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Soy Ginger Tilapia

Posted on December 4, 2013 by AnniesChamorroKitchen 2 comments

Tilapia is a great choice when you’re looking for a quick and easy (healthy too!) meal. With just 8 simple ingredients (including the fish), you can have this dish on your dinner table in less than 30 minutes!

For a healthier alternative, use low sodium soy sauce in place of the regular soy sauce and oyster sauce if you want to cut back on sodium.

Give my recipe a try. I think you’ll like it. 🙂

Soy-Ginger Tilapia

Ingredients:

16 small tilapia filets (I buy them frozen, skinned and deboned)

1 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons oyster sauce

3 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon grated ginger

1 bunch green onions (about 7 stalks), thinly sliced

Directions:

Prepare the tilapia:

I buy my tilapia frozen. They come about 16 small filets to a bag, with each filet individually wrapped. If you buy the fish frozen like I do, thaw them out, then remove each filet from the wrapping. Rinse the filets then place them in a shallow baking dish. I use two 9×13″ baking pans, placing 8 filets in each one. It’s okay of the filets overlap a bit.

Now that you’ve prepared the fish, make the soy-ginger sauce.

It’s also a good time to preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.

Make the Soy Ginger Sauce:

In a small microwave-safe mixing bowl, combine the soy sauce, red wine vinegar, oyster sauce, honey, garlic, and ginger. Microwave the mixture for one minute — you want to heat the mixture so that you can easily dissolve the honey. After heating, stir with a fork to combine all the ingredients.

Add the green onions; stir to combine.

Pour the mixture over the tilapia filets. It may look like too much sauce, but trust me, you want the filets covered in the mixture so that it soaks into the fish during baking. That, and you’ll want some of the extra sauce to pour over your rice! 🙂

Bake the fish at 375 degrees F. for 12 to 15 minutes. This fish cooks fast, so check for doneness at the 12-minute mark. The fish is white, and flakes easily with a fork when done.

Serve with hot white rice, and don’t forget to pour some of the delicious soy-ginger sauce over the rice too!

ENJOY!

Posted in Healthy Alternatives ~ Recipes, SEAFOOD

Baked Salmon with Mushroom Cream Sauce

Posted on November 17, 2013 by AnniesChamorroKitchen 7 comments

Salmon is one of my favorite varieties of fish. I love it anyway you prepare it — grill it with my teriyaki sauce, make fresh salmon kelaguen, or bake it in my creamy mushroom garlic sauce — I love it all.

This is a super simple recipe to make. It took minutes to prepare, and since salmon cooks quickly, you can have this dish on your table in minutes!

You can lighten up my recipe by using half and half or light whipping cream instead of heavy whipping cream. Here is an approximation of the percentage of fat in half and half, light cream, and heavy whipping cream.

Half-and-Half: 12% fat
Light Cream: 20% fat
Light Whipping Cream: 30% fat
Whipping Cream: 35% fat
Heavy Cream and Heavy Whipping Cream: 38% fat

On a separate note, I’ve been asked before where you find heavy whipping cream. You’ll find it in the dairy section of your grocery store, usually next to the refrigerated coffee creamer and milk. This is what the box looks like.

Another healthier — and delicious — alternative to heavy whipping cream is to use coconut milk. Just watch the salmon as it bakes — don’t cook it to where the coconut milk begins to boil (boiled coconut milk tends to break down and separate). I recommend adding only enough of the sauce over the salmon to cover it. Set the remaining sauce (unbaked) aside until the salmon is done. Bake as directed then pour the reserved coconut milk and mushroom sauce over the cooked salmon. This way, you don’t have to worry about the coconut milk separating should it boil during the baking.

Give my recipe a try. I think you’ll like it. 🙂

THM NOTE:

For THMs, this recipe makes about 6 servings, with about 2g of carbs per serving, making this an S meal.

Baked Salmon with Mushroom Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

2 salmon filets (about 4 pounds)
4 cups sliced mushrooms (this sounds like a lot, but it cooks down to half this amount)
2 tablespoons olive oil (or butter)
3 tablespoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons Dashida seasoning OR 1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 bunch green onions, sliced
2 cups heavy whipping cream

Directions:

Rinse the salmon filets and remove any bones that you can see or feel. Place the salmon, skin side down, in a 9×13 baking dish.

Prepare the mushroom cream sauce.

In a medium sauce pan, place the mushrooms, olive oil, garlic, Dashida (or sea salt) and black pepper.

Cook over medium high heat, stirring occassionally, until the the mushrooms have reduced in volume and have browned nicely.

Stir in the green onions.

Pour in the heavy whipping cream; stir to combine.

Cook the cream sauce for about a minute then remove from the heat.

Pour the sauce over the salmon filets.

Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes, or just until the salmon is done (when the salmon flakes easily with a fork). Do not over cook.

This version below was made with half coconut milk and half heavy cream, and cooked in one pan on the stovetop. In a large skillet, prepare the mushroom cream sauce as directed. Add the salmon filets to the pan, skin slide down, making sure the sauce almost covers the filets. Scoop up the mushrooms and place them on top of the filets. Cook over medium low heat for about 30 minutes, periodically scooping some sauce and pouring it over the filets as it cooks.

Serve with rice, over pasta, or with a large side salad and enjoy!

Posted in Dinner, Healthy Alternatives ~ Recipes, SEAFOOD, THM Recipes, THM S Recipes

Chicken Stir Fry with Udon Noodles

Posted on November 9, 2013 by AnniesChamorroKitchen Leave a comment

According to Chinese folklore, noodles represent long life and good health. So, here’s my contribution to living a long, healthy life! 🙂

All kidding aside, you can add this recipe to you list of healthy options by changing up a few of the ingredients (read more below for my healthy substitutions).

This also is another of those versatile dishes that can be changed up according to the vegetables and meat you prefer. The vegetables I add to this recipe vary depending on what looks most fresh in the grocery store.

Chicken Stir Fry with Udon Noodles

INGREDIENTS:

6 chicken thighs (or 2 chicken breasts if you want a healthier version)
1 small head of cabbage
4 stalks green onions
1 package mushrooms
1 green bell pepper
1 package pre-cut carrots
1 package udon noodles
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
5 tablespoons soy sauce

DIRECTIONS:

Prepare the ingredients — thinly slice the chicken, cabbage, green onions, mushrooms and bell pepper.

Cook the noodles according to the directions on the package. You can substitute the udon noodles for a gluten-free or whole wheat noodle of your choosing.

Set the cooked noodles aside.

Place the chicken in a large skillet over medium high heat. If you use a non-stick skillet, you do not need to add any oil to the pan, although a bit of sesame oil will add flavor to this dish.

Add the garlic, seasonings, hoisin sauce and soy sauce. To cut back on the sodium in this dish, cut the hoisin sauce in half and use low sodium soy sauce.

Add the carrots to the pan.

Add the sliced mushrooms to the pan.

Stir to combine. Cook for a couple of minutes.

Add the sliced cabbage.

Stir and cook for another couple of minutes, just until the cabbage starts to wilt.

Add the bell peppers. If you prefer the peppers to be cooked longer, add them when you add the carrots. I like mine cooked only just a little so that they’re still crunchy, so I add them almost at the end of the cooking process.