Healthy Fish and Chips and How to Roast Stuff

Catherine,

You know when you feel lazy and you don't want to cook and you don't want to spend money and you don't want to clean AND (you picky pain) you want healthy food? My answer to this complicated conundrum: roasted vegetables! Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil, wash your favorite fresh veggie of the moment (drain), chop, throw on the baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, throw on some salt and pepper, toss it all, and bake at 400 F for 15-20 minutes. Your veggies will come out cooked, but not mushy; and your pan will come out clean (throw that foil away and put that sucker up!). I've tried this with squash and zucchini, green beans, and broccoli, all to great success. Watch out though, because the "leaves" on the "tree" of broccoli do get a little crunchy, but I'm okay with that.  Another healthy option: roasted fish! We bought this big bag of frozen tilapia (you can probably find it at Sam's for cheap), and you can do anything with it. Pick a seasoning (or two or five or Google ideas), foil a baking sheet, dry fish off, rub fish all over with a bit olive oil, put on pan, and sprinkle on the seasonings. Bake at 400 F for about 10-12 minutes. Now for the... COMBO MOVE. Start your roasted veggies and 10 minutes into the roasting, pull them out of the oven and put the fish down next to them. Pop it all back into the oven for 10ish more minutes. Now celebrate! You have fast, healthy food with virtually no clean up.

But, Catherine, this post isn't actually about roasted fish and veggies. It's about fish and chips. I used a combination of this Panko crusted tilapia recipe and this potato wedges recipe. I cut the tilapia recipe down to two servings and kept the potatoes plainer than suggested because my fish had lots of seasoning. I also didn't have Old Bay seasoning, so I used a generic Cajun mix in its place. The fish isn't fried, it's roasted along side the potatoes and Panko crumbs are used to add the crispy texture. Panko is a light and crisp Japanese bread crumb that goes equally well with chicken or vegetables (a certain Uncle of ours on the coast uses it often). Below is my method of madness... (Word of warning: I just wildly sprinkle a lot of seasonings on when I cook, so use your best judgement. Just remember, you can add more seasoning later, but it's hard to take it off.)

(Sorry, no picture. We ate it all.)

Panko-Crusted Tilapia and Potato Wedges

2 or 3 russet potatoes, each scrubbed and cut into 12 wedges
some olive oil
salt, pepper, and paprika to taste
2 tilapia fillets, fully defrosted
1 Tbs butter
5 drops lemon juice
1/3 cup Panko bread crumbs
scant 1/2 tsp Cajun seasoning
dash or two of garlic powder

1. Preheat oven to 425 F. Line a baking sheet with foil.
2. Place cut potato wedges in a large bowl. Drizzle with olive oil, add salt, pepper, and paprika, and toss to coat.
3. Spread potato wedges out on the baking sheet (leaving some free space on one end of sheet) skin down and cook for 20 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, melt butter in a bowl and add lemon juice. In a separate bowl, combine Panko, Cajun seasoning, and garlic powder.
5. After the potatoes have cooked 20 minutes, pull them out of the oven. Dry tilapia off, dip in butter mixture and then the dredge in bread crumbs. Place on baking sheet next to the potatoes, cover with excess bread crumb mixture, then bake for 10-12 minutes. Fish is done when it flakes when you pull at an edge with a fork.

Tips

- Pull any frozen meat or fish out of the freezer then night before you cook and place it in the refrigerator. This is the safest way to defrost anything that might spoil easily. Leaving meat or fish out on the counter or in a bath of warm water encourages bacterial growth.

- You can make your potato wedges look/taste fancier by tossing them with dried parsley and grated Parmesan cheese. Similarly, serve your fish with lemon wedges or slices for some added fancy.

- The cooking time for the potatoes is variable on how thickly you cut the wedges. My wedges didn't come out super crispy. Next time I'll cook them for 30 minutes before adding fish to the baking sheet.

- Feed this to dad.

- I sauteed some spinach on the stove-top to go with this. That's also super easy to do. Heat up olive oil in a pan over medium-high. Once hot, add a huge pile of spinach and stir constantly until the leaves are wilted. Feel free to sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic salt, or whatever suits your fancy.