Are the rules you learned in childhood about food holding you back in your adult life? You probably know by now that my favorite question is why. Here are two rules that I was taught: Don’t eat anything from a can and never make boxed mac n cheese because “there’s junk in it.” Well, that may have been true in the old days, but if you read labels on packaged food, it’s possible to find some that are made with quality ingredients.
So, I made my first macaroni and cheese from a box. Well, they were small shells actually, but basically the same thing, right? I won’t lie to you and say it’s as good as homemade because there’s nothing like smothering pasta in your own concoction of rich, creamy cheese sauce and baking it until it’s nice and crusty on top. But at the end of a long day, this hit the spot with zero effort. And who’s to say you can’t still tweak it a tiny bit to make it a little more special? A pinch of spice? Some onion and garlic? How about some crab claws from a can? From a can?! Yes, I do open one on occasion and what a brilliant addition to this quick pantry meal.
So, I guess you can say I’ve joined the club. Club Connie, that is. What? You don’t get my little joke? That must be because you haven’t read my amusing story published in the new book: Chicken Soup for the Soul: Well THAT Was Funny. The stories contributed by the other authors will have you in tears of laughter as well. Laughter is good for the soul!
Get inspired to cook a delicious and nutritious fish dinner that the whole family will love.
So, you’ve started shopping without a list, buying what looks fresh and on sale. You’re trying to eat healthier and have decided more fish is a good idea. Bravo! You don’t need a recipe. What you need is an idea to get dinner on the table without a lot of fuss. What goes with fish? Try making a quick caponata. A combination of vegetables with a tangy kick and a briny element is perfect for an oily, wild fish such as mackerel.
When shopping at the local Asian market for some pantry staples that I was in need of, I picked up some frozen mackerel fillets, fresh Japanese eggplant and tomatoes. Once I had defrosted the fish, I decided that something sweet, tangy and salty would complement it, so I got to work chopping the eggplant and tomatoes to prepare them to go into a big, lidded pot that would have room enough for the fish to poach on top of the vegetables. Yes, my friends! Everything in one pot is the easiest and I love doing fish this way. Quick, easy and delicious is the way to go.
If you need a more precise recipe for a caponata, you can try this one from the NY Times. However, if you are learning to cook without a recipe and develop your intuition in the kitchen, please focus on the basic concepts instead. See what ingredients you have available; decide on the direction of flavor you want to pursue and a cooking method. Then have some fun. For this dinner, here’s how I answered the question of what goes with fish:
Japanese eggplant, chopped
tomatoes, chopped
garlic, minced
olive oil
capers (for the briny element)
salt
white balsamic vinegar (for the tangy kick)
Any eggplant would do for this simple caponata. I tend to prefer the slender Japanese variety because they have fewer seeds and are sweeter. Therefore, I don’t feel the need to salt them and drain prior to cooking. If you wanted to go to a tiny bit more trouble, you could roast the eggplant before adding to the pot with your other ingredients. It will give you more depth of flavor that way. But in the heat of summer, I preferred not to turn on the oven and getting the eggplant started on the stovetop with some olive oil and garlic worked out just fine. The time it takes for them to cook will depend on how small you’ve chopped them, of course.
After about ten or fifteen minutes, I decided it was time to add a splash of vinegar and salt to taste. Tossed in the chopped tomatoes and a teaspoon of capers before reducing the heat to its lowest setting so that I could lay the salted mackerel fillets on top and cover. Cook just until the fish flakes in the middle with a fork. This took about 12 minutes in this case. The variety of fish and its thickness will determine how long you should cook it. Just be sure to test it sooner rather than later. You can always cook it longer, but no one likes dry, overcooked fish. And these babies were anything but that, BTW!
What kind of fish can you find locally that’s economical? This would have also been great with salmon or seabass. What other ingredients do you think would go with this fish dinner? How about artichokes instead of eggplant? What about olives instead of capers? Maybe you would prefer to start this dish with onions? Can you combine all of those items? Why not?! Make sure to taste as you go and adjust accordingly. Does it need a touch of sugar? More acid or salt? Let us know in the comments how you make it your own and answer the question, “What goes with fish?”
The possibilities are endless when it comes to fish. Try this idea beginning with a savory roux and poaching with celery and bell peppers. And please share via your favorite social media if you are finding these tips useful.
It’s simple to cook moist, flavorful fish that everyone will love.
Are you afraid of cooking fish? It doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, I find fish one of the easiest things to prepare. The most common crime is overcooking it. No one wants to eat something dry and tasteless. Fish should be anything but that. Unfortunately, if you’ve ever been served overcooked fish, you probably didn’t want to eat it again any time soon.
As usual, I did not know ahead of time what I would do with the cod that I had defrosted. That’s the fun of cooking: creating something delicious and new with ingredients on hand. I don’t often repeat exactly the same dish because ingredients available vary and I can’t be bothered with shopping lists and recipes. Buying lots of fresh vegetables, whole grains and proteins makes that possible.
Once I was ready to think about dinner, I looked at my produce and realized I had some tomatoes that I needed to use. What else would pair well with my anchor ingredient, the cod? Looking into my refrigerator, I remembered I had some feta. Hey, I don’t often use cheese with seafood, but I remembered a shrimp dish from a Greek restaurant that contained tomatoes and feta. It had been delicious, so I began to get inspired with a Mediterranean theme. Fresh fennel and some rice could round out this meal.
Here’s how I went about cooking this fish dinner:
Sliced fennel bulb and tossed with olive oil to put on the bottom of a casserole dish. Sprinkled with a tiny bit of salt. Spread a layer of leftover cooked brown turmeric rice on top of that. (Always cook extra rice because it comes in so handy for easily pulling together a future meal like this one.) Seasoned cod with garlic powder, dried oregano and salt. Topped each piece of cod with sliced tomatoes. Crumbled a couple of dice sized chunks of feta all around it and sprinkled some chopped parsley on top. Drizzled a touch of olive oil over the fish and covered casserole dish so everything would stay moist while baking at 350 for about 40 minutes.
Now, 40 minutes sounds like an awfully long time for fish. Here’s why it worked in this case: multiple layers of ingredients filling up a casserole dish take longer to cook. The cod I used were really thick chunks. The sliced tomatoes and casserole lid kept everything super moist. You want the fennel to get tender and the fish should just be cooked through until opaque and flaky. So start looking at it sooner rather than later. I checked on things after 20 minutes and then at ten minute intervals based on how it looked.
How Will You Know When It’s Done?
Fish was moist and juicy and the tomato had just begun to slump down. Test the middle with a fork to see if it flakes and is opaque. It looked beautiful in the baking dish and on the plate, but at the end of a very long day, I was more interested in eating than in taking pictures for your benefit. So, today’s picture is of a leftover bite just so you can see the way the inside of properly cooked cod should look. Never dry. Always flavorful and juicy.
So there you go. Cooking a fish dinner is so simple that it could become your favorite go-to meal. Develop your intuition in the kitchen and start cooking without a recipe. Here’s more on how to successfully bake fish fillets.
Looking for summer pasta recipes? Learn to create something delicious and quick with just a few simple ingredients.
Wouldn’t you agree that summer means less is more? It’s especially true when it comes to food. With fresh produce at its peak, it needs very little embellishment before serving. Fewer ingredients and less time in the kitchen equal more time savoring simple pleasures like this 6 minute 6 ingredient summer pasta dish.
This thin spaghetti takes 6 minutes to boil, which was plenty of time to cook the other ingredients in a deep skillet. First, peel your shrimp and put the shells into a saucepan with water to boil. Shrimp stock is priceless and it’s integral to this dish in my opinion. Always boil your shells and freeze the stock for later if you’re not planning to use it right away. What if you bought shrimp that was already peeled? It’s not ideal, but it will work. You can make a quick fish stock using dried bonito flakes from an Asian market or maybe some clam juice. A little chicken broth would do in a pinch.
Ingredients for 2 Main Dish Servings of Summer Pasta:
half a box of thin spaghetti
3 medium sized tomatoes, chopped
10 jumbo shrimp, peeled (shells boiled in water)
5 cloves garlic, minced
a couple glugs of olive oil
a palm full of chopped fresh basil
I started by putting garlic, tomatoes and olive oil into a skillet and cooking on high for a couple of minutes before adding shrimp that I had seasoned with salt. Cooked a few more minutes until shrimp had turned pink and opaque, meaning they were finished. With tongs, I pulled al dente pasta out of its boiling pot and into the skillet of sauce. Tossing with tomatoes and shrimp and judging how much liquid to add, I poured in some strained shrimp stock that had been boiling on the back burner. You could whisk in a smidgeon of butter if you were so inclined.
Here’s where intuitive cooking comes in: How you treat your tomatoes depends on their quality. If mine had been a bit juicier, I might not have cooked them at all. Instead, I would have cooked the shrimp in garlic and olive oil and added tomatoes at the end with the shrimp stock just to warm through. In this case, cooking the tomatoes for a short amount of time allowed them to slump down and release some juicy goodness.
Looking for ideas on how to prepare fish fillets? I noticed a fish frying station at the market the other day, so although it’s not the method I prefer most, it seems to be a popular one. You don’t need a deep fryer. It’s simple to fry in a skillet.
When I asked my husband for suggestions on preparing the rockfish fillets I had bought, he said “breaded with panko and maybe seasoned with lemon and garlic”. Are you familiar with panko bread crumbs? They’re super crispy and don’t soak up a lot of oil. So if crispness is what you’re after, try them. I have been using a lot of lemons lately and decided to season with sumac instead. After tasting the dinner, my husband mentioned enjoying the lemon. So there you go. If you were wondering what sumac tastes like, it has a tart, lemon-like flavor. It’s a spice that is ground from berries and I often forget it’s in my cabinet. It’s delicious and I should really use it more frequently.
Why don’t I fry fish more often? Probably because I use more dishes than other methods and end up slopping flour onto the counter, meaning more cleanup afterwards. But when I remind myself that it’s worth pleasing the darling guy who requested it, it’s not such a big deal. Here’s what you need:
a plate of flour
seasoning of your choice (salt, sumac and garlic powder are what I used)
beaten egg in a shallow dish
a plate of panko crumbs
a clean platter for the breaded fish
grapeseed oil (or other oil with a high smoke point)
Season the fish or the flour. Dredge the fish fillets one by one first in the flour, then the egg and then the panko. Put them on a clean plate until you’re ready to cook them. Preheat a skillet with grapeseed oil. Once hot, reduce heat to medium and add the fish fillets. Cook a couple minutes on each side until golden brown.
I served baked fennel and potatoes topped with parmesan as a side dish. Plated with Kalamata olives and capers, but they missed their photo opp. Oops! What else might you serve with this meal?
A reader previously asked about keeping left over fried fish crispy. As much as I often recommend making more than you need for one meal and repurposing leftovers, there are some things that simply lose quality after refrigeration. Fried fish is one of them. Make only the amount you intend to eat immediately. If you happen to have some left over, you can heat it up in the oven the next day, but don’t expect it to get very crispy. If you want some crunch, toast some bread instead and put the fish on a sandwich.
When my husband was single, he learned to make a simple, but amazingly delicious pasta sauce using 3 ingredients. This is a guy who otherwise lived off of premade meals from the market. So if you want to know what to cook for dinner tonight that’s easy, this dish is for you! These days I tend to serve it with fish for extra protein and it never disappoints.
What goes into this basic and very satisfying sauce?
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 can of anchovies
1 can of tomato sauce (15 ounces)
Okay, I start with olive oil in the skillet. So it’s 4 ingredients, but olive oil goes without saying, doesn’t it? Sauté the garlic in olive oil until golden. Add the anchovies while smashing with a spoon and slowly stir in the tomato sauce. Simmer while cooking the pasta. It doesn’t get any easier than this. If you want to add just a few more ingredients, read Pantry Pasta Perfection for inspiration.
What Goes With It?
While you could certainly serve it alone or with a salad, a simmering sauce like this is perfect for poaching fish while the pasta cooks. Pictured above, I used mahi mahi because it’s a medium flavored, firm textured wild fish that is readily available in the frozen section of my supermarket. These fillets took a total of 8 minutes to cook over low heat in the sauce, covered. Turn them over about halfway through when they start to look dry/opaque around the edges.
Are you building your confidence in cooking fish? You can see that it’s done when it flakes in the middle with a fork. See how the flesh is just beginning to separate there? Test it if you’re not sure and cook it longer if necessary.
This would be delicious with salmon or sea bass or whatever fish is readily available to you. Just be sure not to overcook it!
Invest in flavor, not labor to enjoy cooking without a recipe.
Ever had bacon wrapped scallops? They’re delicious, but I am not big on personally wrapping little bite sized portions of food. So here’s my shortcut: cook the bacon first and sprinkle it on top of the sea scallops. Done and done. Cooking without a recipe is that simple.
I keep bacon in the freezer, so it’s easy to cut off an inch after letting it sit out for about ten minutes. After chopping it up, I cooked it in a stainless steel skillet with a touch of grapeseed oil. I scooped the finished bacon out with a slotted spoon and let it drain on paper towels. This bacon was pretty lean and I didn’t cook very much of it, so the fat that remained in the skillet was just enough to cook the scallops in.
Make sure you dry your scallops well before seasoning and putting them into the hot skillet. You want them to sear, not steam. They only take a couple of minutes to cook on each side over high heat. They should release easily from the pan when they’re ready to turn over. Be sure not to overcook them so they remain tender. These are the basic principles for cooking scallops without a recipe.
Let the scallops rest on a plate while you pour some white wine into the skillet and scrape up all the brown bits as it reduces. You could pour that over the scallops if you want to or top one of your side dishes with it. Finish with a drizzle of truffle oil if you like. Are you hungry yet?
What will you serve with your seared sea scallops? How about turning a Caesar Salad into an entrée by topping with scallops? Learn How to Make Legendary Caesar Salad next.
We have been eating a lot of mahi mahi lately because it’s a wild fish that is easy to obtain and we enjoy its pleasant flavor and texture. Only your imagination and what you have on hand are the limits on how to prepare it. How about starting with a roux? It’s delish with fish.
Looking into my refrigerator, I saw that I had a bell pepper and celery that needed to be used. So after chopping it up along with some onion, I made a quick roux by whisking together over high heat about a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of flour. Over the course of a few minutes, this mixture becomes progressively brown. The darker the roux, the deeper the flavor. I let it get to be about the color of dark chocolate before adding the chopped vegetables and continuing to whisk to stop the browning process. You could make a lighter golden roux if you prefer. Just be sure to stop before it turns black and add chopped vegetables immediately.
Once the vegetables had begun to soften, I added some shrimp stock that I had in the freezer. Chicken stock, vegetable stock or water would be fine. Just give it some flavorful liquid to make a sauce and continue cooking over low heat for 10 minutes or so.
Cooking the Fish
Then I seasoned the fish with saffron, oregano and salt before putting it into the skillet and covering. About 8 minutes covered is all it took to cook through, turning halfway through once the fish looked a little dry/opaque around the edges.
As you can see how the fish flakes in the middle with a fork, it is done, but not overcooked. It has a silky, luscious texture, which is how fish should be. If you’re new to cooking fish, start testing it before you think it’s done. If it needs more time, cook it a little bit more and test again. You will get the hang of it quickly enough if you’re willing to develop your instincts and trust them. I am here to help!
Develop your intuition while learning to successfully bake fish fillets.
Fish is one of the things I am asked about frequently. I only buy wild and most often in the form of fillets because it’s what my husband likes best. What are you able to buy locally?
Frozen cod is readily accessible for me, so we eat it regularly. In pieces, I might put it in soup or tacos. Fillets can be fried or baked or poached. Whatever suits your fancy.
What’s the key to success with fish? Season it with something interesting and don’t overcook it. I can’t emphasize this enough. No one wants to eat dry fish.
You don’t have to serve it with rice, but starting by putting some brown rice into the rice cooker with water, turmeric, a touch of salt and olive oil is a basic starting point for me while I figure out what else will go with my anchor ingredient: the cod.
Where Are My Veggies?
I had planned to pick up some groceries the next day, so I decided to use the last of my leafy greens: collards and swiss chard. I love greens with fish. What else did I have in the fridge to use up? Part of a can of peeled tomatoes. Perfect. My vision began to take shape.
Pulling a piece of ginger and the end of a jalapeno out of the freezer, I decided to cook the greens with these along with onion, garlic, cumin and turmeric. Adjust the seasonings to your liking.
After sautéing the diced onions in some olive oil, I added the minced garlic, ginger and jalapeno. Then I tossed the chopped collard stems in because they take the longest to cook. Tomatoes were at the ready to add acid and liquid if things began to get brown too fast. As I began to add the collard leaves, I decided I needed some more liquid, so I took some shrimp stock out of the freezer and popped that into the pot. Water or chicken broth or wine would work too. Whatever is handy for you.
Eventually I added the chopped swiss chard stems and once the collards were mostly done, I added the swiss chard leaves because I just want them to wilt down. They’re not as tough as the collards and require much less time to cook. I gotta tell ya, I can make a meal out of these greens alone. Make it a vegan meal by pairing it with chickpeas or lentils.
What About the Fish?
Once the veggies were nearly ready, I dried the defrosted cod with paper towels and seasoned with:
garlic powder
salt
cumin
cayenne
In a shallow baking dish, it cooked in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes total. Checking them at 7 minutes to see how they were doing, they needed more time. Some liquid had released into the baking dish, so I added that to my greens to simmer away and put the fish back into the oven for a few minutes more.
Did I have a recipe when I began? No, nor do you need one. Start with an anchor ingredient, see what else you have to go with it and create something harmonious that suits your palate. Experiment and learn to trust your intuition in the kitchen.
Are collard greens new to you? Please read Keen On Beans and Greens for ideas to get you started on another delicious plant based meal.
A simple remoulade sauce is the perfect companion to a quick, easy dinner.
What do you do when you don’t feel like cooking? Keep it as simple as possible! Here’s an idea for what to cook for dinner tonight that’s super easy and delicious.
Shrimp only take a couple minutes to cook, so I defrosted some: anchor ingredient done.
What else is a no-brainer? Frozen French fries. Preheated oven and put some on a cookie sheet. Check. Where’s my veggie? Collard greens. Tore stems off and chopped so they could get cooking before adding the leaves. Check.
The greens braised on the stove top in shrimp stock with onions while the fries cooked in the oven. So I was free to explore what else would make this meal sing. A dip or sauce of some kind, of course. Would I create something with the stock derived from boiling the shrimp shells? A possibility.
Looking into the fridge again, I decided on a remoulade sauce. I don’t know why I don’t think of this more often. It’s delicious. In case you’ve never tried it, it’s a mayonnaise based sauce and it’s perfect both for seafood and dipping fries. There are many versions of it out there. Here’s how I made this one:
3 cloves crushed garlic
salt
about 1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon sweet pickle relish
3 dashes hot sauce
1/8 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Adjust the measurements to your liking. I usually put horseradish in here, but I was out of it, so that’s why I added a touch of mustard instead. Had I not been so heavy with the garlic, I might have added some lemon juice. Experiment and see which combination of ingredients and proportions work for you.
I tossed the shrimp with some grapeseed oil, dried oregano and garlic powder before searing in a screaming hot skillet for a minute or so on each side. You know they’re ready to turn over when you shake the pan and they release easily. Same for scallops. Screaming hot skillet and don’t move them until they release from the pan easily if you want to get some color on them.
We enjoyed this simple meal immensely because it gave us an opportunity to relive our first trip to New Orleans where I originally tasted remoulade in a diner down the street from the inn where we stayed. After studying the menu, I asked the waiter what remoulade sauce was. I imagine it took great restraint on his part not to laugh when answering because it’s so common there. What did I know? Just like when my husband, Michael, asked another restauranteur if their catfish was wild. She didn’t hold back her laughter in this case because, of course no self respecting New Orleans native would serve farm raised catfish. Now we know.
What fun food experiences have you had while traveling? Maybe they will inspire you to cook something easy for dinner tonight. Read Shrimp and Grits next for more inspiration gained far from home.
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