Lent is once again upon us, and as a lapsed Catholic I don’t really give anything up or feel compelled to receive ashes on Ash Wednesday, but for reasons that must be deeply engrained I try not to eat meat on Fridays. Do I feel the need to head to confession when I screw up? Not really, because now that I’m retired I rarely know what day it is. And I’m always pretty sure lightning is going to strike when I head inside a Catholic church.
Actually, Ina calls for 2 tsp. of capers, which is meaningless to me. I use about 2 T. as I love the little salt bombs with my fish.
I remember when abstaining from meat on Friday was not just during lent, and consequently there was a Fish & Chip take-out joint on every third corner. We New Englanders are still big fans of fish, as it is one of our main industries. New Bedford, Massachusetts is the highest grossing fishing port in the U.S., specializing in deep-sea scallops. As a member of Weight Watchers I know that fish is my friend, as it has half the points of chicken or red meat. But the cost of shellfish can be quite high and the whole point of having a health conscious food is not to deep fry it or sauce it up with butter, cream, cheese and the like turning it into a caloric nightmare, so what’s a girl to do? Broiled and boring fish ain’t gonna cut it for me, so I need to find some yummy recipes and lighten them up.
Ina Garten (The Barefoot Contessa) has a great recipe for mustard roasted fish, which calls for a cooking sauce of crème fraiche, Dijon mustard, capers and shallots. Pretty much everything is WW friendly, but the amount of crème fraiche per serving comes to 6 points. Happily, substituting full fat plain Greek yogurt cuts the points per serving to 1. If you’re not a fan of the tang of yogurt, light sour cream is another good substitute and has only 2 points per serving.
Light Mustard Roasted Fish a la Ina Garten
Sauce Ingredients:
8 oz. full fat Greek plain yogurt or light sour cream
3 T. Dijon mustard
1 T. whole grain mustard
2 T. minced shallots
Capers, to taste
Actually, Ina calls for 2 tsp. of capers, which is meaningless to me. I use about 2 T. as I love the little salt bombs with my fish.
Preparation:
Heat oven to 425 degrees F.
Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl.
Place four 8 oz. filets of mild white fish (haddock, cod, snapper, sole will all work) skin side down in a baking dish sprayed with Pam. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.
Spoon the sauce over the fish making sure to cover completely. Bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish, until it flakes easily at the thickest part. Serves 4 – 6.
An 8 oz. serving of fish (probably 7 oz. cooked, or ¼ of the recipe) is 7 points. A 5-6 oz. portion is 5 points. And it’s filling and delicious. Serve it with oven-roasted broccoli and the starch of your choice for a delicious healthy Lenten supper.
Enjoy!
Sounds delish, Deb! Thanks for passing it along. I think it will be tomorrow night’s dinner. Love you.
Yum! Here’s my favorite salmon recipe. I don’t know how many WW points it would garner, but it seems relatively healthy if you substitute light sour cream and light mayo for the full fat versions.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/grilled-salmon-fillets-with-creamy-horseradish-sauce-108290
Thanks, Deb, Will surely try this, we love fish. Salmon is a staple at our house and we like to try new ideas. Did you ever try Salmon Fillet with Barbeque sauce? Had this in Tofino on the west coast. A beef barbeque on fish…dee-lish! Question?….. How do “you” make Chicken Piccata? Cooking is a good way to use time while you are a prisoner of snow.
Linda,
I pound chicken breasts until uniformly thin, sprinkle with flour, salt and pepper and sauté them in a mixture of olive oil and butter. The sautéing creates the fond on the bottom of the pan, which I then deglaze with a mixture of lots of lemon juice and a bit of chicken stock, scraping up the brown bits on the bottom. Once that has reduced I add pats of butter to silken and thicken the sauce just a bit, and some capers. If I have it sometimes I’ll add a bit of chopped prosciutto. I’ll serve the chicken (sometimes over pasta) with the sauce on top and a little chopped parsley.
Enjoy!
D.
So, Turk’s opened today. I am not one to fight crowds to dine out, but I sent my hubby to pick up some fish from their fish market for dinner this evening. I was able to use your recipe to ensure that I was not serving “boring fish”. Honest to god, the first words out of Jonah’s mouth were, “Mom, this sauce is really good!” Thanks for your impact on our dinner menu from as far away as Cabo Pulmo.
Thanks Sweetie. I set up a couple of blogs in advance in case I was too busy watching Verdins (look it up- I wish we had them in NE) or drinking Margaritas to write. i’m happy to have the Jonah seal of approval. Hugs to all.
D.