A super-quick and colourful weeknight dinner, using just one baking dish! I love recipes with minimal washing up...
This dish uses the wonderful umami notes of miso paste to flavour the fish, and includes two serves of your 3+ vegetables. Not only do the green, orange and purple of the broccoli, carrots and red cabbage look great, the naturally occurring compounds that help give vegetables their brilliant hues have important nutritional benefits.
"Phytochemical" is the term for the biologically active compounds found in fruits, vegetables and other plant foods. The wider the variety of these foods in our diet, the wider variety of these beneficial compounds we will end up consuming. Have you heard the expression "eat the rainbow"?
The beta-carotene from carrots and broccoli is a precursor to Vitamin A as well as being an antioxidant, and is important for vision and immunity. Broccoli also contains a family of compounds called glucosenolates, which have been shown to be protective against many types of cancer. Anthocyanins are the compounds that give red cabbage it's distinctive dark purple colour (also blueberries, blackcurrants, cherries, and the skin of eggplants), and can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, cognitive decline and cancer.
"...the benefit of a diet rich in fruit and vegetables is attributed to the complex mixture of phytochemicals present in whole foods".
Liu, R.H. (2003).
Fish is something the Heart Foundation recommends we try and get at least two serves of each week (you can find a link to their advice here). Fish is an excellent source of Omega 3 fatty acids, consumption of which is protective of heart health, and is associated with a reduced risk of depression. Omega 3's also have an anti-inflammatory effect, as opposed the the Omega 6 fatty acids prominent in the modern diet.
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Within the dazzling array of delicious recipes, you will find plenty of rainbow-coloured vegetables to boost your intake of these important phytonutrients!
References:
synergistic combinations of phytochemicals. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 78, 517S-520S.