5-2 Diet Hake with Tomato and Potato

Hake with Tomatoes and Potatoes for the 5:2 Diet:

It’s turned very cold today and I’m keen to have a warm meal as part of my 5:2 diet fasting day.  This is a low-calorie version of a dish I saw cooked by Paul Harwood at Boscastle Festival a few years ago.  The flavour comes partly from the fish of course, but also from a huge amount of garlic.  Some of it is pre-caramelised and if I wasn’t doing the 5:2 diet, I’d include the rather gorgeous garlic flavoured olive oil.  But, to keep the calories down, my version of the caramelised garlic is drained on kitchen roll.  And, I’ve used extra virgin olive oil throughout and added a few olives.  That’s because I’ve cut a lot of the olive oil out from the main dish so I wanted to add something to put a bit of olive flavour back in.

My Hake came from John at Delish Fish, and as I have been cooking MORE fish over the last few months, I’ve been reading recipes and noticed that many fish chefs salt their fish for half an hour or more before they start to cook.  So in this case, I did the same.

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Hake on Braised Potatoes with Garlic, Tomato and Olives

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

20 mins

Total Time

35 mins

 

Course: Main Dish

Cuisine: Spanish

Servings: 2

Author: Fiona Maclean

Ingredients

Fish

• 2 Hake Steaks
• 1 teaspoon Olive Oil
• 4 cloves Garlic Finely Sliced
• 250 g Potatoes Peeled and sliced
• 2 Shallots Finely chopped
• 200 ml Chicken Stock
• 150 g Tomatoes Skinned
• 1 tablespoon Parley Chopped
• 8 Kalamata Olives

Caramelised Garlic

• 100 g Garlic Cloves Roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons Olive oil

Instructions

Caramelised Garlic

1. Put the garlic and olive oil into a small pan and cook over a gentle heat for 15-20 mins, stirring occasionally and mashing it up as it softens
2. Once it is cooked, slightly caramelised and soft, put to one side and allow to cool
   
   

Fish

1. Season the fish steaks with sea salt and put to one side
2. Heat the remaining olive oil in an ovenproof skillet and soften the shallots and garlic for about 10 minutes
3. Add the skinned tomatoes and cook for 3 minutes or so till they are softened and can be mashed down with a fork
4. Add the stock and bring the mix up to a gentle simmer
5. Add the potatoes and cover. Cook on the hob top for 15-20 minutes till the potatoes are just tender
6. Grill the fish for 2 minutes on each side. I used my George Forman Grill so cooked for just two minutes in total
7. Carefully put the fish on top of the potatoes and baste with a little of the sauce. Add the olives
8. Cover and put in the oven for a further 10 minutes or until the fish is cooked through
9. Serve garnished with half a teaspoon of the caramelised garlic and half the chopped parsley per person. Remaining garlic can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days

Recipe Notes

If you are following a low calorie diet like the 5:2 diet, then you should drain the caramelised garlic in some kitchen paper

The maths for this dish in terms of calories per portion is as follows

Hake – 150g  168cals

Tomato – 2 medium 60cal

Shallot – 1 medium 20cal

Potato – 125g 120cals

Oil – 40 cals

Chicken stock, olives, parsley and fresh garlic 40 cals

Caramelised Garlic – 40cals (I’ve calculated as if this is one teaspoon of olive oil)

Total 468 calories

Normally that would be a lot for a fast day, but I woke up not feeling at all hungry and then I had a business meeting in town, so I’ve been drinking green tea and coffee all day.  If you wanted to cut the calories further, you could eat a smaller portion of Hake and less potato – I did find this very filling!  It’s also worth noting that potatoes are NOT high in calories if they are braised or boiled rather than fried or mashed with butter and cream!

I’m still working on the 5:2 diet and I’ve just bought a new set of horribly accurate scales that also measure body fat.  So, I think I will be sticking at the 5:2 diet for a while longer.  If nothing else, it’s giving me a good portfolio of low-calorie recipes!

Here are just a few of the Low-Calorie Recipes I’ve been working on for the 5:2 Diet

Slimline Livorno Fish Stew

Comforting Smoked Haddock Rarebit

Lime and Chilli Seared Scallops

5-2 Diet Haddock with Lemon and Parsley

Tarragon Chicken Parcels for 5:2 Diet

Chilli beef stirfry the 5:2 Diet way how to include red meat in a 5:2 diet fast day

This is quite a grand recipe for the 5:2 Diet.  If you want to find out more about the original BBC TV Documentary, check the link