As the UK goes into lockdown and the vast majority of us are staying home for the next few weeks, it is important to be filling your time and trying new things while you can. That’s where we are here to help!
Cooking and learning a new recipe using the right ingredients is a great way to pass time during self-isolation. Not to mention you’ll thank yourself later once you can whip up your favourites with your eyes shut!
More than ever these days, we are learning about the nutrients in our food and how we can benefit from these in their rawest form in our everyday lives. We support this thinking at Inspire and we are passionate about supporting not only healthy food choices but also encouraging our customers to live well eat well, and live wholesome life in the best way they can just now from home.
The possibilities of recipes are endless, but this one will focus on the comfort of a homemade dish. And because not all great recipes have to be complicated, we have put together an easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy (literally) recipe to make sure you not only eat something delicious but also get a much needed immune-system boost with lots of fresh vegetables.
This Ratatouille recipe, served with “Fish en Papillote”, is easy to make and even easier to enjoy!
Ingredients: (for 4 servings)
For the ratatouille
- Olive oil
- 1 onion
- 2 teaspoons of chopped garlic
- 1 green bell pepper
- 1 yellow bell pepper
- 1 orange bell pepper
- 1 eggplant
- 1 courgette
- 4 tomatoes
- Onion powder
- Garlic powder
- Paprika
- Italian herbs
- Salt and pepper
For the fish
- 4 filets of sea-bream fish (haddock or cod also suitable)
- Parchment paper (kitchen foil can be suitable)
- Olive oil
- 1 lemon
- Onion powder
- Salt and pepper
Method (45min-1hour) :
- Chop all your vegetables into small dices
- Cook the onion in olive oil on medium heat for 3 minutes
- Add 2 teaspoons of chopped garlic, cook on medium heat for 2min
- Add your bell peppers and cook on medium heat until they are softer. It is important to cook the peppers first before the other vegetables as they take longer to cook.
- Add your eggplant and cook on medium heat until it is softer
- Add your courgette and cook on medium heat until it is softer
- Add tomatoes and make sure to keep the tomato juice in
- Add half a cup of water
- Add onion and garlic powder generously
- Lightly dust Italian herbs
- Lightly dust paprika
- Add salt and pepper to taste
- Cook on medium heat until all vegetables are soft and the tomatoes have fully cooked, and turned into a “sauce”.
Fish en Papillote recipe (15-20min)
- Cut four sheets of parchment paper, keeping in mind they need to be large enough to be closed with two “twists” at each side.
- Place your filets in the centre of each sheet
- Add 1 teaspoon of olive oil evenly on top of the fish
- Sprinkle onion powder lightly
- Add salt and pepper to your liking
- Slice lemon very thinly and place two slices on top of each filet
- Close the sheets into a “papillote” (twists on both extremities)
- Place on a baking tray and in a pre-heated oven (200 degrees)
- Cook at 200 degrees for 15-20min, depending on the thickness/size of your filets
This recipe is an amazing and delicious way to fit in your 5 a day (and more!)
This recipe can of course be adapted to your tastes and preferences. We would recommend using all the listed vegetables and fish listed as they are full of vitamins and nutrients, which are very important to boost your immune system, especially in light of current events.
We hope we have inspired you to get cooking and if you would like to find out more about foods that can boost your immune system, check out our blog here: https://inspirecatering.co.uk/tips-to-boost-immune-system/