Salmon

Salmon is an excellent source of Omega-3 fatty acids* and protein. The British Dietetic Association recommend that if you have had a heart attack you should aim to have 2-4 portions of oily fish a week. Everyone else should aim to have one portion of oily fish a week.

Fresh salmon can be quite pricey.  I, like everyone, look out for bargains and often it's cheaper to but with the skin on.

My tip for today is to buy big. If you've got a friendly fishmonger and a huge freezer buy a whole salmon and ask them to skin, bone, and cut into fillets. Or you can buy a half side, I bought one yesterday for £8 which I cut into 6 pieces (£1.33 per portion):

Now, you can just wrap them up and freeze them. However, to save time on cooking I make foil parcels with 2 fillets in ready to bake. If you live alone it would be better to wrap them individually.

Unfortunately my husband isn't keen on salmon, so I usually try and mask the taste with something such as sweet chilli sauce, horseradish sauce, mustard or pesto. Our current favourite is pesto so before wrapping I spread some over the tops of the fillets. I then wrapped the foil into parcels ready for the oven:

In order to prevent smells in the freezer I put them in a zip-up bag:

There you have 6 portions of salmon and pesto ready to cook straight from the freezer. I would bake them in my gas oven for about 25 minutes at 200 degrees celsius. These do have the skin, it's very easy to remove when they're cooked, just use a spatula or fish slice to ease the salmon away from the skin. I usually accompany mine with some steamed vegetables (broccoli goes very well) and pasta or potatoes.

If anyone else has any tips I'd love to hear them - just leave a comment.

*Omega-3 is a polyunsaturated fat found in oily fish which appears to have benefits in heart health. Go to http://www.bda.uk.com/foodfacts/Eating4HealthyHeart.pdf to find out more about eating for a healthy heart.