Basque Fish

I eat fish of some sort every single day, it's a great lean protein source and is typically very quick and easy to prepare. I eat a lot of tilapia because it's inexpensive and it takes on the flavor of whatever spice you cook it with.

This is what I call Basque Fish, I made it up...as usual. I do have a good reason for calling it Basque Fish, it's based on the spices found in typical Basque Cuisine and it reminds me of the Basque food I had when visiting my brother in Spain a few times. 

Above I have my 1:00 meal (lunch #2 as David calls it). Fish and asparagus. It's great with fresh lemon squeezed over it too!

I came up with this as I usually do by using the ingredients I had on hand, which happened to be a lot of very ripe tomatoes. Red ones and yellow ones. I lined a baking dish with foil then laid the tilapia filets on top. I roughly chopped the tomatoes and put them all over the fish then a very generous amount of smokey Spanish paprika (I like agri-dulce otherwise known as bittersweet).

Baked uncovered in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes (test a piece by flaking into it, it should be firm yet still moist, not raw or squishy looking inside) and the tomatoes released juices and mingled with the fish, the paprika melted into the tomatoes and a wonderful sauce was created.

Another view, you can see some of the browed bits on top where the tomatoes caramelized. 

Here I am eating it with cauliflower. It goes well with any vegetable as long as it is a plain one (no other sauce).


This is great even at room temperature, but then I can eat just about anything at room temperature these days...


You can always add some black olives if you want a bit more flavor, I would use Kalamata (Greek) not pitted black California, they have absolutely no flavor! Remember that olives are "fat pellets" though, calorie dense so if you are watching your weight, leave them out.

Do Fit People Receive Better Treatment?

 
I was grocery shopping, the independent store I used to shop at for 31 years has closed, I am kind of lost right now, food is a huge part of my life. I knew all of the employees at this store, they treated me well, I enjoyed shopping there.

I headed to Whole Foods several miles from my home. There are two closer, but I like this one.

I am looking for dinner for both me and the boys, that means two completely different meals. Mine is easy, I will have fish or buffalo, and I think I shall make Veal Saltimbocca for the boys . It's a great dish and I have a wonderful small cookbook from Little Joe's Italian restaurant in North Beach in San Francisco, their motto is "Rain or shine, there's always a line!"

I am standing at the meat counter and the meat cutter says "may I help you miss?" (That's why I like it here - the butchers call me miss!)

I ask if he has any veal scallopini, I don't see any, just veal at $21.99 a pound. He says they do not and I look at it for a moment and then at him. He says "I will just turn it into scallopini for you!"

Off he goes, pounding gently so I don't have to, and then charges me the same price.

I then ask for a small buffalo steak, about 8 ounces, that's for me! He finds one and I ask if he can cut it in half, as I can only eat half at a time. He laughs and says "sure, and I will wrap them separately for you too!"

Off to the fish side, where the fish mongers are talking about the beautiful Halibut they just received. I ask for one piece, about 8 to 10 ounces if possible and one is located. I ask if he can cut it in half, and explain I am only allowed half on my diet. "Of course and I will wrap them separately for you too!"

I then got a pound of beautiful South American tilapia (don't eat the Chinese!) and listened to the various ways of cooking both fish, as offered by the fish guys. I then went on my way as several clerks said "hello", "do you need help?", "how are you today?"

I really didn't see too many other people having this type of interaction in the store.

I left feeling as good as I did when I came in, although my wallet was almost $100.00 lighter...

I think that fit people may get attention first, but what makes the interactions more personal and pleasant, is the attitudes. Fit people feel better about themselves, they like their bodies, they feel comfortable in their skin and it shows. I exude confidence, I feel good and people can see that, they want some of that "feel good" too, so the interactions become more intimate, more personal. People want a piece of the "magic" for themselves.

Dinner? My son and husband came home from a lacrosse game in San Francisco and my husband was getting sick, so off to bed he went and my son wanted his food. So I switched gears and made him veal parmesana, so David could have the veal saltimbocca the next day, I had enough for one veal dish tonight and two tomorrow.

Veal, mashed potatoes, and a mixture of cauliflower and broccoli. Cooper loved it, it was the first big meal he has had in a week since having the flu. That's my homemade "Joe's" tomato sauce on top, with white wine and chicken broth.

My dinner?

I was so excited I started eating before I could get take a picture. Buffalo top sirloin, 3 ounces white potato, big fat asparagus spears (it was a high calorie day for me). It was great, I actually ate the first piece of fish for meal #4 earlier and would have the other piece of fish the following day.

Back to attitudes though. Think about how you are presenting yourself when you interact with others, if you smile, you feel good, you are happy, it will show. They will feel good about interacting with you and both of you treat each other with kindness. It rubs off, like when you drive and someone lets you change lanes, you tend to let the next person change too, it's a circle, it can be a pleasant one or a vicious one, you choose.

You can capture that magic for yourself, start out in the gym, every single day and eat healthy. Treat yourself like the special, magical being that you are!

Moroccan Spiced Black Bass

Fish, fish, fish, I love fish. I have fish almost every night for dinner. I recently bought some  Black Bass at the farmers market in Campbell, it was quite tasty.

The beauty of fish is that it can be cooked in so many different ways or methods. The key is just not overcooking and that's about the only thing you need to be concerned with.

I love different spices and picked up this great spice in a tube at Safeway, in the produce section.  It is Gourmet Garden Fresh Blends Moroccan.

 A serving is 3/4 of a teaspoon, and that is definitely enough. It is 10 calories, 1 gram carbs, .5 grams fat.

I heated a skillet then added a very small amount of coconut oil, you can use cooking spray if you prefer.

I pat the fish dry, then spread about 1/4 teaspoon Moroccan spice blend on one side of each filet, then seared it for a couple minutes in the pan. Before turning I spread another 1/4 teaspoon of the Moroccan spice blend on the uncooked side.

After I took the fish from the pan, I added about 1/2 cup water and scraped the stuck bits up off the pan and made a pan sauce. A little salt and pepper and poured that over the fish on the plate. 

I served it with Brussesls sprouts that I had quartered and steamed, then baked in a hot oven just until a little charred, some baked little dumpling squash and a couple lemon wedges.  

David even liked it!

Halibut

I love fish. Even before I started competing I loved fish but never ate it very often, for some reason I was "afraid" of it. I don't mean that fish scared me, but the preparation did. I was always sure I would over cook it, dry it out, burn it, something. It just seemed daunting and I am an accomplished cook.


Now I eat fish up to 5 times a week, and I make it so many different ways, I sometimes forget what I did.

Friday night I came home, and made (for 1), halibut with paprika and chives, roasted butternut squash and par boiled green beans. It was great!

The green beans are par boiled in salted boiling water for one minute, then drained. I like them hot, room temperature, cold, it makes no difference.   The boys were going to have green beans too so I made a big batch.

The butternut squash was already cooked. A few days prior, David had cut it up into large chunks, I then sprinkled salt, pepper, chili powder and a dash cinnamon on it and roasted it in a 400 degree oven until it  was soft and tender. All I needed to do tonight was warm it in the microwave.

Then the halibut.  I heated a small cast iron skillet very hot, then sprayed it with olive oil cooking spray. I coated the halibut with salt, pepper and smokey paprika and seared it quickly on both sides, then reduced the heat and cooked it a few minutes longer on each side until just cooked through.

This formed a nice crust on the outside and moist, tender fish inside.  I poured on a bit of mustard vinaigrette (fat free, homemade), sprinkled fresh chopped chives from the garden all over, and I was set.

 I enjoyed every bit of it.



And David and Cooper? I made them pork chops with shallot-blue cheese, steamed new potatoes with chives and green beans.

Here is their dinner

It was a happy household.