Fish is Fishy

Tomorrow is Friday; for Catholics everywhere, this means substituting fish for the regularly scheduled meatloaf meal.  However, there are so many questions regarding this particular protein choice nowadays.  Is it sustainable?  Is is wild or farm raised?   Does it contain toxins such as mercury?  Is it what it really says in the wrapper?  Is it fresh?  How do I cook it without ruining it?!  (Psst...see my Parchment paper - not just for the Magna Carta post for a great method)

Confused?  Me too.  Good thing there other suitable protein choices for Fishy Fridays (and any day, really) that need little if any pondering.  

For reference, the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) of protein for an average, healthy adult is in the neighborhood of 50 grams a day.  This can be gained by eating chicken breast (4oz = 34g) and steak (4oz = 32g) or, for Fishy Fridays, cod (4oz = 26g), salmon (4oz = 30g) and tuna (4oz = 34).  However, for a twist on the main dish, how about lentils (1cup = 18g), yogurt (1cup = 13g), peanut butter (1/4cup = 16g), navy beans (1cup = 16g), or edamame (1 cup = 29g).
 

Eda-what, you say?  Edamame are young, green soybeans.  This Asian favorite (served with icy cold mugs of beer as a bar snack in Japan) is now readily available in the frozen food aisles throughout the US and is delicious eaten straight up or served in a stir fry or salad.  Grab a bag next time you are in the store, drop in lightly salted boiling water for 3-5 minutes (depending on your taste), drain, sprinkle with a bit of kosher salt and eat hot or cold. 

Tonight for dinner, my family and I dined on edamame and miso soup made with tofu, wakame (seaweed), and nameko mushrooms.  I estimate we each had 40 grams of muscle building, tissue healing protein between these two nutritious dishes - and they were delicious. (miso paste = 4g per 1oz serving and tofu = 9g per 4oz serving) 

Miso Soup
1 14oz cake tofu (cut into 1/2 inch cubes)
1/3 oz dried wakame
1 scallion (chopped)
4 cups dashi
4oz red miso

Place dashi in pot, bring to a boil.  Soften miso by adding small amount of hot dashi and add to pot.  Add tofu and wakame and boil briefly until wakame unfurls.  Top with chopped scallions and serve (feeds 4)

If you still want fish - and I do - here are a few "good" choices from both a health and environmenal standpoint: wild-caught Pacific salmon, herring, pollock, sardines and cod. 

Check out this Sustainable Seafood Guide from the Virginia Aquarium: www.virginiaaquarium.com/research-conservation/pages/sensible-seafood.aspx  

(Thanks to www.whfoods.com/ for the protein and fish info.)      

Parchment paper - not just for the Magna Carta

I may have just entered into a whole new realm of cooking. I saw a minute of a cooking show yesterday featuring salmon fillets cooked in parchment paper and was intrigued as I tend to occasionally - albeit slightly - overcook fish. The theory is all the moisture stays inside the packet steaming the food.  I may have heard about this supposedly foolproof method for cooking fish before but never paid it any mind. Tonight I did.

Photo by Susan Wenzel 

I bought four nice wild-caught Pacific salmon fillets (only wild will do) and began to consider my options. The tv chef I watched had topped the salmon with salt, pepper, haricot vert (fancy talk for real skinny French green beans. Haricot is French for “bean” and vert is French for – you guessed it – “green”) and some other stuff. I had the beans in the freezer, and a couple of my own ideas.

I tore off four big pieces of parchment paper and coated each piece of salmon on both sides with about ½ T olive oil. I put one fillet per piece of paper and sprinkled on a little Fumee de Sel Chardonnay Oak Smoked Sea Salt (from The Spice House) and a few grinds of Tellicherry peppercorns (my new favorite). I topped each with about a dozen of the whole green beans and a few super thin round slices of sweet onion (done with my Benriner Japanese Mandolin Slicer ® that does an awesome job on fingers too – but that’s another story).

I folded together the middles of each parchment and twisted shut the ends then popped all four fillets in the oven on a cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

The finished product was attractive, moist and, more importantly, delicious. I can only imagine the possibilities for parchment cooking. Probably almost any kind of fish (whole or fillet), shrimp, even scallops would work – and the topping choices would be endless – fresh or dried herbs, sundried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, lemon slices, garlic, capers, spicy mustard, chives, cilantro, lemon grass, Thai chilies...yum.

P.S. Check out this cool way to fold the parchment. (Although my method worked just as well.)  http://cookingfortwo.about.com/od/maindishes/ss/enpapillote.htm  

Did I mention cleanup is also a cinch?  I'm sold!