Parmesan & Nut-Crusted Fish

First, as I type this, I am devouring some strawberry and basil scones concocted by my sister.  Rest assured I'll track down the supposed simple recipe and post here.  She swears she thought them inedible and almost trashed them.  Heathen!

In the interim, I've been day dreaming about a favorite recipe of ours: essentially, a parmesan and nut-crusted fish.  Obviously, I found it critical to share.

At some point, I found a similar recipe in the classic Better Homes & Gardens red & white cookbook, but it's been modified and tweaked so much I don't think I can give credit there.  The best part about this "recipe" is that it works equally well on the grill (my favorite), in the oven or on the stove top.

I usually start it on foil for the grill or in a parchment lined dish for the oven.  Stove top (semi-fried) is probably the least healthy way, but it tastes pretty delightful.  My favorite fish for this is halibut steaks, but we've used tilapia, halibut filet or any other white fish with a nice, meaty flavor.

Typically, I start by soaking or rubbing the fish in olive oil, and then in a separate bowl I stir together about two cups of seasoned bread crumbs, about one cup of nuts (diced walnuts or pecans or packaged nut topping all work well), a healthy dose to taste of Italian seasoning and about a cup of fresh shredded parmesan.  After mixing it all up, I coat (thickly) the fish.

For the grill, just setting the fish with the skin side down on the foil, pouring on olive oil and then pouring on this mix and patting it to a nice crust works perfectly - I wrap up the foil package and hand it over to the keeper of the grill, who takes it from there.

For the oven, I pop the whole thing in somewhere around 375 (a little higher doesn't hurt) for 15 - 20 minutes.  It's a pretty difficult dish to mess up.  I like a nice brown to the crust and adjust accordingly.  For the stove top, I usually use smaller fillets with the skin off and just saute them in a good amount of olive or cooking oil, turning them and then keeping warm in the oven while I finish side items like some asparagus and wild rice.

It's a great summer (or anytime) meal, and I've got to dash off to the store for fish now to satisfy the craving.

Enjoy!

Asian Peanut Noodles with Tofu

Ingredients

Olive Oil, 2 tbsp
Garlic, 2 tbsp
Red Pepper, 1 large, julienned
Carrot Strips, 1/2 cup
Sugar Snap Peas, about 30 (1 cup or so)
Firm Tofu, 8 oz, cubed
Egg Noodles, 6 - 12 oz package
Peanut Butter, 2 tbsp
Rice Vinegar, 4 tbsp
Brown Sugar, 4 tbsp
Lime Juice, 3 tbsp or juice of 1 lime
Sesame Oil or Olive Oil, 2 tbsp
Red Pepper Flakes
Green Onions, fresh, chopped
Asian sweet chili sauce to taste (like Mae Ploy, available in Asian food stores)

Directions

Sauté garlic in olive or sesame oil in a wok or pan
Add pepper, carrots & peas and cook for 5 - 10 mins
Add tofu - cook 5 - 10 mins
Start water boiling for egg noodles, then cook 4 - 6 mins
Mix remaining ingredients (except red pepper flakes, green onion and chili sauce) with a fork or whisk in a small bowl and add just as noodles finish cooking for 1 - 2 mins on low heat
Drain egg noodles thoroughly and add to vegetables and sauce, toss to coat and heat
Serve Add 1 cup barley, broth and 3 cups water
Simmer approx 20 mins
Whisk together flour and milk thoroughly, add to soup
Simmer 5 - 10 more mins

Source/Lineage

This recipe was modified (vegetarian) from the recipe

featured in Fitness Magazine - January 2011.

The Nitty Gritty

Nutritional info per serving obtained via SparkPeople Recipes:

• Servings Per Recipe: 4
• Calories: 450
• Total Fat: 19.0 g
• Cholesterol: 54.2 mg
• Sodium: 323.8 mg
• Total Carbs: 64.3 g
• Dietary Fiber: 5.9 g
• Protein: 21.2 g 

 

Inspiration

I'd been craving an Asian style noodle dish with peanut sauce, and I've been trying to amp up my protein intake.  At a glance, this recipe looked perfect, but then I found it was a cold salad-style meal.  No good.  I wanted a hot dish for dinner.  So, with a few tweaks - replacing shrimp with tofu for a change, using egg instead of cellophane noodles (purely based on pantry contents) and thickening up the dressing to serve as a sauce, we were all set.

Added benefit - this dish was an enormous hit with my family, including the seven year old - she devoured it.  I think it was just sweet enough for her, and the vegetables were non-threatening, crunchy and a little sweet as well.  Nutritional information is without any toppings.  The grown-ups each added the chili sauce and green onions to our servings, and it was great.  Healthy and tasty.

Best of all, this meal took literally 20 minutes from walking into the kitchen to putting it on the table.  You can't beat that!

Enjoy!