Cod with Spinach, Potatoes and Red Pepper Sauce

This dish is a great example of how easily something pretty simple can be elevated to a much higher level. The main components - boiled potatoes and fried cod - are good but let’s be honest – a bit simplistic not to say boring. But if you add to the potatoes spinach that has been quickly fried with garlic and you serve it all with a portion of red pepper sauce, you will get a wonderful experience not only for your taste buds but also for your eyes.

This meal apart from being tasty and looking good on a plate is also pretty healthy. It contains spinach – one of the most nutrient dense types of food and cod – an excellent source of Vitamin B12, Iodine, Selenium, Phosphorus and of course low-calorie proteins. And if you would like to make this dish even healthier, you can bake the cod in an oven instead of frying it.

INGREDIENTS (for 4 portions):

3 red peppers,

600g potatoes, peeled and cut into 4 cm pieces,

2 tbsp double cream (preferably thick one),

2 tbsp olive oil,

2 tbsp butter,

2 crushed garlic cloves,

250g spinach,

4 fillets of cod, skinless and boneless, each weighing 100-150g,

Salt and pepper.

METHOD:

1. Preheat a grill in an oven.
2. Cut the peppers into quarters, discard the insides, place them on a baking tray (skin side up) and put under the hot grill until the skin is black and blistered (it will take about 10-15 minutes – the time depends on a grill).
3. When done, put the peppers to a plastic bag, seal it and leave for at least 10 minutes (this will make it easier to peel the skin off).
4. Peel the peppers and liquidise them in a food processor or blender.
5. Transfer to a small pot and if the sauce is too runny, reduce it. When the pepper sauce has consistency to your liking, add the cream and seasoning.
6. Boil the potatoes in salted water till cooked through (cooking time will vary as it depends on a type of potatoes).
7. In a big frying pan gently warm up 1 tbsp of olive oil, fry the garlic quickly just till it releases its aroma, add the spinach and fry it until wilted.
8. In a frying pan heat 1 tbsp of olive oil and 1 tbsp of butter, add the seasoned fish and fry for 2-3 minutes on each side till golden and cooked through.
9. Add to the cooked potatoes 1 tbsp of butter and the wilted spinach, check the seasoning; reheat the pepper sauce if not hot enough.
10. On each plate put a portion of potatoes mixed with the spinach, place the fish on top and the sauce on the side.

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A Look at Food - what to eat and what not to eat (or at least eat in small quantities)

Although there is no bad food there are only bad diets, some types of food are better for us than other types.

Our diet should be rich in nutrient dense food because it provides us with all sorts of goodness (nutrients) without the bad stuff (fat, added sugar) and only with a small amount of calories. But we have to be careful not to “spoil” the nutrient dense food by preparing it with added sugar or solid fats. For example 85g of chicken breast has 138 kcal if baked but 246 kcal if breaded and fried (Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010).  

If you would like to check how nutrient dense your favourite ingredients are, please follow this link but here, straight away there is a short list of food we should eat more:

• Vegetables (especially dark green vegetables which are on top of the list of nutrient dense food, but also red and orange ones as well as peas and beans),
• Fruit,
• Whole grains (they should amount to at least 50% of all grains intake),
• Fat-free or low-fat dairy products,
• Wide range of low calorie and low fat proteins (not only meat that should really be replaced by fish, but also legumes, nuts, soy products),
• Oils (instead of solid fats).

Energy dense food is the complete opposite: it has very few nutrients but lots of calories often referred to as empty calories. I am afraid majority of us know exactly which products belong to this group: the ones we do enjoy tremendously but as soon as we finish them we feel guilty we had them.... 

So we should eat (much) less of them and at the same time we should reduce consumption of the following (DGA 2010):

• Sodium < 2300mg/day (preferably even < 1500mg/day) – that means approximately 1 teaspoon of salt per day (or even less than 0.5 teaspoon in the second case),
• Saturated fatty acids < 10% of total daily calorie intake,
• Cholesterol < 300mg/day,
• Trans fatty acids (hydrogenated fats) as low as possible,
• Refined grains,
• Solid fats and added sugar (SoFAS) < 5-15% of the total daily calorie intake,
• Alcohol.

I know from my own experience it is not easy to quit old habits and wonderful tastes that – unfortunately - fat and sugar give to meals but don’t we deserve to look after ourselves? Besides with a wide range of products that are good for us and should be eaten, we can get creative and make delicious but healthier meals. 

And lastly - as I wrote at the beginning of this post - there is no bad food there are only bad diets, so if we are really desperate to have a lemon meringue roulade (or something equally sinful), let’s have it, it will be OK. It will be OK as long as we don’t have it every day.

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Healthy Diet - how to eat to live happily (and healthily) ever after

Healthy diet means probably something slightly different to each of us. Some people will say it is about reducing salt or saturated fat intake, others - that about eating more fruits and vegetables. So who is right? Possibly all of these answers are correct because there is not just one way of eating healthy. But to make sure our way is, we shouldn't concentrate on one aspect of our diet only, we should take a holistic approach and remember about these key characteristics of any healthy diet:  

• Adequacy – everyday we should eat sufficient amounts of food from each of the nutrient groups: carbohydrates, protein, fats, vitamins and minerals (so no point of avoiding carbohydrates ;-))

• Balance – on daily basis we should eat food that represents each of the food groups: proteins, grains, pulses, dairy, vegetables and fruit,

• Variety – it is better to consume many different ingredients in small portions than a few in big quantities and also

• Correct amounts of calories and nutrients

If we follow all of the above guidelines, we can be sure our diet will provide us with adequate nutrients that will promote our health and if not prevent, then at least reduce a risk of chronic diseases.

And what about “bad” food? Having an occasional exception (read sinful (read: unhealthy) food) from the rule of maintaining the healthy diet is alright as long as this is an exception and not the rule: because there are no “bad” foods, there are only bad diets.

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