From Fitness Food comes this lower-fat version of an old favorite. Ground beef, vegetables, and herbs are baked in a casserole with a mashed potato “crust”. Delicious!

Chris says:

We should have invited Damon over for this; he loves Shepherd’s Pie.

Lisa says:

You’re right, we should have! This is good, I like that you can taste all the herbs and spices.

Chris says:

Awesome job; this is one of my favorite meals that you’ve made. And you can definitely taste that rosemary — hooray for the only plant we seem to be able to keep alive!

Lisa says:

I’m happy that we’re not cutting the recipes in half anymore… I can’t wait to have this for dinner tomorrow night.

Chris says:

Assuming it lasts that long. Most of the time we cut recipes in half so I don’t eat 17 servings in one sitting!

Shepherd’s Pie
————–
2 lb 4 oz russet potatoes
6 large cloves garlic, peeled
4 tbsp skim milk
oil spray
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 large cloves garlic, crushed
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
2 carrots, diced
1 lb 10 oz ground beef
1 1/2 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp chopped thyme
2 tsp chopped rosemary
2 bay leaves
1 1/4 cups beef stock
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
pinch ground nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 350F. Cut the potatoes into chunks and cook in a large sauce pan of boiling water with the whole garlic cloves for 10-15 minutes or until tender. Drain well and return to the saucepan. Mash the potatoes and garlic until smooth. Stir in the milk and season with salt and freshly ground pepper.
Meanwhile, lightly spray a large nonstick pan with the oil and heat over medium. Add the onion, crushed garlic, celery, and carrot and cook for 5 minutes, or until softened. Remove from pan.
Add the ground beef and cook over high heat until well browned, breaking up any lumps with the back of a spoon. Add the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes. Return the vegetables to the pan with the tomato paste, herbs, bay leaf, stock, sauce, and nutmeg and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, or until thickened.
Pour the beef mixture into a 2 liter ovenproof dish. Spoon the potatoes over the top, smoothing the surface, then fluff with a fork. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until lightly golden and crusty. You may want to finish the last few minutes under the broiler.

6 Servings.

We were on our way home tonight and realized we hadn’t planned any meals, so we popped in to Whole Foods to see if anything caught our eye — salmon fillets and heirloom tomatoes were both on sale, so we bought both, along with a few potatoes. It wasn’t until we got home that I wondered if we had the ingredients to make skordalia, and when I saw we did, I decided to give it a try. I cut the oil in the recipe below more than half, and should have cut the garlic in half as well — it was *extremely* garlicky (Even Lisa, who usually *doubles* the garlic in recipes, thought it was a bit much). Still, it was delicious, especially when it mixed a bit with the juices from the tomatoes, which were just topped with some balsamic, a little olive oil, and fresh basil.

Potato Skordalia (from The Olive and the Caper)
———————————————–
1 large russet potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1/3 cup blanched almonds (or pine nuts)
15 cloves of garlic (!!!)
1 cup olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp salt

Boil potatoes over high heat until soft all the way through, about 10 minutes.
Transfer the potatoes to a food processor. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.

Who knew you could make “healthy” fish and chips? Other than some cooking spray, there’s no oil at all in this recipe from Fitness Food. We made this with “true cod” from Whole Foods, though any firm white fish would work well in this recipe. We also had different potatoes than listed below, but other than that made the recipe as shown. Lisa sez: “I [heart] this a lot!”

Guilt-Free Fish & Chips
———————–
4 large pontiac potatoes, unpeeled
cooking spray
1 tsp sea salt
1 egg white
1 tbsp soda water
1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs
all-purpose flour
4 x 5 /12 oz firm white fish fillets
lemon wedges

“Cheat’s” Tartar Sauce
———————-
2/3 cup light mayo
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 tbsp finely chopped gherkins
1 tbsp capers, drained, rinsed finely chopped
1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
2 tsp lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 400. Cut the potatoes lengthwise into wedges. Place the wedges on a nonstick baking sheet and spray lightly with cooking spray. Sprinkle with sea salt and bake for 35-45 minutes or until evenly golden and crisp, turning halfway through cooking.
Meanwhile, place the egg white and soda water in a shallow dish and whisk until frothy. Put the breadcrumbs in a second shallow dish. Lightly dust the fish with the flour. Dip each fillet into the egg white mixture, then coat in the crumbs, shaking off any excess. Place on a plate and refrigerate for 30 minutes while the potatoes are cooking.
To make the tartar sauce, combine all the ingredients, cover, and refrigerate.
Ten minutes before the potatoes are cooked, spray a nonstick frying pan with the cooking spray, then heat over medium-high. Cook the fish fillets for 4-5 minutes on each side or until evenly browned and cooked through. Serve the fish and chips with the tartar sauce and lemon wedges.

4 Servings

This Lime-Chipotle sauce that we used both to marinate and then serve over the flank steak was just divine — spicy, sweet, and citrusy! We also grilled up some asparagus (brushed with a touch of olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper) and cooked potatoes with garlic and some fresh rosemary from our yard. Everything was perfect together — and of course, that sauce somehow ended up on the potatoes as well!

Lime-Chipotle Sauce
——————-
1/2 cup honey
2 tbsp chipotle chiles in adobo, minced
3 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/2 cup lime juice
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp allspice
1 tsp cumin
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
salt and pepper
–
1/2 lb flank steak
1 lime

1. Mix all ingredients together and marinate flank steak for an hour or more
2. Remove steak from marinade (save it!) and grill to desired doneness, flipping once
3. In small sauce pan, let the marinade simmer over low heat
4. Slice steak diagonally across the grain; top with the marinade/sauce

Serve with a lime wedge to squeeze over steak.

Although you’ll really want to, it is not advised to pour the remainder of the sauce directly into your mouth.

This recipe is from The New Basics Cookbook – Yukon Gold potatoes, shallots, and butter fanned over salmon that’s first cooked on the stove, and then baked in the oven until the fish is cooked through and the potatoes are golden brown. This one smelled fantastic while cooking, and the shallots added a lot of flavor. We added some steamed green beans and cornbread on the side.