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Archive for the ‘Healthy’ Category

Time for something a little lighter…

Posted in Food, Healthy, Shellfish, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on 11 August 2011| 1 Comment »

Easy-peasy and used up some prawns that had been in the freezer for nearly too long.

Lemony prawn pasta with broccoli – to serve 4

  • 300g farfalle pasta
  • 1 head of broccoli, cut into small florets
  • 200g large cooked prawns
  • 3 tbsp double cream
  • juice of 1/2 a lemon

Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the pack and scoop out and keep a bit of the cooking water near the end. Add the broccoli to the pasta pan 3 minutes before the end of the cooking time and cook for another 3 minutes. Drain and tip back into the pan.

Turn the heat down very low and add the prawns, cream, lemon juice and some seasoning. Add a bit of your pasta water if you need to thin the sauce a bit.

Healthy and low-fat dinner is served (the 3 tbsp of cream is divided between 4 people!!)

(Original recipe from BBC Good Food)

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Tuesday Night Veg & Black Bean Soup

Posted in Food, Healthy, Soup, Uncategorized, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , , , on 2 August 2011| Leave a Comment »

Easy, tasty, low-fat, cheap, hearty… need we say more? We had carrots and celery that needed used so we added more than the recipe suggests – it was a good idea!

Black bean and chilli soup – to serve 2 

  • 1 onion chopped
  • 2 sticks celery, sliced
  • 1 carrot, diced small
  • olive oil
  • a pinch of chilli flakes
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
  • 400ml vegetable stock
  • 400g tin of black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 150ml natural yogurt
  • a small bunch of coriander, chopped
Cook onion, celery and carrot in 1 tbsp olive oil until softened. Add the chilli flakes and cumin and cook for another minute. Add the tomatoes, stock and beans and simmer for about half an hour, or until the veg is soft. Serve with a dollop of yogurt and some coriander on top.

(Original recipe from BBC Good Food)

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Super-healthy salmon & rice salad

Posted in Fish, Food, Healthy, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on 24 July 2011| 2 Comments »

We made this salad because we were trying to use up some brown basmati we’ve had sitting around in the cupboard. The flavour and texture combination turned out even better than expected and it was just as delicious for dinner as well as the next day for lunch. Fresh and light and yet filling and very satisfying. Definitely will be done again.

We reckon this would be a fabulous as part of a buffet; easy to prepare in advance and bursting with colours and flavour.

Don’t be put off by microwaving the salmon – it really does work a treat!

Zingy salmon & brown rice salad (serves 4)

  • 200g brown basmati rice
  • 200g frozen soya beans, defrosted (we used peas because we couldn’t find he soya beans)
  • 2 salmon fillets, skin on
  • 1 cucumber , diced
  • small bunch spring onions , sliced
  • small bunch coriander , roughly chopped
  • zest and juice 1 lime
  • 1 red chilli , diced, deseeded if you like
  • 4 tsp light soy sauce
  1. Cook the rice following pack instructions and 3 mins before it’s done, add the soya beans. Drain and cool under cold running water.
  2. Meanwhile, put the salmon on a plate and microwave on high for 3 mins. Allow to cool slightly, remove the skin with a fork, then flake.
  3. Gently fold the cucumber, spring onions, coriander and salmon into the rice and beans. In a separate bowl, mix the lime zest and juice, chilli and soy, then pour over the rice before serving.
Original recipe BBC Good Food

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MoroccanTurkey Meatballs with Citrus Couscous

Posted in Healthy, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on 22 July 2011| 2 Comments »

A dish that is super-healthy and easy to cook makes this a great weeknight dinner and lunch (if you make too much the night before). It’s a tiny bit dry on it’s own even with the juicy orange in the couscous so we recommend you serve some Tzatziki on the side – even though that’s Greek. The Moroccans will forgive us.
Serves 4

  • 500g turkey mince (they have it in Tesco)
  • 2 tsp each chilli powder, ground cumin and ground coriander
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 onion, coarsely grated
  • zest 1 orange, then peeled and orange segments chopped
  • 250g coucous
  • 250ml hot chicken stock
  • 2 tsp olive oil
  • small bunch coriander, roughly chopped
  1. Mix the mince, spices, onion and orange zest together in a big bowl with your hands. Roll the mixture into about 20 walnut-sized meatballs.
  2. Put the couscous in a bowl, pour in the hot stock, cover with cling film and leave to stand for 10 minutes.
  3. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan. Add the meatballs and fry for about 12 minutes until nice and brown all over and cooked through.
  4. Fluff the couscous up with a fork, stir in the chopped orange, coriander and some seasoning. Serve with the meatballs and some tzatziki.

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Chicken with Courgettes and Garlic

Posted in Chicken, Food, Healthy, tagged , , , , , , on 20 July 2011| Leave a Comment »

Apologies to any of you that don’t like courgettes but as long as people keep donating us homegrown ones we’re going to keep on cooking them.

This dish is based on courgettes, onions and garlic and it’s so tasty that you can’t tell it’s low fat. The recipe is to serve 8 (to serve buffet-style) but we just cooked half and it worked well.

The original recipe suggested side dishes of tomatoes, peppers and aubergines. We had some new potatoes to use up so we roasted them with a bit of oil and some herbs from the garden.

Chicken saute with courgettes and garlic – to serve 8 (easily halved)

  • 8 x chicken breast fillets
  • 8-10 small courgettes – we used a giant one
  • 2 onions
  • 2 large garlic cloves
  • 2 red chillies
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 50g butter
  • juice of 2 small limes
  • lime wedges, to serve
  1. Cut the chicken into 1cm thick strips and the courgettes into 1cm thick slices on an angle. Slice the onions finely and separate into rings. Slice the garlic very finely. Deseed the chillies and shred finely.
  2. Heat a large frying pan or a heavy roasting tin on the hob. Add the oil and sauté the onions and courgettes until golden brown – you might have to do this in a few batches. Season and transfer to a plate.
  3. Add the butter to the frying pan. When it sizzles, sauté the chicken strips in batches until golden brown all over. Add them all back to the pan together and cook for another minute before seasoning and adding the onions, courgettes and sliced garlic.
  4. Keep cooking for another few minutes until everything is almost tender, then add the lime juice, and check the seasoning. Scatter over the chillies and serve with lime wedges.
(Original recipe by Gary Rhodes for BBC Good Food Magazine July 2003)

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Italian tuna balls (hee hee)

Posted in Fish, Food, Healthy, Italian, Pasta, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on 14 July 2011| 5 Comments »

Well this was a pleasant surprise! We only made it cause it was super cheap and low fat but we will definitely be doing it again. This costs less than €2 a head and it is gorgeous! We don’t buy tomato pasta sauce because this one is so fabulous, super cheap, easy and freezes. We usually have some pasta dough in the freezer that needs used too so the picture has fresh tagliarini – so for us it cost the price of a tin of tuna.  Still  we don’t think you’ll be disappointed if you use shop bought sauce and dried spaghetti either.

Italian Tuna Balls – to serve 4  (easy to double or halve)

  • 2 x 160g cans tuna in oil, drained (reserve a bit of the oil)
  • small handful pine nuts
  • finely grated zest 1 lemon
  • small handful parsley, roughly chopped
  • 50g fresh breadcrumbs
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 400g spaghetti
  • 500g jar tomato pasta sauce

Flake the tuna into a bowl, then add the pine nuts, lemon zest, parsley, breadcrumbs and egg. Season and mix with your hands until really well combined. Roll the mix into 12 walnut-size balls. Put a large saucepan of water on to boil, then cook the spaghetti according to the pack.

Heat a little of the tuna oil in a large non-stick frying pan, then fry the tuna balls for 5 minutes or until completely golden all over. Drain on kitchen paper. Heat the tomato sauce, then toss with the pasta and tuna balls.

(Original recipe from BBC Good Food)

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Glazed veggie kebabs for the bbq

Posted in Barbecue, Food, Healthy, Uncategorized, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , on 13 July 2011| Leave a Comment »

This is a veggie version of our Easy BBQ Kebabs and this time we made our own honey-mustard marinade. Another convenience item that we won’t be buying again as it’s just so simple to make (and we always have honey and mustard in the cupboard). These should keep your veggie friends happy or you can serve them as a side dish for the carnivores. We had them with baked potatoes and parsley butter as there was leftover parsley in the fridge. Very yummy indeed.

Veggie kebabs to serve 4

  • 2 tbsp clear honey
  • 2 tsp grainy mustard
  • 4 tbsp oil
  • 2 courgettes, thickly sliced
  • 1 aubergine, cut into chunks
  • 1 red onion, cut into thin wedges
  • 12 cherry tomatoes
  • 1 orange pepper, cut into chunks
If you only have wooden skewers you need to soak them for about 30 minutes or they will burn on the barbecue. We like metal ones.

Blend the honey, mustard and oil with seasoning.

Thread the vegetables onto the skewers and brush with the glaze.

Cook for 20-30 minutes on the barbecue.

(Original recipe from BBC Good Food)

If you have leftovers stir them through some couscous with some toasted nuts and herbs for lunchboxes.

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Don’t ever buy houmous!

Posted in Food, Healthy, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on 10 July 2011| Leave a Comment »

HummusHoumous is very cheap to make and is almost instant if you use tinned chickpeas. You will get at least three times the quantity of one of those little supermarket tubs from this recipe. It also tastes great and is really healthy.

Hummus 

  • 2 tins of chickpeas, drained, reserving some of the liquid
  • 1 large garlic clove
  • 3 tbsp tahini
  • juice of 2 lemons
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp sweet paprika

Crush the garlic with some salt until it becomes a paste. Put the chickpeas, tahini and garlic in a blender or food processor and puree a little and then season with salt. Add the lemon juice and continue blitzing until smooth. Scrape out into a bowl and mix the olive oil in well. If it’s a bit dry add some of your reserved liquid. Check that there is enough salt. Sprinkle with the paprika and drizzle another bit of olive oil over the top.

(Original recipe from ‘Falling cloudberries’ by Tessa Kiros)

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Wasabi salmon with cucumber salad

Posted in Asian, Fish, Food, Healthy, tagged , , , , , on 30 June 2011| 2 Comments »

This was another of our heathy weeknight ideas – some of which turn out surprisingly well and others that turn out a bit bland and boring (we don’t blog the bland ones). This was great, though beware of wasabi fumes coming down your nose, a sensation we quite like but mightn’t be for everyone. The cucumber salad was a real hit too – salty, sweet, hot and sour. Felt like a bit of a treat in fact.

Wasabi salmon with cucumber salad – to serve 2

  • 2 salmon fillets, c. 125g each
  • 1 tbsp wasabi paste
  • half a cucumber
  • 1 small red chilli, cut into rings
  • 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
  • 1tsp golden caster sugar
  • 1tsp salt
  • 2 tsp poppyseeds
  • steamed rice to serve

Rub the salmon all over with a tiny bit of oil and then the wasabi paste.

Split the cucumber in half lengthways and discard the seeds. Cut into large diagonal chunks and put in a bowl. Add the chilli, rice vinegar, salt, sugar, poppyseeds and a bit of pepper. Mix well until the salt and sugar have dissolved. There will be quite a lot of liquid but don’t worry and don’t be tempted to leave out the salt as it is essential for the hot, sour, salty, sweet balance.

Preheat your grill and grill the fish for 5-6 minutes or until is turned a nice colour on top and is just cooked through (no need to turn it over).

Serve with the cucumber salad and steamed rice. The salad dressing is nice drizzled over the fish too.

(Original recipe from BBC Good Food)

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Superhealthy Chicken Bake

Posted in Food, Healthy, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on 29 June 2011| Leave a Comment »

Until very recently we had terrible trouble finding skinless, boneless chicken thighs but lately we’ve got them in M&S, Tesco and Sainsbury’s. They are really cheap and much tastier than chicken breasts that can dry out easily. We now have a freezer full of them (just in case they become illusive again) so expect plenty more ideas for chicken thighs here over the next while. All this dish requires is minimal chopping, bung it all in the one pan and bake – perfect for a weeknight (and it’s really healthy too!).

Chicken bake – serves 2

  • about 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
  • 6 new or salad potatoes, halved
  • 1/2 a lemon, cut into wedges
  • 6 cloves of garlic, skins left on
  • 1 red pepper, siced
  • a few thyme sprigs
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 25g pitted black olives
  • 250g cherry tomatoes

Heat the oven to 200C/180F/gas 6.

Put the chicken, potatoes, lemon, garlic, pepper and thyme onto a large baking tray. Drizzle the oil over and season. Then roast for 30 minutes.

Add the olives and tomatoes and roast for another 10 minutes or until the chicken and potatoes are browned and cooked through.

We served this with a rocket salad.

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Prawn Salad # 2

Posted in Food, Healthy, Shellfish, tagged , , , , , , on 8 June 2011| Leave a Comment »

We’re mad for prawns these day; mostly because we have a huge bag in the freezer. We’re also mad for avocados; but that’s because they are in season and taste yum at the minute! We even managed to eat this on the patio just before another big, rainy cloud came over. We love summers in Ireland; we might not get the weather but at least we can get summery produce.

Prawn, grapefruit and avocado salad – to serve 4 on the patio (weather permitting)

  • a medium rustic-style loaf, torn into big chunks
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 large pink grapefruit
  • 2 avocados
  • 4 little gem lettuces
  • 200g cooked large prawns
  • 3 tbsp Thai sweet chilli sauce
Heat the oven to 220C/Fan 200C/Gas 7. Put the bread chunks onto a baking tray, drizzle with 2 tsp of oil and rub in with your hands. Season and bake for 10 minutes until they are crispy and golden.
Cut the peel and pith off one of the grapefruits and slice into segments. Throw these in your salad bowl.
Squeeze the juice from the other grapefruit into a separate small bowl.
Peel, stone and slice the avocados and separate the lettuce leaves. Add these to the grapefruit segments along with the prawns.
Whisk the sweet chilli sauce and remaining tsp of oil into the grapefruit juice and season.
Cool the croutons for a few minutes before tossing with the rest of the salad and drizzling over the sweet chilli dressing.
Dada!

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Italian Summer Avocado and Prawn Salad

Posted in Food, Healthy, Shellfish, tagged , , , , , , , on 6 June 2011| 2 Comments »

It’s avocado season and we have a big bag of prawns in the freezer. This is one of two prawn and avocado salads we’ve tried in the last few days. The seasoned pistachios make this one a bit special. We loved it.

Avocado and prawn salad (Insalata di avocado e gamberetti)

  • 50g pistachio nuts, shelled and chopped
  • 2 avocados
  • juice of a lemon
  • 200g cooked peeled prawns
  • olive oil
  • salt and white pepper
Mix the pistachios with a pinch of pepper in a bowl.
Peel, half and stone the avocados. Slice them thinly and drizzle with the lemon juice.
Put the avocado in a salad bowl, add the prawns and stir gently.
Sprinkle the pistachios over, season lightly with salt, drizzle with oil and serve.
Wine Suggestion: Try a dry Gasgogny rose (ours was Domaine de Pellehaut from Mitchell & Son on offer for €7.95. Bargain!)
(Original recipe from ‘Recipes from an Italian Summer’ published by Phaidon)

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Healthy Thai Prawn Stir-fry with Ginger and Scallions

Posted in Asian, Food, Healthy, Shellfish, tagged , , , , , , on 27 May 2011| 2 Comments »

This tastes so much better than it looks and it looked really good on the plate when served, but by that stage we were so starved we ate it instead of taking pics! So much healthier than a Thai takeaway and dead-on tasty. The marinade is a really neat trick which we’ll definitely use again.

  • 200g raw, peeled tiger prawns
  • 1 green chilli, chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, crush 1 and finely slice the other 2
  • a bunch of coriander, separate the leaves from the stalks and save both
  • 1 tbsp caster sugar
  • juice of a lime
  • 3 tbsp fish sauce
  • 2 tbsp groundnut oil
  • 3 cm piece of ginger, finely slice and then shred it
  • 8 scallions, finely sliced
  • a red pepper, thinly sliced
  • 85g water chestnuts, sliced (we couldn’t find these and it was fine without them!)
  • 100g beansprouts
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • pack of egg noodles to serve
  • lime wedges
Whiz the chilli, crushed garlic, coriander stalks (snip them with scissors to make them small) and caster sugar in a small food processor. Add half the lime juice and the fish sauce and then pour over your prawns.
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok, add the ginger and scallions and fry for a minute. Add the red pepper and fry for another minute or until it starts to soften. Add the water chestnuts and bean sprouts and toss until the sprouts start wilting. Add the soy sauce and plenty of black pepper and tip the lot into a serving dish.
Heat a bit of oil in the wok and toss your egg noodles until hot. They’ll pick up some of the juicy and crunchy bits from the veggies. Mix them into the serving dish with the vegetables.
Lift the prawns out of their marinade and cook in wok with the remaining oil for a minute or two or until they turn pink. Add the marinade and swirl it around in the wok to heat it. Tip everything over the vegetables and noodles. Add the coriander leaves and remaining lime juice before you serve. Put some lime wedges on the side of the plates.
Wine Suggestion: We had a glass of Chilean Sauvignon Blanc which went really well. The fruit was juicy and counter-acted the chilli instead of fighting against it which can happen. It was fresh and zingy.

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We want to be Italian!

Posted in Food, Healthy, Pasta, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , on 21 May 2011| 2 Comments »

So home from honeymoon and we had all the boxes in the new house to unpack (you know all this from the last post). The sensible thing would be to stay home and unpack them but I felt the need to go on the hunt for Tipo 00 flour instead. We had got a shiny pasta machine in Italy see.

Jules wanted to unpack but I insisted on kneading dough; I won her over in the end! This is my homemade and fresh fettuccine with The Frankies Spuntino’s Sunday Sauce (really tasty tomato sauce). A success and so much more fun than unpacking 🙂

I actually made enough for the village and didn’t research how to store fresh pasta. The first meal was fantastic … and the rest … well I’ll live and learn.

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Spicy Houmous

Posted in Food, Healthy, Uncategorized, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , on 20 May 2011| Leave a Comment »

Well here’s a nice tasty houmous and a bit different from the one we’re all used too. We love houmous but it sometimes has that over-powering thing you get from raw garlic (no matter how little you use). This one uses some cooked red onions and indian spices for flavour instead and it’s a winner!

Red onion & Indian-spiced houmous

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • a red onion, thinly sliced
  • 1 tsp each of cumin seeds and coriander seeds
  • 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
  • 400g tin chickpeas, rinsed and drained
  • juice 1/2 lemon
  • 1 tbsp tahini
  • 2 tsp finely chopped coriander
  • pitta bread or grilled soft tortilla to serve
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a non-stick pan and fry the onion until soft and getting a bit of colour. Take off the heat and set aside to cool.
Toast the spices for a couple of minutes on a low heat and then grind to a powder in a mortar and pestle.
Blitz the chickpeas, lemon juice, tahini, ground spices, some salt, coriander and red onion in a food processor until smooth.
Serve dressed with some olive oil and something crunchy to dip in it.
P.S. We spread the leftovers on soft tortillas and stuffed them with roasted veggies and rocket for lunch to take to work.

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Jono and Jules are back from Tuscany and are very hungry!

Posted in Brunch, Food, Healthy, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , , , on 18 May 2011| 2 Comments »

Quite a lot has happened since our last post. We moved house, then we got married, then we went to London, Paris and Italy. Lot’s of eating and drinking but no time for blog posts. When we got home we couldn’t work out if our new house had been robbed or if we had just left it in a complete state of disarray. Thankfully the latter. So needless to say we left the mess where it was and headed to the shops to get some ingredients for a tasty breakfast/brunch and two course dinner.

Breakfast/brunch mushrooms on toast for 2

  • 250g chestnut mushrooms, roughly chopped
  • 1 clove of garlic, crushed
  • 1 tbsp chopped parsley
  • butter
  • really nice bread, toasted (we got a white pan loaf from Butler’s Pantry)
You could probably work this out for yourselves.
Fry the mushrooms for about 5 minutes in a knob of butter until they’re soft and your mouth starts watering. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.
Take the pan off the heat and stir in another knob of butter and the parsley.
Throw the mushrooms on top of your toast.
It’s nice to be home.

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We didn’t think this would be good enough to blog, but …

Posted in Food, Healthy, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , , , , , on 7 April 2011| 2 Comments »

… it was. You know when you read a recipe and it looks tasty enough, but nothing special; good for a weeknight. Well this looked like that, and then had such great balance of flavours it had to make the blog. It did take longer than we expected, but the pizza-like aromas from the oven had us salivating and it was worth the wait. More like a veggie pasta bake than a frittata we reckon.

Easy oven frittata (serves 4, or less if you’re hungry)

  • 1/2 tsp oilve oil
  • 85g fusilli, macaroni or small pasta – we used conchigle
  • 1 bunch of scallions, chopped
  • 85g frozen peas
  • 85g frozen or tinned sweetcorn
  • 1 red pepper, seeded and chopped
  • 2 large eggs
  • 150ml milk
  • 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
  • 50g good Irish cheddar, grated (Bandon Vale worked well)
  • 2 tbsp parmesan, finely grated
  • a green salad to serve

Preheat oven to 190C / fan 170C and grease a 1.2 litre baking dish with olive oil

Cook the pasta in salted boiling water for 8 minutes. Add all the veg and cook for a further 2 minutes. Drain and tip into baking dish.

Beat together eggs, add thyme and milk and beat a little more. Mix in most of the two cheeses and some black pepper and a sprinkle of salt. Pour into the baking dish, stir, then scatter remaining cheeses on top.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until golden and set. Cool for a minute or two and serve with the salad leaves.

Surprisingly tasty and low fat too! What more could you ask for?

(Original recipe from BBC Good Food)

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So we don’t have much time for cooking at the minute …

Posted in Food, Healthy, Pasta, Shellfish on 6 April 2011| Leave a Comment »

very quick, easy pasta

… but dinner is still a top priority. Flung together pasta dishes are therefore all the rage in our house. Here’s another one with just a handful of ingredients but still tastes nice and fresh. All sorted in 10 minutes and beats a ready meal any day!

Tagliatelle with prawns, cherry tomatoes and basil – (serves 2)

  • 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 red chilli, finely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 200g large raw prawns, peeled and deveined
  • 225g dried tagliatelle
  • 25g fresh basil, leaves torn

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta for 8 to 10 minutes.

Heat oil in a frying pan, add the prawns and toss until cooked pink in colour. Stir in the garlic and chilli and cook for a further minute or two until softened.

Drain pasta and return to pot. Toss in the prawn mixture, cherry tomatoes and basil over some heat. Drizzle with olive oil and season if you like.

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Jono & Jules’ How to Cheat (just like Delia …

Posted in Food, Healthy, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , on 5 April 2011| Leave a Comment »

… ONLY BETTER!)

Here’s something we do when we know we’re going to get in late and hungry. To call it a recipe might be pushing it but it tastes good and requires virtually no effort.

10-minute tortellini – to serve 2

  • 250g pack fresh spinach and ricotta tortellini (or something similar – we try to avoid the meat filled ones as there is something a bit dog food like about them)
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 250g pack cherry tomatoes
  • a big bunch of parsley, leaves roughly chopped
  • 3 tbsp finely grated parmesan

Boil the past for 2 minutes until just cooked.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the tomatoes until they start to blister.

When the pasta is cooked, drain it quickly, reserving some of the water.

Tip the pasta, parsley, a splash of the cooking water and most of the Parmesan into the tomatoes and bubble it all together. Season with black pepper and salt.

Serve with the rest of the Parmesan.

Hey presto.

(We learned this from some other cheaters – BBC Good Food)

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Emergency Red Mullet Recipe

Posted in Barbecue, Fish, Food, Healthy, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on 4 April 2011| Leave a Comment »

Our local fish counter (in Caviston’s, Glasthule) had Red Mullet today, which we never see, so I urgently called Jules to find a recipe. She found this in 2 minutes flat and we went with it as there wasn’t too many ingredients. The salsa tastes absolutely amazing. Now that the evenings are longer we’ve been dying to use the barbecue more so we’re very pleased with ourselves for a Monday night (especially as we’d planned to have  salad!) Very full and satisfied now.

Barbecue red mullet with a hot salsa (to serve 4)

For the fish:

  • 4 red mullet, scaled, cleaned and gutted
  • small bunch of fresh oregano, leaves picked

For the salsa:

  • a handful of black olives, stoned and roughly chopped
  • 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
  • 1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
  • a few sprigs of fresh rosemary
  • 6 ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
  • juice of 1/2 a lemon
  • a small bunch of flatleaf parsley, leaves picked and torn

Get your barbecue hot.

Slash the fish all over on both sides, about 1 cm deep, to help it cook through.

Roughly chop some oregano on a big board and spread it out. Sprinkle with a generous amount of salt and black pepper.

Roll the fish over the board and rub all the flavourings into the slashes you made.

Barbecue the fish for about 4 minutes on each side until you have crispy skin and soft cooked flesh inside.

Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan and add the chopped olives. Warm them through for a minute or two and add the garlic, chilli and rosemary sprigs. Fry gently until the garlic is soft.

Remove and discard the rosemary and toss in the chopped tomatoes. Squeeze in the lemon juice and add the parsley.

Taste for seasoning (you probably won’t need salt as the olives will be salty) and warm through.

(Original recipe from Jamie Oliver)

Wine suggestion: We had a glass of Gruner Veltliner from Marlborough in New Zealand. Very unusual as this grape’s home turf is Austria. Quite peachy with bit of typical white pepper spice. If you fancy something different you can buy it in Mitchell and Son for about €15.95. A refreshing change from Sauvignon Blanc.

 

 

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