writer: Chef

What should I have in my kitchen?

There are a lot of questions about the safety of fish with concerns over contamination with mercury and other chemicals. The research is pretty clear on this now that the benefits of eating fish far outweigh any risk. You can read more in this column, “One Fish, Two Fish, Mercury in Your Fish.”

So what should you buy? First and foremost, buy what you like, and quite simply, get what’s fresh. You are far better off going to the grocery and choosing a great piece of fish and THEN coming home and picking a recipe than you would be if you said “I am going to have salmon tonight.” If the salmon doesn’t look great, choose another fish that does and then choose the recipe.

If you are not used to eating fish, here’s a list of the recipes on the site that use fish. Most all of these fish are easy to find these days in the grocery store and are they’re all good for you. Print it out and take it with you so that you can begin trying a new fish each time you go to the grocery.

Halibut

Halibut with Basil Pea Puree
Halibut with Curry Butter and Snap Peas
Halibut with Dill Pesto Orzo
Halibut with Rosemary Maple Glaze
Halibut with Seven Spices

Grouper

Filet of Grouper with Four Onion Marmalade
Grouper with Caramelized Shallot Horseradish Sauce
Grouper with Horseradish Glaze
Pistachio Crusted Grouper Braised in Curry

Salmon

Orange Dill Salmon
Roasted Salmon with Corn Relish
Saffron Salmon Risotto
Salmon in Parchment with Mangoes
Salmon with Caper Mayonnaise
Salmon with Parmesan Crust
Salmon with Red Thai Curry Sauce

Trout

Baked Cumin Trout with Squash and Pumpkin Seeds
Pumpkin-Crusted Trout

Tuna

Braised Tuna with Ginger and Plum Sauce
Sweet Red Pepper Barbecue Tuna
Seared Tuna with Saki-Wasabi Sauce
Tuna with Ancho Fig Sauce
Tuna with Wasabi Pea Crust

Other Fish

Blackened Redfish
Oven Fried Fish
Rockfish with Lemon Caper Butter
Sole in Parchment with Vegetables and Mushroom Sauce
Sea Bass with White Beans and Tomato Vinaigrette

Even if you don’t have the time to cook one of these recipes, fish is one of the quickest and easiest meals that you can make. Simply preheat the oven to 375°F and place a pan inside. While the oven is heating sprinkle each 4 ounce fish filet with about 1/8 tsp. salt and then pepper if you like. Sprinkle about 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon of your favorite herb over the top.

When the oven is hot, spray the pan lightly with olive oil and then place the fish in the pan in the oven. After it has cooked for about 4 minutes on one side turn the fish and drizzle about a teaspoon of olive oil over the top. In another four minutes or so your fish is done. Squeeze a little lemon over the top and you are ready to eat! That’s less time than it takes to make a frozen pizza in the microwave.

What should I have in my kitchen?

Shrimp

Shrimp is quick and easy and delicious. Shrimp does have a a lot of cholesterol but that is not as much of a problem as you might think. It is very low in fat (especially saturated fat) and the more important thing in a healthy diet is not eating less cholesterol but limiting the amount of saturated fat.

Try not to purchase shrimp unless you are going use it pretty quickly. To keep it fresh use a medium sized plastic container that fitted with a steamer basket. Place ice in the steamer and then the shrimp on top of the ice. There’s room left over for the lid to seal the container tightly. The ice then melts into the bottom of the container so the shrimp don’t get water-logged. (More on choosing shrimp.) Try this shrimp recipe, Shrimp Primavera with Angel Hair Pasta.

Sea Scallops

Sea scallops are sweet, succulent, meaty and so satisfying. You should make sea scallops a part of your regular menus. A four ounce serving of scallops has only 100 calories and less than a gram of fat.

Sea scallops are widely available fresh these days. They should be a translucent creamy color (some are slightly pink). It’s best to look for scallops labeled “chemical free” because treated scallops have a bitter taste. For more on scallops visit the sea scallops ingredient page.

Bay Scallops

Certainly bay scallops are related to sea scallops, but there’s a great difference in choosing them as well as how they taste. In the 1980s most of the population of true bay scallops were killed off by a toxic algae.

Most of what is available today are “calico” scallops that are from the coast of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. These don’t have the same sweetness that Atlantic bay scallops are famous for. It’s very hard to find fresh bay scallops and what is in your fish counter have likely been thawed. Ask when they were and look for the same creamy white and translucent color as with sea scallops.

Like sea scallops, bay scallops are very good for you. Low in fat and calories but full of taste, like this Bay Scallops with White Wine and Herbed Butter recipe.

Mussels

Mussels are a fantastic choice. They are quick and easy to cook. They are inexpensive and you can use them in almost any recipe that you might use clams. Mussels are low in fat, calories and cholesterol and oh, so tasty. One pound of mussels in the shell is about 3.5 ounces of edible fish and there’s less than 100 calories with under 2 grams of fat (so eat a couple pounds if you like).

Most mussels that you will find in the grocery are grown on farms. They are cultivated on long ropes along coastlines and in tidal pools or bays. The most common variety is the blue mussel, which has a dark blue to almost black shell.

Mussels, like all live shellfish, need to be kept ice cold. Buy mussels only at fish counters where the other fish looks fresh. Look for clean mussels with tightly closed shells – open shells indicate that the mussel might be dead. Don’t buy mussels with chipped or broken shells.

Clams

Speaking of clams… These are also a great choice. Like mussels, they are low in fat and calories and are widely available now. They are great simply steamed but also wonderful in any fish soup, chowder or fish stew. Also like mussels you want to purchase clams as close to the time that you are going to cook them as possible. Keeping them sitting on top of a bed of ice will keep them fresh a lot longer.

Crab

It’s so easy to purchase crabmeat and let someone else do the work. You’ll find it sold in a variety of forms, but crabmeat will keep for only a few days in your refrigerator.

Lump crab is whole pieces of crab claws and the white body meat. Flaked crab is the smaller bits of both dark and light meat from both the claws and the body of the crab. The former is tastier and makes the best crab cakes. Pasteurized crabmeat is packed in cans and will keep much longer – about 12 to 18 months. The flavor of pasteurized crabmeat is not fresh tasting at all, so it’s best to simply avoid buying it.

As with other crustaceans like shrimp and lobster, crabs do have a moderate amount of cholesterol, but they are very low in calories and saturated fat. The key is to pair crabs in recipes with good fats like olive oil. Try this Crab and Corn Salad for a good example.

 

Veal

Veal is not as widely available and is more expensive. In some cases we have recipes using other ingredients as with the Chicken Piccata. This is traditionally done with cutlets of veal that cut from the leg and have been pounded into scallops (scallopini if you are Italian). Chicken breasts are accessible to everyone thus the decision to substitute them for veal. There are a lot of recipes, however, that you could use veal scallopini in by simply substituting veal for the chicken (Chicken Tarragon Mustard Cream or Vineyard Chicken).

Because most cuts of veal are so lean, they are quite low in fat and calories. Four ounces of veal cutlets cut from the leg has only 120 calories and 2 grams of fat. At the same time the lean meat has much less flavor than beef. As such veal is really a “vehicle” for other flavors — one wouldn’t eat grilled veal sirloin without sauce or other flavoring in the same way you might with beef sirloin steak.

Both  veal sirloin and veal chops can be substituted easily for other cuts of beef and pork. Try using veal sirloin steak or veal chops with recipes such as Lemon Pork with Lentils, Pork Chops with Caramelized Apples or Skirt Steak with Sautéed Mushrooms.

Venison

Four ounces of venison tenderloin is only 167 calories and 2.6 grams of fat (just at 1 gram of saturated fat). Most all cuts of deer meat will be similarly low in calories and fat whether loin steaks, shoulder or top round. Even ground venison is quite lean. A quarter pound burger has only 176 calories and 8 grams of fat compared to lean ground beef at 197 calories and 11 grams of fat. Here’s a great venison burger recipe: Southwest Venison Burger.

Liver

Of course this is everyone’s favorite so you are probably wondering about it.

The odds are against liver being something that you care very much about, but there are those who do like liver a great deal. Because there’s a lot of cholesterol in liver, there’s a lot of confusion about whether you can eat it. Liver does contain a lot of cholesterol, with a 4 ounce serving having 374 mg. However, the good news is that dietary cholesterol – the cholesterol you eat – doesn’t have nearly as much impact on your cholesterol scores as the amount of saturated fat in your diet. Read more about this: Should I be concerned about the amount of cholesterol in foods?

Calf’s liver and it’s very low in fat and saturated fat (5 grams fat and 2 grams saturated fat in 4 ounces). The key, as with most healthy cooking, is to reduce the amount of saturated fat that you use to cook your liver in. There are two recipes on the website that illustrate this. In both recipes there’s very little fat used in cooking the liver, and the butter in the Liver with Onion and Apple recipe is used sparingly, mainly for flavor. (See also Fegato Alla Toscana.)

Lamb

The most popular cut by far these days in America are lamb chops.  Trimmed to 1/8 inch fat, 4 ounces of lamb chops still has about 383 calories and 34 grams of fat (15 grams saturated fat). Save eating lamb chops for special occasions — usually at a restaurant (hey, if you are going to splurge, splurge!).

Lamb shoulder is a great cut for many uses. Sometimes lamb shoulder can be harder to find, but it’s worth looking for or asking for it to be ordered in for you. Shoulder steaks are leaner and have all the great lamb flavor with only 148 calories in a 4 ounce serving (6 grams fat and 2 grams saturated fat). The shoulder steak is wonderfully tender and could be used in almost any recipe calling for beef steak. Likewise, lamb shoulder makes great cubes for kabobs and stews (Turkish Lamb with Saffron Rice and Peas).

Pork

A favorite cut of pork is the tenderloin. This is juicy and succulent and quite lean. There’s so many great recipes that you can use this cut for — it can make for an elegant dinner party meal (Pork Tenderloin with Balsamic Port Sauce) or an outdoor barbecue (Mojo Pork Tenderloin).

Center cut loin pork chops are low in fat and calories. Likewise, the pork loin itself makes for a great roast and is also relatively low in fat and calories when carefully trimmed (Shiitaki and Cranberry Stuffed Pork Loin).