Paprika Grilled Sea Bass with Creamy Saffron Peppers and Spinach

As you'll know, earlier this year I had my second child, another lovely little girl (Beatrice). I gained around 3 stone during pregnancy and managed to shift two stone of that pretty sharpish, the last stone, is being a little more stubborn. I lose a few pounds, and then being the foodie that I am, will indulge with a few nice meals, a meal out, a bottle of my favourite Malbec, and I'm back at that 1 stone over where I want to be. This has been going on for a couple of months now, so I've decided to try to overhaul my (and Glen's) lifestyle somewhat, and for the past 8 days have been adhering to The Body Coach or Joe Wick's philosophy. This is largely making smarter and healthier choices with food, cutting out the alcohol as much as possible, and most importantly introducing exercise, 4-5 sessions a week. I managed it last week, and am on track this week - I'm also a couple of pounds lighter, so will be attempting to stick to this and see where we land after 30 days, before I make a decision as to whether to continue. 

Joe's mantra is that you have to 'work for your carbs', so aside from if you've just carried out an intensive HIIT workout, the idea is to have 'reduced carb' meals. We've tried a selection of Joe's fantastic recipes, and certainly have our favourites, but me being the cook I am, I can't follow recipes continually, I like to get creative myself, and this dish was born off the back of that. We've had several Lean in 15 sea bass dishes, and I came up with this dish as I had a glut of peppers in the fridge.

It's a lovely light dish, takes no time to prepare and the sauce is rich and creamy, but low calorie. The below is for two adults, and a single portion comes in at around 500 calories.

Paprika Grilled Sea Bass with Creamy Saffron Peppers and Spinach

Here's how:

• x4 sea bass fillets
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• Drizzle olive oil
• 1 red pepper
• 1 green pepper
• 1 red chilli
• 1 spring onion
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 tbsp reduced fat creme fraiche
• Few strands of saffron steeped in hot water
• 2 handfuls spinach

First drizzle a tiny bit of olive oil into a frying pan and pop onto a low heat to warm up, while you prepare your vegetables. 

Slice the spring onion, garlic and chilli and place into the pan to flavour the oil and the pan. Whilst they are sauteeing, slice the peppers and throw into the pan also. 

Rip off a sheet of tin foil and cover the grill tray, so no fish sticks to the grates. Now in a small bowl, add the paprika, garlic salt and black pepper and mix. Take each sea bass fillet flesh side up, and drizzle with a tiny bit of olive oil, then scatter over some of the spiced salt mix. Now place each fillet flesh side down onto the foil-covered-grill, and scatter the remaining spice mix over the top. Place the grill onto a medium heat and cook for seven minutes. (You may need to adjust this if you have particularly small fillets to avoid over-cooking). 

While the fish is cooking, the peppers should have softened a bit. Throw in the steeped saffron strands, including the water you steeped them in and allow to cook off for 30 seconds. Now add the creme fraiche and allow to cook down. 

Finally as the fish is almost cooked, add the spinach and just allow it to wilt in the peppers and sauce. Use a wooden spoon to move around, as it shouldn't take too much for the leaves to wilt. 

You'll know the fish is ready once the skin is crispy (the salt will help to make a beautiful crispy skin), and the flesh is a pure white colour, rather than opaque. Serve the fish fillets on top of the peppers. Enjoy!

Penne with Smokey Tomato & Vegetable Sauce (Vegetarian)

There are tons of variations of tomato based pasta sauces but this is one of my new favourites. With the addition of fresh chilli for heat and enhanced by smoky paprika, it’s a simple meal but incredibly enjoyable. 

The longer you cook off the sauce the more intense the flavours become, but it can be ready, realistically, in twenty minutes so is perfect for mid-week. I make enough here for two for dinner and two smaller portions which make perfect lunchtime fodder for the next day.

Here’s how:

·         1 tin of chopped tomatoes

·         1 onion

·         2 cloves garlic

·         50g pitted black olives

·         1 red pepper

·         1 red chilli

·         2 tbsp tomato puree

·         2 tsp smoked paprika

·         Salt & Pepper

·         1-2 tbsp olive oil

Firstly roughly dice the onion and slice the garlic then add to a pan on a low heat in about a tablespoon of olive oil and gently sauté.

Finely slice the chilli and add to the pan. Slice the pepper and olives and similarly add to the pan.

Once all veg is starting to soften, add the tin of tomatoes to the pan with the tomato puree. Season generously and add the paprika and stir through with a wooden spoon.

Cook off for twenty-thirty minutes, stirring regularly. Taste and add seasoning if needed or if you’d like a more smoky flavour, another teaspoon of paprika.

Cook the penne according to the packet and before draining use a ladle to capture half a ladle full of the cooking water and add to the sauce and stir through.

Drain the pasta and add to the sauce, stirring through to ensure all pasta is evenly coated.

You can of course add some fresh parsley or basil at this point before serving – but personally I don’t bother, it’s practically perfect without.

Enjoy!

North African Spiced Pork

Pork chops, whilst being evocative of 1970's cuisine, are in fact a versatile, flavousome cut of meat and this spicy marinade makes for a delicious meal for two. Serve with some vegetable couscous, salad (tabbouleh works so well) and some fresh scattered mint leaves and wash down with a dry white - it's a flavour winner.

Here's how:

2 pork chops

Juice of 1 lemon

Zest of half a lemon

1 1/2 preserved lemons chopped

2 large cloves garlic, crushed

1 red chilli, chopped finely

1 tsp harissa paste

1 tsp ground cinnamon or half a cinnamon stick crumbled

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp hot paprika

1/4 tsp cumin seeds

Bunch fresh torn mint and coriander leaves

2 tbsp olive oil

Simply combine all of the marinade ingredients in a food bag and throw the pork chops in. Seal and ensure the meat is completely immersed in the marinade.

If possible, leave in the fridge overnight to allow the flavours to permeate the meat, but if you are pushed for time, allow to stand for a couple of hours.

These can then be cooked over a barbecue (while the weather's glorious) or as I did here in the oven for about 40 minutes around 180 degrees. Enjoy!

Mid-week Magic: Haddock baked on a tomato, chorizo and bean stew

During the working week it is very easy to become stuck in a meal rut, cooking the same predictable dishes week after week.

I often draw inspiration from restaurants, cookery programmes, magazines, books and other blogs for some mid-week magic and aim to cook at least one ‘new’ dish each week.

I’ve decided to share some of these recipes in the hope that they inspire others to try something new. These recipes should give readers the idea for a meal that can be pulled together in well under an hour, that requires the minimum of effort on your part and that will be filled with flavour.

This first one takes forty minutes to cook, but after the first five minutes of preparation, pretty much takes care of itself. The bean stew makes a great, healthy carbohydrate substitute, and makes for a great meal on it’s own too. I served my white fish dish with a selection of curly kale, sprouting broccoli and asparagus tips, all steamed, but you could serve with any veg you have in stock. And if you’re after a true one-pot dish rather than having to cook the veg towards the end, you can always bulk up the stew with chopped courgettes, aubergines, carrots or mushrooms too.

After you’ve chopped all of the necessary, fried off the chorizo and bunged the dish into the oven, it’s a perfect opportunity to relax with a glass of wine, have a hot relaxing après work bath, or if essential crack on with any boring household chores.

Apologies for the dodgy bright white light on the fish – I have a new camera and am slowly getting used to it – hopefully this will improve soon!

Here’s How (for 2):

2 fillets of haddock, or your favourite white fish

1 can each of butter beans and cannellini beans

100g chorizo

Can of chopped tomatoes

1 red onion

2 garlic cloves

1 small red bell pepper

1 red chilli

2 tbsp Manzanilla Sherry or a dry white wine

1 tbsp fresh or dried Oregano

1 tbsp fresh or dried parsley

1 tsp paprika

Salt & pepper to taste

Firstly get the oven on at around 180-200 degrees. Next chop the garlic, pepper, chilli and onion up small and add to an ovenproof tray dish.

Chop the chorizo into small, coin-like pieces and dry fry in a hot pan for four-six minutes, until the tell-tale orange-hued oil is exuded.

In the meantime open the beans and tomatoes and add to the dish with the herbs and spices and sherry. Add the fried chorizo, stir and add salt and pepper to taste.

Add to the oven for fifteen minutes, remove and place on top the fish fillets. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper over the haddock, cover with foil and then return the dish to the oven for a further 20-25 minutes – cooking time will depend on the size of the fish fillets but the foil will help to prevent the fish from over-cooking.

Whilst the dish is back in the oven, prepare your vegetables and when you remove from the oven sprinkle with a last flourish of parsley and oregano before serving. 

Friday Fish Dish

Baked Anchovy-Stuffed Plaice Fillets

This was a very quickly thrown together meal a couple of weekends ago, just before payday, which cost very little yet tasted amazing. The picture doesn’t do it justice, and displays my serious lack of finesse at putting together a plate of pretty food, however I felt I should share this delectable dish.

Plaice is one of those delicate tasting white fish that can be served with a simple drizzle of lemon to become quite lovely, but with the odd uplifting flavour addition can be quite wonderful.

I prepared a stuffing to fill and roll the plaice fillets which was made up of 3 slices of white crusty bread – zapped in the food processor, a heaped tablespoon of chopped parsley, a tin of anchovies chopped up finely, 4 spring onions, 1 red chilli, salt and pepper, a teaspoon full of paprika and the juice and zest of 1 lemon. I mixed this together well then laid out each fillet and spread the filling over generously then rolled.

This was then baked in the oven for just over fifteen minutes. The result really was splendid (even if I say so myself), the salty flavoursome anchovies really brought the plaice to life and the gentle spicing and smoky paprika made for a really tasty fish dish. The crumb was nicely crisped on the outside which made for a good texture too.

I served this dish with New Potatoes, wilted, buttered spinach and some parsnip puree. These gentle vegetable flavours only enhanced the flavoursome fish dish.