Me? Cooking? No way!

This is a little different for me....I'm writing a food post!!

I have been wanting to cook a meal for my boyfriend, Dylan, for a long time, since he almost always does the cooking, but there were a few obstacles standing in my way. Firstly, I didn't want to cook while his roommate was there, just because things get crowded and I kind of wanted the dining experience to be as "date-like" as possible. We have to cook at his place because I only have a toaster oven and no stove at my place. Secondly, I just didn't have the money to spend on all the ingredients I would probably want. Lastly, I knew I would need a day that was feeling well overall, so that I wouldn't easily lose patience and get cranky. Yesterday, everything just kind of fell into place and I ended up cooking a meal that actually turned out to be the best combination of flavours I have ever tasted in my life. I mean, I love food in general, but I haven't even had something I liked more at a "high-class" restaurant. Needless to say, I was quite proud of myself....and the ingredients were actually surprisingly inexpensive!

I decided to look up some healthy recipes online yesterday afternoon. Dylan and I have really gotten into trying to eat healthier, so I knew that I wanted last night's meal to be as healthy as possible.

I found a recipe for Almond- and Lemon-Crusted Fish with Spinach and I figured that I really couldn't go wrong by making that. Fish is one of the healthiest things you can eat and it can be sooooo delicious. I absolutely loved cooking with the fresh ingredients, too...it made it into a fairly relaxing experience, because it was like aromatherapy! Fresh lemon and dill?? Mmm! Here's the ingredients list:

• Zest and juice of 1 lemon, divided
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds, coarsely chopped
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried
• 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided (I used normal salt)
• Freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1 1/4 pounds cod (see Tip) or halibut, cut into 4 portions (I used cod)
• 4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 2 cloves garlic, slivered
• 1 pound baby spinach
• Lemon wedges for garnish

*I used the same bags of spinach and almonds for the fish and the salad*

I'll copy and paste the preparation part too, but I'll add my little notes along the way:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray. (I had to use vegetable oil to grease the pan, but it worked out just fine!)
2. Combine lemon zest (I used the a fine cheese grater), almonds, dill, 1 tablespoon oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper in a small bowl. Place fish on the prepared baking sheet and spread each portion with 1 teaspoon mustard. Divide the almond mixture among the portions, pressing it onto the mustard.
   
3. Bake the fish until opaque in the center, about 7 to 9 minutes, depending on thickness. (A combination of frozen fish and my lack of speed at the next step caused this time to be quite a bit longer. I just turned the heat down and the fish was cooked just fine!)
4. Meanwhile, heat the remaining 2 teaspoons oil in a Dutch oven (I used a little cast iron pan...I don't think it matters) over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant but not brown, about 30 seconds. Stir in spinach, lemon juice and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt; season with pepper . Cook, stirring often, until the spinach is just wilted, 2 to 4 minutes. Cover to keep warm. Serve the fish with the spinach and lemon wedges, if desired.

Okay, so the last step was a little different from what I did. I knew that we were having spinach salad, so I only used a tiny bit of spinach, quite a bit of garlic, and lemon juice. I put two little spots of that mixture on our plates, more as an aesthetic thing. Haha. It was still tasty. I love garlic.

 The above picture does not do the fish justice. It was so colourful and fresh-looking!

I just kind of kept everything warm while I prepared the rest of the stuff. I made a spinach salad with chopped up strawberries, almonds, and raspberry vinaigrette, as well as (the far less classy) Uncle Ben's Bistro Express Long Grain & Wild Rice - Fine Herbs. Both of those things were not only healthy, but they went along perfectly with the flavours of the fish, in my opinion. I loved how the sweetness of the salad complimented the savoury and lemony taste of the fish topping.

 Man...pictures of food suck. Anyway, that was also very colourful, with the green of the spinach and the bright red of the strawberries! Yum, yum, yum.

I bought a bottle of white Pino Grigio wine to go with our dinner, but we didn't have a corkscrew until it was time for dessert, so we had it after we were finished eating everything. It would have been perfect with the fish, though.

Dessert was simple and also wasn't entirely classy, but at least the presentation wasn't terrible. While Dylan was out buying a corkscrew, I made a (pretty heavy) mousse by combining Jello chocolate pudding and low-fat Cool Whip. It probably would have been lighter if I had have used an electric mixer and if the Cool Whip hadn't been frozen. Anyway, I put a strawberry on top, but we ended up finishing the rest of strawberries, just by dipping them in the mousse and eating them with our wine. Mmmm.

Overall, the meal was a complete success! I won't stop thinking about it for a long, long time.