As promised here are some great tips for incorporating fish into your meal plans and making it pretty affordable and super easy! The first thing you have to remember when you are going to use fish is that to use it on a consistent basis you are not going to be going to the seafood counter and buying fresh every time. There is nothing wrong with that it will just get expensive really fast and will not be something that is attainable or sustainable for everyone's budget. I used to think naively that was the only way you could buy fish.
The first tip is to buy FROZEN. Do your research on what brands are best but also just use your best judgment. If you read and believe everything out there you would never put anything in your mouth so just use a filter with what you read. I like to buy at publix when they have a BOGO on their frozen fish. You just have to look at the ad each week to check and see. Another option and probably the most reasonable instead of sale watching is to go to Costco or Sams once a month and buy in bulk. We like to keep salmon and usually a white fish on hand like Mahi or something like that. It will usually be packaged individual so you would only pull out what you need for each meal. For us we will typically pull out 3 because our kids do not eat it and it gives us each a piece for dinner and then one left over for Trey's lunch the next day. Stretch it out by only having once piece each and filling in with nutritious sides.
When cooking fish I have learned that really less is more as far as flavor and prep work. Pull it out the morning of that you plan to use it and let it defrost in the fridge and then in the sink in cool water after you get home. When you take it out of the package just gently pat it dry and then think about what flavors you like and go from there. A dab of olive oil is always a start and then you can just go super simple with salt and pepper. You can do olive oil with a few shakes of lemon pepper seasoning. You can do olive oil & just lemon juice or olive oil and italian seasoning. The possibilities are endless but whatever you do just don't go overboard with doctoring it. For salmon I also like to add a fresh green pesto mix that is in the cold section over near the hummus at Wal Mart. Garlic and olive oil work well. Olive oil and Lawry's seasoning also works well. Really I promise that you can do this. Just think about what flavors you like as far as herbs and spices and start with a base of the olive oil and then add one to two things max to flavor it and just experiment.
It is best to start in a hot oven around 400 and then once it cooks for 10 minutes or so to turn the oven off and about the time it cools off it will be cooked to perfection. You are really looking for the fish to be flaky and opaque. I have learned again with the actual oven time that less is more. It needs to be done but not overdone. Take into consideration if your oven cooks fast or slow and add 5 minutes or so if its slow and also take into consideration how thick the piece of meat is. It is a good idea to put down a piece of foil and then spray with cooking oil and put the fish on that to make clean up easy and ensure that it does not stick and become a jumbled up mess.
I know that there is not one specific recipe in here but I wanted to introduce the idea that fish can be more than just an occasional item on the menu. It is great for you and it is SO SO easy and you can serve up with a baked sweet potato and steamed broccoli (that you pull out of the freezer) or ANY veggie that you have in the freezer and you have literally the easiest dinner EVER. Just some food for thought!
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