Paiche... a new kind of fish!

So I was at Whole Foods the other day, getting the ground lamb for the Lamb Meatballs I made last night. I stopped at the fish counter on a whim, and decided to try a new (to us) fish -- Paiche. Google tells me it is from the Amazon and the only U.S. retailer that sells it is Whole Foods. I was going to get some sea bass, but this was half the cost and the lady at the counter said it is very similar in taste and texture.

I pulled up some paiche recipes online, of which there are not a ton because it is relatively "new" to the U.S. I ended up combining two different recipes, this one and this one, taking elements from each.

I tossed the cherry tomatoes in olive oil, pepper, and my fake salt. I had leftover fresh thyme which I laid in bunches over the tomatoes. I brushed the paiche fillet with a bit of olive oil, then lime juice. Then I (heavily) sprinkled chili pepper on the fish, both sides, along with a bit of pepper and fake salt. Baked for 25 mins at 400, then sprinkled with cut-up fresh mint.

Here's what it looked like before going in the oven:

And here it was after baking:

The verdict... I really, really liked it. Will definitely be buying the fish again. Steve liked it as well, but thought I over-spiced it a bit with the chili pepper (I might be a bit guilty of this sometimes, compensating for no salt!). But he liked the fish itself. Genevieve really liked it too. The boys tried it; Owen was NOT a fan, and Camden was just not eating tonight after a huge lunch. Next time I think I'll skip the chili pepper so we can taste the real flavor of the fish a bit more. The texture was GREAT -- really moist and tender, not dry or "fishy" at all.

Lamb Meatballs With Spiced Tomato Sauce

Tonight's experiment was Lamb Meatballs With Spiced Tomato Sauce:

I made some minor recipe changes... I didn't have all the fresh herbs so I used dried thyme and rosemary instead (I did remember to buy fresh mint and parsley...). Also due to some new experimental dietary restrictions I am on, hopefully temporarily, I substituted shallots for onions, and melted fresh mozzerella on top instead of using feta cheese. Aside from those adjustments (and of course no salt) I followed the rest of the recipe.

Results... smelled AMAZING and tasted pretty good! It was another one that's a lot of work for a normal weekday meal but made a good amount of leftovers too. The sauce was too spicy for Gigi, but both boys and Steve and I enjoyed it. Definitely a nice change of pace from regular beef meatballs.

Parmesan Meatloaf

Tonight we tried Parmesan Meatloaf:

I followed the recipe as written, except baked for just over 1.5 hours (per some reviewers, plus I had a little extra meat in ours). Also I used oats instead of breadcrumbs.

And the verdict is... in a stunning turn of events, all three Newton kids really liked it (OWEN had SECONDS) and Steve and I thought it was just mediocre. Definitely no Mary's Meatloaf in our book. It wasn't BAD, it was actually really moist in a good way... just kind of bland. And I added more seasoning than it called for. It's probably due to the blandness that the kids liked it a lot. We agreed that if we'd heated some extra sauce and put it over our slices in addition to what was on the small edge, it would be better.

Mandarin Orange Hot Wings

Tonight we tried a recipe from my favorite low-sodium blog. Mandarin Orange Hot Wings:

I happened to have the Chili 300 seasoning from Penzy's that she mentioned for the rub, and although it was spicy it worked out perfectly. Steve and I both really liked the wings (drummettes, actually, that I used). The sauce definitely pushes the envelope for his Atkins diet with the sugar content, but I think it was worth the push, he agreed. This was off the spice-meter for the kids, but next time I might try to make a few skipping the spicy rub and just using the sweet sauce -- I bet Genevieve at minimum would eat them that way. The kids made a meal out of the rerun of their favorite Skillet Mac n Cheese and the broccoli.

I think when I make this again, I'll use regular chicken legs/drumsticks, and not the drummettes. These needed a bit higher meat-to-sauce ratio, but again they were delicious. Using just drummettes (or presumably, wings), the bake time on this recipe is a bit long. I'd shave 15 mins off for the smaller pieces of meat.

Southwestern Crustless Quiche

Tonight we tried Southwestern Crustless Quiche:

Since quiche in general is the devil's spawn to the Newton kids (2 out of three of them anyway), they just each had to try a bite before moving onto their grilled cheese sandwiches. Reaction was pretty much what I expected.

Steve and I both really liked it though, even better than my other crustless quiche recipe. I omitted the cilantro since I didn't have it on hand, and I sort of missed it but Steve didn't (he's growing more anti-cilantro with his old age). He dolloped his with sour cream, which totally grossed me out -- sour cream on eggs? -- but I tried it and have to agree it was pretty good that way, helped cut the spice from the pepper jack cheese. The recipe is definitely an easy keeper.

Jamie Oliver's Chicken in Milk

Tonight we tried Jamie Oliver's Chicken in Milk recipe.

Despite some other glowing reviews I've read about it, the consensus here in the Newton house was... it was ok. Owen was not a fan, but ate what he needed to be done. Genevieve really liked it (she gets the easy award tonight). Camden ate some. Steve didn't think it was all that, but ate it. I thought it was ok. Super moist, but not a ton of flavor despite the heavy dose of paprika I added early on that wasn't in the recipe.

I did smush the cooked garlic cloves from the bottom of the pot onto my pieces of chicken which made it a lot more flavorful.

Lemon-Ricotta Pasta with Seared Scallops

Back in the saddle again. Tonight we tried Lemon-Ricotta Pasta with Seared Scallops:

The scallops themselves were very, very basic and simple. Just quickly sauteed in olive oil with s&p. Steve is still all Atkins-y and I didn't realize until I read the whole recipe as I was making it that all the other flavors -- lemon zest, fresh thyme, the ricotta, etc were in the pasta part. Whoops.

The kids ate just the pasta mixture, sans scallops. Surprisingly, Owen said it wasn't all that bad and ate it without complaint. After he pointed out "but the peas are Mixed. In. to my pasta!" he even still ate it. Gigi really did NOT like it -- "TOO LEMONY." Camden ate 100 pancakes for breakfast this morning and a pretty decent lunch so he just picked. Steve and I both liked the scallops, as simple as they were. I miss the huge ones I could buy in Boston but these Safeway ones were ok. I thought the pasta was just ok as well (better than Gigi but not as likeable as Owen).

Guest chef: Leg of Lamb

I'm back! Sort of. Dealing with health issues so the cooking I've been doing has been relying on easy tried and true... No new recipes to report but I hope to do some new ones soon.

Tonight though, Steve made dinner and it was a hit for 4/5 Newtons (the youngest is still not a fan of chewier meat). We went to Costco yesterday and on a whim bought a de-boned keg of lamb. It was huge so he cut it into three large pieces and froze two for future meals. Here was tonight's dinner:

Steve sliced the lamb and basically sautéed it in olive oil with pepper and my fake salt. Kept it on the bland side for the kids but that way we actually really tasted the lamb flavor and it wasn't overpowered. Even Owen liked it!