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Wednesday, May 4, 2011

A New Way to Cook the Books

UPDATE ON MAY 20th

Scroll down to see my original post about the 32 Poems blog Recipes for Poets project below. Today I am updating my blog to include my recipe. I had intended to post a crockpot recipe, but in the warmer weather we have been enjoying recently, I don't feel like using a crockpot. So instead I am posting a delicious, health and quick fish recipe below. Enjoy!


Foil-baked Mackerel
Serves 4

4 mackerel fillets (use Atlantic or Chub mackerel to avoid high mercury levels; do NOT use King, Spanish or Gulf mackerel for the same reason)
black pepper
vegetables of your choice: thinly sliced onions, thinly sliced green peppers, shiitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, cherry tomatoes halved, broccoli florets, etc.
2 tablespoons olive oil
lemon juice or ponzu sauce

1. Prepare four squares of aluminum foil, about 8 or 10 inches per side. Place one fish fillet in the center of each square of foil, skin-side down if there is skin. Sprinkle fish with pepper to taste. Drizzle each fillet with 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil.
2. Arrange vegetables of choice on top of the fish. (I let my kids select their own vegetables for their personal packets.)
3. Fold the ends of the foil up until you have a closed package with the folds on the top.
4. Place the foil packages (folds up) in a fry pan (do not grease or oil the pan). For 12 - 15 minutes, heat the fish packages over medium heat, or until done.
5. Be careful when moving the packets to serving plates since they will be hot. Each person can receive a packet on his or her plate and enjoy opening it up (carefully, they are hot!) and eating it.
6. Serve with lemon or lime juice, or ponzu sauce, which is a Japanese citrus sauce that you can get at many Asian markets. You can also mix soy sauce with lemon or lime juice to simulate ponzu sauce.

This is a quick recipe with vegetables included. Mackerel is a mild fish which almost everyone can enjoy. I usually serve this dish with rice and a salad. Clean up is quick because usually there is no leakage from the aluminum foil packets into the fry pan, so a quick wipe of the pan is all that is needed. Enjoy!

And check out the other recipes offered by other poets on the 32 Poems blog.


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ORIGINAL POST from MAY 4th

I actually complain about cooking quite a bit (ask my family) but when I really consider it, I don't hate it as much as I claim to. I just hate the amount of time I spend doing it every single day, hours when I could be writing. Or reading. Or playing with my kids. Or doing work for a client to bring in some cash.

Deb Ager of 32 Poems is addressing just this issue in her Recipes for Poets project. Here's an explanation of her plan straight from her website:

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Time management is one of the most important (yet seldom discussed) aspects of being a poet or any kind of artist. Are your eyes glazing over because I wrote “time management”? Stick with with me a for a moment, please.

Since most poets have other work that takes their attention away from art, it’s important to have time management skills. One of the many ways I save time is by cooking healthy meals that do not take long to prepare.

For that reason, I invite you to join me in posting your favorite 20-minute (or so) recipe on May 20, 2011. Post your recipe to your blog or website. I will share all of the links in a big post here on the 32 Poems blog.

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For the exact details of how to participate, go to Deb Ager's post Recipes for Poets here.

I am planning on sharing a recipe myself on the 20th of this month. So look for that. It's going to be a crockpot recipe, since that's the best method I have of saving time while still offering my family a hot meal.

If you've got a healthy recipe that takes 20 minutes or less, and you'd love to share, click the link above to join in the bonanza.

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