Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Fish sticks!

OK, so the title of this post just reminded me of something totally immature and funny:


Aaaaaaaanyway.....

As a part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program, I was sent a free sample of Kikkoman's new Kara-Age seasoning mix.  Apparently Kara-Age is a traditional Japanese cooking technique, but I didn't really follow the normal method of cooking for this one!



Inside the box is two 3-ounce pouches - which should be able to be used to cook two meals for 4.  Because I only cook for two people in our house, I only used half of one packet.  The box says it's great for chicken and fish, so I went with a simple fish stick recipe:

Take two filets of haddock, cut into strips, and rinse in water.  Make sure they're a little wet so they stick to the seasoning!  Put them in a bag, like so:


(not the most appetizing looking thing, I know, but stick with it!)

Then, add the seasoning mix to the bag, shake to coat the fish sticks, and remove them from the bag.  I suggest actually removing them from the bag rather than dumping the bag out - you will have a LOT of extra seasoning, and you don't want it all over your pan.

And here's where I departed from the directions on the box!  Instead of putting them into a pan full of oil (hello, unnecessary fat!), I put them on a pan covered in foil, sprayed them with cooking spray, and baked at 400 for 15-20 minutes.  The only thing I would do differently next time is spray the foil with cooking spray first, because the sticks were welded to the pan when I took it out!



(these babies aren't going anywhere!)

Once I did remove them from the pan, Brendan and I happily ate them with a little tartar sauce.  They were pretty yummy!


My only complaint was that for a soy-ginger seasoning mix, it didn't add as much flavor as expected.  I would definitely season the fish a little more before coating them next time - just a little salt and pepper would do the trick.

The only other issue I had a bit of a problem with was the nutrition:


570 mg of sodium is a LOT for one serving, which is 1/8 of the box.  Luckily, I don't think that much actually ends up on one serving of protein, since a lot was left in the bag.  But I do think they could have enriched it a bit without affecting the flavor - give me a little bit of vitamins or protein, guys!

Overall, I think the Kara-Age seasoning was pretty good.  Since I don't use that sort of product very often, I may not buy it again soon - but I did enjoy it, and it made for a quick and easy meal!

Hope you are all having a lovely day.  If you haven't yet, please voice your support for the people who oppose SOPA/PIPA and censoring the internet!