Yes, but no, but… it’s complicated. An instinctive answer to this would be yes, hugely, because it is the source of lean protein and omega 3 fatty acids, both crucial in a good healthy diet. But we keep hearing about dangerous levels of heavy metals and pollutants that fish contain which might be harmful to us and are definitely a risk to pregnant women.
Interestingly and counterintuitively it is wild caught fish that absorbs the pollutants, so we might be better off eating responsibly farmed fish. But here is another catch: farmed fish don’t feed on plankton, krill or small fish naturally rich in omega-3 but on prepared fish meal, so the goodness they contain is rapidly diminishing. Plus the farms are disruptive to marine ecosystems and create ocean waste. Didn’t I say it was complicated?
However it is on the whole, relatively better to have farmed salmon, hake, mackerel, mussels, oysters or farmed halibut (all of those good, sustainable choices recommended by Marine Conservation Society) for dinner instead of a huge steak or bangers with bacon. That’s not least because fish is less calorific and, being relatively expensive, we are less likely to waste it.
Of course if your fish dinners consist of fish fingers or those ready-breaded fresh or frozen fillets, it will get a little samey. Here’s what to do then this and any week.
Salmon fillets can be simply grilled and served with buttered spinach, or slow roasted in the oven, to be served with dill sauce and crushed new potatoes. If you’re a cod/hake/haddock kind of person, try cod/hake and potatoes or slow roasted haddock or cod with saffron sauce. Mackerel is excellent grilled whole with spice crust, but if you feel safer with fillets, sticky mackerel will do. Fennel and orange salad will be ideal to go with it.
Mussels are amazingly still available at fishmongers’ – I thought they were only in the ‘r’ months. So it might be curried mussels this week, with baked crunchy chips. And prawns Creole is a wonderful way of preparing the crustaceans.
There’s more in the fish and seafood content pages, and now onto dessert: I’m not sure this awfully cold spring precludes ice-cream making, but I’m going to make a tub of very chocolate ice cream, to spoon onto black forest brownies. Is it ever going to get properly warm? The Weather Man isn’t hopeful but I am. Keep well and cook delicious!