My husband's side of the family are all Catholic... and since it is Lent, there is no "meat" served on Fridays. However, there is a loop-hole in the Lent celebration. Fish. Fish is not considered "meat" during the Lenten fast. Meat in ancient times was considered the food of the rich, so to abstain from meat during the fast was to eat the food of the poor. Also, since fish did not appear to have much blood, it was not considered to be meat. Not being raised Catholic myself, I find these customs fascinating.
In any case, it's time to break out the fish recipes unless I want to be inundated with Long John Silver's and Captain D's... Not that I mind a good greasy peice of fried fish once in a while, but there are so many other ways to enjoy fish.
Anyway, this is my latest dish for the family... It's yummy and it's very rich.
Fish Florentine
2 lbs orange roughy fillets (approximately 8 fillets) but really any white fish will work
1/2 the zest of one lemon
salt and pepper
3 tbsp butter
Pat the fish completely dry. Season fillets with lemon zest, salt, and pepper. Cut the fillets in half. Pan fry the fish in the butter over medium heat until just cooked. Remove from heat and set aside while you make the sauce.
Sauce:
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
2 c milk
1 10 1/2 oz box of frozen spinach, thawed and drained of excess liquid
3 oz shredded Monterey Jack cheese
4 oz cream cheese, cubed
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 dashes of hot sauce (Tabasco is nice.)
Melt the butter in a large pan, once melted add the flour and stir until combined. Gradually add the milk to the mixture stirring constantly until you have a nice white sauce. Add the spinach and the cheeses. Stir until the cheeses have melted. Add nutmeg and hot sauce. Stir to combine. Correct seasoning with salt and pepper, and add more milk if you need to thin down the sauce.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Line a baking dish with non-stick foil unless you like to do dishes, which I don't. If you do like to do dishes, grease the pan. Put down one peice of fish, then cover with sauce. Add the next peice of fish, and then top with sauce. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes.
Serves 8.
I have made this dish with pollack filets as well and it still comes out great.
I'm not sure if KC does this, but since moving to Omaha I've become a big fan of the Friday fish frys put on by the local churches. Big hot dinner for $3-$4, people crowded in at cafeteria tables elbow to elbow, and everybody seems to be having a great time. I didn't grow up Catholic either, but we still like to pop in for a couple of these during the Lenten season, and there are literally hundreds to choose from!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there are fish fries here at the churches in the area, but the ones my husband's family frequents usually have tamales and burritos they sell in bulk... makes sense since the family is of Mexican descent. I'm still working on getting them to teach me how to make some of their dishes - specifically sopa and tamales. Maybe after ten years of marriage I can get the secrets out of his aunts!
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