Almond-crusted ocean perch on a composed salad with lemon-scallion aioli
- 6 ocean perch fillets (they're small) - almond meal/flour (we use 'Bob's Red Mill'), sea salt - safflower oil - fresh raw arugula - 1 carrot, 2 portobello mushroom caps, about 16 grape tomatoes, 3 med. red potatoes (optional veg additions I'd add if I were to do it again, a light sprinkle of minced yellow bell pepper, previosly roasted whole string beans) - white wine - worcestershire sauce - chevre (a Tbsp or two) - sea salt & fresh-ground black pepper
aioli: - 2 egg yolks - 3 cloves garlic - 1 small lemon, halved - about 1/2 cup olive oil - 1 scallion, chopped - dash of tabasco, sea salt & fresh-ground black pepper to taste
Start the aioli by placing the yolks and raw garlic in the food processor with the juice of half the lemon and a bit of the salt. Run it for 30 seconds to a full minute before slowly drizzling olive oil into it to emulsify. You want a thick creamy sauce for this one, not a stiff mayonnaise. At the end, add the scallion, taste it, add one dash of tabasco and S&P to taste, run it for just a couple of seconds more. Taste and adjust with more lemon and seasonings if desired.
Wash potatoes and pierce with fork a few times so they don't explode, and microwave for 8-10 minutes (until 'baked') while making the fish.
Wash the perch, salt lightly, and coat well with almond meal, pressing slightly to adhere. Fry in safflower oil, turning once. Preheat oven to 275*.
Meanwhile, in a second pan, braise the mushrooms caps whole in white wine, salt & pepper, and a couple of dashes of worcestershire. Let them go until they are wilted and tender-meaty.
Remove fish from pan when browned nicely on both sides and place on a cookie sheet in the warm oven, where it will drain without being placed on paper.
Arrange a heap of washed arugula on each plate, toss lightly with a touch of salt & pepper. Use a vegetable peeler to shave some carrot over it, turning the carrot as you go. Distribute grape tomatoes (and any roasted string beans etc) over this. Quarter the hot baked potatoes and arrange these around the perimeter of the plates, just tucking them into the salad a bit. Slice the hot mushroom caps in thick strips and arrange these between potato quarters. Drizzle aioli over the salad, including a touch on each potato and mushroom piece. Crumble goat cheese, in a few small chunks, lightly over the greens.
Place three fish fillets on the top-center of each salad, and there it is. Can be served after a soup & with good crusty bread.
Ooo, this is what I made last night, and it was such a good combination.
Almond encrusted tilapia fillets lemon-dill-asiago farfalle acorn squash with maple butter ..and I made brussel sprouts but DON'T DO THAT -- asparagus instead would be sooo much better.
I have a friend who can't eat wheat gluten, and she introduced me to almond flour/meal, which she uses to 'bread' things like cutlets, etc. Almond meal is AMAZING and I'll never go back to dry bread crumbs. I've used it to thicken stews, too. Mmm. A company called "Bob's Red Mill" makes the one we use.
I don't know why I never made this before, it's one of my favorites, very easy, and so continental. Today was my second batch in a week, mm-mm.
The basic Joy of Cooking recipe I used [slightly modified]:
Sauté in 2 tbsp. butter: 8 oz sliced mushrooms [we like the crimini] 1/2 onion, diced couple stalks of celery, diced
Start heating up your 2 c. stock [we are lazy and use variety of bouillion cubes as directed]. Add sautéed ingredients to stock and simmer 20 minutes. I threw in a bit of garlic this time.
Start cream sauce a few minutes before simmering's done: Melt 2 tbsp. butter and add 2 tbsp. flour over low heat. Add 1 c. milk or cream, stir gently til smooth. This is where I throw in lots of black pepper. I like pepper. You might also want a bit of salt, depending on your stock base.
Grab strainer and hold it over saucepan as you drain. Dump strained mushrooms et al. in blender or processor and whip til they're as fine as you like [or just dump them in the soup as is if you prefer it super chunky]. Empty into saucepan, continue stirring until it's almost just where you like it; it'll thicken up more as it cools.
I was getting quite bored of having chicken on top of my salads all the time, and wanted a change. So I whipped up a quick seared Ahi Tuna salad and it was really quite good! Below is the recipe, this is for a single serving, it's perfect size for lunch or dinner with a side.
You Will Need: 6 oz. ahi (yellowfin) tuna steak
2 tbsp. rice vinegar 1 tbsp. soy sauce (I recommend Kikkoman) 2 tbsp. lime juice 1 tbsp. dijon mustard salt and pepper to taste a couple of pinches of white sugar olive oil toasted sesame seeds
mixed baby greens, enough to make a layer on a dinner plate half an avocado 6 slices of cucumbers (other veggies if you feel like it, I used these two cuz they're my favorite)
To make my vinegrette I combined the vinegar, soy sauce, lime juice, dijon, some salt and pepper, and two pinches of white sugar in a small bowl. Then I slowly whisked in enough olive oil to emulsify (maybe 3ish tbsp?).
To the tuna, I took the steak and washed it with cold water and patted dry. I rubbed some olive oil on both sides of the steak, and sprinked some salt and pepper and coated one side with sesame seeds. I have a pan with grill marks on it, so I had that on high (nice and hot) with some oil in it and threw the steak on and seared it (about one minute on each side).
I threw some baby greens on a plate, sliced some avocado and cucumbers, and then took my tuna and cut slices and fanned out the slices over the top of the bed I made, and drizzled dressing on top. That's it!
I thought I'd follow up my saffron recipe request with a recipe! I figure it'll ensure good recipe karma...? This coffee cake was easy, and quite good, I brought it over to my brother's during Xmas and it was a hit. (source: a free cookbook they gave out at Costco earlier this season, I kid you not!)
Blueberry Coffee Cake
Cake: 1/4 c. veg. oil 2 oz. cream cheese (at room temp) 1 egg, beaten 1/2 c. half and half 1 1/2 c. sifted all-purpose flour 3/4 c. sugar 2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt
Topping: 1/3 c. packed light brown sugar 1 tbsp. all-purpose flour 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg 1/2 c. chopped pecans 1 tbsp. butter, melted 3/4 c. fresh or thawed frozen blueberries
Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 375. 2. Combine oil, cream cheese, egg, and half and half in a bowl and mix well. Attack floating globs of cream cheese with spoon violently, swear a lot at it, and then relax when you realize once it's baked, nobody will notice. 3. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. 4. Add the wet ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well (kind of a thick gooey batter) 5. To make the topping, combine brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, pecans and melted butter. Clump this up a bit with your fingers so everything's buttery. 6. Pour the batter into a greased 9x9x2-inch pan, spread out, and sprinkle blueberries on top. Spread the topping all over, and bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. 7. Makes "8 servings" which we all really know is 6 in America.
A friend of mine who knows how much I love to experiment in the kitchen gave me some saffron for Xmas. First reaction: WOOHOO! Second reaction: How am I gonna use this???
Does anyone know any good recipes using saffron (besides paella)? I have found some sites that were informative about its origins and preparation for cooking, but no actual good sounding recipes (I am a college student, if that tells you a little bit about my budget/resources).
We have been having chicken scallopini for a few weeks now! Not everyday of course, but umm, several times. It's so amazing! And you can have it with any kind of side and add any kind of seasonings and it's just moist and tender and delectable!
Ingredients: chicken breast, must be pounded thin [we found it in our market already flattened and labeled for 'scallopini'] seasoned breadcrumbs salt and pepper to taste egg [we used one for up to 1.5 lbs of chicken breast] butter [we used 2 tbs per 1lb of chicken breast] any other seasonings you might want!
Preparation: stir the egg up in a bowl add the salt, pepper and seasonings to the breadcrumbs on a plate put the butter in a frying pan to melt and coat
Take each chicken piece and coat in egg, then bread, then fry. It takes about 2 to 3 minutes on each side because they are so thin and perfect.
Comments: We've had this with all variety of seasoned rice, couscous and mixed vegetables and it's always perfect from sweet to savory to spicy. We've had other kinds of scallopini in the past, and they're all good, but this is cheap, versatile, and really incredibly delicious.
Sliced chicken-apple sausage, pan-fried until crisp and apple is carmelized Organic kale from the garden and halved belgian endives, braised Tiny pasta shells alfredo and Indonesian corn fritters: http://onokinegrindz.typepad.com/o…
YUM.
p.s. I didn't have rice flour on hand, so I used organic white flour, and it still turned out great. Also, instead of garlic chives I used the chives growing in my front yard. I'd make it again the same way no problem, it was delicious. The coriander seed is lovely in these fritters: fragrant, and the perfect amount.
4 tablespoons olive oil 1 (7-ounce) potato, peeled, cut into 1/4-inch cubes 1/2 onion, chopped 2 garlic cloves, minced Salt and freshly ground black pepper 6 large eggs 1/4 cup heavy cream 1/4 cup grated Parmesan 2 ounces sliced prosciutto, coarsely chopped 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves 1 baguette, cut into 8 pieces 1/4 cup unsalted butter
Heat the oil in a heavy 9 1/2-inch-diameter skillet over medium heat. Add the potato, onion, and garlic. Season the potato mixture with salt and pepper, to taste. Saute over medium-low heat until the potato is golden and crisp on the outside, tender inside, about 7 to 10 minutes.
Preheat the broiler. Whisk the eggs, cream, Parmesan, prosciutto, and basil in a medium bowl to blend. Stir the egg mixture into the potato mixture in the skillet. Cook over medium-low heat until the egg mixture is almost set but the top is still loose, about 3 minutes. Place the skillet under the broiler. Broil until the top is set and golden brown, about 4 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, loosen the frittata from skillet and slide the frittata onto a cutting board. Cut the frittata into 12 wedges.
Split open each bread piece. Toast the bread on a grill pan until golden. You can also broil the bread cut side up until golden, about 1 to 2 minutes, keeping a careful watch on the bread since they can easily burn. Butter the cut sides of the toasted bread. Arrange a frittata wedge on each bottom piece of bread. Cover with the bread tops and serve.
NOTES: This recipe was taken from Giada DeLaurentes, from the Food Network. We can't say enough about both how easy and how absolutely breathtakingly delicious it is! An absolute joy to eat. We added thin slices of mozerella (the fresh kind you get from the deli), and cold tomatoes on top and it really was wonderful. The only caveat here is that you must have a skillet that can be broiled (we actually bought one specifically for making fritatta's).
Over the weekend in Seattle my friend made me this dish. It should be a crime that this recipe tastes so good and so little time to make (seriously it probably took less than 15 minutes from start to finish). Perfect for impressing guests! (stolen from Food Network)
In a small bowl, combine cumin, cayenne, salt, pepper, and coriander. Rub spice mixture generously on both sides of the tuna. Heat a nonstick pan on the stove over high heat. When pan is smoking hot, add olive oil, wait 10 seconds, then add tuna. Sear for 1 minute per side, or until fish is cooked on the outside, but rare on the inside. Transfer to a plate. Warm up the flour tortillas and dice tuna into 1/4-inch cubes. Spoon tuna over salsa into tortillas and squeeze a spritz of lime juice overtop. Serve immediately.
Avocado Salsa: 2 ripe avocados (ripe means it indents with the firm press of a finger), pit and skin discarded, diced into 1/4-nch cubes 2 medium tomatoes, diced into 1/4-inch cubes 1 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped, stems discarded before measuring 1/4 cup diced red onion 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice 1/8 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Add all ingredients to a medium-size bowl. Toss gently. DO NOT MASH AVOCADO.
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