grilled cod with potatoes and vegetables

grilled cod with potatoes and vegetables

I always hear about how healthy fish is, but truth be told, I don't eat it that often. It's one of those foods that's awesome when it's prepared perfectly, but you can ruin the whole meal if you miss by just a little bit - either under or over-cooking, or by mis-seasoning it. (unlike a burger, where you've got plenty of margin for error on either side of medium-well..) Plus, my wife isn't a big fan of having the whole house smell like fish for the rest of the day.

That being said, once in awhile I get a craving for fish, and this weekend was one of those times. I had an idea in my mind about halibut with asparagus and rice pilaf, so Collin and I went off to hunt at the local grocery store.

It turns out they don't carry fresh halibut (and if they did it would be about $25 per pound, says the fish butcher), so we settled on cod - a 3/4 pound fillet for $4. The asparagus was priced high at $4 per bushel, so we reached for fresh green beans as an alternative ($2.50). As for the rice pilaf, Collin voted for french fries, and after last month's potato debacle, I've been looking forward to my next chance with the little spuds. We agreed on home-made steak fries. (a bag of red potatoes was $3.)

This time I cut the red potatoes into steak fries. I placed them in open foil with a little oil and seasoned them with Montreal Chicken, then let them cook on the grill for about 35 minutes, stirring occasionally. I wrapped the fish in foil with some oil, water, sea salt, lemon pepper, and a pinch of garlic powder, and set it on the grill for about 15 minutes, flipping it a couple times throughout. The green beans got an oil spray with salt and pepper, and about 10 minutes on the grill.

* Note - my son Collin eats gluten-free and casein-free (basically no wheat or dairy). We try to modify our recipes to account for this, as a show of support and because it's easier than cooking multiple meals. If this wasn't the case, the fish and green beans would have been smothered in butter! :)

The Results

Awesome - This meal turned out perfect.

CalorieKing says each serving contained 326 calories. (119 fish, 123 potatoes, 44 beans, and 40 oil.) Our servings of fish and potatoes were a little larger, so we might have been closer to 500. Still, this was a dinner that was fresh, healthy, less than $10 for both of us, and well within moderate calorie guidelines. I'll make this again later in the summer for sure.

Would you want to try this meal, or do you have any recommendations for making it better? Come back and let me know in the comments!

-Chris Butterworth

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