Sunday, January 25, 2009

Commitments to Being Healthy

Going to cooking school is hard. You are probably thinking, all the burns, the standing on your feet, the endless repetition. You are wrong; it is the endless consumption of food, good food, but fatty and rich (most of the time.) So this year is a fresh start and that means battling my cooking school consumption. How will I do it? Cook more…. By cooking at home, I can make healthy and flavorful meals. I don’t really think it terms of healthy, but what I enjoy eating. It just so happens this recipe is both healthy and delicious. I used the recipe from Martha Stewart Living. Asian fish en papillote contains in its pouch wild fluke with bok choy, lime, hot chili, and cilantro. I made a side of rice (I used brown) with shitake mushroom and scallions. I added a few touches to bump up the flavor. I sautéed the shitakes in sesame oil.
And I also add a splash of soy sauce to the papillote which when cooked creates a balanced sauce.
I make extra brown rice and mushroom so I can make fried rice the next day, with veggies and tofu. 2 healthy meals in one.
Here are the recipes:

Fish en papillote
Serves 4
Zest from 2 limes, finely shredded
3 limes juiced
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 piece (2 inches) ginger, peeled and julienned
1 medium red onion, halved and thinly sliced
2 mild to spicy red chilies, halved
4 fillets (6 oz ach) black bass, halibut, or striped bass (I used fluke)
4 head baby bok choy
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
8 sprigs fresh cilantro

1. Preheat oven to 450. Mix lime zest and juice, garlic, ginger, onion and chilies in a medium bowl. Fold four 20-inh pieces of parchment in half lengthwise. Unfold and place 1 fillet and 1 head of bok choy along each crease. Rub both with 2 tablespoons oil, and season with salt and pepper. Top each fillet with some onion mixture and 2 sprigs of cilantro. (Here is where I sprinkled a little soy sauce over the top.)
2. Fold parchment over fish, making small overlapping folds along the edges and sealing with a paper clip. Place on rimmed baking sheet. Roast until parchment puffs, 10-12 minutes. Carefully cut packets, avoiding escaping steam and serve.

Jasmine Rice with Shitakes and Scallions
1 ½ cups water
1 cup jasmine rice, rinsed well
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and pepper
4 oz shitake mushrooms, stems discarded, caps cut into ¼ inch thick slices
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon rice-wine vinegar
1 scallion cut into 2 inch-long pieces, thinly sliced lengthwise

1. Bring water and rice to a boil in a small pot. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until water is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in 1 tablespoon oil, and seasons with salt and pepper. Cover and let stand.
2. Meanwhile, heat remaining oil (I used a little sesame oil) in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add shitakes in a single layer, and cook, stirring often until browned and crisp, about 3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 2 minutes more. Add garlic and cook until light golden brown. Stir in vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Transfer rice to a platter, top with shitake mixture and sprinkle with scallions.

14 comments:

Dewi said...

I can eat like this every single day. It's healthy and delicious.
Cheers,
Elra

Heather said...

ahh. i love jasmine rice, and i also adore cooking stuff in paper - it is such a lovely way to steam in so much flavor! lovely recipes!!

Anonymous said...

Mmm.. papillote is one of my favorite way to cook fish and i love your recipe for jasmine rice and shitakes. Sounds so tasty! I need to eat more healthy too but with the freezing-cold weather and restaurant week... i just can't!

Next month maybe. :-)

Jessica@Foodmayhem said...

I love the pic of the shitakes on rice.

BTW, I thought I was going to get really fat in culinary school but it ended up being the thinnest time in my life. I ate so much so I'm not sure how that happened but...

Dee said...

I really need to get healthier this year. I think we're doing pretty okay, lotsa greens and steamed red rice usually. However, as I write this there's a brown butter pear and chocolate cake in the oven.

Cooking school sounds so much more fun than my accountancy classe were. And I love the fish en papillote - it's like unwrapping a gift at dinner :)

Manger La Ville said...

I know restaurant week is soo great. Unfortunately, I can't make it to all the one's I wanted to try: Eleven Madison, Del Posto etc...

Manger La Ville said...

Jessica: you are so lucky, that cooking school had the opposite effect. I never knew you went. Did you go in the city?

Jessica@Foodmayhem said...

I went to Art Institute, formerly NY Restaurant School 6 or 7 years ago. I wanted to tell you (after reading your profile) that I also went to NYU for my undergraduate degree.

Vera said...

What a great dish, Abby!

Manger La Ville said...

Jessica: that is awesome. I never knew. I would love to know what you are doing now. How did you integrate food and career together? ---but perhaps we will continue through email.

grace said...

truly, the idea of cooking anything in a bag thrills me. so rustic, yet so clever and useful and effective. :)

Ric Leichtung said...

why haven't you made this for me?

Manger La Ville said...

RIC: because I didn't think you would like it. BUt now I will.

Anonymous said...

Looks like a delicious work of art :).