Healthy Eating: Pan Seared Cod with Sauce Vierge

This is for my dear cousin (in law but still very dear!) Jane.

This is one of my favorite go to recipes for a healthy fresh yet flavorful dish – sauce vierge. I’ve made it before with scallops (recipe here and post here), but you could really pair this with so many different things. You could have it as an hors d’oeuvre or appetizer with toasted slices of a French baguette. You could grill some chicken or steak and serve it sliced on top. I find it goes really well with seafood. And one of my favorite white fishes is cod. It’s so meaty and hearty, and I love how it flakes off.

If you’re looking for something low in fat, this is a great dish. You can use as much or as little olive oil as you’d like. Or if you don’t want to use any you could just make this into a sort of saucy marinara and keep all the seeds. If you have really ripe tomatoes, the blanching process will soften them and you won’t have to cook them.

Because my dish above was served warm, I decided to make the sauce vierge in the pan rather than mixing bowl. I thinly sliced a lot of garlic and gently heated it with extra virgin olive oil until I could see the garlic start to sizzle. Turn off the heat and let them mingle while you do the tomatoes.

To make the blanching really easy, using a small sharp knife (paring preferably) cut out the core. Start by putting the knife tip in at an angle and then just turn the tomato. You’ll end up with a sort of cone shape and the core will pop out. Then cut a cross on the other side. Since I don’t always have the stove space to blanch properly. I often just heat up the kettle and pour it over the tomatoes in a large bowl. Let them sit for a couple minutes until you see the flesh starting to peel away. Then spoon them out into a bowl with ice cold water. They should peel easily. If they’re super ripe you can just squeeze all the seeds out. Otherwise cut them out but save them!! I added my seeds/juice to leftover sauce vierge and a few other ingredients to make a chicken tortilla soup (to be posted at another date).

For the cod, I just seasoned the fillets with garlic salt and black pepper. I pan fried them in some olive oil and finished them off with fresh lemon juice. They were pretty thick cuts, so it did take a couple minutes per side. You’ll be able to see quite easily when the fish is ready to turn and when it’s finished. Any questions on this let me know. Serve with some fresh crusty bread and you’ll feel so satisfied and healthy!!

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End of Summer Barbecues

If you’re looking to change things up over the Labor Day weekend or the UK Bank Holiday, why not try homemade caramelized onions and blue cheese burgers? It’s a lot easier than it sounds I promise! I was inspired by watching Sandra Lee on the Food Network. While she isn’t exactly a gourmet chef and doesn’t always use fresh ingredients, she does come up with some great quick recipes. Check out her Ale House Burgers with Red Onion Compote.

 The onions are really easy to make and can be done ahead of time and reheated when ready. Sandra put the cheese inside the burger patties which results in a gooey burger, but I like to see my melted cheese. You can see I went with pepper jack in the picture below, but the red onion compote would go really well with some crumbled blue cheese. You could even go a step further and mix some blue cheese with mayonnaise for a spread. OR! in a small food processor combine some Gorgonzola, mayonnaise, splash buttermilk and freshly cracked black pepper. Then you’d have a nice spread that could also be a dip. You could even use leftovers to make a white pizza. If you’re going the blue cheese route, I’d suggest some arugula/rocket as the greens. Either way, this burger is sure to be a big hit!

PS. I apologize for the dirty plate. I was in charge of grilling and by the time I got to sit down I was starving.. barely managed to get a photo in before I inhaled this burger!

To go with that burger, I highly recommend my Corn Casserole. I won’t take all the credit on this one as I’ve simply added to Paula Deen’s recipe. But this is a classic and goes with any barbecue or roast dinner. You can either make it Paula’s way or add a bit of kick with two chopped (de-seeded) jalapeños and topping it with shredded pepper jack cheese. The most difficult thing about this recipe is being patient enough to wait for it to finish cooking! It’s slightly sweet but savory. If you can’t get your hands on ready made corn muffin mix, here’s a recipe to make it from scratch (US recipe or UK recipe). Simply use all the dry ingredients in these recipes and add to the corn casserole.

To finish it off, how can you go wrong with some fresh guacamole?? The key to really good guacamole is ripe avocados and good seasoning. You have to take into account that people will be dipping salty tortilla chips in too!

• The Avocados – slice in half lengthways, twist apart, squish the seed out or spoon it out, using sharp knife, gently cut slices lengthways and then across (to make squares), then scoop it all out into a mixing bowl, this makes it easier to mix.
• The Limes – it makes the biggest difference to have fresh lime juice. I usually use a whole lime for about two avocados, but add a half at a time until it’s flavored to your liking. Also if you have slightly firm avocados squeeze the lime juice over it immediately and smash together a bit. Then go onto other ingredients and let the juice soften the avocado.
• The Other Good Stuff – for me, guacamole must have these ingredients but some may disagree. I like very finely chopped red onion, de-seeded jalapeño, cherry tomatoes (must be cherry or grape) and cilantro/coriander.
• The Seasoning – if you can use kosher or good quality sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper. This can easily elevate the quality of any guacamole.

Hope you enjoy your Labor Day weekend or Bank Holiday for you Brits out there!

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Seasonal Summer: Ricotta Toast with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

Sometimes your body just craves fresh, clean ingredients right? Do you ever notice when you’ve had a meal with ingredients that are in season? Or can you taste the difference between fresh fish versus frozen? I think most of us couldn’t tell the difference. You know what you know right? I’ll tell you though.. Once you’ve tasted the good stuff.. and I mean the highest quality of something, you will know.. and everything else will just seem mediocre. But, hey, I guess that makes it that much more special when you do have the good stuff.

This week I was craving ricotta cheese for some reason. I was being a bit lazy and didn’t want to make it myself. But I knew I wanted a dish where you could actually taste the ricotta.. not something like lasagna where the flavor gets lost. I was excited to find that my local supermarket (Sunflower Market, joint with Sprouts) had freshly made ricotta. So I bought some sweet cherry tomatoes on sale. They’re nearing the end of their season I believe. And I grabbed a fresh French baguette and some garlic. I wanted super simple.

• The Bread – thick slices, drizzle extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt, fresh cracked black pepper, toast in oven after you’ve removed the garlic to cool
• The Garlic & Tomatoes – slice the very top off whole bulb of garlic so the cloves are exposed, put in center of large foil pouch (~size of paper), slice tomatoes in half, arrange around garlic, throw in 2 bay leaves, drizzle extra virgin olive oil all over (especially garlic), kosher salt, fresh cracked black pepper, seal the foil, roast at about 400F for about 30-40 min depending on your oven.
• The Ricotta – it should be great on its own, but you can always add a bit of salt and pepper
• The Assembly – once the toast is out, spread the ricotta, squeeze the garlic out of the bulb and smash it with your knife (if not soft enough), layer on top of ricotta and spoon on some of the tomatoes.

And there you have a super simple dinner for one or appetizer for a few. Add some freshly torn basil if you have it! And remember another drizzle of good quality extra virgin olive oil is always delicious! Now doesn’t that just look like summer on a plate?!

PS. You’ll have a nice sauce from the cherry tomatoes. After removing the foil to cool, take out the bay leaves and garlic. Then gently pour all the sauce and cherry tomatoes in a small bowl and dip your toast! This is also a great way to start a marinara sauce. Just add to some sautéed onions and you’re done!

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