Experts recommend eating at least two servings of oily fish a week to keep your heart healthy. Oily fish, like salmon, is rich in healthy omega-3 fatty acids, which help to increase good cholesterol (HDL), reducing the risk of heart disease.
Teaming salmon up with fibre-rich chickpeas is a great way to create a nutritious, cholesterol-reducing meal. Not only do chickpeas help to lower cholesterol, but they’re also a good source of low fat protein and very nutritious. They can taste pretty bland on their own, so I tend to incorporate them into recipes like this, combining them with other flavourful ingredients.
I top this pie with filo pastry because it’s very low in saturated fat (containing only 0.25g of saturated fat per 100g). Other pastry types, like puff and shortcrust, are high in saturated fat, so aren’t recommended for those who have high cholesterol.
Information
- Serves: 2
- Preparation time: 5 mins
- Cooking time: 30 mins
- Difficulty: Medium
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
- 1 small onion, coarsely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 skinless salmon fillets, cut into 2cm pieces
- 3 tomatoes, coarsely chopped
- 200g tin chickpeas, rinsed & drained
- 100g low fat natural yoghurt
- 2 tbsp chopped chives
- 1/2 tsp ground paprika
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 4 ready rolled fresh filo pastry sheets
- Spray oil (e.g. rapeseed)
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Lemon wedges, to serve (optional)
- Vegetables to serve with
Method
- Preheat oven to 180*C (160*C for fan ovens).
- Heat the rapeseed oil in a medium frying pan over a low heat.
- Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft (about 3 mins).
- Add the salmon, tomatoes and chickpeas.
- Cook for 2 mins over a high heat, stirring to combine.
- Take the pan off the heat and stir in the yoghurt, chives, paprika and cumin.
- Mix well, then season to taste with salt & pepper.
- Spoon mixture into a pie/suitable oven proof dish.
- Tear the filo pastry sheets into 3 long strips, then loosely scrunch up each strip and place on top of the salmon filling.
- Spray pastry scrunches generously with rapeseed oil spray.
- Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes, or until golden and crispy.
- Serve with lemon wedges and vegetable sides.
apples-and-beans 