Baked Sole Stuffed with Spinach, Goat Cheese, and Dried Cranberries

My family loves sole, but the kids will only eat it baked plain with a few dashes of salt. So that's what I made for them for dinner tonight. But for hubby and myself, I wanted something a tad fancier. So I decided to stuff ours. With whatever I had in the fridge and pantry. Spinach. Goat Cheese. And dried cranberries. And I sprinkled pepitas on top just for fun. It was so good!

Note: I thawed about a heaping 1/2 cup frozen spinach to get the 1/4-ish cup after squeezing out the excess water. Just eyeball it and don't worry if you have a little more or little less.

Baked Sole Stuffed with Spinach, Goat Cheese, and Dried Cranberries
Makes 2 rolls. Can be scaled up as necessary.


Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4-ish cup frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess water
• 2 large sole fillets
• 2 ounces soft goat cheese, at room temperature
• 2 heaping teaspoons dried cranberries
• salt and pepper
• cooking spray
• 1 teaspoon raw pepitas
• lemon wedges

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Set aside.
• Heat oil in a small pan over medium-low heat. Add garlic and stir for 15 - 20 seconds until fragrant, then add the spinach and toss to coat. Set aside for a few minutes to cool.
• While spinach is cooling, salt both sides of your fillets, and lay them out onto your prep area. 
• In a bowl, combine the cooled spinach together with the cheese, cranberries, and salt and pepper to taste. Divide the spinach mixture between the two fillets, and roll the fish. 
• Place the rolled fillets seam-side-down onto the prepared baking sheet.
• Bake in preheated oven for 10 - 12 minutes, until the fish is opaque and cooked through.
• While the fish is cooking, toast the pepitas for a minute or two in the toaster oven or in a small dry pan over the stove.
• When the fish is done, remove from oven and sprinkle with freshly-ground black pepper and the toasted pepitas.
• Serve with lemon wedges.

Goat Cheese Sauce

I love goat cheese.  LOVE goat cheese.  I saw on Pinterest a recipe for eggplant parmesan slices with goat cheese sandwiched in between.  It looked delish.  I was going to try it tonight, but hubby is working late and I needed something that didn't need last-minute assembling.  So I thought a sauce.  To drizzle over it?  Or to dip it into?  Yep, a sauce.  A creamy, tangy goat cheese sauce.  YUM!

Goat Cheese Sauce


Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon Smart Balance
• 1 tablespoon whole wheat flour
• 1 cup evaporated skim milk
• 1 (5 oz.) log of goat cheese, cubed or crumbled
• pinch of thyme
• dash of Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic
• dash of Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt

Directions:

• In a small pot, whisk together the Smart Balance and flour over medium heat for about 30 seconds to make a roux.  Add the evaporated skim milk and continue whisking to dissolve any lumps from the roux.  Once the milk barely begins to simmer, whisk in the crumbled goat cheese, thyme, TSGG and TSSS.  Keep whisking until the cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth and creamy.  If you like it thinner you can add a little more milk.  Serve spooned over food (eggplant parmesan discs, baked chicken breasts, steamed broccoli, etc.) or as a dipping sauce.

Goat Cheese Alfredo with Roasted Red Peppers, Artichokes and Kale

ETA on 5/21/13 - I made the basic recipe today (no artichokes or kale) and used the immersion blender to puree it.  O.M.G. sooooo good!  Blending it really brings out the sweet roasted red pepper flavor.  I will be pureeing this from now on.

Sooooooooooooooo good.

As usual, I made some changes from the original recipe:  fat free evaporated milk instead of half & half because that's what I had on hand, 12 oz. instead of 1 cup because a can of evap milk is 12 oz. and I didn't want to store leftover milk.  5 oz. goat cheese instead of 4 oz. because the log I bought was 5 oz., and again I didn't want to store a smidge of leftover cheese.  Since this increased the amount of sauce, I added an extra pepper.  14 oz. artichoke hearts because that was the size of the can.  And I added some leftover roasted kale I had in the fridge.  I didn't use the immersion blender (too lazy to find it and pull it out) so I minced the roasted red peppers on my cutting board.  Because I added so much extra, this easily serves 4.

Goat Cheese Alfredo with Roasted Red Peppers, Artichokes and Kale
Adapted from this recipe.

 Ingredients:

• 3 red bell peppers
• 1/2 lb. whole wheat fettuccine
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (12 oz.) can fat free evaporated milk
• 1 (5 oz.) log of goat cheese
• 2/3 cup grated parmesan (plus more for topping)
• 1 (14 oz.) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
• 2 cups roasted kale
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees F.  Roast the peppers for 30 minutes, turning them halfway through.  Remove from oven and cover with foil.  Let sit for 10 - 15 minutes until cool enough to handle, then peel and discard the skin and discard the core.  Mince the roasted peppers and set aside.
• Prepare pasta to al dente, per package instructions.  Drain and set aside.
• In a large skillet, sauté the onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until soft.  Add the evaporated milk and goat cheese.  Stir frequently until cheese is melted.  Add parmesan and continue stirring until melted.
• Add the minced roasted peppers, chopped artichoke hearts, roasted kale and TSSS to taste.  Stir until combined and well heated.  Add the cooked pasta and toss.
• Serve topped with more parmesan.

If you want a deeper red color, add the peppers, then puree the mixture with an immersion blender before adding in the artichokes and kale.