Spicy Sautéed Fish with Olives and Cherry Tomatoes

4 Servings

Recipe from Candida Sportiello, Ventotene, Italy via Bon Appétit

Husband-Tested in Alice’s Kitchen

This is one of our favorite meals and it’s so quick and easy to make.  This dish is pretty enough and tasty enough to serve guests.  Serve with brown rice and a salad or steamed vegetables for a healthful dinner.

¼ cup olive oil

2 pounds tilapia, red snapper, or orange roughy fillets

½ cup chopped fresh parsley

½ teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

4 cups cherry tomatoes, halved (You can also use sun gold tomatoes as I did for the photo.)

1 cup Kalamata olives, chopped

6 garlic cloves, minced

Heat olive oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle fish with salt and pepper. Add fish to skillet and sauté until just opaque in center, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer fish to platter. Add parsley and crushed red pepper to same skillet; sauté 1 minute. Add tomatoes, olives, and garlic; sauté until tomatoes are soft and juicy, about 2 minutes. Season sauce with salt and pepper; spoon over fish.

Tofu Tacos

You can also use Tofu Taco to make a taco salad like this one.

Makes 4 large tacos

Recipe adapted from Food Network Magazine

Husband-Tested in Alice’s Kitchen

I’ve had fun experimenting with tofu and this recipe is a keeper.  Much of it can be made in advance (the Homemade Taco Seasoning, the yogurt sauce, and the lettuce mixture.)  As you can see it’s pretty enough to serve at a party. When we had this for dinner, there was enough of everything to make a tofu taco salad for lunch the next day.  Be sure and add this to your Meatless Monday repertoire.

1 16 oz. package of extra firm tofu

1 Tablespoon olive oil, divided

1 Tablespoon Homemade Taco Seasoning

1 lime (1 zested and juiced)

¼ cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

2 to 3 cups shredded lettuce (I used romaine.)

3 to 4 scallions, sliced

3 to 4 radishes, sliced or chopped (You could substitute and/or add other crunchy veggies like carrots, cucumbers, zucchini or snap peas.)

1 Tablespoon olive oil

4 whole-wheat lavash or whole-wheat tortillas

Mix and match toppings for the tacos:

1 cup shredded pepper jack or mozzarella cheese (I used habanero cheese.)

1 tomato chopped

½ cup fresh salsa

½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped

lime wedges

Hot sauce

Lay the tofu block flat on a stack of paper towels; top with more paper towels, and then put a heavy skillet on top to press out the excess water, about 10 minutes.  Cut into 1-inch cubes.

Meanwhile, toss the lettuce, radishes, scallions, 1 Tablespoon olive oil, the lime zest and half the lime juice in a large bowl.

Mix the yogurt with the remaining lime juice in a small bowl and season with salt and pepper.

Drizzle the tofu cubes with ½ Tablespoon olive oil.  Sprinkle with the taco seasoning. Toss until completely coated. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, then add the tofu and cook until it begins to crisp on all sides, turning as you go, about 7 minutes or so.

Toast the lavash or tortillas in a dry skillet, 1 minute per side, or wrap in a damp towel and microwave 1 minute. Fill with the tofu, lettuce mixture, and then drizzle with the yogurt sauce. Serve with your choice of toppings.

Homemade Taco Seasoning (Recipe from Allrecipes.com)

1 Tablespoon chili powder

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon onion powder

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

¼ teaspoon dried oregano

½ teaspoon paprika

1½ teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Mix together the ingredients and store in an airtight container.

Mushroom Fontina Quesadilla

Serves 2

Recipe from Everyday Food Magazine

Adapted and Husband-Tested in Alice’s Kitchen

Here’s an idea for a nice tummy filling Meatless Monday lunch.  It tastes great hot from the skillet, but it’s also nice at room temperature.  You could make this in advance and then heat it up in the microwave at work.  The original recipe called for the addition of spicy salami, but we tried it meatless and the mushrooms are so meaty that we didn’t miss the meat at all.  Lost River Market & Deli sells a nice variety of different types of flour tortillas.  We always have some in our fridge to make quick sandwiches like this one.

2 flour tortillas (I used the spinach variety at Lost River Market & Deli.)

1 Tablespoon olive oil

½ pound mushrooms, thinly sliced (I used cremini mushrooms.)

Kosher salt

Freshly ground pepper

1 cup fontina cheese, grated

2 cups baby salad greens, arugula or baby spinach

1 carrot, scrubbed or peeled and thinly sliced

Alice’s A+ Salad Dressing (This recipe is on the blog, but here’s what you’ll need to make it:  fresh lemon, orange or lime juice from 1 or 2 citrus fruits, 2 cloves of fresh garlic, olive oil, Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper)

In a large nonstick skillet, heat the olive oil.  Add the mushroom slices and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 8 minutes or so.  Season with salt and pepper.  (If the mushrooms begin to stick, just add a Tablespoon of water to the pan and allow it to evaporate.)

Place the mushrooms and then the cheese on top of one of the flour tortillas.  Place the other flour tortilla on top.  Carefully place the quesadilla back in the skillet.  Allow to cook until the bottom tortilla becomes brown and the cheese has melted.  Carefully flip over the quesadilla and allow it to brown a bit on the other side.  This takes no more than a minute. 

Place the quesadilla on a cutting board and slice into six wedges. 

Toss the salad greens and carrot slices with the salad dressing and serve along side the quesadillas.

Healthy Fish (or Bean) Tacos with Chipotle Cream

Recipe from RecipeZaar
Tested by Lost River Market & Deli's Ways of Wellness (WOW) New Beginnings Cooking 101 Class taught by Alice

This recipe was husband-tested and approved, but not by my husband. I recently taught a Cooking 101 class sponsored by Lost River Market & Deli for our community’s Ways of Wellness program. We had eight “students,” three of whom were men. We all tested this dish and agreed that it was delish! If you have your ingredients prepped in advance, this would be a fun meal to serve at a small dinner party. It is wonderfully messy to eat, so have plenty of cloth napkins on hand. If you’d rather go vegetarian with this one, just substitute a can of rinsed and drained black beans for the fish. Now, I'm off to make this yummy dish for my own hubby.

1 cup nonfat sour cream (We used nonfat Greek yogurt.)
1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
2 canned chipotle chiles in adobo, seeded and minced (This is optional if you can’t take the heat.)

1 tablespoon unsalted butter or olive oil (We used a little of both, but I think you could certainly use just the olive oil.)
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped tomatoes (We used 1 cup of canned Glen Muir Fire Roasted Tomatoes since fresh tomatoes aren’t in season right now.)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1 lb. tilapia fillet (We used perch, but you could use any white fish. You can also substitute a can of rinsed and drained black beans for the fish.)

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon grated lime zest

4 fat free tortillas (We used Oasis Classic Cuisine Spinach Lavash Thin Bread which has no fat, no cholesterol, no preservatives and contains only 75 calories!)

Additional Optional Condiments (Pick and Choose)
(We used the ingredients marked with an asterisk.)
· roasted corn
· avocado*
· chopped tomatoes*
· chopped scallion
· black beans*
· lime wedges*
· cilantro
· jalapenos
· shredded lettuce or shredded green or red cabbage*

Directions
In a small bowl, mix the sour cream or yogurt, salt and chipotle pepper, if using, to make a sauce and set aside.

In a large skillet, heat the butter or olive oil. Add the onion, tomatoes, cumin, cinnamon, Kosher salt, garlic and cilantro. Cook for 3 minutes. Add the fish or rinsed black beans. Cover and cook 3 minutes or until the fish is opaque or the beans are heated through.

Remove from heat and stir in lime juice and zest.

Have any additional condiments in separate bowls and let each person "build" their own tacos.