Eat Right, Your Way, Every Day

Eat Right, Your Way, Every Day is the tagline for National Nutrition Month.  I'm sure the only people excited about this 'holiday' are those working in the nutrition field.  But, this is an excellent opportunity to talk with consumers about what a healthy diet can be and most of all, how delicious a healthy diet can be.  Just because a food is healthy does not mean it has to taste badly.  Delicious and Healthy can coexist in the same dish. (Sounds like a Disney movie, but that's another story.)

The essence of Eat Right, Your Way, Every Day is that there is no one way to 'eat right'.  When exploring the 'right diet' for you, consider balance, moderation, variety of foods and aiming for a healthy lifestyle.  For more information on diets, check out the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics website.

If you plan to include fish in your diet, this recipe for baked fish with savory bread crumbs is an excellent place to start.  I came across this recipe in an Italian cookbook.  I tried it out in my Cooking 101 class and they liked it.  Now I am sharing it with you.  If parsley is not your thing, try basil or a basil pesto.  It will still be delicious.

Baked Fish with Savory Bread Crumbs

Serves 6.

Ingredients:

2 pounds whitefish fillets, such as cod
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
6 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
Juice of one large lemon, about 3 Tablespoons
½ cup dry white wine
6 large garlic cloves, crushed and peeled
½ cup fine dry bread crumbs
Zest of a large lemon, about 2 teaspoons
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley
½ teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 Tablespoon butter, optional
Fresh lemon slices, for serving

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 400°F.

2.  Lightly salt fish on both sides.  Pour 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, lemon juice, white wine and ¼ teaspoon salt into the baking dish, and whisk together well.  Drop in the garlic cloves, and stir with the dressing.  Lay the fillets in the dish, turn to coat both sides of fish with dressing.  If your fish has skin, place the skin side down.

3.  Toss the bread crumbs in a bowl with the lemon zest, parsley, oregano, red pepper flakes, and ¼ teaspoon salt.  Add the remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil.  Stir  until the mixture is coated with olive oil.

4.  Spoon the bread crumbs on top of the fish.  Bake, uncovered, until the crumbs are crisp and golden and the fish is cooked through, about 15 to 20 minutes.

5.  Lift the fish out with a spatula, and set on a warm platter to serve family style. 

6.  If desired, reduce the sauce by about one-half.  Add one tablespoon butter, about one-third at a time.  Shake the pan to incorporate the butter.  Pour the sauce over fish and serve.

Butter, Butter, Butter

I love butter. Okay, no surprise there. I did not grow up eating butter. Margarine was cheaper and butter was ‘bad’ for you. Somewhere along the way, I was introduced to butter and I have not turned back. I fell in love!

Butter has some unique properties that margarine just does not have. First of all butter is mostly short chain fatty acids. When you place butter on your tongue, it melts very quickly and leaves no aftertaste. This makes butter good for things like buttercream frosting.

American butter is about 80% milk fat, no more than 16% water and 4% milk solids. The solids cause butter to burn, therefore, butter is not be used for frying. This problem can be solved by making clarified butter. Simply melt the butter and allow the solids to sink to the bottom and the water to evaporate. In Indian cuisine this is referred to as ghee.

Butter can be purchased with and without salt. Most bakers prefer butter without salt. One can purchase whipped butter which has air incorporated into it. On a volume to volume basis, whipped butter contains fewer calories. Although once uncommon in the United States, European butters are becoming more common. European butter has a higher butterfat content than American butter.

One of my fondest memories of butter is from the movie, Julia and Julie. Julia Child and her husband are having dinner at a restaurant. They bring Julia sole meunière. And Julia exclaims, “Oh, butter”. I thought, all that fish and she smells butter. Oh, the power of butter!

Meunière is French for miller’s wife. It describes a style of cooking in which the food, especially fish is lightly coated with flour and sautéed in butter. This dish is finished off with fresh lemon juice and parsley. Sole is used for this recipe because the fillets are thin and therefore cook quickly. This means you can cook the fish without the butter burning. If you want to make sole meunière, try this recipe.

 

Sole Meunière

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

Fish:

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 sole fillets, about 3 to 4 ounces each
½ cup all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon butter

Sauce:

¼ cup butter, cut into 4 pieces

2 Tablespoons Italian parsley, chopped

Juice of ½ lemon

Directions:

1. Season fish with salt and pepper. Coat fish in flour; shake off the excess.

2. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until oil is hot. Add butter. When foam subsides, add fish and cook until golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes. Flip and cook second side. Divide fish between 2 plates. Keep warm.

3. Sauce: Place skillet over medium-high heat. Add butter; cook until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Add parsley and lemon juice. Spoon over fish and serve with lemon wedges.