Sweet 'n Spicy Maple Salmon

What's for Dinner Tonight?

For deciding on what's for dinner, start with choosing the protein. Last night we selected fish, salmon. We keep our fish frozen. Once we decided on having salmon, we pulled it out of the freezer to thaw. After a short period on the counter, for food safety, we put it on a plate and into the refrigerator while we decided on the rest of the dinner side dishes. 

As you can see in the picture, we served the baked sweet 'n spicy maple glazed salmon with a starch and a vegetable to balance the meal. The frozen green beans took less than 5 minutes to saute with fresh garlic and butter, and the rice pilaf was leftover, so we just had to heat and serve.

Our oven's broiler is not working right so we decided to bake the salmon. Your next decision after deciding on the cooking method is how to season the salmon. I decided on using hot pepper jelly. We had pepper jelly in jars made from this summer. Hot pepper jelly isn't really that hot; it adds just the right amount of sweet 'n spicy flavor to just about any food from corn bread to fish!

This is a GardenCuizine freestyle recipe, meaning that you don't really need to measure the ingredients. You can use any amount desired of the ingredients to your liking.

Preheat oven to 350 deg F

You'll need a baking dish with a cover

Ingredients

• Farm raised Salmon fillet (thawed)
  
• 1/3 cup, or less, hot pepper jelly (preferably homemade) 
• 1 Tblsp pure maple syrup
  
• pinch Fresh ground black pepper
• pinch Salt 
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder 
• chopped fresh or dried parsley
• 1/3 cup or less water
  

Putting it all together

1. Combine pepper jelly and seasonings
2. Place salmon in baking dish; spread pepper jelly spice blend over salmon
3. Add water to bottom of baking dish (do not cover the fish in water)
   
4. Bake 15 minutes covered
5. uncover and bake another 15 min or until done
   
6. Serve with a starch and a vegetable, such as brown rice and green beans.

Enjoy! 

GardenCuizine Nutrition data 3 oz Salmon: Calories 175, Carbs 0, Fiber 0, Protein 19g, Vitamin B12 2.4 mcg (99% DV), Healthy Omega-3 fatty acids 2.2g (Wow! 201% DV)

 Photos and blog post Copyright (C) Wind. All rights reserved.

Healthy Dinner: Baked Flounder with butter, lemon and capers #GardenCuizine #recipe

Baked Flounder 

with butter, Lemon and Capers

I'll never forget the good 'ole days of family fishing outings in "Spirit the Boat" here in Jersey. Dad loved to fish, like my cousin Bob. I especially remember fishing for flounder. One time we were reeling in flounder so fast, Dad could not keep up with baiting our hooks! Locally caught flounder was often seen on menus back then. 

Now, decades later, commercial fishing and polluted waters has lead to Seafood Watch (a program that helps consumers make healthy, sustainable choices) recommending that we do not buy or eat Flounder from the US East Coast. If Dad were still alive, he may have been shocked to learn that our wild-caught Flounder for dinner tonight came all the way from Iceland.

Flounder is a flat fish similar to sole and fluke. Seafood Watch recommends getting Flounder from Alaska, the U.S. West Coast or British Columbia for the best choices. They don't recommend buying Flounder caught anywhere on the US East Coast unless it is from a "Good Alternative" source. The Seafood Watch uses science-based criteria before making their recommendations to the public.

Compared to other fish, the market price of flounder is among the highest. Even so, the protein in our meal only cost us $4.99 per person. Our veggie and grain side dishes added minimal cost. You can feed a family of three with less than one pound of flounder. We purchased ours at Wegman's supermarket for $14.99 lb. ShopRite was selling it for about the same price, $15.99 lb.

Even cooking one of the most expensive fish, a home cooked meal still costs less and far outweighs the nutrition of a fast-food meal. For example, Filet-O-Fish at McDonald's, has 560 mg of sodium, 38 g total carbohydrates (from the bun), 390 calories and 4 g of saturated fat, and that is just for the fish sandwich without adding in the added salt, fat and carbs coming from fries and soda. The Filet-O-Fish meal costs about $5.79. 

The American Heart Association recommends eating fish a couple times per week for good health. This is one of my "freestyle recipes", meaning that you can use a slightly different amount of the ingredients as desired and you won't ruin it.

Enjoy!

Serves 3 
Ingredients
3 Fillets of Flounder
Olive oil (to coat bottom of baking dish)
1 Tablespoon butter
lemon juice (fresh squeezed, about 1 Tablespoon)
capers (as desired)
pinch dried thyme (or other herb(s) of choice)
pinch salt and fresh ground black pepper 

preheat oven to 350 degrees
Putting it all together
Add olive oil and butter to baking dish. Melt butter - we put the baking dish briefly in the microwave to melt the butter. Add fish and toss to coat in the oil blend. Season and add capers as desired. Cover and bake in preheated oven until fish is fully cooked and no longer translucent - about 25 minutes.

To complete your meal, serve with a portion controlled grain and a generous side of a vegetable. We served our flounder dinner with leftover quinoa and a side of asparagus. 
Blog post and photos Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

How to Filet a Fish * Mediterranean Seabass "Branzini" #GardenCuizine

Mediterranean Seabass
Branzini

Grilling fish is among the easiest and healthiest cooking methods. Low in calories and lean, European seabass - a farm raised fish popular in Italy, Spain, France and Greece - has become a favorite of American Chefs too. We tried it last night for the first time in New Hope, PA, at Nikolas - new this summer to the indoor/outdoor dining at the Logan Inn. The fish was grilled and tasted like it had also been gently smoked. The chef served the fish whole, glazed in oil with garlic and seasonings, served with a grain and vegetable. 

Portion Size

European seabass can be grilled whole and served as a single entree, but is enough protein to count as two servings. See the video below on how to filet a whole fish to yield two portions.

Eat More Fish

Branzini is tender and bland - the seasoning and cooking method can determine how you like the fish. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans encourage us to "Increase the amount and variety of seafood consumed by choosing seafood in place of some meat and poultry". 

For the prevention of heart disease, the Dietary Guidelines recommend having about 8 ounces of fish per week to provide adequate Omega-3 fatty acids, mainly eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

European Seabass

Mediterranean Seabass along with salmon were among the first commercially farmed fish. During our recent visit to Sicily we did not experience Branzino; swordfish entrees were ubiquitous. Northern Italians refer to Mediterranean seabass as Spignola; Greeks call the fish lavraki (λαβράκι). In Spain they call it Lupina. No matter where it is served, European or Mediterranean Seabass is a favorite.

How to Filet a Whole Fish 

Like most whole fish, you have a filet on each side of the back bone.
video courtesy of Cosmos Seafood

Note: According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, due to their high mercury content, women who are pregnant or breastfeeding should limit white (albacore) tuna to 6 ounces per week and not eat tilefish, shark, swordfish or king mackerel. 

Related Links

Logan Inn Nikolas

Dietary Guidelines for Americans
Photo and blog post Copyright (C)2012 Wind. All rights reserved.

Easy Baked Cod #gardencuizine #recipe

Low Fat, Low Sodium

Baked Cod

Start by purchasing fresh or frozen cod fillets. If you are buying fresh, ask to smell the fish before you buy it. Fresh fish does not have a fishy odor. Freeze and store the fish at home until ready to cook and serve. When cooked, cod fish has a delicate mouth-feel and is unanimously described as a mild tasting, moist and delicious fish. 

We used to bake fish topped with classic lemon and butter, then gradually switched to using some butter, some olive oil. Now, we bake fish using only olive oil and no butter or saturated fat. No one seems to miss the butter. Everyone loves it and benefits from the unsaturated fats (polyunsaturated and monounsaturated). 

Healthy fats

Poly and monounsaturated fats are found mostly in fish, nuts, seeds and plant oils. Healthy fats may help lower blood cholesterol levels when used in place of saturated fats. The American Heart Association recommends keeping daily total fat intake to between 25 and 35 percent of calories, with most fats coming from foods like fish, nuts and veggie oils.

For a complete meal, serve cod along with a whole grain side dish and non-starchy vegetable. We served baked cod with organic quinoa black beluga lentil pilaf and roasted asparagus the night of this blog post. How do you like to cook cod fish?

GardenCuizine freestyle recipe

Diana's freestyle recipes simply mean you don't need to follow exact measurements. Use as much or as little seasoning as you prefer. Recommended serving size for fish is about 3-4 ounces per person. 

Ingredients

Cod fillets
Hungarian paprika (or any dried, ground, garden red pepper)
Garlic powder
Thyme (or any garden herbs)
OLD BAY® Seasoning (Old Bay contains salt and pepper - no added salt is necessary)
Olive oil

Putting it all together

• Thaw fish. Fish can be safely thawed in the microwave
  
• Place fish in a baking dish
• Add olive oil and top with seasonings
• Cover with foil
• Bake 30 minutes at 350°F until fish is opaque white and flakes easily when pierced with a fork

GardenCuizine Nutrition Data: Baked Pacific Cod (without added seasonings) 3oz serving: Calories 89; total fat 1g; saturated fat: 0g; cholesterol 40mg (13%DV); Omega-3 241mg; sodium 77mg (3%DV); carbohydrates 0g; dietary fiber 0g; protein 20g (39%DV); Niacin 2.1mg (11%DV); Vitamin B6 0.4mg (20%DV); Vitamin B12 0.9mcg (15%DV); Selenium 40mcg (57%DV)

Note: differences with Baked Atlantic Cod: Omega-3 146mg; cholesterol 47mg (16%DV); Vitamin B6 0.2mg (12%DV); Selenium 32mcg (46%DV)

Related Links:

Homemade Ground Pepper Spices
 Blog post ©2012 Wind. All rights reserved.

Vary your Proteins for a Balanced Plate #NNM @EatRight #GardenCuizine

Cod Fish 

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (formerly the American Dietetic Association) recommends consuming marine and plant sources of omega-3 as part of a heart healthy, cardio-protective diet. A well-balanced diet includes a variety of protein selections. Fish contains high-quality protein and essential nutrients. Cod fish is low in saturated fat, low in mercury, and contains omega-3 fatty acids, which are healthy for your heart, eyes and brain. 

Fish Oil 

Fish oil supplements may be made from cod livers, mackerel, herring, tuna, halibut, salmon or even whale or seal blubber. Fish oil supplements may also contain small amounts of vitamin E for spoilage prevention or may be combined with calcium, iron, or vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, C or D. Cod liver oil provides a source of omega-3 fatty acids (eicosapentaenoic acid - EPA and docosahexaenoic acid - DHA).

Pacific vs Atlantic Cod

Cod may be mislabeled at the grocery or fish market. Case in point - Oceana, an advocacy science-based group to protect the worlds oceans, found that Pacific cod was often mislabeled and substituted for Atlantic cod.* Both species taste similar and have similar nutrition profiles. Pacific cod is considered an ocean-friendly seafood choice, whereas Atlantic cod once plentiful for New England fisherman, has decreased in population from over fishing.

Species of Cod include:

1. Pacific Cod: Gadus macrocephalus
2. Atlantic Cod: Gadus morhua
3. Greenland Cod - Gadus ogac

Stay tuned for an easy recipe for Baked Cod in the next GardenCuizine post
 

Related Links

Fish Oil
Eat Seafood Twice a Week
Fish Consumption Advisories
*Seafood is Underinspected - Fraudulent findings by Oceana
Check out CHIA Super Seed Nutrition for non-fish source of Omega-3

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia: Hans-Petter Fjeld (CC-BY-SA)” Cod, Gadus morhua, taken thru glass at Atlanterhavsparken, Ålesund, Norway

 Blog post ©2012 Wind. All rights reserved.

Cooking with Haddock

Photo Credits: Haddock, Melanogrammus aeglefinus. Drawing by H. L. Todd, from: No. 10440, U.S. National Museum, collected at Eastport, Me., 1872, by U.S. Fish Commission, Public domain image, Wikipedia.

Haddock Dinner

A nutritious and balanced dinner entree includes a protein, starch or whole grain and a generous serving of vegetables. For this Haddock dinner (recipe in separate post), the protein was fish. Out of the many healthy cooking options -- baking, broiling, poaching or grilling -- we decided on baking the haddock. For the starch or grain, we looked over what we had in the pantry (potatoes, pasta, millet, whole wheat cous cous, quinoa, wild rice or brown rice) and decided on millet pilaf with steamed broccoli as the vegetable.

Haddock is a good white fish to try if you like varying your fish menus. Variety is important in eating right. The benefits of varying your protein choices are that you get a balance of nutrients, minimize mercury exposure and increase your consumption of Omega-3 fatty acids. Some fish, like salmon, trout or herring have higher levels of Omega-3's and fish in general, when compared to meats, is very low in saturated fat.

The American Heart Association recommends no more than 6 ounces of cooked fish per day, and at least 2 servings of fish each week. Portion control is important in eating right, not just to watch excess calories, but because meat and fish proteins can be high in cholesterol or environmental contaminants. For example, shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish are high in mercury. Haddock is not high in mercury, but is high in cholesterol like many fish (proteins). Flounder, tilapia and farmed salmon also have high cholesterol with a combined average, for a 5oz fish serving, of 89 mg (30%DV) - when calculated for cooked fish using a dry heat method, such as baking or grilling.

The good news is most all fish and seafood have some content of beneficial Omega-3 fatty acids, which have been shown in epidemiological and clinical trials to reduce cardiovascular disease. Haddock is a firm fleshed white fish, mild in flavor and very low in total Fat. A 5oz serving is an excellent source of Protein, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B-12, Phosphorus, Selenium and Magnesium. A 5oz portion of Haddock is also a very good source of Potassium and Magnesium.

%DV = Percent Daily Value based on a 2,000 calorie daily diet
Copyright (c) 2009 Wind. All rights reserved.

GardenCuizine Recipe: Baked Haddock with Millet Pilaf and Steamed Broccoli

Haddock Dinner Recipe

Baked Haddock with millet pilaf and steamed broccoli

Yields: Dinner for 3
(easy to modify to suit your family size)
Preheat oven to 350ºF

Ingredients:

• 15 oz. Haddock (for 3 people, we usually order a little less than one pound of fish - Approx 15 oz. so each adult serving is approximately 5 oz.)
• Broccoli
• 2 cups Water
• 1 cup Millet (found in health food or gourmet stores, in packages or bulk)
• 1/2 cup carrot
• 1/2 cup celery
• 1/2 cup onion
• Olive oil
• Seasonings: your preference (we used: salt-free Spike, salt (dash), paprika, tumeric, onion powder, black pepper, hot pepper, curry powder)
• Garden herbs: your preference (we used: garden fresh thyme and parsley)

Putting it all together
Fish
Rinse and pat the Haddock fillets dry with a paper towel. Place in a baking dish, drizzle with olive oil and season, turning to coat. Season as you prefer, we used salt, paprika, tumeric, onion powder and salt-free spike (I like salt-free seasoning blends best, so we can better control the amount of salt added). Cover and bake at 350ºF until fish is opaque white in color and flakes with a fork, approximately 20-30 minutes.

Millet
The millet only takes 20 minutes. Ratio of water to millet is 2:1. One cup of millet will yield 898g of pilaf and serve 4-6. Rough chop (small size) some carrots, celery and onion (mirepoix). Use however much of this aromatic trio you desire -- it can be more or less than 1/2 cup -- no need to get hung up on the measure (more carrots = more vitamin A). Saute using a small amount (1-2 tablespoons) of olive oil directly in the pot you will be cooking the millet in. I regularly cook in old-fashioned, 'Cornflower Blue' CorningWare, since it can be used on a stove-top. Alternatively, stainless steel pots with tight fitting lids work great too. Add whatever seasonings suit your fancy. Again, we used salt-free Spike seasoning, black pepper and a pinch of salt; we also added hot pepper* and curry powder.
Stir in the millet and then add the water. Bring to a boil over med/high heat, then cover with a tight fitting lid. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until all the water is absorbed - about 20 minutes. If desired, stir in some fresh cut garden herbs just before serving.

• *The GardenCuizine pantry is never without a stash of Chiltepin peppers (Capsicum annuum var. aviculare). These tiny peppers are HOT stuff (50,000 - 100,000 Scoville Units) a little goes a long way! They are known as bird peppers and are small (only ¼ inch round in diameter). Just one adds the perfect amount of heat and will not overpower the dish. Your food will still be palatable to those who don’t like things too hot. And adding a little heat makes food tasty, and allows you to decrease the salt used in your cooking.

Broccoli
Steaming is easy and preserves the water soluble vitamins. First wash and trim off enough florets to serve 3 people or however many you are cooking for. Place in a covered dish with a little water added - microwave until tender, but still bright green in color, approximately 3-5 minutes. We never add salt. A low fat salad dressing can be added to the broccoli at the table for those who don't like it plain.

Garnish
Pick something fresh from your garden. I simply used a parsley sprig, if we had been making dinner for company, you may have seen a nasturtium bloom or two.

Buon Appetito

GardenCuizine Nutrition Analysis calculated from USDA nutrient values:
5oz Baked Haddock: Calories: 158, Total Fat: 1.32g (2%DV), Cholesterol: 105mg (35%DV), Potassium 565mg (16%DV), Protein: 34.3g (68%DV), Niacin: 6.55mg (33%DV), Vitamin B6: .49mg (25%DV), Vitamin B-12: 1.97mcg (32%DV), Magnesium: 70mg (18%DV), Selenium: 57.3mcg (81%DV)

140g Millet Pilaf: Calories: 165, Total Fat: 5.61g (8%DV), Cholesterol: 0, Protein: 3.74g (7%DV), Dietary Fiber 3.27g (13%DV), Vitamin A: 1706 IU (34%DV), Manganese .55mg (27%DV)
Percent Daily Values (DV) are based on a caloric intake of 2,000 calories for adults and children age 4 or older

Copyright (c) 2009 Wind. All rights reserved.