Couscous & fish in a bag

Couscous & fish in a bag

Boost your iron intake with this simple healthy recipe

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 1

Easily doubled

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 10 mins

Cook time

Cook 20 - 25 mins

Super healthy

Good source of iron and omega 3

Method

  1. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Fold a large sheet of foil or baking paper in half and tightly fold one side to seal. Grate the lemon zest and mix with the couscous, pine nuts, courgette and dill. Season well, then tip into the open 'bag'. Cut the lemon in half, then cut 2 thin slices from one half. Juice the other half and add the juice to the stock.
  2. Lay the haddock on top of the couscous, top with the lemon slices, then carefully pour over the lemony stock. Fold the remaining open sides tightly. Bake for 20-25 mins, depending on how thick your fish is, until the fish is cooked and couscous is fluffy.
Try

Healthy benefits

Cooking in a bag steams the fish in its juices, which helps to retain valuable nutrients including the B complex of vitamins. The fish is protected from high oven temperatures, so there's no need to add oil.

Per serving

552 kcalories, protein 41g, carbohydrate 57g, fat 20 g, saturated fat 23g, fibre 2.1g, sugar 6g, salt 0.46 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, April 2007.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 1-20

  • 2008-01-27 19:19:09.129167

    Mark rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Quite difficult to get all the couscous to soak, but that which did was really nice.

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  • 2008-03-16 09:32:48.79958

    Erin rated and commented on this recipe

    2 stars

    The couscous was really tasty, but the fish was dry and a little boring. Maybe it wa the fish I use, but I don't think I'll be making this one again

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  • 2008-04-09 17:47:20.0775

    escorchio rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    My mum originally suggested this from the magazine. I found it on line, and we have it regularly now. Unbelievably easy, really really tasty. Couldn't be improved.

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  • 2008-08-25 15:23:11.764124

    Hazel Scott rated and commented on this recipe

    1 stars

    Idea great, but end product disappointing, lacked flavour. Couscous was OK, but too much of it. Will add a knob of butter if I make it again.

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  • 2008-08-27 05:50:06.90596

    JULIA commented on this recipe

    Are the fat / sat fat amounts correct?

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  • 2009-01-15 15:40:59.332312

    Mrs C commented on this recipe

    I really liked this recipe and so did my Husband, I am a bit confused however that this can be labelled a Super Healthy recipe with 23g of Saturated fat in it.

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  • 2009-01-28 04:45:47.316502

    sophia commented on this recipe

    I liked this recipe. I have added carrots and cherry tomatoes in the cous cous and drizzled it with olive oil. Next time i will add some fennel as well. Made it with salmon very tasty.

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  • 2009-02-08 17:49:17.078192

    firebrand commented on this recipe

    I cooked this for 4 people, two with white fish and two with salmon. The salmon came out miles, miles, miles better! White fish easily gets overpowered by the other flavours.

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  • 2009-03-13 14:40:23.518592

    Harkle commented on this recipe

    Does anyone know if this works with brown rice as well? Don't like the texture of cous cous.

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  • 2009-03-21 15:25:44.272166

    mother*ship rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    I made this with salmon, found it very tasty, even without the dill which I forgot to get, and the whole family enjoyed it, but I did find messing around with foil parcels a bit of a faff. Harkle - I don't think it would work with brown rice as that takes ages to cook whereas the couscous only needs a brief soak.

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  • 2009-03-25 18:57:08.857585

    Richard rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    A nice easy dish, good for after a busy day if you need something quick. Didn't blow me away though. I'd be tempted to try with fennel instead of the courgette and maybe add a splash of pernot.

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  • 2009-03-31 20:12:17.874415

    Littlemisslucky rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    Quite tasty but I didn't think the cous cous really went very well with the fish.

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  • 2009-04-09 20:14:56.643159

    Clover rated and commented on this recipe

    2 stars

    Not impressed. Too much couscous, too much courgette and far too much lemon! The fish cooked perfectly, but couldn't eat the rest of it as just too lemony.

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  • 2009-04-11 18:27:02.061575

    tony rated and commented on this recipe

    2 stars

    The meal itself is delicious, but it's the wrong way to cook it. You end up with half the couscous drying out, or sticking to the foil etc. I reckon this meal would be better if you first soaked the couscous in most of the liquid for a minute or two, then added it to the foil (baking paper is MUCH better for this). You won't have the fiddling about with the bag and you won't get the couscous being too thin in places and getting ruined. Also, when it says "strong vegetable stock", don't overdo it. It can end up being really salty. Just follow the instructions for making the stock normally and you'll be fine.

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  • 2009-06-16 12:03:00.074831

    vlaoverton commented on this recipe

    I made this last night and used Salmon instead of Haddock which was lovely. I also added a little bit of the stock to the cous cous before placing the fish on top which I think you need to do to make sure it all gets soaked through. Although the dish was tasty I do think it would benefit from a little bit of roasted garlic perhaps and I also though it was a little dry and needs a dollop of crème fraiche or something to serve. A really quick, easy dish that I will make again but with a few little adjustments!

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  • 2009-07-04 09:08:57.322401

    Amira commented on this recipe

    I must say I agree with Tony about the cooking method. My husband's from a Moroccan family and couscous is there national dish, they soak it for hours before cooking it and then steam it for a further hour, I've found if I've ever cooked couscous any other way it's dry or doesn't have the same fluffy texture.

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  • 2009-08-12 18:45:59.733278

    Julia Carver rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    Ok, but far too much couscous

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  • 2010-09-21 13:45:53.767109

    jason commented on this recipe

    how can it be healthy when it says theres 23 grams of saturated fat in it,but theres only 20 grams of fat,i think someones got it wrong,i made this meal and thers nowhere near that much fat in it,plus the meal was boring.

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  • 2011-01-18 20:52:57.48273

    Jeyrome rated and commented on this recipe

    1 stars

    Utterly disappointed! The couscous around the fish was mush and the one underneath was dry, hard and so ingrained in the fish I had to throw the whole thing away broken-heartedly! May try this again but will pour the stock over the couscous prior to laying the fish on top of it.

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  • 2011-03-25 18:16:15.926413

    phwiiii rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    I did this recipe but lined a pyrex bowl with tin foil and made the foil bag in thie bowl - this made sure that all the cous cous was in water - poured the stock on before putting the fish on aswell and the cous cous came out perfectly. I only did half the amount of cous cous and it was perfect. Added a splash of wine to the stock and added tyme and parsely as i dont like dill. It was very nice but FAR too lemony. I'd put at least half if not even less lemon in next time.

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 1

Easily doubled

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 10 mins

Cook time

Cook 20 - 25 mins

Super healthy

Good source of iron and omega 3

Ingredients

  • 1 lemon
  • 100g couscous
  • 25g pine nuts , toasted
  • 1 small courgette , thinly sliced
  • small handful dill , leaves only, chopped
  • 150ml strong vegetable stock
  • 1 haddock , or other white fish fillet
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Per serving

552 kcalories, protein 41g, carbohydrate 57g, fat 20 g, saturated fat 23g, fibre 2.1g, sugar 6g, salt 0.46 g

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