recipe-help Healthy recipes? Fish recipes?

T

Tkromer

So my wife has decided we're going to eat healthy for a while (I'm sure that will pass in due time), but for the time being I need some recipe ideas. I put cheese on every dish, spicy or not, so that adds a lot of flavor and can make even the crappiest (read: vegetarian) meal seem OK, with cheese out of the picture, I'm starting to run low on good food.

Since the healthy kick started, we've cut down to little or no red meat, and we're eating a lot of fish. So any good spicy fish recipes would be great. I can get pretty elaborate, but simple is good too, just looking for new ideas. My wife prefers the less fishy types of fish (saltwater mostly), plus freshwater fish are just hard to come by around here. My favorite is a good tuna steak, but I'm open to suggestions.

Good veggie sides (or even main courses) would also be welcome. I've gone through a large portion of the recipes on NJA's blog, but my wife really doesn't get into anything with a masala taste to it (not to mention she freaks over the smell of asafoetida). Doesn't mean I won't continue to make them, but I have to branch out a little.
 
Is budget a factor? I could sell you some pretty good non smelling currie. It's called cus cus. :D

Don't eat just cheese though, i saw a telly show about a man that did just that, he died.

I recommend beer.
 
Oh, there's so much to do! Do you like lentils? I love them and usually make spicy pasta sauces with them.

Anyways, thought I'd share a nice shrimp wok.

Glass noodles
Shrimps (with shell)
1 red pepper
1 carrot
1 onion
1 red onion
Cabbage (handfull)
Alfalfa sprouts
Peas (in the pod) not sure what you call that in English
Parsley
Sweet chili
Soy (mushroom soy)
Shrimp broth

Make a broth by cooking the shrimp shells and adding salt. Can easily be frozen and be taken out for any other fish dishes you want to prepare. Gives a rich taste.

Pre-boil the glass noodles. Slice carrot, onion, pepper and cabbage thin and fry hard with the whole pea pods, but keep the stiffness. Lower the heat and add the pre-boiled noodles, alfalfa sprouts, shrimp broth, sweet chili and soy and stir. Add the pealed shrimps and parsley just before serving. This is a fast dish as any wok, but boiling the shells adds some time to it.

Hope you like it. I wrote this in a hurry so might be somewhat unclear. Don't hesitate to ask. This recipe will sooner or later end up on my blog as well, along with a lot of other recipes. I mostly cook vegetarian and hardly ever use cheese, so they might just fit perfectly for your purpose ;)
 
Many different types of sprouts are super nutritious, and you can easily sneak them into sandwiches and salads, or make spring rolls, and they are also easy to grow.
Pretty much any vegetable you grow yourself will be fresher and better tasting with more vitamins and nutritious than store bought.
As for fish I cook a lot of salmon since its high in omega3 and low in mercury, and I do most on the smoker but I also like grilling on cedar planks. Look out for TB's notorious smoked salmon recipe!
 
There's a fish called John Dory (in dutch it's called "zonnevis" or Sun fish), I think your wife will like it. It has very firm meat and is very tasty. It goes very well with (chilli) peppers and tomatoes.

Hozemond or Lotte is also very nice. And Swordfish and Squid (substitutable with Cuttlefish are also to die for. Tip use Squid or Cuttlefish ink to make black pasta sauce (two-tone dinner :) ). Stingray is also one of my favourites. I don't know. There are so many nice fish to eat if you have a good fishmonger.

Pottawie is right about the veg (about the fish too by the way). If you can only grow 1 extra besides the peppers I would either choose courgettes/zucchini or tomatoes (not your regular red ones, but something different). Also plant lots of different cooking herbs. I live on an apartment but I have over 40 containers of cooking herbs at my disposal :D Impossible to make bland food with that.

If you want nice fish recipe's check the authors Alan Davidson and Rick Stein for some good English books on the subject.
 
My_key, out of all the fish you list, only swordfish is somewhat common here in WV. I do love squid, but I'll not get anything near fresh here.
 
I like to take a nice thick salmon filet and make a foil 'boat' place the fish in and add some fav Italian dressing. Wrap up the foil so that the fish and dressing are ari tight and bake at 350 for about 1 hour. melts in your mouth.
 
Tkromer said:
Actually your recipe sounds great, no complaints with that one at all :) Thanks, but do feel free to make more!
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Great, let me know if you ever try it out :)

Another one I like is fry Hot Lemon together with mushrooms, preferably chanterelles. Then add crème fraise and mix (sour cream or sour yoghurt?) Put the mix on top of a block of fish and put it in the oven. Serve with rice.

You could also try the one I put on my blog today: http://chiliez.com/ It's an easy yummy pasta sauce drooling with olive oil (which is a very healthy oil!).
 
I make lemon, chanterelle and creme fraise on top of tuna steaks from time to time, I like to rub the tuna steaks in a steak seasoning like "Montreal seasoning" first.. GREAT way to make fish.

The recipe on your blog sounds great, I'd probably serve it over penne pasta so you get the sauce down in each bite.
 
Tkromer said:
I make lemon, chanterelle and creme fraise on top of tuna steaks from time to time, I like to rub the tuna steaks in a steak seasoning like "Montreal seasoning" first.. GREAT way to make fish.

The recipe on your blog sounds great, I'd probably serve it over penne pasta so you get the sauce down in each bite.
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Glad you liked it. Penne is a good idea, goes well with any pasta I think, I usually make it with spaghetti though. If you make it I would love to hear your feedback on it! Writing recipes is difficult for me as I never mesure anything when cooking. =D

That's sounds like a nice tuna, I haven't tried tuna to that, mostly cod-like fish. Will remember to try that too. The Hot Lemon chili goes really well with the chanterelles so just butter fried chanterelles and hot lemon on a sandwich works really great as well.
 
I prefer portabellas for a sandwich-type mushroom, I imagine they would substitute well with the chantarelles, even though the flavors are not that similar.
 
If you like cheese with everything then you have a high tolerance to salt. Just swap for salt with savoury ingredients.
e.g. one of my fav fish dishes. The saltiness comes from the fish sauce.

Whole snapper approx 1 kg scored to bone in a criss cross pattern 1 inch spacing
1 stalk lemon grass
chilli to taste
2 cloves garlic
2 leaves kaffir lime
1-3 tbs fish sauce
1 tbs palm sugar

Crush all ingredients (except fish) in a mortar and pestle or blend until smooth. Rub into cuts and over fish. Marinate 12-24 hours.

Oil hotl grill and cook 8-12 minutes per side, or depending on weight. Skin should be crispy with dark sear marks from grill.

Serve with dipping sauce: juice of 1 lime, chilli to tatse, 1/2 tbs fresh ground black pepper, 1-2 TBS fish sauce, 1 clove garlic, fresh mint or coriander accompanied by white rice and eaten with fingers.
 
very simple, quick, and good IMO..

plain ol' tilapia or other fish of the same texture...some lemon pepper seasoning on it....grill it...squeeze some lemon it....eat it...goes well with sea salted/peppered broccoli and cauliflower nuked for 8 minutes in a covered corning ware dish

I found frozen tilapia filets 3 packages of 4 1/2 pound filets for 5 dollars limit three...bought three the first day, went back the next for three more...

I never would eat tilapia before but it is a pretty good tasting fish IMO..
 
I think fresh water...farm raised too I think
 
Yep, farmed fresh water fish. Tilapia, in the top 3 fish farmed in the USA. Prefers tropical temps. "Tilapia is an good choice as part of a healthy, balanced diet, it is a low total fat, low saturated fat, low calorie, low carbohydrate and low sodium protein source. It is also an excellent source of Phosphorus, Niacin, Selenium, Vitamin B12 and Potassium." source wikipedia.
 
yup...thats it...it is on the "weight watchers" list of good foods for you from what the wife says...
 
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