Moroccan inspired Haddock bowl!

Today I'm sharing a recipe that is super easy and elegant, it's perfect for summertime or Autumn!

.. it's basically just my lunch when I'm inspired to whip something quick and healthy...

As always I'll be using my favourite Highliner Flame Savours which are already pre-seasoned and just go directly from freezer to oven for 20 minutes on 400 F.  I use these so often that you may be wondering if Highliner is paying me to do these posts but the truth is they're not and I simply adore these!

Who would't love how easy, convenient and healthy without the hassle of thawing fish in the sink, seasoning and cooking.

I've highlighted key instructions that need to be prepared first with a (*) beside it so everything can run smoothly.

The elements of this dish are a saffron couscous with a lentil and vegetable medley and then the fish. Really super easy!

*Lentils: Use canned but I prefer to use dry.
1/4 cup lentils, washed and boiled in a saucepan in lots of water. Season water with salt and simmer until tender.  Drain and set aside.


For the vegetable medley: 

*1 zucchini, diced and salted in a colander for about 15 minutes, squeeze the excess liquid out with hands and rinse under cool water then squeeze again. Set aside

Olive Oil

1/2 large red onion, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced

1 tomato diced
1 heaping tsp tomato pasta

Salt & black pepper

Turmeric

Paprika
2 tbsp water
1 tsp apple cider vinegar (or sherry vinegar)

Heat the olive oil and add the vegetables all at once, stir and add the spices then tomato pasta and fry it around a bit. Add water, vinegar and cover then simmer on low.  Half way through remove all the veggies to one side of the pan and add the lentils to keep them warm. Cover and wait for the fish to be ready for serving.


At this point you can bake your Highliner Flame Savours Haddock fish according to instructions! 

Meanwhile.... prepare the couscous! 

Couscous:
Ahead of time I prepare the couscous, 1/2 cup serves 2 people.

In a bowl add:

(The rule of thumb is to add equal parts couscous and water, never mind the instructions on the box that says add double the amount of water - it's simply too much!!)

*Presoak (even the night before if you wish but about 15 minutes is ideal if you're in a hurry, want to extract as much flavour as Saffron is an expensive ingredient)

1 tbsp warm water and a couple of threads of saffron

For the couscous

1/2 cup dry couscous

1 tsp olive oil

Salt 

Lemon zest

Mix all this up with a fork and then add 1/2 cup of hot boiling water, cover with a cling wrap and set aside for 5 minutes.

Drizzle the saffron water over the couscous once it's done and after fluffing with a fork, set aside.

Serve!
To serve layer the couscous on a plate and add lentils and the veggies over top then a piece of fish with a squeeze of lemon juice.
You could garnish with cilantro or add cilantro into the chopped medley if desired.

Enjoy!

Easy Healthy Changes

Recently I've incorporated some healthy foods into my diet, and I'm excited to share them with you all!!  These days there is so much info out there that it's hard to really keep track of it all and incorporate everything that's "Good and healthy" into one's diet so I've decided along with the lemon water which I posted last year to add  a couple of more foods that are easy to consumed on a daily basis or at least a couple of times of in a week !

Starting with this awesome oil I picked up from our very own St.Lawrence Market here in Toronto, it's a rich pumpkin seed oil extracted from the pumpkin seeds that grow high up in the Austrian Mountains.

When I opened the bottle the aroma just hit me, it's so intense but not bitter and it tastes AMAZING! Check out the colour, you'll know it's good for you just by looking at it!

I received a pamphlet with my bottle to read all about the health benefits, and it's absolutely a must for men as well to ward off prostate cancer, so if you have the means to find some of this stuff  please give it a try.

It's a great dipping oil, or you could take a tablespoon before bed as the man from the shop advised me, he claimed you'll never need to take multivitamin again!

(his words not mine, and I'm not telling anyone to stop taking their vitamins!)

UPDATE: Recently I've become aware of the use of hexane (a chemical) which is used to extract oils from seeds and other forms of vegetation.  I contacted the Styrian Gold company to ask about the method of extraction and if hexane is part of the "process" of extracting oils from these Austrian pumpkin seeds. To my surprise they were not able to give me ANY information about the process or if hexane is or isn't used which is a real shame.  I expected one should know the entire process A-Z when it comes to your product and that they would at least have made the trip over to Austria to see what goes on over there however it doesn't seem like they are interested in that so I'm just letting you all know. I'm also not going to be able to continue replenishing my supply and being their customer until they can tell me for sure.

UPDATE: I managed to speak with the owners (lovely couple!) at the Home & Garden show earlier this winter of 2014 and they mentioned their recent visit to Austria and the process of extracting the oil from the seed, which is all done with salt water and pressing, no chemicals (no Hexane, no nothing!) which is such great news for all of us. So go ahead, grab and a bottle and enjoy!

Next up: The walnuts! Rich in omega 3 and one of my all time favourites! I wrote about them in this post here back in Autumn  

Just don't forget to soak them a couple of hours before eating.  If you enjoying having a snack while watching your favourite tv show in the evening then as soon as you wake up set some of these out in a bowl on the counter (I store my walnuts in the freezer) and top them up with some cool water and by evening they'll be ready, just drain and enjoy!  So crunchy, so good!

This one is actually two tips in one, but we'll start with the vibrant olive oil.  Lately I've been learning quite a bit about olive oil from a fabulous local shop that opened up in the GTA (General Toronto Area) by the name of Olive That! They claim to sell the freshest olive oil on earth, it's stored in large stainless steel barrels and you're able to sample all their fresh olives oils before buying (wouldn't an olive oil tasting be a fun thing to do with someone special or a bunch of girl friends?! ) 

Some of the crucial information I've learned about olive oil is that it should be treated more like a juice (juice of an olive fruit) and it has a shelf life of between 6-8 months. It also MUST have a crush date (when the olives were crushed) to understand and estimate the shelf life of the oil, stores are supposed to be able to provide you with all that information and if not then DON'T BUY. 

This really makes me rethink where I'm buying my olive oil and already I've stopped purchasing it from regular supermarkets. 

On to the next healthy food, yogurt or greek yogurt. Studies have shown that consuming yogurt before a meal will prevent fat from being stored in parts of the body (especially the abdomen) - this was mentioned on the Dr.Oz show a while ago.

In our Middle Eastern diet we eat a lot of yogurt already, from breakfast to strained yogurts, as well as a yogurt drink which is just watered down yogurt with a pinch of salt. Perfect accompaniment to the main meal of the day!  

From yogurt to kefir.. in case you're worried about not getting enough probiotic ( like me, always forgetting to take pills and really don't keep track of how much yogurt I'm eating on a regular basis) thankfully there is a solution: Kefir!

I heard that Kefir has 3 X the probiotics of yogurt and taking 1 tbsp a day is all you need.  I bought a container and took a tbsp a day for an entire week, at that point it ran out and now I'm about to pickup my third container next time I'm at the grocery store.

Such an easy tip that has put my mind to rest regarding consuming enough probiotics, and while you're at it give a couple of drops to your pets too (dogs/cats!)

I'm in the process of researching Kefir and even considering purchasing the kefir grain cultures to turn my own milk into kefir, much more economical!  Head over to Cultures of Health if you want to learn more about Kefir and how to make it.

Before reaching for the pasta, or even rice try switching it up with Freeka, it's a Middle Eastern green wheat that has had the husks burned off and this process infuses the grain with a smokey and delicious flavour when cooked.  It's dry, and you can find it almost anywhere now since it's taken off so well over the last year! 

We talk a lot about quinoa too here, and I've incorporated buckwheat flour as well as spelt and even kamut flour into my pantry so far.  

Spelt flour is fabulous in cookies and breads and the other day I threw 1/3 cup of kamut flour into my regular  pancake recipe, it was great! 

We all know all about the health benefits of fish, and unfortunately those of us who don't live near the ocean or have access to fresh clean fish don't always meet our dietary requirements (I'm very guilty of that) 

Growing up we ate fish on a regular basis, it was a family affair where we all sat together picking the flesh from the bone and constantly being reminded by our parents to "Be careful of the small bones". When our tummies were full of the delicious fish everyone had to wash up really well or else our hands would smell fishy for the rest of the week! At the end of the ritual my mother would bring out a tall glass bottle of a lemon "cologne" that my father used to buy from his trips abroad and we'd all line up to get a couple of drops sprinkled on our palms which we'd rub vigorously together. 

Here in Canada fish was almost always frozen, and very expensive. Luckily there are options though, since most people prefer the nice convenient fillets whole fishes or lesser favored options like mackerel and sardines were decently priced and that's what we bought from time to time. 

So my last tip is to eat more fish, more of those healthy oily fishes (try to avoid anything with a high mercury level) and since we're all living in a time now when our oceans are unstable please try to seek sustainable options. 

I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed writing about these foods. 

Flame Savours

 I just wanted to share my excitement  this product is AMAZING!  I've avoided eating seafood for several years due to stress of preparation (esp with someone in the household with a seafood/fish allergy - it's just too risky) but now I can simply remove the fillet from the bag, which comes in a box and looks like this.   I'm sure you'll find it in the frozen fish freezer section at your local gourmet or regular supermarket.  (Got mine from Loblaws superstore)   Check their site here if you want to find out where they sell it in your local neighbourhood

Makimono

Fish in a Green Sauce (salsa verde)

Here's something new, you probably don't notice me posting many seafood recipes that's mostly because it's one of the hottest topics these days and I haven't figured it out quite yet. Issues like over fishing, farmed fish vs. fresh and Canadian fish being shipped halfway across the globe for processing. Many of our fish mongers sell imported fish and if you want a good fish it is quite expensive, plus all they do is thaw out frozen fish at the "fresh fish counter" it seems.

I once paid $22 for a small "fresh" fillet of grouper from a reputable fish monger. At that price you lose your appetite.

When I was little we had fish on our table from time to time, it was a bit of a ritual and usually my mother carefully flaked apart pieces to make sure none of us choked on bones. The fish was also an oily river fish because after we ate the smell did not come off our little hands and we all had to wash up from this tall glass jar of lemon cologne like hand wash that my dad brought with him from his travels. None of my sisters or my dad were really fans of fish but we ate it as a family (for health reasons I guess? or maybe because the guards happened to think it was a good idea to pick some up from time to time while out shopping for us at the market)
My mother loves ocean fish, shrimp, things of that nature which she was familiar with from her upbringing back in Canada which is why she usually jumped on the opportunity of ordering these items whenever we were in Turkey.

I love fish and seafood, simply grilled up with some lemon is all you need! It's one of nature's most delectable bounties I think. As many of you may or may not know I used to be a vegetarian for about ten years, so seafood was my protein source but once I stumbled upon a nice piece of reasonably priced catfish and made a delicious curry out of it only to discover that it threw me into a bit of a coma (oh wait that was the allergy pill that put me in a coma, haha!) ever since then I tread carefully when it comes to seafood.

My favourite place to eat fish is when I'm away, in Cuba or the Dominican, it's fresh, locally caught and while most try to secure themselves as much local lobster as possible I take all the other fishies and have the chefs do a quick simple preparation for me.

As I promised in my previous post about octopus that I would try to include more fish recipes so here is one that is not only yummy but super fast and only uses a handful of ingredients.

Inspired by Annie Sibonney's recipe at the secret food society in Spain

Substitute Hake for Cod or Haddock (they come from the same family) I went with a lighter fish like Ocean perch. Or use any white fish of your preference.

You're going to need a nice fresh bunch of parsley (chopped finely)

Garlic

Good olive oil

Clam juice or stalk

Flour

Salt

I don't cook with alcohol either so no white wine for me. Here is the original recipe, I remembered the preparation on tv so just went with it but use the recipe if you're more comfortable using exact amounts.

This dish was so good that I didn't even miss lemon!! Wine is acidic so you may want to substitute something with a note of acidity if you're omitting it.

Don't forget to get a nice crusty piece of bread, you'll want to mop up those juices!

Baby Octopus Stew

Baby octopus stew

This recipe requires only a handful of ingredients and the basics that everyone should have in their kitchen.

- Baby Octopus (fresh or frozen - thawed if frozen)

- Olive oil

- 4-7 garlic cloves, peeled, chopped and mashed using a bit of salt.

- Italian strained tomato sauce


Wash the octopus well. Add to the pot and cover with cold water.. salt the water slightly.

Let it come close to a boil then remove the water and add new cold water and repeat the process.

Once the octopus is tender (and you can cut the tenticles with a fork or poke through it easily) then it's done.

Remove and strain, set aside.

In a pot on medium heat add a few tablespoons of olive oil, add the garlic and as soon as it smells (just a few seconds in) Add the tomato sauce and let it simmer until the garlic is tender (10 minutes or so) Taste for salt and if it needs add some.

Add in the octopus and toss, cover and simmer a little longer until the octopus is tender and the whole thing smells great.

Enjoy!

The exact same stew can be used to make calamari rings, my grandfather used to make it for us this way, you don't need to blanch them in advance though so just poach them in the sauce until they're tender.
Serve with couscous.