Somewhere along the way, eating well got hijacked. It now seems to mean grey quinoa, joyless smoothies and a bloke at the barbecue explaining his macros. That’s a shame, because the food that’s genuinely good for a man in his fifties is often the food you’d choose anyway: oily fish with crisp skin, a slow-cooked curry, a properly seared bit of steak with something green and sharp beside it.
So here are five dinners that will impress whoever’s at your table and keep your GP happy at your next health check. You don’t need protein powder or a spiraliser. All you need is a hot oven, a decent knife and the odd lemon.
How healthy does dinner actually need to be?
Less than the wellness crowd would have you believe. The NHS guidance boils down to a few numbers worth knowing. Eat at least two portions of fish a week, one of them oily, with a portion being about 140g. If you eat more than 90g of red and processed meat a day, cut it to 70g or less. Keep salt under 6g a day, and aim for around 30g of fibre.
That’s the whole sermon. Hit those numbers most weeks and you’ve earned your roast potatoes. Every dinner below sticks to them without tasting like it does.
Two fish dinners that taste like a treat
Salmon, puy lentils and salsa verde. Heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan, gas 6). Season four salmon fillets, about 140g each, and roast skin-side up for 12–15 minutes. Meanwhile, warm two 250g pouches of ready-cooked puy lentils with a splash of olive oil and a handful of halved cherry tomatoes. For the salsa verde, chop a big bunch of flat-leaf parsley, a small bunch of mint, a tablespoon of capers and two anchovy fillets, then stir in the zest and juice of a lemon, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard and about 80ml of extra virgin olive oil. Spoon it over everything. You’ll find the lentil pouches in most big supermarkets. This one does a lot of heavy lifting for fibre.
Grilled mackerel with beetroot and horseradish. Mackerel is the most underrated fish in Britain: cheap, full of omega-3 and very hard to overcook. Slash the skin of four whole gutted mackerel (ask the fishmonger, or the fish counter at Waitrose or Morrisons) and season them. Grill on high for 4–5 minutes a side until the skin blisters. Serve with cooked beetroot cut into wedges, watercress, and a sauce of 150g Greek yoghurt mixed with a heaped tablespoon of hot horseradish and a squeeze of lemon. It looks like something from a gastropub and takes 20 minutes.
Healthy eating at our age isn’t about giving things up. It’s about putting the vegetables, fish and pulses in charge and letting everything else play a supporting role.
Meat, but smarter
Harissa chicken thighs with courgettes and chickpeas. Thighs have more flavour than breasts and are much harder to dry out. Toss eight boneless, skinless thighs in two tablespoons of rose harissa and a little oil. Put them in a roasting tin with two courgettes cut into chunks, a red onion cut into wedges and a drained 400g tin of chickpeas. Roast at 220°C (200°C fan, gas 7) for 30–35 minutes, until the chicken is piping hot all the way through with no pink meat and the juices run clear. Finish with a dollop of yoghurt and a scatter of coriander. One small thing from the Food Standards Agency: don’t wash raw chicken. It only spreads bacteria round the sink.
Sharing steak with a proper salad. You don’t need a 400g sirloin each, and your heart doesn’t want you to have one. Buy one good 400–500g rib-eye or bavette from a butcher for four people. Bring it to room temperature, salt it well, then sear it in a smoking-hot pan for 3–4 minutes a side for medium-rare. Rest it for ten minutes and slice it thinly. Lay it on a platter over rocket, sliced radishes and shaved fennel, then dress with lemon, olive oil and a few parmesan shavings. Carved at the table, it looks generous, and everyone ends up with a sensible 100–125g. Add a bowl of crushed new potatoes and nobody will notice you’ve rationed them.
Can a vegetarian dinner impress a meat eater?
Yes, as long as you stop apologising for it. The trick is depth: smoke, char and spice doing the work that meat normally does.
Roasted aubergine and chickpea curry. Halve two aubergines, score the flesh and roast at 200°C (180°C fan, gas 6) for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, soften an onion in a deep pan, then add three garlic cloves, a thumb of grated ginger and two tablespoons of a decent curry paste. Pour in a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes, a drained tin of chickpeas and 200ml of light coconut milk. Scoop the aubergine flesh into the sauce and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in a big handful of spinach right at the end, then serve with brown basmati and plenty of coriander. Check the paste label for salt and skip the extra pinch if it’s already high. Most supermarket pastes are.
It’s cheap, it freezes well and it tastes better the next day, so it works for midweek as well as for guests.
What should you drink with a healthy dinner?
Something that suits the food, in sensible amounts. The salmon wants a crisp white: Albariño, Picpoul de Pinet or a dry English Bacchus. With the mackerel, a cold dry rosé or a glass of fino sherry cuts through the oil nicely. The harissa chicken can take a juicy Côtes du Rhône. The steak, obviously, wants a red. A Rioja Crianza or a Malbec will do the job without costing much.
Remember the UK Chief Medical Officers’ guidance: no more than 14 units a week, spread over three or more days. A 175ml glass of 13% wine is around 2.3 units, so a whole bottle between two eats up most of a week’s allowance in one evening. Pour smaller glasses and drink water alongside.
Alcohol-free options are now worth trying in their own right. Lucky Saint and Big Drop make alcohol-free beers that taste of something, and Guinness 0.0 is easy to find in supermarkets. With the curry, a sparkling water with lime and a few crushed cardamom pods is better than you’d expect.
In short
A healthy dinner that impresses is built around oily fish, pulses, vegetables and smaller portions of good meat, cooked hot and seasoned boldly. Stick to the NHS basics: two portions of fish a week (one oily), no more than 70g of red and processed meat a day, under 6g of salt and around 30g of fibre. After that, all you need is good cooking. Drink well but moderately, staying within 14 units a week.
Sources
Midcent Food & Drink
Angus Irvine writes about food and drink for men 45 and over who like to eat well but don't want a performance. Recipes that work on a weeknight, dinners worth the effort at the weekend, what to pour with them – wine, beer and the good alternatives – and the restaurants and pubs worth the trip. Without the fuss.
One of Midcent's writers. Spotted something? Write to angus@midcent.uk.
