If you’re looking for ways to eat light-n-healthy in 2010, here’s a great tip: roast fish slathered in salsa.  I saw this trick on “Get Fresh with Sara Snow,” or “that hippie show,” as hubby likes to call it.  Fish is tricky to cook – you certainly don’t want it underdone, unless you’re serving sushi!  But in the effort to make sure that fish is cooked through, I (and probably many others) often end up with fish that’s so dry as to be virtually inedible.

Salsa is a great way to solve that conundrum and add some wonderful flavor and nutrients without many calories.  The salsa keeps the fish moist and flavors the fish throughout, while the fish still cooks through.  Now, in the interests of full disclosure, I made this dish with halibut steaks.  If you choose to use fillets, as I may very well do in the future – hubby isn’t a fan of bones in fish – you will want to adjust the cooking time downward, as the fillets will cook (and dry out) more quickly than most steaks.  I’d check fillets after 10 minutes, unlike these steaks, which I checked at 20 minutes and found they weren’t quite done.  This is a versatile recipe – not only can you substitute fillets for steaks, but you could substitute other types of fish as well.  I think this would be delicious with salmon or tilapia and would be a wonderful way to dress up cod as well.  That’s the best part about this recipe, in my book – for someone who loves salmon, like hubby does, or for someone who generally prefers white fish, like me (I like salmon too, but I’ve had so much of it since meeting the hubs that I’m starting to burn out)… it’s equally good.  No matter what kind of fish you choose to make, moist and flavorful are good characteristics.

Roasted Halibut with Salsa

2 halibut steaks (or fillets)
2 tablespoons store-bought salsa
kosher salt and black pepper

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Season halibut steaks with salt and pepper.  Spread salsa over steaks in an even layer.

• Roast for 20-25 minutes, until cooked through (you can tell if the fish seems sturdy when you poke at it).

Source: Adapted from Sara Snow.