The High-Protein Cookbook - Linda West Eckhardt [7]
Steamed Cod in Borscht with Warm Chive-Horseradish Cream
There are few better ways to infuse fish fillets with flavor than by steaming them atop aromatic vegetables. The aroma that wafts up from a steaming bowl of fish swimming in a sea of cabbage and beets will more than make up for the fact that this looks like an estuary after the powerboats have chewed through the water lilies. Never mind. Go ahead. Taste it.
MAKES 2 SERVINGS
Preparation time: 7 minutes
Cooking time: 13 minutes
1 teaspoon peanut oil
½ cup thinly sliced red onion
1 garlic clove, sliced
½ teaspoon dried thyme
2 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
½ cup shredded savoy cabbage
¼ cup drained and julienned canned beets
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
Two 6-ounce cod steaks or fillets (or other
firm-fleshed white fish, such as Chilean sea
bass, haddock, halibut)
¼ teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
½ teaspoon freshly milled black pepper, or to taste
1 tablespoon minced fresh chives
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
2 tablespoons sour cream
Heat a heavy pot, then film the bottom with oil. Add the onion and garlic and sauté over medium-high heat until the onion becomes translucent, about 3 minutes. Stir in the thyme, parsley, cabbage, beets, and chicken broth and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Uncover the pot and arrange the cod on top of the vegetables; season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and steam the fish until cooked through, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, stir together the chives, horseradish, and sour cream in a small bowl.
To serve, ladle some of the vegetables and broth into a warm wide-rimmed soup bowl and top with a steamed fish steak. Add a dollop of chive-horseradish cream.
Nutritional Analysis: 255 calories, FAT 9 g, PROTEIN 34 g, CARB 10 g, FIBER 2 g, CHOL 69 mg, IRON 1 mg, SODIUM 1,198 mg, CALC 62 mg
Cooking Lesson
By steaming fish on top of the simmering vegetables and broth, you’ll get the benefit of the aromatic steam and enhance the broth as well, losing not one precious drop of flavor.
Health Benefit
The monounsaturated fatty acids in mayonnaise and olive oil help prevent heart disease. This dinner makes the most of their health-promoting properties. Olive oil, which is one of the top-choice fats, starts the process by caramelizing the vegetables to concentrate their naturally occurring sugars. Then the oil in the cold-water fish, cod, tops it off, giving you a meal that tastes great and is loaded with natural antioxidants: cabbage, onions, and beets. Toss in the fiber you get from the vegetables and you have here an almost perfect dinner.
Roasted Cod with Clementine Sauce on a Bed of Braised Brussels Sprouts
Citrus is one of winter’s gifts. For a delicate sauce that flatters a cod, use the juice of Spain’s clementine. (Substitute a tangerine or Florida orange in a pinch.) The main satisfaction to this dish is that you get every flavor note at once: sweet, sour, bitter, and salty. First the sweetness of the fruit, then the pucker from the undercurrent of acid, a warming trend of cayenne, and the bracing bitter flavor found in the Brussels sprouts—all of this in addition to the sweet-salty codfish.
MAKES 2 SERVINGS
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups finely sliced Brussels sprouts (about 1 pint)
Grated zest and juice of 1 clementine
12 ounces cod fillets or other firm, mild, cold-water white fish
Pinch of cayenne
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro
Preheat the oven to 500°F. Heat a saucepan over medium-high heat and film the bottom with some of the oil. Sauté Brussels sprouts about 3 minutes. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the clementine juice, and pour the rest into a small saucepan. Boil over medium-high