Our own lovely Jacqueline and her partner Dave fed me again recently. I really enjoyed the sea bass, and Jacq told me that they’d picked it up in the freezer section of Aldi.
On a visit to Aldi a a few weeks ago, I made a beeline for the freezer section and picked up some frozen tuna steaks. Branded The Fishmonger, the bags contain a minimum of four steaks weighing 550g and cost just €4.49. There’s more than enough for four adults here, so the steaks could stretch to feed two adults and three kids.
Tuna’s delicious, and so rich and meaty that you only need a small amount. You need to restrict your intake because it contains traces of mercury (see these guidelines from the Food Safety Authority of Ireland; scroll to the end of the page for a summary). Also, caught in the Pacific Ocean, The Fishmonger’s tuna is probably contributing to the terminal decline of the species; if it was sustainably caught, the packaging would probably have let me know, loudly.
So I ate it with some guilt, but that aside… it was delicious! We ate it with a roasted cherry tomato and garlic sauce (cherry tomatoes, €1.59 in Aldi), which complimented the tuna so well, and served with baked potatoes and fine beans.
Have you tried frozen fish from Aldi or other shops? Can you share a good recipe? And do you, like me, get the guilts over its sustainability but decide to buy it anyway?
Grilled Tuna with Roasted Tomatoes and Garlic (Feeds 2)
Ingredients
- 2 tuna steaks
- 6 tomatoes, halved
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped (not crushed)
- A squeeze of honey
- 1 desert spoon balsamic vinegar
- A handful of basil leaves, torn roughly
- A dash of salt and pepper
Method
- Preheat the oven
- Mix all the ingredients together, except the basil and roast uncovered for about half an hour, or until the tomatoes are soft
- Mix in the basil, stir
- Pour over the fish
- Serve with steamed green beans and baked potatoes or chips
Thursday 11 March, 2010 at 12:04 pm
I always buy frozen prawns from Asian shops. Got some last week in the one on Queen St and they were really tender and fresh. YUM. About €12 for a big bag.
Thursday 11 March, 2010 at 12:45 pm
I bought The Fishmonger salmon the other week as the amount of saturated fat in the Donegal Catch ones I had been eating was quite high. The fish was bone dry and very tasteless though. Very disappointing.
Friday 12 March, 2010 at 9:03 am
I got a frozen lobster from aldi before Christmas, it was about 8€. I did feel incredibly guilty about the probable airmiles but it made a great New Years starter in vol au vents
Monday 15 March, 2010 at 6:52 pm
Too bad tuna has high amounts of mercury according to the mercury in fish calculator at http://www.gotmercury.org.