I am trying to upgrade my diet, for health benefits and also weight loss; ergo, I’m trying to eat more fish.
Unfortunately, I find fish rather … meh. I don’t love it or hate it. It’s just meh.
Still, I bought some frozen tilapia fillets and shoved them in the freezer, and every so often, I take them out, look at them, put them back and feel just a little bit healthier.
I’ve looked through a number of online recipe collections, hoping to find something appealing. The only ones that look to be worthwhile are those where the fish is smothered in cheese or some salty-tasty-goodness that compensates for the meh flavour. But that seems to defeat my purpose.
Does anyone out there have any low-fat, low-sodium tasty fish recipes to entice me to thaw my fish?
Try cooking in parchment or foil pouches. Easy to cook and easy clean up as well. Google for some actual recipes, how to wrap them, and cooking times as I don’t know that off the top of my head. Usually you just slap a piece of fish in the pouch with some butter, lemon, garlic, herbs and maybe a few thin sliced veggies (like onions or peppers) wrap the pouch, cook, pop the pouch on a plate open it at the top and eat from the pouch, toss the empty pouch for easy clean up. The fish is usually very moist and low fat (as long as you don’t go too crazy with the butter). You could probably use olive oil if you want to avoid butter.
I made this last week, and will do again this weekend (because the salmon is thawed).
2-3 salmon filets
2 tbsp sweet cream butter
2 tbsp flour
Kosher salt
Fresh dill
Whole milk
Onion
Lemon juice
Butter? Whole milk? Diet? OK, it’s only two tablespoons of butter. There will be enough sauce for three or four servings, so it’s not that bad. I splurged on the whole milk. I’m sure it will be tasty with skim milk. But remember that this is a condiment, and that the fish is the meal. You don’t have to use much.
Preheat the oven to 375ºF.
Finely-chop some fresh dill. Say, about two or three tablespoons. Mince a bit of onion. Maybe a quarter of a cup? (Sorry, I used TLAR.)
I took the little metal pan out of the toaster oven and covered it with foil. You can use whatever; even just make a pan out of foil. Put the salmon filets skin-side down on the foil. Season with a pinch of kosher salt and some of the dill. Put the fish, uncovered, into the hot oven.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the minced onion. Sprinkle with kosher salt and sweat the onions until tender. Add the flour and whisk to form a roux. Toast the roux for a few minutes. Slowly add the milk and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Add the rest of the chopped dill and heat over low heat until thickened. Add lemon juice and whisk.
Depending on the thickness of your fish, it should be done in about 20 - 25 minutes from the time you put it in the oven. Remove the flesh from the skin and serve seasoned side up on a plate. Spoon some of the dill white sauce over it.
Serve with steamed fresh asparagus and a couple of boiled baby red potatoes. (I don’t actually have an asparagus steamer. I just put it into a sauté pan with a quarter-inch of water, cover, bring to the boil, and let it cook for two or three minutes.)
OK, first, throw away the frozen fish. Yes, I mean that, really. Thrown it away.
Now, go out and get some nice fresh fish, only what you plan on eating that night.
Fillet of Sole
take a sheet of foil, gently rub olive oil all over it with a paper towel, or spritz it if you have an oliive oil sprayer like some of us do =)]
Lay out the fillet of sole on it, squeeze half a lemon on it [or blood orange if you get lucky] a quick grind of pepper, and a sprinkle of dried thyme if you dont have fresh, maybe a scant pinch. Wash and thinly slice part of a small yellow squash paper thin, lay over the fillet, nicely arranged. mince up about a tablespoon of onion [you can cheat and use frozen chopped onion if you like] and spread it on the squash, then add a 'pinch] of french cut green beans.
Fold the foil over and gently crimp the edges shut, sort of like a giant hostess fruit pie sort of a shape.
Pop it in the oven at about 325 f for 15 minutes the steam from cooking should puff up the foil a bit.
I like to serve this with a small tossed salad and some fresh hot garlic toast.
You can do this with just about any fish, or scallops, or even shrimps.
Note - the foil cook thing can make potatoes go all funky, so I dont tend to cook fish and potatoes together unless it is in a chowder.
2 tilapia filets
2 Roma tomatoes
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
2 tsp capers
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Capellini (optional)
First: Do you want pasta? Or do you just want the fish? If you want the capellini, cut the tilapia filets into bite-sized pieces. If you don’t want pasta, leave the filets whole.
Heat a bit of olive oil in a sauté pan and sauté the chopped onion. Add the minced garlic and cook for another minute or two. Add the capers. Slice the Roma tomatoes, and cut the slices in half. Add to the pan with some kosher salt and toss it all together. Add the fish, either in pieces or whole, and cook until done.
If you’re having the capellini, use the tilapia-and-veg mixture as a ‘sauce’. If you’re having filets, remove the fish to plates and top with the veg mixture.
That’s right. Baking or broiling fish is a dicey thing. The time gap between underdone and dry and leathery is perilously short. In a pouch, you can fearlessly cook the thickest part, and the skinny, pointy part will still be moist and luscious. When I use lemon, I don’t mean juice. Full, sizzling slices won’t spatter; they’re in a pouch.
Keep in mind that some fish is simply bland. Tilapia for example. If you want fish that has a distinctive flavor try something like salmon, tuna, mackerel, or catfish.
Depending on what part of the country you live in, this may be really bad advice. For us inlanders fish that is flash frozen is our best bet and it can keep for quite awhile before starting to lose flavor. The big thing you want to avoid is fish that has been frozen, allowed to thaw, and then refreezed.
Tilapia is firm like halibut. Cut into 1" pieces, make a beer batter, dip fish in flour, shake off excess, then in batter, shake off excess, and deep fry until golden. Fish poppers.
Zowie! Thanks for all the advice! Jorge_Burrito is correct – frozen is as good as it gets around here. Anyway, I’ve printed out this thread and will give some of these ideas a try. Thanks, guys!
You can not smell the fillet of fish if it is frozen. If you get it in the properly thawed mode from the fish vendor, they will let you sniff it.
I had some that were bought frozen, and kept frozen and when properly thawed and cooked had the nastiest ammonia fishynastyyukki smell that made me retch, and I know that it had been properly handled at our end.
If I cant give it the sniff test, I wouldnt feed it to my cat.
To emphasize the point - there are a lot of us with no access to fresh fish. So share with us some ideas on fish that has been thawed (if different from your yummy sounding sole).
My favorite fish of all time is a grilled swordfish steak. Very meaty and healthy, better for you and more satisfying than a red steak, IMHO. Why not try a swordfish steak treated like a beef steak?.. Seasoned with a Montreal steak seasoning and olive oil rub, then grilled and served with a flavorful, spicy, and healthy olive oil and citrus chimichurri?
I’m probably missing a joke here, but… WTHeck does ISO have to do with eating fish, or healthy or… anything related to diet? I’m very likely missing another definition for ISO. Please clue, thx bye.
