Hake: My new fave fish

Thanks to Weight Watchers, I made the most amazing fish last night. So good, Jack said he wants it again -- high praise, believe me. And at 6 PointsPlus per serving, it fits in really well with my diet!

The recipe calls for cod, but Whole Foods had hake on sale yesterday, for the ridiculous price of $5.99 a pound. Hake, once called trash fish because no one wanted it, is really a wonderfully sweet, white fish. As fish prices keep going up, hake really can do great things for your food budget, and if you like cod, halibut, pollock of haddock, you'll love hake. I served it with brown rice and a saute of sugar snaps, scallions, garlic and ginger. I poured the extra sauce from the fish on the rice to power the taste up a notch.

MISO-GLAZED COD
1 1/2 lbs. cod, or other white sauce
1/4 cup miso paste
2 Tblsp. dark brown sugar
2 Tblsp. mirin
1 Tblsp ginger root, (I doubled the amount since I love ginger)
1 Tblsp. dark sesame oil
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

* Place fish, skin-side down, in a broiler-proof pan.

* Place miso, sugar, mirin, ginger, oil and vinegar in a blender; blend until smooth. Pour glaze over cod and marinate in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour.

* Preheat broiler to high.

* Broil fish until topping turns golden brown and starts to caramelize, and fish is no longer translucent in middle, about 8 to 10 minutes. Makes 4 servings.

Recipe time

We eat a lot of chicken and fish, and since I am not content to cook the same thing over and over again, I am always looking for interesting ways to cook both. Here are two suggestions, both guaranteed to take make meals a tad more interesting. Both recipes are from Weight Watchers.

GRILLED MOROCCAN CHICKEN KABOBS
1 1/4 LBS. uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 Tblsp. orange juice
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. table salt
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. black pepper, freshly ground
2 sprays cooking spray
1 large zucchini, cut into 1-inch-thick half-moons
2 small red onions, quartered through the root

Mix the chicken, orange juice, coriander, ginger, cinnamon, cumin, salt, garlic powder and pepper in a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate for 6 hours.

Off heat, coat grill with cooking spray. Prepare gas grill for direct, high-heat grilling or build a high-heat charcoal bed in the center of the coal grate on a charcoal grill.

Divide the chicken, zucchini and onion among four large skewers, threading the meat and vegetables over the pointy ends and down the skewers.

Set the skewers directly over the heat and grill for 16 minutes, turning about every 4 minutes onto each of the other three sides, so that all four sides are well browned. When turning the skewers, use tongs to gently grasp some of the meat at the center. Do not turn the skewers by their ends — or put your hands down near the heat source. Makes 1 skewer per serving; 4 POINTS each.


CUBAN-STYLE BRAISED FISH
1 tsp. olive oil
1 medium onions, chopped
2 medium garlic clove(s), chopped
14 1/2 oz. can tomatoes with green chilies, peeled and diced
1/2 cup fat-free chicken broth
10 green olives with pimientos, thinly sliced crosswise
1 1/2 lbs. halibut fillets, or sea bass or scrod
1 Tblsp. slivered almonds, toasted
3 cups broccoli florets, steamed

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and sauté 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more.

Stir tomatoes, broth and olives into onion mixture and heat to simmer. Cut fish into 4 portions and arrange in skillet. Cover and cook until fish flakes with a fork, 8 to 10 minutes.

To serve, remove fish to 4 plates. Spoon tomato and olive mixture over fish and top each serving with a sprinkle of almonds. Serve with broccoli. Makes 4 servings; 5 POINTS each.

Super foods

The Web site Everyday Health just posted a list of a baker's dozen of the most powerful super foods. They admit that if you ask 10 nutritionists for their own lists, you will get 10 different lists. But this list, the site claims, is a good place to start.

I have to admit that I love lists. It might be my short attention span, but lists are easy to read and stick with me longer that something I read in paragraph form.

Because this post would be entirely too long if I listed all the foods, wrote about what www.everydayhealth.com had to say, and added my own thoughts, I have decided to publish the the list of foods today, and then for the next 13 weeks, I will focus on each one in Wednesday's Pick of the Week. I cannot wait to get to week 12 to write about my favorite food, red wine. I never looked at red wine as a favorite food. Now this is great news!

The list:

1. Avocados
2. Apples
3. Blueberries
4. Cabbage
5. Fish and fish oil
6. Garlic
7. Mushrooms
8. Almonds
9. Eggs
10. Flax seeds
11. Pomegranates
12. Red Wine
13. Dark chocolate

Yesterday, I learned yet another reason to follow the Mediterranean diet — it helps fight depression. By nature, I am a half-full-glass person, but as the days of driving to and from work in the dark quickly approach, a diet that calms and keeps life in balance is appealing.

The latest study is from Spain, was published in the Archives of General Psychiatry journal, and tracked 11,000 people. Those who followed the Mediterranean diet — a diet rich in vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains, legumes, fish and olive oil — enjoyed a 30 percent reduction in the risk of depression. What the study did not take into account was the environment of the people studied — a sunny climate with long days — so the study might be a bit flawed.  

But even taking that into account, there is no downside to following this way of eating. Past studies have said it reduces the risk of heart disease, diabetes, asthma and cancer. Doctors Roizen and Oz, in their bestseller, "You on a Diet," said that those who follow a Mediterranean-like diet naturally ate foods that keep them sated: more fiber; higher amounts of good-for-you Omega 3 fats such as olives, fish and nuts; and more than double their previous consumption of fruits and vegetables.

The doctors write in the book: "The 'good-for-YOU-foods-group' (those following the Mediterranean diet), ate the foods we recommend in the YOU Diet, didn't obsess about calories, and enabled their bodies to do what they're supposed to do: regulate the chemicals that are responsible for hunger and for satiety."

Definitely worth a try — on my quest for waist management!

Mediterranean Fish with Tomatoes, Oranges and Olives

This is an old recipe of mine, one I haven't thought about for years. But it is lovely, and perfect for a weekday night, when time is at a premium. Although this recipe calls for a thick-cut white fish, such as halibut, grouper, mahi-mahi or monkfish, any white fish works, so buy whatever is on sale and looks freshest. When buying fish, please give it the sniff test. If it smells too fishy or ammonia-like, leave it at the market. Fish should smell like the sea. If you use a thinner-cut fish, such as sole or snapper, cut the baking time.

The perfect way to cook fish is the flawless Canadian Cooking Method. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Measure your fish at the thickest part. For each inch of fish, cook 10 minutes. And yes — you need to take fractions into account. No rounding up or down. So if the fish is 1/2-inch thick, it cooks for 5 minutes. Fish continues to cook after it leaves the heat, so if you cook it until it looks done, you'll be eating overcooked fish. If the fish is more than a 1/2-inch thick, turn the fish halfway through cooking.

2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 red onion, thinly sliced

1/4 cup dry white wine

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 14.5-oz. can fire roasted tomatoes, well drained, and cut into dice

8 Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped

1/2 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp. freshly grated orange zest

1 Tblsp. freshly squeezed orange juice

Salt and pepper to taste

1 lb. thick-cut fillets, such as halibut, grouper, mahi-mahi, monkfish, or thinner-cut fillets, such as flounder, sole or snapper

• Preheat the over to 450 degrees. 
  
• Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion slices and saute, stirring often, until lightly browned. Add the wine and garlic and saute until the garlic is a bit soft but not brown.
• Stir in the tomatoes, olives, oregano, zest and orange juice. Taste; add salt and pepper to taste.
• Portion the fish into four servings. Place in a baking dish. Cover with the tomato/olive/orange mixture.
• Bake, uncovered, following the Canadian Cooking Method, directions precede

P.S. Thank you to my four followers  — Bill, Jeannie, Elise and Heather. You will never know how much I appreciate your support! One of the columns I did for years at The Advocate and Greenwich Time was Recipe Exchange, so if anyone wants to share a recipe, please feel free to do so. The more voices involved, the better the blog.