give your pollack a little re-speck

A rather unpopular fish until recently, pollack is a low-fat white fish comparable to cod in its fleshiness. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall insists that we use it more, especially since cod is in such trouble these days. I myself have no qualms with eating more pollack – if only it were more readily available.

Now it appears pollack is beginning to line our shelves with more consistency. At Sainsbury’s this weekend I picked up some fresh pollack for a reasonable price.

The only problem now? How to make the bloody fish interesting! Let’s face it, cod’s not the most exciting fish on the block. It’s a wonder that it became overfished at all, in my opinion.

Luckily, the Moroccans and the Italians come to the rescue, with their harissa and their lovely prosciutto, also called speck, respectively. You know harissa. But speck’s a dry cured thinly-sliced bacon that can be eaten on its own as part of an antipasti, or wrapped around a number of lovely things. One often sees chicken or monkfish wrapped in parma ham or speck, and then pan-fried. The bacon then takes on a lovely crispy savoury consistency but protects its charge from drying out.

So spread a teaspoon of harissa on the pollack and wrap it up in a couple slices of speck (adding only 75 calories to the dish), but don’t pan fry it, grill it. You still get the benefits of the protection, you still get the crispy speck, but the excess fat drips off. The harissa gives the fish some depth, but without overpowering it.

Excellent Saturday night dish: pollack with harissa and speck, tabbouleh, steamed purple sprouting broccoli, glass of rose. The meal (excluding wine) is only about 525 calories (about 150 g pollack, 2 slices of speck, tsp of harissa, a generous portion of tabbouleh, and 150 g broccoli). For dessert, Spanish strawberries. Not at their best but nonetheless a true treat.

Go ahead, indulge yourself. And play that Erasure classic in the background while you cook. It will be in your head for days, weeks after.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday...

Sorry I've been missing in action this week. It's my last week at my current job, so although I am cooking - cooking away in fact, I just haven't quite gotten it together to blog it up. So here's a recap of the first half of the week.

Monday: pasta puttanesca, for two

Wholewheat linguine, 1 can of chopped tomatoes, 1/2 can of chopped black olives, 1 tsp olive oil, salt and pepper, and capers (if you have them - I didn't this time).

With 100 g of pasta, the sauce, and a generous fresh side salad (spinach, tomatoes, portobella mushrooms, cucumber, balsamic dressing), the calorie count comes to just under 500.

I've made a similar one before: see here

Tuesday: bulgur wheat with aubergines and mint

I bow before the greatness that is Nigel Slater. His Kitchen Diaries are truly a culinary bible. It makes me so happy to sit down with his book at the beginning of each month, year after year, to get inspiration for the next thirty or so days. Each time, something new takes my fancy

I wasn't sure at first how this would qualify as a winter recipe, but it completely works. It's rich and nutty. My only quibble with the wonderful Nigel is his (over)use of oil. To fry the onions and aubergine, he calls for six - count 'em, six! - tablespoons of oil. I used two, and a splash of stock (which you'll be using later anyway, so it's not inconvenient).

As it's January, I used drained chopped tomatoes in place of whole ones. Instead of pine kernels (what are they?) I used pine nuts. The mint, a surprise touch, was absolutely perfect. I would absolutely do this again, but next time, I'll spoon a bit of harissa on the side. And healthy too: Nigel says it serves 2, but it likely serves 4. A serving and a half (my size) comes to about 500 calories. Fab!

Wednesday: Chorizo, leek and butter bean stew

Now, I know chorizo's not the healthiest meat at the deli, but it is so delightful. On a cold night, its rich, warm spicy tones ooze satisfaction. Paired with leek, our winter staple, and creamy hearty beans (butter beans or flageolet beans work fab), you can't go wrong.

(serves 2)

125 g chorizo

1 large onion, sliced

2 cloves of garlic, sliced

1 can of butter or flageolet beans, drained

1-2 leeks, sliced lengthways and then chopped

1 pint of chicken broth

a large handful of parsley

3 tbsp creme fraiche

Slice the chorizo thinly and add to a med-hot saute pan. Add the sliced onions and saute gently for about five minutes. Add a splash of broth to prevent burning.

Add the leeks and garlic and stir fry for another three minutes. Again, add stock if necessary.

Add about 2/3 of the beans, reserving the other 1/3. Then add the stock in increments, to make sure the mixture bubbles away. Once all of the stock is in, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Season well.

Puree the reserved beans with a hand blender or food processor and add to the mixture. Chop the parsley in the food processor too and set aside.

After 15 minutes, remove from the heat and stir in half of the parsley and all of the creme fraiche.

Ladle into two separate shallow bowls and top with the rest of the parsley. Serve immediately.

Calories: 575 per serving. And I'm warning you, it's gorgeous! The only way you might want to bulk it up would be by adding spinach leaves - they would work well.

So what's on for Thursday (my last day on the job!)? Well, I'm allowing myself a free day, a splurge day, whatever you want to call it. So it's going to be Taco Night at our place, with no worries of calories. I'll get back to those on Friday. See you then!

yummy yummy smoked mackerel

Smoked mackerel is one of the loveliest, most savoury fish you will come across. There's nothing quite like the sight of the silvery skin, tinged with deep rusted flesh. It's also full of healthy omega 3 oils - the "good" oils.

With those good oils come a price - calories. Mackerel is not a low-calorie fish, like haddock or cod. But I think it's worth it: sometimes I would rather have less smoked mackerel than more cod. Every single time.

To balance out the fat content, I need a starchy vegetable. And of course, a good stalwart green vegetable.

Grilled smoked mackerel with sauteed paprika potatoes and green beans
(serves 2)

250 g smoked mackerel fillets
500 g potatoes, peeled, chopped into 1 cm cubes
1 tbsp paprika (or more)
1 tbsp onion powder
salt and freshly ground black pepper
olive oil spray (up to 40 sprays)
250 g frozen green beans

Preheat the grill to medium-low. Place the potatoes into a small pot of water and parboil (about 5 minutes).

Heat about 15 sprays of oil in a saute pan and heat to high.

Drain the potatoes and toss with paprika, onion powder, salt and powder. Add to the hot pan and spread evenly. Saute for about 5 minutes, then begin to move the potatoes around to cook evenly. Spray more olive oil as necessary. Season further as well.

Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the green beans. Add the mackerel to the grill and cook for about five minutes.

Remove the mackerel from the grill and transfer to a plate. Drain the green beans and add to the plate too. Split the potatoes evenly amongst the two.

Calories: for about 80g mackerel (one small fillet), half of the potatoes and half of the green beans: 550

Gorgeous. Full of flavour. I would have loved to have had more of the mackerel, but I recognise it's just a bit high in calories for me at the moment. But bulking up the rest of the dish with spiced potatoes and a hearty serving of green beans was just right.

I've still got that lovely mackerel flavour on my palate, even as I type. Mmmmmmm....

healthy fish and chips

Sunday night is usually roast night, but I felt instead like taking it easy, while still having a treat. Fish and chips is always a popular option, but picking it up from the chippy (while easy) will easily set you back a tenner (for two people) and 1,000 calories each. Wetherspoon’s fish and chips is 800 calories, and that’s without and ketchup, tartar sauce or mayonnaise.

Inspired by the smoked haddock I cobbled together from the freezer last Thursday, I picked up some fresh haddock from the fishmonger and some McCain’s Rustic Oven Chips, as they were on offer. (At only 110 calories per 100 g, these chips – made from only potatoes and sunflower oil – are a great healthy option for a quick meal.)

Adding those divine pureed petit pois to the dish means you’ve got yourself a meal: fish, chips and peas. But I needed something to make it a bit special, and settled on curry powder. What could be more British than that?

Curry-dusted grilled haddock with chips and peas
(serves 2)

2 100-150g haddock fillets, skin on
2 lemon wedges
1-2 tbsp medium curry powder
400 g frozen garden peas or petit pois
500 g rustic oven chips (200 g for a small portion; 300 g for a large)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Dollop of reduced-fat mayonnaise (optional)

Preheat the oven to 220 C. Line a roasting tin with foil and spread the chips evenly. Bake for about 15-20 minutes.

After about 15 minutes, change the setting to oven/grill combo (placing the chips at the bottom of the oven) or preheat a separate grill to medium.

Dust the fish with curry powder and squeeze a lemon wedge over each fillet. Leave the wedge on top of the flesh to protect it. Grill for approximately 8-10 minutes.

Prepare the steamer by bringing the water to a boil and adding the peas. Steam for about 5 minutes, then move the peas to a bowl and blitz with a hand blender. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve the haddock over a bed of pea puree with chips on the side and a dollop of mayonnaise.

Tip: I had a smaller portion of chips (about 200 g out of the total 500 g) and weighed these before and kept them to one side of the roasting tin. That way, I knew exactly how many chips I was allowed, calorie wise.

Calories: 530 for 125 g haddock, 200 g of peas, 200 g of chips and 1 tbsp mayonnaise – all around, a very good number of calories for a dinner.

To bulk it up, I’d recommend adding some non-starchy vegetables – as this meal is fairly heavy on the carbohydrates.

To cut it down to below 500 calories, just cut your portions of peas and/or chips.