Pan Fried Fish, Potatoes, and Spinach for Healing, Resilience, and Resourcefulness | Sara's Kitchen Witchcraft

We're taking a trip to northern Slovenia and Austria for this one.

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Alright, alright, listen. I know I said I was going to do just the crazy recipes this Lent for this series, given that a lot of the things that show up in recipe books don't make much sense for the common person—but this is an exception, and that's because this meal I found in two of my recipe books (one on southern Austrian food, one on Slovenian food) is actually so simple that I can imagine anyone who had access to a river and a fishing rod would be making it from time to time out there in the Motherland.

Because all it is, at the end of the day, is pan fried fish, potatoes, and some good boiled spinach.

Don't worry, though: as simple as that sounds, and as simple as that is, there's still much to be done with the magic in this dish—even with only a few ingredients! And in times like this, you want meals where the most expensive thing is the fish. (I get 2lbs of tilapia from my local BJ's, which is the New England version of Costco, I'm pretty sure, and it's only 10.99 and feeds my fiance and I for at least 2 dinners). Traditionally, this meal uses trout instead of tilapia, but if you aren't someone who's out there fishing trout out of a river on the regular, tilapia is your next best accessible freshwater fish to replace it as far as I'm concerned.

The beauty of this meal is in that simplicity, where you're getting the flavor of the fish itself and some lemon, with more flavor coming from potatoes that you can season however you'd like and the rich, garlicky spinach. As such, we're using these things for our magic, too, to get that sense of comfort and resilience and grounding: potato, spinach, wheat, garlic, onion, and tilapia.

So let's go!

Magic in Pan Fried Fish, Potatoes, and Spinach

If there's one thing hearty, simple meals do, it's make you feel solid again. This meal does that, and it also does so by bringing in the very special qualities of spinach and tilapia to the forefront. Tilapia is a hearty freshwater fish known for adapting to all kinds of wild situations, and the spirit of that fish is one that can definitely help when you feel like you're no longer able to thrive in the conditions that be. And spinach is a dark leafy green known for being high in iron and protein, giving it much more heft and substance than the average leaf that can help you get some solidity and strength back in your body (both physically and metaphysically). Being green as a dollar bill doesn't hurt either.

Similarly to our previous meal, this dish deals with the planetary influences of the Moon, Mars, and Venus, but it also throws Jupiter into the mix, boosting your capacity for grace, luck, wealth, and expansion in your magic. In here is also no room for being cerebral and abstract, because the elements in play are earth, fire, and water: elements that have to do with soothing, healing, grounding, and lighting up your passions once you're all emotionally and mentally patched up. This is a meal that feels solid in your stomach, but doesn't leave you feeling heavy, and the energies coming to play only highlight the ability this meal has to satisfy, soothe, heal, and prepare you for the future by putting some more fight in you, too.

Pan Fried Fish, Potatoes, and Spinach

Prep time: 20-30min

Cook time: 30min

Makes 2-3 servings

Ingredients:

• 3 medium tilapia filets

• 2-3 russet potatoes

• 1 onion, diced

• 4 cloves of garlic, minced

• 1/2 lb bag of spinach

• 3/4 stick of butter

• 1/3 cup of milk

• 1/4 - 1/3 cup of all purpose flour

• 1 - 2 Tbsp lemon juice

• (Optional) Garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, thyme for potatoes

• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Dice your onion and fry in a pot on low heat until softened.

2. While onion is frying, peel and dice potatoes and put in a pot of water, then bring to a boil.

3. Add garlic to the onions and fry until fragrant.

4. Add 1/4 stick of butter to the onions and garlic, and when melted, begin adding spinach a handful at a time until it starts cooking down. Let

5. Splash lemon juice on the fish (not too much or it'll be too sour), then coat both sides in flour.

6. Heat up a pan with a little olive oil and fry fish until both sides are browned and the fish is flaky all the way through.

7. Drain, mash with the remaining butter and milk, and season your potatoes.

8. Plate your fish, potatoes, and spinach, and serve while hot.

The big trick with a meal like this is timing. The potatoes boil faster than you think, and the fish cooks slower than you think. Other than that, though, this meal is super low effort, low cost, and makes an easy meal for a Friday night during Lent without breaking the bank. Try it out! ♥

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Sara Raztresen is a Slovene-American writer, screenwriter, and Christian witch. Her fantasy works draw heavily on the wisdom she gathers from her own personal and spiritual experience, and her spiritual practice borrows much of the whimsy and wonder that modern society has relegated to fairy-and-folktale. Her goal is to help people regain their spiritual footing and discover God through a new (yet old) lens of mysticism.

Follow Sara on Tiktok, Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube, and explore her fiction writing here.