Moroccan Fish Stew

In a not on purpose effort to eat a bit less RED meat and chicken, we have made a switch the last few weeks to fish and veggies. I made this recipe from Cooking Light for the first time and I totally thought it would be disgusting. There was nothing to make me think this, it's just that it only took about 15 minutes and something just made me think it would be gross. Au contraire! I would not give it an A+, but I would give it a solid B to B+ and an A for the amount of time it took.

Here it is:

1 c uncooked couscous (I used Israeli couscous)
3 T olive oil, divided
3 T fresh lemon juice, divided
3/4 t salt, divided
1/4 t freshly ground black pepper, divided
1 c boiling water
12 oz halibut (or another white fish or salmon), cut into large chunks - (get a butcher to take the skin off, it will help a lot)
3/4 lb raw large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 t cumin seeds (I used powder)
3/4 t ground cinnamon
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 fresh hot red chili pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 c clam juice
1 14/5 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 c frozen green peas (defrost before using!)

First, prepare the couscous: Place couscous in a medium bowl; add 1 T oil, 2 T lemon juice, 1/4 t salt, and 1/8 t pepper. Pour boiling water over couscous; cover and let stand for 10 minutes. Fluff with fork before serving. (Honestly you can make your cous-cous however you like!)

Next the seafood: Sprinkle a little salt and pepper over fish and then toss shrimp with 1/4 t salt.

Now for the stew: in a large skillet, warm 3 T oil over medium heat. Add cumin, cinnamon, garlic, and chili pepper. Cook for 2 minutes, then layer the following ingredients: fish, shrimp, and tomatoes. Cook for 5 min. Add peas (which you should have previously defrosted) and cook for 5 more min.

Put stew over cous-cous and eat. THAT'S IT!!!

Whitefish with veggies

For this recipe it calls for cod, but I have used sole and it was tasty that way too.

First chop up a green pepper nice and small. Then slice some tomatoes and the recipe calls for chopped onion but I was out so I used scallions. I don't think it was any different.

In a separate bowl add about 1/2 a cup of breadcrumbs (this time I used Panko flakes and they were great). To the breadcrumbs add a few sprinkles of olive oil. Either add some chopped fresh basil or some dried basil to the mixture and stir it around.

Place the fish on a greased (just in case it sticks) baking pan. Put the tomato slices on top and then the green peppers. Add the breadcrumb mixture and then the onions or scallions. Bake at 375 for about 25 minutes. It all depends on the thickness of your fish fillets, so if they are thin they might need a little less time. If they are super thick they might need more.

I like to squeeze lemon juice over it all when it comes out of the oven and I'd serve it with rice or cous-cous. We ate it with Israeli cous-cous  (my first time making it) and I was not super excited with it because it was so pasta-like. I think this one goes better with regular cous-cous!

Fifth Belize Day

Saturday-

Once again we woke ourselves up nice and early.
I forgot, but yesterday while drinking coconut rum, we met a Danish couple in their young twenties. They were traveling through Guatemala and Belize for the summer. They had been asking how to get to Punta Gorda. So we stepped in to let them know that we were going that way and that they should just come with us. They seemed happy with that arrangement.

So we picked up Sasha and John (our Danish colleagues Tom likes to say) and headed out of the peninsula. We could drive about 1 miles north of our hotel and then the paved road ended. The dirt road was pretty bumpy and awful. Tom drove quite well though, I must say.

Eventually we headed into Mayan land. We ate breakfast at a place while it down poured. By the time we got back in the car the rain was mostly gone. We drove and drove and drove. We stopped at Nim Li Punit to see some Mayan ruins. There were mostly stelae - rock structures with Mayan writing on them telling about historical events. The site itself was still quite a lot of rubble, but still really neat to see. Just so huge and humbling.

We kept driving on. We saw lots of thatched roof homes and dogs running around. Eventually we drove toward Lubaantun - more Mayan ruins. We almost didn't make it. We circled through the town 2.5 times. We asked different kids for directions and they kept saying we had to cross a river. We had not seen this river, so we were somewhat confused. Eventually we found this "river" and crossed it on a small bridge. We kept driving and driving and then made it to the ruins.

At this point it was hot and muggy. We hiked up the grass slope and talked to the man who worked there. He told us a bunch of history and information. Then we walked around the site and took lots of pictures. It was very cool, but still incredible how much more work needed to be done to restore the site to its former glory.

With our Danish Colleagues still in tow we headed to Punta Gorda. It was not much a town to see, but we ate lunch at a good place and then left them to fend for themselves as we headed back home.

We dropped the car off right on time (or maybe 5 minutes late) and ate at Cozy Corner. A restaurant right on the beach a little bit south of the Barefoot Beach Bar. We had lobster and fish fillet and drank some beers and told stories of camp and high school.

All in all a very fulfilling and long day.