Halibut with Cherry Sauce, Red Chard with Black Beans, Corn and Red Pepper and Quinoa

Well, I have to say that I may just have outdone myself for dinner tonight. Not only is it extremely healthy, but it tastes wonderful! I adapted these recipes from a couple that I found on the Whole Foods website yesterday.

Originally the cherry sauce was supposed to be served with scallops, however after going to two different stores to find scallops I resorted to the next best thing...halibut!  I took the skin off which if you have ever tried to do with a relatively dull knife, you may as well just chop up the fish into itty bitty pieces because that's probably what you will end up with anyways...so I used a steak knife. This still took a while to do, but worked better than my supposed sharp knife. After sprinkling with salt and pepper, I seared the halibut pieces in olive oil over medium high heat until browned on both sides and cooked through. This was set aside and kept warm.  I lowered the heat to medium and to the same pan (browned bits and all) I added some chopped onion and garlic scapes, which was used in place of the shallots originally called for in the recipe. Once the onions were softened, I added 2 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar and 2 cups of pitted, chopped and quartered cherries. The pan was covered and the cherries cooked for about 5 minutes until softened. Once done, I added a tablespoon of fresh chopped tarragon to the sauce and poured it over the halibut.

For the chard: I started off by first cutting the kernals from two corn cobs and roasting them in a large skillet over medium high heat. The corn was set aside, the pan was cleaned and then finely chopped garlic scapes (used in place of minced garlic) and crushed red pepper flake along with 1/3 cup vegetable broth were added to the pan.  Next, chopped chard stems and red bell pepper (my addition) were added to the pan and cooked just until softened. Then I added the thinly sliced red chard leaves and stirred just until beginning to wilt and covered the pan. I allowed this to cook for approximately 5 minutes until the leaves were completely softened. To finish the chard, I added a can of drained, rinsed black beans, 1/4 cup of raw pumpkin seeds and about a tablespoon of dry sherry. This was stirred until the beans were warmed through. The corn was added back to the pan and stirred to combine.

The quinoa was simple. I cup quinoa with 1 1/2 cups of water, brought to a boil and simmered for 15 minutes.

After going to the Pacific Science Center today and eating nothing but junk food, my body is thanking me for this deliciously healthy meal. So is my daughter. We found out that she loves quinoa and is currently on her 4th helping of it, along with a bit more chard.