Recipes: Seafood Tureen For Two and Lemon-Scented Fish Fillet Cooked In Parchment

Seafood

Get a healthy start this year—eat more seafood! The revised "Dietary Guidelines for Americans," issued by the US Department of Agriculture in 1996, emphasizes the need for Americans to add more variety to their diets, and especially, to eat foods with less fat. What better choice than seafood.

California fishermen deliver more than 300 species of fish and shellfish to market each year. That's more than enough variety for year round enjoyment.

For nutrition, seafood offers large quantities of protein, vitamins and minerals without high levels of saturated fats and calories associated with increased risk of chronic diseases, such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

Seafood is lower in saturated fat than most other protein sources. More good news, recently reaffirmed in the Journal of the American Medical Assciation, seafood contains significant quantities of Omega-3 fatty acids, which protect the body by:

helping lower the level of triglycerides in the blood
reducing the stickiness of blood platelets
and helping lower total cholesterol levels in the blood

As reported in the Journal, eating just one meal per week of seafoods high in Omega-3 fatty acids, such as mackerel and salmon, has been shown to reduce the risk of primary cardiac arrest by 50 percent or more.

So for a healthier you this new year, eat more seafood. It just makes sense!

Light California Seafood Tureen For Two

Ingredients

1 cup leek (white part) chopped fine
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 cup Roma tomato, chopped fine
1/8 tsp. anise or fennel seed, crushed
pinch of saffron
1/2 tsp. orange peel, grated
2 Tbsp. parsley, chopped
black pepper to taste
2 cups fish or chicken stock
6 oz. dry white wine
6 oz. rockfish fillets, cubed
2-4 oz. shrimp, peeled
2-4 oz. lobster meat pieces

Sauté leek and garlic in olive oil until limp. Stir in tomato and continue cooking 2 minutes. Add stock, wine and seasonings. Cook mixture over medium heat until it begins to boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. Add fish and shellfish to broth and continue simmering approx. 5 minutes or until seafood is cooked.

Nutritional per serving:

360 calories
36 gm protein
18 gm carbohydrates
9.7 gm fat
98 mg cholesterol
522 mg sodium

Lemon-Scented Fish Fillet
Cooked In Parchment

Because this recipe works well with any mild-to medium-flavored fish, it's easy to choose your favorite, or what's currently in season.

For each serving:

4 oz. fish fillet
1 Tbsp. lemon curd (found in jam and jelly section of most grocery stores)
black pepper
nonstick cooking spray
12-inch square piece of baking parchment or cooking foil

Spray one side of baking parchment or foil with nonstick cooking spray. Lay fish fillet on half of sprayed parchment or foil. Season with black pepper and top with 1 Tbsp. Of lemon curd. Fold other half of parchment over fillet and crimp edges to make a tight seal. Place on a baking sheet and cook in 450 degrees F oven. Allow 10 minutes cooking time per inch thickness of fillet, and add another 5 minutes to adjust for paper or foil. (Example: a one-inch thick fillet cooked in parchment requires 15 minutes total cooking time.)

Nutritional per serving:

159 calories
21 gm protein
12 gm carbohydrates
2.8 gm fat
39 mg cholesterol
83 mg sodium

Provided by California Seafood Council

This page originally published as a FoodDay article in 1997.