Readers and followers, it’s been a while and for that I apologise. My usual creative, healthy food obsessed self has been absent. In the place of good grains, dairy free delights and ravisihing raw revipes, I have been at the mercy of the refined carbohydrate. In whichever form has been available to me, be it white bread, pasta, cakes, chocolate or other processed goods, its all I have been able to eat. The reason, I conclude, is my hormones, the same hormones that have caused sickness, tiredness and mood swings (like you wouldn’t believe), the very same hormones ladies and gentlment that are busy making a baby right now. I’m pregnant, coming to the end of my first trimester and starting to feel like I can get my life and all that I treasure (my motivation, energy and good eating) back.
So while I get some of the old me back (for the short term), let me introduce you to a simple but delicious recipe (simple has been the key recently) that feels like it contains soft, warming, comfort carbs but in fact packs a high protein punch and a good dose of soluble and in soluble fibre.
More importantly, with my blood sugar levels all over the place the higher protein, complex carbohydrate and high fibre keeps the sugar shakes at bay for longer, and I feel less sick as a result…I’m winning all round.
Sea Bass with Garlic Spinach and Mashed Cannelini
Serves 2
In the words of Crocodile Dundee…good eating!
Ingredients:
400g tin of cooked cannelini beans
5 cloves of garlic (less if you like, but I like it strong)
2 Sea Bass filets (or other firm white fish)
200g spinach
Salt and Pepper
Nutmeg
Olive oil
Method:
Preheat the oven to a hot 220 degrees celsius.
Add the cannelini beans and 3 cloves of garlic to a small saucepan, and cover with boiling water. Bring back to the boil for a minute or two until the beans have warmed and the garlic is a little soft. Drain the pan and squeeze the garilc from its papery skin, add the garlic and beans back to the pan along with a good glug of olive oil, I use about 2 table spoons, add some seasoning and mash until you have a creamy consistency. Put the pan of creamy mash to one side to keep warm.
Place the fish fillets skin side down on an oiled baking sheet, and season well, I use a greek seasoning with oregano, thyme, garlic, lemon, salt and pepper (SoGo Grind Greek Seasoning). Bake for around 8 minutes in the hot oven, until its firm and cooked through.
While the fish is cooking, thinly slice the remaining 2 cloves of garlic, and add to a frying pan with a glug of olive oil, these need to be just cooked through, so that you cannot smell raw garlic any more, but you do NOT want them browned. Into the warm pan with the lightly cooked garlic and oil, add the spinach, and toss until wilted. Season really well with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Stack this divine trinity starting with the pure bean mash, then the garlicky spinach, then the fish fillet.
It looks good and tastes even better. A high protein and high fibre (we all know that expectant ladies need that!) route to comfort.
