Return to oven with foil left open. While fish is baking, prepare sauce. Combine sour cream, sugar, salt, pepper, grated rind, and lemon juice. Cook about 3-4 mins. just to heat - do not allow sauce to boil. Remove fish from oven and foil wrap, place on a plate, and pour sauce over. Sprinkle chopped parsley over fish and add lemon slices to head and tail area. Serve with a dinner salad with choice of dressing, baked potato with butter, and small June peas with sauteed onions. For dessert, try strawberry shortcakes topped with whipped heavy cream with a touch of vanilla. A royal meal for royal guests!

Baked Halibut - Ingredients:

2-3 lb. halibut or whitefish

4 tbs. melted butter 3/4 cup grated American cheese 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1-1/2 tbs. Parmesan cheese 2 cups whole milk

2 tbs. lemon juice (squeezed from a fresh lemon) 1 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

Remove skin and bones from halibut.

Wash fish in salted water and dry completely with paper toweling. Cut into serving-size portions. Place fish filets in well greased flat pan sized to accommodate them in a single-layer. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Broil fish approximately 12 mins. about 2” from flame. Prepare a cream sauce using melted butter, blending in flour slowly and completely until sauce is smooth. Slowly add milk. Simmer sauce for 4 mins. stirring constantly. Season with salt and pepper to taste broiled fish filets in a well-buttered 2-quart casserole dish and brush with lemon juice. Pour cream sauce evenly over fish. Sprinkle shredded American cheese and Parmesan over top. Bake in a 350 oven for 20-25 mins. Bake until fish is lightly browned and flakes easily with a fork. Place under a broiler for 1 mins. to brown. Serve with carrot/slaw salad, fresh, tender asparagus spears, and raspberry sherbet for dessert.

So grab those fishing poles and head out to lakes, rivers, and streams. Serve fish for dinner and be proud of your “catch of day.”

©Arleen M. Kaptur 2002

Hollow out a nice green cucumber, removing all seeds and pulp, leaving a nice hollow tube. Stuff with your favorite salad, from crab, tuna, egg, or chicken salad. Wrap in plastic wrap, refrigerate for 24 hours. Just before serving, unwrap and slice about 1 to 1-1/2” thickness. Added appeal: run tines of a fork on outer skin before you stuff it. When you slice it, you will have a very pretty design. Try using gherkins instead of dill or sandwich pickles. Insert slices of thinly sliced mozzarella cheese between your tomato slices and drizzle Italian dressing over. Sprinkle with a little parsley. *****

If this isn’t fancy enough for your dinner party, try a Relish Tree. Using a 24-inch styrofoam cone, cover sides with fresh greenery, such as parsley. The greenery can be held to cone with fine wire

Using toothpicks, attach cherry tomatoes, marinated artichoke hearts, raw cauliflower, radish roses, and raw zucchini and cucumber slices (preferably seedless).

Use your imagination and attach vegetables that your family would enjoy. You can do a fruit tree as well with pineapple, mandarin oranges, strawberries, etc. However drain any fruit thoroughly so it doesn’t run down your tree.

A relish tree on a buffet table is definitely very special indeed!

*****

So relish your relishes, whether they come in a bowl, on a plate, or on a “tree.” Use relishes to decorate, delight, enhance, and add color and taste appeal. ©Arleen M. Kaptur