Summer Fish Tostadas

 Summer Fish Tostadas

Recipe courtesy of Melissa d'Arabian and cooking light fresh food fast cookbook. 

This recipe was delicious. Full of wonderful flavor and perfect for a summer dinner. It was however, a little messy to eat. There are a few components to this recipe. 1. The pineapple salsa 2. The white beans simmered in wine, and 3. The fish and toppings. So I will break it down by each item and then it will all come together at the end. I made the beans first, then got the fish in the marinade, made the salsa and got the pineapple ready for the side, and then cooked the fish. It sounds complicated, but its not I promise. 

 Ingredients:

1. Fresh pineapple

2. White wine (about 1 cup) 

3. 1 can of white beans (cannelloni or great northern are good options) 

4.  1 Tablespoon Oregano (fresh is best) or 1 teaspoon of dried

5. Honey (1 tablespoon)

6. 1 tsp Cumin 

7. Olive Oil

8. Pepper

9. Curry

10. 1 Tablespoon butter

11. 1 lime

12. 1 jalapeno (optional)

13. Salt

14. Tortillas (I used white corn tortillas- the small 6" ones) 

15. Garlic

16. red onion

17. Avocado

18. Plain Greek Yogurt

19. White fish (cod, talapia, sea bass etc) I used cod

20. 1 onion diced

 1. To start the beans put about 2 teaspoons of olive oil into a pan and let it get hot. (medium heat.) Add in your diced onion and let it slowly cook down. The onion will become soft and a bit translucent.

 Feel free to start the marinade or salsa at this point while the onions are cooking down,( it takes a little while)

 2. Once the onions are cooked down, add in 2 cloves of pressed garlic or finely diced. Also add in about 1 teaspoon of cumin. Give it a good stir, so the onions get coated in the cumin. Cook for about 2 minutes.

 3. Add in the wine and turn the heat down a bit. This is going to simmer until the onions and wine become a bit thick and the wine seems to be soaked up into the mixture. 

4. Add in your beans and oregano and mix it all together. Let it simmer on low for a while. Just make sure they don't burn.  

 5. Making the Marinade for the fish: start by using the zest of the lime, then add in the juice of the whole lime. Add in 3 cloves of pressed garlic, salt, pepper, and then olive oil. You will use 1 tablespoon of olive oil. 

. 6. Wisk everything together and let it sit while you get the fish ready. 

 7. Get your fish out and cut it into bite sized chunks. You don't want them too big, but not too small either.

 8. Place the fish into a dish and pour the marinade over the fish. Use your hands to mix it around and really coat the fish in the marinade. You can let this sit up to 30 minutes. Don't let it sit longer or the acid in the lime will start to cook the fish and you will end up with ceviche. (Ceviche, for those who don't know is fish that is cooked using the acid from lemons or limes) 

In a medium bowl add 2 tablespoons of pineapple juice with the lime juice, honey, oil and jalapeno if you decide to use it. Season with salt and pepper. Add pineapple and onion. Gently stir in the avocado and cilantro. Let it sit for at least 15 minutes before serving. 

Place fish onto a baking sheet but make sure you let the marinade drip off of it before placing it on the sheet. If you don't your fish will steam instead of getting slightly crispy. Broil the fish for 5 minutes. 

Traditionally tostada shells are fried. I went for a healthier option and sprayed them with cooking spray before putting them into a hot pan to crisp up on each side. 

To assemble to tostadas you will use 2 shells, top with 1 yellow of beans (split between the two) and then top with 1 red of  fish. 

Top the fish with a little shredded cabbage, (usually you would use red, but I forgot to get it at the store) 

Top each one with a spoonful of pineapple salsa and serve with a side of Curried Pineapple. 

What containers will this count as: 

2 yellows for the tostada shells and beans, 1 red for the fish, and 1 blue for the pineapple/avocado salsa. It is not enough to count it as a purple. If you serve it with the side of curry pineapple, then it would count as 1 purple. 

2 Yellow, 1 Red, 1 Blue, 1 teaspoon  and 1 Purple with the side

Sea Bass With Tomato Vinaigrette

Sea Bass with Tomato Vinaigrette over Barley Rissoto

 This recipe could not be any easier! If you are afraid to cook fish this would be a good recipe to start with. You can't get it wrong! 

This recipe comes from www.myrecipes.com

Here is what you will need: 

1 Piece of fish per person around 1 1/2 inches in thickness (this recipe is a serving for 4, I personally would use it more for a serving of 2, if you want to consider the tomatoes as a side as well. 

1 cup of cherry tomatoes sliced in half. I used both yellow and red

Chives diced

2 green onions

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves of garlic minced

1/2 of a fresh lemon

1 Tablespoon of sherry vinegar ( I didn't have this, so I used white wine vinegar and a splash of vermouth) The alcahol cooks out

1 tsp salt

pepper

Quinoa, couscous, or barley (whichever you prefer.) 

Step 1:  cook couscous or quinoa according to package. I just boiled mine in water and set it aside when it was done.  (I have made this recipe with quinoa and with barley risotto) I will post the recipe for risotto at the end.  Couscous only takes moments to cook and quinoa takes around 15 to 20 minutes to cook.

 Sept 2: While the above is cooking heat your oven to 350 degrees, and start your vinaigrette. Dice up the green onions, garlic, tomatoes, and chives. Have a lemon ready to use.

 Step 3: Heat a pan over medium heat and add the garlic (sorry about the big black spot on my pan) Brown garlic around 30 seconds.

 Step 4: Reduce heat to medium and add onions and tomatoes. Cook down a few minutes. They will start to look a little wilty and soft.

 Step 5: Take the pan off the heat, squeeze as much juice as you can out of 1/2 a lemon, add the sherry vinegar and stir it around.

 You will want to set this aside and keep it warm. The sauce is going to thicken slightly and the flavors meld together well as it sits.

 (I wanted to include this picture just so you can see what sea bass looks like. It has really pretty skin and is just a nice thick white fish. It is very mild in taste and almost tastes like it is cooked in butter. When it is ready if you use a fork it will flake apart without much pressure.

 Step 6: Salt and Peper your fish ( I was only cooking for 1, but do this to all your pieces)

 Step 7: Add 1/2 tsp of olive oil to a pan (more if cooking many pieces). You want to heat your pan at Medium High and let the oil get hot. Place the fish in the pan and it should have a really good sizzle sound when you put it in the pan. This is how you know your pan is nice and hot. Cook for just a few minutes to crisp the skin. (I do not eat the skin, but this also allows it to seperate easily from the skin when it is cooked.)

 Step 8: Place the other lemon in slices in the pan with the fish. Put the pan in the oven (if it is safe for your pan to go in the oven) and you want to cook the fish for 20 minutes. This fish seems to almost puff up a little as it cooks. I promise you that your fish is going to be cooked through.

 About 1 minute before the fish is done cooking, get your quinoa, couscous, or barley risotto onto the plate. Place the fish on the plate and top with 1/4 cup of sauce. Sprinkle with chives and serve. (the picture at the top is the dinner with the risotto, and below is with quinoa)
(1 RED, 1/2 GREEN, 1 YELLOW) if serving with quinoa or couscous. The sauce will mix in with the grain and flavor it, so I don't add anything to the grain for flavor.

How to make the Risotto: 

Trader Joes has these wonderful little bags of 10 minute barley, farro, and bulgar wheat. 

 on the side of the package there are directions for how to cook the barley as risotto.
1 quart chicken stock
4 Tablespoons olive oil
1 diced onion
1 clove of garlic diced
(I left the mushrooms out becuase i didn't have any)
pepper
1/2 cup white wine
salt
2 Tablespoons butter (I used half)
4 Tablespoons parmasean cheese shredded
1/4 cup parsley if you want it
This is something I would count as (1 YELLOW, 1 BLUE) I probably would not count the wine in it because the alcahol cooks out and that is where the fat and calories are going to come from with wine. There are not enough mushrooms or onions to count this as a veggie serving either.

**If anyone thinks this should count differently please comment on it and let me know. Sometimes I have to figure it out the best way I can and how I count it. I am sure sometimes I will be wrong**