Salmon with Lime Butter

BEST OF THE TASTY CHEAPSKATE

Remember how I promised to post something that was NOT chocolate or bread this week. Well, I almost broke that promise because I am a dirty liar. And because I made this little beauty of a cake for a reading I participated in. It wasn't even expensive.

But then I remembered that I am an individual of strong moral character who does not only eat chocolate. In fact, I don't usually eat chocolate cake. (It's just that when I do, it's very good chocolate cake and I always want to share it with you.)

Anyway, I was this close to breaking my promise and becoming a person of low moral character (the horror!).

But then I remembered this salmon with lime butter. It is so beautiful, so decadent-without-breaking-the-bank. And I thought that maybe, maybe you could also still love me if I posted this amazing salmon instead of another chocolate recipe. Try the salmon, and I think you will.

The great thing about salmon is that it's almost indisputably healthy. Low-carbers, low-cal-ers. Natural foodists. A lot of people can get behind it.

It is not the cheapest meat on the market, but I can quite regularly find wild-caught salmon between $4-6/pound. Anymore, that's not so much more than plain, old ground beef.

And if I still haven't convinced you, let me say this: You can get this fish, plus rice, plus roasted broccoli on the table in 20 minutes. And for such a meal that you would drop a good amount of change for at a restaurant (as in close to $100 for 4 people), you will pay a mere $7.00 to feed your family of four ($5--salmon, $.50--2 cups rice, $1.50--1 pound broccoli. I just googled the Walmart prices at grocery.walmart.com so I'm not even making this up). That's $1.75/person.

Salmon with Lime Butter
Adapted from 365 Ways to Cook Chicken
Serves 4
Prep and cook time: 15 minutes
Cost: $5.00
(salmon: 4.00, butter: .50, lime: .50)

1 Tbsp olive oil
4 salmon fillets
6 Tbsp butter
juice from one lime (about 2 Tbsp)
zest if desired
dill and chives for garnish

Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add fillets and cook about 4 minutes on each side. When fish is cooked through and can be easily flaked with a fork, take it off the heat.

Remove the salmon to a plate and keep warm (I usually just put another plate over top of it.) Wipe out pan. (This is necessary. If you leave the drippings from the oil, the butter-lime concoction will separate.) Allow the pan to cool for a minute. If you don't do this as soon as you add the lime juice it will bubble up and evaporate.

Return your pan to the burner on low heat. Add the lime juice. When it begins to bubble, stir in the butter (and zest if using). Raise the heat a bit and stir until the butter runs clear (or nearly so). This takes a couple of minutes. Remove it from the heat. If you let it get much hotter, the butter will separate.

Pour it over the salmon. Garnish with chives and dill and serve.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Fire Roasted Fish Soup

White fish, tomato-y, coconut broth, and a little heat. That warms up my little heart just writing it. Seriously, in the winter, I really tend to crave that combo of acid, heat, creamy. And a little protein doesn't hurt either.

This soup is simple and so so good. It's also something different to do with fish when you're bored of the dill and lemon routine. It's also a great way to eat fish without it being so fishy if you and yourn have trouble with fish.

As a cheapskate, it's a great way to use cheap fish without it tasting cheap (we used tilapia, but I've also use swai, which is super cheap for fish). This dish is also the perfect place for leftover fish. I hate it when we wind up with, like, 1 1/2 fillets of fish. It can't really feed the family again, and it starts to taste fishy as a leftover. Well, let me tell you, this is the PERFECT place for that to go.

Soups like this also strike me as inherently romantic--creamy, hot, sophisticated with a piece of rustic bread torn from the loaf and then dipped into the soup. Tactile. Comforting. Sigh. (Note: This type of soup does not strike Kip as inherently romantic. His idea of romance is more like a nice big steak with a potato and maybe even a fun trip to Golden Corral. Why, yes, we do have to take turns choosing restaurants for our anniversaries--why do you ask?)

Fire Roasted Fish Soup
adapted from Tasty Trix
Serves 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Cost: $3.55
onion: .15, peppers: .30, tomatoes: 1.00, broth: .10, coconut milk: .75, bouillon: .10, fish: 2.00-4.00 (we used less than the recipe calls for and I liked it best that way--thus the $2), other stuff: .15

Note: I only use about half this much fish. I like the soup brothy-er. This is also the perfect place for leftover fish. Just throw it in at the end of cooking.

1 white or yellow onion, diced
1-2 hot peppers (if you're wimpy like me, this can be a jalapeno; if you're brave/crazy you can go super hot with something like a habanero)
1-2 Tbsp peanut oil
16 oz fire roasted tomatoes (or plain old diced tomatoes if you're in a pinch)
1/2 C chicken broth
1/2 can coconut milk (that's 7 ounces)
1/2 tsp chicken bouillon granules
several springs fresh thyme
1 pound white fish (or less; we can make do with much less)
salt and pepper to taste

Roast the peppers until they're charred. You can do this under the broiler if you'd like, but if this is the type of first step that makes you want to run, screaming, to McDonald's, then just give those peppers a hot saute (cut 'em up, put them in a pan, and cook on high or medium high).  Remove some or all of the seeds depending on the type of peppers used and your own wimpiness levels. Now add those onions to some oil and cook them until they soften. Puree the peppers and onion with 1/2 the tomatoes (if your family doesn't like chunky broths, then just puree it all--this is what I did).

In a stock pot, put broth, remaining tomatoes (if you didn't puree them), coconut milk, chicken bouillon granules, and thyme. Bring to a simmer. Add in the pureed mixture bit by bit, tasting as you go if you're worried it'll get too hot from the peppers (if you used wimpy peppers like me, you're fine). Add salt and pepper to taste, and allow to simmer for another 5-10 minutes. Now add your fish and simmer another 10 minutes. Just plop that fish in there raw and it will cook up in the broth without becoming overcooked and gummy as fish can sometimes do.

Serve with a nice rustic bread or a plop of rice right into the soup.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Cilantro Cream Sauce for Fish Tacos

So at the end of the year when Kip and I ordered 2 (TWO) years worth of pictures, which came to us in haphazard order, I begged him to add that date feature to our camera. And then when these food bloggy pictures came up, I thought, "Oh yeah." So until I remember to ask my electronic genius of a husband to remove it (because I am electronically remedial), you'll get that lovely date on my pictures. Alas.

But nevermind my photographing and electronic insecurities. Let's talk about fish. Fish is easy and fast. Tacos are easy and fast. It's a heavenly match. I mean, seriously, this is amazing and healthy dinner in less than 15 minutes. But if you top it with something nasticular because you don't know what you're doing, then you will be sad. So top it with something good and still easy.

I came across this little recipe in a cookbook called The Picky Palate, which is great (though not at all, in my humble and rather experienced opinion, at all for picky palates). It's lovely and cooling and simple. We used it over tilapia, but I plan to use the rest this week over shrimp. I think it would work over any basic, mild white fish.

You'll cook your fish first. I did my tilapia for just about 3 minutes a side in a skillet with simple olive oil. Then you add this. You can leave it just fish and sauce in your taco or add shredded cabbage, avocado (which is wicked good with this) slivers of red peppers, or cooked peppers and onions (my choice).

Cilantro Cream Sauce for Fish Tacos
adapted from The Picky Palate
prep time: 3 minutes
Cost: $.40
sour cream: .25, cilantro: .10, other stuff: .05

4 oz sour cream
1/2 C finely chopped cilantro leaves
1/4 tsp hot sauce (or a dash or two of cayenne pepper)
1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper
1/2-1 tsp lime juice

Combine all ingredients. Use as a topping for flaked fish or shrimp.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Lime Salmon

Another quick, non-heat-your-kitchen-unbearably-up, 30 minute meal (this can be a 15 minute meal if you've got instant rice). This salmon was really simple, but very flavorful and we loved it. 

I realize that fish isn't the cheapest food on the planet, but one thing I love about it is that it pairs well with very cheap foods (like rice). So even though the salmon is going to cost $6.20 to make (that's with Walmart wild caught salmon), the rice will only be about $.50 and if you add a vegetable like broccoli, there's another $1.00 (to feed about four). 

Lime Salmon

adapted from greenlitebites

Serves 4

prep time: 5 minutes

cook time: 10 minutes

Cost: $6.20

salmon: 6.00, lime: .15 (Asian store price), other stuff: .05

4 salmon fillets

2-3 Tbsp lime juice, plus a few scrapes of zest (this is about 1 lime)

1 tsp dried cilantro (or 1 Tbsp fresh; or if you don't have either of those, use 1/2 tsp ground coriander--that's what I used)

1 Tbsp honey

olive oil

pat butter

Combine  lime juice, zest, and honey. Let salmon marinate in this while you get your rice (or potatoes or whatever) cooking. 

When you're ready to cook your fish (it takes about 10 minutes), heat some olive oil in a pan. Add the salmon fillets. Cook on one side for 3-4 minutes. Flip. When you flip, pour the remaining marinade over everything. Cook another 3-4 minutes or until the salmon is flaky and has some color from the cooking and the marinade. During the last minutes of cooking, add a tiny bit of butter to each filet.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Summer Fried Rice

So we had this lovely spring--cool and wet-enough-but-not-too-wet and green. And then Wednesday it was 95 degrees. Naturally that was the day I signed up to help at my son's scout camp. By the end of the day I was ready to kick the camp announcer/director guy in the shins. Judging from the way he made the entire camp stand on a shade-less hill for 20 minutes waiting for the flag ceremony to begin at the devilishly hot hour of 3:00, and and then gave 20 more minutes of announcements after that, I'm guessing he'd spent most of the day in the air conditioned scout building. Seriously, if I hadn't been about to faint away, I might have marched right up and given him a piece of my mind. When Mark and I got home, we ate ice cream. And let me tell you--it was not cold enough for me.

And then I had to make dinner. I made a simple one--fish, rice, corn on the cob, and watermelon. And I was glad I did because eating a nice, light, 20-minute meal felt better and more restorative than lying on the couch and hooking myself and my kids up with IV's of peanut butter (not that there's anything wrong with that).

But all that isn't really the point of this post (tell me you're shocked). The point of this post is to say that we had a couple of cooked fish fillets left over, a bit of rice, and a cob of cooked corn leftover. Now, I don't know about you, but I can't stand day-after fish. And cooked and reheated corn on the cob isn't really my thing either. You know, now that we're confessing things, I'm going to have to say that plain old leftover rice doesn't exactly rock my world either. And I couldn't pawn any of it off on Kip for lunch the next day.

So today I whipped out a frying pan, heated oil, and threw everything into it with some soy sauce (and some fresh chives that were sitting there on my windowsill). I thought it would be decent, but it was awesome. I could have been more creative or colorful  or healthy. I could have chopped up a few more vegetables or herbs. But I didn't need to. It was delicious. It was light, fairly healthy, and wonderfully satisfying. No nasty day-after-fish taste. No wrinkled, sad corn on the cob, no dry rice. It was that same light summery fish meal, but refurbished. You should do this too. In fact, you might even want to cook extra fish, rice, and vegetable one night just so you can have a (quite literally) five minute dinner of awesomeness the next night. I double dog dare you. And you don't even have to spend seven hours in 95 degree heat to deserve it.

Summer Fried Rice--a template of sorts
serves 4 (lightly)
Prep time: 1 minute
Cook time: 5 minutes
Cost: $6.50 (or about $1.60/serving)
fish: 5:00, rice: .50, corn: 1.00

Note: This can, of course, be made from scratch; and would be well worth it and still be a 30-minute meal. However, if you just make a little more one night when cooking fish (yeah, any fish) and rice, you can have a butt-kicky five minute meal the next night (or even the night after that). Also, fried rice is always a little better with leftover rice.

4-6 fish fillets (I used tilapia)
2-4 C cooked rice
2-4 cobs corn, cooked (or not--it'd work either way because they'll cook quickly in the pan)
1-4 Tbsp oil
soy sauce
chives (optional, but dang good and gives a little color)

For Leftover Meal:

Put oil in a pan and heat till shimmering. Add rice and toss with a spatula so that the oil gets on the rice. Add soy sauce (not too much; you can always add more; I'm sorry I didn't measure it; I didn't know this meal would be so awesome).

Chunk up your fish and add that. (Your fish, if already cooked is also already seasoned and that keeps the meal from needing too much extra seasoning.)

Cut the corn off the cob and add that.

Add a bit more soy sauce. (Garlic, ginger, etc. would also be lovely contributions, but mine was simple and still delightful.)

Snip in some chives if you can.

Remove when it's all hot and awesome. Eat.

Serve a salad on the side if you'd like to over-achieve.

For From-Scratch Meal:

Add 2 C rice to 4 C water. Cover. Bring to a simmer. (Note: I use less rice than this (about half), but if you like a lot of rice in your fried rice, then go for it.)

As rice cooks, heat butter in a skillet. Add fish. Season with celery salt, dill, and pepper.

Remove corn from husks. (Just use a sharp knife and cut down the sides.)

When rice and fish are cooked, remove fish from skillet and chunk it. Throw corn into skillet for 1-2 minutes. Add a bit more oil to skillet. Throw in 2-4 C rice (I prefer less, so I have more meat, corn, etc). Stir to coat with oil (by which I don't mean 'coat' as in get every piece of rice doused in oil, but to get more than just the bottom level of rice so it has some oil on it). Add soy sauce. Cook, stirring occasionally for a couple minutes. Add fish and stir. Add chives or whatever seasonings you want. Taste, adjust seasonings. Eat.

Fish, Chips, and Squash Fritters

I don't fry a lot. When I was growing up, frying was strictly verboden. We were a household that had fat-free butter. My dad regularly ate egg whites--just egg whites cooked up in a non-stick pan (what did we do with all those yolks?). Go '80s. It's not just the hairdos that leave one shuddering. Anyway, we would have sausage or bacon on Christmas and maybe Easter. That was about it. I remember my mom frying things maybe 2 or 3 times, although she may have done it a bit more when I was young. So even though I no longer consider fat evil, I'm not really very experienced at submerging things in it.

Yet...Kip and I love fish and chips. We usually get them at a restaurant because, although I've tried homemade ones a few times, they always come out (edible, yes, but) sort of bready and not even close to the thing we're really after. And they always take an hour. In fact, while I'm on this little topic, let me take a moment to vent about my pet peeve with frying in general--I hate having 3 stupid bowls--one for the flour stuff, one for the eggs, one for the milk, and then trying to dip my whatever in all three bowls and winding up with batter crusted hands and a huge crusty counter mess and all those dang bowls to clean afterwards. And then to get a mediocre product at the end, well, it was enough to send me running for Bonefish Grill.

No more.

Because these are the best fried fish you'll ever make. I might as well be wandering around the streets of San Francisco eating them out of a little basket for how good they are.

And they are easy. Easy easy easy easy. Sing it with me. You make one batter. You dip them in. You put them in oil. They cook. You eat. It's lovely.

I got the recipe from Food.com and I cannot change a thing. I should warn you, though, that there were many many comments about the batter sliding off if people didn't pat their fish perfectly dry. And now I should confess to you that I completely forgot to pat my fish dry at all (I read the comments after making this) and that my batter didn't even begin to slide off. I don't know why people had issues with this, although I wonder if it had to do with the temperature of their oil. To test your oil, drop a bit of batter in. It should sizzle and immediately begin to float to the top and then just keep gently cooking. It should not turn instantly brown and it should not just sink to the bottom and hang out there for a few minutes. If you have an instant read thermometer, my oil was at about 260-270 when the food was in it (though I forgot to check its before temp, I'm guessing it was about that). If your oil isn't hot enough, the batter will slide off because it will sort of disperse into your too cool oil.

We served our fish with these oven fries and dipped it in this, though this would have been incredible too. It was just awesome. In fact, it was so awesome that when I realized I had some extra batter, I chopped some squash into it, and fried that up too. I liked that so much that a few nights later, I made some squash fritters and actually wrote down some instructions for the rest of you. Ah yes, another way to conquer your squash (although not quite as calorie-free and, thus, '80s approved as this soup was).

Golden Battered Fish
from Food
Prep and cook time: 30 minutes
Cost: $4.70
tilapia: $4, flour: .10, oil: .60

4 tilapia fillets, cut in half along the dark line in the middle (this makes them skinnier, not flatter--so you'll have 8 long skinny-ish fillets, not 8 flat, wide fillets)
2/3 C flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp vinegar
2/3 C water

Note: This is a very basic batter. You could season it with cayenne, pepper, dill, or whatever you choose. I, myself, being in pure rebellion against '80s cooking, chose to leave mine simple and dip them in a mayonnaise-based sauce. Ha.

Heat a sturdy pan with oil. I used a 12-inch cast iron skillet. I used vegetable oil (peanut, corn, or canola would also work--as, I believe, would coconut). You only need about 2 inches of oil. Heat it until it's about 270 degrees (or the point at which you can drop some batter in and have it sizzle and float to the top).

While it heats, combine flour and salt in medium sized bowl.

Combine baking soda and vinegar. It's going to bubble up and then simmer down. Add 1/3 C water to this and stir just a turn or two.

Add that to the flour and then add the other 1/3 C water. Whisk your batter (with a whisk) until it's smooth (or nearly).

Test your oil. Drop a dollop of batter in. It should sizzle and immediately float to the top. If it doesn't do this, give your oil a few more minutes to warm up (or cool down) because if you put these into your oil too soon, you could ruin them.

Dip your fish into your batter. The batter will coat the fish. Place the fish into the oil. Unless you want your arms to look like you've been making fries at McDonald's for years, please be careful. Your battered fish is going to sizzle and spit. On my first round, I played it dangerous and used my hands to do this. I held the very end tip of the fish and gently placed it in the oil--you DO NOT want splashing oil. (To flip the fish, I wised up and got some long BBQ tongs. That was less stressful as I was much further from the oil, although I'm not sure if the tongs would have caused the raw fish to tear or break apart...)

After the batter on the bottom of your fish is a dark golden color (and the top will be cooked, but not dark golden), flip the fish. Use tongs if you're clever. It should be mostly cooked, so flipping should be pretty easy with tongs. Cook the other side until it is dark golden.

Place fish on a paper towel-lined plate and, for goodness sake, let them cool a few minutes before you bite it or you will burn your tongue and be unable to test any of this goodness for the rest of the night.

Squash Fritters

Note: If you like your fritters a little on the sweet side, add 1 Tbsp of sugar to the flour mixture. I made mine sans sugar and dipped them in a savory sauce.

You can make these with some extra batter (or whip up a batch on all its own). You can actually put whatever the heck kind of veggie you wish inside of them: corn, broccoli, whatever, or--you know--chunks of cheese for the particularly fat-conscious. We used yellow squash and it was great. If you'd like an actual recipe, here you go.

2/3 C flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2-1 Tbsp sugar, optional
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp vinegar
2/3 C water
2 C little squash cubes

Chop squash into very small cubes (1/2 centimeter or so). (Take out any seedy sections in the middle.)

Prepare other ingredients as stated above (mix flour and salt; mix baking soda and vinegar; add water to vinegar solution; add vinegar solution to flour; add remaining water). Whisk the batter, then add squash cubes.

Be sure oil is at right temp (about 270 degrees).

Your batter will seem really loose and you're going to think that this will never work. Have faith my friend.

Put your batter into a large table spoon (as in a large spoon that you use for eating). Hold the spoon just above the hot oil and CAREFULLY scoot the batter into the oil with your finger or another spoon (do this as though you're putting cookie batter onto a cookie sheet). If your oil is the right temp, the batter will almost instantly cohere to its blobby little self. (If your oil is too cool, it will spread out and be a gross mess. If your oil is too hot it will sizzle and spit so much that you will fear for your skin, so be careful to test it before putting your fritter in.) Repeat your little blobs until the pan is full. Don't let the blobs touch each other.

Cook until dark golden on the bottom. Flip and cook until dark golden on the top.

Eat hot (but not too hot, people), with dipping sauce if you care not for the low-fat guidelines of the '80s and '90s.

NOTE: To reheat the fritters or the fish, put them on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 until they're hot, crisp and golden again. (Seriously, my leftover fritters were these nasty soggy things, but a few good minutes in the oven and I could barely tell they weren't freshly prepared. In fact, I think I might have liked them a little better the second time around.) In a Paula Deen-esque moment I almost used 2 leftover fritters as a mini hamburger bun for a leftover hamburger, but at the last minute, I realized that I just couldn't do it. (Although after putting my burger in a super blah, slightly stale bun, I sort of regretted my choice.)

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Salmon with Lime Butter

When you marry the pickiest man on earth (okay, not quite) you don't expect him to like fish. When he does, you take advantage of that as much as you can, or at least a couple times a week. Salmon is a favorite of ours. We're perfectly happy to eat it with lemon and a bit of dill, but occasionally we try to jazz it up a bit.

The other great thing about fish? You can cook up some fillets in ten minutes or less.

This lime butter sauce adds only 2 more minutes to the cooking time and turns a regular old weekday fish into something that feels decadent and fancy. We eat it with rice and broccoli, and dinner's on in 20 minutes or less. (P.S. If you don't like fish, you can use this sauce on chicken to very good effect as well.)

Salmon with Lime Butter
Adapted from 365 Ways to Cook Chicken
Serves 4
Prep and cook time: 15 minutes
Cost: $5.75
(salmon: 5.00, butter: .25, lime: .50)

1 Tbsp olive oil
4 salmon fillets
6 Tbsp butter
juice from one lime (about 2 Tbsp)
zest if desired
dill and chives for garnish

Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add fillets and cook about 4 minutes on each side. When fish is cooked through and can be easily flaked with a fork.

Remove the salmon to a plate and keep warm (I usually just put another plate over top of it.) Wipe out pan. (This is necessary. If you leave the drippings from the oil, the butter-lime concoction will separate.) Now remove the pan from the heat and let it cool for a minute. If you don't do this as soon as you add the lime juice it will bubble up and evaporate.

Return your pan to the burner on low heat. Add the lime juice. When it begins to bubble, stir in the butter (and zest if using). Raise the heat a bit and stir until the butter runs clear (or nearly so). This takes a couple of minutes. Remove it from the heat. If you let it get much hotter, the butter will separate.

Pour it over the salmon. Garnish with chives and dill and serve.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Work-a-Day Wednesday: Braised Salmon with Lettuce

Raise your hand if you've never cooked lettuce.

Now raise your hand if you've never thought about cooking lettuce.

Now raise your hand if it seems a little grody-potody to cook lettuce.

Whatever. Put your hands down; I get enough of that non-adventurous pickiness at home.

Apparently, from my latest issue of Everyday Food (which started coming to me free in the mail btw; we'll see how long it keeps coming), cooking lettuce is something people do. Not only that, but it's, like, cool and stuff. I, being rather decidedly on a certain unflattering end of the cool-o-meter, had never cooked or thought about cooking lettuce in my life. In fact, when I made this recipe, I did so only because I had a couple of heads that were getting a little wilty around the edges and I figured I had nothing to lose by throwing them into a pot with some salmon. Nothing to lose indeed. Because the meal took a mere 20 minutes from start to finish, was super nutritious, and it tasted pretty darn good too.

But why, I can hear you asking. Why cook lettuce instead of doing up a nice salad on the side? Because...

1. Your lettuce is getting a little wilty--not rotten, but wilty. Perfect for a pot.
2. You have too much lettuce and can't bear the thought of one more salad. I get this way sometimes. I go on a salad kick and keep buying tons of lettuce and then one day my kick ends and I have a couple heads in my refrigerator that I don't even want to look at.
3. Cooking does destroy the enzymes, but to offset that, I notice that I tend to eat more of a green when it's wilted than when it's crisp. (Perhaps simple mouth mechanics are to thank--slurp versus chew chew chew.)
4. Sometimes I've got lettuce on hand and nary another salad fixing to speak of. What do you do? Have lettuce salads. Well, I've done that before, but cooking lettuce is a nice (and more satisfying) alternative.
5. Good-bye salad dressing; you're not needed here. In this dish at least, the flavor from the broth, coupled with a little salt and pepper was all the lettuce needed to be perfectly tasty.
6. Your lettuce is bitter. This is a problem I come up against especially as a home gardener. If my lettuce stars don't align I wind up with bitter lettuce. Cooking removes that bitterness.

One final note on cooking lettuce. I am far from being crazy experienced here, but I used 2 different types--a loose leaf red lettuce (no, I don't know what it's called; why would I know that?) and a Bibb type head. The Bibb was much better. It maintained a little crunch in the stemmiest parts, which made for a good mouth feel. And, for whatever reason, it came out sweet and perfect with the lemony broth. The other was fine, but not nearly so impressive. So go for something with a little more structure.

Here you can see the two types I used in the pot. 

(P.S. I realized a couple minutes later I was supposed to chop them and took them out and did that--so don't throw your lettuce in like this. The head-like one won't ever cook fully.)

Braised Salmon with Lettuce
adapted from Everyday Food
Serves: 4
Prep time: 2 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes (tops)
Cost: $5.85 (or $1.40/serving)
salmon: 4.40, lettuce: 1.00, lemon: .40, other stuff: .05

1 Tbsp butter
1 shallot (I didn't have so used a dash of onion powder.  I think a small leak or green onion would be good too)
2 tsp grated lemon zest (that of one small lemon and if you skip this, you'll be sad)
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 C low-sodium chicken broth (water with some type of seasonings might do the trick too)
4 skinless salmon fillets (about 6 oz. each)
salt and pepper
2 heads loose-ish leaved lettuce, chopped
chopped dill (for garnish and yumminess; I forgot it and missed it about halfway through the meal)

In large pot, melt butter. Add shallots (or onion-y substitution) and stir occasionally until tender.

Add lemon zest and juice. Add broth. Bring to a simmer.

Add salmon. Cover and cook 3 minutes.

Add chopped lettuce. Cover and cook until lettuce is wilted and salmon is cooked, about 6-9 minutes.

Sprinkle with lemon juice and serve topped with dill.

We had this with a side of rice and I found it light and satisfying both.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Fish Stew: Stone Soup Style

Cheap Eat Challenge: Watch, join us, or mock as our family of 6 eats, or tries to, on $6/day.

If you're like my husband, the first 2 words of the title of this post have already turned you off, and the next three are just long nails in the coffin. But, seriously, if you've made it this far, past the first one and a half long-ish sentences, you've got to stay with me because this was just so so good.

Of course you all know the story of stone soup--a traveler came to town when times were tough and people didn't have much food. No one wanted to share with him. No matter, he told them, he had a magical stone that made lovely soup. Well that got their hungry attention and soon people were contributing bits of onion and potato and that soup was smelling better and better and then everybody shared the soup and lived happily ever after, and all that.

Well, I didn't technically add a stone to my soup. But we did have a lot of odds and ends in our refrigerator. And I'd been wanted to try a fish stew ever since that free tilapia entered our house. And tonight was leftover night. Coincidence, I think not.

I used, to be precise: 1/2 carrot, 2 nubs of potatoes--one that was just in the bottom of the bag and one that had been half bad and that I was going to throw out till I got this brilliant idea, 1 fat slice from a red onion, 1 clove garlic, and part of the fat stalk of broccoli, chopped up. We usually throw the fat bottom part of the stalks away (sorry, cheapskate confession there) so I was extra proud of that bit.

Oh, but it just gets better (if you're my husband you're surely rolling your eyes right now; just stop it, okay). I used the chicken stock I made from the best roasted chicken ever (more on that in a few days). And I--are you ready for this--even used fat that was rendered (which in this case means: simply poured off of the drippings) from that same chicken. Have you fallen out of your chair yet in utter impressedness? Well, of course you have. Or, again, if you are like my husband, this fact has not really impressed you, except perhaps to impress upon you that I am a weirdo (which may very well be perfectly true). But if you're super nerdy like me, then you might think it's kind of cool. (Right--you do think it's kind of cool, don't you?) Anyway, I've never saved the fat before, and I don't know why I did this time. The chicken was just so good that I thought the fat might be good to fry some potatoes in or something (which I still think it would be). Anyway, so I used that fat to make the roux (flour and usually butter or oil combined and used to thicken the soup).

And then, because I know that you're dying for this slightly gross detail, I used leftover fish from the browned butter tilapia. But not just any leftover fish. I used the outside parts that my 6-year-old had scraped off her fish the night before. She only liked the perfectly white insides, so she had scraped off the tasty browned butter outside. It left quite a lot and that annoyed me, so I saved it, thinking of this stew. And I'm glad I did. Because it was super flavorful. You don't have to use your daughter's discards. I promise. You can just flake off some regular leftovers. The point here is that I was so cheap it was slightly gross, and I guess I'm kind of proud of that. (She hadn't licked them or anything, just scraped them off her fish, just, you know, for clarity.) But the more important point is that one of the beauties of stone soup, or leftover whatever you make, is that sometimes it can be extra delicious because you're using the leftovers that were really flavorful the first time around--you're not just using a bland filet that you cooked up in some oil just for the soup. You're using the really good filet with the browned butter crispy outside, which you wouldn't have taken the time to make for a lowly soup. And you're using a perfect and flavorful stock and maybe even some flavored fat. Because you have them around, and you can. It's kind of empowering (if you're a nerdy cook type at least). I'm a little giddy with the wonderfulness of it all.

Below I'll give you a recipe with full vegetables, instead of little bits, should you wish to reproduce this recipe, which was truly delicious. However I'd like to encourage you (though I won't insist) to use leftovers instead of frying up a fish just for this purpose (not that that's a bad thing and really won't take long; it's just that the leftovers will make it easier and maybe a little more flavorful too). I'd also like to encourage you to be brave in your vegetables. Do you have leftover corn, peas, green beans, tomatoes, sweet potatoes? Go ahead and throw them in in addition to or in place of the vegetables here. If you used those veggies for another meal and they're seasoned, all the better. You'll get something different than what I got in taste, but not in spirit (aren't we profound people, yes?). And it will be good. (Unless it was gross to begin with. And, yes, I've been there too.)

Note on The International Pantry Cookbook, from whence this recipe was adapted. You'll note that the link for this book is a whopping $.06. That is well worth the price if I may say so. This book is a great one if you're learning to cook, or if you're learning to cook a bit more off the cuff, and especially if you want to take a basic recipe and jimmy it up in all kinds of different ways, particularly international ways. (Please diagram that sentence.) This book will give you a basic recipe for, say, chowder. And then it will give you several ways to adapt it so that it is potato or carribean or clam or whatever. Or it will give you a basic recipe for potato salad and then tell you have you can make it German or Peruvian or whatever. It also has lots of basic sauces (like BBQ sauce, yum) that can be made in a delicious basic way or jazzed up with some kind of special or international flair. The basic recipes are great and can certainly stand very well on their own. And the adaptations are also great (or look great--my family isn't super brave in the international department in case that hasn't yet been deduced--but I have done a bit of adapting--this stew included.) At any rate, it is a very handy cookbook to have around.

Fish Stew: Stone Soup Style
Serves 4
Adapted from The International Pantry Cookbook
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 10-20 minutes, depending on whether or not you need to cook your fish
Cost: Shall we call it free because this soup was made with all things that normally would have been thrown out. If you don't wish to call it free, here's an estimated cost: $2.70 (1 small filet: .50, potato: .20, carrot: .05, 1/2 C broccoli: .30, 1/2 small onion: .10, 2 cans chicken stock: 1.25--ouch--maybe the buillion cubes are cheaper, clove garlic: .01, butter: .12, flour: .02, milk: .15)

Note: If you need to cook your fish, heat some oil or butter in a skillet. Add the filet and cook for 4-6 minutes on either side. Sprinkle on some dill and pepper and you're done.

3 Tbsp butter, oil, or fat from a yummy chicken
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 small onion
1-2 cloves garlic
1 large potato (probably about 10-16 oz.)
1/2 C broccoli
1 large-ish carrot
4 C chicken stock or about 2 cans broth
1 C milk or cream (we just used milk, but cream or half and half would have been transcendent)
1 fish filet, cooked and flaked
pepper to taste

Melt butter or fat in soup pot or Dutch oven. Whisk in flour and cook for 1 minute. Add onions and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic, potato, broccoli, and carrot and cook for another minutes. Pour in stock and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 6-10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add milk and flaked fish. Heat more if necessary. Add pepper to taste.

Serve and delight in your utter coolness and resourcefulness.

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Browned Butter Tilapia with Lemon Dill Sauce

Cheap Eat Challenge: Watch or join us as our family of 6 eats, or tries to, on $6/day.

The title sounds better than this picture looks. (Trust the title.) This is very good and so easy you'll want to cry. We served it with Perfect Home Fries and carrot sticks.

Browning the butter gives the fish an almost sweet nutty flavor. It's really all you need to do. The lemon dill sauce is just extra special-ness.

Browned Butter Tilapia with Lemon Dill Sauce

Serves 4-6

Prep time:  0

Cook time: 20 minutes

Cost: $5.50

(Tilapia: $5.00 if you find a sale, $.50 for the butter and sauce)

1/4 C butter (you could probably get away with 2-3 Tbsp depending on the non-stickiness of your pan)

4-6 tilapia filets

pepper (optional)

dill (optional)

Put the butter in a skillet, melt it and then cook it until it starts to turn golden brown and smell nutty. If you wish, sprinkle the pepper and dill on the filets. Add the filets and cook on each side for 4-6 minutes.

Lemon Dill Sauce:

1/4 C mayonnaise

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp dried dill

Combine well and serve with tilapia. (Or with perfect home fries. Or as a dip for your carrot sticks. Apparently, I like to eat the sauces for my fish on everything else as well.)

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Tilapia with Ginger Soy Glaze

Cheap Eat Challenge: Watch or join us as our family of 6 eats, or tries to, on $6/day.

You don't expect picky people to like fish. Kip and I were married before I knew that he was not only willing to consume fish, but also perfectly happy to do so (at least in most cases). Go figure. And tonight, when we sat down to eat with our 4 children who pretty much can't agree to all like the same meal even if it's something as non-threatening as spaghetti, they ALL--did you get that--ALL ate at least some of the rice and fish, although Mark did slather his small bite of fish in BBQ sauce. Elizabeth and Savannah asked for more. Again, go figure.

So, even if you're not a fish person. Or you don't think you're a fish person because you're picky and how could a picky person also be a fish person (don't ask me), well, this is a great recipe to start out with. The white fish is mild, the glaze is sweet and savory all at once. Oh, and the glaze/sauce also makes for a great warm vinegarette on your spinach salad if you're that kind of girl. I, my friends, am that kind of girl. Omega 3's, anitoxidants, here we come.

And if that's not good enough, this meal takes all of 15 minutes to make. If you have it with rice, that'll add another 15, but it's still very solidly within the last minute meal range. Enjoy.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, how we're managing to eat fish on a mere $6/day....Well, someone at Kip's work brought in a bunch of thawed tilapia the other day. Kip's co-worker couldn't use it all before it went bad, and we were happy to help the poor guy out by taking some of it off his hands. Free food (and the people who give it), how I love thee, let me count the ways.

Tilapia with Ginger Soy Sauce
Serves 4
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Cost: $5.50
(1 lb tilapia: $5 if you find a sale, soy, ginger and other seasonings: .30-.50)

A note on the fish: This recipe should work with any mild white fish. Tilapia, however, is our favorite.

3 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp soy sauce
3 Tbsp balsalmic vinegar (to cheapen it, I expect you could get away with 1 Tbsp balsalmic, and 2 Tbsp cheap distilled, but I thought about trying it too late--sorry)
1 scant tsp ground ginger
1 clove garlic, chopped
4 tilapia filets
1-2 Tbsp olive or vegetable oil

On plate or in bowl, combine sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, and garlic. Mix it together and place the filets in the mixture to marinate. You can do this for up to 20 minutes, but I always just put it in for a few while I warm up the pan and put my ingredients away. (Sometimes if my fish is frozen, I even just put it in the marinade to de-thaw and marinade at the same time for 20 minutes. Because I am a multi-tasking genius, and apparently not a thinking ahead genius.)

Heat oil in skillet over medium to medium high heat. Take filets out of marinade and place them in oil. Cook on each side for 4-6 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

Remove the filets to a plate. Try not to let them break up like crazy, but you can see from the pictures that I'm no expert in this realm.

Pour reserved marinade into skillet and heat over medium heat until mixture reduces to a glaze (about half as much liquid as there was before, and it'll be thicker). This usually takes about 2-3 minutes. Spoon glaze over fish (and over your spinach salad if you wish--yum), and serve immediately.

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