Cheap and majority of dc like pasta bake.

In bottellinos they do a lovely pasta, tomatoe, tuna, clams, anchovi, random other fish that I can't remember dish which is really really really nice.

Tin Makeral and tomatoes with rice and green banana is lovely, google jamaican makeral and tomatoes fro recipe or I can tell you how I do mine?

Salmon parcels, put salmon in the centre of foil, add lemon juice, tomatoes, whatever bits and pieces you want wrap tightly and cook for 20minutes.

Smoked fish is quite reasonable in price and tastes quite strong so a little goes a long way. Smoked haddock is fab in kedgeree and risotto.

Smoked mackerel fillets make wonderful pâté when mashed with cream cheese, a little creme fraiche and some creamed horseradish. Fabulous on crackers or brown toast.

Use prawns instead of meat in a stir fry.

Make fish cakes using tinned tuna or smoked mackerel plus some mashed potato. Plenty of recipes about if you google.

Fish curry is amazing. Make a basic curry base using a sweated finely chopped onion cooked with a tin if chopped tomatoes and half a teaspoon each of salt, chilli and roasted cumin plus a crushed garlic clove and a grating of ginger. When it's combined and saucy, put in some white fish fillets (pollock or coley is fine) and some frozen peas, stick the lid on and cook for about five minutes. Check the fish is cooked, then serve with rice.

Do you have a good local market - thats where we buy our fish and its much cheaper than the supermarkets and they tend to have offers on whatever stock they have most of. (Plus usual market thing that the deals get better at the end of the day)

I'd start with the more commonly known fish if you've never really cooked with it before - salmon, cod, plaice, tuna and buy something thats already been filleted for you. Once you're used to these - can start being more adventurous with the fish choice. The fishmongers will usually fillet for you if you want to start buying the whole fish.

We then stick it straight in the freezer when we get home, and start looking for some nice recipes. Some easy ones are just wrap in foil, with some butter (or olive oil) with any herbs you might have. Internet can give you timings if you have the approx. weight of your fillets. You can then start experimenting with flavoured butters and use of other spices. Serve with some nice green veg.
Another easy one for salmon and tuna is to marinate it in a sweet chilli sauce, and then pan fry it. Add more sauce at the end and you get a lovely sticky sauce to drizzle over.
Last one that is easy but a bit more involved is the classic fish pie - probably best to get an internet recipe to guide you on this but basicly you poach the fish usually in milk, make a nice white sauce and cover it with some mashed potato and into the oven.

(I love fish!)

Ask your fishmonger for cod cheeks, they're quite cheap, and you can make goujon things with them, or use them in fish cakes as others have said.

Also don't forget tinned fish! Tinned tuna in pasta bakes, tuna mayo sandwiches, then you can make really nice fishcakes with tinned salmon.

Do cod have cheeks ??? Really?

Coley or pollack is cheap & nice in a tomato sauce with rice. (Think of a Bolognese base sauce).

Yes indeed! Huge great big <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=cod&hl=en&tbo=d&biw=1370&bih=813&tbm=isch&tbnid=7NBYlYZGgGazZM:&imgrefurl=www.fisheries.no/ecosystems-and-stocks/marine_stocks/fish_stocks/cod/&docid=RQtyZnXA9MK3bM&imgurl=www.fisheries.no/FileCache/PageFiles/21748/Bilder/Marin_stocks/torsk650x300.jpg/width_650.height_300.mode_FillAreaWithCrop.pos_Default.color_White.jpg&w=650&h=300&ei=nvG1UPGyA8HFtQatuoCIBg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=993&vpy=202&dur=3650&hovh=152&hovw=331&tx=233&ty=74&sig=102152309205419902737&page=1&tbnh=88&tbnw=190&start=0&ndsp=28&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:0,i:168" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">cheeks! Google it if you don't believe me.

Gosh, so many suggestions - thank you all.

I think there are some workable ones there. I like the idea of fish marinated in sweet chilli sauce (especially as I've found a recipe for homemade sweet chilli sauce that I am very excitied about).

Tuna pasta bake (or tuna in general really) I need to try again. I think I turned myself off it as a student eating tuna pasta with mayonnaise and sweetcorn too much. What kind of tuna pasta bakes do your DCs eat? Is it with a tomato sauce or a white sauce?

Fish pie - yes I should, I know. But like cottage pie it just requires a bit more organisation than I can normally muster!

Mackerel, tomato, rice and green banana - sounds intriguing - tell me more.

Fish curry - i shall definitely be trying that. Thank you for the idea.

White fish in a tomato sauce - yes I can see that working. Perhaps an excuse for me to add some olives?

Oh there were so many other options, this will take me a while to consider them all!