Fish Tacos

When Michael and I went to Aruba the one thing I ate all the time were these grouper tacos at this little beach bar. Ever since then I've been making them as a quick dinner. It's so simple and yet delicious and healthy. Here is what you need:

1-2 filets of fish - Cod, Tilapia, really anything you want to use

Cajun seasoning

Emeril seasoning

Tortillas

Chopped lettuce

Chopped tomatoes - 1/2 inch pieces

Chopped cucumbers - 1/2 inch pieces

Low fat sour cream

Optional - Mango salsa (I just buy it from local grocery store that makes it fresh)

Season the filets with the cajun seasoning, Emeril season (and whatever you else you want to use). Bake for 15-20 mins depending on the thickness and size of the filets. Wrap tortillas in foil and warm them up in the oven. When everything is cooked assemble filet, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, sour cream and salsa in the tortilla. Super easy and super quick. Great for a weeknight meal!

Tomato Basil Pasta

This recipe is a modification from the Barefoot Contessa's recipe and I cooked it when we visited Heather 2 weeks' ago. I have delayed to post it on line because I was busy and have also forgotten the password and user name which Heather created for me.



This dish calls for:



1 bunch of chopped basil

1 lb of angel hair pasta

3 to 4 gloves of diced garlic

2 lbs of cherry tomato

1/2 bunch of chopped flat leave parsely

1/4 to 1/2 lb of parmaesan cheese (depends on your taste)



Because lately tomato is expensive, so I only put in 1 lb of tomato, instead, I put in 1 lb of asparagus and 1 lb of sliced kobasa sausage as variation.



First cook the pasta as directed. Put oil in a pan and sautee the kobasa sausage slices until they are done. Take the sausages out and set it aside. Heat oil in the pan again and put garlic in. Cook the garlic for a little while, then put cherry tomato in, sprinkle on top with some salt and pepper and let it cook for a couple of minutes until soft. At the same time, put the asparagus onto a cooking dish, drizzle olive oil onto top and sprinkle on it salt and pepper. Put the dish into oven to roast for a few minutes, then take out to cool and slice into 2 inches long pieces. When the tomato look soft, put the angel hair pasta, asparagus slices, kobasa sausage slices, parmaesan cheese, flat leave parsley in and mix well. Turn off the heat and sprinkle basil on top and toss well. Then the dish is done!!!



Since my pictures are in my thumb drive in the office, I have to insert the photos tomorrow.

Baked Shrimp

This recipe is actually Michael's but I convinced him to let me put it on. What I love about this recipe is that it's a pretty healthy version of baked shrimp. Here is the recipe:

20 medium to large size shrimp pealed, butterflied and cleaned

5-6 cloves of garlic minced

1/2 teaspoon of red chili flakes

1 teaspoon of parsley

1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest

3 tablespoons of plain bread crumbs

1/2 cup of wine

olive oil

salt & pepper

1 teaspoon of butter

Sauté olive oil and garlic over low to medium heat. It's a lot of garlic so make sure you have enough olive to cook the garlic in so that it doesn't burn. When the garlic softens add in red chili flakes, parsley, lemon and bread crumbs, mix together and add half of the white wine. Mix the wine and mixture together, let it cook for another few minutes and then remove to a separate bowl.

Place the shrimp into a oven proof pan (we use our cast iron pan). Put a little olive on the bottom and place shrimps in the pan. Bake shrimp at 375 until it's pink or almost pink. Take the shrimp out of the oven and put the breadcrumb mixture you made earlier on top of the shrimp. Place back in oven for 5 more mins and add the remaining 1/2 cup of white wine. Mix together and voila! it's done.

We normally serve the shrimp with some rice and a vegetable. Tonight's vegetable is broccoli rabe.

Escarole and White Bean Soup

Michael and I have been trying to eat healthier for the past month (ever since Aruba and those evil Pina Coladas.) So this past weekend we made Escarole and White Bean Soup - although it's not very soupy but there is some broth to it. It's a very simple dish but its filling, has lots of veggies and you won't end up feeling like you can't move after you eat it. Here is the recipe….

1 head of escarole
1 pack of spicy Italian sausage (you can opt to get the sweet one too if you don't like spicy)
1 medium onion diced
3-4 cloves of garlic minced
1 can of white beans (discard water in can)
Olive oil
One can of chicken broth

Wash head of escarole very very thoroughly. Like spinach, escarole can have a lot of dirt at its base. Chop the cleaned escarole to 3 inch pieces. (Basically rip the leaf into 3 parts)

In a medium size pan or deep dish pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Take the sausages out of it casing and sauté until you have sausage crumbles. Place cooked crumbles on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb excess fat.

In the same pan, discard all of the oil from cooking the sausage but leave approx 1 tablespoon in the pan. Over low to medium heat sauté the garlic and onions. Once the garlic and onions become translucent add the crumbles, escarole and half a can of chicken broth. Stir to combine all the ingredients and place lid on the pan to let the escarole cook down. When the escarole is cooked add half to whole can beans and let it simmer for another minute or two.

Season with salt and pepper, add additional hot pepper flakes if you like, and serve. You can serve the dish over pasta or just eat it plain with some crusty bread to soak up the broth.

Note: We also had it the next day but the dish didn't have enough escarole. We added a bunch of broccoli rabe to the left over dish which also worked beautifully.