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The adjective "Florentine" refers to a person or thing from the Italian city of Florence, but today, it's most commonly used to mean a dish that features spinach.
A dish prepared à la Florentine typically features a main ingredient such as eggs, poultry, or fish, served on a bed of steamed or sautéed spinach.
This recipe also calls for pancetta (dry, cured pork belly), but you can certainly substitute bacon (dry, cold-smoked pork belly) or our wild salmon "bacon".
White Fish Florentine
Prep time 10 minutes; Cook time 15 minutes
Serves 4
- 2 Tablespoons organic extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 2 teaspoons chopped garlic
- 2 oz. pancetta or ¼ cup crumbled bacon (pastured pork or wild salmon)
- 4 cod, mahi mahi, haddock, halibut, lingcod or sablefish fillets (5-6 oz each), thawed
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon lemon pepper blend
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 packages (6 to 7 oz each) fresh baby spinach
- 2 Tablespoons prepared tapenade OR 1 can (4 oz) pitted chopped black olives, drained
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large, deep fry pan or stockpot over medium heat. Stir in garlic and pancetta and cook 1 to 2 minutes. Remove pancetta from pan; hold aside.
- Brush both sides of cod fillets with remaining oil. Place fillets in pan and cook, uncovered, over medium-high heat about 3 minutes, until browned. Shake pan occasionally to keep fish from sticking.
- Turn fillets over and sprinkle with lemon pepper. Cover pan tightly and reduce heat to medium. Cook an additional 2 to 5 minutes. Cook just until fish is opaque throughout. Remove fillets to platter; keep warm.
- Add water, spinach and pancetta to pot; cover and cook a few minutes, just until spinach is wilted. Stir to blend flavors and heat through.
- To serve, portion about 1/2 cup spinach blend onto each plate. Top with a seafood fillet and 1/2 tablespoon tapenade or 1 tablespoon olives.
Nutrients per serving: 315 calories, 18g total fat, 4g saturated fat, 51% calories from fat, 65mg cholesterol, 32g protein, 6g carbohydrate, 3g fiber, 698mg sodium, 118mg calcium and 500mg omega-3 fatty acids.