1001 Low-Carb Recipes: Hundreds of Delicious Recipes From Dinner to Dessert That Let You Live Your Low-Carb Lifestyle and Never Look Back (68 page)

This is so simple and quick—yet it’s the sort of thing you’d pay big bucks for at a fancy restaurant. Salsa verde is a green salsa made from tomatillos. Look for it in the Mexican or international section of your grocery store.

24 ounces (680 g) swordfish steaks

½ cup (120 ml) ruby red grapefruit juice (I like to use fresh-squeezed.)

½ teaspoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon (15 ml) oil

¼ cup (65 g) salsa verde

Cut the swordfish into 4 servings and place on a plate with a rim. Mix together the grapefruit juice and the cumin. Reserve some marinade and pour the rest of it over the steaks, turning them to coat both sides. Let the swordfish steaks sit in the grapefruit juice for 5 minutes or so.

Spray a large, heavy skillet with nonstick cooking spray and place over medium heat. When the skillet is hot, add the oil and then the fish. Sauté for 4 minutes per side. Then pour in the reserved marinade and let the fish cook in it for another minute or two, turning once.

Place the fish on serving plates, top each serving with a tablespoon of salsa verde, and serve.

Yield:
4 servings

Each with 4 grams of carbohydrates, a trace of fiber, and 34 grams of protein.

Variation: You can expand this recipe a bit by serving the fish on a bed of avocado slices— split one avocado between the 4 servings—and sprinkling chopped fresh cilantro on top. This will take you up to 8 grams of carbohydrates per serving and 2 grams of fiber, for a total of 6 grams of usable carbs.

I’ll curry anything that stands still long enough! This is a fast and simple yet elegant meal, all made in one big skillet. But if you want to make more than 1 or 2 servings, you’ll need to do it twice, or get a really, really huge skillet!

8 ounces (225 g) swordfish steak, 1½ inches (3.75 cm) thick

2 tablespoons (28 g) butter

1½ teaspoons curry powder

2 cups (150 g) shredded cabbage (You can used bagged coleslaw mix, if you like.)

¼ medium onion, sliced thin

1 clove garlic, crushed

Spray a big skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Melt the butter in it over low heat and add the curry powder. Let it cook for just a minute and then add the cabbage, onion, and garlic. Sauté the vegetables, stirring frequently, for 3 or 4 minutes.

Make a hole in the middle of the cabbage big enough to lay your swordfish steak on the pan. Cover the pan and set the oven timer for 5 minutes.

When the timer beeps, turn the fish over and stir the cabbage. Re-cover the pan and set the timer for another 5 minutes. When time’s up, serve the swordfish with the cabbage heaped around it.

Yield:
1 to 2 servings

Assuming 1, it will have 48 g protein; 13 g carbohydrate; 5 g dietary fiber; 8 g usable carbs.

1 pound (455 g) mahi mahi fillets

2 tablespoons (30 ml) lemon juice

¼ teaspoon orange extract

2 teaspoons soy sauce

½ teaspoon Splenda

1 tablespoon (6 g) grated ginger

1 tablespoon (15 ml) oil

This goes fast, so start a charcoal fire or preheat a gas grill before starting to prepare your food so you’re not hanging around waiting for your fire to be ready.

On a plate with a rim or a glass pie plate, mix together everything but the fish. Lay the fish in the marinade and turn it over to coat. Let it sit for 15 to 30 minutes, at which point you want your grill to be medium-hot. Grill for just 5 to 6 minutes per side.

Yield:
2 to 3 servings

Assuming 2 servings, each will have 2 grams of carbohydrate—actually less, because you won’t finish the marinade—a trace of fiber, and 41 grams protein.

This is simple and classic.

4 medium rainbow trout, cleaned, heads removed

8 sprigs fresh rosemary

8 slices bacon

Start a charcoal fire or preheat a gas grill.

Stuff the rosemary into the body cavities of the trout. Wrap each trout with 2 slices of bacon, covering as much of the skin of each fish as you can. Hold it in place with toothpicks you’ve soaked in water for a half hour or so. (It can be tough to get the toothpicks through the fish skin—use a metal skewer, a nut pick, or the point of a knife to assist, if needed.)

Grill over a medium fire, keeping down flare-ups with a water bottle, until the bacon is done and serve.

Yield:
4 servings

Each serving will have 1 gram of carbohydrate and a trace of fiber (which you’ll get only if you eat the rosemary), and about 45 grams protein.

This is more a method of preparation than a recipe, and it’s a true classic. Expand or contract this recipe at will to serve however many diners you have.

Trout, cleaned and beheaded, but with the skin still on—about 10 ounces (280 g) per serving as a main course, or 5 or 6 ounces (140 to 170 g) per serving as a first course

Water

Cider vinegar

Bay leaves

Peppercorns or coarse cracked pepper

Salt or Vege-Sal

Butter

You’ll need a pan big enough for the trout to lie flat—I generally do just one big trout, weighing about a pound (455 g), and the only pan I have where it can lie flat is my big soup pot. Use what you have, but it should be a pan that won’t react with acid—stainless steel, enamelware, anodized aluminum, or stove-top glassware.

Next you make up a solution of water and vinegar, just enough to completely cover the trout. The proportions you want are roughly 3 or 4 parts water to 1 part vinegar. I find that 1½ quarts (1.4 L) of water and 1½ cups (360 ml) of vinegar are about right for my pan. Pour this solution in your pan and turn the heat to high.

Stir in 1 or 2 bay leaves, ½ tablespoon (3 g) of pepper per quart (litre), and 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of salt or Vege-Sal per quart (litre). Bring this mixture to a simmer.

Simply lower the trout into the simmering solution, reduce the heat to medium-low, and let the fish simmer for about 5 minutes. Lift the fish carefully out of the simmering solution and serve with a pitcher of melted butter to pour over the fish.

Yield:
Servings will depend on how many fish you cook, of course.

The fish itself is carb-free, and of course most of the poaching solution is discarded—you can figure on no more than a gram of carbohydrates per serving, no fiber, and 59 grams of protein in a 10-ounce (280-g) trout.

I admit that without cornmeal this is somewhat inauthentic, but my catfish-loving spouse thought it was great. Catfish is among the least expensive fish, too, so this is a bargain to serve.

1 pound (455 g) catfish fillets

¼ cup (30 g) finely ground almonds

¼ cup (30 g) finely ground hazelnuts

2 tablespoons (16 g) rice protein powder

1½ teaspoons seasoned salt

1 egg

1 tablespoon (15 ml) water

Oil for frying (peanut, canola, or sunflower)

Lemon wedges

On a plate, combine the almonds, hazelnuts, protein powder, and seasoned salt, stirring well.

In a shallow bowl, beat the egg with the water.

Wash and dry the catfish fillets. Dip each one in the egg and then in the nut mixture, pressing it well into the fish.

If you have a deep fryer, by all means use it to fry your fish until it’s a deep gold color (7 to 10 minutes). If you don’t, use a large, heavy skillet. Pour 1 inch (2.5 cm) of oil into the skillet and put it over medium-high heat. Let it heat for at least 5 minutes; you don’t want to put your fish in until the oil is up to temperature. (To test the oil, carefully put in one drop—no more—of water.
It should sizzle, but not make the oil spit. If the oil spits, it’s too hot. Turn the heat down and wait for it to cool a bit.)

When the oil is hot, put in your fish and fry it until it’s a deep gold in color. If the oil doesn’t completely cover the fish, you’ll have to carefully turn it after about 5 minutes. (Figure 7 to 10 minutes total frying time.) Serve with lemon wedges.

Yield:
Serves 3, unless one of them is my husband, in which case it may only serve 2

Assuming my husband isn’t at your house (and if he is, I’d like to hear about it), each serving has 4 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of fiber, for a total of 3 grams of usable carbs and 30 grams of protein.

Squeezing a little lemon over fish is a culinary classic—but this goes way beyond just lemon!

1½ pounds (680 g) catfish fillets

½ cup (120 ml) lemon juice

½ teaspoon orange extract

¼ cup (60 ml) soy sauce

2 tablespoons plus

2 teaspoons (4 g) Splenda

2 cloves garlic, crushed

¼ teaspoon pepper

Lay the fillets on a plate with a rim—a pie plate (or two) is ideal. Combine everything else, reserving some marinade for basting, and pour the rest over the fillets, turning to coat both sides. Let the fillets marinate for at least 15 minutes, and a half hour won’t hurt. Heat a gas grill or get a charcoal fire going in the meanwhile.

Make sure your grill is well oiled and grill the catfish over medium heat or well-ashed coals for about 5 minutes per side, basting it on both sides with the reserved marinade when you turn it—which you’ll want to do carefully! When the fish is opaque and flaky, it’s ready to serve.

Yield:
3 servings

6 grams of carb if you eat all of the marinade—I’d put it closer to 4 grams, a trace of fiber, and 29 grams of protein.

It’s low-carb, low-fat, low-cal—this recipe is low in everything but flavor!

4 catfish fillets

¼ cup (60 ml) soy sauce

1 tablespoon (15 ml) rice wine vinegar

1 teaspoon Splenda

1 drop blackstrap molasses (If you keep your blackstrap molasses in a squeeze bottle, it’s easy to measure just 1 drop.)

1 teaspoon grated ginger

1 clove garlic, crushed

Lay the catfish in a glass pie plate. Mix together everything else and pour over the catfish, turning to coat. Stash the whole thing in the fridge for at least a half hour, and a few hours would be great.
Flip the fish over halfway through to marinate both sides evenly.

Start a charcoal fire or preheat a gas grill. When marinating time is up, pull the fish out and throw it on a well-oiled grill over a medium fire. It shouldn’t take more than 3 to 5 minutes per side to be flaky and done—turn it carefully!

Yield:
4 servings

Each serving will have 2 grams of carbohydrate, a trace of fiber, and 27 grams of protein.

This is good served with a cucumber salad. (See page 144.)

Catfish nuggets are often quite inexpensive, and they’re great for making kebabs. Adjust the heat in this recipe by what sort of hot pepper sauce you use—Tabasco if you like it fairly mild or habañero or Scotch bonnet sauce if you like it spicy!

1 pound (455 g) catfish nuggets (If your grocery store doesn’t have catfish nuggets, cut up fillets.)

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tablespoons (30 ml) lemon juice

1 tablespoon (15 ml) balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon soy sauce

¼ teaspoon ground rosemary

¼ to ½ teaspoon hot pepper sauce