The New All Foods Natural

I am on a diet that requires me to eat a lot of fish. I only like fish fried (hence the diet) but I don't like all kinds of fish (especially not fried) so I am eating them baked, broiled, steamed. The problem is seasoning the fish so it is palatable. What is the best seasoning to use to help the bland taste?

There are many herbs and spices to use with fish and the choice depends sometimes on the cooking method -paprika may turn into bitter, black dust when broiling. The herbs and spices most likely to be used with fish are, from most common to the least, bay leaf, bouquet garnie, chives, ground coriander, cumin, dill, fennel, fines herbes, ginger, marjoram, oregano, paprika, parsley, rosemary, saffron, savory, tarragon, thyme. Other ingredients to help you flavor that fish are garlic, onion, lemon and wine -salt and pepper re so common that we were not planning to mention them.

For white flat fish, try to fry it gently in butter, when it is almost done, add a little lemon juice and let it cook for a minute or two. Add some finely chopped fresh parsley.

Instead of poaching fish in plain water, add some sliced onion, a bay leaf, peppercorns and 1/4 cup white wine to the water, simmer for 5 minutes to blend the flavors and use then poach the fish. You could also poach fish in milk -this is the best choice for smoked oily fish -haddock, mackerel- that needs some cooking.

There are some spice blends that complement fish. Fish boil -you could find also find it as crab boil or shrimp boil- is one of such and it usually contains allspice, bay leaf, clove, ginger, mustard seed, peppercorns and red chili. Add the mix to the water before cooking the fish.