Bachelor on the Cheap
Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, a 40-day ‘season’ for prayer, fasting, giving something up for self-improvement as well as motivation for contributing food, money, and time to good causes.
Many folks are familiar with the tradition of abstaining from eating meat on Fridays during Lent. The most common meal replacement for meat is fish, and that typically involves a lot of people who don’t otherwise normally eat it.
If fried fish is the only way you will eat fish, then you’ll come to like grilled fish even better than fried after reading this article.
That’s pretty much the only way I used to eat fish, fried… A beer batter was preferred and I had absolutely no interest in offerings that were ‘baked,’ ‘poached’ or just sauteed in butter. There just wasn’t enough flavor in the fish and the texture lacked a wow factor in those other preparations.
Enter, the grill.
Smoke does A LOT for fish, and so does the kind of heat you get from a grill. The texture of fish changes when placed directly over a fire and it absorbs smoke flavor readily. Fish and the grill are a perfect pairing because what turns out to be mushy in a poached offering, becomes crispy on the outside but tender on the inside deliciousness in a perfect bite delivered from the coals. What is bland in a baked preparation becomes, “I didn’t know salmon could taste this good!” in a grilled preparation. I don’t care how much seasoning and pretty decorative parsley is placed on the fillet, baked fish sucks.
Grilled is superior to any other fish preparation method. Here are a few recipes for you to try during Lent.
Teriyaki Salmon
Here’s a fantastic marinade for about two pounds of salmon:
Marinade ingredients
- Half cup olive oil
- 1/3 cup teriyaki sauce
- The juice from half a lime
- One Tablespoon of dried, minced onion
- One teaspoon of garlic powder
- One Tablespoon of light brown sugar
- A couple dashes of balsamic vinegar
Directions
Mix all ingredients for the marinade in a bowl or big measuring cup, and set aside. Cut your salmon into four equal pieces (optional), place in a Tupperware bowl or a big zip lock bag, and pour in the marinade. Refrigerate for at least one hour. Fish does not need a lot of time to marinade, don’t marinade for more than four hours, or your fish will turn to mush. Salmon is great for the grill, remember to take the fish out of the fridge about 20-30 minutes prior to placing it over the coals. You’re doing this to inspect the fish and make sure it‘s well covered in the marinade. It’s not about letting the protein come up to room temperature like you hear some of the cooking show talking heads say, that’s just yada, yada talk to kill air time. The truth is, refrigerated meats and/or fish won’t come up to room temperature in just 30 minutes, not even close. OK, back to the salmon…..
Put the fish over direct heat, fish side down at first (not skin side), and let them sizzle for about two minutes to get some nice grill marks, do NOT cover. Flip to the skin side after two minutes, keeping it over direct heat to get that skin crispy. Now you can put a lid on it, for about another 3-5 minutes to get that nice charcoal flavor. Remove from the grill and let them rest. This recipe is a real crowd-pleaser. Excellent served with grilled lime wedges, a side of rice pilaf, and glazed carrots.
Simple Grilled Shrimp
Shrimp is such an easy thing to do on the grill, it’s quick, delicious, and crowd-pleasing. And you don’t have to worry about seasoning it up a whole lot, let the shrimp itself, be the star.
Ingredients:
- Two pounds of jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- One teaspoon garlic powder
- Juice from half a lemon
- One teaspoon dried parsley flake
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Put the shrimp in a large ziplock bag. Mix the remaining ingredients in a small bowl and pour over the shrimp in the bag. Refrigerate for one hour. When the grill is ready to receive, put the marinated shrimp on metal or water-soaked wood or bamboo skewers over direct heat. These cook up rather quickly, about a minute or so on each side or until pink all around with a slight char from the grill. Hit them with the juice from the other half of the lemon, and some garlic butter (if you’ve been paying attention throughout the book, you know to always have some garlic butter sitting over indirect heat on the grill) and serve immediately. Ingredient Option: Add some chili flakes to the garlic butter.
Tasty Grilled Tilapia
Tilapia is my go-to fish, it’s readily available, it’s cheap and the best part is it can take on any flavor you want to throw at it. It is a more delicate fish than the ‘meatier’ fillets like salmon or tuna, so you may want to use a grill basket or grill sheet when throwing this fish on the grill.
Ingredients:
- 4 Tilapia fillets
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- Two tablespoons of Cookies Flavor Enhancer or all-purpose seasoning salt
- One lemon, sliced into four wedges and brushed lightly with olive oil
Directions:
Season the fish on both sides with the seasoning salt and place it into a large ziplock bag. Pour in the olive oil and refrigerate for one hour. When the grill is ready to receive, place the fillets and the lemon wedges over direct heat and put the lid down so the fish and citrus can absorb some smoky goodness. This fish cooks quickly, it’s only going to need about 2-3 minutes per side. Remember, because this fish is flaky, you may want to use a grilling basket or grill sheet. Serve the fish immediately, squeezing that grilled lemon wedge over the Tilapia at the table.
Serving Options: Tilapia is SO versatile! Brush it with your favorite BBQ sauce before placing it on the coals. A classic preparation of garlic butter with fresh chopped Italian parsley is also very good. And there’s nothing like a little kick, Tilapia brushed with Sriracha is excellent.
Tuna Steaks
Quality tuna on the grill is tough to beat. A nice thick-cut tuna steak is to fish, what a Ribeye steak is to beef. And because tuna is so good, there’s really no need to doctor it up much, you want to really enjoy the essence of this fish. I prepare mine quite simply. Dress the steaks with olive oil, salt, and pepper on both sides. When the grill is ready to receive, put the tuna steaks over direct heat. And this is an excellent piece of fish to get those great diamond grill marks on. Rotate the fish a quarter turn after one minute, then let it sear another minute before flipping, keeping the tuna over direct heat for another minute or two. With tuna, you don’t want to cook it all the way through, you want a strip of pink running through it, just like a medium to medium rare Ribeye. If you cook tuna all the way through, it tends to dry out, meaning a much less enjoyable piece of fish. Enjoy tuna steak as is with a side of rice, or slice it up to make some fantastic fish tacos!
Crab Dip & Toasted Garlic Bread
Baked Crap Dip & Toasted Baguettes
I love a good crab dip, but that’s not easy to do when you live in the Midwest. It’s not like fresh crab is readily available and canned crab is, well, ‘eh’… Hopefully, you’ve got a nice seafood shop near you that offers good lump crab meat. In a pinch, the imitation stuff will do, it’s better than canned which undoubtedly will have shell bits in it.
Ingredients:
- 1 pound lump crab meat
- 8 ounces cream cheese (softened)
- 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/3 cup chopped green onion, reserve some for garnish
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
- 1 teaspoon Louisiana Hot Sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
- The juice from one lemon
- Baguette, sliced
- 1/2 stick butter
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
It’s another dose of YUM!
Directions: Mix all ingredients (except the baguettes and melted garlic butter of course) together in a medium-sized bowl. Transfer to a cast iron skillet and grill over indirect heat on the grill until bubbly, golden brown, and delicious, about 45 minutes. The key is low and slow with this. About 10 minutes before pulling from the grill, melt the garlic butter in a grill-safe bowl and toast the sliced baguettes, brushing them with the garlic butter on both sides until golden, brown, and delicious. Serve the baked dip on the toast and enjoy!
You would pay high dollar to get this kind of appetizer in a restaurant and finding a restaurant that even has this appetizer on the menu could prove to be a challenge. Making this yourself makes sense and it’s SO tasty! It’s another dose of YUM!
Enjoy these recipes, if I was a betting man, I would wager you’ll be eating at least a couple of them beyond the season of Lent. Fish is also Bachelor on the Cheap wallet-friendly, and easy on the grocery budget.
$pend Wisely My Friends…
~ Mike
Related:
Enjoy this post?
If you appreciate the recipes you just read and want to support more great content on BachelorontheCheap.com, you can help keep this site going with a one-time or monthly donation. Thank you so much for your support! ~ Mike
Fish isn't just for Lent – Bachelor on the Cheap
Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, a 40-day ‘season’ for prayer, fasting, giving something up for self-improvement as well as motivation for contributing food, money, and time to good causes.
Many folks are familiar with the tradition of abstaining from eating meat on Fridays during Lent. The most common meal replacement for meat is fish, and that typically involves a lot of people who don’t otherwise normally eat it.
If fried fish is the only way you will eat fish, then you’ll come to like grilled fish even better than fried after reading this article.
That’s pretty much the only way I used to eat fish, fried… A beer batter was preferred and I had absolutely no interest in offerings that were ‘baked,’ ‘poached’ or just sauteed in butter. There just wasn’t enough flavor in the fish and the texture lacked a wow factor in those other preparations.
Enter, the grill.
Smoke does A LOT for fish, and so does the kind of heat you get from a grill. The texture of fish changes when placed directly over a fire and it absorbs smoke flavor readily. Fish and the grill are a perfect pairing because what turns out to be mushy in a poached offering, becomes crispy on the outside but tender on the inside deliciousness in a perfect bite delivered from the coals. What is bland in a baked preparation becomes, “I didn’t know salmon could taste this good!” in a grilled preparation. I don’t care how much seasoning and pretty decorative parsley is placed on the fillet, baked fish sucks.
Grilled is superior to any other fish preparation method. Here are a few recipes for you to try during Lent.
Teriyaki Salmon
Here’s a fantastic marinade for about two pounds of salmon:
Marinade ingredients
Directions
Mix all ingredients for the marinade in a bowl or big measuring cup, and set aside. Cut your salmon into four equal pieces (optional), place in a Tupperware bowl or a big zip lock bag, and pour in the marinade. Refrigerate for at least one hour. Fish does not need a lot of time to marinade, don’t marinade for more than four hours, or your fish will turn to mush. Salmon is great for the grill, remember to take the fish out of the fridge about 20-30 minutes prior to placing it over the coals. You’re doing this to inspect the fish and make sure it‘s well covered in the marinade. It’s not about letting the protein come up to room temperature like you hear some of the cooking show talking heads say, that’s just yada, yada talk to kill air time. The truth is, refrigerated meats and/or fish won’t come up to room temperature in just 30 minutes, not even close. OK, back to the salmon…..
Put the fish over direct heat, fish side down at first (not skin side), and let them sizzle for about two minutes to get some nice grill marks, do NOT cover. Flip to the skin side after two minutes, keeping it over direct heat to get that skin crispy. Now you can put a lid on it, for about another 3-5 minutes to get that nice charcoal flavor. Remove from the grill and let them rest. This recipe is a real crowd-pleaser. Excellent served with grilled lime wedges, a side of rice pilaf, and glazed carrots.
Simple Grilled Shrimp
Ingredients:
Directions:
Put the shrimp in a large ziplock bag. Mix the remaining ingredients in a small bowl and pour over the shrimp in the bag. Refrigerate for one hour. When the grill is ready to receive, put the marinated shrimp on metal or water-soaked wood or bamboo skewers over direct heat. These cook up rather quickly, about a minute or so on each side or until pink all around with a slight char from the grill. Hit them with the juice from the other half of the lemon, and some garlic butter (if you’ve been paying attention throughout the book, you know to always have some garlic butter sitting over indirect heat on the grill) and serve immediately. Ingredient Option: Add some chili flakes to the garlic butter.
Tasty Grilled Tilapia
Tilapia is my go-to fish, it’s readily available, it’s cheap and the best part is it can take on any flavor you want to throw at it. It is a more delicate fish than the ‘meatier’ fillets like salmon or tuna, so you may want to use a grill basket or grill sheet when throwing this fish on the grill.
Ingredients:
Directions:
Season the fish on both sides with the seasoning salt and place it into a large ziplock bag. Pour in the olive oil and refrigerate for one hour. When the grill is ready to receive, place the fillets and the lemon wedges over direct heat and put the lid down so the fish and citrus can absorb some smoky goodness. This fish cooks quickly, it’s only going to need about 2-3 minutes per side. Remember, because this fish is flaky, you may want to use a grilling basket or grill sheet. Serve the fish immediately, squeezing that grilled lemon wedge over the Tilapia at the table.
Serving Options: Tilapia is SO versatile! Brush it with your favorite BBQ sauce before placing it on the coals. A classic preparation of garlic butter with fresh chopped Italian parsley is also very good. And there’s nothing like a little kick, Tilapia brushed with Sriracha is excellent.
Tuna Steaks
Quality tuna on the grill is tough to beat. A nice thick-cut tuna steak is to fish, what a Ribeye steak is to beef. And because tuna is so good, there’s really no need to doctor it up much, you want to really enjoy the essence of this fish. I prepare mine quite simply. Dress the steaks with olive oil, salt, and pepper on both sides. When the grill is ready to receive, put the tuna steaks over direct heat. And this is an excellent piece of fish to get those great diamond grill marks on. Rotate the fish a quarter turn after one minute, then let it sear another minute before flipping, keeping the tuna over direct heat for another minute or two. With tuna, you don’t want to cook it all the way through, you want a strip of pink running through it, just like a medium to medium rare Ribeye. If you cook tuna all the way through, it tends to dry out, meaning a much less enjoyable piece of fish. Enjoy tuna steak as is with a side of rice, or slice it up to make some fantastic fish tacos!
Crab Dip & Toasted Garlic Bread
Baked Crap Dip & Toasted Baguettes
I love a good crab dip, but that’s not easy to do when you live in the Midwest. It’s not like fresh crab is readily available and canned crab is, well, ‘eh’… Hopefully, you’ve got a nice seafood shop near you that offers good lump crab meat. In a pinch, the imitation stuff will do, it’s better than canned which undoubtedly will have shell bits in it.
Ingredients:
It’s another dose of YUM!
Directions: Mix all ingredients (except the baguettes and melted garlic butter of course) together in a medium-sized bowl. Transfer to a cast iron skillet and grill over indirect heat on the grill until bubbly, golden brown, and delicious, about 45 minutes. The key is low and slow with this. About 10 minutes before pulling from the grill, melt the garlic butter in a grill-safe bowl and toast the sliced baguettes, brushing them with the garlic butter on both sides until golden, brown, and delicious. Serve the baked dip on the toast and enjoy!
You would pay high dollar to get this kind of appetizer in a restaurant and finding a restaurant that even has this appetizer on the menu could prove to be a challenge. Making this yourself makes sense and it’s SO tasty! It’s another dose of YUM!
Enjoy these recipes, if I was a betting man, I would wager you’ll be eating at least a couple of them beyond the season of Lent. Fish is also Bachelor on the Cheap wallet-friendly, and easy on the grocery budget.
$pend Wisely My Friends…
~ Mike
Related:
Enjoy this post?
If you appreciate the recipes you just read and want to support more great content on BachelorontheCheap.com, you can help keep this site going with a one-time or monthly donation. Thank you so much for your support! ~ Mike