Lemon-Herb Cod with Crispy Garlic Potatoes Recipe

I have had this recipe for years.  I believe this recipe came from Cook's Country or America's Test Kitchen....one of those.  It tastes absolutely decadent, but is very low in calories, only 447 per serving (depends on the fish used and weight)

Ingredients:

2 Tbl Olive Oil 2 Russet Potatoes (8 oz each) 2 cloves minced Garlic 2 six to eight oz Cod fillets 1 Tbl real Butter 2 sprigs fresh thyme 1/2 Lemon, sliced thin

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Brush 13 by 9-inch baking dish with 1 tablespoon oil.

Slice potatoes into 1/4 inch thick slices. Toss potatoes with remaining 1 tablespoon oil and garlic and season with salt and pepper. Shingle potatoes into baking dish in 2 rectangular piles measuring 4 by 6 inches. Roast potatoes until spotty brown and just tender, 30 to 35 minutes, rotating dish halfway through roasting.

Pat cod dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Carefully place 1 fillet skinned side down on top of each potato pile. Top fillets with butter pieces, thyme sprigs, and lemon slices. Roast cod and potatoes until fish flakes apart when gently prodded with paring knife and registers 140 degrees, about 15 minutes.

Slide spatula underneath potatoes and fillets and gently transfer to individual plates. Serve.

Jerk Pork Chops, Pineapple, and Cucumbers in Sour Cream

This is a triple threat today.  A little taste of Floribbean on this 82 degree Saturday!

Jerk Pork Chops: (marinade recipe from Jamaicans.com)

2, thick cut pork chops

jerk marinade: 

 INGREDIENTS :

1/2 cup Pimenta ( allspice berries)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
6-8 garlic cloves
4-6 Scotch bonnet peppers
1 tablespoon ground thyme or 2 tablespoons thyme leaves
1-2 bunches scallions (green onions)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoon soy sauce to moisten

Put content in a food processor or blender and liquefy
Pour sauce in a Jar and keep refrigerated.
The sauce will keep forever if kept refrigerated
To increase spiciness blend pepper and pimenta and add to sauce the hot peppers at any time.

Marinate the chops over night and flip once in the morning to make sure they are evenly coated.

Ideally, you would use allspice wood if you have it, if not, hickory chips work just fine.  Soak the chips in water and follow your smokebox's directions for us. Preheat your grill to high heat and place the chops on the gill, close lid for 1 minute.  Flip the chops, baste and cover for another minute.  Drop the heat to medium and continue to grill the chops for another 4 minutes.  Flip the chops, baste and close the lid and grill for another 4 minutes. Remove from grill and let stand at least 5 minutes before serving to let the meat rest.

Cucumbers in Sour Cream:

Ingredients

2 medium cucumbers, peeled, sliced thin

1 medium onion, sliced thin

1 tsp salt

Dressing:

1/4 to 1/3 C Heinz (brand is important) apple cider vinegar

1 Tbl sugar

8 oz sour cream

paprika

 

Instructions

Just before serving, drain cucumbers and onions WELL.

Blend dressing ingredients together. Add dressing to cucumbers and onions. Garnish with paprika.

Grilled Pineapple

This one couldn't be easier.  Either use a fresh pineapple, or the easiest way, a can of pineapple slices.  drain the pineapple and reserve the juice to mix with your orange juice (YUMMO).  Sprinkle both sides of the pineapple slices with a little brown sugar to help them caramelize on the grill.  Place the slices on the grill over medium heat for 4 minutes total, flipping frequently to avoid sticking/burning.  Serve immediately or over ice cream.

OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD!!!  This was SOOOOOO yummy!  The cucmber recipe is from my Aunt Josie and perfectly compliments the heat from the jerk.  The pineapples were perfect and the whole meal just tasted like sunshine on a plate.  This one is going in the highly recommend pile!

*****

Caribbean Broccoli Chicken Salad

This recipe is from a Publix Apron Meal card.  I took HUGE license with it and only loosely based the salad on this recipe:


Ingredients
3–4 Deli chicken tenders (.75 lb)
1 mango
Juice of 1 lime
1 head Bibb (or iceberg) lettuce
3 tablespoons mango chutney
2 tablespoons peach preserves
3 tablespoons plain low-fat yogurt
2 tablespoons light mayonnaise
1 (12-oz) bag broccoli slaw
1/2 cup golden raisins
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds

Prep
Cut chicken tenders into thin slices.
Peel and slice mango (1 1/2 cups).
Squeeze lime for juice (1 tablespoon).
Remove lettuce core; separate individual leaves.

Steps
Prepare dressing in medium bowl by whisking chutney, preserves, and lime juice until smooth. Stir in yogurt and mayonnaise until blended.
Add slaw, chicken, mango, and raisins; toss to coat.
Arrange lettuce leaves on serving plates and top with salad; sprinkle with sunflower seeds. Serve.

CALORIES (per 1/4 recipe) 470kcal; FAT 14g; CHOL 60mg; SODIUM 700mg; CARB 61g; FIBER 6g; PROTEIN 27g; VIT A 90%; VIT C 150%; CALC 10%; IRON 10%

There were the following substitutions:I have no mango chutney nor do I like chutney so instead of the chutney and peach preserves, I used mango/passion fruit preserves.  Instead of yogurt, I used low-fat sour cream.  I couldn't find the broccoli slaw so I used cole slaw mix instead and since the hubby hates raisins, I used craisins.
I really liked this one!  It was very light and refreshing but still filling.  This would be a handy recipe to have around for those hot summer days.  I don't know how easy the ingredients are to find outside of the south, but I'd imagine you can make substitutions where necessary

***

Grilled Mahi-Mahi Sandwiches with Pasta Salad

So we've had a long, exhausting week and since the weather was gorgeous, bordering on hot (84 degrees), we thought we'd have a Florida cookout night.  We went over to my folks where my hubby grilled Mahi steaks for dinner.  The recipe tonight was for 5-6, but can easily be adapted back down to two.  This recipe lies less on steps and a lot more on availability of very fresh seafood.

Mahi Sandwiches:
Fresh Mahi steak, 6oz steak for each sandwich
Fish marinade of choice (we used Grills Seafood Restaurant Tuna Marinade)
Kaiser rolls
Lettuce
Tomato
Mayo

About an hour before grilling, place steaks in a sealed container such as a tupperware container.  Put enough marinade in to cover the steaks. Seal and chill in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour. Turn container over and let rest in fridge for last 1/2 hour.

Cover rack of grill with aluminum foil and spray foil with non stick cooking spray.  Heat grill to medium.  Place steaks on grill and cook for about 7 minutes each side depending on thickness of steaks.  After turning, brush more marinade on steaks.  Remove steaks from grill and toast kaiser rolls.

Serve with aioli **, lettuce and tomato.

**For aioli : combine 1/4 C mayo with 1 Tbsp of chosen marinade.

Pasta Salad:

Ingredients
-8 oz pkg seashell or elbow macaroni
-1/2 can tuna, drained
-Miracle Whip or Mayo
-1 tsp mustard
-Salt & Pepper
-Shredded lettuce, 1/4 head
-1 tomato, diced
-1 tsp sweet relish
 
Instructions
Prepare pasta according to package directions. Drain. Add tuna, mustard, relish and salt and pepper to taste. Add Mayo to moisten.  Fold in lettuce and tomato.  
Chill and serve.

There was no way to go wrong with this one! Hubby got the Mahi-Mahi fresh caught, never frozen just this afternoon.  The dinner was very, very yummy and just perfect for sitting out on the patio with a small breeze.

*****

Sunny Vegetable Pasties

I got this recipe from watching the Cooking Channel's Caribbean Food Made Easy with Levi Roots.  These just looked so ...sunshine-y!  It took me a long time to find the recipe he did on the show that didn't get Americanized by the show afterward....then I had to convert the amounts.  Took an hour, lol.  Here's the recipe:

Ingredients
-1 yellow pepper, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
-1 1/2 Cup carrots, also cut in 1/2 inch pieces
-3 Cups butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1.2 in pieces
-2 inch piece of fresh ginger root, peeled, grated
-4 Tbls chopped fresh cilantro leaves
-4 green onions, finely chopped
-1 (8-ounce) can corn, drained
-1 cup Colby (or other orange) cheese, grated
-2 - 4 tsp salt
-1 Cup flour, plus extra for dusting
-1½ tsp ground turmeric
-pinch salt
-1 stick cold butter, cut into small cubes
-4-5 Tbsp cold water
-1 egg, lightly beaten

Instructions
1)Preheat the oven to 400F. For the filling, place the pieces of pepper, carrots and butternut squash into a deep-sided, lidded pan. Add enough boiling water to just cover the vegetables. Cover the pan with the lid and return to the boil. Boil for four minutes, or until the vegetables are tender, then drain well. Transfer the drained vegetables to a large bowl and add the remaining filling ingredients (thru 2-4 tsp salt). Mix together until well combined, then set aside until completely cool.

2)For the patties,mix together the flour, ground turmeric and salt in a bowl until well combined. Add the butter cubes and rub them into the flour using your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the water, a tablespoon at a time, stirring the mixture with a spoon, until it comes together as a dough. (You may not need to use all of the water.) Roll the dough into a ball, wrap in saran wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

3)When the pastry has chilled, roll it out onto a lightly floured work surface to a 1/4in thickness. Cut six to eight 3in discs from the pastry using a cookie cutter or upturned glass. Divide the filling mixture equally among the pastry discs, covering only one half of each disc and leaving a 1/2in border at the edge of each.

4)Brush the edges of the pastry discs lightly with some of the beaten egg, then fold the free half of each disc over the filled half and press down the edges to seal using a fork. Brush the tops of the patties with the remaining beaten egg. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and place the patties onto it. Bake the patties in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the pastry is golden-brown.

This was served with my hubby's specialty, grilled sliced pineapple :D!!  You can see where the pasties get their name, they look so colorful and sunshine-y.  A few changes were made; I did not have fresh ginger so I used some ground ginger. I forgot to use the cilantro and I did not use yellow pepper because I hate bell pepper.  These were really yummy and filling.  I can't say I'm a huge turmeric fan, but it didn't overwhelm the whole pastie.  As usually, whenever I make pasties, turnovers or filled cookies, I ALWAYS end up with WAY MORE filling than I could ever use to fill the pastry.  Frankly, I gave up trying to figure out what I did wrong.  I'm thinking of cooking down the leftovers and making soup. This is a great recipe, but takes an hour or so of prep work, so I would not make this on a weeknight, personally.

*****

Grilled Jerk Shrimp and Crab Skewers with 3 Bean Salad

This was perfect for a lovely, warm afternoon.  The Skewers are pretty much straightforward (no recipe but by memory) and the 3 bean salad recipe is from Allrecipes.com :


Skewers:
about 18 shrimp
lumps of crab or lobster meat


peel and devein shrimp.  Layer 3 lumps of crab and 3 shrimp on each skewer.  Sprinkle both sides with jerk seasoning and grill over a medium-high grill, turning once.



3 Bean Salad:
Ingredients

1/8 (15 ounce) can green beans
2 ounces wax beans
1/8 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1/8 onion, sliced into thin rings
1 tablespoon and 1-1/2 teaspoons white sugar
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon celery seed

Mix together green beans, wax beans, kidney beans, onion, sugar, vinegar, vegetable oil, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Let set in refrigerator for at least 12 hours.

This was just perfect and refreshing!

*****

Shrimp Salad Sandwiches

It's worth noting that I will be making thousands of substitutions throughout these recipes.  This is either done for taste preferences, or because of availability.  In this case, its a combination of the two.  I will post the recipe as is, tell you what I changed, and tell you if it needs any fixes.  When I have it, I will try to give general nutrition info, but I don't expect to have that most of the time.  Also, I'll try to give credit and location for each recipe if I have it available.

to OK, for this afternoon, we had Shrimp Salad Sandwiches (Light Cooking for Two, pg 157).

Ingredients

• 3  cups  water
• 1  pound  unpeeled medium-size fresh shrimp
• 1/4  cup  nonfat cream cheese, softened
• 2  tablespoons  sliced green onions
• 2  tablespoons  diced sweet red pepper
• 2  teaspoons  nonfat mayonnaise
• 2  teaspoons  lime juice
• 1  teaspoon  capers
• 1/2  teaspoon  dried dillweed
• 2  (2 1/2-ounce) French rolls

Preparation

Bring water to a boil; add shrimp, and cook 3 to 5 minutes or until shrimp turns pink. Drain well; rinse with cold water. Chill. Peel and devein shrimp.

Combine cream cheese and next 6 ingredients, stirring well. Add shrimp, and toss gently. Cover and chill 1 hour.

Cut a 1/2-inch slice off top of each roll; set tops aside. Hollow out center of rolls, leaving 1/2-inch-thick shells. Reserve excess bread for another use. Place bread shells and tops, cut sides up, on rack of a broiler pan. Broil 5 1/2 inches from heat (with electric oven door partially opened) 1 to 2 minutes or until lightly toasted. Spoon shrimp mixture evenly into shells; cover with tops.

OK...to start with, I apparently used the recipe as a guide only, lol.  Instead of the shrimp, I used imitation lobster.  I omitted the capers and peppers for taste reasons. I do not have nonfat mayo or cream cheese, but I used light mayo and neufchatel cream cheese.  All in all, I thought this was delicious!  Because we had this for lunch instead of dinner, I didn't serve anything on the side but tea. This was actually amazingly filling, but for dinner I might serve this with cucumbers and onions or some steamed veggies. The calories listed are 311 per serving.  I have zero idea how to convert things like that when making substitutions, so....go with it.

My hubby said that he would prefer less Dill and lime juice.  I eyeballed those measurements so I think if you were very specific on the recipe, you'd be fine.

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