Quick Seafood Pasta

Ingredients

• 100g fresh egg tagliatelle pasta (or any pasta will do but dried pasta takes longer to cook)
• 1 onion, 1 clove of garlic
• teaspoon of smoked paprika (optional)
• juice of 1 lemon
• handful of fresh corriander
• 100g of mixed chopped fish (most fish shops do a chowder mix eg. salmon, cod, prawns, squid, etc.)
•  2 table spoonful olive oil and 1table spoonful flour, salt & pepper to your own taste
• 100ml cream OR milk OR tomato 
• 50g grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Method

1. Chop onion, heat the oil add onion, salt and pepper saute until soft
2. Crush the garlic and add, stir well.
3. Put some water, a little oil and salt into a saucepan and bring to the boil add the pasta when boiling
4. Coat the fish with the flour and paprika (if using),and add fish to the onion & garlic.
5. Add the milk or cream or tomato (which ever you prefer) & lemon juice & chopped coriander (you can chop the stalks and add them too - but only with coriander) heat but do not boil
6. Drain the pasta when soft, grate the cheese and add them both to the sauce, if the sauce is too thick add a little water or if it's too thin add some more cheese or a little tomato puree
7. serve with a fresh green leaf salad or some mixed vegetables eg. carrot, broccoli, green beans.

Safe Food Research

This was a very interesting event in Belfast during the week.


A summary report was launched on a research project that was funded by Safe Food it's called 'Food on a low income: four households tell their story'
The households that took part were; (1) Two parent two children; (2) single male living alone; (3) single older person living alone; and (4) lone parent with 1/2 children. It was found that all households lacked variety and many diets were restricted to food that are known and favorites; they preferred not to experiment with new types of food as this helped  to avoid wastage. The people interviewed said they knew about healthy eating but saw the things that got in the way of this - such as cost, convenience and taste as insurmountable. It is also possible that many people may lack the skills needed to have a healthy diet. The summary report is quite easy to read and you can find it at this link http://www.safefood.eu/Publications/Research-reports/Food-on-a-low-income-%E2%80%93-Four-households-tell-their.aspx

Fish Stew (White sauce)

This is an option for the fish stew if you want to add calcium into the diet

Ingredients

• 1 onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 carrots
• 4 sticks celery
• red pepper (optional)
• mixed herbs (or dill instead)
• 2 med pieces of haddock/other fish (tail end has less bones)
• fish stock cube
• 50g plain flour
• 50g margarine/butter
• 300mls milk
• sml amt olive oil, salt & pepper

Method

1. Peel and cut onion into small dice, heat oil in a saucepan (4) and add onion, salt & pepper saute on med heat (2) until onion is soft. 
2. Crush garlic, add this and the herbs to the pot, stir well.
3. Peel and cut carrots into thin slices add to the pot and stir well
4. Cut the celery into thin slices and add.
5. If using cut the red pepper in half length-ways then remove the pips and throw away, cut the pepper into small dice and add.
6. Add the marg/butter into the saucepan and allow to melt
7. Add the flour and mix well for 2 mins - don't let it stick
8. Add a third of the milk, crumble the stock cube into the pot and mix well until disolved, then  keep stirring until it becomes thick.
9. Gradually add the milk in the same way until all the milk is added. 
10. Cut the fish into bite size pieces and add to the sauce simmer for 10 minutes.
11. If it's too thick add more milk.
12. Serve with mashed/baked potato, rice or pasta.

Fish Stew (tomato sauce)

Ingredients 

• 1 onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 carrots
• 4 sticks celery
• red pepper (optional)
• mixed herbs (or dill instead)
• 4 med potatoes
• 2 med pieces of haddock (tail end has less bones)
• fish stock cube
• tin of tomatoes
• tomato puree
• sml amt olive oil, salt & pepper

Method

1. Peel and cut onion into small dice, heat oil in a saucepan (4) and add onion, salt & pepper saute on med heat (2) 
2. Crush garlic, add this and the herbs to the pot, stir well
3. Peel and cut the potatoes into chunks, add to the pot 
4. Peel and cut carrots into thin slices add to the pot and stir well
5. Cut the celery into thin slices and add.
6. If using cut the red pepper in half length-ways then remove the pips and throw away, cut the pepper into small dice and add.
7. Add the tin of tomatoes, crumbled stock cube and the puree, stir well and bring to the boil.
8. Lower the heat to simmer (2)
9. Cut the fish into bite size pieces and add to the stew (you can use more fish if you like) simmer for approx 10minutes.