Friday date night dinner: Kristin's Green Goddess Dressing and Baked Sole and Asparagus Bundles with Dill and Lemon
Friday night dinner for two at home usually involves something Sara does not like, so this week it was fish. Next week begins meatless Fridays for Lent if that's your orientation. We belong to a church that does not practice dietary restrictions of any kind, but if you are gearing up for fish on Fridays here is a new recipe you might enjoy. Mainly I served sole because it was on sale at Whole Foods and looked so fresh and delightful. I asked the helpful fish "monger" or whatever the fish equivalent of butcher might be how he would fix the sole and gave it my little twist.
Fridays usually mean a massive errand running extravaganza and this week was no exception. It was an extra fun outing with whipping winds and rain. Thank goodness for my cute LandsEnd slicker. One stop is always Costco, because I love that place but do not love it on Saturdays and Sundays. Since I do not work outside of the kitchen, errands are rarely run on Saturdays and Sundays. Why add to the crowds? Back to dinner, I decided on the "living lettuce" (2 heads of butter lettuce with roots attached) because Greg is quite fond of it. I'm quite fond of Green Goddess dressing at the Glass Chimney (yes, I know it has the dreaded mayonnaise in it, I somehow find a way to dip my fork tines in it before I spear some lettuce). After perusing some unsatisfactory recipes (i.e. mayonnaise based or full of ingredients that I somehow don't have in my kitchen) I decided to wing it and go with what I had on hand. I always have a good supply of nonfat plain Greek yogurt and that would be my base along with some lowfat sour cream for taste. I am finishing a big Costco box of baby spinach and a medium box of basil. I bought fresh dill for the fish so, ta-da, green dressing. So everything is ready to go in my nice KitchenAid blender and I hit the power and puree buttons and BAM sparks fly somewhere around the base and the motor whines as the blades are locked in place. Uh-oh. Still trying to figure out why the blades did not engage in the base and instead sheared off the tabs in the base rendering the whole thing useless. I'll be calling KitchenAid on Monday. So everything went instead into my workhorse Cuisinart food processor without a care. I could live without a blender if I never made "fluffy" drinks in the summer, but I do and I'll post some when it warms up.
My little experiment turned out amazingly well. We both had two servings of salad and used a little dressing as a sauce on the fish. Yummmm.....
(Kristin is a) Green Goddess Dressing
3 C loose baby spinach leaves
2 bunches fresh basil
6 sprigs fresh dill
3/4 C nonfat Greek yogurt
1/2 C lowfat sour cream
3 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1-2 T olive oil
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
3 dashes hot sauce
1/4 C water to thin
Combine all ingredients except water in a blender or a food processor. Puree or blend until smooth. Add water to thin as desired. Serve on butter lettuce, bib lettuce or spring mix. Also makes a great dip for crudites and was delicious on the baked sole.
Baked Sole and Asparagus Bundles with Dill and Lemon
pan brushed with olive oil, sprinkled with freshly ground
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
4 sole filets
1/2 pound asparagus, tough ends trimmed and long stalks cut in half
juice of 1/2 a lemon
4 thin lemon slices, seeded
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare baking sheet by brushing with 1-2 T of olive oil and grinding sea salt and pepper over the oil. Lay the sole filets on the prepared sheet and brush them with some of the olive oil (maybe you have enough already on the sheet to share with the fish). Lightly salt and pepper the filets and squeeze the lemon to dress them. Lay 3-4 asparagus spears across the middle perpendicular to the length of the filet. Wrap up the sides of the filet tucking under the loose end. Place a couple of sprigs of dill on each bundle and top with a lemon slice. Bake until flaky, maybe 10-15 minutes.
Fridays usually mean a massive errand running extravaganza and this week was no exception. It was an extra fun outing with whipping winds and rain. Thank goodness for my cute LandsEnd slicker. One stop is always Costco, because I love that place but do not love it on Saturdays and Sundays. Since I do not work outside of the kitchen, errands are rarely run on Saturdays and Sundays. Why add to the crowds? Back to dinner, I decided on the "living lettuce" (2 heads of butter lettuce with roots attached) because Greg is quite fond of it. I'm quite fond of Green Goddess dressing at the Glass Chimney (yes, I know it has the dreaded mayonnaise in it, I somehow find a way to dip my fork tines in it before I spear some lettuce). After perusing some unsatisfactory recipes (i.e. mayonnaise based or full of ingredients that I somehow don't have in my kitchen) I decided to wing it and go with what I had on hand. I always have a good supply of nonfat plain Greek yogurt and that would be my base along with some lowfat sour cream for taste. I am finishing a big Costco box of baby spinach and a medium box of basil. I bought fresh dill for the fish so, ta-da, green dressing. So everything is ready to go in my nice KitchenAid blender and I hit the power and puree buttons and BAM sparks fly somewhere around the base and the motor whines as the blades are locked in place. Uh-oh. Still trying to figure out why the blades did not engage in the base and instead sheared off the tabs in the base rendering the whole thing useless. I'll be calling KitchenAid on Monday. So everything went instead into my workhorse Cuisinart food processor without a care. I could live without a blender if I never made "fluffy" drinks in the summer, but I do and I'll post some when it warms up.
My little experiment turned out amazingly well. We both had two servings of salad and used a little dressing as a sauce on the fish. Yummmm.....
(Kristin is a) Green Goddess Dressing
3 C loose baby spinach leaves
2 bunches fresh basil
6 sprigs fresh dill
3/4 C nonfat Greek yogurt
1/2 C lowfat sour cream
3 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1-2 T olive oil
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
3 dashes hot sauce
1/4 C water to thin
Combine all ingredients except water in a blender or a food processor. Puree or blend until smooth. Add water to thin as desired. Serve on butter lettuce, bib lettuce or spring mix. Also makes a great dip for crudites and was delicious on the baked sole.
Baked Sole and Asparagus Bundles with Dill and Lemon
pan brushed with olive oil, sprinkled with freshly ground
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
4 sole filets
1/2 pound asparagus, tough ends trimmed and long stalks cut in half
juice of 1/2 a lemon
4 thin lemon slices, seeded
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare baking sheet by brushing with 1-2 T of olive oil and grinding sea salt and pepper over the oil. Lay the sole filets on the prepared sheet and brush them with some of the olive oil (maybe you have enough already on the sheet to share with the fish). Lightly salt and pepper the filets and squeeze the lemon to dress them. Lay 3-4 asparagus spears across the middle perpendicular to the length of the filet. Wrap up the sides of the filet tucking under the loose end. Place a couple of sprigs of dill on each bundle and top with a lemon slice. Bake until flaky, maybe 10-15 minutes.
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| Green Goddess dressing ingredients |
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| all processed |
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| sole filets with olive oil, salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon |
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| line up the asparagus |
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| roll up the filets, top with fresh dill and lemon slice |
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| all done in the oven |
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| my dinner plate (note the fork-flaking test' s destruction of the filet) |
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