Indoor-Grilled Fish

Fish is a wonderful, protein packed food. Many times it is avoided unless someone else cooks it and here in NC that usually means breaded and deep fat fried. There are many ways other than frying to cook fish (baking, pan-frying, packet, in soup and outdoor grilled).

If your your outdoor grill has been packed away for the winter, you can still grill if you have a "George Foreman" or any other type of indoor grill.

You can generally grill any type of fish, I like to grill heavier, meatier types because they do not fall apart as easily as your thinner, lighter varieties. They also have a stronger flavor which allows you to go heavier on the spices.

Grilled Fish

2 pounds fish fillets (I used Barramundi)
1/4 cup olive oil
sea salt
black pepper

Sauce

1/2 stick of butter
1 Tbsp lemon juice (add more or less to taste, I like a strong lemon flavor)
1 tsp dried tarragon
1 tsp dried parsley

Coat the fish in the olive oil, make sure the entire surface of the fish is covered.

Make the sauce, I used fresh lemon juice but bottled will work just as well. Melt the butter, add the lemon juice and spices. The fish cooks so quickly that you want to have the sauce prepared first. 

Grill the fish, usually takes about 2-3 minutes per side, but remember the "George Foreman" type grills cook the top and bottom at the same time so keep an eye on it and do not overcook. 

When the fish is done, remove from the grill and top with the sauce. 

Before I started preparing the fish and sauce, I place my sides in the oven. We had roasted broccoli and Brussels Sprouts. So easy, just toss the vegetables in a little olive oil and season, I used garlic powder, salt, pepper and a little cayenne pepper. Place on the center rack of a 400 degree oven and roast 20-25 minutes.
I like to roast in a cast iron pan because the veggies brown so nicely in it.

Spinach, Pepper & Bacon Frittata

Here is a one-pan breakfast to get you going in the morning.

Ingredients
Turn on oven broiler on high
Bacon of choice; beef, pork, turkey, etc.. (I used 5 strips of nitrate/nitrite free bacon)
Eggs (I used 10, this recipe was feeding 5 so adjust accordingly)
2.5 cups of frozen bell pepper/onion mix
2 cups of frozen spinach
1/3 cup buttermilk
sea salt, cayenne pepper and black pepper to taste

Fry bacon until crisp, remove from pan and chop

Mix, egg, buttermilk, salt, pepper and cayenne.







Saute peppers until hot and the liquid is reduced, then add spinach and do the same.

Pour egg mixture on the veggies add chopped bacon and mix in, leave on medium heat until the bottom is set (approximately 3-4 minutes)

Place pan in oven on the center rack, broil on high for 2-3 minutes until set on top (watch the frittata, you don't want to burn it.

 Slice and serve, you can top with salsa if you like.

Butter Chicken in 15 Minutes!

Here is another great Pressure Cooker Recipe. Delicious and quick.

Ingredients:

A 2 1/3 - 3 pound whole chicken (you can use parts if you prefer, just reduce cooking time down to 8 minutes).
2 medium onion, coarsely chopped
4 Tbsp real butter (do not use margarine)
1 1/2 cups of water
sea salt and fresh milled pepper

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Melt the butter in the pressure cooker pot and saute the onions until very lightly browned. Brown the chicken in the butter and onions on all sides. Remove the chicken from the pot and place in the steamer basket. Add the water to the pot and bring to a boil scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Place the steamer basket into the pot (do not use the trivet if you have one to rest the steamer basket on, you want the basket in the water). Place the cover on the pot, once you have built steam start your timer for 15 minutes. When the time is up remove the pot from the heat and let the pressure fall on its own. Remove the basket from the pot and look at the sauce, if it is too thin boil it to evaporate the extra water, then pour over your chicken. Total time, maybe 30 minutes (15 prepping, 15 cooking). Too easy.

New Year Dinner

I purchased a pressure cooker to go with my new stove. It is one of the most wonderful contraptions. You can make food that tastes like it took all day to cook, without taking all day to cook.

Menu : Oxtails, Whipped Cauliflower and Green Beans with Almonds. 

Oxtail Recipe

4 1/2 pounds of Oxtails
2 Tbsp oil (I used virgin coconut)
1 large onion, sliced
3-4 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 bay leaf
1 tsp herbs provincial
1 tsp flour (I used organic, sprouted spelt)
1 bottle of beer (I used a bottle of Guiness Stout)
1 cup of water

Brown the Oxtails in small batches, remove from the pressure cooker pot and set aside.

Brown the onions in the pot, add more oil if necessary.

Add the remaining ingredients, scrapping the browned bits off the bottom of the pot.

Add the meat, put on the pressure cooker lid and build the steam. Cook for 25 minutes. Remove from the heat and let the pressure drop on its on. Add salt and pepper to taste.

While the meat is cooking, prepare the cauliflower. Place a whole head cauliflower that has been cut into florets into a dish and add 1/2 cup of water (you can use frozen and skip adding the water). Place in the microwave and cook on high for 10-12 minutes.

Add cooked cauliflower, 3 Tbsp of butter, salt and pepper to a food processor and blend until smooth.

While the cauliflower is in the microwave, cook the green beans on the stove. I put 3 cups of frozen, thin green beans, added a little water to the pot, 2 Tbsp of butter, sea salt and a couple of Tbsp of crushed almonds (place whole almonds into a zip lock bag and smash with a mallet).

Viola! A meal in 30 minutes instead of 3-4 hours. I love my new pressure cooker.

The recipe for the oxtails came from '80 recipes for your....Pressure Cooker' by Richard Ehrlich. I modified it just a little bit.

Surf and Turf Dinner

Usually Surf and Turf means seafood and steak. We had seafood and chicken instead, it was so good I just had to share. On the menu: Honey-glazed Salmon, Asparagus and Tomka (Coconut Chicken soup).

A little citrus was used in all of the dishes so they complemented each other very well.

Honey-glazed Salmon (by Bob Martin)
Salmon Fillets
Sea Salt
1 stick of Butter
3 tsp Honey
Lemon

Pat a little sea salt on the fillets and grill until done to your liking. While the Salmon is cooking melt the butter add the honey and simmer to make the glaze. Squeeze some lemon into the glaze and top the cooked fish. Finish the top with lemon slices.

Asparagus
Slender fresh Asparagus
Olive Oil
Lemon Pepper

Trim the tough part of the stalk from the asparagus and place into a roasting pan. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle lemon pepper all over. Toss to cover well, then roast the vegetables in a 400 degree oven until tender, about 25 min (watch carefully, do not burn!)

Tom Kha (Coconut Chicken Soup)
2 pounds chicken, cut into bite size pieces
2 Tbs coconut oil (you can use butter)
6 Green Onions, slice thinly (trim roots from bottoms and use entire stalk)

1 Tbs. Turmeric

2 Tbs. Ginger, Fresh Grated
1 cup water
1 tsp. Sea Salt
2 - 14oz cans coconut milk
1 cup Snow Peas, cut in half
1 cup Carrots, sliced thinly
1 cup Mushrooms, sliced
4 Tbs. Fish Sauce
1 tsp. Cayenne Pepper (add more if you like it spicy!)
1/4 Lime Juice, fresh squeezed

Saute the chicken in the coconut oil until no longer pink, add the green onion and saute 2 minutes longer. Add turmeric, ginger and salt. Stir well, make sure all the chicken is coated with the spices.   Add water and bring to a boil. Add the coconut milk, just before it returns to a full boil lower the heat and simmer until the chicken is tender (about 30 min). Turn heat up to medium and add vegetables, fish sauce and cayenne pepper, cook (do not boil) until veggies are tender (about 10 min) then add the lime juice.

This dinner served 6 with leftovers. Enjoy, but be careful you just might stuff yourself.

Coconut and Almond Crusted Fish

You know that eating fish is good for you,
but are you eating it on a regular basis? You should be at least 2 six ounce servings per week. Fish is brain food, rich in Omega 3. Some fish are higher in Omega 3 than others, but all fish are part of a healthy diet. Coconut and Almond Crusted Fish is a delicious way to enjoy fish and easy to prepare (it is also low-carb with 6 net carbs per serving).

32 ounces of fish (eight fillets) I used frozen Barramundi from BJ's
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp of Dijon Mustard
2 Tbsp of Lemon or Lime Juice 
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper
2 cups of ground almonds (or use almond flour)
2 cup or un-sweetened flake coconut  (you can make your own, you will have milk as well, you want to use the strained solids).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Defrost fish if necessary. Mix mayo, mustard, juice, 1 tsp salt and cayenne pepper. In a separate bowl mix coconut and almonds. Coat fish fillets in mayo/mustard mixture and then coat the fish with almond/coconut mixture. Bake for 15 minutes.

Here are some neat NC Fish websites:

http://marinersmenu.org/
http://www.fishwatch.gov/

Feasts of Faith - Fish Recipe

Feasts of Faith is a series of cooking videos posted on You Tube. An Italian Chef goes to the Holy Land to walk where Jesus walked and to prepare the foods that would have been prepared during that time. I have really enjoyed the videos and have enjoyed preparing the foods demonstrated. If you would like to see the videos you can get to them from this link FEASTS OF FAITH VIDEOS.

The fish recipe demonstrated in the video is wonderful and simple to prepare (even though I cooked it too long, it was still pretty tasty). For me, getting the fish was no simple affair. It started with my son and I watching the videos and deciding we wanted to prepare one of the meals. He had come home from school to help take care of me on the weekend as I was recovering from surgery. While we were out we decided to visit an Asian market we kept passing on the highway on a regular basis always saying we were going to stop and take a look, finally we took a look.

The market was different than I was used to, I was completely out of my comfort zone. There was food I did not recognize labeled in a language I could not read. We took a look at the housewares, the vegetable section and worked our way to the back where the fish market was located. I was impressed with the variety of fish being sold there. That is when my son said we should make the fish recipe. OK, which fish are we going to use? We needed a whole fish and there were many to choose from but none of the fish on ice had labels, at least not in English. We both stood there obviously lost. As we looked around I noticed that the live fish tank was labeled, sea bass. Well we could use sea bass so I pointed them out to my son and he said yeah, that will work.

I told him to ask for the fish, he said he didn't know how. I replied that I didn't know how, so we stood there a little while longer. Finally I told him that if he wanted to make this recipe he had better go get the fish. He wanted to know how many? I didn't know! I told him to get three. He asked the gentleman behind the counter for three sea bass. The man reached for his net and stuck it in the tank, it reminded me of Finding Nemo, when the huge school of fish were screaming "run away, run away". He finally got hold of a fish, pulled it out of the tank and whack, slammed it on the floor and put it on the scale. Well that was new. He got out two more fish in the same manner and put those on the scale as well. The fish were still moving a little, I then noticed that the big box of crabs I was standing in front of had a lot of moving critters in it, this was certainly an interesting place. I whispered to my son that if that man puts those fish in a bag and hands them to us, he was going to have the pleasure of eviscerating and scaling them when we got home, he said "no problem". Well after weighing the fish, we were asked if we wanted them cleaned? Yes!
After acquiring the fish we headed to the vegetable section to choose herbs to stuff the fish with. We settled on watercress, chives and parsley. Next, we went to BJ's to purchase olive oil. We needed regular olive oil not extra-virgin, we were going to fry the fish in the same manner demonstrated in the video.  Once we got home we had to remove the fish heads, my frying pan was too small for the entire fish to fit into. We also added slices of lemon along with the herbs we were stuffing the fish with. Next time I will use smaller fish, these fish were large and we needed bamboo skewers to hold the herbs in before frying.

The fish were delicious, I will warn you though, Sea Bass are really bony fish. The bones were easy to remove however. This is a recipe that I will definitely try again.

Ingredients:
Whole fish (gutted and scaled)
Fresh Herbs (we used parsley, watercress and chives) I would have used fresh dill but could not find any.
Fresh Lemon slices
Olive Oil (do not use Extra-Virgin, it is too delicate to fry with)
Skewers or kitchen twine if your fish will not stay closed and the filling is falling out.
Sea Salt
Fresh Pepper

Directions:
Rinse and pat dry the fish. Rinse your herbs and mix them together, make enough bunches for the number of fish you have. Stuff the herbs in the fish and place in lemon slices. If the herbs are falling out of the fish, secure with skewers or kitchen twine. Salt and pepper the fish and fry until done.