What's for Dinner? 5-23-2010: Spicy oven fried Perch

Tonight's adventure with fish involved my first time cooking perch. While its not too big of departure from the haddock and cod I grew up exposed to, I've mostly cooked salmon or tilapia.. I was looking for cod when I went to the fish counter at Rainbow, but perch was on sale, so perch became the fish for this dish. (tee hee that rhymed...)

My inspiration tonight was taken from the Pampered Chef Stoneware Inspirations cookbook that I received long before I was a consultant. I'd never made anything from it and decided it was time to dust it off and give a recipe a try. So all that talking and I haven't even said what I'm making.

Spicy Oven Fried Cod(Perch) 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Sauce:

• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 c thousand island dressing
• 1 clove/tsp minced garlic
• 1 green onion (I omitted as I didn't have one, but added a touch of onion powder to the sauce to replace)
• 1 dash cayenne pepper

1. Mix ingredients together
2. Cover and refrigerate about 1 hour (to ensure flavors mix: especially if you use fresh garlic and onion)

Fish: -- about 4 small fillets

• 1/2 c seasoned bread crumbs
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• dash of cayenne pepper
• dash of black pepper
• 1 egg

1. Beat egg in small bowl
2. Mix remaining ingredients in shallow dish
3. Dip fish in egg
4. Dip into bread crumb mixture covering both sides
5. Lightly spray pan with non stick cooking spray (I used Crisco Olive Oil Spray)
6. Lay breaded fish onto a stoneware baking sheet or nice quality baking sheet (cooking time may have to be adjusted)
7. Drizzle a couple drops lemon juice on each filet
8. Cook for approximately 15 minutes
9. Serve with chilled sauce on the side

VERDICT:


I was not overly impressed with this recipe, but I'm still sick so my taste may not be to full capacity. This recipe did get the fiance stamp of approval so I'll try to work it into the repertoire. It seemed to have subtle spice but may be lacking on other flavor. It was very reminiscent of my hometown fish fry with a spicier kick/twist.

The sides that I served with the fish did not fully complement the fish (a chicken flavored rice side and corn). A future suggestion would be roasted asparagus or roasted broccoli Parmesan and a salad may have done more to bring out the variety of flavor.

What's for Dinner 5/18/2010 Honey BBQ Chicken, salad

Its been a while since I've posted a "What's for dinner" update. I have been in a bit of a cooking dead zone. Aside from a very beautiful chocolate cake I made on mother's day and a Strawberry Amaretto Pastry I've made for Pampered Chef events, my cooking has been largely uninspired.

Even my Mother's Day Feast (I somehow confused cooking for 5 with cooking for 15, I had THAT much food) was not very inspired: baked potatoes, roasted asparagus --although it was my first time ever cooking asparagus-- marinated steak and salads.

Anyway, back to todays meal:

Todays Menu will be: Honey BBQ Chicken, salads and potato wedges.

Potato wedges- courtesy of Oreida

Honey BBQ Sauce-- courtesy of www.cooks.com
I added about a tsp of Worcestershire sauce and extra garlic and chili powder to taste. I use 1/2 the sauce for the recipe and store the rest in a jar with lid (old pickle jars work great for this!) in the refrigerator.

• I took the 1/2 of the homemade honey bbq sauce I intended to use and poured over 3 chicken breasts in a deep glass pyrex dish lined with foil and covered it with more foil. 
• I, then cooked it in a 425 oven for 30 minutes, basting it every 10 minutes.
• At 30 minutes, I uncovered it to cook for another 10 minutes.

A very easy meal to throw together, once the inital BBQ sauce is made.

in the spirit of new frugality and reducing waste: Lettuce saving tips

I found a fairly useful article on yahoo. Whoa! Shocker. Most of their articles prove to be useless but this one has some tips I may take away from it to prolong how long my romaine lasts.

When I first started buying lettuce, I'd buy the bagged stuff. I noticed it usually lasted for maybe a day before going past the point my finicky palate would put up with so I'd end up tossing 3/4 of a bag. Plus the mixture in the bags was predominantly the white harder part of the lettuce leaf that I absolutely could not stomach at that early point in my lettuce tolerance. So I moved onto the fancy pants world of clam case (the hard plastic case) of organic greens. And, oooo!, did I love those! They were so much better than that bagged stuff. But of course, being organic AND in a fancy container meant they cost around $5. Not to mention the decreased shelf life and tendency to throw out 1/2 of the container.

As frugality became my way of life, I started buying heads of romaine for 1.49-2.00$ at the grocery store. I figured, if I'm getting that and end up throwing 1/2 of it away, I'm still being more cost effective than the fancy pants organic stuff and probably even the bags. So that's how I roll now. :) But it still doesn't last excessively long so when I saw this article, I decided I must try some of these:

The best tip that I will try with my next lettuce purchase:

It’s worthwhile to rinse the greens, shake them to remove some of the moisture, and then roll them in a clean cotton dishtowel or a clean cotton pillowcase.  The fabric will become damp, which is good.  Put this rolled setup into the vegetable crisper for quick and easy, access to prepped greens.  This will extend the freshness for many days.

Never thought to do that. I'll admit, I actually don't rinse my greens. *insert shock and awe here* I don't because rinsing the whole thing and putting it back in the fridge wet will just speed up the spoiling process and because... well I'm just too lazy. But maybe this towel trick will work and I'll be a changed girl, .... or not; but it's worth a try!

Doo doo dadoo doo. Banana Bread. doo doo doo doo....

(*insert "Seasame Street's Mana Mana" replacing Mana Mana with banana bread)

My mom has an excellent recipe for banana bread in her Betty Crocker cookbook -- circa 1976. This  bread is so good, I'm hesitant to try others.  So I got the recipe from her and attempted my own loaf of banana bread today. I had 5 aging bananas just waiting for me to do this so I took advantage of a crummy day and did some rare baking.  I was also looking for an excuse to test out my mom's new loaf pans from Pampered Chef that I ordered for her.

I did decide to throw in some chopped almonds I had and some nutmeg for something a little extra. I'm not sharing my recipe, so there *sticks tongue out*! But I will share pictures of my beautiful beautiful banana bread, its near textbook perfection in my opinion!

Just put into the oven

Part way through baking

Done!

Side View

Cross Section

Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom......

Taste verdict: The nutmeg I added really helped bring out the sweetness of the bread when combined with the mashed bananas. I think because I used 5 bananas instead of the 3-4 it requires, I wound up with slightly sweeter bread than I expected. But its still amazing! The almonds were a great addition too for a little crunch, but they're small enough you don't notice them too much like you would walnuts. 

The pan: The pan cooked the bread so well! It had the nice even heat it promised so all edges of the bread are uniform in color, unlike thinner aluminum pans where the edges get really crispy/dark from uneven heat.

And as a bonus, my kitchen smells yummy!

Chai and more musings on Tea

I've been in a major mood for an iced chai latte. So in my dear old Rainbow, I purchased some Chai concentrate from my dear old Rainbow foods. I bought the Oregon Chai, regular and brought it home to make my first at-home iced chai latte.

YUM! Definitely different than Caribou's chai but I can appreciate it for its difference. This one has more spice and vanilla to it.

I also purchased some new Jasmine tea. I have a love hate relationship with jasmine tea. For a bit I'll really like it but then I don't. But last friday, I discovered a really good one, Numi organic Jasmine tea. It was hands down the best one I've had. So I couldn't resist when I saw it on special at Rainbow.

I think it's about time to make myself a mug of it now!

What's for Dinner 4/11/10

Post-Pampered Chef party, I was super inspired to do some cooking, so tonight we had coconut rice beef fajitas. I got the idea from TGI-Fridays, of all places. We had fajitas from there that were served with coconut jasmine rice and they were fabulous! I've also come to realize that minute rice is no longer cutting it for my rice consumption. So after some googling of coconut rice, I decided to undertake this myself using the following recipe:

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 3 cups jasmine rice or any other long-grain rice, washed
• 1 (13.5-ounce) can coconut milk
• 2 1/2 cups water, or as necessary
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a large pot with a tightfitting lid, heat the oil over medium heat until it starts to shimmer. Add the onion and stir and cook until soft and translucent, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the rice and stir to coat evenly with oil.
2. Stir the coconut milk and pour it into the pot, followed by the water, salt, and sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil. Stir and reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 35 to 40 minutes or until the water is absorbed and the rice is tender.
3. Turn off the heat and let the rice rest on the stove, covered, for 5 to 10 minutes. When ready to serve, remove the lid and fluff the rice with a fork or chopstick

this recipe came from www.Chow.com , specifically this link. They used shallots as well in their recipe which I omitted.


Observations from cooking:

• My liquid cooked down much faster than the 35-40 minutes allotted for cooking. It actually only took mine about 25-30 minutes and I even added about 1/2 cup of water 1/2 way through cooking. So it's definitely something to watch over.
• I also reduced the salt by half because 1T sounded like it could be too much.

Overall it was a pretty simple recipe. I encourage you to check out the link to the recipe and check out their suggestions. They had a good one for a rule of thumb for how much water to add. And I like to check out user comments for a recipe ahead of time too in order to help tweak it, or decide against making it.

After cooking, I served it on tortillas with steak fajitas, sour cream and cheese.

Homemade Cold Press Coffee

Warmer temps are here.This means it's the time of year when I guzzle down Cold Press Coffee in mass quantities! With the help of my grinder and my handy dandy french press (which currently only collects dust), I decided it was high time I tried to make my own.

I measured out 8 scoops of coarsely ground beans. I used my Perennial Blend beans from Caribou for this.

After putting the grinds in the press, I filled it with cold filtered water from my refrigerator. I covered it with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator overnight (approximately 16 hrs total).

This morning, I took it out of the refrigerator. Skimmed the grounds off the top with a spoon. I then put the strainer for the french press on and strained it.

Poured over ice and Voila! Cold Press Coffee at home.

Verdict: I think it turned out fabulous! I only wish I were set up to make this in jugs because my french press only will hold about 2 cups. Although, it's probably a good thing that I can't make it in a jug! I would definitely consider buying a strainer so that I could make this in a jug if I'm ever having a summer party.