Crispy Baked Bluefish

I discovered a new fish – wild Bluefish. I decided to try it because it was wild, locally caught (from Long Island) and very inexpensive - $5.99 a pound. I’ve cooked with it several times now - it's an oily, hearty fish that has a lot of flavor. Supposedly it is also high in Omega-3s. This is my favorite way of preparing it so far. It’s crispy and tasty, but not fried.

I still wonder why this fish is so much cheaper than other local fish…. Perhaps the sickly blue color turns people off at market?

Ingredients (per serving):
• 8oz. Bluefish (or any thick whitefish)
• Quarter cup panko breadcrumbs
• Quarter teaspoon each dried basil, dried parsley, dried oregano
• Three teaspoons olive oil
• Quarter teaspoon salt, plus extra to taste
• Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°
In a small bowl mix breadcrumbs, herbs, and a quarter teaspoon salt.
Add two teaspoons olive oil and mix together.
Coat top of fish with one teaspoon olive oil, and sprinkle with salt to taste.
Top fish with breadcrumb mixture.
Spray baking dish with cooking spray and place fish skin-side down in dish.
Bake through, about 13 minutes.
Turn oven to broil and cook until topping is brown, about two minutes.

Happy Accidents: Turkey Mushroom Burger

This week I defrosted ground beef, only to discover it was actually ground white meat turkey! So, rather than grilling a burger, I had to develop a new recipe for the acid-reflux diet. Unlike ground beef, you can’t just put turkey on a grill and expect a juicy burger. White meat turkey has a low fat content, so burgers could come out very dry if just cooked plain. Also, they need to be cooked all the way through. I came up with a way of seasoning and steaming the burger, making it moist and tasty. This burger is very healthy, and it doesn’t need a bun or condiments.

Ingredients for one turkey burger:
• Quarter pound ground white meat turkey
• Three tablespoons chopped onion
• One teaspoon plus one tablespoon chopped parsley
• Three quarters cup sliced cremini mushrooms
• One clove chopped garlic
• Two tablespoons chicken broth
• Two tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Salt

To prepare the burger:
Season turkey with one tablespoon chopped onion, one teaspoon parsley, and salt. Form burger.

Heat skillet until very hot and spray with cooking spray.
Sear turkey burger on each side but do not cook through. Remove from heat and set aside.

Clean skillet, and return to burner. Heat olive oil on medium heat.
Add two tablespoons onion, one tablespoon parsley, and one clove garlic to pan.
Once the onions and garlic are sweating, add mushrooms to skillet and toss to coat.
Cover skillet and let the water emerge from the mushrooms – about five minutes.
Add chicken broth.
Return turkey to skillet and cover the pan to steam the burger, six to eight minutes.
Remove the burger and top with mushrooms and broth.

Vegan Quesadilla

My friend Brooke introduced me to Daiya, a vegan cheese that is actually gooey and melty. Thanks to this cheddar-flavored bag of "stuff," I can now make quesadillas for the acid-reflux diet! It’s pretty simple, and very versatile, so there’s no formal recipe.

In a skillet with olive oil I sautéed onions, garlic, and dried cilantro with a liberal amount of salt. I added a few sliced mushrooms and zucchini, and tossed it all together until everything was cooked. I covered half a flour tortilla with Daiya and added the cooked mixture. I added some more Daiya and folded the tortilla in half. See the picture below for how I cooked the quesadilla. What a tasty snack!

"Oat and Honey" Cereal Bars

Here’s a delicious snack for the acid-reflux diet. It’s rich in fiber, and heart healthy too! I have to give credit to Mark Bittman, since these are adapted from his granola bar recipe. I swapped out the granola and nuts for basic Cheerios, and dropped the acidic apricots and used raisins instead.

Ingredients:
• One cup Cheerios
• One cup crisped brown rice cereal
• One third cup almond butter
• One quarter cup honey
• One quarter cup raisins

Grease a brownie pan with oil and line with plastic wrap.
Combine cereals and raisins in a large mixing bowl.
Combine almond butter and honey in a saucepan.
Heat saucepan until mixture is smooth.
Pour hot mixture over dry ingredients and fold together with a spatula.
Pour all ingredients into brownie pan, pressing down with spatula to even it out.
Cover with additional plastic wrap and fold over to seal.
Cool in refrigerator for at least three hours.
Remove plastic wrap and cut into bar shapes.