Apparently those that follow a Mediterranean diet have higher cognitive function and it helps protect against Alzheimers, heart disease, cancer and Parkinson’s Disease. A lot of the food that we eat is similar to a Mediterrean diet as we grow a lot of tomatoes and make our own passata etc. One of our favourite dishes is Mediterrean Fish Stew. I use what ever vegetable that I have. If I use carrots I cook them in a little water in the microwave first until they are nearly soft. Fish is expensive but you don’t need a lot and sometimes I have defrosted cheap packs of frozen fish and used those. It will make one piece of fish feed between 2 and 4 people.
RECIPE
I medium onion
2 cloves of garlic
Some capsicum pepper (I try to put any colours that I have but I use frozen if I don’t have any fresh.)
Mixture of chopped vegetables, what ever you have of courgette, aubergine, carrots, green beans, peas, sweet corn. You can use frozen
I carton of passata or tin of tomatoes
1 apple chopped into small squares
A tin of potatoes or some left over cooked potatoes
Tomatoes puree
1 tsp sugar (or squirt of tomato sauce)
Cooked fish (as much as you want. Sometimes I hardly have any.) You can also add prawns.
Mixed herbs
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
- Slice the onions and the peppers and chop the aubergine and courgette into chunks if used.
- Cut the green beans into 1cm if used and slice the carrots(also cook). Cube the apple.
- Saute the onions and the peppers in a little olive oil and then add the rest of the vegetables, the garlic, the apple and the mixed herbs and cook for a few minutes. Add a splash of water and cook another minute and then add the passata or tomatoes, tomato puree and the sugar (or squirt of tomato sauce) . Cook for 5 mins to 10 mins until the vegetables are tender.
- Add the cooked fish and cook another couple of minutes to heat through. If the sauce is too thick add a bit of water and if it is too runny add some more tomato puree. Season and serve with rice or pasta.
I prefer brown rice but we can’t always find it at a good price now. On this occasion we chopped up some coriander and stirred through the white rice to add some more goodness. We freeze coriander and add some frozen when cooking the rice in winter. When I eat this it takes me straight back to eating by the sea in Portugal. This recipe is good for stretching out a piece of fish and you can add as many of these summer kind of vegetables as you wish.
Made the Mediterrean Fish Stew tonight and it was delicious!
Aww that’s good. It is one of our favourites and reminds us of holidays in the sun