Fish Tacos

I never thought I would like fish tacos.  Something about them just sounded gross to me.  But one day, when I was feeling adventurous, I decided to give them a try.  Wow, are they good!  Now I deeply regret all those years I went without this amazing dish in my life!  So I'm making up for lost time by eating these on a regular basis now. :)

Ingredients
1 lb white fish (so far I've tried tilapia and halibut, both were great!)
1 Tbs oil
Tortillas
Salsa or other toppings of choice

For the cilantro cream sauce (this really makes the tacos, so don't skip!):
1 small container sour cream
4 Tbs fresh cilantro, minced
2 Tbs lime juice
2 cloves garlic, minced

Directions

Cook the fish in a frying pan over medium heat with the oil.  It should only take about 3 minutes per side.  Fish is done when it begins to flake apart easily.

To make the cilantro cream sauce, simply mix together all the ingredients listed.

Shred the fish and serve in the tortillas with toppings of choice.  I decided to serve mine with my favorite fresh avocado salsa, which I thought was perfect!

Note: the original recipe calls for marinating the fish prior to cooking, but I find that the toppings (cilantro and lime sour cream mixture plus the salsa) have all the flavoring you need, so I save time by skipping that step.

Adapted from this recipe. 

Shrimp Veracruzana

I'm trying to lose a few pounds before our upcoming trip to Germany (which is now just 1 month away - yippee!!!), so I've been searching the internet for low calorie dinner recipes.  I found this one on eatingwell.com, and it looked yummy, so I decided to give it a try.  I thought it turned out really well!  It was light and summery.  I served it with a box of long grain Spanish rice from Rice a Roni.  When the rice and shrimp are divided up into four servings, it's just a 300 calorie dinner!  I thought it made a satisfying meal, although Mike was still a little hungry when he finished, so in the future I may have to come up with another side dish to go along with it.  But all in all, I recommend it.

One note on buying shrimp (and this is kind of my own personal environmental crusade, but I think it's important!): do NOT buy shrimp imported from Asia!!!  This is basically going to be all the cheap shrimp in the supermarket (sorry).  Unless the package specifically identifies a U.S. or Canadian source, it's most likely from South East Asia and should be avoided.  I know the shrimp from the U.S. (or Canada) can be pricey, but I think the better alternative is to watch for sales and make shrimp a special treat, so that you can afford to pay a little more for it.  But the environmental impact of buying the shrimp imported from Asia is serious, and simply not worth saving a few bucks. 

If you want to learn more about the issue, google "environmental impact of shrimp" you'll see all sorts of articles describing how Asian countries are sadly destroying their natural resources in the way they catch shrimp and other seafood.  I think it's important for everyone to be informed about which types of seafood are harvested in environmentally sustainable ways.  A couple of great resources, with searchable databases and lists of environmentally safe alternatives, are the Environmental Defense Fund's Seafood Selector and the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch.

I'll get off my soapbox now and give you the recipe. :)

INGREDIENTS

1 pound peeled and deveined raw from the U.S. or Canada (see why above)
2 medium tomatoes (original recipe calls for 3, but 2 was plenty and I think 3 would make it too juicy)
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 lime, cut into wedges 
1 Tbs Canola Oil (original recipe said 2 tsp, but my calorie count is based on 1 Tbs, which is only a tiny bit more but my frying pan needs it)
* A final note on other omissions: the original recipe called for 1/4 cup green olives, but I thought that sounded weird so I skipped it.  It also called for 1 bay leaf, but I didn't have one so I skipped that too.

DIRECTIONS

1.  Heat oil in a medium sized skillet over medium heat.  Add garlic, onion and jalapeño pepper, and cook, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes. 

2.  Add shrimp, cover, and cook until just pink, about 3-4 minutes.

3.  Add tomatoes.  Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook until the tomatoes are almost broken down, about 3 minutes.  Serve with lime wedges.

Mango Glazed Salmon

I've been a bad blogger this past month. :(  I got a nasty cold just as spring arrived, and then for awhile after that I just didn't feel like much like cooking.  But I am excited to be back with this fantastic recipe!  I actually got this recipe from a cookbook that my sister Katie got me for Christmas called Cook Yourself Thin.  I guess there is a Cook Yourself Thin show on Lifetime, although I must admit I've never watched it.  But this book is very cool!  Lots of delicious looking, low calorie, most importantly - fast and easy - recipes.  I'm sure I'll be using it a lot this summer!  I especially like all the big, color photographs.  Pictures are must-have for cookbooks, in my opinion.

This recipe jumped out at me right away when I first flipped through the book.  Plus I needed a healthy fish entree for Fridays in Lent - something other than the old box of frozen fish sticks, you know?  I made just a couple small changes based on personal preference (and trial and error), but I think this is a FANTASTIC recipe!  I've made it three times already. :)

INGREDIENTS

5 ounces mango nectar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon minced ginger [I easily doubled this]
1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick [I just used a couple sprinkles of ground cinnamon instead]
1 teaspoon rice vinegar [I didn't have rice vinegar, so I used red wine vinegar instead]

2 6-ounce salmon fillets, about 1 inch thick 

DIRECTIONS

So here's what the book said to do...

1. Stir together the first 5 ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, 15 minutes or until reduced by half. Pour mango mixture through a wire-mesh strainer; discard solids. Return mango mixture to saucepan; keep warm.

2. Place salmon on a rack in a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Broil 5 1/2 inches from heat 5 minutes. Brush fish with half of mango mixture. Broil 3 more minutes or until fish flakes with a fork. Spoon remaining mango glaze evenly over fish.

And here's what I actually did...

I'm not sure why, but every time I try to broil something in my oven, I end up setting off the smoke detector.  Not sure if it's just my oven, or I'm doing something wrong, but that is exactly what happened the first time I made this and tried to follow the instructions as written.  Plus all that delicious mango sauce just gets burnt, and the fish wasn't even done!  

So the next time, I just baked the salmon at 450 for about 12-15 minutes, or until it flakes easily with a fork.  Worked like a charm!  Then I just added the mango mixture at the table.  Plus this way, you can bake your fish while you're making the sauce, and be done in half the time!  

The recipe suggested serving the salmon with a spinach and pear salad.  I'm not even going to bother writing out that recipe, because I hardly followed it at all.  They have a home-made dressing recipe, but I just used a light raspberry vinaigrette that I had in the fridge.  They also said to add bean sprouts and shredded carrots, but that sounded gross to me.  I instead just topped the spinach with the pear pieces, sliced walnuts, and a little feta cheese (which probably doubles the calories, but I don't care - I love feta!).  It was really, really good!  Even my husband, who was a bit skeptical about putting pears in a salad, loved it and asked me to make it again. 

Gumbo

In honor of Mardi Gras, I decided to try my hand at this New Orleans classic - gumbo!  I'm not going to lie - it was a lot of work, so I probably won't make this one a regular menu item.  But in our opinion, it was totally worth the effort for a special festive occasion like today!

Be warned - it is spicy!  But I didn't find it uncomfortably hot.  If you're nervous, just cut down on the spices the first time you make it.

INGREDIENTS

1 stick of butter
1/2 cup of flour
2 chicken breasts, chopped into rather small pieces
1/2 pound of pork sausage links, thinly sliced
1 pound of shrimp (raw, peeled and deveined)
6 stalks of celery, chopped
1 sweet onion, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies (including liquid)
1 can regular diced tomatoes (including liquid)
1 bunch of fresh parsley, chopped
4 (14oz) cans chicken broth
12 oz beer (I used Guinness because it has such a nice flavor in soups!)
1/4 cup of cajun spices
2-3 garlic cloves, minced

DIRECTIONS

1.  Begin with making a roux.  Although I've never made a roux before, I've read that a great roux is the key to gumbo, so I didn't want to mess this up!  I found some great instructions here.  To sum up, you melt your stick of butter in a small sauce pan.  When it gets good and hot, slowly begin to whisk in your flour.  Then you just cook it until it turns dark brown (add the minced garlic to this when it's a dark-medium brown, then continue to cook until it turns dark brown).  It does take a while to turn dark brown, but if you get it started cooking first, it will be ready just about the same time you've got everything else ready to go in the pot, so don't worry!

2.  While you're roux is cooking, cook your sausage in a skillet until it's evenly browned.  Then transfer to a large stock pot.

3.  In the same skillet (in the left over oil), cook your chicken pieces until no longer pink.  Then transfer chicken to the stock pot too.

4.  When the roux is ready, combine with the meat in the stock pot.  Add the chicken broth and beer, and bring to a boil.

5.  Stir in all the remaining ingredients - EXCEPT for the shrimp - to the stock pot.  Reduce, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.

6.  Finally, add your shrimp.  Raise the heat a little and cook for about 5 more minutes, until shrimp shrink up and are an opaque pink.  As soon as shrimp are done, remove the pot from the heat so your shrimp don't overcook and turn rubbery.

Happy Fat Tuesday!

A Gourmet Valentine's Day

One Valentine's Day, about three years ago, Mike made this special dinner for me.  I have been requesting it for Valentine's Day ever since. :)  It's a bit of a splurge (price wise), but it tastes AMAZING, and you can have a very nice dinner for two at home for much less than a similar meal at a restaurant.

Surf and Turf - Lobster Tail and Porter House Steak with Wine Sauce


FOR THE SURF:

2 Lobster tails

4 tbs butter 

6 cloves of garlic, minced

This part is really easy.  Using a large knife, crack the lobster shell in half, length wise, so you can lay the meat flat.  Put it on your George Foreman grill (you know you all have one...) and cook until the tail turns nice and red.  That's it!
To make a nice little butter dipping sauce, just saute your minced garlic in butter in a small skillet.  The garlic flavor is pretty strong, so when it's done cooking, I'd suggest straining out the garlic so you're left with just garlic-flavored butter.  

FOR THE TURF:

I'm going to let Mike write this recipe, since I've never actually made it (hehe - I'm spoiled, I know). :)

My wine sauce is based on this one from myrecipes.com, with a little modification.  It is a thick, savory sauce created with heavily reduced red wine and nice beef stock or demi-glace.  Sauteed mushrooms and shallots also absorb those tasty juices during the reduction and taste wonderful on the steak.  Now, your ingredients!

• Steak, cut of your choice (porterhouse is very nice)
• 3 cups (about 1 750 mL bottle) dry red wine, divided
• ? tbsp Williams-Sonoma beef demi-glace
• 1 tablespoon butter or stick margarine
• 2/3 cup shallots, finely chopped
• 1 lb chopped mushrooms
• optional: corn starch, soy sauce, thyme

A few notes on the ingredients:

• Williams-Sonoma demi-glace is pricey – about $30 for a 10.5 oz jar.  The original recipe calls for consomme, which I can’t imagine anyone ever going to the trouble to make.  On the cheap, I have also made this sauce using Kroger or Swanson beef broth, and found that a full bottle of wine to about 16 oz. broth works well, but factor in at least an hour to let all that liquid simmer and reduce!
• Save money and use cheap wine.  A $5 bottle or wine from a box will taste wonderful in this sauce; save the nice stuff for drinking with dinner.  
• Most grocery stores have shallots if you look for them, even if you haven’t heard of them before.  This recipe is where I first discovered shallots!  They’re a bit milder than regular onions; I think if you had to use onion I’d use red onions.  But try shallots if you can!
• I used regular white mushrooms because shiitake are expensive.  But if you try them, let us know!

Directions:


Beforehand, have ready: one large pan for reducing the sauce, one medium pan for browning and searing the steaks, and either a Foreman-type grill and an oven pan and aluminum foil.

1. Saute the chopped shallot and mushroom on medium heat in the butter.  Also, preheat oven to 350 degrees and get out an oven pan and a large sheet of foil for each steak. 
2. Once the shallots turn a nice semi-translucent golden color, add bottle of wine and 4 tbsp. demi-glace.  (if your pan isn't big enough, just add more liquid in as the sauce reduces).  Bring everything back to a simmer and stir frequently, as a film will form on the edge of the pan and you want to keep that flavor in the sauce.
3. Remove the mushrooms and shallots with a slotted spoon, then raise heat to speed reduction.
4. Once reduced by half, dump wine mixture into bowl with mushrooms and shallots.
5. In now empty pan, add the steaks with a little olive oil or butter on medium heat for no more than 3 min / side.  Go to med/low heat and continue to cook for 1-2 min/side until done as desired.
6. Add remaining 1/3 bottle of wine and 1 tbsp demi-glace to pan, scrape loose browned bits from steak and bring to simmer.  Simmer 1 min.  Add soy, corn starch and first half of sauce from other bowl.  Add thyme if desired.
7. Reduce to desired thickness and enjoy.

This sauce will keep pretty well in the refrigerator for several days (we actually think it tastes even better on day two!), and we've even frozen it and reheated it with no problems.  While we used porterhouse steaks for our Valentines day, this sauce will make even poor cut of meat taste fantastic.

Easy baked fish

This surprisingly simple recipe has become one of my new favorites.  I tried it as an experiment one night, and I've come to love it!  It's great extra great when served with a little fresh lemon juice on top.  Try it with a side of vegetables and seasoned rice, and a glass of white wine for a fantastic quick and easy meal!

INGREDIENTS:

1 fillet of fish, any kind (so far, I've tried it with cod, white fish and trout, and all three turned out great!)
Seasoned bread crumbs (like the kind you buy in a can)
Parmesan cheese, grated
Romano cheese, grated or shredded 
Olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

1. Take a glass or ceramic casserole dish and lightly grease the bottom with a little olive oil.  Place the fish in the dish, skin side down.

2.  Sprinkle with bread crumbs and cheese.

3. Bake for about 25-30 minutes in 350 degree oven.  It's done when the fish easily flakes with a fork.

Salmon and Herb Penne

This is one of my absolute favorite dishes!  It is so quick and easy to make, but still tastes like a delicious, luxurious meal!  And it’s healthy too!!

INGREDIENTS:

1 12 oz box of whole wheat penne pasta
2 cups of grape or cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 medium-sized red onion, chopped
12 oz can or jar of artichokes, drained (alternatively, you can use the marinated ones but don't drain them -- just be sure you boil off most of the liquid)
6 cloves of garlic, minced or crushed
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/2 cup of white wine (any dry white or cooking wine, like Sherry or Marsala)
14 oz canned salmon
2 Tbsp basil
1 Tbsp oregano

DIRECTIONS:

1. Prepare the pasta according to the package directions. No need to add salt or oil or anything.  When it's done, drain and set aside.

2. While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat.  Add the onion, artichokes, and garlic.  Cook until the onion starts to become transparent.

3. Next add the salmon, wine, basil and oregano.  Cook for another five minutes or so.  The fish is already cooked, so it's not critical that you cook it for very long.  You're just getting the flavors nice and mixed together.

4. I add the tomatoes last because I like my tomatoes more fresh than cooked.  Cook for another few minutes until it looks done to you.  Combine with the pasta and you're done!  See, wasn't that easy?