Baked Fish and Spinach

Coming up with new diet recipes is extremely difficult, especially when the diet you are on is so restrictive. I cheated a little by adding eggs and milk to this recipe, but I could not eat the same spinach and fish for another day. 

I didn't have much hope for this recipe. I had expected by husband to come home and say 'this isn't one of your better meals', which is something I don't mind hearing, especially for a diet recipe, hence the lack of a photograph for this dish. But he loved it, and as it turned out, so did I! So, the next time I make it (and it will be soon) I'll add the photograph to the post. 

I was really itching to sprinkle the top of this bake dish with a bread crumb and Parmesan mixture but I had already cheated plenty on my diet and bread and cheese are a bigger no-no than eggs and milk. Lastly, all my ingredients were low-fat or fat-free, except the oil of course!  

1 onion, finely chopped

4-5 cloves garlic, finely chopped

18oz (frozen) chopped spinach

¾ - 1 cup chicken stock

Salt to taste

1 tsp Chili powder (to taste)

2 fillets tilapia, cut into 2” pieces

2 eggs, lightly beaten

½ cup milk (fat free)

½ tsp (slightly heaped) flour

Little olive oil

Oil spray

In a bowl, marinate the fish in ½ tsp chili powder and salt. Set aside. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with the milk.

In a pot, heat about half a tablespoon of olive oil; when hot, add in the onions. Fry till they start to soften and become transparent. Add in the garlic and cook for about a minute, but do not brown. Next add the remaining ½ teaspoon of chili powder and salt. Stir and allow to cook for a minute. Add a little chicken stock if it sticks. Now add the spinach, mix it in well and then add the chicken stock. Simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, with a lid on. Then remove the lid and cook for an additional 3 to 4 minutes, untill all the chicken stock evaporates. Switch off the stove and sprinkle the flour on top and mix well. Allow the spinach to cool.

While the spinach is cooling, lightly spray a frying pan with an oil spray, and put it on the stove at medium heat. Once it’s hot, put in the fish and fry it lightly for about 1 minute; just to give it a little color. Then turn the fish and fry the other side. It does not matter if the fish is not fully cooked, as it will cook in the oven. Once all the pieces are fried, allow it to cool. You can prepare up to here in advance. Mix in the egg mixture with the spinach, making sure that it coats the spinach evenly.  

Assembly: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a deep oven proof dish, put in half the spinach and flatten it a little. Next assemble all the fish on the spinach, and cover it with the remaining spinach. Bake till it is set. Serve hot!