Fish

I love fish. I think it's ideal for living by yourself- it's easy to cook just one fillet or take as many shrimp as you like, and it's got all those lovely omega 3's and it's so versitile.

Last night I made dinner for some friends- I made some beautiful fresh Summer Rolls with shrimp, soy braised kabocha squash and salmon in crispy rice paper with a spicy mirin glaze. It would have been one of my favorite meals I've ever made, if I hadn't overcooked the salmon (leaving them in a warm oven for 20 minutes was, obviously, a bad choice. Champagne will do that.)

I need to branch out from salmon and tuna. Halibut and Chilean Sea Bass are wonderful, but not so easy for me to find. Those flat, pale slabs of tilapia never look that exciting next to thick pink fillets but at $4 a pound for tilapia and $10 for salmon, diversifying the fish menu might be a good idea.

The nice thing about those broad, flat pieces is that the high surface area : volume means that a spice rub, marinade, herbed crust, breading or any other coating does a lot. Also means that they cook quickly, which means I can eat them sooner. To go with some Indian spinach (saag), I rubbed a filet with curry powder and corriander, and sauteed in oil. (about 1.5-2 minutes per side) With a mexican chopped salad, I had a tilapia filet coated with a corn meal-cummin-chili powder coating. Tonight I had it with chopped parsely and mint pressed on the surface and dredged in flour, sauteed in butter and oil.

The light flour coating is really perfect- it makes this monolayer of a crisp shell, but not as rich as actually breading. You could use any combination of herbs- I bet chives, tarragon or cilantro would be excellent. And even cooked in some oil, with a little flour, it's very healthy- tilapia is about 220 calories in an 8 oz filet, while the same amount of salmon is 480 calories.

So, I think I was wrong to overlook tilapia for size-ist reasons. Next to try- cod, snapper, sole, haddock...