Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Fabulous fish

We eat fish at least 2-3 times per week. Whether fresh from the store (meaning I forgot to defrost something for dinner) or taken from the freezer stash, we have plenty to choose from.
Something else in abundance and variety at my house are fresh herbs. I am always looking for more ways to get them into our meals - for seasoning (we try to maintain a low sodium intake), for nutrition (Did you know a teaspoon of thyme contains 10% of the daily value for iron?) and for health (Basil is used to treat irritability, fatigue, depression and anxiety!)
Here are two ways I have come up with to make bland fish great with fresh herbs and a few other seasonings on hand.

Ginger-mint baked fish
I usually use Rockfish for this. It will also work well with Red Snapper.
1+ lbs/2 whole fillets thin white fish
olive oil
1 tb chopped chives
pinch red pepper flakes
1 clove minced garlic
1 tsp orange zest
3-4 stems fresh mint
1 inch piece chopped fresh ginger
In a glass baking dish, drizzle fillets with oil and rub to coat both sides to prevent sticking. Sprinkle fish with chives, garlic, red pepper and orange zest. Strip leaves from mint stems and chop coarsely if large; sprinkle over fish. Top with ginger and bake at 375 until fish is flaky but still moist (about 20 min).

The fish will absorb the flavors of the herb and spice toppings while cooking, so if it's too much of a mouthful you can scrape some of it off before eating.

Coconut-crusted fish
Again, I usually use this with Rockfish.
1/3 c flaked coconut (unsweetened)
2 tb almond meal
2 tb parmesan cheese
2 tb fresh parsley
grapeseed oil (or olive if you prefer...grapeseed is lighter and doesn't interfere with the coconut)
ground pepper to taste
Put coconut, almond meal, parmesan and parsley in a chopper or food processer for a few pulses to combine and grind smaller. Put fish in a glass baking dish and coat lightly with oil. Top with mixture from chopper - you will have plenty to coat two fillets substantially. Top with ground pepper and bake at 375 until top begins to brown and fish is flaky.

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