Grilled Fish

Do you like fried fish? I know I do! But of course, I'm living a healthier lifestyle now so I can't be randomly *deep* frying my fish.

Here's the next best thing:

Ingredients
Fish, Seasoning and a Grill/Oven

Grilled Tilapia

• Preheat grill (high heat)
• Season the fish as you like (I used left over fish prepared for the Tilapia & Efo). I used Ginger, Parsley and a pinch of salt.
• Reduce the heat slightly and add fish to oven (or grill)
• Grill for 10 minutes, flip fish over. Repeat. 
• Serve.

Tilapia with Efo

Oh food, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways ;)

Okay seriously, I have a bit of a sore throat and I'm a little tired so I needed to make something easy, yummy and hot (I promise I'm talking about food here!).

Before I go into the recipe, I have to say I try to make preparations for my meals in advance. Even if I don't know exactly what I'm making yet.

E.g. I bought 2 bunches of spinach and some tilapia on Monday. By Tuesday, I knew I wanted to cook the tilapia on Wednesday so... I washed, picked and chopped the spinach and stored it in the fridge. I cleaned/washed the fish and seasoned it. Again I stored it in the fridge. When I woke up feeling a little rough, I knew exactly what I was going to cook and as most of the preparation was already done, it didn't take long to cook AT ALL.

Ingredients
2 x Whole Tilapia (sliced)
1 Onion
1 cup of Passata
2 tbsp Coconut Oil
2 x Spinach Bunches
Seasonings - Ginger, Parsley, Mixed Herbs and Salt
Chilli

Tilapia with Efo

1. Wash and chop the spinach.
2. Clean/Wash the Tilapia and season (salt, ginger and parsley).
3. Chop the onion
4. Add the oil to a pot and allow it heat up. Add the onions.
5. Once onions are nicely caramelised, add the passata and reduce heat to medium. Season with salt and herbs. Cook for 5 minutes.
6. Add the spinach and stir contents of pot together.
7. Add the fish almost immediately, I always add my fish flat (to make sure one entire side of each piece is flat on the surface of the pot or stew)
8. Cover pot and leave to cook for 15 minutes (maximum).
9. Serve and Enjoy :)

YUM!

Serving Suggestions

• You can eat it on its own, which is what I did.
• With baked sweet potatoes, which is what I'm doing tomorrow ;)
• Boiled or Pan Fried Plantain
• 1-2 (1/2 inch) slices of yam
• The list goes on and on and on

Currently Loving...

Salmon!

It's high in omega-3 fatty acids, it's high in protein and it's yummy (if cooked well of course). I made pan fried salmon on Sunday (after a long day at Fitter London's Running Workshop) and a pot of 'Efo' on Monday.

Efo: Spinach, Tomato Sauce, Egusi and Salmon

Pan-fried salmon and peppers

Yum!

I'll be honest - an important reason I love salmon is it cooks in no time ;)

Pan-Fried Ginger Fish

As promised, here's another quick and easy healthy fish recipe :)

This is best done with fish cut along it's length not across, with 1/4 inch widths. The fish will be cooked through quicker.

This is one of the easiest things to cook - honestly!

• Season the fish with ginger and salt. I also added about a tablespoon of herbs.
• Chop up half an onion.
• Add 2 tablespoons of oil (coconut or sunflower) to a pan and bring to heat (4 out of 5)
• Add the fish to the pan and fry one side for 2-3 minutes
• Turn and repeat on the other side
• Reduce heat to medium (2-3 out of 5) and fry each side again for another 2-3 minutes each.
• Done

I love fish, it's so easy to cook :)

Mackerel Stew

I love fish! Apart from it's nutritional benefits including protein and omega-3, I love that fish cooks in less than half the time of meat or chicken.

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you'll know I like quick recipes so I was so happy when I discovered Passata (thanks to my friend Busola). I always have a couple of bottles in my fridge! I use this when I don't have the patience to blend tomatoes, onions and peppers, which is very often now.
Ingredients: Organic Tomatoes & Salt

My friend told me he looked through my recipes and wondered why I didn't have any fish recipes - that's going to change :)

This is a recipe from last year, the picture below was taken with my camera phone.

Ingredients
2 Whole Mackerel
1/2 a bottle of Passata (350g)
Half an onion
2 tablespoons of coconut oil
1 tablespoon of ground chilli
Seasoning: Herbs, spices and just a pinch of salt.

Mackerel Stew

• Clean and soak the mackerel in a bowl of water. Add herbs, spices and salt to the fish and allow to soak for at least 20 minutes.
• Add 2 tablespoons of oil to a pot and allow to heat up.
• Slice the onions and add to the oil, leave them to brown for a few minutes.
• Add the passata, season lightly and add the chilli. Cook for no more than 5 minutes (if you're using fresh blended tomatoes, increase the time to at least 10-12 minutes)
• Add the fish, cover the pot and cook on high heat for 5 minutes.
• Reduce to low-medium heat and cook for 7-10 minutes.
• Serve.

Alternatives

• Canola or Sunflower Oil instead of Coconut Oil
• Any fish of your choice (but remember if you're pregnant or breastfeeding, you should limit your intake of fish. speak to your doctor about this)
• If you're using blended fresh tomatoes, onions and pepper, you'll have to add a little more salt.

Serving Options

• I ate mine with steamed carrots because I had eaten more than enough that weekend ;)
  To keep it healthy, eat with:
  - sweet potatoes
  - 2 thin slices of yam
  - plantain
  - 1-2 serving spoons of fried (basmati, jasmine or brown) rice 

Photo Credit: MySupermarket

Sunday's Brunch: Mackerel Stir Fry

Happy Sunday ;)

I was at Sainsburys (weekly food shopping) this morning and saw a packet of mixed vegetables (reduced to 69p from £1 because they'd be expired after today) and immediately had the idea to make myself a quick and easy stir-fry for brunch.

I hadn't eaten breakfast because I wanted to get my shopping done asap so the only thing I'd eaten was a handful of brazil nuts (I always try to eat something no matter how little for breakfast). I bought some smoked mackerel and some oranges.

Why oranges? Well, I'd seen a few recipes in my Everyday Paleo recipe book using oranges in stir fries and I wanted to try it out.

Ingredients

1 pk Mixed Vegetables (cabbage, broccoli, carrot, onion)
Half a pack of Smoked Mackerel
1 Orange
1 Tbsp of coconut oil

Mackerel Stir-Fry

1. Heat the coconut oil in a pan. 
2. Add vegetables and season with ginger. 
3. Stir fry for a few minutes. 
4. Add mackerel (I tore mine into smaller pieces) and squeeze an orange into mix. 
5. Allow to cook for a few more minutes.
6. Serve

Yum! :) The citrus flavour from the orange was nice, loved it!

Alternatives

• You can use any vegetables of your choice 
• Add to or replace the fish eg other types of fish, chicken, turkey, beef, prawns/shrimps, mussels, etc