Category Archives: Main Dish

White Fish with Green Gazpacho Sauce

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The other night Dave said he’d take me out, but as it got closer to dinnertime, I thought about how tired he was (we both are–this jetlag is tough this time!) and maybe it would be better if we’d just eat in.  So, like most of my recipes, I hopped onto the web to find something to cook.  My favorite site is Epicurious.com, an aggregation of the recipes from Bon Appetit and Gourmet magazines.  I like that Foodie People comment on the recipes, warning me or helping me to cook my own version of the dish, although I must admit little patience with those who substitute nearly every ingredient then say they can’t stand the recipe.  I try for a certain amount of fidelity, especially if the rating is high.

The category I browsed that night was Quick Meals, but it wasn’t until the next night that I cooked this up.  I’d give it a very high rating in these categories: low-fat, easy, quick, not-so-pricey and delicious.  Choose a mild white fish (we used Orange Roughy) that is firm and won’t fall apart. I served it with quinoa (see recipe elsewhere on this site) and some sliced al dente carrots, drizzled with the teensiest amount of honey.  We probably didn’t need the carrots, but they were good.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped English hothouse cucumber (about 3/4 of a large cake). Don’t peel, just scrub clean
  • 3/4 cup coarsely chopped green onions
  • 1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
  • 5 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons (or more) white balsamic vinegar (I used rice wine vinegar, but had to add more to bump up the taste–used almost 3 Tbls.)
  • 1 medium chopped seeded jalepeno chile–remove seeds and inner membrane (and wash hands thoroughly!)
  • 2     7-to 8-ounce fillets of a mild white fish
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 6 ounces small red and yellow cherry, pear, or grape tomatoes, halved (about two handfuls, but we like tomatoes)

Preparation

Gazpacho Sauce: Combine cucumber, onions, cilantro, 4 1/2 tablespoons oil, 1 1/2 tablespoons vinegar, and chile in processor. Using on/off turns, blend mixture until finely chopped. Transfer to bowl. Season with more vinegar, if desired, and salt and black pepper. (Note: I’m thinking this could be done a couple hours ahead if needed.  It does separate a little, but just stir it back together.)

Sprinkle fish fillets on both sides with salt, pepper, and cumin. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add fish and cook 5 minutes. Turn over, cover, and cook until fish is just opaque in center, 4 to 5 minutes.  (This photo is the fillets, before cooking.)

Ladle some gazpacho sauce on each of 2 plates. Top each with 1 fish fillet. Scatter tomatoes atop and around fish and serve.

Per serving (without quinoa or carrots): Calories 361, Total fat 20g, Saturated Fat 3g, Cholesterol 151mg, Sodium 188mg, Carbohydrate 5g, Fiber 1g, Protein 39g

White Beans

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Last week in Italy, for our 20th Anniversary Dinner, we had two appetizers, healthy servings of pica (homemade spaghetti) with meat sauce, and to chase all that, these white beans.  Theirs were made from scratch, not canned, with bits of green onion, red onion, Italian Elixir of Life (that would be olive oil), a little salt and that’s it.

Cut to today, when it’s in the low hundreds, fires raging outside, and I’ve been grading and those beans sound like a good thing to pull together.  But I’m doing it SoCal style.

First mix up a batch of Lemon Vinaigrette, Casually.  Then get out your can opener.

Open two cans of Great Northern White Beans; Ralph’s has  good kind.  Drain, then rinse well, then drain again, then dump into your serving bowl.

Cut three 1/4″ slices off a large red onion; chop into small dice.  I guess that’s about 1/3 cup.   Scrape onto beans.

Go out into your garden and get a couple of springs of basil and a sprig of tarragon (optional), wash then cut the leaves into ribbons, adding to the bean mixture.

Having visited Costco recently, of course you have some deboned rotisserie chicken in bags in your freezer (about 2 cups each) and you actually remembered to thaw one out today.  Chop that coarsely, and add to the melange.  Pour the Lemon Vinaigrette over everything and gently stir with a spatula. Let sit until you are finished with your grading, or your project or until your spouse comes home, about 1 hour.

Chop some fresh tomatoes (about 1 large, or 3 Romas) into 1/2″ dice, and place into a separate serving dish.

When you were at Costco, you also remembered the Bake-Your-Own-Tortillas so cook some of those up, keeping them warm either in your cheezy styrofoam tortilla container, or a (clean) folded dish towel.

Serve the beans in a shallow bowl, accompanied by the tomatoes and the tortillas.  An easy supper on a hot day, but I think this would even be good on a cold day, if you heated everything up.

Angel-hair Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce

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Angel-Hair Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce
Gourmet  | July 2006
by Ian Knauer

This is my new favorite summer recipe.  I can never figure out how much 3 pounds of tomatoes is.  Here’s my guesstimate: 4 huge tomatoes, or 6 large tomatoes, or 8 regular tomatoes, or 12 Romas.  I guess I could weigh them, but these aren’t the kind of tomatoes you buy in the grocery store.  They’re the kind you get from your, or your neighbor’s, garden.  Really Fresh tomatoes.

Ingredients
1 small garlic clove
3 lb tomatoes
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 lb dried capellini (angel-hair pasta)
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

Accompaniments: finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling

Preparation
Mince garlic and mash to a paste with a pinch of salt using a large heavy knife.  This is kind of a cool mixture.  Mash and mash until you can’t tell one from the other–really moosh them together.  You’ll feel like a real chef.

Core and coarsely chop two thirds of tomatoes. Halve remaining tomatoes crosswise, then rub cut sides of tomatoes against large holes of a box grater set in a large bowl, reserving pulp and discarding skin. Toss pulp with chopped tomatoes, garlic paste, lemon juice, salt, sugar (if using), and pepper. Let stand until ready to use, at least 10 minutes. Note: Tomato mixture can stand at room temperature up to 2 hours.

While tomatoes stand, cook pasta in a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling salted water, uncovered, until al dente, about 2 minutes. Drain in a colander and immediately add to tomato mixture, tossing to combine. Sprinkle with basil.

Quinoa Basic Directions

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Follow the direction on the box or bag.  Really.

I usually use 1 cup dry quinoa (and I don’t rinse it) to 1 1/2-3 cups liquid.  I like using water, then I can mix it with other things, but I’ve also used chicken broth.

If this makes too much, dump the cooked quinoa into a ziploc bag and freeze it.  To use, put it in your microwave on a defrost setting, just until you can mush it between your fingers.

If you want to get fancy, you can go this way:
Wash 2 cups dry quinoa (about 10 ounces) in 3 changes of cold water in a bowl, draining in a large sieve each time. Cook quinoa in a 4- to 5-quart pot of boiling salted water, uncovered, until almost tender, about 10 minutes. Drain in sieve, then set sieve over same pot with 1 inch of simmering water (water should not touch bottom of sieve). Cover quinoa with a folded kitchen towel, then cover sieve with a lid (don’t worry if lid doesn’t fit tightly) and steam until quinoa is tender, fluffy, and dry, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand (still covered) 5 minutes.

Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower

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This is one of those recipes that you pick up while meandering through the blogosphere and end up really liking it.  I do like it.  See additional post.
Ingredients
1/2 medium cauliflower, cored and broken up into 3/4-inch florets (4+ cups)
1 pint cherry tomatoes, or 1 cup quartered tomatoes
Olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh sage
3 large cloves garlic
2 ounces of bacon, fat trimmed and cut into small dice
8 ounces orecchiette pasta
5 ounces spinach, cleaned and coarsely chopped
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation

1 Preheat oven to 425°F. Lay out cauliflower and tomatoes in a roasting pan, coat with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast until just lightly browned and cooked through, about 15 minutes.

2 Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil (1 teaspoon salt for every quart of water).

3 While water is heating, pulse garlic, sage, and prosciutto together in a food processor until coarsely chopped. Once cauliflower has browned lightly, remove from oven, toss cauliflower with garlic prosciutto mixture, and return to oven to cook for 5-7 minutes more.

4 Boil pasta uncovered (rolling boil) for 9-10 minutes until firm, but done (al dente). Reserve one cup of pasta liquid. Drain water from pot. Add cauliflower, arugula (or spinach), and Parmesan to the pasta. Stir in enough cooking water to moisten. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 4.