Tray Baked Haddock with Chorizo & Potatoes

Tray baking is so easy.  You chuck everything in a nice roasting dish and let the oven do it's work.  It's also easy to stick to the same old chicken,veg and potatoes so I thought I would try something a little bit different.  I've had some haddock in the freezer for a few weeks now and I was thinking of how I could cook it differently instead of my usual herby breadcrumbed way.  So with the desire to tray bake with something other than chicken I came up with this dish! 

I've mentioned my fondness for chorizo and just figured this would add another dimension to the dish too.  All in all we were really pleased with this and I will definitely continue to experiment with tray bakes!!

Oooh I almost forgot.  The day I cooked this, I asked my mum to pick me up a bag of new potatoes as she was on her way over to me, anyway she turned up with charlotte potatoes.  This was not met with an over enthusiastic thank-you, but I had no choice but to use them.  I cannot tell you how pleased I was with them!!  They are my new favourite potato and work really well when baked, without par-boiling.  The skins go lovely and crisp and the inside soft and fluffy. Yum.

What you'll need for 2:

• 2 x 120g haddock fillets or other white fish, cut into half
• 400g charlotte potatoes, halved or quartered if large
• 65g chorizo sausage, sliced
• Courgette, sliced
• Red onion, cut into wedges
• Roasted red peppers from a jar, roughly chopped
• 1-2 tsp olive oil
• Seasoning

What to do:

Put everything except the fish into the roasting dish, season well and drizzle over the olive oil. Using your hands, rub the oil and seasoning into the vegetables and potatoes really well.  You can add whatever vegetables you like really; butternut squash, aubergine, tomatoes.

Roast for a good 30 minutes on a high-ish oven (190) tossing occasionally.  When you think that's almost ready, move the mix to the edges and add the fish fillets to the middle of the dish.  Season and spray lightly with olive oil.  Return to the oven for another 5 minutes. Be careful not to overcook the fish so check it after 3-4 minutes.

WeightWatchers ProPoints Per Serving: 11

Roast Chicken & Roasted Vegetables

This week’s healthy eating is going pretty well and I was really looking forward to last night’s dinner.  I reckon I packed in 2-3 portions of my 5-a-day in this hugely satisfying meal. When you are preparing the veg and piling them into your dish, it looks like it would serve 4 or 5 people, but the veg does shrink down substantially and if you have some leftovers they are good in an omelette the next day.

I always skin my chicken pieces before roasting.  It’s a messy job but then I am not tempted to take a mouthful of crispy, very fatty, chicken skin.  Also the flavours can penetrate into the flesh instead of the skin since this is what I will be eating I want maximum flavour and minimum fat!

You’ll need for 2:

• 2 –3 chicken thighs, skin removed, meat slashed
• 2-3 chicken drumsticks, skin removed, meat slashed
• 2 garlic cloves, bashed
• Half a lemon
• 1 small potato, approx 200g, peeled and chopped
• Half a butternut squash, peeled and chopped
• 1 courgette, washed and chopped
• 1 aubergine, chopped
• Half a punnet – approx 125g chestnut mushrooms, chopped into large-ish pieces
• 10 or so cherry tomatoes
• 1 red or normal onion, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Seasoning
• 1 ½ tsp dried rosemary
• 1 red or yellow pepper, chopped

What to Do:

Start by preparing your chicken.  Skin and slash.  Season and place into roasting dish.  Sprinkle ½ tsp rosemary and squeeze of lemon.  Then cut your lemon half into 4 pieces and throw these in too.  Scatter the potatoes around the chicken and season aswell.  I love using my Stoneware roaster as it requires no oil to be added, but you could lightly brush the chicken and potatoes with olive oil or use a spray.  The chicken will omit its lovely juices flavouring the potatoes and helping them to brown.

Next prepare your veg.  Basically I chop everything into roughly the same bite size pieces.  The mushrooms shrink down a lot so keep these chunky but the butternut squash requires a bit longer cooking time so keep these smaller.

Pre-heat the oven to 190 or 200.  I generally do all of this before taking my kids up for bathtime so the dishes can be shoved in at appropriate times during the bathing / dressing / story-reading routine.

The veg needs a good 45 minutes, maybe longer turning every 10 to 15 minutes.  The chicken needs approx 35 minutes and I put the chicken on the lower shelf.  Dive into your healthy feast!

Weight Watchers ProPoints: 11

Miso-Marinated Fish w Asian Greens and Rice

This is a twist on the Nobu Miso Black Cod recipe which uses black cod and white miso paste.  As both of these are not easily available I have opted for miso soup paste and regular white flaky fish which are both readily accessible from the supermarket making this a extremely yummy, low fat everyday meal.

You’ll need for 2:

• 2 tbsp Mirin
• 2 tbsp Sake
• 2 tbsp Miso paste
• 1 ½ tbsp caster sugar
• 2 fillets of white fish.   I used line caught haddock loins (no skin) 130g each
• 2 Pak choi
• Pack of mixed baby corn and sugarsnap peas
• Half a punnett of chestnut mushrooms
• 150g basmati or jasmine rice

What to do:

Mix the first 4 ingredients together to make your marinade in a container with a lid or a shallow dish.  Pat dry the fish and coat thoroughly in the marinade.  Leave in the fridge for as long as you can – ideally 24 hours.  I only had 7 hours today and it was still delicious but longer is definitely better.

Line a baking sheet with foil as the sugar will cause the marinade to burn easily.  Preheat an oven to 200 degree c and also pre-heat your grill to high.

Weigh out your rice.  Rinse under cold water in a sieve and transfer to a pan with boiling salted water.  Boil for 12 minutes then drain in a sieve.  Pour over boiling water from a kettle and allow to steam dry for a few minutes.

Wipe off any excess marinade and place the fish on the foil lined tray.  Grill on high for a couple of minutes until the fish starts to brown and repeat on the other side.  Then transfer to the oven for 3 minutes to cook through.  Be careful not to overcook the fish.

Slice the Asian veggies.  You can choose any mix of Asian vegetables including mushrooms, spring onions, Chinese leaf, mangetout.  Stir fry in a splash of hot groundnut or vegetable oil adding a few glugs of soy for seasoning, and the rest of the marinade.  I also add a pinch of chilli flakes for a touch of heat.  Best enjoyed with a cold beer or a cold crisp glass of dry white wine!  Yum.

Weightwatchers Propoints: 11