Tuesday, 17 March 2015

Free to roam oven baked fish recipe

I'm only calling it this because I had the idea to pop something in the oven and then hit the hills for a little head-clearing walk.  I have enough energy to walk a hill, which I guess is also news.

Anyway, I though I'd put it all in a pan together, but then remembered I'd purchased some parchment bags.  The devious mother brain kicked in, and I thought that they'd likely enjoy the novelty of dinner in a sack so much that they might not realize they were portioned a few more veggies than they might normally take.  I don't usually fuss over how many veggies they get, but after a wee road trip, there were a few snacks to counteract with a little extra nutrition--normally, the veggies are there, they eat them, we carry on...

As for novelty, I thought if the smaller fry were to help load the bags that would add some fun into the prep too, and I take every chance I can get to show (rather than tell) them how to get a healthy meal going.  Each bag got a label - their idea.  Then we started putting them together, and I preheated the oven to 350, in this order (because I wanted the seasoning to concentrate on the fish):

Two frozen, unseasoned fillets of sole per bag, bigger ones for bigger appetites, smaller for smaller...
One sprig fresh rosemary, another of parsley
A tablespoon and a bit of butter
Salt, pepper, and a shake of turmeric for each
Broccolette stalk or two
Handful of frozen whole green and yellow beans, and a couple of tiny carrots
About half of a giant shallot (sometimes they're tiny, I'd have used two whole ones, halved)
about 4-5 raw, organic almonds

While filling them, Middle Man thought the dish rack would be ideal, and he was right...it held them at the ready. Once they were sorted I folded the top over with sharp creases in the paper to make sure the steam wouldn't escape.  35 minutes seems to work, but I had the feeling they would have been tolerant of more time, like say, if someone were late to dinner... We made sure to organize them onto a cookie sheet so there would be no drips to light on fire in the oven.  We had a watcher while we walked, and set the timer for 10 minute intervals to check on the paper. (We're keen to make sure we don't have any more kitchen fires - because seeing flames soaring from a pot of burning butter is memorable!)

These little bags did turn out to be fun, and took only a bit of caution to open onto our plates.  No one complained about pots or pans that were hard to scrub, and the dishes were done in nearly record time. I felt better for the walk in the fresh air, and have even done a few loads of laundry today, so it was a fairly carefree day of getting lots done, exercising and eating well.

Cheers and chao!



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