Everything & the Kitchen Sink Cooking

Sometimes you go into the kitchen with a plan and everything unfolds like a well written play.

Other times, you kinda whirl through the kitchen randomly grabbing ingredients like a tornado and end up shooting out something on your plate that, while lacking elegance, can still be quite tasty! I call this the everything & the kitchen sink method, as coined by one of my previous roommates. It’s a fun, free, and easy adventure that can end up at destination delicious.

Tonight was one of those everything & the kitchen sink nights. The grocery store held so many goodies that I wanted to use them all in a meal. There were veggies and grains and fish and fresh fruit! I wanted them all! And all together! and…..this is what happened:

Oh wait, that is my sad, sad transplanted lemon basil plant. :-( I had to chop of a bunch of its roots to get it out of the Aerogrow container and it looks like the move was too traumatic. RIP awesome lemon basil plant. I enjoyed eating your tasty, brightly flavored leaves while you were alive!!

What actually happened in the kitchen was this:

 

hmmm, it’s like a Tornado of Healthy! I chopped up zucchini, squash, mushrooms, tofu and cooked it with toasted quinoa, raisins, and almonds. Add some garlic & garlic salt. It’s definitely a busy dish, but, pretty fail safe in the taste department b/c it’s comprised of lots of great ingredients that play well together.

I also picked up some Mahi Mahi filets because they were only $3.88 a lb, so I threw those babies in the oven for a bit after a quick marinade in lemon, garlic, salt.  If you’ve never cooked mahi mahi before, it’s a pretty forgiving thick, flakey, meaty white fish that will do well in the oven, grill or pan.

A simple, healthy meal with little planning and little fuss. So next time you feel lost in the kitchen, just try this method with a few key guidelines:

• Pick fresh ingredients
• Keep seasonings simple
• Do a little research to make sure you cook meat/fish for the right amount of time

Enjoy!

Simple Citrus Baked Mahi Mahi

Ingredients:

• Three 6 oz. Mahi filets ( or another thick white fish)
• zest & juice of 2 lemons
• juice of 1 grapefruit
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 1 garlic clove minced
• dash dried oregano

Steps:

1. Rub filets with garlic salt
2. Place filets non-skin side down in a big bowl and add lemon zest & juice, grapefruit juice, garlic. Let marinate for 1/2 hour.
3. Heat the oven to 350. Remove from marinade and place into baking pan with cooking spray. I also used celery stalks as stands for the fish as described here.
4. Slice a lemon and place one slice on top of each filet. Dash a little garlic salt and oregano on top of each filet.
5. Place in oven for 20 minutes.
6. Raise the heat to broil at 500 and move the pan closer to the heat. Let broil for 5 minutes.
7. Remove from pan and place on plate with lemon slice intact. Garnish with a sprig of parsley.