Happy New Year! We’re a week into 2010 and I’m wondering how your New Year’s Resolutions are coming? Mine are still on track (but I made relatively easy ones this year to keep things real hehe) and one of them is to eat more vegetarian and seafood meals, especially during the work week (so I can splurge on meat during the weekends!). This week, I made two seafood dinner at home for the boyfriend and myself, and I must admit that they both turned out pretty good!
I was inspired by this baked tuna dish I saw on 5 Ingredient Fix on the Food Network. It was originally for a tuna salad recipe but I loved the idea of baking fresh fish on top of lemon slices – it will minimize the seafood smell, and lemon always adds a wonderful fresh flavor to seafood. Then I remembered one of Rachael Ray’s recipes on 30 Minute Meals (what can I say, I love the Food Network) where she made a marinade/paste of garlic, lemon zest, parsley, salt and pepper to top swordfish before grilling, and I just sort of combined those two ideas.
The first meal was baked swordfish. I did a quick Whole Foods run (and still somehow managed to rack up a $100 bill… sheesh Whole Foods, why are you so lusciously expensive?) for a couple of swordfish steaks – this was my first time cooking swordfish so I was nervous. I also picked up some baby potatoes, spinach, tofu, shrimp cakes, almond butter, mini coconut milk ice cream sandwiches, chocolate, bananas, clementines, grapefruit – yeah, I can never go in there and just buy one thing (which explains the high grocery bill). ANYWAY I ended up baking the swordfish (slathered with a paste of lemon zest, olive oil, salt and pepper) on top of lemon slices, and serving it with baked potatoes tossed in garlic oil, and sauteed spinach. The swordfish turned out to be really soft and flaky, and really clean- and fresh-tasting. I will definitely make this dish again.
The second meal was baked salmon steaks (actually just one gigantic salmon steak, it was seriously huge, maybe about 8 inches in length and more than an inch thick). I did the same thing, slathered on the zest/garlic paste, then baked it on top of lemon slices. I’m not winning any points for creativity but at least I made another healthy, easy, seafood dinner (baby steps, Bianca, baby steps). This time I had more varieties of veggies to roast (potatoes, zucchini, squash, carrots) and served the fish with that, and sauteed spinach again. And also a couple of shrimp cakes that I browned in the toaster over. The salmon turned out really tender, but a bit bland. I ended up making a little dipping sauce (for the salmon and the shrimp cakes) of mayo, garlic, s&p, and sriracha (in my opinion, hot sauce – like butter – makes everything taste better). And it didn’t pair very well with the medley of roast veggies. Maybe next time I should go with the basics (at least my basics because this is what I usually do) and serve salmon with brown rice and broccoli. And maybe cook it a little longer to brown up the top and the skin. So I will also be definitely making this dish again – but with some modifications hehe.
My two dishes, two fishes dinners gave me little doses of healthiness this week and I’m looking forward to trying new recipes like that in the coming weeks! I hope everyone is having a great start to their year. Enjoy the weekend ahead!
Hi! I’m Bianca Garcia. I love food, running, yoga, sangria, and my job. I'm an advertising professional, social media enthusiast, blogger, freelance writer, and obsessive list-maker. I think about dessert constantly. 
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