fish. it's what's for dinner. again.

ok, so i have gotten over my fear of fish... or at least of cooking it. i don't know why, but i have always been intimidated by fish, and honestly, until the other week, i had only done fish sticks. you know, the frozen ones you get in a box. yup, did those twice. not too shabby. oh, wait, while asher was on his fat-free diet, we had some white fish kabobs, and those were pretty good, too!

but my recent foray into the world of actually cooking fish for real, you know, following a recipe and not the instructions on the package, was quite serendipitous. you'll recall the tale of the fish that (didn't) get away from last week, that delicious talapia that was thiiiiiiiiiiiiis good! well, i have another tale fer ye, me hearties.

yar, on thursday last, i be wanderin' ye old marketplace (read: superstore), when ahoy! i spy some sole! and a fine fish it be, for it be marked down by 30% (a tidbit about that later on). so i grabbed what i might and tossed him into me bucket (read: shopping cart) and i make way to the blessed harbour that be mine (read: home). yar!

so here is the recipe i tried out tonight:

Crispy Fish Fillets
1 egg
2 tbsp prepared yellow mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups instant mashed potato flakes
1/4 cup oil (for frying)
4 (6 oz) sole fillets

1. in a shallow dish, whisk together egg, mustard and salt; set aside. place potato flakes in a separate shallow dish.
2. heat oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat.
3. dip fillets in egg mixture, then dredge fillets through potato flakes, being sure to entirely coat the fish. for extra crispy, dip in egg mixture and flakes again.
4. fry fish fillets in oil for 3 to 4 minutes per side, or until golden brown.


ADAPTATIONS: first, being out of eggs, i used egg whites instead. (you'll note, this also reduces the fat content, which can be an important consideration when you're frying anything battered.) also, following a couple tips on the allrecipes.com page, i used flour instead of instant mashed potato flakes (which are ew, in my opinion), and i added parsley and garlic powder to the flour. another tip i got was to dip the fish in the flour first, then in the egg mixture, then the flour again. this allows the flour to stick to the fish better.

REVIEW: three words: a. ma. zing. it was absolutely delicious. blithe enjoyed it, and i actually had seconds. and since the boys were both asleep, i only made 3 pieces. and well, their loss is blithe's and my gain. mwahaha but i still have some fillets left, so i will most definitely make this again. and i was really surprised by one other thing with this recipe: i expected it to taste really strongly of mustard. apparently, i was wrong. the cooking process completely mellowed out the flavour, so that if you didn't know there was mustard in the batter, you'd never know. really, it was delicious and super easy to make and we really enjoyed it. in fact, it's going to become a regular.... especially since i've discovered just how cheap fish is!! which leads in nicely to my tidbit mentioned above...

early. morning. grocery shopping. seriously. i'll admit, i thought annie was insane. until i gave it a whirl last week before picking up the kids, and hokey doodle! i got a week's worth of groceries for $42!!!! i'm not even kidding! i got the 6 sole fillets for about $4.50, i got a huge club pack of honey garlic sausage (that's 12 sausages) for about $6, two fresh pizzas for $3 each, and all kinds of other little deals. just don't go to my store on thursdays, or i may be reduced to violence over a piece of fish or chicken or something. just saying.

Creamy Pasta Sauce (fat-free)

ok, so of course, asher's surgery earlier this month couldn't go entirely smoothly. sure, the surgery itself was "uneventful," but because this is asher, there are lingering complications. the biggest one (not only due to severity but also because it affects all of us at home), is something called "chylothorax." during the surgery, a lymph node was nicked. lymph nodes take fat out of the bloodstream, and when they leak, the fatty substance (called "chyle") fills the space around the lungs. if left untreated, it can suffocate you. nice, eh? ugh. the treatment for this is a fat-free diet for 6 weeks.

so we have started a new diet at home. i refuse to make more than one meal at a time. everyone eats the same thing. no exceptions. now, i have always cooked somewhat low-fat (just ignore the labels "deep fried", "cheese" and "sausage"... i did say "somewhat" after all...). but now i have to eliminate ALL fat from our home. in some ways, this is proving more difficult than i anticipated. on the other hand... i now get to try all kinds of recipes i hadn't attempted yet. and (surprise, surprise) i've decided to share some of these fat-free recipes with you, gentle reader. bon appetit!

and be warned... this is a typical heather-ish recipe. you know what to expect.

Creamy Pasta Sauce (and yes, it's fat-free)

250 ml fat-free cream cheese (Philly makes a 95% fat-free one, which is allowed)
some spinach
some mushrooms
some sundried-tomatoes (that's right! they're fat-free!!)
skim milk (which i don't hate)

i've picked up a few tricks along the way, so i tried "sauteeing" the mushrooms with water instead of butter. they didn't turn out perfectly, but it helped. then i added the spinach. mixed them all together in the pan. then i added the cream cheese. the whole container (which, admittedly, is the only reason i know how much i used. teehee). the cream cheese actually becomes nice and creamy and delicious at this point. i blanched the sundried tomatoes before throwing them into the sauce (i just used the pasta water for this; it gave the noodles a nice hint o' flavour, too). i didn't plan on using the milk, but the sauce just like that was pretty thick, so i added some milk ("until it looked right") to thin it a bit.

and the review? de. lish. ous. and so simple, and so fat-free, and relatively cheap (because i had sundried tomatoes on hand already). the kids all loved it. in fact, they all had seconds! it was so easy and good and healthy... i'm totally making this again. maybe next time i'll grill some chicken breast and throw that in, too. but we'd already had quite a bit of protein today, so i left it out tonight. but definitely next time! :)