Dijon Crusted Halibut

I love fish, especially halibut, and growing up in the northwest, and now living in Seattle, I have easy access to lots of amazing, fresh fish. Halibut is hands-down my favorite kind of fish, and I recently got a Living Social deal to the fish market in Pike place, so when my aunt and cousin came to visit, I pulled it out and we went shopping for dinner at the market. On the train home I found this recipe and I've used it almost exactly here. It was so good that the three of us inhaled over a pound of halibut at one sitting.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup mayonnaise*
1 Tlbs dijon mustard
1 Tlbs horseradish
1 Tlsb lemon juice
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
1 Tlbs grated parmesan
1 lb halibut filet**

1 Tlbs butter, melted
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
1 Tlbs grated parmesan

Directions:
Mix together the first set of ingredients (except the halibut) into a paste, then mix the second set of ingredients in a separate bowl. Put a piece of tin foil on a pan, then lay the halibut, skin down, on the foil. Spread the paste on all sides of the fish (except the skin side), then sprinkle the second breadcrumb mixture over the top. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until the fish flakes easily (it may be longer than 20 minutes if your filet is thick). Let it sit 3-4 minutes before serving.

I used my fingers to spread the paste, as it is quite thick and I was related to all the people eating it, but you could probably use a knife or a spatula if you're squeamish.

*I really dislike mayonnaise, but my mom left some here that I wanted to use up, so I used it in this recipe. I think it would also work well with sour cream, and possibly Greek yogurt, so I will try that next time.

**My dad does not like fish, so I used the same mixture on some chicken for him, and it was delicious.

Rating - 5/5
Why? This is easy and really delicious....it just makes the fish better than it already is.

Tartar Sauce

I love fish sticks, but I feel they need tartar sauce. But I hate mayonnaise, so I never have any in the house, and I don't like pre-made tartar sauce. But while I was waiting for the fish sticks to cook the other night, I whipped up this super easy tartar-esque sauce that tastes quite delicious.

Ingredients
1/3 cup plain, nonfat Greek yogurt
1/2 tsp dried dill
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Whip the ingredients together with a small whisk, then put on the side when you serve your fish.

The original inspiration for this came from Clean Eating, but their process involved cottage cheese, lemon juice, capers and minced celery, none of which I had on hand, so I substituted. I like mine better, actually, and it didn't involve digging the food processer out of the depths of the cupboard (stupid small apartment kitchen). The picture isn't great, but it tasted really pretty awesome. Nice and dilly.

Rating: 5/5
Why? Because it's super easy and strongly flavored. I made this in about 90 seconds.

Fish Sticks

Don't worry, I haven't completely fallen off the Clean Eating wagon. This is a recipe from Clean Eating that I changed up a bit to make it less pre-chewed and more awesome, and it worked pretty well. The whole meal was new for me so I will post the other two recipes over the next couple of days.

Ingredients:
1 fillet of cod
3/4 cup whole wheat crumbs
1 egg
evoo spray

Spray a large non-stick skillet with evoo, and then heat it over medium heat. Cut the cod into strips 4" long or so and about an inch wide. Crack the egg into a small bowl and whisk for a minute or two. Put some of the bread crumbs on a plate. Dip one of the cod strips into the egg, then roll in crumbs. Continue doing this until the cod strips are coated, then drop them into the skillet. Cover the skillet, and cook for 2-3 minutes. Gently turn the strips over, then recover for another 2-3 minutes. Continue to do this until all sides are browned.

This was pretty good! I love fish, but don't eat it often because I always forget to stop at the store on the way home and I don't love frozen fish. The original recipe said to mince the fish, mix in bread crumbs, then form into fish sticks before dipping and frying, but I prefer the texture of actual fish that hasn't been premangled, so I skipped that step. The original recipe also said to use tilapia, but I really dislike farmed fish, so I used wild-caught cod instead. Also, as you can see from the picture, I didn't do so well at the frying, but that will improve with time.

Rating - 4.5/5
Why? I really like how easy this is. It took maybe 10 minutes from start to finish, but it is a little picky about the heat and time in the pan so it requires close attention to what you are doing.