Who says comfort food can’t be healthy? These crisp-baked drumsticks are teeming with nutrients and the exotic spicy taste of rooibos chai. While not a “true” tea from the Camellia sinensis plant, rooibos is also, like true tea, abundant in disease-fighting polyphenols. Not surprisingly, preliminary animal studies suggest rooibos may play a role in staving off cancer.
Chicken
1 Tbsp (15 mL) rooibos chai loose-leaf tea
1/4 cup (60 mL) fine bread crumbs (you could also use cornmeal or cracker crumbs)
1/4 tsp (1 mL) sea salt
1/4 tsp (1 mL) cardamom
8 small organic chicken drumsticks, skin removed
Ground black pepper, to taste
Sauce
3 small red peppers
2 tsp (10 mL) camelina or extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, peeled and minced
2 very small garlic cloves, peeled and minced
2/3 cup (160 mL) tomato juice
1/3 cup (80 mL) reduced-sodium vegetable or chicken stock
Pinch of coconut palm sugar
Paprika, to taste
Ground black pepper, to taste
For chicken, preheat oven to 375 F (190 C).
Grind rooibos chai in spice grinder until very fine. Add to bread crumbs in small bowl along with sea salt and cardamom, and mix well. Spread bread crumb mixture on large plate. Roll drumsticks in mixture to coat evenly, pressing with fingers to ensure mixture adheres to chicken. Season with black pepper to taste.
Transfer drumsticks to seasoned cast iron pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until golden and cooked through.
While chicken is cooking, prepare sauce. Roast red peppers until slightly charred. Place in paper bag to cool and then remove skin and seeds, and chop into uniform chunks. Set aside.
Heat oil in large, well seasoned skillet. Add onion and cook until soft. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Pour tomato juice and stock into pan, and add coconut palm sugar. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add roasted red peppers and simmer covered, another 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
Place mixture in food processor and blend until smooth. Return to pan to heat through. Season with paprika and ground black pepper to taste.
Place generous amount of sauce on 4 plates and top with chicken drumsticks. Serve with basmati rice or freekeh.
Serves 4.
Each serving contains: 178 calories; 18 g protein; 6 g total fat (1 g sat. fat, 0 g trans fat); 13 g carbohydrates (6 g sugars, 2 g fibre); 176 mg sodium
source: "Cooking With Tea", alive #368, June 2013
While sablefish’s texture and fat content stand up admirably to the heat of the grill, this firm fish is also delicious poached. For this recipe, sablefish’s luxurious taste is combined with a light fragrant broth of lemongrass and ginger punctuated with the heat of Thai chili. Sustainability status Sablefish, also known as butterfish or black cod, is a rich and satisfying fish, plentiful in omega-3s and sourced sustainably from the Pacific Northwest. Skin and bones Sablefish has large pin bones. Ideally, your fishmonger will remove them, but if not, before you begin, locate them along the fish’s centreline and, using a pair of needle nose pliers, grasp them firmly to remove. You can leave the skin on for this recipe, which may help the fish hold together a little better while cooking, but it can be tricky to peel the skin away from the cooked fish and discard before plating. I opted to remove the skin first and simply keep a close eye on the cooking time, being careful to remove the fish from the poaching liquid before it flakes apart.
These mildly spiced salmon tacos served with sweet and spicy pumpkin seeds will bring a party together. Make a small quantity of salmon go further when you pair it with a fresh red cabbage slaw featuring citrus and cilantro. Drizzled with some bright lime yogurt, the flavours come together perfectly. Sustainability status Wild salmon from the Pacific Northwest and Alaska are considered among the most sustainable, as the fishery is subject to limited harvests. With salmon stocks in decline, supporting managed fisheries such as these can help maintain populations into the future. That may also mean eating salmon less often than we do now. Salmon is a favourite Salmon is the most popular variety of fish in Canada and the second most popular in the US.
B12-rich mussels are a very good and economical source of protein and iron. Steamed mussels are a classic way to enjoy seafood—and so is this rich, aromatic broth of tomato, fennel, and saffron. Be sure to allow saffron to fully infuse to get the full flavour benefit, and finish off the dish with the fragrant fennel fronds. Sustainability status Farmed mussels are considered highly sustainable due to their low impacts on the environment. They are easy to harvest, require no fertilizer or fresh water, and don’t need to be fed externally, as they get all their nutritional requirements from their marine environment. Mussel prep Selection: Look for mussels with shiny, tightly closed shells that smell of the sea. If shells are slightly open, give them a tap. Live mussels will close immediately. Storage: Keep mussels in the fridge in a shallow pan laid on top of ice. Keep them out of water and cover with a damp cloth. Ideally, consume on the day you buy them, but within two days. They need to breathe, so never keep them in a sealed plastic bag. Cleanup: In addition to being sustainable, farmed mussels tend to require less cleaning than wild mussels. Most of the fibrous “beards” that mussels use to grip solid surfaces will have been removed before sale. But if a few remain, they’re easily dispatched: grasp the beard with your thumb and forefinger and pull it toward the hinge of the mussel and give it a tug. Afterward, give mussels a quick rinse and scrub away any areas of mud or seaweed, which, with farmed mussels, will require minimal work.
The delicate flavour of shrimp is highlighted with just a touch of lemon and a hint of mustard, while radish and celery give some fresh crunch to this dish. Eat it in lettuce cups, on top of greens, or served on whole grain bread for a filling snack. Sustainability status Both wild and farmed shrimp can be sustainable depending on where they’re caught and how they’re raised. See our article “Sea Change” for more information about choosing ethical shrimp.