Low Fat Mexican Baked Cod

Fish is great to eat when you are trying to maintain a low fat diet. It’s really low in fat, and full of protein so its just really what you decide to put with it that is the deciding factor on whether it’s a low fat meal or not. For instance deep fried fish is a big no-no for those on a diet. Though in saying that, you only live once so every once in a while traditional fish n’chips is a big favourite of mine. All the other times however, I try to come up with new low fat dinners using fish, that keeps things interesting. After a meal out in Café Mexicana recently in Cork City, I’m hoping to recreate one of the dishes I ordered. It was Mexican baked fish. I’m hoping to reinvent that meal, without the calories that came with it, i.e corn tortilla chips and cheese. Though don’t let me stop you if you looking to have a treat with dinner. This recipe is going by memory from the tastes I can remember from that meal, though there was Sangria involved, which always tweaks the memory slightly…..

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 2 fillets of cod
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• ½ diced red onion
• 1 chopped clove of garlic
• 1 tsp of finely sliced jalapeno peppers
• 1 tbsp of ground cumin
• 1 tbsp of ground coriander
• ½ tbsp of brown sugar
• ½ tbsp of dried oregano
• Zest & juice of 1 lemon
• Salt and Pepper
• ½ can of kidney beans
• Medium bunch of chopped coriander
• Basmati rice to serve

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
2. In a pan, sauté the onion, garlic, jalapeños and spices and herbs.
3. Once they softened add the tin of tomatoes and sugar, salt, pepper and lemon zest and juice.
4. Allow it to cook down for 5-10 minutes
5. Add the kidney beans and mix to combine
6. Place the cod in an oven proof dish, and pour the tomato mixture over
7. Baked in the oven for 15-20 minutes (depending on the size of your fish)
8. Serve with chopped fresh coriander and basmati rice.

Roast Hake & Puy Lentils

Hake is a meaty white fish, able to stand up to flavours more so than more delicate fish like sole and whiting. For this dish I’m roasting the Hake and popping it on a bed of cumin and coriander puy lentils. This recipe can be adapted to whatever what you have available, i.e. cod and sea bass would also be good here, or red mullet if you can get your hands on it. This dish is extremely low in fat as very little oil is used in the cooking and puy lentils are a great iron rich pulse that keep us feeling fuller for longer!! But don’t stick to this recipe either, the fish can be changed, or if you not gone on lentils, perhaps some baby potatoes or some brown rice would also be extremely healthy.

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 2 Fillets of Hake
• 100g puy lentils
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• Salt & Pepper
• 1 chopped garlic clove
• 2 stalks celery, finely chopped
• 3 carrots finely chopped
• ½ onion, diced
• 500mls vegetable stock
• 2 tbsp chopped coriander
• Zest of a lemon
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 chopped red chilli

Method

1. Cook the lentils in vegetable stock until soft (usually 30-40 minutes, depending on the lentils)
2. In a frying pan, sauté the onion, garlic, chilli, celery and carrots with some oil
3. Drain the lentils and add to the frying pan with the ground spices and stir to combine, add salt and pepper and the chopped coriander.
4. In the meantime, have your oven preheated to 200 degrees
5. Mix together the lemon zest, 1 tsp of cumin and 1 tsp of oil in a small bowl
6. Coat the fish in this mixture and place on an lined baking sheet
7. Bake in the oven for approx 12 minutes, depending on the size of the fish
8. To serve, spoon the lentil mixture in the centre of a plate and top with the hake and serve with a lemon wedge, and maybe a side salad.

Chicken Cacciatore

One sleep to the Cork City Marathon. After researching what the best pre dinner race meal is, the majority of websites advised pasta, to my delight. Pre race, it is recommended to have a high carb, high protein low fat meal, so I decided to cook Chicken Cacciatore. This is a simple one pot dish, which is perfect, as after Nicola's hen party last night, I welcome as little effort as possible. Chicken Cacciatore is Italian in orgin, and its basically a really nice chicken stew that can be equally nice with potatoes, rice or pasta. There are tonnes of different chicken cacciatore recipes on the internet, but I believe sometimes the simpliest of recipes are the best. So here this is quite a classic simple version of Chicken Cacciatore.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breast on the bone
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1 tin peeled tomatoes
• 2 chopped garlic cloves
• 1 chopped onion
• 2 chopped carrots
• 10 sliced mushrooms
• 1 yellow pepper chopped
• leaves from 4 sprigs of thyme
• Pinch of sugar
• Salt/pepper
• 1 tbsp of tomato puree
• 1 glass of white wine
• 1 bay leaf
• 4-5 torn basil leaves
• Pasta to serve

Method

1. In an oven proof lidded dish, gently brown the chicken breasts which should be previously dredged in flour
2. Remove the chicken once browned all over
3. Add the garlic, thyme and onion and gently fry
4. Add the remaining vegetables and stir to combine
5. Add the wine and bring the liquid to a boil.
6. Once some of the alcohol has been boiled off, add the tinned tomatoes and break them up as you add them
7. Add the bay leaf, sugar, puree, and salt and pepper
8. Add the chicken back to the dish, stir to combine and cover the dish.
9. Pop it into a pre heat oven at 180 degrees and bake for 45 minutes
10. Remove the lid and cook for a further 15 minutes
11. Add the torn basil leaves and remove the bay leaf with a slotted spoon
12. Serve with your preferred accompaniment.

Boozy Chocolate Truffles....Captain Morgan Strikes Again

These simple chocolates are a continuation really from my honeycomb. Last time I made these was for my mom, for Mothers Day as a little treat. I’m a big believer that homemade gifts are more thoughtful…….especially if they come with a Topshop voucherJ. I spotted this recipe in my favourite magazine, Good Food a year or two ago. It sounded like the simplest sweet treat one could make, so me being totally new to the whole dessert world, I gave it a whirl! Talk about easy peasy!!!! The great thing is, although they are very easy to make, they look really impressive and thoughtful. Not only could these be used as a tasty edible gift, these also go down well at the coffee section of dinner parties. This recipe is the basic one from the BBCs Good food Magazine, but I try experimenting then with flavours and textures, depending on the occasion and who they are intended for.

This time round I’m making 2 different types, Boozy Rum & Minty & Coconut, as I’m making them for a Hen party I’m attending tomorrow night in Ballyvaughan, and I thought it would be a nice gesture to Nicola, our Hen, though there might be enough booze already there!!!

Serves 1 batch makes 16 balls

Ingredients

• 100g shop bought madeira cake, blitzed to crumbs
• 100g chocolate of choice, a good quality makes all the different
• 75 mls from Can Condensed milk 
• 50g ground almonds
• 100g icing sugar
• Icing sugar/cocoa powder to decorate

Method

1. Melt the chocolate over a pan of simmering water, careful don’t the water touch the bottom of the pan
2. When the chocolate is melted add all the remaining ingredients
3. Stir well to combine
4. Roll out some parchment paper and using a teaspoon, make little balls of chocolate rolling with you hands to try to make a perfect ball
5. Roll them in your preferred topping, i.e. icing sugar, cocoa, chopped nuts, and refrigerate. A mixture of all 3 is good and feel free to add your own twist.

For my truffles today, I’m using dark chocolate and adding a shot glass of Captain Morgan Rum. I’m also using some Lindt mint chocolate and I’ll roll them in desiccated coconut then to decorate and give them a crunch. As these are a gift, I’ve picked up a jar from a hardware shop and I’m going to wrap it in tissue paper and present it to the Hen

Booze and chocolate will make for happy hen goers!!!

Serena's Medium Rare: Sesame Crusted Fried Halloumi Salad

Serena's Medium Rare: Sesame Crusted Fried Halloumi Salad:

"Halloumi is difficult to get sometimes, but when you do see it in the supermarket, you should definately pick some up. Halloumi is a non m..."

Cumin & Orange Baked Salmon with Carrot & Sultana Cous Cous

I don't want to jinx it but we might just be saying hello to the start of our summer, and to celebrate I've decided a really refreshing light dinner is in order. The salmon in my fish shop looked too good to resist, so then I just had to decide what to do with the salmon that was light and tasty and not too heavy. As a result I came up with the orange fragrant salmon and decided that a light zingy cous cous would be a prefect accompaniment.

Serves 2

Ingredients

Salmon 

• 2 fresh salmon darnes
• 1 tsp of olive oil
• 1 tbsp of cumin powder
• Zest of an orange
• Pepper

Cous cous

• 75g cous cous
• 110ml boiled water
• Zest and juice of an orange
• 3 tbsp of sultanas
• 1 grated carrot
• 3 tbsp chopped mint
• Salt and Pepper
• 2 tbsp of pine nuts

Method

1. Firstly, preheat an oven to 180 degrees.
2. In a bowl combine the cumin, zest and oil
3. Rub the oil mixture over the salmon
4. Line a baking tray with parchment
5. Place the salmon on the tray, sprinkle with black pepper and bake in the oven for 15 minutes
6. Meanwhile to make the cous cous, in a shallow bowl add the cous cous and orange zest and juice
7. Add the water and zest and juice and cover with a saucepan lid for 15 minutes
8. Meanwhile, put the sultanas in a jug of hot water to plump them up
9. Toast the pine nuts in the oven on baking tray
10. Grate the carrot and chop the mint
11. When all the liquid has been absorbed by the cous  cous add the drained sultanas, carrot, nuts and mint
12. Mix well with a fork to separate the grains, and season with salt and pepper.

Low Fat Bolognese

My love for pasta continues with this low fat Bolognese recipe. With the Cork City Marathon coming up this weekend, I really am upping the carbs, not that I’m doing a full marathon, just a 5.2 mile leg, you’d swear I was running the full marathon the way I’ve been babbling on about it for months training. Anywho, as I said, this week it’s all about the carbs, but I want to be smart about it and keep the meals tasty and low in fat. What better way to combine the need for carbs and lean protein than to have pasta bolognese using turkey mince. I actually use this basic recipe for turkey mince for my Bolognese sauce and it can be adapted to suit after that.You can use it in a pasta bake, just have regular Bolognese with spaghetti, or for those spuds lovers out there, make a shepherds’ pie with an Italian twist…….or you can also leave out the thyme and balsamic vinegar and add ground cumin, coriander , brown sugar and kidney beans at the end to make a low fat chilli con carne served with rice or potato wedges……..See the possibilities know no bounds.  Anyways, on with the show!!

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

• Turkey mince
• 1 clove chopped garlic
• 1 diced onion
• 1 red chilli, deseeded and diced
• 2 stalks of chopped celery
• 3 diced carrots
• 7-8 sliced mushrooms
• 1 tbsp of tomato puree
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tin of tomatoes
• Salt & Pepper
• 1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp Worchester sauce
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp thyme leaves
• Pasta of your choice
• Shredded basil leaves

Method

1. In a large frying pan/wok add the oil and fry the mince breaking it up as you fry.
2. When the mince is nicely browned, transfer to a plate and keep warm
3. Add the garlic, onions, chilli, celery and carrots and thyme leaves to the pan along with a pinch of salt to stop them colouring, sauté for 5 minutes
4. Add the mince back to the pan and add the tomato puree, combining everything well
5. Then add the tinned tomatoes, and fill the empty can 1/3 with water and add that as well. Add the sugar also to take the acidity out of the tomatoes.
6. Add the balsamic and Worchester sauce, bring to the boil then turn down the heat and simmer for an hour if you have the time for the mince to tenderise and absorb the flavours.
7. Add some shredded basil and the salt and pepper.

8. At this point, I made a pasta bake for myself. So I cooked 60g of pasta, drained it and added it to an oven proof dish with 1/3 of the Bolognese mixture and I put it in a preheated oven at 200 degrees for 15-20 for the top to brown. Something happens when pasta is baked. It’s a deeper flavour, which I love. Cheese could have been added, but this is a low fat recipe. Add chopped basil at the end.

9. For the rest of the Bolognese, when Alan got home from work, I just heated the mince up in the pan and cooked some fresh tagiatelli, drained it and topped with the mince, for some Tag. Bol.