The other night one of my best girlfriends came over with her daughter for a Mommy & kids playdate.  I don’t get home until about 6pm so I had cut up the fish in the morning before work, covered the strips in the buttermilk and put them in a plastic bag in the fridge.  When I got home I preheated the oven, tossed them in the coating, (had my girlfriend pour a glass of wine for each of us), and put them in the oven.  I served them with steam-in-the-bag cauliflower for us, baked fries for the kids, and some Classico marinara for dipping.  The kids scarfed them up, as did we!

Ta-da!  A great & healthy meal for both the kids and the Moms!

By the way, I calculated points as if I used all of the coating, but you really don’t.

Fish Sticks with Marinara
courtesy of Giada Di Laurentiis

serves 6
WW points: 5 (this is high though, since you don’t actually use all of the breading, and don’t eat all of the buttermilk)

Vegetable oil cooking spray
2 cups lowfat buttermilk (which I always assumed was fattening, and I was wrong!)
1 pound whitefish or other mild fish, cut into strips, each about 3-inches long and 1/2-inch thick  ( I used Cod)
1 1/4 cups finely grated Parmesan
3/4 cup Italian-style seasoned bread crumbs
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Olive oil, for drizzling
2 cups marinara sauce

Put an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Spray a heavy baking sheet liberally with vegetable oil cooking spray. Set aside.

Put the buttermilk into a large bowl. Add the fish strips, stir to coat, and let stand for 15 minutes (or all day, like me!).

In a medium bowl, stir together the Parmesan, bread crumbs and salt. Remove the fish from the buttermilk, allowing the excess to drip back into the bowl, and dredge in the bread crumb mixture to coat completely, pressing to adhere. Arrange the coated fish in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet. Lightly drizzle with olive oil and bake until golden and crispy, about 14 minutes. Cool slightly and arrange on a serving platter.

In a small saucepan, heat the marinara sauce over medium-heat until warm. Transfer to a small serving bowl. Serve the marinara alongside the fish sticks as a dipping sauce.

~M