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Mustard Roasted Snapper and Oven Roasted Broccoli Greens

February 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

So, I went to get my fish for the weekend and my eggs and my co-op share and I wanted to make something like this recipe for mustard roasted fish from Ina Garten, but I also had broccoli greens and I really didn’t know what I wanted to do with them.  I searched for some ideas and found and this recipe for roasting broccoli greens.

Of course, I wanted them to tie together somehow, so this is what I did:

  • 2 large red snapper filets
  • Broccoli greens (or any kind of greens, I think I had 1.5 lbs.)
  • about 3 tablespoons of dijon mustard
  • about 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
  • about 3 tablespoons of sour cream – I had no creme fraiche and didn’t feel like going out.
  • soy sauce
  • sesame oil
  • olive oil
  • 1/2 large shallot, chopped
  • 6 cloves garlic chopped

Preheat the oven to 425.  Wash your greens thouroghly.  These can be really dirty, so I soak, then rinse each leaf seperately to make sure they’re clean. Lay them out in a roasting dish – I needed two.

Sprinkle the garlic over the greens, then drizzle them with sesame oil and then a healthy glub of olive oil and soy sauce.  I didn’t really toss them, but I did move some of the leaves around so that the oil and garlic could drip down.

Put them in the oven and set the timer for 20 minutes.

On a foil lined sheet pan, layout the fish.

Liberally salt and pepper the filets.

Combine the mustards, about a tablespoon of soy sauce, and the shallot, stir to combine and then spoon over the fish making sure to cover it really well.

Check on the greens and if they’re starting to look cooked and even crunchy, put the fish in and cook for about 10-12 minutes or until the fish flakes easily in the thickest part of the filet.

Plate a pile of the greens and lay a half of each filet on top.

The fish was so good that by the time I took this picture, my children had almost finished theirs!  They were so excited about how tasty it was.  Each bite was perfect… the tangy mustards, the sour cream and the little bite of shallot was so satisfying and delicious!

We’re still working on the love for greens in my house.  These were interesting.  Some were almost like chips, and others tasted like collards. I think I would chop them instead of leaving the leaves whole next time.  Really quite tasty, but definitely a bitter green – I was expecting more of a spring green. We’re going to work on the greens a bit, but I know we’re going to eat this mustard roasted fish quite often!

Serves 4.



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Filed Under: All, Easy Dinner, Fish, Healthy, Lowcarb, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , ,

Beef and Black Bean Stew on a Bed of Roasted Cauliflower

February 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment

We got our first order of grass fed, hormone free, pasture raised beef and I was so excited, but a little bit nervous about getting my family used to the difference in taste. When you grow up eating one thing, sometimes the thing that’s better for you is a bit of an acquired taste.  I did find the beef to be leaner and therefore a little bit drier, but tasty – I think next time I do this, I’ll cut the pieces a bit smaller.

  • 2 lbs stew meat
  • 1 heart of celery chopped
  • 2 medium onions chopped
  • about 6 carrots, really roughly chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic chopped
  • 1 cup vegetable stock
  • 1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce – or more if you like
  • strained tomatoes – I used a 28.6 oz. box of Pomi – more or less is fine.
  • 1 tablespoon cumin
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder
  • 1 pint mushrooms
  • 1 package dried black beans
  • 2 heads cauliflower, florets

The night before, soak your beans according to package directions. When you get up in the morning, drain them, refill the pot with fresh water and simmer on low for 1.5-2 hours until tender and done – I learned a trick recently to check from the four poles of the pot.  One bean each from North, East, South and West of the pot.  If they’re all tender, you’re done!

Drain again, set aside in an air tight container. Refrigerate if it makes you feel better.  I left it out – we’re still alive. =)

When you put the beans up to simmer, take a large dutch oven, or the insert of your crock if it’s stove top safe. Heat on med/high heat.

Admire your grass fed, no hormone, pasture raised beef…

Add them to the heated pot and brown – this is where I ran into my first issue.  There was a lot of liquid and the meat wasn’t browning like I wanted.  I removed all beef from the pot, drained the liquid and put the meat back in – it started to brown immediately.  You may not have this issue, but I wanted to share my experience in case you did.

While the meat is browning, chop all your veggies and put in a bowl.  I added my spices here too, because I like to toast spices like cumin and chili powder, so why not do it all together?

Transfer the meat to a plate, put the veggies and spices in the pot, or slow cooker insert, add a big pinch of salt and brown them for a little bit, tossing occasionally.

Add the meat back in and cover with the tomatoes, Worcestershire, and stock.  Transfer to the crockpot, stir, cover and set on low to cook for 8 hours.

About an hour before eating, add the black beans and mushrooms, stir and cover. Preheat the oven to 400, cut up 2 heads of cauliflower, put on a sheet pan, toss with a little olive oil and kosher salt

and roast for 40 minutes to an hour, until golden.

Put a bed of the roasted cauliflower in the bowl, and spoon some stew on top, making sure that you get a little bit of everything.

Soooo good! And you can feel so good about feeding this meal to your family!  If you’re not carb conscious like we’re being for a while, you could add potatoes, or serve this on a bed of egg noodles. Stick to your ribs, delish.



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Filed Under: All, Crockpot, Healthy, Lowcarb, Recipes Tagged With: , , , ,

Seared Scallops over Penne with Garlic, Parsley and Lemon

January 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Since we actually committed to getting three fish meals in a week (at home!), it hasn’t been as difficult as I thought. The fish market is very near to where Haley has guitar lessons on Tuesday and almost directly next door to my CSA pick up location on Thursday – so I get whatever they’ve got super fresh on Tuesday and order what I want for Thursday. So far it’s working out beautifully.

  • 2 lbs. Whole grain pasta (I used Mueller’s penne)
  • 1 buch parsley, chopped
  • 5 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • the zest and juice of one lemon
  • 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • about a cup of vegetable stock
  • 1 lb. large sea scallops – about 2 per serving

mise en place

Put up a pot of salted water to boil for the pasta. Cook according to package directions and then drain in a colindar.  Put the pot back on the heat, add 3 tablespoons of olive oil in the pan.  When it heats up, add the garlic and saute for a minute. add the lemon zest and juice, then add the vegetable stock.

stock

Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Add the parsley and then the pasta back to the pot, toss, cover and remove from heat.

Heat a saute pan to a pretty high heat. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the pan and when that’s hot, gently add the scallops.  You want to hear a sizzle. Allow them to sit on the heat – don’t move them around, you don’t want them to break and you bit of a crust on them, and just barely cooked in the center. After about 2-3 minutes, the scallops should easily release so that you can flip them.  If they don’t release, they’re not ready; let them tell you when.

When they’re done on both sides, transfer to a plate.

crust on the outside, but tender and moist on the inside

Plate some pasta, making sure you toss it really well first – and top with a couple of scallops.

Seared Scallops over Penne with Garlic, Parsley and Lemon

Delicious – so satisfying. I think next time I’d had something with some heat, maybe red pepper flake when I’m sautéing the garlic. Serves 6-8 people.

(There are only six scallops in that pan, because not everyone ate at the same time and I wanted the scallops cooked to order. The pasta I don’t mind reheated, but the scallops really need to be made fresh.)



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Filed Under: All, Fish, Healthy, Pasta, Recipes Tagged With: , ,

Homosassa Springs Field Trip

January 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment
One of my favorite places on the planet, Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park is just a wonderful way to spend the day.  The kids and I have gone there many times over the years and there’s always something new and interesting.  There weren’t many manatee to photograph this time, but we spent a lot of time with the birds and even got up close and personal with a bard owl.  If you’re in Central Florida, you really shouldn’t miss it.  Every animal is indigenous to Florida with the exception of Lucifer the hippo, who was made an honorary citizen by the late governor Lawton Chiles.  I really don’t know why Florida doesn’t do more to promote this park … the history and purpose are quite fascinating and it’s a beautiful area.
The weather was perfect – it’s going to be too hot to enjoy the park pretty soon – and we had a lovely day.
I was itchy to play with my new camera and these shots are straight out of the camera. I’m quite happy with my new toy.



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Filed Under: Homeschool, In My Life Tagged With: , , ,

Steelhead Trout with Lemon Butter Sauce with Capers and Garlic

January 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

In our effort to get more fish into our diets, we have obviously needed to broaden our horizons as far as types of fish that I cook. We’ll eat anything, but I don’t know how to cook it best… yet. So today when I went to our local fish market – I saw what I thought was salmon and decided to get some.  I was quickly informed that the fish in question was not salmon at all, but steelhead trout, which I had never heard of.

If you have a good fish monger (which I do), they’ll be happy to tell you about the fish, what to expect, how to cook it – and I rely on this information quite a bit now that we’re trying for three fish dinners a week.  She told me that I could cook the fish any way that I would cook salmon, or trout – so I brought it home and this is what I did.

  • One large filet of trout (mine was 1.57 lbs.)
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 4 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1/2 jar of balsamic capers (you could use regular, they would be fine)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Heat a saute pan on med/high heat.  Add the olive oil and when it shimmers, add the butter.  When the butter is melted, add the garlic and saute and toss until you can smell the garlic – about 2-3 minutes.  Add the capers, toss and take off the heat.  Set aside.

Put your fish on a cutting board, big enough to accomodate it.

Portion into four pieces.

Cut four pieces of aluminum foil, big enough to put the portion into, with room to seal the top.

Lay a portion of the fish onto the foil. Brush with the butter mixture and then spoon some of the garlic and capers on top.

Pull up the sides of the packet and roll the top and sides to seal it so the fish will steam and the sauce doesn’t leak and place on a sheet pan.

Cook for 20 minutes or until fish is flaky.

Carefully remove the fish from the packets – every single one lifted away from the skin, leaving it behind – pour the remaining sauce over the fish.

I served this with a tossed salad dressed with a balsamic vinaigrette to carry the flavors of the capers.

This was so good.  I would have thought it was salmon if I didn’t already know it wasn’t. A little less expensive than salmon and not so overfished, I know that we’ll be having this a lot! I can’t wait to try it with Asian flavors.



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Filed Under: All, Easy Dinner, Fish, Healthy, Lowcarb, Recipes Tagged With: , , ,
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