Rebecca's "Israeli" Fish

 

This is the first time that I've baked fish since I became a pescatarian five years ago. Although I enjoy consuming fish in restaurants, my preference has been to only prepare vegetables at home until I tasted this fish dish,  It is flavorful, and smells great, a very satisfying meal of baked red snapper which I served with slices of slow-baked creamy potatoes. Pictured above is just one portion, about 3 ounces of fish topped with a thick vegetable sauce of tomatoes, onions and peppers. 

The fish recipe is from Rebecca Chanin Gilbert's recipe treasury who notes that " this recipe is fairly flexible. You could use leeks or shallots instead of an onion, for example. You could add smoked paprika to this, too."

"Israeli" Fish

yield: 3 - 4  servings

olive oil

salt & pepper

1 lb of firm white fish fillets (red snapper, but cod, haddock, or halibut would be great)

1 medium-large onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 of a large red, yellow, or orange bell pepper, diced

1 small jalapeno, seeds and ribs removed, and chopped small (I used a 4 oz. can of Ortega diced Jalapenos, drained liquid, and rinsed)

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 Tb cumin

2 Tbs tomato paste

1 small can of tomatoes ~ 14 oz

1 small vegetable bouillon cube or a teaspoon of Better than Bouillon 

Handful of chopped cilantro or flat-leaf parsley for garnish (optional)

NOTE: Choose a saute pan that you can also put into the oven.

Saute the onion, garlic, bell pepper, and jalapeno pepper in olive oil until the vegetables are soft. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add the turmeric, cumin, and tomato paste and stir for a minute until the spices are fragrant.

Add the tomatoes. If they are whole, use a fork or potato masher to break them up.

Add the bouillon and simmer the sauce for 30 mins over low heat, stirring occasionally. 

While the sauce cooks, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Taste sauce and correct seasoning as needed. Add the fish to the sauce, loosely cover the pan with foil, and cook in the oven at 375 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes until the fish flakes with a fork.

Remove the pan from the oven. If desired, remove fish and simmer the sauce to thicken (optional).

Serve garnished with the chopped cilantro/parsley.

NOTE: You can make the sauce ahead of time and cook the fish in it later.

Roasted whole _ Red Vermillon Snapper Wild Caught - How to roast a whole fish

When purchasing a whole fish, ask the fish seller to remove the fins, scrape the scales and prepare the fish.  He offered to remove the head and filet the fish, maybe next time.  I had the fish sliced in half and a pocket created for slices of lemon and seasonings.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Score skin into portion-sized pieces.  Fill the fish cavity with lemon slices, salt, pepper and chopped parsley or other herb seasonings of your choice. Drizzle with olive oil.

Measure the height of the fish and roast 10 minutes per inch. The fish is done when the flesh flakes easily.  After roasting, remove the center skeletal bones and skin.  This is easy to do.

A small red snapper roasted in thirty minutes.

FYI:
There are two categories of fish, round and flat. Easy way to tell. Round fish  have an eye on each side.  Bronzini and Red Snapper  are round fishes.  The backbones are in the center of the fish.

Serve with a drizzle of olive oil, if desired and fresh lemon slices.

Good side dishes: roasted potatoes, green vegetables.

Crunchy fish fillets

I've tried this several times and it is great for any mild fish fillet such as cod, flounder, hake and more.

Bake at 400 degrees.


5 saltine crackers per fillet
Forward! (Penzey's) (paprika and other seasonings)
dried Italian herbs

1 egg, scrambled


Spray disposable foil pan with canola spray. Make coating by crumbling saltines, adding spices and herbs.  Scramble an egg.  Dip each fillet  in the egg and then press the filet onto the crumb mixture to coat each side.

Bake for approximately fifteen minutes turning the fish midway to get both sides crispy.  Internal temp should be 145 degrees when done.

Flounder .... when one more chicken entree is one too many

These flounder slices, when defrosted, are very small and I serve 2 slices per serving. I sometimes prepare the sliced mushrooms first by sauteeing in a pan sprayed with Pam and no oil. Remove the mushrooms when they are nicely browned and put the fish in the pan with some diced canned tomatoes that have been drained. Saute the fish on a low heat but first season to taste with Italian herbs and for a little of heat, Aleppo pepper. The fish is done when it is opaque, just a few minutes. Pour off and discard the excess liquid from the fish and tomatoes. Serve with the sauteed mushrooms.

Wild is good when it's Salmon

Costco offers fresh, farmed salmon but I always choose the frozen, wild Sockeye salmon. Here's a quote from The George Mateljan Foundation with a link to their website to read more information about the general recommendation of wild salmon:

• Despite being much fattier, farmed fish provide less usable beneficial omega 3 fats than wild fish.
• Due to the feedlot conditions of aquafarming, farm-raised fish are doused with antibiotics and exposed to more concentrated pesticides than their wild kin. Farmed salmon, in addition, are given a salmon-colored dye in their feed, without which, their flesh would be an unappetizing grey color.

I recently made a delicious meal with salmon (defrosted in the refrigerator) by microwaving Tabatchnick's Vegetarian Chili(one portion, seasoning with Aleppo pepper and when the fish was nearly done and the chili heated through, I added the canned peas. Five minutes and done!

Orange Roughy - the easy way!

This fish is from Costco, frozen orange roughy. I used to buy this to make on the grill when I was a tent camper in Southern California, for more than 15 years. I've edited this recipe for two portions and it is quick and easy, delicious and only about $1 per serving. I defrost the fish filets before cooking.

Pam cooking spray

2 tsp canola oil

1 tsp Penzeys Florida Seasoned Pepper (adjust to taste)

1 tsp minced garlic

1/2 thinly sliced onion (red or white)

1/4 lb. sliced mushrooms

2 defrosted frozen or fresh fish filets (orange roughy is my favorite!)

Spray a saute pan with non-stick cooking spray. Over medium heat, saute the onions in the Canola oil and garlic. when soft, add the mushrooms and cook until browned. Push aside or remove to cook the fish in the same pan. Place the fish in the pan, season with Pepper on both sides, pan saute until done, less than 5 minutes on each side. Fish is done when it flakes easily and loses its translucent appearance.

individual frozen portions

The orange roughy portions are frozen in individual packages and defrost completely in a short time.

Orange Roughy - less than $1 per portion in 2009

There are ten frozen portions in the bag and cooked with sauteed onions, mushrooms and sometimes diced tomatoes and/or sliced green peppers, one portion of fish per person, that's 90 calories and 20 grams of protein with only 1 gm. fat.

salmon and eggs

Make an extra portion of salmon for leftovers and another meal. Salmon, flaked with a fork, with scambled eggs is delicious. Add the salmon when the eggs are cooking in the pan with some black beans too for a nutritional boost.