Harmonie Cooking by Yolande Hoisington

Fish is unfortunately somewhat neglected in our diet. Besides tasting delicious and providing variety to our meals, fish and seafood are highly nutritious. Fish are an excellent source of protein, minerals and vitamins. It stimulates memory and is particularly important during pregnancy. Try to offer it to your children at least twice a week.

Soles are a family of flatfish. They have a flat oval body with the eyes paired up on the same side and are found in both oceans and freshwater.

Everyone knows freshness is essential to good eating. With fish, freshness is even more important. Fish are fragile and their quality deteriorates rapidly. Here are some tips:

If you are buying a whole fish look for the crystal clear eyes and a fresh smell.
If you are buying fillets look for firm flesh, moist appearance and a fresh smell.

As a rule it’s best to buy it fresh and eat it quickly. It’s a good habit to eat fish or shellfish on the same day you do your grocery shopping. It could be refrigerated though for a day or two wrapped in foil. I avoid freezing it, it becomes dry and loses its favor.

Introduce seafood to your children when they are young, so they get into the habit of eating it. Start slowly by substituting fish for a pasta dish or a pizza every week.

One of the reasons most people don’t eat fish more often, besides the regular fish sticks, is that we lack imagination on how to cook it.

Check your supermarket for a wide variety of marinades and spice mixtures to use with fish.

Try marinating and grilling fish” steaks” on the barbecue and ask your children to assist to cut fish in cubes, slice vegetables and prepare grilled fish Kabobs. Kid’s love them.

Try salmon and tuna burgers.

Learn to cook new fish dishes regularly and invite your children into the kitchen, your kid’s taste will improve every time they prepare delicious dishes, it will educate their senses and teach them how to eat healthy.

Do Babies Taste?

Teaching Your
Children About Food:

Nectarines
Artichokes
Sole
Zucchini

How to Educate Children's Palate

Turn Your Children
Into Chefs

Teaching your children about food is a powerful tool against the problem of obesity and malnutrition that sets children up for misery

Introduce seafood to your children when they are young

Learn to cook new fish dishes regularly and invite your children into the kitchen

Here is another quick and easy recipe. I prefer Petrale sole, but you can use Dover sole or any other fish fillets. Be sure to remove all the bones before preparing the fish. If you think your children don't like fish, try this recipe, omitting the Cayenne pepper. Ask for their help to roll and attach the bay leaves to the fish. It's fun!

6 servings
164 calories per serving
Preparation time: 20 minutes

Stuffing

1 garlic clove
1 shallot
5 ounces lox, cut into strips
4 ounces shrimp meat
1 egg white
1 slice white bread soaked in milk and drained
1 tablespoon nonfat sour cream
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
1 small pinch of ground Cayenne pepper, optional
1 teaspoon olive oil
6 sole fillets, 3 ounces each
12 bay leaves
Toothpicks

Preheat the broiler.

Prepare the stuffing: in a food processor or by hand, coarsely grind garlic, shallot and lox.

Add shrimp meat, egg white, bread, sour cream, salt (1/8 teaspoon), pepper and cayenne pepper.

Mix thoroughly and set aside in the refrigerator.

Flatten the fish with the smooth side of a meat pounder if necessary. Sprinkle with salt and
pepper.

Spread the salmon stuffing on fillets, roll them and place 1 bay leaf on each side, maintaining the shape by piercing the rolls transversely with 2 toothpicks.

Spray olive oil in a grill pan and broil the rolled fish 3 to 4 minutes on each side.

Remove the laurel leaves and enjoy!

Kids can prepare the stuffing. They can cut the lox, learn how to separate the egg, sprinkle with salt, flatten the fish, spread the stuffing and arrange the laurel leaves, piercing the rolls with a toothpick.