Cooking fish

Fish is actually one of the easiest meals to make

Who would have known? When people tell my about their elaborate recipes and fantastic meals and I often find myself wondering how on earth they do it. No surprise that so many feel they don’t have time to cook on a daily basis. However that is also what gets in the way for us getting healthy so let’s make is easy, simple…and delicious.

Whole fish can be even more daunting, partly because it seems hard to cook, but it is actually not! It is also one of the best options for the grill in the summer.

This one is a local trout from upstate in the Catskills. It comes cleaned with the bone already out. Sometimes you get whole fish where the bones are still in there and you cannot flip the fish open like this, but you can still very easily cook it. I promise. It is a bit harder to eat, but once you figure out how to cut down the middle of the fish, scoop it open (I use a spoon for that), then you end up with a cleaned fish ready to eat. You take the bone out after eating it though.

So back to our boneless whole trout. Open it up, put it skin-side down in a baking dish or in a pan that can go in the oven. You can cook it stove-top but I prefer the oven because it gives it an even baking, I don’t have to baby-sit it, and it does not make a mess that I have to clean up afterwards. And for me, cooking has to be easy and fast… and tasty and healthy.

Path for Life - Photo Torkil Stavdal

Path for Life – Photo Torkil Stavdal

So start by adding a little cooking oil to the bottom of the pan. Then add a little sea-salt and fresh ground pepper. My favorite pepper is red peppercorn and I sometimes mix in other colors too, but you can always use a black peppercorn. It is a bit more spicy, but cooking is not about following my recipe, just my guidance, and you add your own taste preference to it.

After you add the seasoning, add some herbs that you chop and spread on it. Herbs are mild in taste so you can be a little heavy handed on that. Here we used the leaves of ramps since they are in season right now.

Close up the fish and bake it in the oven or on the grill. In the oven I use 425 degrees and cook whole fish for about 20 min. Use a fork or sharp knife to check if it is cooked. The “meat” needs to be soft and let go of the fork or knife, then it is cooked. If your fish still has the bone in it you can just stuff it like this too. Additionally you can leave it open to cook it and it will cook a little faster, but the herbs might burn, so you might only want to do that when you use a dressing on top or seasoning only.

Enjoy and stay tuned for more recipes coming up or sign up for my online self-nourishment program to get even more guidance on how to eat to feel nourished, get healthy, change your habits to self-care, and have over 200 recipes at your fingertips, along with food-knowledge that you can use. My new book EAT TO FEEL FULL, and nourish yourself for good is a hand-book that you can bring along to help you master your hunger and cravings, so you can lose weight without dieting. You can also work with me in person to change your habits, your food-lifestyle, and your health.

Path for Life - Photo: Torkil Stavdal

Path for Life – Photo: Torkil Stavdal