Fish Entrees

Woohoo!! I've been waiting for this week's cookbook topic. We LOVE fish in our house, and we tend to eat fish at least once a week. We'd be perfectly happy to eat it every night, but I try to mix it up a little bit!! I actually tried a brand new fish recipe tonight and we all loved it. Its the perfect mix of my two favourite foods... seafood and Greek/Greek-inspired food!

Greek Baked Alaska Halibut
Found in the coupon section of my Sunday paper! Of all places!!

4 Alaskan Halibut steaks or filets (4-6 oz each), fresh, thawed or froen
4 sheets of aluminum foil (12 by 18 inches each)
Greek seasoning or lemon pepper

1 Roma tomato, thinly sliced
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
1/2 small red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 small green bell pepper, thinly sliced
2 tsp grated lemon zest
1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 Tbsp white grape juice (the original recipe calls for dry white wine... grape juice is an awesome substitute!)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp dry oregnao leaves (I suggest using Greek oregano for a more Mediterreanian flavour)
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
Fresh chopped parsley, for garnish, if desired
2 cups cooked rice (optional, but very yummy!!)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. If using frozen halibut, rinse off any ice glaze under cold water and pat dry with a paper towel. Place the foil sheets, dull side up, on a countertop. Spray with cooking spray. Centre the halibut portions on each sheet of foil and sprinkle liberally with seasoning.

In a small bowl, toss together the tomato, onion, peppers, lemon juice and zest, grape juice, olive oil, oregano and feta cheese. Divide the topping evenly between the halibut portions and drizzle any remaining juice onto the fish.

Seal packages by bringing up the foil sides and double fold the top and ends. Seal packets well, but leave room for heat to circulate inside.

Place packets on a baking sheet and bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes for frozen halibut or 12-13 minutes for fresh/thawed fish. Cook just until fish is opaque throughout. Open packets carefully at the table and garnish with parsley if desired.

** If using the rice, put 1/2 cup under each piece of halibut before topping with the vegetables. The rice will soak up the juice and flavours as the fish cooks. You may need to increase cooking time if adding rice.


Salmon with Blueberry Sauce
From Flavours of Home cookbook

This is on of our family favourites, and one of my "signature meals", as in, when its my turn to host family dinners, there are always requests for this one! This or my fish tacos (recipe to follow). This is a great "fake out" meal. It looks and sounds fancy, but is so, so easy to make.

4 salmon steaks
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp vinegar (I have only ever used white vinegar for this recipe, but I am going to try balsamic next time I make it... a lot of gourmet restaurants use balsamic vinegar with fruit to make sauces...)
1/4 cup butter
1/2 tsp lemon pepper

Thaw salmon if frozen. In a small saucepan, combine blueberries, sugar and vinegar. Bring to boil over medium-high heat and continue with a rolling boil for 4 minutes, stirring and crushing berries. Remove from heat. Set aside, but keep warm. (Sauce will have berry lumps still)

Preheat broiler or grill. Melt butter and stir in lemon pepper. Cook salmon until it flakes when tested with a fork and is cooked through. Brush with lemon butter while cooking.

Serve salmon with blueberry sauce on top, or in a side dish for dipping.


Claire's Fish Tacos
From me!

When I'm making up recipes of my own, I generally don't measure things out!! So, here's a list of ingredients with a general idea of how I put it all together!

Tilapia
Egg
Milk
Flour
Season salt
Oregano, dried
Basil, dried
Parsley, dried
Cooking oil
Corn tortillas
Taco toppings... we usually put sour cream and salsa on ours

Thaw tilapia, rinse and pat dry. In a small dish, whisk together 2-3 eggs and a few tablespoons of milk. In another small dish, combine flour, enough season salt to tint the flour a slight orange, and a palmful of each of the dried herbs. Coat each piece of tilapia in the egg mixture and then in the flour mixture. Fry breaded tilapia in hot cooking oil and drain on paper towels. Serve in corn tortillas with desired taco toppings.

** We usually flash fry the tortillas as well.