Sea Bass and Courgette Salad (serves 1; 25 minutes prep and cooking time)

I do love salad in the summertime.  Tonight I had a wonderful sea bass and courgette salad. Here's how I made it:

1 sea bass fillet

1 x courgette, in ribbons

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 sprig of mint leaves, chopped finely

50g baby salad leaves
5 x baby plum tomatoes
1 x ripe avocado, scooped out with a teaspoon into segments
1/4 red pepper, sliced
5 x green olives, sliced
balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing

First, put on the grill to heat up to a medium temperature.

Use a vegetable peeler to slice the courgette into fine ribbons. Spread these out onto a grill pan in a single layer. Pop this under the grill for about 5 minutes, until just starting to char. You can turn these over but I think they taste good cooked on one side only.

Put the sea bass fillet into a frying pan with a little olive oil to cook over a medium heat for 15 minutes. A lid on the frying pan is a good idea to limit spitting.

Into a salad bowl, add the leaves, tomatoes, avocado, red pepper and green olives. Add a little dressing and toss the salad.

Turn the sea bass over half way through cooking. 

Remove the slightly charred courgettes from the grill.  In a separate bowl, cover the courgettes with the lemon juice and a drizzle of olive oil and stir, together with the chopped fresh mint, until the courgette is fully coated.

Add the courgette to the salad bowl.

As soon as the sea bass is cooked, add that to the bowl also. 

Enjoy!

Lamb Quinoa Tagine (serves 4 ; prep time 15 mins ; cooking time 40 mins)

This is a lovely take on a tagine, using the healthy, protein-rich quinoa in place of processed cous cous. The lamb and spices provide a wonderful flavour which is absorbed by the quinoa.  You can use any cut of lamb. 

350g lamb steaks, cut into 1" cubes
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 stick celery, diced very finely
2 medium carrots, diced finely
1 tbspn wholemeal flour
1/4 tsp ground cinamon
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
150ml white wine
500ml chicken stock
100g quinoa
2 x 400g tins of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
Fresh coriander

First, brown the lamb in olive oil, remove from the frying pan and set aside.

To the frying pan, add onion, garlic, celery and carrots to the pan and fry gently for 10 minutes until softened.

Mix together the flour and spices before stirring into the pan. Continue cooking for a minute or so. 

Return the lamb to the pan, stir, pour over the wine and stock and simmer for 20 minutes.

Add the chickpeas and quinoa and continue to simmer for a further 20 minutes.  Keep an eye on the liquid level and top up with boiling water if it looks to be getting dry.

Stir in the chopped coriander just before serving.