Engaging stories of love, joy, comfort and friendship with proven scrumptious, healthy recipes, we celebrate LOVE as the secret ingredient for wonderful food!

Ginger-crusted Halibut

May 24, 2021 by Mary 4 Comments

I adore halibut. And I love ginger. So I made up this dish of Ginger-crusted Halibut, not sure how it would really work and it was amazing!

You must have super fresh ginger. Slice a big three-inch knob lengthwise on a mandoline. Then wrap that ginger around, covering both sides of your filet, pan sauté in grapeseed oil and butter and voila! Total deliciousness.

You see, I was afraid that you wouldn’t be able to cut through the ginger and just desecrate the beautiful fish while eating it but no, as long as your ginger is super fresh, creamy yellow in color, sliced very thin, this worked. And it was not overly spicy, which was another concern. It was just right with the butter mingling in.

Ginger-crusted halibut cut with arugula and tomato salad. — So very moist and flakey.

Halibut, although expensive, is such a delectable fish. Creamy white, solid but flakey tender – big flakes.

Make sure not to overcook it – 118 degrees F on the internal temperature is perfect.

Quick and easy is this recipe of Ginger-crusted Halibut. I really wouldn’t call it a recipe so much as it is an idea – that I think you will LOVE.

Ginger-crusted halibut with rice and salad. — A super easy lovely dinner!

I served this with steamed Jasmine rice and a little tomato and arugula salad. Total yumminess.

Make and serve with LOVE.

I’m sure you’ll make this again and again.

GINGER-CRUSTED HALIBUT – serves 2

One 3” long knob of super fresh ginger
1 lb.piece of Halibut fillet
1 Tbs. grapeseed oil
1 Tbs. butter
Extra virgin olive oil – a few drops
Salt
Pepper

Peel the ginger and thinly slice it lengthwise on a hand mandoline.

Wash and pat dry your fish fillet. Put a few drops of olive oil on and rub it all over. Follow this with salt and pepper and then wrap the ginger crosswise around the fillet. Do this on both sides of the fillet, carefully wrapping the ginger and patting it down so it sticks.

Heat grapeseed oil and butter in a cast iron or non-stick skillet on medium-high heat. Carefully place the ginger-wrapped fish fillet in. Saute for about 4 minutes. Carefully loosen it on the bottom, gathering all the ginger and flip it over, being careful not to splatter yourself.

Saute on the other side for about another 4 minutes. Test with a thermometer – it should register about 118 F degrees.

Carefully remove, cut in half, serve and enjoy!!

I know you’ll LOVE this!

Ginger-crusted halibut sautéing in a black cast iron skillet. — Be sure to flip over ever so carefully.

Grilled Flounder with Sweet Tomato and Chili Chutney, Rosemary and Sage

September 3, 2020 by Mary 9 Comments

How many of you adore eating fish but are longing for ways that are quick and easy and would love to add a new zing to just a regular old piece of grilled fish with EVOO, salt and pepper? And how many of you have a refrigerator full of various condiments that take up too much room? I know. So this simple recipe of Grilled Flounder with Sweet Tomato and Chili Chutney, Rosemary and Sage delivers on taste and ease all in one!

You don’t necessarily have to go out and buy The English Provender Co. Sweet Tomato and Chili Chutney. Although this is very tasty with a savory sweet hot vibe, I say you should try to use up something you already have that has the same vibe. Wouldn’t that be even better?

Of course you could also dress up a piece of fish with my versatile Green Sauce, but that takes more work than I was willing to do last night. ( I can be so lazy…)

Think of flavors you LOVE…

Since it is only me eating now, I am trying all kinds of flavor combinations and I have been fascinated by mixing up sweet summer fruits with meats and fish. I mean, why not? I want to eat something new, surprising and different. After all, being totally alone in this Covid time, cooking and eating (and drinking wine) are the highlights of my day, so I love experimenting.

And I have made a commitment to myself to clean out the fridge of all of these jars! You see, my kids stayed in my apartment in the city for nearly seven weeks and cleaned out that fridge of outdated things and used the others, so now I want to do that here, upstate.

I have tons of jam that I never use on toast. I want to attack those – maybe on grilled pork chops soon…

Get creative!

I hope this post will spur some creativity on your part. Go ahead and try an unusual combination. Have fun! Experiment and enjoy. But remember to always make it with LOVE.

GRILLED FLOUNDER WITH SWEET TOMATO AND CHILI CHUTNEY, ROSEMARY AND SAGE – serves 2

1 lb. fillet of flounder
Extra virgin olive oil
½ TBS. The English Provender Co. Sweet Tomato and Chili Chutney
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, chopped
1 sprig of fresh sage
Salt
Pepper

Preheat your grill or oven to 425 F degrees. Use a grilling vegetable pan for the grill.

Thoroughly wash and pat dry the fish. Coat both sides with a thin film of olive oil. Salt and pepper on one side only. Then spread on the Sweet Tomato and Chili Chutney. Top with chopped rosemary and lay the sage sprig on top.

Spray the grill pan with high heat grilling spray or if using the oven, line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Grill or roast for about 5 minutes.

Use 2 spatulas to remove the fish to a platter. Cut in half and serve.

Enjoy!

My dinner – with 1/2 sweet potato and fresh cut arugula and tomatoes from my garden!

Fried Catfish atop a Baby Kale Salad with Sautéed Radishes and Japanese Turnips

June 3, 2014 by Mary 38 Comments

I am not a fried food fan. First of all, it’s fattening, (I am always wanting to lose 5 lbs.) and of course too much of it is not good for you. However, usually once a year I make fried chicken for a dinner picnic and I also adore fried catfish. Must be the Missouri in me.

Actually one of my most memorable meals was a just-caught fried catfish in Missouri at Pere Marquette Lodge. My parents were celebrating their 50^th wedding anniversary and flew everyone home and treated us all to a weekend at the resort. We used to go there for a quick vacation when we were kids so a reunion back there was memorable. And we did all the same things, except with our own kids – horseback riding, shuffleboard, playing the giant chess game, and swimming – and the best fried catfish dinner that tasted so good after all that outdoor activity. So last Friday night, I almost replicated the catfish, but served it as a dinner salad as Fried Catfish atop a Baby Kale Salad with Sautéed Radishes and Japanese Turnips. It was so good!!! The only thing it lacked was the just-caught freshness of the fish. It was very fresh, and it was very good, but not just-caught, if you know what I mean. That’s different and unless you’ve had it, you just don’t know. Everyone should have a just-caught cooked fish on their bucket list, because it can’t be beat!

This is not a particularly quick dinner. I made this on a Friday night when there’s more time. Make sure your oil is hot enough – a bit of flour as a test should really sizzle. This insures that your fish doesn’t absorb any or very little of the oil. Use canola oil as opposed to olive oil as you can get it hotter without smoking. Intellectually, I tried to balance the fried aspect with the healthy raw baby kale and you can opt to use the radishes and turnips raw but I like a little bit of warmth to mix in with the cool greens. And my radishes had been around for a week so I needed to liven them up. Feel free to work with any combination of vegetables to suit your taste, but this was a good one.

Now I understand and hear from other sources that a lot of you have been making my recipes and I want to hear from you! I know a lot of people read food blogs to be inspired but never actually make the recipes. So if you’re making them and have success, please let me know. If you have problems, please let me know, because that means I’m not doing my job. And I want to do my job, which is to help you cook healthier food easier, with LOVE, in order to live a life with boundless energy.

FRIED CATFISH ATOP A BABY KALE SALAD WITH SAUTEED RADISHES AND JAPANESE TURNIPS – serves 2

4 oz. baby kale, washed, air dried and chilled
1 bunch of Japanese white turnips, scrubbed, sliced and chopped
8 breakfast radishes, scrubbed and sliced (or regular radishes)
1 tbs. unsalted butter
3 scallions, white and light green parts, sliced
16 cherry and sunny gold tomatoes, washed and sliced in half
2 catfish fillets
½ cup flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup breadcrumbs – throw day-old or even older slices of a baguette or other bread in your food processor and process to make crumbs
Canola oil – enough to cover the bottom of your skillet about 1/8 inch deep
Sherry vinaigrette

Have all your vegetables ready for the salad. Make your dressing.

Melt the butter in a small skillet. Add the radishes and the turnips and sauté until golden brown as shown here.

Set out three shallow pans right near your stove-top. Left to right, with your stove on the right should be your flour, the beaten eggs and the breadcrumbs.

Wash and dry the catfish fillets. Salt and pepper one side with sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Heat the canola oil until shimmering. It should be enough to cover the bottom of your skillet by about 1/8” deep. Cover the fish fillets lightly in flour and shake off. Dip in the beaten eggs and let drain and then cover in breadcrumbs and fry for 3 – 4 minutes on each side until fish flakes and you have a nice golden brown crust.

Assemble your salad arranging baby kale leaves on the bottom, distribute the scallions, warm radishes and turnips along with the tomatoes, and drizzle salad dressing over all.

When the fish is done, remove to a platter covered with paper towels and let it rest there for a minute. Then place the fish fillet on top and dig in! Serve with LOVE and enjoy!

A fantastic first course!

October 28, 2011 by Mary Frances 5 Comments

This is just so good! Easy and healthy too. Now you could ask your fish monger to do the cleaning but the last time I did that at Stew Leonard’s, he just made a mangled mess out of the cute little fish. My regular fish monger, the wonderful guys at Sea Breeze on 9th Ave and 40th St., won’t clean or filet them because they are just too small. But it’s so easy to do it yourself! So toughen your stomach and get going!

GRILLED SARDINES
– serves 2 as a first course

4 whole sardines
4 thin slices of lemon, each cut in half
4 – 8 fresh thyme sprigs
olive oil
salt
pepper

Light a grill or preheat your broiler on high.

Start with freshest whole sardines with clear eyes. Wash each fish and with a sharp knife (always have your knives sharp), carefully slit the underside of the fish to remove the guts. You will be cutting 2/3’s of the way down the fish from under the head and not all the way to the tail and you’ll be cutting a tiny bit more that halfway into the fish’s body. Do this under running water and grab the innards out with your fingers and get the inside thoroughly clean. Pat thoroughly dry with a paper towel, inside and out. Rub olive oil on the outside of each fish, sprinkle with salt and pepper on one side, then sprinkle salt and pepper on the plate you’re going to use and place the unseasoned side of the oiled fish on the plate and rub around to salt and pepper the bottom side. (Isn’t that a neat trick? I learned this at a cooking class/birthday party for my friend Deb at a fancy restaurant.) Cut each lemon slice in half and place in the cavity of the fish along with a spring or two of fresh thyme.

Grill or broil for approximately 2 minutes on each side. They’re ready when the tip of a knife flakes the thickest part easily, and the outside is nicely browned and crispy.

Filet the fish as you eat and enjoy!! Fish are actually more flavorful when cooked with the bones in. These are yummy! You can serve with more fresh lemon but we think using the juices from the grilled lemon is enough.