Seafood
Moderate evidenceTrout
More vitamin D than salmon — 15.9 µg against 11 µg. But under a third of the omega-3.
Baked trout with broccoli
There is a reason for 180 °C. Both the omega-3 and the sulforaphane break down first under high heat.
2 servings25 min
Ingredients
- Trout fillets2 pieces (300 g)
- Broccoli200 g
- Cherry tomatoes10
- Garlic4 cloves
- Olive oil1 tbsp
- Lemon1/2
- Salt and pepperto taste
Method
Heat the oven to 180 °C. No higher.
Slice the garlic thickly and leave it ten minutes. Allicin forms in that window.
Cut the broccoli into bite-sized florets. Peel the stem and use it too — it holds more fibre than the florets.
Spread the broccoli, tomatoes and garlic on a tray and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper.
Roast the vegetables alone for ten minutes first. Trout cooks faster, and going in together would overcook it.
Lay the trout on top, skin down, and bake another 8–10 minutes. Take it out when the flesh turns opaque.
Squeeze the lemon over at the table.
Cooking note
Two reasons not to go above 180 °C.
Trout's omega-3 degrades with heat and oxygen. Held long over high heat, that 0.73 g shrinks. Vitamin D is fat-soluble and relatively stable, but it leaves with the fat if that renders out into the tray.
On the broccoli side it is myrosinase, the enzyme that converts glucosinolates into sulforaphane. It is heat-sensitive and is destroyed first at high temperatures — and once the enzyme is gone, no sulforaphane forms at all.
Roasting the vegetables first and adding the fish later follows from the same thing. One tray is fine; pretending both cook in the same time is not.
The lemon goes on at the end. Vitamin C is heat-sensitive, and its role in slowing fat oxidation is more useful after cooking than during.
Ingredients used here
Vegetables
Early researchBroccoli
Broccoli's key compound, sulforaphane, only forms when the vegetable is cut or chewed. One cooking choice changes how much survives.
Vegetables
Moderate evidenceGarlic
The evidence for garlic points to a modest drop in blood pressure and cholesterol. The trick is to crush it and wait ten minutes before it hits the heat.
Vegetables
Early researchTomato
Cooked beats raw here. Heat multiplies how much lycopene your body can actually absorb.