Beneficial or Indulgence?

It’s Saturday evening and I make no excuse for plumping for seafood for my evening meal.

This time a mix of baked salmon and fried calamari together with a leaf salad, tomato, spring onion and hard boiled egg, all liberally dressed with a Sicilian olive oil and a fruity Balsamic.

Well they do say a Mediterranean diet is beneficial and that seafood and fish in particular is great for all manner of things from lowering cholesterol to improving circulation and keeping the heart healthy.
Fact is that I simply enjoy seafood, and given the choice would probably choose a fish dish when eating out over a meat dish.

At one time a colleague and I would indulge ourselves whenever we could on a Friday and drop along to our favourite French restaurant to share a huge bowl of mussels and a bottle of wine for lunch. It set us up for the weekend — well, at least that was my argument.

And then my wife and I would spend many weekends in France where we fell in love with the Fuchsias, a marvellous hotel and restaurant at St Vaast, just down the coast from Cherbourg, where the seafood and fish was simply out of this world.

That routine sadly came to an end, but I will still choose mussels most times I spot them on a menu, and often enjoy them at home. The chilled ready cooked variety in a wine or cream and garlic sauce that are to be found on supermarket shelves or at deli counters, and simply need heating, take all the drudgery out of preparing them.

But, yep. It’s Saturday evening, so I’ll comfort myself that I am gathering up a host of essential health giving nutrients all in one go. And perhaps with just a tiny bit of self indulgence!