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

It's all about soup!

This is the time of year where I start eating a little less salad for lunch and I increase my intake of soup.  Unfortunately it's a bit more time consuming to make then knocking up a quick salad but at least you can make on mass and freeze or save for tomorrow.   If I am really pushed for time I have to admit that a WeightWatchers Tomato soup from Heinz is actually quite acceptable!

Soup Cooking

Of course nothing can beat homemade soups and my favourite has to be a broccoli and Stilton (more cheese, there's a surprise).  I've yet to make a broccoli and Stilton soup diet friendly although I think I am setting myself this challenge as I type...

Leek & Potato and Five Vegetable Soup have been on the menu these last 2 weeks so I thought I would share my recipes for these delightful, filling soups coming in at a very agreeable 2 ProPoints per decent sized bowl!

Leek & Potato Soup

For the Leek & Potato Soup:

• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 3 leeks, trimmed, washed and chopped
• 1 potato weighing 300g, peeled and finely diced
• 1 tsp butter
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 150ml skimmed milk
• Approx 1200ml vegetable stock
• 1 bay leaf
• Seasoning

For the Five Veg Soup:

• Half onion, finely chopped
• 1 leek, washed and chopped
• Approx 350g swede, peeled and finely chopped

  

  Five Veg Soup

• 2 large carrots, peeled and finely chopped
• Approx 200g potato, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 tsp butter
• 1 tsp olive oil
• Approx 2l vegetable stock
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• Seasoning
• 2 small bay leaves or 1 large
• 150ml skimmed milk

The method for both these soups is pretty much the same. Heat the olive oil and butter in a large saucepan and saute the onions and leeks until soft.  Add the vegetables.  In the 5 veg soup, add the swede first, followed by the carrots as these take longer to cook.

Basically chuck all the vegetables into the pan and cover with the stock.  Bring to the boil and then turn down to a simmer.  Season with plenty of black pepper.  Simmer for a good 30 minutes until all the vegetables are soft. 

Remove the bay leaves, add the milk and blitz.  I prefer to use a stick type blender as it saves a bit on washing up!  Taste and add more salt & pepper if need be.

WeightWatchers ProPoints Per Serving: 2

Lamb Koftas & Giant Couscous with Roasted Vegetables

I've got a thing about lamb at the moment.  My slow roast shoulder of lamb last week (it's not on this blog as not exactly WeightWatcher friendly!) was divine and we really enjoyed moussaka last week.  I'm always reluctant to have red meat as a mid-week supper as it does use up valuable ProPoints, but there is only so many times a week you can eat chicken!!

I was originally going to serve the lamb koftas with a tabouleh style dish but the weather changed so dramatically as the afternoon went on I wanted something more warming....then of course the sun came out again!  But never mind, couscous with roasted vegetables it was!

For the lamb koftas:

• 200g lean lamb mince
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tsp harissa paste
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 salt
• Sprinkling of cayenne pepper (optional)
• Half a small red onion, finely diced
• Handful fresh parsely, finely chopped
• Handful fresh mint, finely chopped

For the Couscous:

• 1 small aubergine, diced
• 1 yellow or orange pepper, diced
• 1 courgette, diced
• 8 or so cherry tomatoes
• A few mushrooms roughly chopped
• Half a red onion cut into wedges
• 120g giant wholewheat couscous
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• Seasoning
• 1 tsp olive oil

What to do:
Mix all the ingredients for the koftas together in a bowl.  With slightly damp hands shape around 4 wooden skewers.  I am a bit sad and weigh everything so I weighed the mix and divided it equally into 4 portions each weighing 74g!  (I told you I was sad!). If you are using wooden skewers, be sure to soak them in cold water for 20 mins or so beforehand.  Refridgerate the skewers until required.

Chop your veggies up into bite sized pieces and place in a large roasting tray.  Use whatever veggies you like but I think this selection went really well with the lamb and couscous.  Season with salt & pepper and sprinkle over some dried rosemary.  Spray thoroughly using no more than 1 tsp olive oil.  Roast in a hot oven (200 fan) for a good 30 - 35 minutes turning every 10 minutes.

Heat a griddle pan until very hot.  Spray one side of the koftas with olive oil and place in hot pan.  Allow to sear and brown and the turn ensuring all sides are browned.  They should cook in about 10 minutes. 

Cook the couscous a saucepan following packet instructions.  I like to boil it in vegetable stock as it gives the couscous more flavour.  Drain well and mix into the roasting tray with the vegetables coating nicely in the juices that have been omitted in cooking.


WeightWatchers ProPoints Per Serving: 12

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