Grilled Thyme-Pesto Swordfish Steaks

Well, I'm learning a lot, my fellow foodies! In my quest to reduce the inflammation in my body, I've learned that eating more fish (which I love) helps to increase our levels of Omega-3 Fatty Acids (which are the healthy fats we need)! Omega-3's generate molecules in our bodies to basically reduce inflammation, so they can be thought of as little inflammatory-fighters! So the more foods we intake that have healthy Omega-3's, the better!

I've learned that many common herbs have anti-inflammatory impact on our bodies, including but not limited to, thyme! Actually, the oil that makes thyme leaves smell so good, contains very similar properties to the ingredients in Motrin & Aleve and other meds that reduce pain and swelling! Check out this article to learn about a few other great uses for thyme!

(If you make the pesto and marinate your fish early in the day, it will only take you about 15 minutes or so to get dinner on the table after work...not bad for a healthful and DELIC dinner!)

Ingredients & Recipe:
Printable Recipe

• 2 Swordfish steaks

Pesto

• a large bunch of fresh Thyme (about 20 sprigs, which is about 1/2 of the little plastic containers you can buy at the grocery store), get the leaves off of the stems by holding one end and scraping them off with your fingers or a knife (carefully)
• 2 tsp. chopped walnuts (contain tons of omega-3's)
• 1 tsp. grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 Tbls. olive oil or canola oil
• S & P to taste

Use a small "mini-chop" food-processor to process the thyme & walnuts until ground up quite small. Now add in the cheese (optional), juice, oil, S & P, blend until smooth consistency, yet still has texture.

Get your hands dirty by rubbing the pesto all over your fish (top & bottom), and place them in a shallow dish, cover with a piece of plastic wrap, refrigerate for 2-4 hours to marinate!

When you're ready to cook, take the fish out of the fridge a good 20 minutes ahead of time to get the chill off (anything you cook will cook much more evenly if you allow it to get to room temp before slapping it on the stove or the grill). Heat your grill pan over medium heat, spray it very lightly with cooking spray, and begin to grill your fish, about 4-5 minutes per side, or until it is opaque and flaky. Be sure to monitor your grills heat- to keep inflammatory properties down in your food, you do not want to over cook or burn while grilling food- see more here.

You Could Also Try...

• Try this with Halibut, Tilapia, Cod, Bluefish, Mackerel or any other white fish, but just adjust your cooking time to the thickness of your fish. All of these fish have healthy amounts of Omega-3's!

Winter Fennel & Potatoes with Seafood (or Chicken)

Okay, so some of you may know that I have a real life "chick-crush" on Giada De Laurentiis from the Food Network. She really has the whole package including wonderful culinary skills, awesome personality, cute family, she's gorgeous and I LOVE her fingers (sorry, I'm not trying to be weird, but really-her fingers look so pretty when she is chopping, etc.)

Anyways, Giada is always encouraging the use of Fennel, which I really didn't know much about until I tried it in the Veggie Parm recipe from earlier. I fell in love and now I love it; raw or cooked!

Fennel is also called Anise at times, and has a sweet yet mild licorice taste. I love the consistency; it's crunchy when raw and softens nicely when cooked. The "bulb", or the white, root part of the fennel is used most often, and the "fronds", or the feathery tops can be used like herbs.

This recipe is a combo of a Martha Stewart "Everyday Food" recipe edited to my likings and what I had in the fridge. And feel free to exchange the Swordfish that I used for Cod, Tilapia, shrimp or trimmed chicken breast.

"Bon appetito!"...like Giada says:)

Ingredients & Recipe:

Printable Recipe

• 1/2 small white onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• drizzle of olive oil
• 1 fennel bulb (trim off the outer layer), cut into 1/2-inch pieces, reserve the "fronds"
• 1 lb. of red potatoes, sliced into 1/2-inch slices
• 2 cups broth (chicken or vegetable)
• 2 Tbls. tomato paste (I love the tomato paste in a tube, you can easily use what you need and then store the rest in the fridge!)
• 1 lemon, zested
• S & P
• 2-4 fish fillets (I used swordfish steaks)

Begin by heating a large skillet with higher sides on medium heat. Drizzle in a tablespoon of oil, add the onions, garlic and a pinch of salt. Cook for about 6-7 minutes, stirring often, until the onion is soft. (Be careful not to have the heat too high or you will burn the garlic, which will make everything taste quite bitter).

Stir in the fennel and cook for 5-7 minutes, until tender. Add in the potatoes, broth, tomato paste, zest & season lightly with S & P. Bring up to boil for about 8 minutes.

Now to finish, place the fish fillets on top of the bubbling veggies, cover and reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer until the fish is opaque and appears to be flaky (10 minutes or so). Sprinkle some of the chopped "fronds" on top before serving.

You Could Also Try...

• Use the same method using whatever veggies you love- just be sure they will hold up throughout all the cooking/boiling/simmering.

Make Your Own Piccata (With Scallops)

Piccata, piccata, piccata...what the heck is piccata? It's always an option at your local steak house, and is served at weddings and banquet parties all the time- usually in the form of "Chicken-Piccata"or "Veal-Piccata". It appears to be some fancy-schmancy recipe that you need a culinary degree to appropriately create, but rest assured- NICHe in the KITCHe is here to set the record straight and give you the authority to PICCATA, PICCATA, PICCATA all the way home!

As Wikipedia explains, "Piccata" is an Italian word and really just means, "Sliced, sautéed and served with lemon, parsley and butter sauce". Not so intimidating after all-it's really just a method! You & I can do this, and I'll show you how!

Ingredients & Recipe:
Printable Recipe

• 2 lbs. sea scallops (about 16)
• S & P
• Canola oil
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 3/4 cup of vermouth (from your bar)
• 4 Tbls. flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 3 Tbls. lemon juice
• 2 Tbls. butter
• 5 tsp. capers (from a jar)

Start by heating a large skillet over medium-high heat. Be sure to dry off each scallop with a paper towel (they will brown better if they are bone-dry), sprinkle with S & P. Drizzle in about 1 Tbls. of oil into the pan, add the scallops, cook about 4-5 minutes, turning once (when they are "opaque", not translucent anymore, they are done). Remove them from the pan onto a side-dish, place a piece of foil over them to keep warm.

Turn the heat down to medium. Add the garlic to the pan, followed by the vermouth. Use a rubber spatula mix it up and incorporate all the brown bits on the bottom of the pan (those bits are very flavorful!!). Cook about 2 minutes until it has reduced by half. Take the pan off the heat, then add in the parsley, lemon juice, butter & capers, stirring constantly. (This is your "Piccata")

Place your cooked scallops over a bed of prepared brown rice, spinach or pasta. Drizzle the sauce over the scallops, serve with a nice glass of wine & enjoy!

You Could Also Try...

• Not sure what kind of wine to serve? Check this out!
• Turn this recipe into CHICKEN, VEAL OR PORK PICCATA! Prepare your meat (grill it, saute it, bake it) then top it with the sauce!

Wine & Dine Your Tilapia!

So you bought a bag of frozen Tilapia fillets, and now that you have them, you can't eat Baked Dijon Tilapia everyday (although it IS pretty delic!)...you need to switch it up and create something a little classy, perhaps even sophisticated- or at least let it appear that way!

This recipe is actually ridiculously easy! If you didn't think you could cook fish well, start with this recipe to gain some confidence. Also, keep in mind you can use ANY type of fish when you're using this method. Any kind of light, flaky fish would do great (grouper, flounder, trout).

Make sure you enjoy a glass of white wine as you cook this!

Ingredients & Recipe:

Printable Recipe

• 2 Tilapia fillets, thawed
• 2 tabs of butter
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, minced or use garlic-press
• 4 basil leaves, chopped roughly (or 2 tsp. dried basil)
• 1 medium tomato, chopped
• 1/2 cup white wine (any kind you like & would want to drink)
• S & P to taste

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees, or preheat your grill to medium-high heat. Pull out a large piece of foil and place the fillets in the middle (side by side). Sprinkle S & P to taste, place a tab of butter on each fillet, sprinkle with basil, garlic and tomato. Pull the foil up around the fish a little, and then pour in the wine all over everything. Fold foil to make a seal around the fish- you are essentially making a foil packet.

If you're baking in the oven, place the packet onto a oven-safe dish and into the oven, bake for 20 minutes, or until fish is flaky. If you're using a grill, place the packet directly to the grill, grill for 15 minutes, or until fish is flaky. Be careful when removing the foil packet from the heat, and even more careful when opening, as the steam can really build up inside! Enjoy over a bed of brown rice and a side of veggies!

You Could Also Try...

• Substitute in 2 tsp. of jarred capers and a slice of lemon

Baked Dijon Tilapia

My hubby and I try to maintain a pretty strict grocery budget each week, which can be challenging for me when I come across a recipe I really want to try but need to do more shopping in order to complete it. In order to keep the marital bliss as it regards to the grocery budget, but still be creative in the kitchen, I like to have a little competition with myself to see how many meals I make during the week using ONLY the things we have stocked in our shelves or in the fridge. This was one of those weeks and let me tell you, you can still make a pretty amazing main course with your pre-stocked freezer & random condiments.

First of all, you need to find some kind of cheap, tasty, yet healthy staple that you can count on for nights like this. We've become accustomed to keeping either Kroger or Meijer brand frozen bags of Tilapia fillets in the freezer. Tilapia is a light, flaky fish, perfect for "fish-beginners" that don't really love a strong fishy taste. When they are on sale, you can get a bag of 5 individually frozen fillets for around $3, which is great! Just defrost the fillets on a plate in the fridge during the day or night before and they'll be ready to use when you get home from work. Now, what to do with the fish?

Last night I decided I wanted to bake the Tilapia to minimize the amount of fat/oil used, but wasn't sure how to flavor it. I try to keep either homemade breadcrumbs (see below) or a bag of Panko (Japanese, light fluffy consistency) breadcrumbs around for baking fish -gives me a kind of "glorified fish stick" feel and reminds me of my childhood:) When you do your own breading, most recipes want you to dredge your protein in flour, then egg wash, then breadcrumbs. I did a scan of the refrigerator door and decided to mix a 3-1 ratio of Dijon mustard & light mayo to use as the glue for my breadcrumbs and it worked out great!

Ingredients & Recipe:
Printable Recipe

• 2 thawed Tilapia fillets
• 3 Tbls. Dijon mustard
• 1 Tbls. light mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs
• olive oil for drizzling

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and prepare cookie sheet/baking dish with a piece of foil, lightly sprayed with vegetable spray (ex: PAM spray). Use a fork to combine the mustard and mayo in a cereal-size bowl. Dump breadcrumbs into another cereal size bowl and season with S&P. Now, liberally slather the fish fillets with the mustard/mayo mix, then dredge each fillet into the breadcrumbs on all sides and place onto your baking dish. Drizzle the top of each fillet lightly with olive oil (this helps the breadcrumbs get golden brown) and bake 12-15 minutes until you get a nice golden color and the fish looks to be flaky. (No need to flip the fillet's during baking).

You Could Also Try...

• Season your breadcrumbs with whatever you have a taste for! Use paprika, sesame seeds, dried herbs, even grated Parmesan cheese, to name a few ideas. We added red pepper flakes in the finished dinner pictured at the top of the page! Mmmm!
  
• Don't love the flavor of Dijon mustard? Use the same "glue" method, but use a whisked/scrambled egg instead.
  
• Make your own breadcrumbs by using stale crusty bread. Toast chucks of bread on a cookie sheet in the oven for a few minutes, process chunks in a Mini Chop/food processor until you have a fine consistency, continue to toast in the oven to dry out a little further.

So overall, don't be afraid to look into the fridge and create something new! As long as you know what the "method" is (for this case, using something to keep the breadcrumbs on the fish and then baking), then the world is your oyster (or Tilapia....haha)...