The one-pan protein dinner I’ve been making on repeat (gut friendly, anti-inflammatory) — Transcript

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1. 0:00When I get home tired, and I need a
2. 0:01healthy meal on the table fast, I rely
3. 0:04on one-pan dinners. This one ticks every
4. 0:07box. High protein, high fiber, done in
5. 0:1030 minutes. Plus, the ingredients are
6. 0:12super flexible, so learn this recipe
7. 0:14once, and you'll never get stuck for
8. 0:16healthy dinners again. I used to default
9. 0:18to pasta and takeaways all the time
10. 0:20working as a full-time doctor, but it's
11. 0:22one-pan meals like this that remove the
12. 0:25friction out of midweek cooking that
13. 0:27absolutely saved me. For a healthy meal,
14. 0:29you want three things. have enough
15. 0:31protein, and needs to have ingredients
16. 0:32that support your gut, and overall, it
17. 0:34needs to lower inflammation. This meal
18. 0:37does all three. Starting off with
19. 0:39garlic. We're going to do our mise en
20. 0:40place here. Now, garlic is not just a
21. 0:43flavor enhancer, it's got these
22. 0:45chemicals in. When you crush it, you
23. 0:47actually activate an enzyme called
24. 0:49alliinase, which converts into allicin,
25. 0:51and we know that when you consume this
26. 0:53compound, which is sulfurous, it reduces
27. 0:55markers of inflammation in the blood,
28. 0:57such as CRP. So, you might think of
29. 0:59garlic as just flavor, but actually,
30. 1:01it's anti-inflammatory as well. When you
31. 1:04chop it and allow it to sit for a few
32. 1:06minutes, it increases that conversion to
33. 1:08allicin. Similarly, a lot of people just
34. 1:10think onions as a base of a meal, but
35. 1:13actually, these are food for your gut
36. 1:15microbes. Shallots, as well as other
37. 1:17onion varieties, contain inulin fiber,
38. 1:20which your gut microbes absolutely love
39. 1:22to feed on. In a study where they
40. 1:24compared different onions, shallots were
41. 1:26one of the highest in something called
42. 1:28phenols, which have antioxidant
43. 1:30capacity. So, even though these aren't
44. 1:31as highly colored as red onions and some
45. 1:34of the other varieties, they're actually
46. 1:36packing a lot of punch. We're not doing
47. 1:38any fancy chopping, we're just doing
48. 1:39chopping on easy mode, because it's
49. 1:41midweek cooking. And the last bit of
50. 1:43chopping is going to be of our tomatoes.
51. 1:45You can tell from the color of tomatoes
52. 1:47that they're rich in a compound called
53. 1:49carotenoids. They also have vitamin C
54. 1:51and fiber, and these all coalesce to
55. 1:53give you anti-inflammatory effects,
56. 1:55which may explain why people who
57. 1:58regularly have tomatoes in their diet
58. 2:00have lower risk of things like
59. 2:01cardiovascular disease and even some
60. 2:03cancers. Again, we're chopping on easy
61. 2:04mode here. I'm just going to half them,
62. 2:06but the objective is not to choose only
63. 2:09the darkest red tomatoes. It's just to
64. 2:11get variety because your microbes going
65. 2:13to love all these different interesting
66. 2:15compounds you consume. For this recipe,
67. 2:16I'm using my 12-in stainless steel
68. 2:19frying pan from Made In. You want
69. 2:21something fairly wide and deep because
70. 2:24everything is going into one pan. For
71. 2:26everyday cooking, I always look to
72. 2:28stainless steel just like this one. And
73. 2:31that's because it's a really easy way of
74. 2:33reducing your exposure to chemicals that
75. 2:35you find in nonstick pans. It lasts for
76. 2:38years and honestly, I love the way it
77. 2:39looks in my kitchen. I always get asked
78. 2:41what cookware I use in my videos. So, if
79. 2:44you want to check out the Made In
80. 2:46stainless steel collection, I've linked
81. 2:47it down below where you can also save on
82. 2:49your order. And this is pretty much what
83. 2:51I use for all my one-pan cooking. We're
84. 2:53going to pop this on a medium heat.
85. 2:55While my pan is heating up, let me talk
86. 2:57to you about extra virgin olive oil. A
87. 2:59lot of people are scared to cook with
88. 3:00this because of the smoke point. You can
89. 3:02absolutely cook with extra virgin olive
90. 3:05oil. The rich polyphenols that this
91. 3:07contains, like oleocanthal and
92. 3:09oleuropein, protect it from the heat.
93. 3:12We're going to go in with our olive oil,
94. 3:14move this around the pan. We're going to
95. 3:15fry off our shallots first for a few
96. 3:17minutes. This will be a very low sizzle.
97. 3:20You're looking for a very light brown
98. 3:22color on the shallots. And notice we're
99. 3:23not adding the garlic at this point
100. 3:25because we don't want to burn them. But
101. 3:26if so, if you don't like onions for
102. 3:28whatever reason or you don't have them,
103. 3:30you could use something like leeks, even
104. 3:32fennel. As long as you cook it out,
105. 3:34you'll get that sweetness from the
106. 3:35caramelization of the natural sugars. A
107. 3:38lot of people worry about food sticking
108. 3:40with stainless steel, but good quality
109. 3:41pans like this one from Made In make
110. 3:43that a lot easier because the heat is
111. 3:46really consistent. And because I'm using
112. 3:47an electric hob, you'll see me flicking
113. 3:50that up and down because I'm trying to
114. 3:51control the heat to keep it at like low
115. 3:53medium. But, if you got a gas burner,
116. 3:55lucky you, it's a lot easier to keep it
117. 3:57nice and consistent. The onions should
118. 3:59look a bit like this, not overly brown,
119. 4:02nice and soft, little bit of color.
120. 4:04Tomatoes going in. We're looking for
121. 4:06these to get nice and jammy. This Made
122. 4:08In pan has five layers of stainless
123. 4:10steel, so the heat spreads evenly across
124. 4:13the surface, which means your onions
125. 4:15cook down evenly and you won't get
126. 4:17patches where they're burnt. These pans
127. 4:19are actually used by professional cooks
128. 4:21across the world, so your midweek dinner
129. 4:23can taste like you spent a lot more time
130. 4:26on it. And you get to feel like a bit of
131. 4:27a chef yourself. Whilst these are
132. 4:29cooking, let me talk to you about
133. 4:30turmeric, one of my favorite spices,
134. 4:33very well studied for anti-inflammatory
135. 4:35effects. It comes from a plant called
136. 4:37the Curcuma Longa.
137. 4:38>> Curcuma Longa?
138. 4:39>> Longa.
139. 4:40Curcuma Longa, and it's used in
140. 4:43traditional medicine across the world.
141. 4:45Most people recognize it for the
142. 4:46compound curcumin, but actually it's got
143. 4:49tons more curcuminoids. And that's why I
144. 4:51love using the whole plant in the form
145. 4:53of powder or the actual root as much as
146. 4:56possible rather than just supplements.
147. 4:58And this is going to bring color and
148. 5:00earthiness to the dish. We just want to
149. 5:02gently cook this out, so you don't get
150. 5:03that raw flavor of turmeric. Couple of
151. 5:05cracks of black pepper. And midweek
152. 5:07cooking is all about using easy flavors
153. 5:11to boost the deliciousness of your meal,
154. 5:13which is why I rely on pastes just like
155. 5:15harissa. Now, you can buy this
156. 5:17store-bought or you can easily make it
157. 5:20yourself by toasting a few spices,
158. 5:22adding a couple of ingredients you
159. 5:23probably already have in your fridge,
160. 5:25blend it up, and then it lasts for a few
161. 5:27days. But, if you're short on time, you
162. 5:28can get really good quality ones from
163. 5:30the store as well. Just check the label.
164. 5:32Couple of tablespoons of harissa, in it
165. 5:34goes. You can see now the tomatoes have
166. 5:37broken down and become jammy. This is
167. 5:39another way in which you can better
168. 5:41access the lycopene that are locked away
169. 5:43in their cell walls. You You the mixture
170. 5:45to go a deep orange color, and that's
171. 5:48when you know it's time to add the
172. 5:49passata and the coconut milk. Next goes
173. 5:51in passata, but you can also use chopped
174. 5:54tomatoes, canned tomatoes, just as long
175. 5:56as you mash it down and this is giving
176. 5:58us even more lycopene. Now we're going
177. 6:00to use coconut milk. I can see some of
178. 6:02you raising an eyebrow right now because
179. 6:04it's high in saturated fat, but we're
180. 6:06not just using coconut milk on its own.
181. 6:09It's going to be in the context of high
182. 6:11fiber, lots of different plant
183. 6:12varieties. We're not using coconut milk
184. 6:15every single day. And so I think when
185. 6:16you use it in moderation, it is
186. 6:18perfectly healthy to use. And if you're
187. 6:20using the Doctor's Kitchen app, AI Dr.
188. 6:22Rupee is on hand to provide plenty of
189. 6:25swaps whenever you need it. Reduce this
190. 6:27down for a couple of minutes and then
191. 6:28we'll add the veggies. We should all be
192. 6:30eating more lentils and peas and beans
193. 6:34because they contain fiber, which is
194. 6:36lacking in so many of our diets. The
195. 6:38beauty of fiber is that it's not even
196. 6:40necessary for you, it's necessary for
197. 6:42your microbes that live in your large
198. 6:45intestine. These ferment and they
199. 6:46nourish the colonic cells, they reduce
200. 6:49inflammation locally and around your
201. 6:51body. Honestly, it's almost like there's
202. 6:52nothing that fiber can't do. In these
203. 6:55go. These are already cooked. If you
204. 6:56don't like beluga lentils, you can use
205. 6:58puy lentils, green lentils, black beans,
206. 7:01chickpeas, whatever legumes you prefer.
207. 7:03At the end of this, we're going to go in
208. 7:05with an alarming amount of greens. Now
209. 7:07this does look like a lot, but trust me,
210. 7:10in about 45 seconds, this is going to
211. 7:12wilt to almost nothing. We've got our
212. 7:13fiber, we've got our anti-inflammatory
213. 7:16ingredients, now we need our core
214. 7:17protein. For this recipe, I'm going to
215. 7:18be using halibut, but the beauty of this
216. 7:21recipe is that the core protein is so
217. 7:23flexible, no matter what you've got in
218. 7:25your fridge. But if fish is not your
219. 7:26thing, you could use skinless boneless
220. 7:29chicken, even firm tofu for the veggies.
221. 7:31We're looking out for you. Fish is
222. 7:33literally one of the most nutritionally
223. 7:35dense foods you can eat. I've actually
224. 7:37been trying to get more fish in my own
225. 7:39diet. I'm nestling the fish fillets into
226. 7:41the sauce, so it poaches nice and
227. 7:44evenly. And core proteins like fish have
228. 7:46all nine essential amino acids. This is
229. 7:49essential if you want to reduce
230. 7:50cravings, make sure that you actually
231. 7:52feel satisfied. And this is particularly
232. 7:54important as we age, where we don't
233. 7:56absorb proteins as readily as we would
234. 7:58do in our 20s and 30s. While this is
235. 8:01bubbling away, I'm going to clean down
236. 8:02my kitchen, so there's no mess when it
237. 8:04comes to serving. You can put a lid on
238. 8:07this if you prefer, but it's just as
239. 8:08easy to cook it without a lid. Just make
240. 8:11sure the heat is nice and low, so you
241. 8:13don't over reduce the sauce. You can
242. 8:15tell when your fish is cooked when the
243. 8:17flesh is opaque and it flakes away easy
244. 8:20when you push on it. The beauty of this
245. 8:21recipe is that I will literally bring
246. 8:23this to the table and garnish it in
247. 8:25front of everyone. I'm using pickled
248. 8:27onions that I've got in my fridge to
249. 8:29garnish this, giving some sharpness that
250. 8:31will cut through the richness of the
251. 8:33coconut milk. And just simply tear some
252. 8:35coriander on top if you have it to hand.
253. 8:37But if you're not a coriander fan, like
254. 8:39half the team here,
255. 8:41you can use parsley, but a little bit of
256. 8:43coriander just gives that freshness.
257. 8:45Each bowl has got 39 g of protein, a
258. 8:47mixture of three different vegetables
259. 8:49and anti-inflammatory ingredients. This
260. 8:52is what healthy midweek cooking is all
261. 8:54about. The beauty of this recipe is that
262. 8:55it tastes better the next day, so you
263. 8:58can double batch this and have some for
264. 9:00lunch tomorrow. Some of the
265. 9:01anti-inflammatory foods here are
266. 9:03actually in my top 10 that you can watch
267. 9:06right now.