Monday night fish

Tonight I did something completely new for me - I fried fish. I bought some wild red snapper, cut it into pieces and marinated it in 1/4 bottle of beer (I drank the rest) mixed with one egg white. I then dipped the fish into a panko bread crumb mixture containing a little garlic powder, kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, a pinch of cayenne, and chopped parsley. Then fried it up in canola oil. Delicious, quick and inexpensive.

For a side dish, I decided to make a spinach and artichoke casserole. Since Thanksgiving is coming up in 3 days, I needed to make room in my fridge and freezer. I wanted to get rid of the package of frozen spinach from Trader Joe's, a package of sliced fresh mushrooms and the artichoke hearts. When I searched online for a spinach and artichoke casserole, all the recipes sounded so rich and heavy with lots of butter, cream cheese, sour cream and cheeses. Here's what I did:

• 1 small shallot, chopped
• 10 mushrooms, sliced
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 2 tbsp. butter
• One egg
• frozen and fresh spinach
• 8 artichoke hearts
• juice of half a lemon
• Kosher salt and pepper to taste
• Fresh grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup plain bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a pie pan or square pirex dish.
Sautee the mushrooms and shallots in olive oil and butter. Pour boiling water over the frozen spinach and drain. Chop fresh spinach (note - this can be made with either fresh or frozen spinach, I just happened to have both) and add to the mixture. Beat one egg,mix with spinach, artichokes, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Put mixture into dish, and top with mixed bread crumbs and parmesan. Bake for 20 minutes until the cheese browns a little.

My husband and daughter loved this dinner. It epitomized what I love to cook - healthy (spinach!), fast, relatively low fat and inexpensive.