Baked Pollock with Smashed Tomato Sauce

By "smashed" I mean squished with my potato masher, not drunk...although hubby did suggest using white wine in the sauce next time, so maybe then they really will be drunk tomatoes.

This is one of the recipes I am most proud of because I came up with it all on my own. It was inspired by something Rachael Ray did, but by the time I got around to making it, I didn't remember anything except the tomatoes in a pan and smashing them. The rest is all me.

The tomato sauce started with one of those days where I look in the fridge and look to see what I have on hand that might be going bad soon and need to do something with. On that fateful day, there was half a container of grape tomatoes looking lonely. I recollected Rachael Ray doing something with tomatoes, but I didn't quite remember what it was. I threw the tomatoes in a pan with a little olive oil, chicken broth, basil & oregano. I covered the pan and let the tomatoes cook til they burst, then I uncovered the pan, smashed the tomatoes with my handy potato masher and then cooked it down a little longer til it thickened up. This was served over some pollock that was baked in the oven with oregano.

This time around was the 3rd time I made the tomato sauce and the 2nd time I served it with pollock. Both parts of the dish have evolved. This time, when I made the sauce, I added garlic. I heated a little olive oil in the pan then added some garlic I pressed through the garlic smasher and heated it til it started getting a little brown. Then I added all the rest of the ingredients. The other change I made is that I used cornstarch to thicken the sauce. I mixed some cornstach & water and once I smashed the tomatoes, I put this in and let it cook til it thickened. I think I like this way better - less juice to make my fish all soggy.

The other new thing is that I breaded the chicken this time. I mixed some breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese in a bowl. Then I seasoned the fish (I prefer Pampered Chef Greek Rub - if you don't have a PC connection, I have a friend I can refer you to), breaded it (no fancy dipping anywhere, just put the fish on a plate, sprinkle the breadcrumbs on, press them into the fish, flip and repeat) and then sprinkled a 2nd layer of the seasoning on the fish. Bake for 10 mins @ 425 and there you go. When it is done, plate it, top with the tomato sauce and dinner is ready. You will have to use your imagination of what breaded fish looks like since it is pretty buried under the tomato sauce.

The salad that night was also pretty good. I stopped at the store on my way home that evening to get tomatoes and I got a nice surprise. Not only were there red tomatoes, but also orange and yellow (there were also heirloom tomatoes, but I figured the 3 colors I got were enough - maybe I will get some heirlooms tomorrow). I just like the colors in my salad. Actually, I pretty much like a colorful plate. And this meal definitely tasted as good as it looked.

Vegetarian Tangerine Beef

Yes, I know it sounds like an oxymoron, but read on and you will see what I mean.

One of my downfalls is chinese take-out food. I love me some orange chicken and crab rangoons. What I don't love about them is the fat and sugar content. If I am feeling particularly industrious, I will make crab rangoons with fat free cream cheese and baked in the oven. But that takes A LOT of work so I don't do it too often. Actually, I think I have only done it once. But there is always a next time...

Perusing my favorite weight watchers cookbook (those of you who read this blog know which one and where to find it but if you don't, check out my post on stuffed french toast), I found a recipe for Tangerine Beef. Well, it was close enough to orange chicken to pique my interest, so I decided to check it out and see what I could do to totally bastardize an otherwise fine recipe.

The first thing I did was get rid of the beef. Not that we don't love beef, we just try to be healthy and not eat red meat so often. I substituted GimmeLean Smart Strips - al the taste of beef with none of the fat or cholesterol. Plus, with all the global warming, a lot of people say that if everyone substitutes just 1 meal with a veggie meal a week, we can greatly reduce the methane that gets into the environment from the smelly, farty cows.

The second change I made was not one of choice. The recipe (obviously) calls for tangerines. I could only find oranges at my local grocery store, so "Tangerine Beef" quickly became "Orange Vegetarian 'Beef"" Oh well, I liked it and that's all that really matters. It was even good cold for lunch at work a couple of days later.

I was still very pleased with the results. It tasted like I ordered from the Chinese place up the street but didn't come with the side of clogged arteries, bigger butt and guilt. The only thing missing was crab rangoons...