Roasted Trout Stuffed w/ Fennel & Citrus

It's Saturday and I rarely have the weekends off from work. So, I decided to get a little "fancy" and roast 3 whole trout and stuff it with fennel, honey tangerine, and lemon wheels. Fennel is a bulb that has a great licorice flavor. Essentially, this recipe only has 5 ingredients (not including s&p), trout, olive oil, lemon, fennel and honey tangerine. It's incredible how simple this is to make, but the presentation is just plain awesome! What a way to wow your guests at a weekend gathering in your home :).

Roasted Trout Stuffed w/ Fennel & Citrus

3 Whole Trout about 1 lb each (cleaned and de-boned by your fish monger)

1 bulb of fennel - slice thinly

1 honey tangerine - cut into half moons

1 lemon - cut into half moons

1/4 olive oil

salt & pepper

Line a baking sheet with foil or wax paper. Line up the fish parallel to each other and lightly drizzle inside with olive oil and a pinch of salt & pepper. Gently stuff with fennel, and 3 each of the lemon and honey tangerine half moon slices, alternating the citrus for a nice presentation. Take the green leafy ends and also stuff it in the trout for a bright green color to add to the flavor and presentation.Whatever is left over from the fennel and citrus, place under the fish and all over the baking sheet to roast. Drizzle olive oil on the outside of the fish and fennel and citrus, and squeese 2 TBL of lemon juice over the entire sheet. Sprinkle with salt & pepper.

Roast in the oven for 30 minutes on 400 degrees.

THAT'S IT!!!

Shrimp & Asparagus in Lemon Garlic Sauce w/ Spinach & Feta Orzo

We all have hectic, fast-paced lives. Stay at home moms run around the house chasing after toddlers and grocery & cleaning lists, while working moms have to deal with co-workers and deadlines on top of that, to say the least. Working ladies are also busy artfully balancing their social, work and love lives. So, what about dinner? Yes, there's always the option of ordering take-out or going to a restaurant, but sometimes it's just not in the budget or schedule. If you have 15-25 minutes to spare, you can pull off a great gourmet meal for your friends and family for half the price.

Last night was one of those nights. My husband stayed home from work sick with a migraine and my parents were visiting from Chicago so my house was quite full and action packed. By the time my son came home from school and we had finished working on his project, it was 7pm. Usually, I would have had dinner already finished, but there was no such luck this day. In 20 minutes, with this recipe, I had dinner ready and the table set and all I heard at the dinner table was, "Hhhmmmmmmm!" and, "Yummmmmm!"

Shrimp & Asparagus in Lemon Garlic Sauce

1 lb of shell-off medium sized shrimp
1 lb of asparagus
5-6 gloves of finely chopped garlic
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/3 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup of chicken or shrimp stock
1 tsp dried oregano
4 TBL of extra virgin olive oil
pinch of red pepper flakes
salt








Spinach Orzo

1 bunch of baby spinach
1/2 lb of Orzo pasta
3 tbl or crumbled Feta cheese
1/2 TBL of extra virgin olive oil
salt

In a medium pot, boil and salt water. Cook the orzo pasta for 6-8 minutes or until al dente. Stir pasta frequently to avoid the small pasta from sticking together.

While the water is coming to a boil, in a large saute pan, heat the olive oil in medium to high heat. Saute the red onions and garlic until the red onions have become translucent. Add the dried oregano and red pepper flakes and saute for another 1 minute. Add chicken(or shrimp) stock and 1 lb of shrimp and cook until it has turned pink in color. Scrape the bottom of the pan to pick up all the flavor bits and pieces of red onion and garlic. If using already cooked shrimp, only heat the shrimp through being careful not to overcook the shrimp. Once the shrimp has turned bright pink in color, add the lemon juice and salt and carefully toss and serve.

Once the orzo pasta is al dente, immediately take the pasta out of the pan and place in a bowl, draining the water. While the pasta is still hot, take the cleaned baby spinach and toss the fresh, uncooked leaves in with the pasta. If baby spinach is not available, take regular spinach and cut into leaves into smaller pieces. Drizzle with olive oil, add the pinch of salt and toss in Feta cheese. Serve warm or room temperature.