Funky fish and chips (From The Northern Echo)
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Funky fish and chips
3:57pm Wednesday 13th February 2013 in Eating In: Recipes
After trying – and ditching – every fad diet under the sun, presenter Nadia Sawalha is finally happy with her weight, she tells Diana Pilkington
IN an ideal world, Nadia Sawalha would have banished the word “diet” from the cover of her latest cookbook. But, says the author of Greedy Girl’s Diet, some rules have to be followed for marketing purposes.
“But I really believe that if you think you are on a diet, you are going to stuff your face at some point,” she says. “Unless you can feel like a normal person who sometimes eats a pudding and has a bit too much to drink, you will not succeed.”
The 48-year-old says a constant state of “dieting and denial” resulted in her being obese.
Eventually, she decided to eat as normally as possible (breakfast and pudding are key components of her day) and simply shave off the hidden calories here and there, as well as eating enough to fuel an active lifestyle. As a result, she shed three-and-a-half stone and is now a healthy size 12.
Funky fish and chips
Serves 4
4 x 200g haddock fillets
100g fine polenta
1 egg, beaten
10 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
½ tsp chilli flakes
Zest of half an unwaxed lemon
A splash of milk
Plain flour, for dusting
Salt and freshly-ground black pepper
For the chips:
4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
Olive oil spray
Salt and freshly-ground black pepper
Cayenne pepper
Method:
Heat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Put potato wedges onto a large baking tray, spray with oil and season with salt, pepper and a light sprinkling of cayenne. Cook for about 20 minutes, at which point the fish will join them. To make the coating for the fish, combine the polenta, egg, basil, chilli and lemon zest in a bowl and mix well. You may need to add a splash of milk to give a fairly thick batter.
Dust the fish with a little flour seasoned with salt and pepper, and dip it into the batter, ensuring it’s thoroughly coated. Pop the fish onto a baking tray and bake in the oven alongside the potatoes for about 20 minutes. Serve with mushy peas, salt and vinegar.
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