Winter is coming and work is frantic. Everyone’s schedule is rammed until Christmas and yet still they want feeding…… selfish little blighters. Here’s a dish you can put together in little longer than it’ll take to read this blog.

I’m not a great one for buying convenience foods but the food industry is finally catching on that people want to make better choices and are giving us ways of getting them to the table faster. One of my store cupboard heroes is Jamie Oliver’s Sensational Sweet Chilli Spelt, packaged in a microwave bag which gives you a tasty, fast carb with cereals and protein. I buy mine from Sainsburgs, costing about £2.30 a pack, serving two. It makes a nice change from rice or potatoes and gives them slow burn energy.

Rich in Omega threes, I use my favourite smoked salmon fillets here but you can of course substitute with any fish of your choice. I tend to have a few frozen haddock, salmon or cod fillets in the freezer as a fall back – this is a very cost effective way to buy your fish. Alternatively, Lidl do smoked salmon fillets at a good cost and offer marinated substitutes for a flavour change option.

The red Thai sauce is super easy and quick, packed with flavour. The broccoli is prepared in a microwave veg steamer (Lakeland do these, mine was from TK Maxx). Keep this close to you, it makes veg prep and cooking effortless and gives you no excuse to add some to lots of meals that you normally might skip because of the faff factor.

Prep all this before you start on the fish as it all comes together very quickly.

 

Fast  Fish – quantities per person

1/2 pack Jamie Oliver’s Sensational Sweet Chilli Spelt

1 smoked salmon fillet

1/2 can low fat coconut milk

2 tablespoons red Thai chilli paste

steamed broccoli or Pak choy, or veg of your choice

 

Heat the coconut milk and Thai paste together in a small saucepan over a medium heat.

Heat a teaspoon of coconut or hemp oil in a small frying pan over a relatively high heat and drop the fish fillet in skin side down to sizzle and crisp up. Flip over and cook until opaque, removing from the heat when done.

Get the spelt in the microwave, blast for one minute and when done, set aside and leave to rest in the bag while you pop the broccoli in for 30-60 seconds on a high setting, depending on how muscular your microwave is.

Simply assemble on a warmed dish, spelt first, fish and veg drizzled with the fragrant sauce.

Ten minutes start to finish, job done.