Seafood Bake with Crispy Hash Brown Topping

This is what theirs looked like. (Photo:Jonny Valiant; Food styling by Frances Boswell; Prop styling by Erin Swift)

This is mine. I think I could use a food stylist!

Two fish recipes in one week? Maxen is certainly going to be a smart little boy with all the Omega-3s he's getting (especially considering the amount of fish oil I take every day). I think it sounds decent but when I asked Andy what he thought his response was "yuck. barf." Lila will probably eat the "crunchies" off the top, but if there's ANY sauce on them she'll freak out. I read that study that came out recently about picky eaters and social anxiety, pretty sure she's in the 3% of super picky eaters. Last night she FREAKED because she could see the blueberries on the table while she was eating her steak. Andy and I serve her everything on the table and fight to make her take a tiny bite. On the other hand, my Grandma Jane panders and feeds her whatever she wants (lots of mac & cheese, applesauce, and cereal) instead of arguing with her about food; she thinks eating should be fun. Comment below and tell me how you get your picky eater fed.

Seafood Bake with Crispy Hash Brown Topping
Woman's Day Online, September 2014
Prep: 20 minutes                  Total: 40 minutes              Level: Medium
Serves: 4                               Cost per serving: $3.67

Ingredients:

• 1 c. low fat sour cream
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tsp lemon zest
• kosher salt
• pepper
• 1 1/2 lb mixed seafood (such as salmon and shrimp)
• 1 package frozen leaf spinach-defrosted
• 2 c. frozen shredded hash brown
• olive oil or cooking spray

MMM I love spinach and hashbrowns. Mix some eggs and bacon and I would be super happy. Maybe a side of french toast. Or the cinnamon roll stack from IHOP with butter pecan syrup! Man, now I want breakfast not fish. Fish are friends, not food. That's a good life motto. But instead of delicious breakfast food, we're having what sounds very much like the pot pie from Sunday night. Tonight I'm using salmon with the shrimp instead of haddock, but maybe I should have kept the haddock and forgot the shrimp since neither nor I really like it. I'm also not so sure about the sour cream/Dijon mustard/lemon zest combo. I am thinking that maybe we should have kept the easy recipes for a little while longer, at least until I could make it through one without a mishap. Oh well, I like a challenge (why else would I have married Andy?)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 425F. In a large bowl, whisk together the sour cream, cornstarch, mustard, lemon zest and 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper.
2. Add the seafood to the sour cream mix and toss to coat. Squeeze the spinach of excess moisture, roughly chop, then fold in the seafood mixture. Divide among four shallow 1-cup baking dishes and place on a rimmed baking sheet. 
3. Sprinkle the hashbrowns over the top and lightly brush with olive oil or coat with cooking spray. Bake until bubbling, 20-25 minutes (for an extra golden-brown top, broil for 1-2 minutes).

I would like to see their criteria for rating recipes because this isn't any harder than the other recipes so far. In fact, compared to bacon jam it was a breeze, so I'm not sure why this is rated a medium difficulty. The recipe says to use either olive oil or cooking spray and I, because I'm lazy and hate dishes, went the spray route. As you can see, this did not result in the crispy golden-brown deliciousness of their version:

Lila and I shared one dish of this, basically she ate the crunchies and salmon, I ate the spinach and shrimp. It was edible, but that's about the best I can say about it. I wouldn't choose to eat this again, but if I was starving on a deserted island and for some reason this is the only food I had, I could choke down enough to survive on a daily basis. Andy, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy it. He at least ate his whole bowl and is taking leftovers to work. I waited until everyone was done and playing outside then ate a bowl of Kix. 

Tips: Don't cheat and use cooking spray. Also, if you want tips for leftover hashbrowns, go to the Woman's Day website linked above.

Verdict? Taste of Day Pass