Mustard-Roasted Fish

Monday evening we made another very easy fish dish out of Ina’s Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics cookbook.  I really like this cookbook, the recipes are simple but unique and interesting.  I do not prepare much fish at home.  I love fish but often struggle to find easy recipes that add a lot of flavor.  As a result my family eats a lot of roasted salmon, which is delicious and healthy, but can get redundant and boring.  I also find it difficult to find fish recipes that my children will enjoy. Charlie my assistant cook and picky eater really enjoyed this one.  It was so easy!!!!  I also loved the presentation of it…it looked professional. 🙂

Charlie and I decided that with such a strong flavorful sauce we would just serve sauteed kale as our side dish to this entree.  Charlie loves sauteed kale.  The key is to saute garlic in olive oil before adding the kale and then add lemon juice, kosher salt and pepper.  We always turn off the heat before it gets too soggy.  It doesn’t take much time at all.

This is a great week night dish to prepare.  If the fish counter at your store does not have red snapper you may substitute sole.  I prefer dover sole, the thinner the fish the more it absorbs the mustard sauce.  Enjoy!

Mustard-Roasted Fish

Ingredients

• 4 (8-ounce) fish fillets such as red snapper
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 8 ounces creme fraiche
• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard
• 2 tablespoons minced shallots
• 2 teaspoons drained capers

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. (You can also use an ovenproof baking dish.) Place the fish fillets skin side down on the sheet pan. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.

Combine the creme fraiche, 2 mustards, shallots, capers, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a small bowl. Spoon the sauce evenly over the fish fillets, making sure the fish is completely covered. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish, until it’s barely done. (The fish will flake easily at the thickest part when it’s done.) Be sure not to overcook it! Serve hot or at room temperature with the sauce from the pan spooned over the top.

Linguine with Shrimp Scampi

Sunday evening we had a lot to celebrate.  My husband was home after two and a half weeks in Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Atty was honored “Most Improved” on the Lakeside Girls Golf Team at her season end barbeque and we had invited my mother to join us for a relaxing dinner and opportunity to catch up.  I went to my cookbooks and looked for a recipe that would please everyone.  We have had a lot of meat and chicken lately so I was intrigued by Ina’s Linguine with Shrimp Scampi.  My mother has always loved pastas with seafood and my huband had not had a homecook meal in a while so I thought this would be perfect.  Peter was kind enough to join me at the grocery store, jet lag and all, and he came up with the idea to serve this with a Caprese salad. We purchased all of the ingredients along with a baquette of bread and were good to go.

I chose this recipe in part to the fact that it was a quick and easy to prepare.  Both Peter and I were out at our children’s events all Sunday afternoon and I wanted something that I could easily prepare while entertaining that did not require much prep time.  Unfortunately my mother had to cancel at the last minute, she is undergoing chemotherapy and was not feeling well enough to join us.  We were sad to miss her, she is such a good sport given all that she is going through, God bless her. I still went ahead with the meal for my little family.

You will definately want to buy the pre-shelled deveined shrimp, it makes the meal very easy to throw together quickly.  The parsley, garlic and lemon make a delicious accompaniment to the shrimp and linguini.  Ina’s recipe asks for 1 and a 1/2 pounds of linquine but next time I will make it with just 1 pound of pasta as I like the shrimp to pasta ratio to be more equal.

Everyone ate it up and we enjoyed conversation and laughter at the table.  Once again a one pot meal made easy.  This recipe can be found in Barefoot Contessa Family Style. Enjoy!

Linguine with Shrimp Scampi

Ingredients

Vegetable oil

Kosher salt

1 ½ pounds linguine

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter

6 tablespoons good olive oil

3 tablespoons (9 cloves) minced garlic

2 pounds large shrimp (about 32), peeled and deveined

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

¾ cup of chopped parsley

Grated zest of 1 lemon

½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (4 lemons)

½ lemon, thinly sliced in half-rounds

¼ teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

 

Directions

Drizzle some oil in a large pot of boiling salted water, add 1 tablespoon of salt and the linguine and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, or according to the directions on the package.

 

Meanwhile, in another large (12-inch), heavy bottomed pan, melt the butter and olive oil over medium-low heat.  Add the garlic. Sauté for 1 minute.  Be careful, the garlic burns easily! Add the shrimp, 1 tablespoon of salt, and the pepper and sauté until the shrimp have just turned pink, about 5 minutes, stirring often.  Remove from the heat, add the parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon slices, and red pepper flakes.  Toss to combine.

 

When pasta is done, drain the cooked linguine and then put it back in the pot.  Immediately add the shrimp and sauce, toss well, and serve.