Fish: Who Knew It Didn’t Have to Taste Fishy?

Recently I finally started to eat fish. All these years I kept hearing over and over again how good it is for you, how it’s packed with omega-3′s and how we all need to be getting more of that in our diets to counteract the overabundance of omega-6′s we’re eating. (It’s always something isn’t it?) Anyway, I have always stayed away from fish because growing up, when we had fish, the whole house reeked of it. I mean, you could smell it from the street. No matter where in the house you were, the fish smell followed you and swallowed you up, we were encased in it. There was no escape. I could only imagine what people must have thought coming into our house, or even just walking past it, on fish nights. I pitied the fool.  And forget about the taste. I never knew that if it tasted fishy then it was well beyond its peak of freshness. Freshness? Fish could be fresh? No way. It comes in packages and sits in the freezer for months until it’s pried apart and fried in oil to kill the taste, or so you would think. Nothing could kill that fishy taste. This is why I never once made fish, ordered fish, or went near a Red Lobster for years to come. Can you blame me? I wouldn’t even touch fish that my brother-in-law would catch right out of the Charles river and cook up. I was traumatized. (Sorry mom, but I was.)

Anyway, after years of boycotting fish, slowly I started giving it a chance. How could I not? I would sit there at dinner listening to others speak so highly of the delicious fish dishes I would see served in restaurants, the rave reviews of tastes, and those tastes being anything but fishy, while I sat there eating another bland dish of chicken. I had to give in, it was only a matter of time and too much chicken. Well hallelujah, I’m hooked. I’ve had cod, halibut, tuna, flounder (that wasn’t fried), tilapia; I’m a whole new eater. I’ve managed to replace all my chicken consumption with fish. Not bad for a kid that grew up with a fish-phobia. I’m so past the days of boycotting fish that I now want to share a tilapia recipe I just made last week that I loved.

You’ll need some lemons, limes and one of those McCormick Grill Mates marinades that you can find in all grocery stores. (They’re the dry herb packages with the ‘flavor you can see’. Really. It says so right on the package.) Ok, the marinade you’ll need is called Baja Citrus. Here we go:

In a bowl combine the dry herbs from the package (you don’t have to use the whole amount, there is quite a bit in there to save for another time),

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tbsp water
• 2 tbsp vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar, it was all I had)
• Juice from 1/2 lemon and 1/2 lime
• 1 tbsp honey

Stir all that up and add your fish of choice and marinate for about 15 to 30 minutes in the refrigerator. Then cook it, fry it, bake it, grill it, whatever you want until it’s cooked through, about 15 minutes or so. I grilled mine with some asparagus and cooked brown rice to go with it. Delicious! It was flaky, tasty and very healthy. I hope all you fish lovers, and soon to be fish lovers, enjoy it as much as I did!

Anne Marie Costanzo is a nationally certified personal trainer and owner of Little Black Dress Personal Training. She can be reached at am@littleblackdresspt.com or (914) 841-1121.