Category: Fish

Fish in packets (made with frozen fish)

an unwrapped packet

This meal is probably the best one we have that rates equally high on kids’ appreciation (5 out of 5 across the board) and on health benefits. I used to make fish in packets by thawing the fish first but finally worked out how to do this whole meal directly from frozen fish by using frozen edamame. It’s much easier this way.

Apparatus

  • aluminum foil
  • parchment paper

Ingredients

  • 1 frozen filet of mild fish (we most often use tilapia) per person
  • 100 g frozen shelled edamame per person
  • salt & pepper
  • olive oil (optional)
  • 1 lemon, halved and sliced (maybe 2 if you have 6 or more people to feed)
  • 1 tomato, halved and sliced (maybe 2 if you have 6 or more people to feed)
  • 1 clove of garlic, peeled and sliced
  • some herbs (we like any mix of tarragon, thyme, chives, and rosemary)

Directions

  • Lay out 1 piece of aluminum foil per person; put a square of parchment on each. Put one fish filet on each.
  • Spoon frozen edamame around each filet. Add a bit of salt and pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil, if using.
  • Put slices of lemon, tomato and garlic on fish, along with herbs.
  • Bring together edges of aluminum foil along the length of the fish; fold or roll, crimping edges so it’s sealed. Then roll or fold up ends. You want everything inside to steam, so fold it to prevent steam or liquid from escaping.
  • Place fish packets on a baking sheet to make it easier to get the whole meal in and out of the oven.
  • Bake at 425F until fish flakes easily with a fork and edamame are cooked. For us, this typically takes 45 minutes for frozen tilapia filets that are each 100-125g. We test for doneness by opening up a middle packet slightly (watch out so you don’t get burned by steam) and pressing the fish with a fork.
  • Serve with a grain if you like grains. We usually cook some brown rice and spoon it directly into opened packets so it gets coated in the lemony, tomatoey, garlicky, herby liquid.

Yield

However many servings of fish you choose to make.

Notes

Last time I made this, each serving used 113g tilapia and had: 243 calories, 9.2 g CHO, 5 g fibre, 34.1 g protein, 8.9 g fat. I wrote a detailed description of how I bolus for that meal here.

You can pre-prep the packages and put them in to cook directly out of the freezer.

Fish cakes (made with canned fish)

fish cakes on spinach with a toasted English muffin & sliced tomato
my kids like to eat them in sandwich form (here with kale)

This is one of our favourite ways to get the recommended weekly serving of oily fish. It a very flexible recipe that can be adapted according to your tastes or what you have on hand. This recipe was adapted from Easy Tuna Cakes at Eating Well.

Ingredients

Fish cakes

  • 1 c cooked white beans (canned is fine)
  • 3-4 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1-2 t spicy, seedy mustard (Dijon is fine, or use any mustard you have)
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • some fresh or dried herbs (chives are my family’s favourite, but we’ve made this with basil, thyme, tarragon, rosemary, dill, etc.)
  • 2 cans of fish, broken into bite-sized pieces if very large (sardines, mackerel, tuna all work well; we usually use sardines because they have the most omega-3 for the least cost and environmental impact)
  • 1/4-1/2 c whole wheat breadcrumbs (cornmeal works fine if you don’t have breadcrumbs handy and want a bit of breadiness)
  • some minced or grated onion, any kind (optional)
  • about 30-50g grated cheese (optional)

Dressing

  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 t honey
  • 1 t spicy, seedy mustard (Dijon is fine, or use any mustard you have)
  • 1-2 T olive oil (we like our dressing less oily, so we are aiming for a bit less than the lemon juice)
  • salt and pepper
  • minced herbs from the same herbs you used in the cakes (optional)

Cooking

  • 1 T olive oil

Assembly

  • toasted whole wheat English muffins
  • sliced tomatoes
  • some sturdy salad greens (spinach, kale, etc.)

Directions

Fish cakes

  • Mash beans a little with a fork or potato masher (fun for kids to do), then mix all ingredients together.

Dressing

  • Put ingredients in a jar with a secure lid, shake well. (This is a great job for a kid who wants to help and is old enough not to drop the jar on the floor.)

Cooking

  • Scoop out about 1/4 c of batter for each fish cake (we use a large cookie scoop for this and all other fritters.)
  • Place scoopfuls in a lightly-oiled skillet (or several) over medium heat. It takes several if you want to cook them all at once, but if you’re happy to cook in batches, you only need one. We usually get 13-16 cakes.
  • Press down lightly to flatten.
  • Flip when lightly browned on bottom and cook on the other side.

Assembly

  • Serve fish cakes on greens, spoon some dressing over.
  • My kids like to assemble this into a fish burger on an English muffin with the tomato slices.

Yield

~13-16 fish cakes, which is usually enough for 4-5 people

Notes

Made with 3 eggs, 50g cheese and a red onion last time, this recipe made 16 cakes, with each one having 76 calories, 5.7 g CHO, 1.5 g fibre, 5.2 g protein, 3.6 g fat. The dressing used 2 T olive oil and made 8 T total, with each T having 35 calories, 1.6 g CHO, 0 g fibre, 0 g protein, 3.4 g fat. Exact nutrition will depend on your own choices, including how much of each ingredient you actually put in.

Fish cakes can be stored in fridge or frozen after cooking and reheated. Dressing keeps well and can also be used as a honey mustard salad dressing.

To have 1 cup of beans handy, we cook a large batch and freeze them in 1-cup quantities, then take them out of the freezer to thaw a night or two beforehand.

Fish amandine

fish amandine with rice & salad (NB. This photo was taken before I figured out to wait to put the cheese & butter on. Make it this way if you prefer the cheese more intensely toasted.)

One of the easiest, most delicious ways to cook fish. We typically have this at least a couple of times a month. Our approach to this classic drew from Fish Amandine from Eating Well and Filet de passion amandine (recipe in French) at a local site.

Ingredients

  • 1 filet of mild fish per person, thawed if frozen
  • a small amount of egg white (just enough to dip fish in before breading them)
  • ~1/4 c breading substance (whole wheat bread crumbs, cornmeal, flour, whatever you have)
  • some dry spices & herbs for flavour (1/2 t dry mustard, 1-2 t total dried herbs like oregano, parsley, dill, onion powder, garlic powder … whatever you like and have on hand)
  • salt & pepper
  • ~10g sliced almonds per person
  • ~10g grated parmesan per person
  • ~5g melted butter per person (just melt a small amount to drizzle over at the end)

Directions

  • Combine breading substance, spices & herbs
  • Put egg white on one plate and breading on another. Dip both sides of each fish filet in egg white, then breading.
  • Put filets in/on a pan that has been lightly oiled or lined with parchment. Sprinkle with sliced almonds.
  • Bake at 450F for about 10-15 minutes until fish is nearly done. Remove fish briefly from oven, sprinkle with parmesan, drizzle with melted butter, return to oven for about 5 minutes, until done. Fish is done when it flakes easily with a fork.

Yield

However many servings of fish you choose to make.

Notes

Last time I made this, I made 3 servings in total, using 339g tilapia, 10g butter, 17g parmesan, 24g almonds, and 30g whole wheat bread crumbs. Each serving had: 248 calories, 8.9 g CHO, 1.6 g fibre, 26.8 g protein, 12.3 g fat. Exact nutrition will depend on your own choices of how much of each ingredient you actually put in.

Fish cooking time is really dependent on the type of fish, size of filet, and your oven. I usually start to check the fish at 8-10 minutes. If filets are differently-sized, put the biggest ones on the outside of the pan.

You can also start with the parmesan and butter on the fish from the beginning, it will toast the parmesan more intensely.