Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

Check the dried spices to make sure they don’t contain colour or anti-caking agents. Be sure the pine nuts don’t contain preservatives. I used Eden Organic red wine vinegar, Jesse Tree olives and Krinos feta.

Bake hollowed-out eggplants

Make eggplant-tomato-olive mixture

Tomato, olive and feta-stuffed eggplant

Ingredients:

2 small eggplants

1 tsp (5 ml) coarse sea salt

Salt and pepper

3 tbsp (45 ml) olive oil, divided

½ small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 tsp (5 ml) fresh thyme leaves

½ tsp (2.5 ml) ground cumin

Pinch cinnamon

1 tbsp (15 ml) red wine vinegar

10 oz (283 g) cherry tomatoes, halved, crushed and drained

½ cup (125 ml) halved pitted Kalamata olives

3 tbsp (15 ml) pine nuts

½ cup (125 ml) crumbled feta cheese

1 tbsp (15 ml) za’atar (a Middle Eastern spice)

¼ cup (60 ml) roughly chopped fresh cilantro

Olive oil (optional)

Lemon wedges (optional)

Plain yogurt (optional)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 F (177 C); line baking sheet with parchment paper. Slice eggplants in half lengthwise; sprinkle with coarse salt. Let stand for about 10 minutes. Using paper towel or clean tea towel, pat eggplants dry. Using spoon, scoop out flesh from eggplant, leaving about ¼ inch (0.6 cm) of flesh on the skin. Coarsely chop the eggplant flesh; set aside.

Place eggplants on prepared baking sheet, hollowed side up; season with salt and pepper. Brush eggplants with 2 tbsp (30 ml) of the olive oil. Bake on middle rack of oven for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in skillet, heat remaining olive oil over medium-high heat. Add reserved eggplant flesh; cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes. Add onion, garlic, thyme, cumin and cinnamon; cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes. Add vinegar, tomatoes, olives, pine nuts, feta and za’atar; cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, season with salt and pepper and stir in cilantro. Cover and keep warm.

Stuff hollowed eggplant skins with flesh mixture and drizzle with olive oil. Serve with lemon wedges and yogurt, if using. Serves 4.

From Canadian Living

OptiGrill Smart

It has six settings on its dashboard — burgers, chicken, panini, sausage, red meat and fish — plus settings for seafood and bacon that you can enable from your Bluetooth device. It will also cook frozen food. I was a little skeptical, but it does work! So far I have cooked steak (perfect medium rare), chicken kebabs (juicy), lamb chops, fish, vegetables and panini and all have been great. It’s also fast and easy to clean. It’s not very big so cooking large batches is a bit tricky. But if you don’t have a barbecue and like grilled food, it’s a pretty good option.

This tilapia dish is from OptiGrill’s online recipes. The grill preheated in 5 minutes and cooked the fish perfectly in 8 minutes. To make this without the grill, just bake or broil the fish in the oven until it is done.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

I used Eden Organic red wine vinegar instead of white wine vinegar to avoid sulfites. Use fresh lemon juice, as the concentrates contain additives. I used President’s Choice garlic-stuffed olives.

Brush half of parsley, vinegar, oil, lemon juice and garlic mixture over fish

Add olives, tomatoes and lemon zest to the rest of the mixture

Tilapia with tomato olive relish

Ingredients:

¼ cup (50 ml) finely chopped fresh parsley

2 tbsp (30 ml) fresh lemon juice

2 tbsp (30 ml) olive oil

1 tbsp (15 ml) white wine vinegar

3 garlic cloves, minced

¾ tsp (4 ml) each salt and pepper, divided

4 tilapia fillets, about 5 oz (150 g) each

1 cup (250 ml) seeded and finely chopped tomato

¼ cup (50 ml) finely chopped green olives

1 tsp (5 ml) finely grated lemon zest

Preparation:

Whisk the parsley with the lemon juice, olive oil, vinegar and garlic; divide into two equal portions.

Sprinkle ½ tsp (2 ml) each salt and pepper on both sides of the fillets. Brush one portion of the parsley mixture over the fillets. Stir the remaining parsley mixture with the tomato, olives, lemon zest and remaining salt and pepper; set aside.

Preheat oven or indoor grill. On OptiGrill, cook until the indicator light has changed to orange. In oven, cook the fish until cooked through. Serve the fillets with the tomato mixture on the side. Serves 4.

From OptiGrill Recipes

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

The olives and Feta may contain artificial ingredients. I use Pilaros brand black olives from Costco and Tre Stelle Feta.

Place all the ingredients but the Feta on large sheets of parchment paper

Fold the edges together to form a packet; you can staple it

The fish and other ingredients will steam inside the packets

Tomato, onion, black olive and Feta fish packet

Ingredients:

4 6-ounce (175 g) pieces boneless, skinless cod, salmon, or bass

2 cups (500 ml) halved cherry tomatoes

¼ small red onion, thinly sliced

1/3 cup (75 ml) halved pitted black olives

¼ cup (60 ml) olive oil

Kosher salt and black pepper

1 ½ ounces (45 g) Feta, crumbled (about 1/3 cup/75 g)

Preparation:

Heat oven to 425° F (210°C. Place the fish, tomatoes, onion, olives, oil, 1 teaspoon (5 ml) salt, and ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) pepper on 4 11-by-15-inch (28 x 38 cm) pieces of parchment, dividing evenly. Fold the parchment over the fish, then seal each packet by folding the edges over twice.

Transfer the packets to a baking sheet. Bake until the fish is opaque throughout, 12 to 14 minutes.

Transfer the packets to plates and use scissors to make a small X in the top of each packet.

Tear open carefully (they will probably release steam) and top with the Feta. Serves 4.

From the October 2014 issue of Real Simple