By the way, I’m Elina. You may know me from my little old blog, Healthy and Sane. Or maybe you don’t, it’s cool. I no longer write H&S but my life is still centered around food since earlier this year I turned my passion for healthy food into a healthy cooking coaching business. Yup, I’m living the dream since all of my days are spent testing recipes and teaching private custom cooking lessons and hosting custom cooking parties right here in Boston. In Megan’s absence, I thought I’d share one of the most popular recipes with my clients who are afraid of cooking fish at home – white fish piccata.
Are you afraid of cooking fish? It’s actually crazy easy once you know what you’re doing. The thin cuts of fish cook incredibly fast making for a super healthy and speedy weeknight dinner. The thicker cuts are a little trickier but I have a trick – a meat thermometer. The fish is ready when it’s flakey but sometimes it’s hard to tell whether the outside is flakey but the inside is still raw… and you don’t want to keep stabbing the poor fillet every minute to see if it’s ready. So yes, invest in an instant meat thermometer (this is my favorite one, worth every penny!) and cook meats and fish fearlessly! 140* is what you’re looking for – once it’s there, it’s safe to eat. If you keep cooking it, it’s just going to dry out so take it off. Last thing, a flavorful (yet quick!) sauce never hurt anyone.
Ingredients (serves 4):
- 4 portions of white fish (5-6 ounces per person) – any white fish works beautifully with this recipe
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 3 tablespoons whole wheat flour
- 2 tablespoons butter
- ½ cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
- juice from 1 lemon
- 3 tablespoons capers
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
- 8 oz (dry) whole wheat orzo
Directions:
- Cook orzo according to package instructions.
- Blot fish with paper towels; sprinkle evenly with salt and pepper.
- Place flour in a shallow dish (such as 9” cake pan or pie plate); dredge fish in flour, shaking excess flour off.
- Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium- high heat. Add fish to pan; cook thin fillets for 2-3 minutes or thick fillets for 5-6 minutes. Turn fish over.
- Reduce heat to medium; add broth, juice, and capers and simmer approximately 4 minutes, basting fish occasionally with sauce.
- Sprinkle with thyme; cook 1 minute. Remove fish from pan; keep warm on a plate covered with foil.
- Bring sauce to a boil; cook 2 minutes or until thick.
- Serve fish over a bed of orzo, drizzled with sauce, aside your favorite vegetables.
- Enjoy! :)
Make this soon and let me know how it went over on my Satisfied Cravings facebook page or maybe shoot an email to elina at satisfiedcravings dot com. Hope to hear some success stories soon! For more info on me and my biz, check out the Satisfied Cravings website.
Thanks Megan for this space and I hope you are having a crazy fabulous time right this very minute (I have no doubt you are).