Baked chilli haddock with a red pepper and red onion relish with capers and parsley.
I do love to cook, a lot. But don’t you sometimes get the feeling that you cannot be bothered? Often, right?
I have been found lurking in the ready meal aisles of my favourite local supermarket, buying things for my dinner, but to justify to you and myself, I always make sure they are healthy, balanced and additive free.
The ultimate dinner dream is to find dishes that are simple, quick, reasonably priced and of course tasty; the other part of the dream is to have a variety of dishes, and the last part of the dream, which is as yet unrealised, is to have someone to cook them for you when you do not fancy it! Well, I can’t help you with the last part of the dream, but I can help you with the other two.
On a side note, I am the ultimate bargain hunter, (not at the cost of quality of food), but I am always looking for ways to stretch my pound. I have discovered the times of the day when my local supermarkets and shops reduce their food prices if the food is soon to be out of date. So, the food is not actually out of date and is completely fine to eat, but the shops need to shred their stock to make room for the new stuff. Well, that is when I go in...
Steaks, fish, veggies (not usually wines but you can’t have everything), all at discount prices. But I have learnt that you have to be fast - there is an army of the discounted food brigade who are ready to pounce on that food too and so it only stays on the shelves for a very short time. There is one of my trade secrets, which I am sure lots of you know about already, but in case you do not, I hope it is useful.
Eat the rainbow is what the say. All colours of the spectrum, from the pink of your radishes to the yellow of the peppers, to the green of curly kale. The well known five-a-day veg has now been expanded to seven, so what are we supposed to do? Chop up all of the vegetables and then just sit there with a fork, munching throughout it all? Noisily chomping down to boost our health? I love a salad but, honestly, where is the fun in that?
For me it has to come from varied and tasty dishes, using both raw and cooked veg full of interesting flavours to keep things exciting for everyone. My dish below is, I believe, an example of that. You are getting the peppers, capers, watercress, the onions and the parsley that are all packed with things like anti-oxidants and their health protecting qualities. The haddock is a nice lean way to get some protein in your diet and it's also anti-oxidant rich. Extra virgin olive oil is rammed with omega six, nine and stacked with Vitamin E and K. Not bad for a dish that tastes this good. Perhaps this healthy eating lark isn’t so tough after all.
Admittedly I am struggling to get my teenage daughter to eat more than just pasta at the moment. Vegetables are looked upon as the enemy, protein is just about tolerated and carbohydrates are the knight in shining penne armour which she devours instantly, clean plate and no questions asked.
Baked chilli haddock with a red pepper and red onion relish with capers and parsley.
INGREDIENTS
1 haddock fillet
½ tsp of chilli flakes
1 red pepper, deseeded and cut in to strips
1 yellow pepper, deseeded and cut in to strips
1 small red onion cut in to thin slices
1.5 tbsp of capers, drained and lightly rinsed
oil
salt
METHOD
Turn the oven on to 200 degrees celsius.
Put a little bit of oil into the pan (I use avocado oil) and then add the peppers and the onions. Cook them for about 20 minutes over a low heat, shaking the pan from time to time so that the vegetables do not burn.
As the pepper mix cooks, place the haddock onto a square of tin foil, big enough to wrap the fish in. Season the fillets with a tiny bit of salt and chilli flakes, then wrap up the fish making a parcel.
Place the fish onto a small baking tray and back in the oven for around 10-12 minutes, or until the fish is completely cooked.
Once cooked, remove it from the oven and set it aside for a moment. Tip the peppers in to a small bowl and then add the capers, plus ½ tsp of extra virgin olive oil, and mix together. Season to taste (it will probably not need any salt added as the capers are quite salty) and then set aside.
I put down some watercress as a base for my fish, placing the fish on top of that, finished by piling the red pepper relish on top. Sprinkle with parsley to garnish, if you like, and then serve.
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