Sauteed Grouper with a Mushroom Sauce with Mandarin Orange Salad

Ready to dive into another meal? This one explored Asian flavors with a soy-teriyaki sauce on the fish and mandarin oranges in the salad. To round out the meal I served my parmesan zucchini sticks featured in a past post. The combination paired perfectly and I even managed to keep the salt-intake down!

Make this meal on a summer day when the fish looks fresh. This recipe actually originally called for bass but the grouper was so fresh looking I could not resist. Feel free to substitute any other firm, white fish if they look extra special. Also feel free to play around with your type of lettuce for the salad. I used a spring mix but spinach or arugula would also work very well here. Be creative!

Sauteed Grouper with a Mushroom Sauce
Ingredients:
peanut oil
pepper
grouper
mushrooms (mixed)
dark sesame oil
garlic
green onions
water
soy sauce
teriyaki sauce
lemon juice

Heat a little bit of peanut oil on the stove on medium high heat. Add the grouper and sprinkle with black pepper. Cook for 3-5 minutes on each side or until the fish is done. Since it is a white fish you'll have to look a little more carefully to ensure that it has cooked all of the way through. Remove the fish from the pan and keep it warm.

Using the same pan (save water!) heat a small amount of dark sesame oil over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and saute for 3-4 minutes. I used about 2 cups of sliced mushrooms and chose the mixed, pre-cut variety. This included regular white mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, porcini mushrooms, and crimini mushrooms. You can use all shiitake if you prefer, but I enjoyed the mix. Add two cloves of minced garlic and about 1.5 cups of sliced green onions. Saute for about 3 minutes, stirring frequently to avoid burning. Add 1/4 cup water, 1/8 cup soy sauce, 1/8 cup teriyaki sauce, and 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Make sure to use the low-salt varieties of soy and teriyaki sauce or you'll end up with a month's work of sodium in your entree. Continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes. Pour the mushroom sauce over the fish and serve while hot.

Mandarin Orange Salad
This salad is made in a sweet sauce that complements the naturally sweet mandarin oranges!

Ingredients:
vegetable oil
cider vinegar
white sugar
black pepper
almonds
lettuce
red onion
mandarin oranges

To start, we'll make the dressing. Mix together 1/2 c. vegetable oil (I know...), 1/4 c. cider vinegar, 1/4 c. white sugar, and 1 tsp. black pepper. Mix well since the oil and vinegar need to combine and absorb the sugar. You can make this in advance and refrigerate it, but make sure to shake it again before using it. The combination of sweet (sugar), spicy (pepper), and tart (cider) blends together very well for a memorable dressing.

Put your lettuce in a large bowl. As mentioned at the beginning, choose your favorite. Go with a simple red leaf if you prefer, or dive into a spinach and arugula version. Add the mandarin oranges (I used two cans, drained) and sliced almonds. Toss well. Just before serving pour the dressing over the salad and toss well.