Canned fish is a good alternative because of its high nutritional value, convenience and price. But make sure they are of good quality, they are for your children!

Fish is a food that is especially recommended as part of healthy habits and a varied, healthy and balanced diet, thanks to its nutritional properties, qualities and fundamental benefits for our health. And in the case of oily fish, the Mediterranean diet suggests eating it at least two days a week.

From what age is canned fish recommended for children?

Oily fish is a source of proteins, minerals, vitamins and Omega 3, its star nutrient that contributes to the development of a child’s memory and intelligence.

We know that from the age of 6 months, in addition to breast milk, new foods are gradually introduced into the baby’s diet: Fruits, vegetables, fish and meat. It is recommended to start with white fish and, from the ninth month, with oily fish.

Almost any type of fish can be given from the beginning: both white fish and small blue fish. As an exception, fish with a high mercury content (swordfish/emperer, bluefin tuna, shark and pike) should be avoided until the age of 10 years.

Oily fish is a source of protein, minerals, vitamins and Omega 3, its star nutrient that contributes to the development of the child’s memory and intelligence.

Although babies can start eating fresh fish in crumbled or pureed form from the age of half a year, it is from the age of 12 months that canned fish can finally be introduced into their diet. Normally it will be oily fish: tuna, sardines, white tuna… Although it is not advisable to overuse tinned fish with such young children – it is preferable for them to eat salt-free food -, it is good to have them in the pantry as a second option or for the rest of the older siblings.

The importance of a good choice.

The key is to choose quality canned foods that do not contain preservatives, colourings, additives, harmful fats or added sugars.

Despite the information available, there are still sometimes prejudices when it comes to offering canned foods to children. Many are unaware of the many benefits they can bring to children and that foods do not lose their properties during the process from fresh to preserved. We are talking about natural or undercooked products. The key is to choose quality preserves that do not contain preservatives, colourings, additives, harmful fats or added sugars.

The healthiest thing to do is to cook your own food. However, we don’t always have fresh fish or vegetables at hand (or they are not in season), so canned food is a good alternative due to its high nutritional value, convenience and price. But make sure they are quality, they are for your baby, your family, for you! Don’t you deserve it!?

Reliable canned food for children and not-so-children

These are my recommendations -even if there are no children at home-:

• Choose the best. Go for brands that give you absolute confidence, that you know how they prepare or cook the food, and the origin of the product. Which brings us to the next tip.
• Read the label: the place of origin, the ingredients and the nutritional values; the method of conservation, and the expiry date.
• Discard bulging cans and suspicious jars that have leaked juice through the lid. They must be vacuum-sealed. By simply opening, observing and smelling the contents, you can tell whether they are in good or bad condition.
• If there is any of the contents of the can left over, transfer it to a glass container and, in the case of canned fish, cover it with oil so that it lasts longer in the fridge.

Fresh food, yes. Cooking, whenever possible. Canned food, too. And quality, quality, quality, always!

But, above all, give lots of love, laugh and enjoy with them. If you know how to pass this on to your baby or your children, you will make them really happy, for sure.

Marta Olass, Olasagasti family.

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Quality canned food which combines with any vegetable to meet the needs of a complete and balanced daily diet.

5 original ideas which mix ingredients from different cultures, bluefish being the main ingredient.

1) Olasagasti Land&Sea

Hands-on time: 5 min. Cooking time: 35 min. Serves: 6

For the ratatouille:

1 onion

1 courgette (zucchini)

1 pepper

1 tomato

Then:

1 jar of Olasagasti Bonito del Norte (310 g)

12 tsp of Olasagasti Black Olive Cream (tapenade)

1 cup of rice (optional)

High quality ingredients for a healty single-course meal

We´ll give the dish an original touch if we add some tapenade (Black Olive Cream)

2) OLASAGASTI TABOULEH WITH TUNA BELLY FILLETS

Hands-on time: 3 min. Cooking time: 20 min. Serves: 4:

350 g de bulgur
Green and red peper
Spring onion
Cucumber
Two lemons
Olive oil
1 tin of Olasagasti white tuna belly fillets in olive oil (270 g)
Salt
A lot of parsley and some mint leaves
Preparation:

Squeeze out the juice of 2 lemons, pour over the bulgur with 3 spoonfuls of hot water. Cover and let it to swell for a few minutes. Chop all the vegetables in small dice. Mix all the ingredients; add a lot of parsley and mint leaves, and the salt. Leave it in the fridge overnight, dress the dish with olive oil and serve cool. Don’t forget to add your Olasagasti tuna at the last moment.
This is the typical taboulé prepared by my Moroccan friend from Bouscour. Actually, they don´t even use any water, just a bit more of lemon juice. If you add a few raisins… then… you will feel transported into the Moroccan Atlas!! I obviously add some Olasagasti blue fish (which was not considered there).

A fresh dish which upgrades with canned blue fish.

3) OLASAGASTI GYOZAS or DIM-SUM

Hands-on time 20″ Cooking time 5″ Serves 4

Ingredients (for 12 Gyozas)

-1 tin of Olasagasti Bonito del Norte white tuna (270 g)
-200 g of guindillas (basque green chilli peppers)
-1 big spring onion
-12 special wafers for Gyozas (Dim-Sum).
-1 tbs of extra virgin olive oil
-A few lettuce leaves
-Soya sauce

Preparation:

Chop the onion finely and cook in the olive oil until it is very soft. Add the chopped guindillas and cook for one minute. Put this preparation aside.

The rims of the wafers need to be wet. Put a small heap of the preparation in the centre of each wafer together with a few pieces of white tuna. Close and seal the gyozas and cook them. They can either be traditionaly steamed on lettuce leaves (as in the photo below) or cooked a la plancha.

Serve with soya sauce.

4) Olasagasti Gourmet Salad

Hands-on time: 10 min. Serves: 4

Lettuce leaves

2 tomatoes

4 hard boiled eggs

1 tin of 270 g of Olasagasti White Tuna belly fillets
1 jar of 90 g of Cantabrian Sea Anchovy fillets.
Extra virgin olive oil, vinegar and salt.

Place the lettuce leaves at the bottom of each individual bowl, add tomato slices and quarters of eggs. Dress and toss. Finally, decorate with Olasagasti Belly Fillets and anchovy fillets.

5) Olasagasti Basque Sandwich

Hands-on time: 5 min. Serves: 2

2 long buns of french bread

4 big slices of tomato

1 200g tin of Olasagasti White Tuna

6 guindillas (basque chilly peppers in vinegar)

1 small finely sliced spring onion

Extra Virgin olive oil.

Halve each bun, prepare your sandwich with all the ingredients. (Don´t forget to remove the stalk from each chilly pepper!).

Bon appétit!

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1) Grilled vegetables with Olasagasti White tuna.

Hands-on time: 5 min. Cooking time: 1 hour. Serves: 2/3

1/4 of broccoli
1 big aubergine
1 big red pepper
1 white onion
1 tin of Olasagasti White Tuna (Bonito del Norte) (270g)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil and a pinch of salt.

Cut the vegetables in four (you can decide whether to peel them or not) . Grill in oven for 1 hour with some olive oil and salt. Serve in a dish (at room temperature or just warm) together with the contents of the tin.

Just open the tin and add to these vegetables.

2) Spring vegetables with wild rice and Olasagasti Anchovy fillets

Hands-on time: 5 min. Cooking time: 40 min. Serves: 2

1 onion

1 aubergine

4 artichokes

100 g of wild rice

1 tin of Olasagasti Anchovy fillets in olive oil

Boil the rice and keep warm. Cut the vegetables in halves. Either cook them separately in a frying pan with extra virgin olive oil until they are done or roast them in the oven for 40 min at 200º. Divide the preparation in two bowls and top with the Anchovy fillets just before eating.

A combination of succulent ingredients for a perfect complete meal.

3) A tipical tapa from San Sebastian: Pintxo Donostiarra

Hands-on time: 10 min. Serves: 5/6

1 jar of guindillas (small green pepper in vinegar)
1 jar of Olasagasti Bonito del Norte (310 g)
1 tin of Olasagasti Anchovy Fillets (125 g)
1 small fresh onion

Join a piece of each ingredient with a toothpick to form the tapa as in the photograph. Prepare at least 2 per person.

The tipical Fishermen Basque Tapa. «Pintxo donostiarra» prepared by AinaraLo

4) Grilled asparagus with tuna

Hands-on time: 2 min. Cooking time: 6 minutes. Serves:  4

Take the stalks off and clean the asparagus (8 per person). Grill them until they become brown, add a pinch of salt and serve them in a dish together with huge pieces of Olasagasti tuna.

Simple and tasty light dinner.

5) A fresh Tuna Salad

Hands-on time: 6 min. Serves: 2

1 jar of Olasagasti Bonito del Norte (190 g)

1 spring onion

1 big tomato

1/2 green pepper

1 small carrot

1/2 cucumber

A few grains of corn

Mixed lettuce leaves

Extra virgin olive oil, salt and vinegar

Clean the vegetebles, cut them into pieces and put into a bowl. Add the grains of corn, dress and toss, then decorate with big dice of Olasagasti White Tuna (Bonito del Norte).

A perfect dish for a healthy diet, with fresh ingredients and prepared in just a few minutes.

The cooked vegetables can be prepared the day before and kept cool. Then serve together with some slices of bread from a traditional loaf and a cool glass of wine.

Marta Olass

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After testing containers from different brands I felt dissatisfied with the contents. We worked hard to combine quality, practicability, health and good price. Our Olasagasti “open and eat” specialties were born to attract demanding shoppers who are constantly looking for quality ready-cooked meals.

These ready-cooked traditional dishes are aimed at the worker who does not eat at home and takes his lunch box to the office; at the trekker who is sick and tired of sandwiches; at anyone who has to improvise a warm meal when coming back home late; or at those who live on their own, who do not know how to cook, or can´t afford to buy specialities from delicatessen shops on a daily basis; or at a parent who stays at home for lunch when the family is out and only wants to prepare a complete meal for supper.

In any of these cases what I demand is good quality, healthy and natural products which can be enjoyed there and then without making a mess in the kitchen.  Home-made recipes for just a few calories.

The Mediterranean diet is a must for these traditional dishes (vegetables, pulse, blue fish, olive oil, wine, herbs). Each individual format provides the suitable amount of energy and nutrients, and helps the consumer to control his diet.

So far, we have launched four traditional recipes:

Tuna fish fillet a la Toscana with white beans:

It is the most surprising one and typical from Toscana and other regions in Spain.

Following the recommendations of nutritionists who believe we should eat pulse 3 to 4 times a week, this dish provides beans and helps to have a balanced intake, avoiding an excessive consumption of animal proteins.

Tuna fish fillet a la Siciliana with dried tomato sauce:

In this dish the tomato sauce, which covers generously the tuna filet, is our protagonist. This sauce is prepared following a traditional Italian recipe and provides a high amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Tuna fish fillet with sauteed onion:

Typically basque dish, the combination of tuna with onion is a delicacy. It enhances the taste of the fish.

Anchovies a la Basque, fried with garlic and chilli:

This recipe is based on a recipe from the Cantabrian coast. Its main ingredient is the appreciated Cantabrian Anchovy, cooked with olive oil, one clove of garlic and chilly.

When preparing it this way the dish keeps its characteristic taste of freshly cooked anchovies. The high  omega-3 content found in one portion covers our daily needs. The EPA and DHA help our heart, our brain and eyesight to be in optimum conditions.

Pasta Marta recipe from OLASAGASTI on Vimeo.

Take care of your health and eat healthy food.

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Select your favourite vegetables

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We are half way through autumn and the Bonito del Norte campaign is way back. Here on the Cantabrian coast the weather is exceptionally cold for us and the water temperature has lowered dramatically.

The impressive rough Cantabrian sea. Photo by Asier Larraza.

The Bonito del Norte, together with the Bluefin, is the most appreciated tuna in Spain and it is slowly invading more territories worldwide.

The quality of its flesh, its flavour and texture turn the White Tuna into an exquisite delicatessen. On the other hand, this species is sustainable thanks to our traditional fishing methods which respect our environment.

Between the months of June and September, the Bay of Biscay receives the migration of the White Tuna (and of the Bluefin Tuna) which comes to breed in our waters. That is the reason why it is so popular and we have got lots of recipes and ways to prepare it in the Basque Country.

Healthy (and gluten free) quality Mixed Salad for all the family.

Stew vegetables with Olasagasti tuna

Grilled white tuna.

Very popular Basque pintxo (tapa): white tuna, chilli, onion and anchovy

The best Bonito del Norte was canned by mid-October and we will soon commercialize it so as to store this delicacy for the whole year in our homes since it will keep all its organoleptic properties. Read more about it here.

The fishing is carried out following traditional methods: the fish is caught one by one in the Cantabrian Sea, always respecting the Quota set by the European Community.

Conservas Dentici-Olasagasti receive the catch from the nearby harbours and process it still fresh “en fresco”, by hand, in a totally artisan way.

The recent catch is unloaded at a Basque harbour

We process the fresh fish on the same day.

Qualified staff process the recent caught fish.

We belong to the Association of Traditional Canners of the Basque Coast. Our label praises the defense and promotion of a different authentic product: high quality Bay of Biscay Canned Tuna guaranteeing the origin of the fish and the manufacturing processes, 100% from the Basque Country. Amazing! And when you taste it, you do make the difference. See more about it.

Seal of Quality for the Basque Country White Tuna (Bonito del Norte)

The seal of quality was created to differentiate our White Tuna (which is caught selectively in our Cantabrian sea and processed following traditional methods) from other tunas from elsewhere and therefore processed after being frozen, sometimes in countries where labour cost is cheaper. Unfortunately, these other products have similar labels which may be misleading for some customers.

A range of our products in glass jars. (Al them are glutenfree)

Now that you know the meaning of our Seal of Quality, you can choose accordingly. It is a must to be well informed, especially when you are looking for quality: don´t let yourself be cheated.

 

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