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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Recipes from the Sunshine State

Florida's Department of Agriculture has posted on its website a huge list of great recipes using "Fresh From Florida" ingredients.

There's an entire section devoted to seafood, and also a list of the recipes organized by species of fish. Other pages offer recipes and cooking tips for meat, poultry, pork, fruit, vegetables, and desserts, along with special Hispanic and Kosher sections.


Here are a few of my own Sunshine State recipes. Let me know if you try any of them and what you think! I'm a big fan of simple, fresh ingredients, olive oil, and using as few dishes as possible.

Snapper with Citrus Salsa

Here's a great one-dish recipe. I used snapper, but you could substitute any light fish you prefer.

Get frozen snapper fillets, however many you want to cook.

Lightly coat snapper with extra virgin olive oil. Rub in several pinches of cilantro and fresh ground pepper.


Place snapper in an oven safe dish. Cover with your favorite brand of citrus flavored salsa. Cover dish and put in refrigerator overnight to defrost. While it's defrosting, take it out of the fridge at least once or twice to flip the snapper and spoon the salsa over the top of the fish again. (If using fresh snapper, just marinate with the seasonings and the citrus salsa in the fridge for an hour or two before cooking.)

Preheat oven. Spoon salsa over top of snapper, making sure it's well coated. Slice up several grape tomatoes and add to dish. Cook according to directions on package (mine said 10 - 15 minutes at 400 degrees). Fish is done when it flakes easily with a fork.

Serve with salad, rice, or pasta, whatever you prefer.


The Best Tuna Salad Recipe Ever 


This is actually a recipe I picked up during a weekend trip to Paris when I studied abroad in Germany in college, but it's a great way to use the excellent tomatoes grown in Florida, and fresh basil that you can easily grow in your backyard.

This recipe is a lot healthier than traditional tuna salad because it uses olive oil and a little bit of butter instead of mayonnaise.  I have an intense hatred of mayonnaise because it tried to kill me once (food poisoning 2004), so I always make my tuna salad this way. You can also substitute low-fat feta cheese if you prefer.

The recipe says to remove skin, seeds and pulp from the tomatoes, and the easiest way to do this is to drop them in boiling water for a few seconds. The skin will slide right off. Basically, you want the "meat" of the tomatoes without all the seeds and juice so you don't dilute the salad mixture.

Serve warm or cold. Makes great leftovers for lunches. 

1 pkg. farfalle or rotini pasta
3 cans tuna fish
8 oz. feta cheese

5 leaves fresh basil, chopped
Extra virgin olive oil

3 large or 6 small tomatoes with the skin, seeds, and pulp removed (or 1 can diced tomatoes, drained)
About 1 or 2T butter
Spices: about 1/4 to 1/2 T fresh ground pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder, a little less salt. Adjust to your taste.

Cook pasta until al dente (I always add a splash of olive oil to keep pasta from sticking). While pasta is cooking, crumble tuna and feta in a large bowl.

Add tomatoes and basil to bowl. Add 2T olive oil. Add spices. Mix thoroughly.

After pasta is cooked, drain and add an additional 2T olive oil and butter. Mix with the rest of the ingredients in the bowl while pasta is still warm.



Orange Salsa Mahi Mahi 

Thaw mahi mahi overnight in fridge. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Coat oven-safe dish with extra virgin olive oil. Coat fish with olive oil and put in pan.


Sprinkle fresh ground pepper, garlic powder, and cilantro on the fish.

Cut up one orange. Squeeze juice over fish. Place slices around and on top of fish. Add a few spoonfuls of fresh salsa.

Cook for 15-20 minutes until fish is opaque white and easily flakes with a fork.


Hope you enjoy :)

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for sharing these, Sarah! It all looks really delicious!

    ReplyDelete