Food Essentials

Most fruits and vegetables dont require preparation: you just grab, go, and eat. If you feel that you lack time in your busy schedule to prepare healthy foods, load up on produce you can easily eat on the go, such as bananas, apples, celery, and baby carrots. Fruits and veggies are convenient and easy to eat on the fly.

Ingredients
½–1 Scotch bonnet chilli
¼ of a green pepper
3 cloves of garlic
2 spring onions
1 bunch each of fresh basil and coriander , (30g)
1 handful of celery leaves , (optional)
20 g coconut oil
1 x 1 kg red snapper , scaled, cleaned, gutted, from sustainable sources
1 plantain
olive oil
½ a ripe avocado
SALSA
3 x ⅓ each of red, yellow and green peppers
2 ripe plum tomatoes
½ a red onion
3 cloves of garlic
½ a cucumber
4 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon West Indian hot pepper sauce
BREADFRUIT BEIGNETS
½ a breadfruit , (400g)
10 g unsalted butter
75 g panko breadcrumbs
750 ml vegetable oil , for frying

Method
For the marinade, deseed the Scotch bonnet and pepper, peel the garlic, trim and quarter the spring onions, then place it all in a blender with the basil, half the coriander and the celery leaves (if using). Melt and add the coconut oil and whiz to a paste, loosening with a good splash of water, if needed.
Use a sharp knife to score the fish all over on both sides, about 1cm deep. Rub over the marinade, getting it into all the slashes, then cover and marinate in the fridge for at least 4 hours.
For the salsa, deseed and finely chop the peppers. Cut a cross into the bottom of each tomato, plunge them into boiling water for 40 seconds, then peel away the skin.
Peel the red onion and garlic, trim the cucumber, then finely chop it all with most of the remaining coriander, mixing as you go.
Scrape into a bowl, stir in the vinegar and hot pepper sauce, then season to perfection with sea salt and black pepper.
To make the beignets, chop the breadfruit into large wedges and cook in boiling salted water with the lid ajar for 15 to 20 minutes, or until tender, then drain.
Remove the skin and core, then mash while hot with the butter. Stir in 2 tablespoons of the salsa, then season to perfection.
Divide the mixture into 20 balls, then roll them in the breadcrumbs and place on a tray. Put aside.
Just under half fill a large sturdy pan with oil – the oil should be 8cm deep, but never fill your pan more than half full – and place on a medium-high heat. Use a thermometer to tell when it’s ready (170°C), or add a piece of potato and wait until it turns golden – that’s the sign that it’s ready to go.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 220ºC/425ºF/gas 7, and preheat a large ovenproof frying pan or non-stick roasting tray on a high heat on the hob.
Put in the snapper to char and colour for 2 minutes on each side, then transfer to the oven for 10 to 12 minutes, or until cooked through. To test if it’s done, insert a small, sharp knife into the thickest part just behind the head – the fish should flake away.
While it cooks, peel the plantain and halve lengthways. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil into a frying pan on a medium-high heat, and cook the plantain for 2 minutes on each side, or until golden. Season.
Carefully drop 6 beignets into the hot vegetable oil and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until golden, crisp and they rise to the surface. Scoop out and drain on kitchen paper (freeze the rest before frying, to defrost and cook fresh another day).
Serve the fish with the salsa, beignets and plantain. Halve, destone and scoop over the avocado, and finish with a scattering of coriander leaves. Any leftover salsa will keep for up to 2 days in the fridge.

Ingredients
2 spring onions
½ a bulb of fennel
1 carrot
200 g ripe mixed-colour cherry tomatoes , on the vine
3 cloves of garlic
½ a fresh red chilli
8-10 mixed olives , (stone in)
olive oil
2 x 350 g whole round fish , such as royal bream, trout, sea bass, red mullet, scaled, gutted, gills removed, from sustainable sources
1 bunch of mixed fresh soft herbs (30g) , such as flat-leaf parsley, mint, fennel tops
150 g Greco di Tufo white wine
1 lemon
extra virgin olive oil

Method
Trim the spring onions and fennel (reserving any leafy tops), peel the carrot, then slice them all ½cm thick. Halve the tomatoes. Peel and finely slice the garlic and chilli. Squash and destone the olives. Put a large frying pan on a high heat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Stir in the onions, fennel and carrot, followed 4 minutes later by the tomatoes, garlic, chilli and olives. Toss regularly for 2 minutes while you lightly score the fish on both sides (this will help flavour and heat to pe*****te as it cooks).

Lay the fish on top of the veg, stuff half the herbs into the cavities, then pour over the wine and let it reduce by half. Add about 300ml of water, to come 1cm up the side of the pan. Cover and leave to thunder away on a high heat for 8 minutes (boiling underneath, steaming on top means fragrant veggies). Pick the remaining herb leaves, finely grate the lemon zest over them, then chop and mix together.

Uncover the fish and baste with its juices for 1 minute. To check the fish is cooked, go to the thickest part up near the head – if the flesh flakes easily away from the bone, it’s done. Remove to a plate, spoon over the veg and juices, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, scatter over the lemony herbs, then squeeze over the lemon juice. Great served with bread to mop up that irresistible sauce, or with new potatoes, couscous or rice.

Ingredients
800 g new potatoes
4 tablespoons crème fraîche , or soured cream
2 lemons
extra virgin olive oil
4 heaped tablespoons fresh horseradish , or jarred horseradish
1 bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley , (30g)
½ a bunch of fresh chives
1 small bunch of spring onions
300 g hot-smoked trout , from sustainable sources

Method
Scrub the potatoes and cook them in boiling salted water until tender, then drain.
While still warm, but cool enough to handle, either cut the potatoes in half or squash them into a large salad bowl.
Add the crème fraîche, the zest and juice of 1 lemon and 4 tablespoons of oil. Toss around, then season to taste with sea salt and black pepper.
Add or finely grate in the horseradish, tasting as you go, then finely chop the parsley and chives and throw these into the bowl.
Trim, finely slice and add the spring onions, tear in the smoked trout, and mix together.
Now it’s very important to balance your salad with more seasoning and maybe an extra squeeze of lemon juice. You may even want to give it more of a kick by adding some extra horseradish. Personally, I love to add a lot of horseradish and make it really hot.
Great served as a starter, salad or even dinner if you love it as much as I do.

Ingredients
2 x 120 g free-range skinless chicken breasts
2 limes
4 cloves of garlic
2 heaped tablespoons peanut butter
1-2 fresh red chillies

Method
Turn the grill on to medium-high.
Score the chicken breasts in a criss-cross fashion, rub with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, a pinch of sea salt and black pepper and the finely grated zest of 1 lime.
Place criss-cross side down in a cold 26cm non-stick ovenproof frying pan and put it on a medium-high heat, while you peel and finely grate the garlic into a bowl.
Squeeze in the juice from 1½ limes, stir in the peanut butter and loosen with enough water to give you a spoonable consistency.
Finely slice the chilli, then mix (as much as you dare!) through the sauce, taste and season to perfection.
Flip the chicken over, spoon over the sauce, then transfer to the grill, roughly 10cm from the heat, for 5 minutes, or until gnarly and cooked through.
Finely grate over the remaining lime zest, then drizzle with 1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil. Serve with lime wedges, for squeezing over.