Small but mighty

Sardine season is starting! Sardines make a great choice: they are safe to eat, produced in a sustainable way and, oh, so tasty grilled on a barbecue!

Sardines are at their best and juicy from the end of May to the end of October. I have to be realistic and admit that there is a very slim chance we can find sardines as good and fresh as they are in, say, Portugal. But even the catch sold in Ireland can be fine and certainly healthy.

This lovely small fish is mighty good and contains unsaturated fats, which reduce the level of cholesterol. It is also rich in vitamin B12 and D, calcium, phosphorus and selenium.

A recent report shows that sardines have only slightly less protein than beef or chicken, slightly more fat and nearly the same number of calories. Yet, statistics show that the cost of the protein from sardines is four or five times less than that of or beef and half the price of chicken.

I’ve bought good sardines at the fish stall in Leopardstown, A. Caviston in Greystones and the fish shop in Dun Laoghaire on the Coal Pier.

So next time when you glimpse a ray of sunshine get your BBQ going for some tasty sardines. They should sprinkled with coarse sea salt and placed on the grill about 6-7 inches above the coals. Leave the tails on the outside. Grill the fish for 3-4 minutes on each side until the fat begins to ooze. Serve the fish as they do in Portugal, with boiled baby potatoes and loads of green salad. Sardines have a strong distinctive flavour (the fresher the better!) and can be served with hearty red table wines.

Enjoy your Omega-3 feast!

Local, inexpensive, organic and tasty

The Happy Pear has the most delicious organic salad leaves mix from Marc Michel, who has an organic farm in Kilpedder, Co Wicklow. There is adorable baby pak choi, baby spinach, rocket and mustard leaves, which give the mix a piquant bite. At 20 euro per kilo it is certainly a better deal than you can get at any supermarket for organic baby salad leaves (that are always pre-packed and lack in flavour). It ticks off all my boxes: local produce, inexpensive, organic and tasty! But hurry, this mix is so good it flies out of the shop. The Happy Pear also sell a more traditional rocket and mustard leaf mix, which is great too.

Don’t be put off by the sign above the box with the salad mix which says that it is exported from Holland. As one of the owners told me they keep forgetting to change the sign. How laid-back they are!

The Happy Pear, Church Road, Greystones, Co. Wicklow. Ph: 01 2873655

Microwave is your best buddy!

Next time when someone says to you that microwaving vegetables is just plain lazy, use scientific facts in your self-defence. According to the latest research microwaving is good!
A study (full text here) published in the Journal of Food Science demonstrates that microwaving vegetables without water until they are just tender can minimize nutrient loss.
Green bean, celery, and carrot seem to increase their antioxidant scavenging capacity after microwaving. Vegetables like beetroot, green bean, and garlic can keep their goodness regardless of cooking methods. Asparagus and spinach appear to be good candidates for microwaving as they retain a lot of their nutrients, whereas cauliflower and pepper are too delicate and loses over 50% of their radical-scavenging activity with its health-related properties.

Baking is another great way for cooking vegetables as it doesn’t appears to cause major nutrient losses.

To summarise, water is not the cook’s best friend when it comes to preparing vegetables, but your microwave is!

Russian Style Breakfast

Being bored of oat porridge breakfast I decided to go back to my roots and start eating buckwheat again. In Russia we eat buckwheat porridge (kasha) for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You can make it with wild mushrooms, meat, dried fruit or just milk.

Advantages: Buckwheat should be on your list of healthy options well ahead of oats: it is lower on calories and fat, rich in magnesium and manganese and health-promoting flavonoids (rutin and quercitin). If you think oats are great for filling you up, try buckwheat: oats’ GL index is 40 and buckwheat’s is 14, which means the latter will keep you full for longer. Buckwheat can be safely eaten by people who have celiac disease as it does not contain gluten.

Drawbacks: it takes longer to cook (about 20-25 mins) but it keeps well in the fridge for up to two days, so you can cook three servings in one go.

Where to buy: stay away from health food shops – the buckwheat there is far too expensive (4.50 euro for 500g)! Instead go to Eastern European food shops (e.g. Lituanica), where you can find it for 1.49 euro for 800g.

Tips: buy cracked buckwheat groats, they’ll cook quicker.

Interesting: While many people think that buckwheat is a cereal grain, it is actually a fruit seed that is related to rhubarb and sorrel. Buckwheat flowers are very fragrant and used by bees to produce a special, strongly flavoured, dark honey.

Hearty buckwheat porridge
3 cups buckwheat cracked groats
5 cups water
1 cup soya milk
Small knob of butter
Salt to taste

Rinse the buckwheat thoroughly under running water before cooking, and remove any dirt or debris. After rinsing, add the buckwheat to the boiling water. After the liquid has returned to a boil, turn down the heat, cover and simmer for 20-25 mins stirring every few minutes. At the end add the soya milk, salt and butter. Let it cool before putting in the fridge.
To heat the cooked buckwheat porridge add a little soya milk and microwave for 3 mins.

To read more about the goodness of buckwheat go to Whole Foods