Thursday, March 22, 2012

Fish Tacos

Ingredients:

Breading
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup beer

White Sauce
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 lime, juiced
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
1 teaspoon minced capers
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

Fish
1 quart oil for frying
1 pound cod fillets, cut into 2 to 3 ounce
portions
1 (12 ounce) package corn tortillas
1/2 medium head cabbage, finely
shredded

We used flour tortillas instead and also baked the fish rather than deepfry.

Pan fry: fry a single layer of fillets in a skillet with hot oil (350* F) until golden brown or flakes easily.

broil: preheat. place pan containing fish 4 to 5 inches from heat and broil 6-10 minutes until flakes at thickest part of fillet.

bake: preheat to 425. place in lightly oiled shallow baking dish. bake 6 to 10 minutes until opaque throughout.( this is the way we chose to cook it.)

1. To make beer batter: In a large bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. Blend egg and beer, then quickly stir into the flour mixture (don't worry about a few lumps).

2. To make white sauce: In a medium bowl, mix together yogurt and mayonnaise. Gradually stir in fresh lime juice until consistency is slightly runny. Season with jalapeno, capers, oregano, cumin, dill, and cayenne.

3. Heat oil in deep-fryer to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

4. Dust fish pieces lightly with flour. Dip into beer batter, and fry until crisp and golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Lightly fry tortillas; not too crisp. To serve, place fried fish in a tortilla, and top with shredded cabbage, and white sauce.

Note: We used wild caught cod fillets from Sea Best. The company uses sustainable fishing practices certified by the Marine Stewardship Council.
starting to move the fish to the pan
some of what goes into the tacos

cod fillet
beerless beer batter (forgot to pick up the beer before sunday)

Easy Colcannon (Potatoes and Cabbage)

This is a great recipe for getting all those St. Patrick's Day fanatics off your back. We paired this recipe with a couple of Irish Bangers and Kielbasa, bread, and some mixed vegetables. No Boxy, Iv'e already got one man, don't want another.

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 lbs medium red potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes
  • 7 1/2 cups chopped cabbage
  • 8 green onions, chopped
  • 1 cup fat-free milk
  • 1/3 reduced fat butter
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp. pepper


*I hadn't realize the ingredients had been skipped over, sorry if you are coming back to this recipe !
  1. Place potatoes in a Dutch oven; cover with water. Bring to a boil. Cover and cook over medium heat for 12-15 minutes or until potatoes are almost tender, adding the cabbage during the last 5 minutes of cooking.
  2. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine green onions and milk. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5-6 minutes or until onions are soft.
  3. Drain potato mixture. Mash with milk mixture, butter, salt and pepper.


Make sure you drain the potatoes and cabbage very well. Our colcannon ended up a little runny. You can also try to add the milk in slowly so you don't end up using too much, might try using half and then adding more if needed. Adding in some all-purpose flour helped with the consistency when we didn't drain it well. The taste was still great.


Saturday, March 17, 2012

Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies


  • 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 cups butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
  • 2 (3.4 oz) packages instant vanilla pudding
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
  • can also throw in chopped walnuts

I thought the pudding was weird as heck, but as I am the worst cookie baker ever, I deferred to the cookie baker experts. Apparently the pudding makes it soft and chewy. which it does! The cookies dont taste like pudding either.

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookies sheets.
  3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.










Thursday, March 8, 2012

Roasted Holiday Turkey



This recipe is from KRXQ out of Cali. --> Rob Arnie and Dawn- Robs Recipes

I brought this recipe with me to the East Coast and our family has been making it now for the last 6 years. The best part is the fact that it is never dry and tasteless.

I serve my turkey juicy and tender, thus it has a slight pink hue along the outer edges of each slice. I certainly cannot and am not advising you to not follow the USDA's guidelines for safely serving poultry to your family. If you, of your own free will, choose to serve your turkey as I do be ready for someone at the table to be "freaked out" by the presence of pink around their turkey. My answer to this always is, "don't eat it, then." You may want to cook your bird a little longer to avoid all of this.
Ingredients
2 Large Yellow or White Onions
1 stalk of celery
4 Large carrots
4 Large Shallots
Olive Oil
½ bunch fresh thyme
½ bunch fresh sage
½ bunch fresh rosemary
Salt and Pepper
Oh yeah... and a turkey

To Make...
1. Make sure the bird is fully thawed by placing it in the refrigerator at least 3 full days before cooking. If, on the night before, it is not thawed, place the turkey in a room temperature bath until it thaws.

2. The night before roasting, clean the turkey by removing the neck and giblets enclosed in the bird. Use them for the gravy, or discard. (See my gravy recipe for more info)

3. Rinse the raw bird completely with cold water, using your hands to "massage" the bird as it is rinsed with the water. Do this all over, and inside the bird's cavity. MAKE SURE that everything you touch is thoroughly cleansed afterwards.

4. Drizzle olive oil into the cavity of the turkey, followed by generous amounts of salt and pepper. Rub the salt and pepper all over the inside wall of the turkey.

5. Drizzle olive oil all over the turkey's breasts, legs, back, etc, rubbing the oil in. Follow it with generous amounts of salt and pepper rubbed all over the bird. The seasonings not only bring out the bird's flavors, but also help to keep the meat tender.

6. Place the bird, breast side up, in his baking pan, preferably on a rack which allows the turkey's drippings to accumulate beneath it.

7. Chop the celery, onions, carrots, peeled shallots, and herbs and mix together in a bowl.

8. Stuff the chopped herbs and vegetables into the cavity of the turkey. This is done to flavor the bird, and will not be eaten.

9. Cover the turkey and keep refrigerated over night.

10. On the day of cooking, remove the bird from the fridge in plenty of time for it to reach room temperature.

11. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

12. Place a fresh layer of olive oil along the outside of the turkey.

13. Place turkey, legs to the back, in the oven for 30 minutes.

14. Your turkey should be beginning to turn golden brown already. (if the bird is quite large, like say 20+ pounds, you may need to add an extra 15 minutes).

15. Reduce oven heat to 300 degrees.

16. Place a triangular piece of aluminum foil over the breast and continue cooking DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN CONTINUALLY. Just let the bird cook.

17. Despite common myths, there is no formula based on "minutes per pound" to figure out when your bird will be done. In my experience, an 18 pound turkey will need another 1 ½ to 2 ½ hours of cooking at this point, but you have to use some common sense. You want you turkey's legs to reach 175 degrees, and the breast meat to reach 155 degrees. At that point, you will remove the turkey from the oven, keep it covered and carve it 10 minutes later. I suggest checking your turkey after 1 hour of cooking at 300 degrees and determining at that point how well it's going. Given the choice you'd rather your turkey be done too soon, rather than too late.




 Turbo the cat, checking on the turkey.

Finished turkey


 two years later and she still wants to help around the kitchen


Best Holiday Stuffing Ever




ROB'S CRAZY MOTHER'S HOLIDAY STUFFING

First, a note from Rob's Crazy Mother...

Most dishes come with a little leeway. I often change things to match my own instincts. Some recipes, however, need to be followed. This dish works specifically because of the ingredients listed.
For example, using hot sausage taints the flavor and overruns the stuffing. Using margarine instead of butter changes the consistency and screws things up. Substitute at your own risk. So here are the ingredients for my stuffing recipe...

Ingredients
6 Italian Sausages
1 15 oz. box of seasoned stuffing
1 white onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 whole bunch of celery, cut in half (using only the top leafy half. Discard the bottom half. Chop coarsely the top half, including leaves)
28 ounces chicken broth
approx. 1 stick of butter
Olive oil
Note on stuffing: Stuffing mix (that I’m familiar with) seems to come in either a 12 or 16 ounce box. Get either – it will be fine and if necessary, adjust the liquid etc accordingly!
To Make...
1. Remove the casing (outer film) from the Italian sausage and chop into smaller than bite size pieces (about the size you see on pizzas)

2. Preheat the oven to 325 (see step 11 below for other alternatives)

3. In a large saucepan over medium heat, add approx 2 tablespoons of olive oil, then brown the sausages on medium low until still just pink inside. Be careful not to overcook. Discard oil and Reserve sausage.

4. In the saucepan, warm ½ stick of butter of medium heat (Use the remaining 1/2 stick of butter to make stuffing more moist if desired, otherwise discard it). Add approx. 7 ounces of chicken broth

5. Add onion, celery and garlic and cook for 3 minutes over medium heat, stirring often.

6. Add remaining chicken broth and sausage and mix together

7. Place the stuffing mix in a large bowl and slowly and gently add the sausage/veggie mix. Do not over-mix or the stuffing will turn mushy. Add any seasoning packets that came with the stuffing mix at this time, again gently mixing it in. If, after all the ingredients are added, the stuffing seems dry, add more chicken broth, but do so very sparingly. Remember that more fat from the sausages will cook out and add some moisture to the mix.

8. Place the stuffing mix in a greased or Pam-sprayed baking pan, then cover with aluminum foil.

9. Bake for 45 minutes and check for doneness. If stuffing is still too moist, cook for up to an additional 15 minutes. If it's too dry, add some chicken broth and cook, checking frequently, for approx 5-15 more minutes.

10. Just before serving, pour 2 tablespoons of turkey drippings (from the roasting pan you made your turkey with) into the stuffing mix and stir. If you don't have any turkey drippings, skip this step.

11. If the oven is being used on thanksgiving day, for example, the stuffing can be baked earlier in the day (before the turkey goes in) and reheated for dinner in the microwave until warm. This is not ideal, but it will still produce a great stuffing.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Baked French Toast

We only have basic skillets to make regular french toast one by one....  :( and it makes me feel like such a house wife (to heck with that!). So I found a recipe to tweak that lets me make six at a time. It tastes about the same as the standard made french toast, maybe with just a light crisp. I will try to find some pictures to add.

Ingredients:

  • 6 slices of 3/4 inch bread
  • 5 eggs
  • ~1/4 cup milk
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 2 tablespoons butter

  1. Heat the oven to 350 (F) and butter the bottom of a 9x13" pan. Whisk eggs, milk, vanilla, sugar, and nutmeg in a bowl. 
  2. Pour mix onto a plate (you don't need to pour all of it at once). Drop the bread into the egg mix, one at a time, and make sure that every bit of the bread is soaked but don't let it sit or it will get mushy. not my picture but this is sort of what we are trying for.
  3. Layer the bread into the pan as best you can. Pour any remaining egg mix over the bread.We layer it like this:
  
4. Bake it for about 20-25 minutes until it is done. 

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Heavenly Lamb Shanks

Prep-20   Cook-3 hours

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 4 (1lb) lamb shanks
  • 1 leek, halved and cut in 1/2 in pieces
  • 2 stalks celery, chopped
  • 2 carrots, chopped
  • 2 onions, cut into chunks
  • 12 cloves, garlic
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
  • 1 sprig thyme
  • 1 sprig rosemary
  • 1 1/2 cups red wine
  • 3 cups chicken stock
  • 1 pinch sea salt

Things we leave out due to the American economy:
bay leaf
sea salt
1 onion
peppercorns
1 celery stalk

  1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C)
  2. Heat the olive oil in a heavy, metal roasting pan pan on the stove over medium-high heat. Toss shanks with flour to coat well; then shake off excess. Sear the shanks in hot oil until well browned on all sides, then remove from pan and set aside.
  3. Add the leek,  celery, carrot, onion, and garlic to the roasting pan. Cook until softened and lightly browned, stirring constantly; about 5 minutes. Season with the bay leaf, peppercorns, thyme and rosemary. Pour in the red wine and chicken stock, increase heat to high, and bring to a simmer. Season to taste with sea salt, and place the lamb shanks on top of the vegetables.
  4. Cover the roasting pan tightly with heavy aluminum foil, and place into the preheated oven. Bake gently until the meat is tender and falls off of the bone, 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Remove the bay leaf and herb stems before serving shanks with vegetables and sauce.









looks totally gross, but tastes good with bread




Beef and Couscous-Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:


  • 1lb ground turkey or beef
  • 4 large peppers  red or green cut length wise in half
  • 1 cup chopped zucchini (we also use about 3 summer squashes)
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper 
  • 1 1/4 cup water
  • 1 (5.8 oz) package olive oil and garlic flavored couscous mix
  • 2 tablespoons olives (we use typical black olives that are sliced and canned)
  • crumbled feta cheese
We don't actually use beef at all...or peppers...or salt...lol. We tried using the beef but felt it made too heavy of a meal, so now are only making it using ground chicken or turkey. As for the peppers, half our family dislikes them and the other half loves them....alright, alright, I don't like them, the man does. So we compromised and mostly have the couscous by itself or with the peppers as a side item. The salt is already in most couscous mixes, so we never saw the need to put in more.

For peppers: 
Heat oven to 425. On the baking sheet arrange peppers cut side down. Bake 10 to 14 minutes or until peppers start to brown.

Meanwhile, in a large nonstick skillet, cook turkey and zuchini on medium 8 to 10 minutes or until meat is no longer pink: drain. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in water and seasoning packet from couscous mix. Bring to a boil. Stir in couscous: remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes, covered. Stir in olives. Spoon mixture evenly into each pepper half and sprinkle with feta.

The End.