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.

Drunken Moules

On the acid reflux diet, we’re not supposed to have alcohol. However, not all alcohols are made equal. Wine is inherently acidic, but beer doesn’t have anything in it other than the alcohol to trigger acid reflux. So, if you’re not using a lot of it, beer is a great alternative to acidic liquids. Some of the alcohol will burn off, and the rest will not be enough to cause the reflux.

Most French restaurants cook mussels with white wine or tomatoes. The Belgian version, with beer, is much better for our bellies.

Ingredients:
• Two pounds of mussels
• One stalk celery, chopped
• Two cloves garlic, sliced
• Half shallot, minced (optional)
• Two tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• Half teaspoon salt, or to taste
• One teaspoon non-dairy buttery spread
• Half cup Belgian Ale, such as Leffe

Requires a large pot or deep sauté pan, with a lid.
Make sure all mussels are clean, de-bearded, and still kicking. If you don’t know how to do it, you can watch this.
Heat olive oil in the pan. Sauté celery, garlic, shallot, parsley, and salt until soft and sweating.
Add beer and heat until just at a boil.
Mix in buttery spread.
Add mussels and cover tightly.
Steam mussels for five minutes, or until they are all open.

Healthier Asian noodles

I love Asian noodle dishes. Most of them are actually acceptable on an acid reflux diet, but I developed my own recipe for completely different reasons. The Mei Fun from the Chinese take-out place near my office is delicious, but I always end up getting the shakes afterwards from the ridiculous amount of salt. I’ve stopped ordering Lo Mein from my neighborhood restaurant because of the greasiness. And the Pad Thai from my local Thai place is strangely sweet.

This recipe is by no means authentic. I created it myself, based on what I know about cooking pasta. I wanted to make a delicious noodle dish that is a healthier alternative to take-out, and I think this one does the trick. This recipe does have a decent amount of sodium, but I promise – you will not get the shakes. It is a bit complicated, but not that hard – e-mail me if you have any questions!

Chicken Mei Fun (serves two)

Ingredients for chicken marinade:
• One teaspoon soy sauce
• One teaspoon cooking sherry (or rice wine vinegar)
• One teaspoon water

Ingredients for sauce:
• Quarter cup chicken broth
• Two tablespoons soy sauce
• One teaspoon sugar
• Two cloves garlic, minced

Other ingredients:
• One skinless, boneless chicken breast
• Two eggs
• One clove garlic, minced
• One tablespoon canola oil
• Half teaspoon soy sauce
• Cooking spray
• Chopped vegetables of your choice, as much as you like (great options: carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, snow peas, asparagus)
• Mei Fun noodles (one large fistful – I like Annie Chun brand )

Slice chicken breast, marinade for twenty minutes.

In a wok or large sauté pan, spray pan with cooking spray, brown chicken on each side but do not cook through. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside. Beat the eggs in a small bowl with half a teaspoon of soy sauce. Spray the pan again and scramble eggs. Remove the cooked eggs and set aside. Clean the pan with a paper towel.

Add one tablespoon canola oil to the pan, sauté one clove minced garlic. Add vegetables, coat with oil, then add sauce. (Sauce recipe above) Turn burner on medium-high and bring sauce to a boil to cook vegetables through.

To cook the noodles, place them in a large mixing bowl. Pour boiling water over the noodles to soften. Depending on the brand, this can take one to five minutes. Once noodles are just soft, shock the noodles with cold water to stop the cooking. (Alternatively, time the noodles so they soften just when the vegetables are nearly done.)

Once vegetables are nearly done, add noodles and let them soak in the sauce. Return chicken and eggs to noodles, mix together and let everything come together for about a minute.

Taco night, on the grill

Now that it’s warm out, there’s nothing I like more than grilling. Luckily, I’m allowed to eat hot dogs. But who wants to host a boring BBQ? Spices, tomatoes, and lime juice usually mean that Mexican food is out of bounds, but I can still eat other Mexican ingredients like cilantro, avocado, roasted garlic, and tortillas. So, this past weekend I hosted a GERD-friendly Mexican theme night. I grilled shrimp and vegetables, made a GERD-friendly guac, and let my guests assemble their own tacos with extras they can eat.

For guacamole:
• Two Haas avocados
• Four cloves roasted garlic (recipe below)
• Two tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
• Table salt (too taste, about ½ teaspoon)

Remove avocado from skin with a spoon, smash all ingredients together with a potato masher.

For tacos:

• 12 large shrimp, deveined with tails off
• Two sliced bell peppers – whichever colors you like
• Two sliced zucchini (green and yellow)
• Two cloves chopped garlic (optional)
• Two tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
• Two tablespoons olive oil
• Kosher salt
• Nine corn tortillas

Put shrimp and vegetables into a mixing bowl
Pour olive oil over shrimp and vegetables
Add two tablespoons cilantro
Add one teaspoon kosher salt
Mix with hands, coating shrimp and veggies
Skewer shrimp for easy grilling
Vegetables will take about 12 minutes to grill in a grill basket, shrimp will take about 3 minutes on each side

To serve:
Warm tortillas by heating them on the top rack of the grill
Spread one tablespoon guacamole on each tortilla
Fill tacos with veggies and shrimp
Add extra loose cilantro and extra guac if you like
Let your guests add whatever they like, such as salsa, jalapeno peppers, or cheese

To make roasted garlic:
Place full head of garlic on heavy duty aluminum foil
Cover with olive oil, sprinkle with kosher salt
Tightly wrap garlic with foil
Cook in oven at 350° for one hour
Once garlic cools a bit, the cloves will pop right out
Roasted garlic is very easy to make and it can be used in lots of recipes!

Chicken with Quinoa Pilaf

I know, quinoa sounds all “health-foody.” It’s like the scene in Annie Hall when Alvy sits down at an L.A. restaurant and orders “alfalfa sprouts and mashed yeast.” But don’t let the strangely-spelled word fool you. If made correctly, quinoa is incredibly tasty – as yummy as a well-made rice or pasta dish. The fact that it is much healthier than rice or pasta is just a nice bonus.

This recipe is a full meal in one pot, and it only takes ten minutes to prepare and twenty minutes to cook. It serves two people and you will still have leftover quinoa to use as a side dish. The onions and garlic are optional, if you can’t handle them. The fresh herbs and bay leaves give this dish a fabulous flavor that is friendly to the belly.

Ingredients:
One chicken breast (You can use boned chicken, or a larger and thicker boneless/ skinless one. Do not use tenders or thin cutlets.)
Quarter cup chopped onions (optional)
Quarter cup chopped celery
One clove garlic, minced (optional)
Half cup sliced crimini mushrooms
Two tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Two bay leaves
Two cups chicken broth
One cup quinoa
One tablespoon canola oil

Use a medium to large size pot - a pasta pot or rice pot work nicely.
Over medium heat, sauté mushrooms, celery, onions, and garlic in canola oil.
When vegetables are slightly softened, push them to the side of the pot.
Add chicken to pot and brown on both sides (add more canola oil if necessary).
Add two cups of broth, fresh parsley and bay leaves.
Bring to a boil.
Add one cup of quinoa. Cover and simmer.
When quinoa has soaked in all of the broth, dish is done – about twenty minutes.

Crispy Chicken Wings

When I was a teenager, Buffalo wings were one of my favorite foods. I still believe that they are one of the most delicious things on the planet. What’s not to love? They’re fried chicken tossed in a combination of butter and hot sauce. Well, it’s been a while since I’ve eaten wings on a regular basis. Even before “the GERD,” I gave them up for my waistline, and only indulged on special occasions.

These wings are not all that different – they’re still messy, fun, and flavorful. Yet very little fat is added, and no spice or butter. Indulge all you want! (They’re super easy to make, too)

This recipe requires an oven-safe skillet.

Ingredients:
Twelve chicken “party” wings (flats and drumettes)
Two tablespoons soy sauce
Half teaspoon sesame oil
One teaspoon ginger, chopped
Two cloves garlic, chopped
One tablespoon water
Cooking spray

Pre-heat oven to 425°
Marinate chicken for at least one hour in soy, sesame, ginger, garlic, and water.
Remove chicken and pat dry. Remove chunks of garlic and ginger from chicken.
On medium heat on the stovetop, spray skillet with cooking spray.
Brown chicken on both sides, about three minutes per side. (This makes the chicken crispy)
Place skillet in the oven for thirty to thirty five minutes, turn chicken halfway through.

Eating (and abstaining) with GERD

“You’re so lucky, you can eat anything.” This is what people often say once they get wind of my obsession with food. They think that if someone loves eating out and regularly creates new recipes, she must either be fat or have the metabolism of a 17 year-old boy.

The truth is, I found a way to indulge my obsession without putting on the pounds. I cook several times a week, creating new recipes that stick to my philosophy of eating nutritionally balanced foods with intense flavor. I can’t eat “anything,” but I still enjoy everything I eat.

That was until this February. I had not been feeling well for a while, and I was dabbling with different medications to deal with the constant sore throats and burning sensations. Finally, I went to a specialist. The verdict was in – eating this way may have been delicious and exciting, but it also led to serious ulcers. I have acid reflux disease and all of the nasty stomach and esophageal problems that come with it.

I was given a strict new diet. No citrus, no dairy, no chocolate, no vinegar, no fried foods, no fatty meats, no caffeine, no alcohol, no mint, no spices at all. I can’t eat black pepper, let alone Sriracha.

I left the doctor wondering, what on earth CAN I eat? The girl who could supposedly eat anything now had to carry around a piece of paper listing the few foods she can eat.

After getting over the initial shock, I jumped into this new diet with gusto, creating recipes that fit my new diet. I wanted a better belly – to heal myself, to stay thin, and to satisfy my cravings.

This blog is dedicated to the people who have dietary restrictions, but still love food. People who will not settle for eating turkey sandwiches every day.