Quick and easy shellfish suppers

By Liz Atkins

Are you missing watching the waves rolling on to the beach as you sip a chilled white and look forward to the catch of the day? Well, there’s no reason we shouldn’t bring some of our better eating experiences home at the end of the summer holidays. 

We should be eating two portions of fish a week, say health experts, but as a nation we’re buying less than we did even five years ago. White varieties such as cod, oil-rich fish such as salmon, and shellfish like mussels are all full of nutrients, so why are we so shy of cooking them ourselves?

It took a trip to Greece for me to see the light. When I visited Ammouliani earlier this summer, the main draw was the beaches (this small island in the Mount Athos area is a favourite with Greek and Italian tourists for its crystal clear waters and laidback beachside tavernas but, strangely, isn’t so much on the Brit holidaymaker’s radar), but it was the fish-based diet that got me thinking. 

I’ve never cooked much shellfish myself, but I’ve realised there’s really nothing to fear. I was offered seafood in so many wonderful dishes (some of them a bit octo-tastic for my squeamish tastes), that I filched a couple of the local restaurant chefs’ recipes to try at home.

The best thing is, they’re quick and easy.

Ah, fish… let me count the ways I love you

Quick mussels in spicy sauce

If you’ve never thought of swapping your Tuesday night pasta pesto for a bowlful of steaming mussels, try this easy recipe (great with linguine, tagliatelle or spaghetti). Who knows, we may still get a few hot days in September and be able to enjoy it in the garden pretending to be on holiday.

Serves 2 (or 4 if served with pasta)

1kg fresh or frozen mussels
1tbsp olive oil
1 large ripe tomato, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
Chilli, chopped, to taste
Zest and juice 1 lemon, plus ½ lemon, sliced
400g tin chopped tomatoes
Mustard, to taste
Handful fresh oregano leaves
Handful fresh flatleaf parsley, chopped
A little feta cheese, crumbled, to sprinkle

1. Wash the mussels in plenty of cold water, pulling off any beards from the shells and scraping off any barnacles using the back of a sharp knife. Discard any open mussels that won’t close when given a tap on a work surface. (If frozen, follow the pack instructions).

2. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, then add the chopped tomato, peppers and chilli and fry for a few min until softened. Add the lemon zest and slices with the tinned tomatoes and bring to the boil. Add the mussels, the lemon juice, mustard and freshly ground black pepper, then cover and cook for 3­–4 min until the shells are open.

3. Remove the pan from the heat and discard any shells that remain closed. Gently stir through most of the parsley and oregano and serve sprinkled with the feta and remaining herbs, with freshly cooked pasta if you like.

Simple Mediterranean stir-fry

A140g serving of shellfish (cooked weight) counts as one of your two weekly portions of fish. It’s high in protein but not fat (although it does contain omega-3s, which are good for your heart), so tuck in.

Serves 2–3

1tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 peppers (orange, yellow or red – or a mix), sliced
400g bag mixed seafood, eg prawns, mussels, scallops and squid (such as Waitrose Fruits de Mer), thawed if frozen
1 garlic clove, crushed
60ml white wine
120ml fish stock
Small handful fresh rosemary, chopped
Small handful fresh flatleaf parsley, chopped

1. Heat the oil in a large pan and cook the peppers for a few min until softened. Add the seafood and garlic and cook on medium-high for 4–5 min (or according to the pack instructions). Add the wine and stock and bring to the boil.

2. Add the rosemary and most of the parsley, then reduce the heat and simmer for 3–4 min until the sauce reduces. Serve straightaway, sprinkled with the rest of the parsley, with salad and hunks of wholemeal bread, if you like.

How to make a gluten-free chocolate cake

A chocolate cherry loaf cake that’s low calorie and gluten and dairy free – we’ve found the ideal lighter treat for the bank holiday 

By Hannah Sherwood

I’m in Bake Off mode, but with an eye on a growing baking trend – gluten-free cakes. So I’ve eschewed my usual sugar, butter, flour and chocolate cake for a lighter recipe, using cocoa and black beans…

In her book Cut the Carbs! Tori Haschka proves you can cook without white carbs and the result will still taste good, filling you up without making you feel bloated or sluggish.

Not that we’re advocating cutting out carbs – a healthy diet needs bread, pasta and rice, preferably wholegrain. Tori adopted a carb-free lifestyle for health reasons, so her book is good for people who have intolerances, particularly to gluten. She says her chocolate, black bean and cherry cake is the simplest cake ever, so I just had to give it a go to see how it compared to a standard chocolate cake.

The prep…

After reading the method and weighing out the ingredients, I begin to understand why Tori declares it a breeze to make; it’s a bung-everything-in-the-food-mixer-jobby (apart from the cherries) and blitz. That’s it!

There’s no flour – instead, you use a tin of black beans (rinsed). It’s also fat free, but there are three eggs so the mixture is rather runny. Unlike some chocolate cakes, this recipe only uses cocoa powder, again helping to keep the fat and sugar levels down. The only slight labour involved was pitting the cherries, but really it was a minor task.

The bake…

The batter was runny, nothing like a normal cake batter, which is thick and creamy, so I was dubious when popping the loaf tin in the oven. 35 minutes later and it had risen slightly and smelt chocolatey and, more importantly, like I wanted to eat it! It turned out of the tin easily, almost resembling a brownie. It’s best enjoyed warm and, as Tori says, would be great served as a dessert with a small dollop of reduced-fat crème fraîche.

The taste factor

The flavour was still good the next day and if I hadn’t told the HFG team it didn’t have flour or any fat in, I’m not sure they would have guessed.

It’s a fab, easy bake and at only 97 calories a slice (based on 10 servings), could almost be classed as a cake that is actually healthy! Compared with a standard slice of chocolate cake with butter icing, you’re saving 210 calories, 15.7g fat, 5.2g saturates and 11.3g sugar…

See and enjoy the recipe here:

1 x 400g tin of black beans, rinsed

3 eggs

100g caster sugar

1 shot (30 ml) espresso or 1tbsp strong filter coffee (you can use decaf if you prefer)

3tbsp cocoa powder

1tsp baking powder (check it is gluten free if cooking for a coeliac crowd)

125g cherries, pitted (can be frozen, and you can also substitute other berries), plus extra to serve

Icing sugar, yogurt, crème fraîche or fresh cherries, to serve (optional)

Equipment

20 x 12.5cm loaf tin, greased and lined with baking paper

1 Heat the oven to 180˚C/fan 160°C/gas 4. Using a stick blender and mixing bowl, blender or food processor, combine all the ingredients except the cherries and blitz until smooth. The batter will appear quite runny, but don’t worry. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin and scatter the cherries over the top. Bake the loaf for 35 min, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out with a few fudgy crumbs on it.

2 Leave to cool in the tin for 5 min, then turn it out. Dust with icing sugar and serve warm with more cherries, yogurt or half-fat crème fraîche for dessert, or allow it to cool and enjoy it with a cup of tea.

 

Per serving (based on 10): 97kcal, 2.3g fat, 0.6g sat fat, 12g sugar, 0.2g salt

Low cal, low sat fat, low salt, vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free

How to make a cheap, healthy family supper

When ITV’s Tonight show visited the HFG test kitchen, recipe consultant Phil Mundy accepted the challenge to cook a homemade family meal that’s cheaper, healthier and quicker to make than heating up four ready meals. His dish was a clear winner for the HFG team (and the film crew happily tucked in, too!), but don’t let us sway your verdict – try the recipe below and see if you can be persuaded to swap pre-prepared for DIY dinners…

Tandoori chicken

PREP 5 MIN COOK 15 MIN SERVES 4

200g basmati rice

180ml 2% fat Greek yogurt

Zest and juice 2 limes

8tsp medium curry powder

4 skinless chicken breasts, each sliced into 3 strips

Cooking oil spray

320g frozen peas

200g baby spinach

4 tbsp mango chutney, to serve

Fresh coriander leaves, to garnish (optional)

1 Cook the rice according to the pack instructions, then drain.

2 While the rice is cooking, combine the yogurt, lime zest and juice in a small bowl. Spoon 4tbsp of the mixture into a medium bowl (set the rest aside) and mix with the curry powder, then add the chicken strips and stir to coat. Spray a large non-stick frying pan with oil and put over a medium heat. Add the chicken and cook for 7–8 min, turning once, until cooked through.

3 Meanwhile, heat a small pan, then add the frozen peas and cook over a medium-low heat for 1–2 min until thawed. Add the spinach and cook for 1–2 min more.

4 Divide the rice and vegetables among 4 plates, then top with the tandoori chicken. Add a drizzle of the remaining lime yogurt and the chutney (serve any leftovers in bowls), then serve sprinkled with ground black pepper and coriander leaves, if using.

Per serving

553kcal

58.3g protein

7.1g fat

2.3g sat fats

64g carbs

16.6g sugar

8.7g fibre

1.1g salt

291mg calcium

7.4mg iron

LOW FAT

LOW SAT FAT

LOW SUGAR

LOW SALT

HIGH PROTEIN

HIGH CALCIUM

HIGH IRON

GLUTEN FREE

1 of your FIVE A DAY

You can watch The Food We Eat: Tonight on Monday 18 August (that’s tonight!) at 8pm, ITV 

Cauliflower’s next chapter… Pizza

By Hannah Sherwood

First it was cauliflower rice, now it’s cauliflower-crust pizza – it seems the one-time wallflower vegetable is relishing its time in the spotlight.

It may sound like a strange idea, but swapping traditional pizza base ingredients for a combination of gluten-free flour and, you guessed it, cauliflower is great if you have an intolerance, plus with just 34kcal in 100g, it’s kinder to your waistline and is a nifty way to sneak veg into the diets of fussy eaters. Cauliflower also provides fibre and is a source of potassium, good intakes of which help to control blood pressure when combined with less salt in our diet. It also helps to boost intakes of several B vitamins, including B1, B6 and folate, and is a rich source of vitamin C.

Taking my inspiration from a recipe by Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley, here’s how I got on…

The prep

Coarsely grate or whizz 140g cauliflower in a food processor until it resembles breadcrumbs. I used a food processor, mainly for convenience but also to save covering my kitchen in cauliflower splinters, as I did the last time I attempted to grate the veg! If using a food processor, add 1 beaten egg white, 50g ground almonds, 40g gluten-free flour (I used quinoa flour) and a little ground black pepper, then whiz until combined (or mix together in a bowl).

Be warned, it won’t resemble traditional pizza dough – it’s more of a paste.

The cooking

There’s no rolling or Italian-style tossing involved with this pizza base – you’ll end up in a sticky mess if you try! Instead, line a baking sheet with baking paper, then dollop the cauliflower mixture in the middle and use a spatula to spread it into a 25–30cm diameter circle. It can be a little tricky to work with, but be patient and you’ll get there. Bake in a hot oven (about 210C/fan190C/gas 6) for 15 min or until golden and starting to crisp at the edge. Flip the base and cook on the other side for 5 min more – I found the best way to do this was to cut another piece of baking paper, lay it on top of the base, then flip it so the new piece of paper is on the bottom (peel away and discard the original piece of baking paper).

Now for the fun part – the toppings. You can add whatever you like, but I chose to spread my pizza base with tomato puree, then scatter over slices of tomato, goat’s cheese, grilled aubergine and parma ham, plus a sprinkling of oregano for seasoning (no need for salt with the saltiness of the cheese and ham!). Pop it back in the oven for 5–7 min to heat through, then serve with a simple salad.

How did I rate it?

The cauliflower crust had a lovely flavour and texture, and wasn’t at all stodgy. It sliced and held together well and left me feeling full, but not bloated.

The down side?

The dough was quite sticky to work with – I had to make sure I didn’t spread it out too thinly as it may have broken when flipped over.