Healthy choice

Fish with spiced lentil ragout

Happy Valentines Day!!!

I’d like to represent a very delicious main course, that looks elegant and suits perfectly to this special day. A healthy and tasty fish is complemented here by aromatic lentil ragout and fresh fennel shavings. Another secret weapon in this sensational dish is aromatic spices: turmeric and ginger, that really burst the lentils with lots of flavour. And of course don’t forget the final touch – a drizzle of lime juice.

Simple! Healthy! Sensational!

Fish with spiced lentil ragout

Servings: 2
Time: 30mins
Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

Fish

2 x 150-200g white fish fillet (I used sea bass)

2 tbsp lime juice

freshly ground sea salt and black pepper

some homemade breadcrumbs and flour, for coating

1 tbsp olive oil or other veg oil, for frying

Lentil ragout

100g dried green/brown or Puy lentils

1 rosemary sprig

water

1.5 tbsp olive oil

1 small red onion, chopped

1 small carrot, cut into fine cubes

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 tsp fresh grated ginger

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 medium tomato, chopped (without liquid and seeds)

1.5 tbsp tomato puree

zest from 1/2 lime

freshly ground sea salt and black pepper

Garnish

lime juice

lime wedges

fennel shavings

fennel or parsley

Preparation method

Rinse and drain lentils. Put in a saucepan with rosemary, cover with water (do not season) and bring to boil on a medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes or until lentils are tender. Add extra water if all absorbed, or drain some if there is any left.
Meanwhile, heat oil in a small frying pan, add onion and carrot and saute for 6-7 minutes until soft and golden. Add garlic, ginger, turmeric and saute for a minute more. Stir in chopped tomato and puree. Turn off the heat.
Discard rosemary form lentils. While lentils are still warm season with salt and pepper, then mix in lemon zest and vegetable mixture; give it a good stir.
Drizzle fish with lime juice, season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle skin side with breadcrumbs and flour. Heat oil in a frying pan and fry skin-side down for 2 minutes, then turn and fry for 1-3 minutes more (depends on fish thickness), until golden and cooked.
Arrange lentil ragout on a serving plate, top with fennel and fish fillet, drizzle with lime juice. Garnish with fennel (or parsley) and lime wedges.

Enjoy!

Baked apples with walnuts and cowberries

Hi there! It’s been windy, dark and gloomy all day here in Dubai today. The weather intends to spend a day in the kitchen and bake something warm, aromatic and tasty. And I found a deliciously satisfying dish to cheer this day up! Sweet-smelling baked apples with super tasty filling: walnuts and cowberries! Sounds fantastic, doesn’t it? The cozy smell of cinnamon and brown sugar was filling my kitchen while apples were baked.. It’s so easy to turn regular apples into a fabulous warm dessert! Enjoy!

Cowberry (also known as lingonberry) is a very tasty, slightly bitter and sour berry; it contains lots of vitamin C, A and B. It’s a popular type of berry in my home-country (Russia), and as far as I know in Sweden and Norway. Their taste remind small sour cranberries, so you can easily substitute it with cranberries (fresh or frozen).

Baked apples with walnuts and cowberries

Servings: 2
Time: 1hr
Difficulty: moderate
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*You can add more sugar to suit your taste.

**I dry-roast walnuts, then chop it or pulse in a food processor.

Ingredients

2 large apples (sort ‘pink lady’ or ‘granny smith’ are good)

20g/2 tsp butter

3 tsp brown sugar*

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 quail egg, optional

5-6 tsp finely chopped walnuts**

3-4 tsp cowberries (if using frozen-no need to defreeze)

1/2 tsp of cinnamon, for garnish

2-3 tsp pure runny honey, for serving

some extra walnuts and cowberries, for serving

Cut the lid from apples, carefully cut out the core and make a hole in each apple leaving the bottom.
In a bowl, stir sugar and cinnamon with butter. Mix in the egg. Fold in chopped walnuts and berries.
Put apples in baking dish/tray and stuff each apple with filling mixture. Cover with apple lids. Pour some warm water into the bottom of the baking dish (1 cm). Loosely cover with foil.
Bake in preheated 200C oven for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for 10-15 minutes more, or until apples are tender but not mushy.
Carefully transfer to a serving plate, sprinkle with cinnamon, drizzle with honey and garnish with some walnuts and cowberries, if desired.
Enjoy!

Herb-marinated salmon

I love cooking and eating salmon. Roasting salmon is my favourite way to prepare it. Usually I sprinkle it with some sea salt and freshly ground pepper, plus a pinch of dried rosemary or thyme – and salmon goes into the oven. Then a super healthy&tasty dish is ready in short time. A couple of weeks back I bought fresh salmon steaks and decided to roast it again, but that time I prepared a marinade and left it for a half an hour or so to soak up all of the amazing flavours before roasting. I chopped fresh coriander, parsley and mixed it with mustard, and some ground green pepper. Now you can imagine all those wonderful flavours! 🙂 What to say, salmon turned out gorgeous and unbelievably tasty! On the weekend I repeated the recipe but grilled it on a barbecue. It was superb again! Next weekend you will try it, right? 😉

What about you, dear readers? how do you cook salmon? and what spices and herbs are you usually using?

UAE is celebrating today its 44th National Day! Happy Birthday to the country, which has become my second home.

Herb-marinated salmon steaks

Servings: 2
Time: 1 hr
Difficulty: easy
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*You can substitute green peppercorns with white.

Ingredients

2 salmon steaks

Marinade

4 tbsp finely chopped parsley

4 tbsp finely chopped coriander

1 garlic clove, minced or chopped (optional)

2 tsp Dijon mustard (you can also use wholegrain mustard)

1/2 medium lime, juice

1/2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp olive oil

1-1.5 tsp coarse sea salt (or more to taste)

2 tsp whole green peppercorns*

Extra

1 large sliced red capsicum

2 small sliced parboiled potatoes

2 gralic cloves in their skin, optional

Preparation

For the marinade, crush sea salt and green peppercorns. In a bowl combine all ingredients for the marinade.
Put salmon steaks in a shallow plate, pour over marinade and leave to marinade for 30 minutes at room temperature, turning once. You can keep the fish in marinade for longer, but cover the plate with plastic wrap or foil and put in the fridge until ready to roast.
Preheat oven to 190-200C.
Arrange salmon steaks in a baking dish, add sliced capsicum, potatoes and garlic. Roast for 20-25 minutes.

Serve warm. Enjoy!

Herb-marinated roasted salmon with capsicum and potato slices

Sunday Breakfast: Healthy Morning Bake

When I wake up in the late morning or almost afternoon I need something quick, tasty and preferably high-protein, like this morning bake. You need max 10 minutes to assemble all ingredients together, including calcium-rich and diet-friendly cottage cheese, always-adored vanilla and some fruits! While, it’s baking you have enough time for the morning routine. And don’t forget to prepare a freshly-brewed tea: English Breakfast or White tea is a good pairing for this healthy treat. Have a lovely weekend, guys! 🙂

Healthy Morning Bake

Servings: 2-3
Time: 30-40minutes
Difficulty: very easy
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Ingredients

1 egg, at room temperature

2 tbsp white sugar (or more to taste)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

180-200g tvorog (cottage cheese)

2 tbsp semolina

few tbsps of full-fat milk

1 large apple

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 large banana

1 tbsp brown or raw sugar, optional

1 tsp butter for greasing

sweet condensed milk or sour cream, for serving

Preparation method

Wash, peel (optional) and grate apple, drizzle with lemon juice and set aside. Slice banana.
In a small bowl, add semolina and some milk just to cover it, microwave on a high temperature for few seconds until it’s warm.
Beat or whisk the egg with sugar, vanilla and cinnamon for few minutes.
In a large bowl, smash tvorog with a folk to make it smooth.
Add semolina and beaten egg mixture into tvorog; stir to combine. Mix in grated apple.
Grease the baking tin. Arrange half of banana slices on the bottom, sprinkle with brown sugar (optional). Pour in tvorog mixture. Top with the rest banana slices and sprinkle with more brown sugar, if desired.
Bake in preheated 200C oven for 25-30 minutes.
Meanwhile, boil the fresh water and make a teapot of your favourite tea. Cut a good slice of the tvorog-bake and serve with a dollop of sour cream or drizzle with sweet condensed milk.
Enjoy!

Cauliflower couscous with shrimps

When I saw a cauliflower couscous recipe for a first time in a food magazine I didn’t pay much attention to it and dismissed it, and made another pan of creamy cauli soup. 🙂 But when I stumbled upon similar recipes again and again, I decided to give it a chance.

I red few recipes to know how to make a cauliflower couscous: the main thing is to pulse cauliflower florets in a food processor to get tiny bits, which reminds couscous grains and then you can mix it up with any your favourite ingredients. Thus, I came up with my own recipe. Even thou, I topped cauli couscous with shrimps, you may omit it and keep totally vegetarian. Whatever you choose, this dish is full of flavour! It’s a good alternative for a regular couscous, and especially for people with gluten sensitivity. Such couscous pairs well with roasted chicken or barbecued meat as well.

And you know what, now it’s my fav way to prepare cauliflower! When I served it for a dinner my husband couldn’t guess what was that – whether pasta or couscous, but he liked it. Because it tasted divine: buttery and aromatic! 🙂

Cauliflower couscous with shrimps

Servings: 2
Time: 20mins
Difficulty: easy
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You can also try to add: chopped walnuts or pistachios, raisins, goji berries, chickpeas..

Ingredients

Cauli’couscous

cauliflower 400g

baby onion 5-7, sliced

1 garlic clove, chopped, optinal

olive oil 1 tbsp+ butter 1 tbsp, for frying

lemon juice 1 tbsp

sea salt, black&white pepper to taste

chopped mint 1 tbsp

chopped parsley 1 tbsp

olives 6-7, stoned

extra virgin olive oil, for dressing

roasted slivered or flaked almonds 2 tbsp

Shrimps

medium shrimps 10 (or more if shrimps are small), cleaned

lemon juice 2 tbsp

1/3-1/2 tsp chilli flakes, optional

1 tsp sweet paprika

freshly ground sea salt and white pepper to taste

olive oil 2 tbsp, for frying

Method

Mix up all ingredients for shrimps marinade. Put shrimps in a bowl, pour over marinade. Cover with plastic wrap and keep in a fridge at least for 1 hour.
Wash and roughly cut cauliflower. Using a food processor, blitz cauliflower until breadcrumbs/couscous size.
In a frying pan, heat oil and butter. Add whole baby onions and fry over medium heat until golden. Add cauliflower and garlic if using, fry for 10-15 minutes or until cauliflower is ready. Add lemon juice and season to taste. Stir in chopped herbs and olives.
In a separate pan heat oil and fry shrimps for 2-3 minutes on each side over medium-high heat.
Arrange cauliflower couscous on a large serving plate. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with almonds. Top with shrimps.

Enjoy!