leanKitchen » Fish

Herbed Parmesan Crusted Salmon

leanKitchen — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:04:11 +0000

After posting the lesson on how to make brown butter yesterday, I decided I better hurry up and post a way to cook with it!

First, while your brown butter is in a metal or glass pan getting ready, get your 2 salmon steaks rinsed (I used wild salmon), paper towel dried, and nicely coated with salt and FGP.

Next, get your brown butter just right, and when it’s golden brown, put the salmon in the pan (flesh side in the brown butter, skin side up), and DON’T TOUCH IT! Let it sit there on medium heat and get nice and brown, so that a nice crust forms, and your salmon doesn’t stick to the pan. Take it out once you can slide it around the pan easily, with no attachment at all to the pan. This helps you get a prettiest, more aestetically pleasing dish, as hunks of fish aren’t still stuck to the pan when your fish is on your dinner plate. Just be patient! Once the salmon is cooked about 1/3 of the way up the Salmon Steak, remove it from the pan.

Next, put in a ceramic dish, and while your oven is pre-heating to 375, shred some fresh parmesean cheese into your food processor (about 1/2-2/3 of a cup) using your “shred” setting. Once shredded, add some fresh herbs (I used dill from my garden, and rosemary and parsley from my indoor garden-a small bunch of each):

Take for a quick spin with your blade setting till it looks like this:

Then pack it on top of the salmon. No worries if some falls off the side.

Bake till cheese is melted and a little browned, but careful not to overcook the fish! Overcooked means “no longer juicy”…about 8ish-9ish minutes.

Beautiful, isn’t it? I bet it would be AMAZING with some of my Sesame Swiss Chard, Quick Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Quick Roasted Asparagus, or my Roasted Curried Chickpeas. Yum!

Trish’s Delicious Fishes

leanKitchen — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 03:46:59 +0000

My good friend Trish was telling me last night about the fish tacos she made for dinner. I wanted to try it so bad, so I asked for her recipe.

I took the zest and juice from one lime, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 hot sliced fresh red pepper, 1/4 c. chopped & mixed green onion and cilantro (fresh from the garden!) and mixed it up well. I poured it into a large freezer bag over 1 lb. of cod (she used mahi mahi, which stands up to a grill much better than cod, haddock, etc., though pretty much any white fish would work my way*), and let it marinate for 1/2 an hour.

Next, I put a patch of foil down on the grill. I turned my grill on high, and used the foil like a grill surface (* my way). When it was hot, I put the fish down on top of the foil, and discarded the remaining marinade.

While that was cooking, I went in the house and mixed 1 tsp of mayo, a splash of cider vinegar, and lime zest to taste- taste it and make sure you like it!- then I threw in a handul of broccoli slaw, which is coleslaw with broccoli instead of green cabbage. Toss around. Mmmm!

The fish on the grill you’ll need to flip once. Depending on the thickness, it should take about 10-12 minutes till it’s time to take off the grill for good. General rule of thumb- when the fish is flaky and opaque, you should be good to go.

Put in a low-carb, whole grain wrap (lowest carb count you can find-I used 1/2 of a Wrap-itz lo-carb Wheat Wrap), top with the slaw, and ENJOY your zesty fish taco!

Granted, I’ve never had a fish taco, and this probably isn’t even what they look like (I know they’re typically fried), but this was SO DELICIOUS!

Thank you, Trish!

Peach Mint Salad

leanKitchen — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 03:21:58 +0000

Part of why I love summertime so much, is the CONSTANT variety. Right now, in my garden, arugula is running rampant! I harvested some of that, some fresh dill, chives, sage, rosemary, and another green and red leafy head of lettuce. Once I’d brought them inside, I rinsed well (to get the dirt and bugs out), and let that sit on a paper towel with another on top, weighed down with a bowl, to really get all the water out).

Then, I peeled and diced a cucumber and, seeing a leftover peach from the kids snack, cubed that up as well. When I was rinsing off the peach in the sink, though, I saw what really put this salad together- my spearmint plant I’d just watered. I pulled off several leaves, and threw that in the salad as well. I put it all together, took out some cooked (and seasoned with Old Bay) haddock, draped atop, and VOILA! Take a look:

And again:

The kids LOVED the peaches inside. They thought it was so delicious!

Kid approved, supportive, delicious, healthful. I scored a perfect 4 out of 4! Yay!

(Kid number 1 preferred peanuts)

(While number 2 prefered ham…..to be one, that is)

Lobster, Shrimp, and Scallop Scampi

admin — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 04:35:44 +0000

Scampi, one of my favorites.

While it does have it’s variations from place to place, one thing remains: it typically is shrimp broiled in garlic and butter. A lot of the time, it’s served over pasta. The reduction/sauce usually also contains wine, which I’ve omitted from this recipe.

So to cut corners are far as time went, I bought 1 lb. pre-cooked and shelled lobster (my favorite!), 1/2 pound of cooked shrimp (medium to large, really whatever you like), and 1/4 pound of raw sea scallops. You can use the little ones, I just like mine jumbo! You can also substitute fish, use other seafoods, use raw instead of cooked, etc. to suit your tastes and needs, just be careful. This is shellfish. Keep it in the forefront of your mind to keep the raw stuff TOTALLY separate from the cooked stuff ’till they meet in the skillet, cook the raw seafood first, and add the cooked stuff at the very end to prevent overcooking (as well as cross-contamination).

Scallops, Lobster, and Shrimp

First, I coated the bottom of a heavy-bottomed skillet with olive oil, eye it, but it was roughly 2-3 tbsp. of oil. Turn the heat to medium, and to that, add another 1-2 tablespoons of butter (Yeah, I know, but this serves 4, so you’re not really eating 5 tbsp. of fat…and scampi’s not scampi without the butter!), 2 + cloves of chopped garlic (more or less to your taste- I used 4 or 5 cloves, ’cause I love it!).

When the butter is fully melted, add the chopped garlic. This infuses the butter with the garlicky goodness! When it starts to slightly bubble, add the scallops gently to the pan. Before you add the scallops, however, you need to rinse them, paper towel them, and sea-salt-and fresh-cracked-black-pepper both sides.

Scallops in Olive oil and Butter with garlic

To that, you next add and 1/4 of a red onion, diced small, that you have prepped and waiting on the side, plus the pre-cooked (and re-rinsed and paper-toweled previous to adding to the skillet) shrimp and lobster. In the event that the oil/butter mixture starts to reduce too much, add more drizzles of oil. You don’t want this to cook hard, you’ll want gentle heat, so that the seafood doesn’t overcook, you don’t burn your garlic, and the liquid doesn’t reduce too much or too fast! Your goal here is to keep the liquid part as semi-clear and pale as possible, not burnt/dark orange. The butter will burn if too much is used, hence why the higher concentration of oil to butter.

Only keep the shrimp and lobster in long enough to warm through-basically, add to the pan, cover, and remove from the heat after a few quick stirs. Mine looked like this:

Ready to put on the Spagetti Squash!

Next, take your spagetti squash out of the microwave (that you’ve prepared using this technique), put it in a serving dish or bowl, and top with the scampied seafood with some fresh chopped parsley, and small strips of sundried tomatoes.

Seafood Scampi

This was unbelievably delicious, with a hint of decadence, while staying true to supportive eating. You can top with cheese, and add any other add-in’s you’d like (black olives, spinach, artichokes, etc.). This was a HUGE hit in my house.

Don’t like seafood? My mom didn’t, either. You could definitely subsitute chicken or veggies here, and serve the same way!

Bon Appetit’!

(Oh, and while we’re on the subject of garlic, do you want to know my method of easily peeling the skins? Click here to see how the leanKitchen does it!)

Sunny Sundried Tomato Pesto

leanKitchen — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:54:39 +0000

In celebration of our sunny weather, I made some sunshine tomato pesto!!

……Alright, that was a lie.

Really, this recipe was a fluke, but a wonderful one! See what happened was, last night when making dinner, I thought I had a MUCH bigger container of basil than I really did. I realized when I was cleaning my basil that I didn’t, in fact, have anywhere near enough. So, I pulled out my thinking cap, and here’s what I did:

I took my 2 oz clamshell container of basil (rinsed, then stripped the leaves from the stems), ¼ c. of pine nuts, 1 clove of garlic, ¼ cup of cheese (it’s usually parmesan, I used shredded sharp cheddar cause it’s what I had). Next up came the replacement for the Basil…what in the world was I going to use?? I looked in my fridge and saw I had a 8.5 oz. container of sun-dried tomatoes in oil (Bella Sun Luci, my favorite if I have to buy them in jars), so I dumped half of them, plus the olive oil (which had infused with that awesome sun-dried tomato flavor) into my food processor.

Pesto!

Then, I pulsed for literally 4 seconds. It was super fast.

SUNNY SUNDRIED TOMATO PESTO

I enjoyed this on a nice hot bowl of spaghetti squash (that I prepared the same way as I always do), topped with more cheese and some shrimp I’d thawed (and of course, topped with Old Bay, my favorite!!). Supportive, nutritious, and incredibly delicious!!!!! (Yes, I’m aware that rhymed : )

Sundried Tomato Pesto with Shrimp over Spagetti Squash

…and yeah, the kids were fooled again ;- )

This would be fabulous with chicken, or with maybe marinated tempeh or veggie meatballs as a complete vegetarian option.

Lightening Fast Weeknight Tropical Cod

leanKitchen — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:51:11 +0000

If you’re anything like me, you’ve only got a couple of nights a week to get errand-type things done, am I right?

Tonight was my grocery shopping night, but I stayed late at work, then ran a couple of errands, then grocery store last. Looking at my clock and seeing it was already past 7PM, I knew I was going to have to do something, or risk eating something unhealthy and unsupportive. Remembering I had some Fresh Mango Salsa (cherry salsa would work, too!!) leftover in my fridge, I pulled my favorite trick, and used my resources. I asked my Price Chopper Seafood department to steam up some fresh Cod, and had him season it with a lemon pepper seasoning. They will do it for you, free of charge, in four minutes. What could be better?! Upon my arrival home, all I did was pull out a plate, transfer the fish on, scoop on the salsa, and stick a fork in it!

Weeknight Cod with Mango Salsa

Crystal's Cherry Salsa

leanKitchen — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 02:35:42 +0000

So as I told you earlier, I had a get-together with friends this weekend. Most people brought an appetizer, and I snagged the recipe as soon as I saw the beautiful, deep red colors of this gorgeous salsa.

Isn’t it beautiful?!?

Cherry Salsa

Now let me tell you, growing up, I was NOT a fan of cherries. My best friend and I have deduced that the reason for this is that our medicines were all cherry flavored when we were kids *shudder*.

My friend Crystal shared the recipe, and now, I share with you, Crystal’s Cherry Salsa:

Cherry Salsa:

4 tlbs boiling water
1 to 2 tsp red pepper flakes
4 cups red sweet cherries
1/2 cup sweet red pepper
1/3 cup red onion

2 packets splenda
Juice from 2 freshly squeezed limes
2 tsp kosher salt

In a medium bowl, combine boiling water and red pepper flakes, set aside and let soak for at least 5 minutes for flakes to soften.

Stir in halved cherries with pits removed and finely chopped sweet red pepper and red onion.

Add fresh lime juice, splenda, and salt. Toss very well and allow mixture to stand for at least 30 mins before serving.

: Cherry Salsa

To make this supportive, spoon this atop grilled chicken breasts or your favorite fish, like mahi. Yum!

Smokey's Smoked Salmon-Wrapped Cream Cheese n'Cukes!

leanKitchen — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:44:26 +0000

So on the Warp Speed Fat Loss low carb day, there’s a derivative of a smoked salmon wrapped around cream cheese. While I love the idea of things wrapped in other things, particularly cream cheese (or…any cheese, really), I find smoked salmon gag-a-licioius, and used turkey bacon instead. To make it supportive, I peeled and cut cukes into small strips, put the turkey bacon (cooked) down, a dollop of cream cheese in, a strip of the cuke in the middle, and rolled it up for a DELICIOUS snack! You can use smoked salmon, prosciutto (one of my favorite things on the planet, FYI), turkey, or pretty much any lean, thin meat (or veggie, like red lettuce). If you have a higher fat allowance, you can also roll it in grated parm to kick things up a bit.

But…”Smokey’s” Smoked Salmon-Wrapped Cream Cheese n’ Cukes?? Sheesh, Nedah, could you possibly come up with a longer name?? And, who the heck is Smokey?

Smokey

Smokey’s a four(-ish) month old BEAUTIFUL kitten (that I adore, and want in my own home, but alas, my landlord at this point would probably kill me) who loves to snuggle and purr up to me when I volunteer at the Shelter. So what’s Smokey’s story? Smokey was found in a trailer park with 10-15 other cats under a vacant trailer. I can’t say more wonderful things about this little sweetheart. His personality and attributes (long hair, playful, teasing traits) remind me so much of my own cat, Jackson. They’d be such good friends, but again, since I’d like to avoid death-by-landlord* I feel the need to ask my readers: Are you looking for a precious, sweet, beautiful kitty to be a wonderful, permanent member of YOUR family?

Well, you can download an application for him here, or get more information by calling the shelter at 802-741-PETS (7387) or e-mailing info@kingdomanimalshelter.com. There are more adoptable kitties here, if Smokey isn’t quite what you’re looking for.

*For the record, my landlord isn’t the homicidal type, not in the least..I just had to throw the personal jab out there because I know he reads this blog!

Dinner n' a Good One!

leanKitchen — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 22:20:32 +0000

Two Englishmen were walking through the woods with a large Salmon under each arm when they met two Irishmen, Michael and Donal.
“Hey there’s some wonderful salmon, where did you get them?”
“Don’t tell anyone,” replied the Englishmen, “but we poached them out of the river.”
“How did you do that?” asked Donal
“Well, Fred here dangles over the bridge, I hang on to his legs and when the salmon leap out of the water on their way upstream, he just catches them.”
“We’ll try that Michael me boy.” says Donal
They get to the bridge and Donal hangs Michael over the edge of the bridge by his legs, after about twenty minutes Michael screams…
“Quick pull me up, pull me up!”
“Have you got a salmon?” asks Donal,
“No,” replies Michael “but there’s a train coming.”

Tee-hee.

Alright so I personally found that joke to be absolutely hilarious.

Moving on, tonight I’m enjoying a most delicious dinner-You guessed it: Salmon!

..and Asparagus. Quick, simple, delicious. My kinda recipe!! It’s straight outta the Warp Speed Fat Loss Plan.

3 oz Salmon, broiled (I use 500 degrees in my oven) for about 3-5 minutes. Spread Dijon mustard over the top, and continue the broil till cooked through.

Steam asparagus till very green and still a bit crispy (keep nutrients that way, too!), then toss with 2 tsp of olive oil, and some salt n’ pepper (p.s. I like sea salt and fresh ground pepper).

YUMMM. Un-freakin-believable, and looked beautiful on the plate. I could hardly wait to snag a bite. And when I did, let me tell you, this SALMON was SLAMMIN’ : )

Here’s what it looked like:

Dijon Salmon with Asparagus

And dear blog readers, after re-reading that post, I vow to never attempt being funny ever again : )

The 12 Days of Christmas- Christmas Eve Fish

leanKitchen — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:27:40 +0000

In the Catholic Religion, fish is the meal of choice on Christmas Eve, primarily Cod. The Feast of Seven fishes ( in Italian- the vigilia di magro- a Catholic prohibition of consumption of meat) is a very Italian-specific tradition, an extravaganza of fish; different preparations and recipes. I love fish so much I could have a Feast of Seven Fishes EVERY DAY!

So I started with an Americanized version, with a side of wilted spinach with onions and garlic (one of my fav’s) and the fish was served on a bed of pureed squash. It was very delicious!!!

First up, I took a big piece of cod, and rubbed it with, yep you guessed it- my favorite all-purpose seafood seasoning, Old Bay.

Cod prepping for baking

While that was put into a 350 degree oven, I cheated and put 2 ten oz. packages of cooked frozen squash in the microwave for 9 minutes. I’m not a big lover of the microwave, but I wanted to get off the stove top. Next up I browned up some onions and garlic in olive oil on the stove top. I seasoned it with Old Bay to tie the flavors together. Once browned nicely, I then dumped a ten oz bag of cleaned raw spinach on top just long enough to make the spinach leaves wilted and nice and green (don’t let it over-cook and get brown-bleecch : )

Once the fish has been in the oven roughly twenty-twenty-five-ish minutes (depends on size and thickness of your fish-once its falling apart easily with a fork and opaque in color, you’re good to go), take it out. Plate it up, and you’re good to go! Mine looked like this:

Squash with Christmas Eve Fish

Spinach and Christmas Eve Fish

and tasted FABULOUS!! The way the spinach and fish all ties in together with the Old Bay flavoring, plus the sweet, light flavor and consistency of the squash goes so good with it. This is just a PERFECT light, low-maintenence and delicious meal to enjoy on Christmas Eve with your family. And it’s sp quick with such minimal cleanup that it’ll leave you with PLENTY of time to finish up wrapping those gifts. ; – )