Panko Crusted Fish with Herb Dipping Sauce

I was talking to my friend the other day about fish recipes for people who dont love fish.

This panko crusted sole is not super fishy and has a pleasantly mild, crispy coating.

The recipe calls for Old Bay Seasoning, I used Lawrys Chicken seasoning because thats all I had and it worked great too.

If you are in a hurry or dont want to make the dipping sauce just serve the fish as is or with lemon wedges.

Panko-Crusted Fish with Herb Dipping Sauce

Martha Stewart Everyday Food Magazine

1-2 large eggs, beaten

2 Cups panko crumbs (Japanese bread crumbs)

1 Tbsp Old Bay fish seasoning (or other such as Lawrys)

2 Tbsp Olive oil

1 Tbsp dried Parsley flakes, optional

7-8 sole fillet ( I used frozen fillets then prepared and cooked without thawing first)

1/2 Cup mayonnaise

2 Tbsp dried parsley flakes (1/4Cup fresh, chopped parsley)

1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

1 Tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp horseradish

Preheat oven to 475F.

Place egg in a shallow dish, season with salt and pepper.

Combine panko, seasoning, oil and parsley flakes in another shallow bowl.

Dip sole fillet in egg mixture and then in crumb mixture, pressing on the crumbs to make them stick.

Lay the fish on a baking sheet leaving some room between.

Bake without turning the fish over 12-15 minutes or until the fish is lightly browned on the bottom.

Meanwhile, make sauce.

Mix mayo, parslely, dijon, lemon and horseradish in a small bowl.

Season with salt and pepper.

Serve fish with dipping sauce, lemon wedges, roasted potatoes and a salad.

Teriyaki Salmon with Sesame Noodles

My kids love salmon.

However, I need to be very creative to get Jim to eat it.

He loves this teriyaki salmon.

The fishiness of the salmon seems to be completely cut by the sour rice vinegar and the sweet apple juice.

Your run of the mill bottled teriyaki sauce is probably all sugar.

What I love about this is that it's not sickeningly sweet.

I serve it with simple sesame noodles mixed with carrot, green onion and cucumber.

Teriyaki Salmon with Sesame Noodles

(Fish is from: Not Your Mother's Weeknight Cooking/

the noodles are adapted from thekitchn.com)

Salmon

One 2 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and cut in pieces

2 garlic cloves

1 can frozen sugar-free apple juice concentrate (I use NoName)

1/2 C low sodium soy sauce or shoyu sauce

3 Tbsp rice vinegar

1/2 C chopped green onion

4 -6 1 inch thick salmon filets

Noodles

2 bundles soba noodles

2-3 carrots cut into match sticks (you could grate it too, just dont bother blanching if you do)

1/2 cucumber, in thin rounds or long ribbons

2 green onions, thinly sliced

1 Tbsp sesame oil

1 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce

1/2 Tbsp honey (optional)

2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar

a few dashes hot sauce

For the fish:

Place fish in a 9x13inch baking dish.

Preheat oven to 350.

In a food processor, whiz until garlic and ginger are very finely chopped.

Add apple juice concentrate, soy and vinegar. Whiz again.

Stir in onion.

Pour over fish. Cover with plastic and refrigerate 30mins.

Bake fish 10-15 minutes or until fish is firm.

For the noodles:

Boil noodles 6 minutes and then drain and rinse with cold water.

Pour noodles into a large bowl.

Blanch carrots in a little boiling water for 1 minute. Add to noodles with cucumber and onion.

In a small bowl, whisk together sesame oil, vinegar, honey, soy and hot sauce.

Pour over noodles, cover with plastic and reserve until fish is ready.

Room temperature noodles are fine.

Serve Noodles topped with fish, teriyaki sauce and a few more bits of green onion.

(Dad, avert your eyes from Jimmy's hand...seriously, it's for your own good...)

"Miller's Wife" Fish

"Miller's Wife", or what the french call 'Meuniere', is fish dredged in flour and pan fried.

I cannot think of many better ways of eating trout than this. I was calling out ideas on how to cook this fish, "Trout with mushrooms, tomatoes and ginger", or " Trout with raisins, red onions and bacon."

Jim told me that none of those options sounded like they would really match the trout.

Sometimes the simplest ways of preparing fish are the best.

Very simple and arguably the best way to eat trout.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper, dredge in flour, fry in butter.

Garnish with lemons and parsley.

Serve with baked sweet potatoes.

Fish Meuniere

(Alton Brown)

2 large fillet of rainbow trout, skin-on

kosher salt

fresh ground black pepper

1/2 C all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp Canola oil

1 Tbsp butter

lemon slices

parsley

Heat a large 12 inch skillet (preferably not non-stick) over med-high heat.

Sprinkle the flesh side of the fish with salt and pepper. Dredge in the flour, shaking off excess.

Add oil and butter to hot pan. Let the butter melt, foam and brown.

Add fish to pan, flesh side down. Jiggle pan to ensure it is not sticking. Cook 2 minutes, a pretty brownish, flecked crust will form.

If the fat around the fish is smoking, turn down the heat a bit.

Flip fish, and cook another 2 minutes or until fish flakes with a fork.

Remove fish to a plate, garnish with lemon slices and parsley.

Sweet Potato Half-moons

Peel a huge sweet potato or several and cut them into 1cm half moons.

Toss with olive oil and Montreal Steak Spice on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Cook at 400* for about 20 mins or until soft on the inside and crispy brown on the outside.

We dip ours in a combo of 1/4Cup Mayo, 1/4 tsp Chipotle Chili Powder and 1tsp honey mixed together.

Fish Tacos

The mangoes were perfect today.

I bought 3 and made mango salsa.

Fish tacos are great with mango salsa.

Coleslaw and warm corn tortillas are good with mango salsa.

Hello dinner.

I'm looking forward to eating this meal again this summer outside on the patio, this is a great summer meal. But for now, it was a nice, light change from the usual winter fare of stews, root veg and chili.

A few tips for this recipe:

1. Use perfect mangoes, they will take this taco from good to great.

2. Don't overcook the fish.

3. Warm up your corn tortillas...they're inedible otherwise... (First time I tried to use corn tortillas I did not know you were supposed to warm them first and was grossed out by the inevitable crumbly, rubberiness of a cold corn tortilla...Do warm them.)

Fish Tacos

serves 3-4 people

5 (or more) pieces of firm white fish (I used frozen, thawed cod)

salt and pepper

1 Tbsp veg oil

1/2 bag coleslaw mix or 2C shredded cabbage

1-2 Tbsp Cider Vinegar

1/2 tsp salt

2-3 mangoes peeled and diced

1/2 red bell pepper, seeded, minced

1/2 cucumber, diced

pinch cayenne pepper (optional)

salt and pepper

1 lime juiced

sour cream and warm corn tortillas for serving

Pat dry the fish and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Warm oil in a fry pan over Med heat.

Cook fish a few minutes per side. Mine took about 8 mins total.

Chop fish into chunks and place in a bowl to stay warm.

Mix coleslaw (cabbage), vinegar and salt in a bowl and toss.

Mix mango, cucumber, red pepper, salt, pepper, cayenne, and lime juice in a bowl.

Wipe out your fish pan and warm your corn tortillas and place them in a tea towel to stay warm and soft.

Pile up your taco with all the toppings including a good smear of sour cream.

These toppings would also be good piled on top of rice instead of the tortillas. Feel free.

Lakeside Fish

Growing up with a fisherman dad and a cottage meant that we did a lot of fishing and ate a lot of fish in the summertime. I have so many great memories of sitting in the boat or on a dock with my dad and my brother fishing. Dad generously spent most of his time on the lake untangling our lines, re-baiting our hooks and stringing our fish. Thanks Dad!

After getting the fish back to the cottage, Dad would clean the fish and prepare it one of two ways. Fish Fry was an obvious and delicious choice, but my favourite is fire roasted.

Butter, lemon juice, onion, potato, carrot, the fish and a little salt and pepper wrapped up in tin foil and set on a bed of hot coals is how I like fish the best. Bass and pickerel work really well this way.

For pike you just take away the fins, head, tail and guts, stuff the belly with peppers, carrot, onions, salt, pepper and butter in a package of tin foil, over coals. When you open the package the skin sticks to the tin foil and the meat falls off the bones. Perfect for camping.

Now, it never tastes quite the same at home as when you reel the fish in fresh and cook it on the shore, but it is still so good.

Here is how I do it at home.

Reminiscent of Lakeside Fish

2lbs Cod or if you're at the cottage, Bass or Pickerel

2 carrots sliced thinly in half moons

2 potatoes sliced thinly in half moons

1 red pepper, thinly sliced

1 onion thinly sliced

Butter 1-1 1/2Tbsp per package

1 lemon sliced

salt and pepper

Heat oven to 400*.

Rip off pieces of tin foil or parchment paper about 12 inches long. Put pieces of fish in foil or parchment topped butter, lemon slice squeezed a little, veg and salt and pepper. Pull foil piece over fish and scrinch to seal package well.

Place all the packages on a baking tray and cook for 30 mins.

Eat the fish and vegetables right out of the package on your plate.

Eating my garden

Clara-Very proud of the garden she helped plant.
Lettuce and peas.

Notice the nasturtium atop my salad...this is pure Jimmy. He got us into eating them.
Little Jibs loved this dinner and eagerly at two bowls full.

I cannot really express how excited I was the first time I harvested vegetables. My friend Shannon's Grandpa has a beautiful garden and let me fill up bags and bags of peas and cucumber and potatoes and peppers. Let me tell you, digging up potatoes is so thrilling to me that I kept saying to Jim, "Can you believe this, this is amazing!" So at the nearest opportunity Jimmy put in a garden for me so I could frolic around our yard picking vegetables while chanting, "Can you believe this?" It doesn't take much to excite me but, come on, this is exciting stuff. I ate a pea today straight off the vine and a salad whose leaves and petals were picked mere moments before being tossed with lemon juice and consumed. Ahhhh the summer harvest, such a thrill.
We had our first meal on the patio tonight of Sole Dijon and Summer Salad. It was wonderful.
This recipe is so easy and quick. Clara made the sauce independently while I chopped the veg and assembled. done.

Sole Dijon

4 Yukon Gold Potato sliced 1/4inch thick

1 Onion sliced 1/4 inch thick

1 green or red pepper sliced 1/4 inch thick

1/4C butter -diced

salt

pepper

1C mayo

2T Lemon juice

2T Dijon Mustard

2lbs Sole fillets

Preheat oven to 400*. Line a 9x13 dish with parchment paper. Layer potatoes over the bottom, peppers next and top with onion. Dot the top with diced butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook for 30 mins uncovered in the centre of the oven.

In a small bowl stir together mayo, lemon juice and dijon.

Add sole fillets to the top of the par-cooked vegetables, pour sauce over fish and bake for 15 mins more.