Yesterday was a perfect leisurely Sunday. I slept in, drank two cups of coffee then headed to Trader Joe’s to get groceries for the week. The most amazing thing happened when I walked in. It was empty! If you live in NYC, you know what a miracle this is; food was in stock, the line didn’t wrap around the store and I had the freedom to wander around. I had my handy meal panning chart and shopping list which made my trip quite easy.
My plan was to buy salmon but with the freedom to browse the aisles I looked at the other seafood offerings and came across haddock, something I’ve never prepared before. The price tag initially attracted me to the fish ($10 for 3 pieces as opposed to $17 for salmon) but then I looked at the calories and was shocked- 4oz of haddock has 90 calories and about 1 gram of fat whereas 4oz of salmon has 230 calories and about 12 grams of fat. That’s a big difference! Don’t get me wrong, I love salmon and think it is very good for you, but I was curious about haddock so I went for that instead.
After a little research, I combined a few recipes and created my own: Lemon Cashew Haddock with Cruciferous Sautee
Ingredients:
- 3 medium slices of fresh haddock
- 2 lemons
- 2 tablespoons cashew meal
- 1 tablespoon whole grain dijon mustard
- 2 bags cruciferous mix (or other salad mix)
- 1 cup chopped butternut squash
- ½ cup chopped/cooked beets
- Olive oil
- Balsamic vinegar
- Smoked paprika
- Salt and Pepper
What to do:
- Start by baking your butternut squash. Coat the squash in olive oil and a sprinkling of salt and pepper, place on a PAM-coated pan and bake at 400 degrees until soft/slightly charred.
- While that’s baking, start on your sauce (will be used for the fish and the greens). Whisk together the juice of 2 lemons, 1 tablespoon dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon olive oil and a dash of paprika. Use half of this mixture to coat your fish. If you have time, let the fish soak in this mixture for 30 minutes but if you don’t want to wait, just move along. Next, sprinkle the cashew meal on top of the fish, covering the fish in a thin layer (approx 1-2 tablespoons worth)
- Once the squash is ready, remove from the oven and lower the heat to 350 degrees and put the fish in. This will only take 10-15 minutes to bake. The fish is ready when it easily flakes apart with a fork.
- While that’s cooking, work on your salad mix. Take the remaining half of your sauce mixture and add in 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar. In a frying pan or wok, put in a small amount of olive oil then add the 2 bags of greens, mix around and the pour the sauce mixture on top. Mix around until well coated and the lettuces start to cook down, should only take about 5 minutes of mixing. If you don’t have enough of the mixture to coat the lettuce, add another splash of olive oil or balsamic vinegar and continue to mix.
- Once the lettuces have softened and cooked down, remove from heat and add the butternut squash and chopped beets
- By now, the fish should be ready and it’s time to eat!
