Saturday, May 22, 2010

Fragrant Orange Swordfish






Tonight, I am sad. In my opening profile box you will see that it says "starting down the real food path" and that inevitably means mistakes along the way. I was at Whole Foods yesterday and decided to buy swordfish. In trying to up my omega-3 consumption and knowing that swordfish is loaded with vitamin B12, I thought it would make a great substitute for a chicken recipe I have. So today, I prepped and marinated the fish for 3 hours, took my pictures to blog it and in writing my storyline, read of the dangers of eating SWORDFISH!
What? Swordfish....Oh NOW, I find out! How incredibly sad it is that we have to worry about our health from the very oceans that should bring us health and vitality. The readings stated that the primary source of methylmercury in fish is industrial pollution. Snow, rain, and water runoff goes into our streams, oceans, rivers and lakes and eventually finds its way into our oceans. It is a fact that the weekly amount of industrial chemicals and runoff from cities dumped into our waterways amounts to more than the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill of 1989. EVERY WEEK! Even now, the Gulf of Mexico spill is polluting our oceans more than we have ever imagined possible. We should all be weeping at the thought of thousands of animals dying, our future ability to feed ourselves and our families diminishing before our eyes and for our coastline under such severe environmental attack. How little did I know, that tonight I would be writing about our ocean's pollution and not a delicious swordfish recipe. Forgive me for my sadness and ranting but my heart feels the profound loss that we face due to our own industrial and polluting ways.

Here is my recipe and original post. I would no longer advise to make it. But I did not want to pass up such beautiful food pictures.

Original Post:
In trying to incorporate more fish in my diet for the benefit of gaining more Omega-3's, I took a delicious chicken recipe and substituted swordfish fillets. It came out gorgeous and amazingly good! This is one recipe you could serve to company and everyone will love it!

Fragrant Orange Swordfish

4 pieces Swordfish
3 organic oranges (will use the zest and juices)
1/4 cup honey
2 TB cilantro, finely chopped
3 TB soy sauce
2 TB olive oil
2 TB garlic, minced
1 tsp of cornstarch
pinch of turmeric (optional)


Place the swordfish in a 9X9 pan.
Take a peeler or zester and scrape off the zest of all three oranges. Chop the zest finely and place in a bowl. Add the squeezed juice of the oranges, honey, soy sauce, cilantro, olive oil and garlic, mix well. Pour over the swordfish and let marinate from 30 minutes to 3 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place swordfish in oven for 25 minutes.

Use tongs to remove the fish to a platter. Pour the juices through a strainer. Add a tsp of cornstarch and a pinch of turmeric to the sauce. stir and let thicken for 10 minutes.
Pour sauce over the fish and serve. I like to place it on top of rice with a side of steamed green beans!


This dish is filled with health boosting nutrients. Swordfish is a rich source of blood-building Vitamin B12 and niacin. It is low-fat supplier of Vitamin B6 and Omega-3's. Enjoy every minute of it!


So much for the original idea, and just in case you were wondering....we ate the swordfish and allowed our systems to take the hit. I couldn't bring myself to throw it out, along with all the work. A conscious hit is far better than the endless unconscious ones we take every day. The ones that go without notice and over time build a future of physical pain and illness. Tomorrow, I will be gentle on my system and choose healthy, fresh chemical-free food to help my body rid itself of any toxins it may have encountered tonight.

Is all this worth thinking about? I say, it is. Our fish are dying, our children are getting poisoned and the health of our oceans are deteriorating before our very eyes. Let us try and change one step at a time.

Saddened by the condition of our world tonight. May we all do better tomorrow,
DandelionHeart

2 comments:

i cant decide said...

I understand your frustration about good quality foods. Your recipe sounds really good!

Hey, we had one of those mushrooms at a house we rented. Of, course, I didn't know what it was so we didn't do anything with it besides look at it a draw it in our nature books. Well, if I ever find one again I know what to do with it!

Dandelion Heart said...

The dish did turn out delicious, but really I think even tilapia would of worked fine. I will have to try some other 'safer' fish in the future.
The Chicken of the Woods mushroom is really the safest choice out of them all. It tastes delicious and wasn't grown with antibiotics, growth hormones or have the threat of E Coli.
If you ever get the chance to taste one, go for it!