Wednesday: Grilled Basa with Herbed Rice

My hubby wanted to get in on the action; he picked this meal. He probably won't get to eat it fresh, as he has been dragged back into shutdown, kicking and screaming, but I'm sure he will be there in spirit. The rice has so many layers of flavour and the fish is such a nice complement; this is a year-round winner fer sure. Dude.

You will need:

1 Tbsp butter (always unsalted, all the time)
1 small onion, chopped finely
1 celery stalk, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 c brown rice
4 green onions
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1 Tbsp parsley, chopped
2 c chicken stock
1 tsp kosher salt
3 bay leaves
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 lbs basa fillets, or other white\redfish, like red snapper, flounder or sea bass
1 Tbsp creole or potlatch seasoning

Not pictured: garlic AGAIN!

First, prep your veggies. Chop your onions, mince your garlic and dice your celery. I love dicing celery (but then I am a bit strange) because it makes squares easily. So tidy. Tomatoes, not so much, but dice them too. Slice your green onions thinly and chop your parsley.

Because I am using brown rice, I am going to do a quick par / pre boil on it. Rinse your rice, then bring to a boil with two cups of cold water. Cover it, cook for five minutes and turn off. Let sit.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, melt the butter in a large-ish saucepan. Add the celery and onion, cook until almost softened, about 2 minutes. Add in the garlic, cook for one more minute. Just one!

Drain your rice, if required, and stir in the rice, green onions, tomatoes and parsley. Ccook for two more minutes. Stir alla time.

Pour in the chicken stock, the salt and bay leaves, bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer until the rice is tender and the liquid is all absorbed, 20-25 minutes. Let sit while you do the fish.

Oil up your fish and your grill, sprinkle on the seasoning. Warm up the barbecue. I am using the potlatch mixture from Williams Sonoma because I love it so, but a creole seasoning or anything like that would work.

Grill 3 to 5 minutes per side at medium high heat, these suckers are pretty thin. There are a couple of different ways to check fish, sticking a knife in the centre for 10 seconds to see if it becomes warm is one, looking for flaking is another, waiting 5 minutes per side is another yet. Whatever floats your boat, sailor. My husband favours the I'm-tired-of-looking-at-it approach.

I separated this into 8 servings and came up with 207 calories per. Either a good salad, with maybe some goat cheese or nuts, or some veggies would put us within range of our 400-500 calorie per meal goal. Maybe wine! We could totally add a glass of wine! Maybe even a glass of Pinot Grigio! Why doesn't everyone leave your favourite wines in the comments?

Enjoy!

Tuesday: Salmon Penne with Parsley Sauce

I like that this can be served hot or cold, a little less excited because the original recipe called for low fat crème fraiche. Being that I live in North America (do I mention that enough? cause I can totally ramp that up) in a small town, crème fraiche is tricky to come by. I know how to make it, but making it low fat means yoghurt or something else that will curdle in heat. However, since this does not involve direct heat, I am going to try two different methods; let's see what works!

You will need:

1 lb salmon filet, skinless
2 c whole wheat pasta
1\2 lb asparagus or 1\2 c peas
1\2 c fat-free Greek yoghurt
2 Tbsp low-fat buttermilk
3 Tbsp parsley, chopped finely
Zest of one small orange
Salt, pepper

First, prep your veggies and fish. You want the asparagus in bite-sized pieces, so trim off a third of the stocks, cut what remains into one-inch pieces. Rinse and put in a steamer basket. If you are using peas, thaw the frozen ones and um, measure out the fresh ones.

Stir the yoghurt and buttermilk together with a fork, whisking to get rid of any lumps. Set aside. Alternatively, I have stirred one tablespoon of buttermilk into a cup of homogenized milk and let it sit out overnight. I am going to check the consistency and see which one tastes better \ has the best consistency.

Cut your fish into bite-sized pieces as well, put on a heat-proof plate and cover with foil.

Boil a pot of water, add in the pasta. Bring back to a boil and put your salmon plate overtop. Cook for 8-10 minutes, until both the pasta and salmon are cooked. Sometime in there start steaming your asparagus, if you are using it, for 3 minutes. Set aside.

Mix the faux crème fraiche, parsley, orange zest salt and pepper together in a large-ish bowl, taste and adjust seasonings accordingly. If you are serving this cold, allow the salmon, pasta and asparagus to cool a bit before adding to the bowl. Refrigerate for at least an hour. If you are serving this as a hot supper, no such reserve is required, mix it all together immediately and have at 'er.

I used organic flat-leaf parsley because curly parsley just wasn't pretentious enough. Plus they were out at my grocery store

I used a rotini / penne combination

I made this into 4 portions at  320 calories per, using the Greek yoghourt blend. I am going to add a salad and call this a good summer supper.



Enjoy!

Neeeeeaaaar!

Far!

Tuesday: Fish Almost-Pot Pie

New recipe alert! New recipe alert! Mreep mreep mreep! I haven't done this one before but I liked the simplicity of it and I am trying to find ways to work more fish and seafood into my week, besides salmon and shrimp. I actually found four similar recipes, so kind of combined them. Cross your fingers, let's try!

You will need:

12 oz halibut or haddock or similar whitefish - I am using basa filets because that's what I could find

2 Tbsp cornstarch

4 oz cooked, peeled shrimp - I got the fun bite-sized ones, but you can use any size, really

7 oz canned corn

3 oz frozen peas - or green beans, which is what I found when I thought I had peas

2/3 c skim or 1% milk

5 oz low-fat cream cheese - or low-fat fromage frais if you can find. Quark would probably even work

3 oz fresh whole wheat breadcrumbs 

1/2 c grated low-fat cheese

Salt, pepper, thyme

Imagine 2/3 c milk somewhere in there

Preheat your oven to 375, spray a glass dish with oil. Cut the fish into bite-sized pieces and toss in the cornstarch until coated.

Put the fish, shrimp corn and peas / green beans in the square dish.

Whisk the cream cheese (or fromage frais), milk and salt and pepper in a bowl, then pour on top of the fish mixture. I thought about using sour cream or greek yoghurt instead of the cream cheese, but yoghurt tends to curdle at high heat and as for sour cream...I wanted my husband to at least TRY supper.

It doesn't mix extraordinarily well, might look into a recipe for homemade fromage frais

Mix the breadcrumbs and cheese together, sprinkle over evenly. I made my own breadcrumbs by drying out my bread in a 200 degree oven for 10 minutes on a cookie sheet. I then tore the bread into chunks and processed them in my food processor. Or you know, just buy some. 

Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden and bubbly. Serve with salad! I broke mine up into four pieces and it worked out to 350 calories per serving. DO NOT use that as guaranteed information, I used my own package information, my own bread and was able to add that up. It varies!

Monday Supper: Salmon en Papillote

This is the dinner that is super-fast (super fast!!) and therefore good for a Monday. I am usually trying to re-orient myself into the weekly routine so something really easy helps the transition.

You will need:

Salmon fillet (hopefully boneless), enough for four people, in one piece. Not salmon steaks

Dried herbs (oregano, thyme) and spices (paprika, curry powder, salt, pepper)

1 c brown rice

1 lb asparagus

Olive oil

Salt, pepper

First, start the rice! There are different directions on every package and there are entire websites dedicated to the optimum cooking of brown rice. I just do this, every time, no matter what type of brown rice:

I rinse one cup of brown rice in cold water until it runs clear:

Must use sieve

I throw it in a pot that has a tight fitting lid with twice as much cold water, so 2 c in this case. I've added about a teaspoon of curry powder (I can post the recipe for that if anyone wants?) to give it some flavour and stirred it. I don't use butter or salt, but lots of people do! I bring to a boil covered, then turn it down as low as I can and let simmer for 40 minutes. Done! And fluffy.

Probably not a necessary picture, but hey

And on to the salmon. Just as easy. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Wash the fillet under cold water, checking for bones. Run your fingers up and down, feeling for the little spiky bits. If you do find any, pull them out with needle nose pliers or a good pair of tweezers. Wash them after. Seriously. Then lay three sheets of tinfoil on a cookie sheet, brushing the top sheet with olive oil. Get out your seasoning mix, which can be your own blend or a commercially available one. I like the potlach seasoning from a well-known kitchen goods store, but any combination of salt, pepper, oregano, thyme, paprika and chili pepper flakes will be amazing. If there is a skin on the underside, you can cut that off with a sharp knife (a boning knife works well, but it takes practice) or just leave it on. Don't worry about seasoning the skin, but if your fillet is skinless toss some onto the bottom, then turn over, brush with olive oil and liberally sprinkle the top.

Much more liberally than this, actually

Start covering the fish with your first layer of tinfoil, starting with the sides, then the top and bottom.

Like zo!

When the first layer is on, flip it over and do the same with the next layer, then flip again and fold in your last layer. When you are done, you should be looking at seam side up on the third piece:

Ready for the oven - or grill

Now, say we weren't in the dying throes of a long winter, you could throw this sucker right onto the BBQ grill. As we are still freezing our bums off out here, I would bake it in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes. Now, every recipe you see if going to tell you to cook salmon for 10 minutes per inch of thickness. Or until a knife held in the middle for ten second comes out hot. Listen to me: neither one of those methods will work here. For one, you are not talking about a direct heat, you are cooking en pappillote, which is a fancy way to say in parchment. In this case, we are using tin foil, but basically we are steaming the fish using it's own moisture. So not only do you not want to stick a knife through three carefully folded pieces of tinfoil to wreck the steaming process, you can't use the 10 minutes per inch. Give it about 30 minutes at least for a small fillet, and up to 40 for a bigger, thicker one.

While that and the rice are cooking, you will want to prep your vegetable, which is asparagus. There are a few methods out there for deciding how much to trim off the asparagus; I just take about 30 percent of the stalk off, rinse in cold water and throw into a steamer basket. I don't find any of the methods work better than that.

Remind me to tell you about the 5" Santoku story

Lose about a third

When the salmon and rice are done, and your significant other (or not-so-significant, no judgement, only love) is just walking through the door, start steaming your asparagus. Steam for 3 minutes while you warm some olive oil in a saute pan at medium-high heat. Once the three minutes is up and the stalks are just softened, take them out of the steamer and into the saute pan. Sprinkle with kosher salt and coarse pepper and toss around in the hot oil for about a minute. Remove and serve immediately.

I know I took a picture, but I can't find it! Bugger! The salmon will look like this:

Dang it all anyway. Anyhow, enjoy! That's Monday!

A couple of quick notes: I like salmon like this better than on a cedar plank, as I find planked salmon tends to dry out more quickly. I also like Atlantic farmed salmon better than the wild, which I know I'm not supposed to. I think it's the fatty fatty fish that gets me. I used brown basmati rice, but any brown rice would work. A nice switch up is using chicken stock instead of water, or using a white rice but doing a whole other recipe "Curried Basmati Rice", which has onions and green peppers,  is also very nice with this meal.