I love the simplicity of this dish.

It’s a quick one-pot, weekday dinner without compromising on flavour. It goes very well with my miso aubergine recipe which can be found here.

This is continuing my theme of including polyphenols in my daily diet. This recipe contain fish which does not contain any polyphenols but can certainly be used in dishes that contain polyphenols.

The ginger, soy sauce, garlic, chillies, mustard seeds, lime are all high in polyphenols making this is a wholesome and healthy meal.

Polyphenols

Lemon– 60mg/100g

Ginger (fresh)– 200mg/100g

Garlic (fresh)– 87mg/100g

Chillies (red)– 326mg/100g

Sesame oil– 2.27mg/100g

Lemon Salmon and sugar snap peas

Preparation time: 15 Min

Cooking time : 10 Min

Ingredients 

• 4 boneless skinless salmon fillets cut into cubes
• 2 tablespoons ginger julienned
• 2 cloves of garlic chopped
• 2 chillies roughly chopped (more or less depending on your preference)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoon soy sauce
• Zest one lemon
• Juice of a half a lemon
• ½ lemon cut into small wedges without the peel
• 2 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 ½  tablespoon rapeseed or any mild oil suitable for frying
• One pack of sugar snap peas ( 200g), chopped in half
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds

Method

In a frying pan( or ideally a wok) add 1 tablespoon of the rapeseed oil, once hot, add the salmon. Fry without turning for 2 minutes. This will allow the fish to become a golden brown. Turn and cook the other side for a further 2 minutes.

Remove salmon and place on a plate.

Keep the pan very hot, add the ginger, garlic and chillies and allow to sizzle. once the smell and ginger and garlic rises (usually about  30-60seconds), add the lemon wedges, zest, sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil.

Once the sugar melts, the mix will get a caramel consistency. Add the salmon, once mixed with the liquid place in a back in a bowl.

In the same pan, add the last of the rapeseed oil ( ½ tablespoon), add the mustard seeds. When the seeds start popping, add the sugar snap peas. Sautee for about 1 minute until they start to blister, add the salmon and sauce. Cook for another 30 seconds or so.

Ready to serve.

Best served with boiled rice or miso aubergine.

Happy Eating Polyphooders!

Not the healthiest of dressing but I cannot resist a Blue cheese wedge salad.

Not for those who don’t enjoy the strong flavour of blue cheese 😉
This is an easy quick dinner but the rich blue cheese dressing adds loads of flavour. Originally inspired by Ina Garten, I made a few minor changes but this is mainly a recipe from the queen of cooking, the barefoot contessa herself !
This tangy dressing goes very well with tomatoes and iceberg lettuce but you can add it to any type of leaf. As the dressing is quite peppery with a strong blue cheese taste, its best avoided with peppery leaves.

Otherwise, happy eating!

Ingredients

• 100g blue cheese (I use @castellouk danish blue, crumbled
• 2/3 cup good mayonnaise such as @hellmannsuk
• 1/3cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1-2 tablespoon of water
• 1 small clove of garlic minced

Method

Place cheese in microwave for 15 sec to slightly melt it. Place all ingredients into food processor and serve as needed !
That’s it! Simple!

Feel free to leave comments and feedback on any recipe on this site

Follow us on instagram @polyphoods

Recipes

I absolutely love pesto !

Since I started making my own pesto I stopped buying the ready made stuff. Another reason i started to make pesto was to reduce the oil and calorific content. This recipe can easily be vegan but eliminating the cheese.

The contents of pesto are generally are all high in polyphenol content .

Polyphenols are found ubiquitously in plants, vegetables and many fruits.

Their main function as part of this diet is to increase the body’s baseline metabolism. Some studies also suggest that polyphenols can also help with control of diabetes and blood pressure.

All the ingredients bar the parmesan are good at giving the polyphenol dose needed.

Ingredients:

Herbs and Greens:

Basil- I love basil in almost everything . This is a classic ingredient in pesto and I have kept it in this recipe but have lessened the content to make room for the other greens and to reduce the cost.

Spinach–  A rich source of iron, vitamin K, vitamin A and B2, it is a versatile green that can be eaten in any way. This adds a nice rich depth to the pesto without overpowering it.

Parsley– From the celery family, this is another polyphenol rich ingredient . Its polyphenol content go up by significantly when dried but I much prefer the flavour of fresh herbs

Nuts:

Pine nuts are the classic ingredient for pesto, but they are quite low in polyphenols and can be pricey.

I also prefer the taste of walnuts and pecans ,  both of which can be used for this pesto. I prefer pecans as I find they have a creamier finish than walnuts.

Cheese:

parmesan is the key ingredient in pesto but i have reduced its content down to 1 tablespoon. this will give the tang and flavour with less calorific load.

unfortunately dairy products do not  have polyphenol content as not plant based but the great thing about this diet is that it is a diet of inclusion not exclusion ( more on that later!)

Alternates include gran padano or pecorino romano cheese.

For a vegan alternative , you can skip the cheese all together.

Polyphoods Pesto :

Preparation time: 10 minutes

cooking time: N/A

Ingredients :

• Parsley, small bunch ( about 50g)
• Spinach, small handful ( 50 g)
• Pecans, handful ( about 40g)
• Basil, small handful ( about 30g)
• Parmesan cheese ONE table spoon, grated,
• One table spoon of olive oil ,
• Zest of a lemon
• Fresh chillies . as much as desired, I use ¼ teaspoon of flakes
• 1 table spoons of water (May need more if too thick a mixture)

Method:

Place all the ingredients in a food processor until all chopped and mixed.

Serve with your favourite pasta. I used wholewheat spaghetti, however any pasta will do well with this yummy pesto.

I also make a salad dressing with this pesto. Simply add the juice of 1 lemon and a teaspoon of pomegranate molasses and voila!

Polyphenol contents:

• Basil- 231mg/100 g
• Spinach- 248mg/100g
• Parsley-  90mg/100g
• Pecan-  1284mg/100g
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil-  55mg/100ml
• Total Polyphenol content for this dish: 1909mg/500g

Happy eating my friends.

Please be sure to leave comments if you try this recipe.

Follow me on Instagram @polyphoods

Welcome to Polyphoods!