I don't think I've mentioned this yet, and I don't want to brag or anything, but after about 3 months on my revised healthy eating plan husband's HbA1C, which is the long term measure of glucose control, had gone back down to a level that is considered pre-diabetic. The doctor was flabbergasted and asked what was behind this miracle. The wife, answered husband.



I have to give him part of the credit. He's been a very good boy and has completely cut out chocolate and other sweet snacks from his daily diet and is sticking to the contents of the lunchbox I lovingly prepare for him every morning. It usually contains sandwiches made with rye or other wholemeal bread and filled with lean meat or oily fish, tomato and cucumber slices, and for snacks there is unsalted nuts and seeds, fruit and veg like mini-carrots or cherry tomatoes.

There are occasional relapses I'm sure, when the lure of the bounty bar beats the crudites, but that's ok.  Like last Saturday when I dug out some chocolates for the kids, husband ran to the bowl crying "Chocolate!" then grabbing a few explaining he hadn't had any for a long time and happily munching away. No one has to be perfect every single day, what matters is the long term trend. Husband did a "how long do I have left" test on FB and apparently he's going to live another 66 years, which would take him well onto his second century, so that's good news!

I may need to review my red wine and cheese consumption if I want stay here for same amount of time and I definitely think I should if only to make sure there is someone around cooking him healthy meals.

This fish bake has all sorts of good things, like spinach and broccoli and of course the fish, filled with good oils. The potato topping is made healthier and lower GI by leaving the skins on and replacing some of the potato with sweet potato which surprisingly is lower GI than the regular tattie. We find it a bit sweet on it's own, but it works great when used half and half with normal potatoes. If you let the potato slices cool after par-boiling you can even create a nice pattern. Mine were too hot to handle, so the design is a bit more rustic, but beautiful:



Superfood spinach and broccoli fish pie with potato and sweet potato topping

A couple of sprays of rapeseed (or other healthy) oil
2-3 unpeeled potatoes, thinly sliced (I used a mandolin)
2-3 unpeeled sweet potatoes thinly sliced
1 large onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Florets of one broccoli
A bag (150-200g) fresh spinach (roughly chopped)
Zest and juice of a lemon
2 fillets of salmon, cut into chunks
2 fillets of cod, cut into chunks
3 heaped tbsp of 0% fat yoghurt (or a couple of tbsp of low fat sour cream)
Small bunch of fresh basil, dill or parsley or 2-3 tsp dried herbs
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 200ºC

Par-boil the thinly sliced unpeeled potatoes and sweet potatoes in slightly salted water until they have softened a little, drain and set aside.

Spray a large non-stick pan with oil and saute the onion with a small sprinkling of salt for 2-3 minutes. Add minced garlic and continue frying for a minute or so. Add the broccoli florets and saute for another five mins. Add the spinach and black pepper and cook until the spinach begins to wilt. Spread the vegetables evenly in a baking dish.

Prep the fish, remove bones and skin and cut into bite size pieces. Season lightly with salt and pepper, add the chopped fresh or dried herbs, yoghurt, zest and juice of a lemon and mix well. Spread the fish mix on top of the vegetables.

Top the dish with the potato slices, season lightly with salt and pepper and give the top a light spray
of olive or vegetable oil.

Bake for 25 - 30 mins or until the potatoes are golden and crispy around the edges.

My answer to the burning Catalan independence question is paella. We love paella in this household and this time I wanted to find a way to make it really healthy without compromising the taste. Not that paella is that unhealthy to begin with, but still wanted to see if I can pimp it up a bit with great ingredients and lots of veg and herbs for our fish Friday dinner last night.

This is what this awesome seafood bonanza looked like. And it tasted awesome.


And this is how husband repaid my lifesaving efforts the day after:

Fish and vegetables - what could be wrong with that, he says.

Actually I am all for giving yourself a break every once in a while. Or that's what I say to maintain a more relaxed and tolerant image. At least this time it was a very good plate of fish and chips. I know because on top of my tiny beetroot and goat cheese salad I had some space to try some of it.

This was the park cafe in St. James Park, but next time we will stay inside, just too many pigeons and pigeon poop everywhere it the outside area and kids feeding pigeons off the tables and wings flapping everywhere. Why their parents thought it is OK to feed pigeons in a restaurant I do not understand, but I understand that better than kicking pigeons which is another habit a lot of kids seem to have that their ignorant parents think is acceptable.

That's all I have on pigeons this time.


So this is what I did to the good old paella. To keep the glucose index lower than traditional paella for husbands diabetes I replaced the bomba rice with black venere rice, which is a whole grain and on top of it's better glucose profile apparently also has all kinds of antioxidants and other healthy stuff. It is the veritable blueberry of the rice family. And I upped the veg content to add lots of fibre to soak up some of the glucose and ensure slower release in the body.

I left out the chorizo which is full of salt and saturated fats, cooked the seafood by steaming it on top of the dish rather than frying it and of course used healthy rapeseed oil and was a bit careful with salt.

The end result was absolutely delicious, but the black rice has a different taste and texture, so it is a bit of a different experience from your traditional paella.

Black venere rice paella with lots of vegetables and seafood.

Serves 4-6

1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1 fennel
1 bell pepper
Pinch of dried red pepper flakes (or fresh chilli)
1 tsp of turmeric
3/4 tsp smoked paprika
Pinch of saffron
Salt
Black pepper
1.5 cups of black rice
Zest and juice of one lemon
1 glass of white wine
Small bunch of parsley
Small bunch of dill
2.5-3 cups of low salt fish stock
Fresh or frozen peas
2 fillets of cod
2 fillets of redfish
250g mussels
250g squid rings
Fresh herbs or spring onion and lemon wedges

Chop all the vegetables and herbs. Heat oil in a paella pan. Add the onion and saute on low heat until the onion starts to soften, add the minced garlic and continue to cook. Add the spices and mix well. Add the chopped fennel and bell pepper.

Crank up the heat, add the rice and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the lemon zest and juice and he wine. Let the wine evaporate a bit before adding the herbs and the stock. Reduce heat, cover and leave to simmer for about 15-20 minutes until the rice is almost done (check pack instructions). Stir every once in a while and add water if necessary

While the rice is cooking cut the fish fillets into quarters, season the fish and squid with salt and pepper and you can drizzle on a little rapeseed or olive oil and lemon juice. Clean the mussels well and throw away any that don't close when tapping the shell.

Once the rice is nearly done stir in the peas. Then add the seafood in the order of required cooking time pushing the fish pieces and mussels into the rice. I added the mussels and fish fillets first, let them steam on top of the paella with a lid on for 6-7 minutes until they were almost done, then added the squid for just 2-3 minutes.

Sprinkle with some lemon juice, fresh herbs or chopped spring onion, add some lemon wedges on top and serve with a crisp salad.

Excellent Sunday - I was testing my new walking shoes. We did a 5k test walk yesterday, and today a 10k walk around the sunny Ealing stopping at the shops in Ealing Broadway on the way home. I found some much needed work attire. I used to be quite a keen shopper, but lately the focus has not really been there. I found two pairs of heels, nude and black, same style. I couldn't decide which colour to get, so I got both. They were quite cheap. And 3 really nice tops for work and some bits and pieces (camis, t-shirts etc). Oh, and the obligatory scarf. I love scarfs. I think my neck has become so accustomed to scarfs that I feel cold and vulnerable without one. Which is fab because once my neck becomes too wrinkly to see daylight it doesn't really matter because it never would anyway.

Back home I made husband a big pot of creamy salmon and cod chowder to keep him fed and warm while I'm gone for Monday and Tuesday in a meeting somewhere near Coventry in a place called Coombe Abbey. It looks lovely and I'll take my running gear in case there is time after the meeting for a quick run in fresh country air. It makes me think of Combe Magna and Marianne and Willoughby and the wonderful Colonel Brandon. Maybe it will start raining and I'll faint daintily while running on the moor (not sure if there is a moor there) and I'm not sweaty at all in my running pants but fresh and fragrant and Alan Rickman who's obviously not dead comes and sweeps me on his arms and so on.

I love Jane Austen (the actual books also, not just the films and Alan Rickman and Colin Firth). We watched the Jane Austen Book Club this weekend and husband pronounced it was the most boring film ever. Whenever something bad happened to someone he suspected someone else or FBI or CIA and I was trying to explain it's not that kind of a film, there is no FBI or CIA or MI6 there and the book clubbers aren't really probably trying to kill each other. I of course loved it.

Then husband watched the Hateful Eight, which I couldn't stomach. I hate Quentin Tarantino films. I think he must be mentally ill. So it looks like even if mostly dear husband and I have but one mind and one way of thinking it doesn't seem to stretch to motion picture arts.

I just realised this soup is very close to the traditional Finnish salmon soup which I make quite often, just more finely cut and mushy of texture. But ingredient and flavour wise very close. Yummy and comforting.

Salmon and cod chowder (serves 4)

Oil
1 leek
1 yellow onion
500 g potatoes
2 cups of fish stock
1/2 cup of milk
2 tbsp fresh chopped dill
2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
zest and juice of a lemon
100g garden peas
140g can of corn
salt
lemon pepper
250g salmon
250g cod
2 heaped TBSP of creme fraiche

Debone your fish and remove any skin. Cube the fish and sprinkle with salt. Zest your lemon keeping the zest to one side. Juice the lemon and pour the juice on top of the fish.

Wash the leak. Chop the leak and onion. Peel potatoes and cut to small cubes. Heat oil in a pan. Add the leak and onion and sauté on medium heat until soft. Add the potatoes and continue cooking for a few minutes. Add the fish stock. Cover and cook on low to medium heat until potatoes are soft.

Add the milk and mash some of the soup with a potato masher, or you can use a hand blender. Leave about half of the soup unmashed. Add the herbs, lemon zest, corn and peas. Season with salt and lemon pepper. Cook for a few minutes and add the fish. Cook for a minute or two on gentle heat until the fish is done. Blend in the creme fraiche, check seasoning, sprinkle with fresh dill and serve with fresh bread.

This is kind of a rough version of Bouillabaisse. I love the elegant French soup with it's beautiful velvety broth, but this time for our #fishfriday last week I thought something a bit chunkier and less refined was in order. Like sometimes George Clooney would be more fun if he wasn't quite so smooth, profound and political, you know. With a flawlessly smooth, profound and political wife. I mean, a human rights lawyer, seriously, who does he think he is? Bridget Jones? Sometimes something a bit more ruffled and earthy is the way to go.


I love saffron in these kinds of tomato based soups and stews. And this can be either a soup or a stew. If you want to make it thicker and stewier, you can serve it with rice or pasta. I made mine more soupy and we ate it with warm ciabatta rolls.

My friend's cat is staying while my friend is on hols and he joined us at the table lured by the lovely fishy smell emanating from the kitchen. He naturally got his little share of the fish.



Recipe: Mediterranean fish stew or soup (serves 4)

1/2 leek
3 shallots
2 garlic cloves
4 tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 cup white wine
1 cup (or more) fish stock
4-6 new potatoes
1/2 aubergine
1/2 courgette
2 tbsp fresh basil
pinch of saffron
400 g fish, one or two different kinds (I had cod and fresh tuna steak)
400g other seafood, I had scallops, prawns and mussels
fresh basil for garnish



Chop your leeks and shallots and mince the garlic. Heat oil in a pan. Fry leeks and onions for a few minutes until they start to soften, add the garlic, chopped aubergine, courgette and sliced new potatoes and continue frying for a few minutes, add chopped tomatoes, tomato paste and white wine.

Soak a pinch of saffron in boiled water for a few minutes. Once wine has evaporated a little add the fish stock, basil and saffron. Season with salt and pepper and leave to cook until the vegetables are done.In the meanwhile devein the shrimp and cut the fish to bite size chunks. Once vegetables are done add the basil and saffron and your fish and seafood, and cook just until all the fish is done, don't overcook.

I saw these lovely looking fish plaits made from two kinds and colours of fish on a Finnish recipe site some time ago. I think the recipe called for arctic char and sander, but it could really be any fish from the salmon family and a white fleshed fish cut into strips and plaited.


I decided to do these for our Friday's fish dinner and got a couple of fillets of rainbow trout and sea bass, but you could use salmon and cod. You could steam these, but I cooked them in the oven with a splash of white wine.

Lovely and delicate they make an elegant and impressive main course.

Recipe: Trout and sea bass fish plaits with dill and thyme in white wine (serves 2)

2 fillets of trout or salmon
2 fillets of sea bass or other white fish
salt
lemon pepper
zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tbsp fresh dill
1/2 tbsp fresh thyme
oil
1/2 cup white wine

Cut the fish fillets into 2 or 3 strips each depending on the size of your fillets. You should try and end up with a number that divides by three, so either 9 or 12 strips altogether. You need 3 strips for each plait.

Season the strips with salt and pepper, add the chopped herbs, lemon zest and juice and drizzle with olive oil and leave to marinade for a few hours if you have time. If not you can cook immediately.

Heat the oven to 200C.

Grease an oven dish lightly. Plait the fish (like you would hair) and secure the ends with toothpicks.

Place the fish plaits on the oven dish. Pour in the white wine and cover. Cook until fish is done, approximately 10-15 minutes. Don't forget to remove the toothpicks before serving.

I have wanted to make Bouillabaisse for a long time. This beautiful French fish soup or stew is a dish that I had never eaten or cooked but I've always known that I would love, so it was an automatic choice for my French food week. My sister, a great cook, has been going on about what amazing bouillabaisse she makes, so last night I finally got around to making it. Husband loved it and since it's a really healthy meal and my version of it is not too time consuming, I will be making it soon again.


I have been reading loads of recipes, articles and blog posts about this great dish. I watched a video of Martha Stewart cooking it with a chef buddy of hers. They went on forever rubbing fishbones with tomato paste, roasting stuff, marinating seafood and flambeing things with pernod. I left them to it and summarized the main points of the different recipes to a much simpler process that you don't need all day for. If you're into rubbing fishbones go for it, I'm sure it's fun and fulfilling.

I bought my fish filleted and didn't have any fishbones in the house and unlike my sister I don't keep salmon heads in my freezer. I also didn't have pernod and probably wouldn't have used it after my fennel seed disaster, but even with my shortcuts this turned out a dish I would have proudly served to anyone. Maybe even Martha and her Pernod bottle wielding friend, although they seemed a bit scary with their "I only eat this soup once every three years when I go to this particular restaurant in Antibes", but then they haven't been to this particular eatery in Ealing. "Va va voom" they might exclaim sitting around my IKEA table, "Are you sure you didn't rub the fishbones?" and forget all about that poncey restaurant in Antibes.

The other thing not to get hung up on is the fish. Originally the Provence fishermen or probably their wives made it with the leftover of the day's haul that didn't get sold. Many recipes quote some weird, ugly looking rockfish and scary sounding things like spider crabs, but if you don't have access to or stomach for that kind of seafood a much more familiar selection will do. Just have a mixture of a couple of different types of fish, I would opt for white fish although I did see salmon in some recipes, and some other seafood. I had sea bass, cod, squid, prawns and mussels, all easily found in pretty much any supermarket. It's great to have something with shells on for the dramatic look.


I was going to bake some fresh crusty bread to go with this, but instead I decided to watch a rerun of the TV series Rebecca from the nineties - nothing like a little Gothic drama on a rainy Bank Holiday Monday - so had to resort to those shop-bought half baked ciabatta rolls. Still nice, hot and fresh from the oven.

Bouillabaisse (serves 2)

Half a large leek or a whole small one
Half a yellow onion
Half a fennel bulb
1 carrot
1 celery stick
2 cloves of garlic
3 tomatoes
Zest of an orange
1 heaped tsp of saffron fronds, crushed
Large handful of fresh parsley
A few sprigs of Provencal herbs (e.g thyme, marjoram, oregano)
A small glass of white wine (optional)
750 ml fish stock (the better quality the stock the better the soup)
salt and pepper

Small fillet of cod
Fillet of sea bass
Tube of squid
12-15 king prawns
12-15  mussels
Small red onion
salt
pepper
olive oil
lemon

Cube the fish removing bones and skin and cut the squid to rings, devein the prawns, Add fish, prawns and squid in a bowl, sprinkle with salt, pepper, olive oil and dash of lemon juice. Chop the red onion finely and add to bowl. Mix well and leave to marinade in the fridge while you get on with the broth. Clean the mussels.

Chop all the vegetables. Heat oil in a deep pan. Add leek, onion, fennel, carrot and celery with a sprinkling of salt. Saute on low to medium heat for about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and continue for another 2 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes, saffron and the chopped herbs, grate in the zest of an orange. At this stage you can add some white wine if you like and let it evaporate a bit. Then add the fish stock. If you happen to have any fishbones or heads chuck them in the pan. Simmer covered for about one hour.


Blend everything with a hand blender or in a blender. (Apparently including the fish bones if you are using. If you have put in a massive fish head I would remove it at this point.) Drain the liquid into a pan through a sieve. Press the veg pulp against the sieve with a ladle to get most of the liquid out.

Check seasoning, add a squirt of lemon if you like. Depending on how much your liquid has reduced you may want to add a little bit of water.

Bring the broth back to boil, add in your fish and seafood according to how long they need to cook. For my selection of fish add the bass, cod and mussels, simmer for 3 minutes, add the prawns and squid and after 2 minutes (or when prawns are done depending on size) take off heat, remove and discard any unopened mussels and serve immediately.