It’s inevitable to feel a bit overfed after the last few weeks, but launching into a diet is perhaps not the best idea. Trying to cut down after a splurge is the surest way to get the tummy rumbling, especially when it’s bleak outside. Instead, get yourself back on track by eating really healthily. Right now, I’m all excited about blood oranges, which are more acidic and livelier than ordinary oranges. In my experience, it is hard to find a bad one: largely grown in southern Italy, they’re invariably juicy, always delicious, even if they do stain everything they touch with their scarlet juice. This week, I use them to add sharpness to a miso-laced Californian-style salad that is as satisfying as it is colourful. My other reviving recipe is a gorgeous steamed fish seasoned with garlic, lemongrass, ginger and chilli – it’s perfect for eating with hot, fluffy rice.
Quinoa, blood orange and purple sprouting broccoli salad with miso and lime dressing
Add silky avocado, sharp oranges and a miso-laced lime and soy dressing to nutty quinoa, and you have the makings of a delicious and filling meat-free salad. Serves four to six.
150g quinoa
350g purple sprouting broccoli, ends trimmed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
4 blood oranges (if you can’t get any, use bog-standard oranges instead)
½ bunch coriander, leaves picked and roughly chopped
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1 large Hass avocado, peeled and stoned
Sesame seeds, lightly toasted
For the dressing
3 tsp miso paste
3 tsp soy sauce
Juice of 1 lime
6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Rinse the quinoa in cold water. Cut the broccoli into manageable pieces, cutting any thicker stems in half lengthways so it will all cook in the same time, then steam (or boil) for five to eight minutes, until tender.
Meanwhile, bring a pan of salted water to a boil and cook the quinoa for 12-15 minutes, until the grains begin to unfurl but still retain a little bite. Drain, tip back into the pan and season generously. Dress with the olive oil, then set aside.
Cut both ends off the oranges and stand them upright on a board. With a sharp knife, cut away the pith and peel, slice the fruit into rounds and then cut each round into quarters.
Fluff up the quinoa with a fork, add the coriander, spring onion, broccoli and orange pieces, and toss gently to combine.
To make the dressing, spoon the miso into a small bowl and whisk in all the other ingredients. Season to taste, then toss all but a tablespoon into the quinoa pan. Transfer the salad to individual plates or a large bowl. Cut the avocado into small chunks and scatter over the salad. Dribble over the last of the dressing, sprinkle on the sesame seeds and some extra coriander, and serve.
Steamed fish with nam jim sauce
A foil-wrapped parcel of steamed fish, heady with fragrant ginger, lemongrass and coriander: easy to prepare, extremely healthy and incredibly good. Perfect for blowing out the January cobwebs. Serve with steamed rice, to soak up all those chilli-laced juices. Serves four.
Vegetable oil
1 large seabass, cod or grey mullet, about 2kg
3 juicy limes
½ bunch coriander, picked, stalks reserved
1 thumb fresh ginger, peeled and julienned
3 fat garlic cloves, peeled
2 stalks lemongrass, outer skin removed, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 red chillies, roughly chopped
5 tbsp fish sauce
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tsp demerara or soft brown sugar
Heat the oven to 200C/390F/gas mark 6. Take a double layer of foil large enough to wrap the fish, place on a baking tray and rub lightly with oil. Cut three to four wafer-thin slices of lime and pop them into the fish’s cavity with a few coriander stalks, and season the fish generously both inside and out.
Squeeze the rest of the lime and roughly chop the remaining coriander stalks. Blitz the ginger, garlic, coriander stalks, lemongrass and chillies to a rough paste. And the fish and soy sauces, the sugar and the lime juice, and blitz again.
Slash the skin of the fish on both sides, lay it on the foil and rub in the marinade, so that it’s coated all over. Spoon the remaining marinade over the fish, pull up the edges of the foil, fold over and seal tightly.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the fish is just tender – you can tell by inserting a metal skewer: if it slides in easily, the fish will be cooked; if there is resistance, put the fish back in the oven for a bit longer. Carefully lift out the fish parcel and transfer to a large platter.
Give everyone their own bowl of steamed jasmine rice and unwrap the fish at the table, so that the amazing aromas waft out. Serve big chunks of fish on the rice, making sure everyone gets some of the cooking juices. This is delicious with a side dish of gently wilted spinach.
And for the rest of the week…
Buy extra purple sprouting for easy midweek pasta. Prepare as in today’s recipe, and simmer until very tender and almost falling apart. Meanwhile, fry garlic, anchovies and chillies in olive oil, add the broccoli and stir to coat. Toss into pasta shells with lemon juice, two tablespoons of the pasta water and lots of parmesan. Leftover miso dressing is lovely on spring greens, kale and other green veg; toss into noodles for a quick one-pot supper. Serve uneaten fish with fried rice: fry cooked rice, egg, onions and a few shrimps, and add the fish at the end to warm through. Finely chop and freeze any extra lemongrass: it lasts ages and breathes freshness into winter soups.
Thomasina Miers is co-owner of the Wahaca group of Mexican restaurants.. Her latest book, Chilli Notes, is published by Hodder & Stoughton at £25. To order a copy for £20, go to bookshop.theguardian.com
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