a99kitten's Musings

I have been eating more fish lately. And trying to find good, healthy recipes for fish. I found this one online awhile back. I did not make it up (altered it a bit for me though):

Fish fillets with olives and oregano:

Ingredients:
4 (1 1/4-inch-thick) pieces white-fleshed skinless fish fillets, such as halibut or tilapia (6 oz each)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 very thin lemon slices
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup pitted brine-cured olives, halved lengthwise (2 oz) (original recipe called for green but YUCK so I used black)
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh oregano or 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled (I opted for fresh)

PREP:
Put oven rack in upper third of oven and preheat oven to 450°F.

Pat fish dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sear fillets, skinned sides down, until browned well, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer, seared sides up, to baking dish (reserve skillet), then top each fillet with a slice of lemon.

Add wine to skillet and bring to a boil, scraping up any brown bits. Boil 30 seconds, then pour around fish. Scatter olives around fish and bake, uncovered, until fish is just cooked through, 8 to 12 minutes.

Transfer fish to a platter, then whisk lemon juice, oregano, and remaining 2 tablespoons oil into cooking liquid in baking dish. Season sauce with salt and pepper and spoon over fish.

EASY! Also made…

Roasted Brussels Sprouts: (i found this recipe over Christmas)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed and yellow leaves removed
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Prep:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).
Place trimmed Brussels sprouts, olive oil, kosher salt, and pepper in a large resealable plastic bag. Seal tightly, and shake to coat. Pour onto a baking sheet, and place on center oven rack.
Roast in the preheated oven for 30 to 45 minutes, shaking pan every 5 to 7 minutes for even browning. Reduce heat when necessary to prevent burning. Brussels sprouts should be darkest brown, almost black, when done. Adjust seasoning with kosher salt, if necessary. Serve immediately.

And then I made some quinoa. I wanted rice. But I always want rice! But decided on a “healthier” alternative. It’s pretty OK. Not exactly delish rice but more than passable for sure.

Not exactly traditional football day food but I wanted something lighter and healthier. Plus I have been wanting to try this recipe. It was very YUM!!!

I found a few recipes online that sounded good but they all had things I didn;t like in them. So I took a few ingredients form each and added my own and made this up!

These amounts are for a 4-5 serving meal.

6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
3 andouille sausages
Long grain wild rice (I used 2 boxes of Uncle Ben’s boxes that has seasoning as well)
1 14.5 oz can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes
8 oz sliced mushrooms
White cooking wine
1 cup petite peas (I used frozen)
Chicken stock (I used low sodium)
Thyme
Crushed Red Pepper
Cayenne pepper

Cut up chicken and sausage. Saute in EVOO. As it is sauteing, I added a splash of the cooking wine. Then I add in the mushrooms to brown those. Adding another splash of white wine with them.

In a separate large pan, bring the chicken stock to boil (follow the directions of the rice.) After you add the rice and seasoning and bring to a boil, also add the meat, mushrooms and tomatoes and spices (I just used a few dashes of each.) Cover and let simmer on a low but not the absolute lowest. Stir frequently. When the liquid seems about half way evaporated, add the peas. Then just let simmer covered on low until all of the liquid has been evaporated.

Serve. Simple and very nummy. :)

I am pretty sure I could eat this a few times a week. When I go to Hawaii, I eat this and pineapple ALL the time. You cannot get better fish or pineapple than in Hawaii. Just tastes best there. I think it’s possible that I could survive solely on poke, spicy tuna hand rolls and pineapple! I don’t think the huskies would mind :)

Ingredients:

1lb. Sushi grade ahi – make sure very good fish.
Toasted sesame oil (1 tablespoon of sesame oil per 1 lb of fish – adjust accordingly if you use more fish)
Low sodium Soy Sauce
Crushed red pepper flakes
Pine nuts (You can also substitute chopped/crushed macadamia nuts for the pine nuts. Both are really good.)
Sesame seeds

The important thing about this recipe is cubing the fish in small pieces. This way it soaks the flavor. I put the fish in the freezer for about 30 minutes so that it firms up a bit. Then it’s easier to cut in little cubes. Rinse off the fish and pat dry.

Put the cubed fish in a medium to large bowl. Pour in the sesame oil and mix very well so it gets all over the fish. Even using your hands to do it is a good idea. Then flatten it out so it’s level, but not squish it down.

Slowly pour in enough soy sauce so it seeps down in the fish and monitor as your pour as you want it all over the fish and just at the level of the “fish line”, not soupy or drowning the fish. If too much, then you have to pour it out. Then mix the fish again and cover it and put in fridge. The best thing is to be able to let it marinate for hours. I left mine in yesterday for over 7 hours. The longer the better!

When you are ready to eat, take it out and add the pine nuts, sesame seeds and crushed red pepper. All of these things are added by taste and preference. I like a lot of pine nuts so I added 1.5 oz of pine nuts and a fair amount of sesame seeds. Mixing it a few times as I added to make sure it was getting in there but so you can judge if it’s enough/too much. I added the red pepper last. I am a baby when it comes to spicy so I only added a few shakes. But if you love spice – you can add more :) But not too much so it overpowers the flavor of the fish.

Now you are ready! I eat it with either baked pita chips or over some sticky rice. Either way is awesome in my opinion.

I’ve seen other recipes, and very typically in restaurants, that add onions (I hate onions) and other stuff. I do not. This is a simple recipe and should be kept simple. My husband perfected it to my tastes. Yesterday was the first time I made it myself! And now that I know, I think I will make it for myself a LOT!

Weekends mean I try to cook something new. I also bought some ahi for searing but will do that tomorrow since I had sushi for dinner last night and earlier this week and then for lunch again today! LOVE TUNA!

I found this recipe online. Sadly I didn’t note which site, epicurious.com or Rachel Ray I think? But not swearing to it. But I definitely did not make it up myself.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon Extra Virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 lb white mushrooms – sliced thin 2 tablespoons fresh thyme – finely chopped
1 large shallot – finely chopped
3 to 4 large cloves of garlic – finely chopped
1/4 cup marsala
1 cup cream
1 cup frozen peas – defrosted
1 lb egg tagliatelle or similar egg noodles
salt and pepper
nutmeg to taste

Prep:
Bring a large pot of water to boil for pasta

Heat olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms and thyme and cook to tender, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. About 10-12 mins. Season mushrooms with salt and pepper and add shallots and garlic. Saute another 4-5 mins. and then deglaze plan with the marsala. Stir in cream and bring to bubble then reduce heat to low and simmer. Season with nutmeg. When the pasta is just about done, turn off heat and stir in cheese. Cover and reserve.

Cool pasta to al dente. Reserve 1/2 – 1 cup of the starchy liquid from the pasta, then drain pasta and return to hot pot and add peas. Add 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid and the mushroom sauce and toss 1-2 minutes. Add more water as necessary to coat pasta evenly. Serve.

Yum :)

I added more sea salt and pepper at the end. But I could eat a salt lick with every meal so just season to your taste. I also think some chicken would really add to it, which I will try next time. But quite delicious! Will make again for sure!

Some early Christmas presents for me included:

and

and

I don’t even really eat pancakes, but you know I have to try these out this week :) Hysterically, I didn’t ask for these things but 2 different people bought me some form of Williams Sonoma Star Wars cookery. Either they know I love Star Wars or think I should bake more? :) And stupidly I left my Darth Vader apron back at home (that I received from a different friend for a different holiday!)

And I will give the old college try to decorating some Star Wars cookies. I could not find the same colors in frosting anywhere so I was thinking baby pink Star Wars all around – yes? That works right? ;)

OH! I just remembered I also left my Star Wars cookbook back at home. I wanted to make the Chewbacca cookies!!! The internetz must be able to help me that with me here on Hoth without the recipe book…

But why did no one think to buy me the Williams Sonoma CUPCAKE SET???? Holy hell cupcake paper cups with Chewbacca on them!!!!!! Looks like I will play Santa to me for that :)

I found this recipe online awhile ago and printed it off as it sounded yummy. I am always looking for new tasty-sounding fish recipes! But I do not have the original link to provide proper credit. This recipe belongs to Hoss Zare, the chef/owner of Zare at Fly Trap in San Francisco.

Ingredients:
* 1 – 1 1/2 pounds petrale sole fillets (or dover sole)
* Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
* About 4 tablespoons Wondra instant flour
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
* 1/2 cup halved, small seedless grapes
* 2 tablespoons drained capers

Instructions:
Blot fillets dry and season to taste with salt and pepper. Dredge in the flour and pat it on lightly to cover the fish evenly; shake off the excess.

Heat a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat until hot, about 2 minutes. Add olive oil and swirl to coat bottom of pan. When oil is hot, lay fish in pan; saute until bottoms are golden brown, about 2 minutes. Turn and cook the second side, until flesh is opaque and golden brown, about 2 to 2 1/2 minutes, depending upon thickness of the fillets. Move fish to a paper towel-lined plate.

Remove pan from heat and wipe with paper towels. Return to high heat and add butter; stir lightly until the foam and small bubbles on the top are light brown, about 1 minute. Stir in grapes and capers; cook about 30 seconds.

Transfer fillets to plates and spoon sauce over. Serve immediately.

I served over Jasmine rice. For some reason, fish and rice go perfectly for me. And Jasmine rice is deeeee-lish. Of course, I am a riceaholic and not even Asian (have been told this by Asian friends so not being racist or stereotypical….this time ;) KIDDING! Sheesh people…)

The fish turned out wonderfully. Really, really tasty. And a pretty easy dish to make. The recipe said to pair it with an “open a balanced Riesling to match the sweet grapes, salty capers and toasty butter.” I paired it with a sparking Brut. Because I prefer to pair everything with a sparkling Brut :) And it paired splendidly!

I want to share this recipe because it was YUMMY! I have liked all of the recipes I have tried from the Hungry Girl cookbooks or the emails I get from her. Yummy, generally pretty darn easy plus healthier than most yummy recipes :)

TACOS:
2 tbsp. lime juice
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/8 tsp salt
Two 4-oz raw tilapia fillets (or other flaky white fish)
4 6-inch corn tortillas
1 cup shredded lettuce
1/4 cup chopped tomato

Now, I doubled the fish (4 fillets) and doubled the spices and tripled the lime juice. With this you can get more tacos and if you are feeding a boy in the house, you need more. We used 6 tortillas.

For Avocado Cream:Directions:
Combine lime juice and spices for the tacos in a large bowl, and mix well. Add fillets and evenly cover both sides with seasoned lime juice. Cover and let marinate in the fridge (I let marinate for a couple hours but Hungry Girl says 5 minutes is ok.)

Meanwhile, combine all ingredients for avocado cream in a small bowl and mix well. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Spray a grill or grill pan with non-stick spray and bring to medium heat. Grill fish for 5 minutes and then very carefully (can break apart as fragile) flip. Grill for 3 more minutes, or until cooked through. Break the fish apart in to small pieces.

Meanwhile, heat tortillas on a grill pan or comal until warm/lightly browned. I can fit 2 small corn tortillas on the pan so it takes a few minutes to do them all. Keep them warm, under a heating lamp or in a tortilla holder.

Then spread the avocado cream on the tortillas and fill with fish, lettuce and tomatoes. I also sliced up some limes as garnish/to squeeze on tacos.

This was an easy, fast and delicious meal. Especially for a nice, warm summer (ok, technically fall but whatever) dinner.

I do not take any credit for this recipe other than printing it off and then elaborating on the spices and avocado cream. I love fish tacos!! Since I’ve lived in Florida and California since I was 12 years old, I have been eating seafood tacos forever (fish, shrimp and even lobster.) I learned that some East Coasters and Mid-Westerns (and a lot of foreigners) had never even heard of fish tacos – WHAT?!?! You need to try them! So I hope you try this recipe and like it! :)

Also, I think the avocado cream recipe should be used for chips and dips purposes – very yummy!

Quick, easy and YUMMY dinner!

2 large (full) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Mushrooms
Zucchini
Broccoli
Sliced water chestnuts (canned and sliced from grocery store – way easy)
whatever veggies you want really
Sesame seeds (located in our your spice aisle)

Cut up the chicken in bite-sized pieces and brown in a teeny bit of olive or vegetable oil. You do not want excess oil so I would say a tablespoon or so. I saute it in a wok over medium. Takes about 20 minutes between cutting and cooking. You do need a big pan as you will be adding the veggies to this.

Drain excess oil out if any.

Pour about 1/4 cup of peanut sauce into the chicken and stir so it’s all covered with it. And then cover the pan and simmer on loooow. You can make your own peanut sauce pretty easily or just buy it. I’ve done both and I like making it so I know the ingredients and fat count but during the week, it’s easier to use the store bought. I use Bangkok Padang Peanut Sauce. Quite tasty.

Cut up broccoli (I only use the florets) and slice zucchini and mushrooms. Pour a teeny bit of toasted sesame oil in a large pan and saute broccoli on medium-low. Then pour in mushrooms, water chestnuts (drained) and then zucchini. Use your judgment on when each is nearing done to add the next. Zucchini takes no time at all and broccoli takes the longest (to my taste anyway.) You might want to add a bit more toasted sesame oil over them all as you cook. This adds a lot of flavor, but also more fat :)

When they seem almost cooked, pour them into the chicken and sauce that is simmering and mix them all together, making sure to get the peanut sauce all mixed in with everything. You might need to add a bit more sauce to cover everything (that is a personal taste/dietary/volume of veggies choice.) Now cover and simmer for about 5-7 minutes.

Now top with sesame seeds and YUM! Easy peanut chicken.

I use Annie Chun’s Sticky White Rice bowls and pour the chicken over the sticky rice. I split 1 bowl for 2 people. If you are like me and will eat any and all carbs in your sight line, this is a great option to keep you honest :) You can buy them in packs of 6 on Amazon (I love Amazon!) But I think most big/decent grocery stores carry them now too. Best part – microwaveable! ALSO, it’s wheat and gluten free for those that care about/need that!

This is a yummy and pretty easy and quick meal that I LOVE! I love peanut chicken but in restaurants you can see the oil glistening off of it so I do tend to avoid it. At least at home you can control it for the most part. Especially if you make your own peanut sauce which is surprisingly pretty easy. But not quite easy enough for a work day dinner (by the time I get home and am starving my guts out anyway) :)

Now if I just had a Reese’s Peanut Butter cup laying around, my PB love would be complete!

Introducing Red Velvet Fried Chicken…

Red Velvet Fried Chicken

Fried chicken and waffles. So far, so good.

Red Velvet Fried Chicken, available at American Cupcake, 415-896-4217

What. The. Hell. You know I have to try this….

Last weekend I was going through my giant stack of non-cookbook recipes – torn out pages from magazines, printed from online sources, given to me, emailed to me, etc, etc. Plenty of them are yummy looking (obviously or I wouldn’t have kept them) but a lot of them are pasta ones or fatty-fatness ones that are no good for the beginning of bikini season!

I found one torn from a magazine that looked delicious. There is no notation printed on the page of where so I apologize to the original author of this as I can’t give credit.

Jalapeno Roast Chicken

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (packed) fresh oregano leaves
1 shallot
4 gloves of garlic
4 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 jalapeno pepper, stemmed and seeded
salt and pepper
1 5.5 lb whole roasting chicken
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
3/4 cup dry white wine

Now…this seemed an easy enough ingredient list. I kinda scanned the recipe too but went off the ingredient list when i went to the store. Mistake. I had half this stuff already and found the jalapeno, oregano and chicken. Nothing too hard to find. BUT…had I read the recipe thoroughly, I would have seen the need for kitchen string (wha?) I also needed a food processor and a roasting pan – I have those. But I also needed the rack for the roasting pan…doh. In Tahoe…Oh well. As it turned out, I think this allowed the chicken to suck in more moisture so was really genius on my part not to use the rack ;)

When I found the chicken at the meat counter, the outside of the packaging said “some of the giblets may not be contained inside” What do you mean by “some”? Because I want them all gone. Nada giblets. No such luck for me…

Also…had I read the recipe I would have seen the need for using my fingers to loosen the skin, but not detaching it, to spread the jalapeno paste I would be making. Ew.

Well..I had all the ingredients and I was standing in the kitchen ready to make it. So I would try this. If you cook a lot you are wondering why is any of this a big deal. Well…I can barely touch raw, boneless meat at all. I buy all of my chicken as skinless, boneless chicken breasts, all fish is filleted, all steaks are boneless and I eat nothing “weird.” If it looks like it was once living, I don’t want it. I’ll just eat rice….

So…I had to fish the giblets out of the chicken. Crap. I put on a new pair of dish-washing gloves and did it. I got grossed out and kinda wanted to cry. Yes, I’m a baby. Whatever. But it was done. Storm asked if he could help…

I can help...

Preparation:
1. preheat oven to 400. Place rack in center of oven.

2. combine the oregano, shallot (I cut up), garlic (I cut up), butter (cut in small pieces), olive oil, jalapeno (which I cut up), 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper in a food processor and mix to form a coarse paste.

3. pat the chicken dry and place, breast-side up, on a rack in a large roasting pan.

4. using your fingers, loosen the skin from the chicken breast, legs and thighs without detaching it. Spread half the jalapeno paste under the skin. (ick.)

5. tie chicken legs together with kitchen string (or not if you don’t have it..oops), then spread the remaining paste all over the outside of the chicken.

6. pour the chicken broth and white wine into roasting pan. (try not to drink the rest of wine as you cook ;) )

7. roast the chicken (basting with pan juices every 20 minutes and adding broth to the pan if it starts to dry out) for 1 hour and 30 minutes.

8. if there are juices in the pan, strain and pour over chicken.

I served with roasted asparagus, refried beans (if you use canned beans *Rosarito Spicy Jalapeno kind* you need to refry them yourself – not just warmed up from can in a pot or microwaved! EW! and mix in a bit of milk as you “fry” them so they are creamy but have the crisped outside as you cook them. trust me. mexican household secret from my in-laws) and warm corn tortillas that you cook with a SMALL touch of butter over a warm flat pan.

I’ve made homemade corn tortillas before and they SO much better than store bought. But did not do that today. Buy the Guerrero brand – best ones I have found unless you have access to fresh at a mexi-mart. me = not driving over the hill for tortillas….

The asparagus:
roll in olive oil so evenly covered
place on baking sheet
rub crushed garlic on the stalks
sprinkle with a dry cheese – shaved parmesan works best or mozzarella.
sprinkle with black pepper
Roast for 15 minutes at 450.

Was very, very delicious if I do say so myself (and husband agreed – huskies eat dead stuff found on the ground so their opinion is not as useful in this.) But then..I didn’t make it up or anything. I would make it again for sure. Although I would prefer if someone did the giblet removal in advance for me….thanks…

Out of the oven...

Further proof to me that if you can follow directions, you can cook. As long as you have a kitchen stocked with the basic tools. Maybe not create crazy dishes all on your own but eh – that’s why I pay a premium at restaurants when I go. And chefs are notoriously F’ed up so who needs that…

But here’s a hint…if someone just spent a couple hours of prep and cooking in the kitchen to make a nice dinner, do not complain that the carving knife set out to use isn’t the right one as you are given your one and only job of the meal. Because the carving knife can be used (and made to work even if not the “right” one) for other things…

And Storm appreciates the chicken he gets after waiting and smelling it cooking for so long :)

YUM! More?