Deborah Dishes: The cure for boring fish

By Deborah Bullock, Contributing Writer

Lent is once again upon us, and for reasons that must be deeply engrained, I try not to eat meat on Fridays even though I’m a lapsed Catholic.

I remember when abstaining from meat on Friday was not just during lent, and consequently there was a fish & chip take-out joint on every third corner.

We New Englanders are still big fans of fish, as a cod hangs in the Statehouse, and New Bedford continues to be the highest grossing fishing port in the U.S.

As a dieter, I know that fish is my friend. But the cost of shellfish can be quite high and the whole point of having a health-conscious food is not to deep fry it or sauce it up with butter, cream, cheese and the like turning it into a caloric nightmare.

So what’s a girl to do? In my case, find some recipes and lighten them up.

Ina Garten (The Barefoot Contessa) has a great recipe for mustard roasted fish, which calls for a cooking sauce of crème fraiche, Dijon mustard, capers and shallots.

Pretty much everything is diet friendly with the exception of the crème fraiche. Happily, substituting full fat plain Greek yogurt cuts the calories down significantly.

If you’re not a fan of the tang of yogurt, light sour cream is another good substitute.

One last thing — Ina calls for two teaspoons of capers in the sauce, which is meaningless to me. I use about two tablespoons as I love the little salt bombs with my fish. You can adjust the amount as you see fit.

Light Mustard Roasted Fish a la Ina Garten

Sauce Ingredients:

8 oz. full fat Greek plain yogurt or light sour cream

3 T. Dijon mustard

1 T. whole grain mustard

2 T. minced shallots

Capers, to taste

Heat oven to 425 degrees.

Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl.

Place four 8-ounce filets of mild white fish (haddock, cod, snapper, sole will all work) skin side down in a baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.

Spoon the sauce over the fish, making sure to cover completely.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish, until it flakes easily at the thickest part.

Serves 4 – 6.

An 8-ounce serving of fish (probably 7 ounces cooked, or ¼ of the recipe) is 5 Weight Watchers Smart Points. A 5- to 6-ounce portion is 3 points. And it’s filling and delicious.

Serve it with oven-roasted broccoli and the starch of your choice for a delicious healthy Lenten supper. Enjoy!

Deb Pepin Bullock is a SouthCoast native, author, traveler and foodie who lives in Fairhaven. Follow her blog at deborahdishes.com and on Facebook at Facebook.com/deborahwhodishes.

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