Old Favorite: Havarti Dill Smoked Salmon Risotto

This was one of our favorite recipes back when I first started Weight Watchers, and in the spirit of my post on my personal blog about wanting to get back into that mindset, I thought I'd post it here even though I don't have photos. And I think I'll make it again soon. After all, it is delicious.

Havarti Dill Smoked Salmon Risotto: Makes 2 servings; 7 WW points per serving

Ingredients

• 5 1/4 oz milan-style risotto mix, with seasoning packet [Instead of risotto mix, I just use about a cup of risotto rice and cook it in low-sodium chicken broth instead of water, and add spices--lemon pepper, basil, oregano, a couple chili flakes, a bit of onion powder--and a splash of lemon juice to make it flavorful]
• 2 cups water [or chicken broth--see above]
  
• 2 tbsp dill, fresh, chopped
• 2 oz smoked salmon, diced
• 1 oz havarti cheese, about a 1/4 cup, grated
• 1/8 tsp black pepper, or to taste
• 1 tsp dill, or 2 small sprigs, for garnish

Instructions

• In a saucepan combine rice and seasoning mix [or, in my case, all the stuff I mentioned in my parenthetical aside above] with water [or, like I said, chicken broth]. Bring to a boil; cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
• Stir in dill, salmon, pepper, and Havarti. Cover and let stand 5 minutes.
• Serve in shallow bowls, garnished with dill sprigs.

The verdict: Well, I suppose this is obvious since it's an old favorite and all, but OMG yum. And plus, it's so easy to make! Seriously, you just dump a bunch of stuff in a pot, wait, and eat. And it is delicious, and the risotto is almost creamy, so it feels like it's much worse for you than it actually is. Bonus!

New Recipe: Baked Fish and Chips

Torsten used to live in London and has fond memories of fish and chips, so he was excited about this recipe. Plus we actually both prefer baked French fries to fried ones. The grocery store didn't have cod when we were there, so I used catfish instead, even though that has more points. Also, I forgot to take photos. Sorry! Maybe I'll take some photos the next time I make this recipe and then update this post.

Baked Fish and Chips: Makes 4 servings; 5 WW points per serving

Ingredients:

• 4 sprays olive oil cooking spray
• 2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 8 wedges each [I didn't peel the potatoes because we both like skin-on fries, and also potato skins have a lot of nutrients. Also, there were more than eight wedges per potato.]
• 1/4 tsp table salt, or more to taste (enough for potatoes and fish)
• 1/4 tsp black pepper, or to more taste (enough for potatoes and fish)
• 1/4 cup fat-free skim milk
• 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 20 oz uncooked cod, four 5 oz fillets
• 4 Tbsp red wine vinegar [This is for dipping, and we used ketchup instead.]

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400ºF. Coat 2 large baking sheets with cooking spray.
2. Place potato wedges on one baking sheet and lightly coat with cooking spray; season to taste with salt and pepper. [I didn't use salt but I did use a few other spices, such as paprika and onion powder. In retrospect maybe I shouldn't have seasoned the fries with those things until they were already baked, because the spices got burnt in the oven and turned all black. But they were still tasty.] Bake until golden brown and tender, about 45 minutes.
3. Whisk milk and mustard together in a shallow dish. Place bread crumbs in another shallow dish and put flour in a third shallow dish. [By the way, I didn't measure any of these ingredients exactly. I just put them in bowls for dredging the fish and added more when I ran out.]
4. Season both sides of fish with salt and pepper. Place fish in flour and turn to coat. Place fish in milk mixture and turn to coat. Place fish in bread crumbs and turn to coat.
5. Transfer fish to second prepared baking sheet and lightly coat with cooking spray. Bake fish until fork-tender, about 10 to 15 minutes.
6. Serve fish and potato wedges with vinegar on the side.

This dish was so easy to make! It was super fast (I think that's part of why I forgot to take pictures) to prepare, too. The only tough part was waiting for it to bake because the fries took so long and we were very hungry. Also, I'm not good at telling when things are done being baked, and I took the fries out too soon, then had to put them back in. (Impatience might have been a factor in that decision, too.) And it was delicious. The fries were really yummy, and the breading on the fish was flavorful and crispy--it was hard to tell it hadn't actually been fried!

Verdict: The meal was well worth the wait! Another one for the "make again soon" pile.

New recipes: Seared tuna and beggar's purses

So last night as I was cooking and photographing the process, I realized that this blog may have a fantastic but unintended side effect: it will force us to keep the kitchen clean. It's bad enough that the photo down below shows off our inability to take out old newspapers often enough, but if our kitchen were messy I simply would not be able to post pictures of it. So, here's motivation to clean it every single day, for REAL this time.

Anyway, last night I made two recipes: quick-seared tuna and mushroom and goat cheese beggar's purses. The two didn't really feel like they would go well together, but they were about the right amount of Weight Watchers points for a meal and we wanted to try both of them, so I figured we'd just make them anyway and ignore the fact that they didn't really fit. Except that bizarrely, they did wind up kind of fitting together.

So first, the beggar's purses, and keep in mind that this recipe as I'm publishing it makes two, but the way I cooked it I made three (one to bring to work for lunch tomorrow). Also, all links in the instructions go to Flickr photos of the step described. Or you can see the full set here.

Mushroom and Goat Cheese Beggar's Purses: Makes 2 servings; 6 WW points per serving

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped [I used a whole onion.]
• 1 cup mushrooms, any kind, chopped [I used a pre-sliced assortment of shiitake, baby bella, and oyster mushrooms.]
• 1/3 cup arugula [I didn't have arugula so I just used mixed greens, and I didn't measure--I just grabbed a handful.]
• 4 sheets phyllo dough, at room temperature [I wound up using twelve for my three purses, but I think they were smaller than the ones this recipe was talking about.]
• 2 oz soft-type goat cheese, or brie, divided [I used goat cheese, not brie, and three ounces, one per purse.]
  

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F; spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil. Sauté onion until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the mushrooms and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the arugula and cook until wilted, about 2 minutes.
3. Place the sheets of phyllo on a work surface and cover them with a damp towel. Stack 2 sheets and spray with butter-flavored nonstick cooking spray. Stack the remaining 2 sheets directly on top and spray them. Cut the phyllo into two 12 x 8 1/2 inch rectangles. [I don't think my sheets of phyllo were the same size as the ones this recipe discusses. I didn't cut them. I just used four sheets per beggar's purse. Also, I didn't really understand the point of the damp towel. I just pulled sheets out of the package as I needed them.]
4. Place goat cheese in the center of each phyllo; top with mushroom mixture. Pull up corners of phyllo and twist, forming packets that look like drawstring pouches; place on the baking sheet and spray the tops lightly with butter-flavored spray. [I used olive oil-flavored spray throughout this recipe, because it was all I had.]
5. Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. [Ours were golden brown after ten, at least on top, which was the barometer I was using. But I think our stove and oven are off, temperature-wise, because nothing ever takes as long to cook as the recipe says it will.]

I thought I might have trouble making this, because the recipe sounded a little daunting, but actually it was really easy. Just saute a few things, put them on the phyllo dough, scrunch up the dough, bake, and you're done! And they came out totally delicious.

Verdict: We added this recipe to our "make again soon" pile, and Torsten is already asking me when I'm going to make it again.

Now, onto the steaks. Here I only used a pound of tuna instead of a pound and a half, in order to make three servings.

Quick Seared Tuna Steaks: Makes 4 servings; 5 WW points per serving

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup dry sherry
• 2 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice [I used one lime. I didn't measure exactly how much juice there was.]
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 1/2 pounds raw tuna (four 6-oz steaks)
• 1/4 tsp salt [I skipped the salt, which I usually do unless I'm baking.]
• 1/2 tsp black pepper, coarsely ground
  

Instructions:

1. Combine sherry, soy sauce, and lime juice in a small bowl, stirring well with a whisk. [I didn't notice it said this until just now. I stirred with a regular spoon.] Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle steaks with salt and pepper; add steaks to pan. Cook 4 minutes on each side until steaks are medium-rare or desired degree of doneness. Transfer steaks to a serving dish, and keep warm.
3. Pour sherry mixture into pan. Cook 1 to 11⁄2 minutes or until reduced to 2 tablespoons, stirring to deglaze pan; pour over steaks.

This recipe was super, super easy. Just mix a few liquids, toss some fish in a pan, wait a few minutes, and you're done. And tuna is really healthy. Plus, the glaze has a nice flavor.

Verdict: We will definitely be making this dish again.

And lastly, the finished meal: