I was at the grocery store this past Friday and I wandered past the fish market just to see if there was anything at a price I was willing to pay. What happened to the price of fish? Probably the same thing that happened to the price of all meat. All of a sudden it almost doubled and it seemed to happen overnight. I could be mistaken about that but if I'm wrong, that means I wasn't paying attention or I lost track of time while it was going up. Whatever the reason, fish is no longer the budget meal it once was. In fact, many of the foods we ate to stretch the budget are no longer the bargain they once were.
Anyway, I digress. I started out saying that I was wondering past the fish market at my grocery store and I saw a hand-written price tag that said $3.99 a pound. Nothing else in the case was less than $6.99 a pound. The fish was basa--a variety I'd never heard of. I asked what it was and the fish monger told me it was a cross between flounder and catfish. I love both so it sounded perfect to me.
I got 1.29 pounds for $5.15. My fish monger takes off a little for ice when the fish is frozen because it will "lose weight" when it thaws--make sure you get that courtesy from you fish market if the fish is frozen. At any rate, fish loses quite a bit of weight when it cooks, too, so it's best to get about a half pound per person. That means I have just enough fish for three servings. Add some fresh broccoli or zucchini (depending on the flavor of the fish--you need a fairly strong fish to stand up to broccoli--zucchini, on the other hand, can get a little lost if served with the same fish but is perfect with the more delicate varieties. For my basa I'm going to cheat and make frozen peas and fresh carrots. I'll also toss a quick and easy salad and, rather than a potato for starch, have a little rice with a tiny bit of dill and a few pine nuts just to make it a little interesting. Actually, with all those vegetables and a salad, you could probably serve four people with this much fish.
This time of year there isn't much on sale in the produce department (one of the reasons for the frozen peas and fresh carrots--carrots can almost always be counted on to be affordable and the frozen peas were in the freezer from when they were $0.99 for a large bag. The salad is a bit of a challenge because there just isn't anything really affordable right now. This week there was regular and red leaf lettuce for $0.59 a pound so I got that, one nice-sized crimini mushroom, one tomato (at $2.39 a pound, it was a small one), and added a sprinkling of the pine nuts I also put in the rice. I topped the salad with homemade croutons and a choice of dressings for each person.
To cook the fish there are plenty of ways to choose from but my favorite is still the tried and true steaming method. I put about a half dozen very thin lemon slices on the bottom of the pan (sprayed with a non-stick spray), add a few very thin slices of sweet onion, gently pour in a cup or two of water (depending on the size of the pan which, of course, the amount of fish). When the water comes to a simmer, I add the fish and sprinkle the top with a little fresh or dried dill. Then I cover it and cook for 8-10 minutes for most fish (sometimes a little less if the fish is very thin or a little longer for the thicker varieties). I like my fish with tartar sauce but you may prefer a seafood sauce or just a little fresh lemon juice.
Without dessert, this dinner cost about $12 for 4 people. That's not bad for a very nice dinner. I prefer to have dinner cost less than $2.00 per person in order to keep meals under $100 a month per person but a couple of days of true budget meals will still allow for this dinner and if you're spending a bit more than that, this may be a standard dinner price.
This started out to be just a little, tiny post about the great price I got for fish but one thing led to another and I ended up with a long post (and people ask why I don't post more often--I don't know how to write tiny posts).
Enjoy...
