Kitchen Shame

 

We all have kitchen shames. I know we do.

One of my big ones is that I can not properly boil and peel an egg. I wind up with a shredded egg, shell covered counter, and an increasingly frustrated toddler who was promised an egg 5 minutes ago (eternity in toddler-time).

Another one is that I buy large bags of frozen tilapia fillets. Like the skimpy probably-farmed-in-horrible-conditions fillets that cost $8.99 for 20 servings. It's cheap, it keeps for a long time, and it's a really easy dinner when I am meal planning. I know some foodies are gasping in horror at the grossness of this, but hey - I've got a family that likes to eat every day! The nerve.

One of my favorite ways to cook them is also shamefully easy.You can do it while the fillets are still frozen, if you like, but I prefer to defrost them in a bowl of water beforehand. This recipe even includes vegetables, so you pretty much have a well-balanced meal within 25 minutes. Ain't no shame in that, right?

Easy Tilapia
Adapted from Allrecipes 

Ingredients:
4 (4 ounce) fillets tilapia

2-3 tsp butter
Old Bay, to taste (if you don't have Old Bay, you're missing out! But you can use Seasoned Salt instead)
Garlic powder, to taste
1 lemon, sliced
1 package frozen vegetables (I like broccoli or cauliflower)

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees F). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.

Place the tilapia fillets in the bottom of the baking dish and dot with butter. Season with Old Bay seasoning and garlic. Top each one with a slice or two of lemon. Arrange the frozen mixed vegetables around the fish, and season lightly with salt and pepper.
 
Cover the dish and bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until vegetables are tender and fish flakes easily with a fork.

Passover Recipes: Salmon & Tilapia Cakes and Cauliflower Popcorn

Continuing with our Passover recipe listing, we have a great gefilte fish alternative. My mother-in-law picked this recipe and I'm so glad she did! The Salmon and Tilapia Cakes were supposed to be Salmon and Whitefish Cakes, but we just used what we had. I don't think there would have been that much of a flavor difference if we had used pike (whitefish) anyways! Be generous with the seasoning on this one, as the cakes themselves can be a little bland without salt or the sauce. However, they are fresh-tasting and light, a great compliment to a seder and delicious as a cold lunch the next day!

Salmon & Tilapia Cakes with Horseradish Cucumber Sauce
adapted from Epicurious.com

Ingredients:
Sauce:
1 cup finely chopped unpeeled cucumber
3/4 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons prepared white horseradish
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh chives

Fish cakes:
3 tablespoons olive oil plus more for frying fish cakes
3 medium carrots, peeled, finely chopped
1 2/3 cups finely chopped leeks (white and pale green parts only)
2 large eggs
6 tablespoons unsalted matzo meal
1 3/4 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
18 ounces skinless whitefish fillets, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 9-ounce skinless salmon fillet, cut into 1-inch cubes
Lemon wedges
Fresh parsley sprigs

Instructions:
For sauce:
Stir cucumber, mayonnaise, horseradish, parsley, and chives in medium bowl to blend. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. DO AHEAD: Sauce can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.

For fish cakes:
Line large rimmed baking sheet with plastic wrap. Heat 3 tablespoons oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add carrots and leeks. Saut&#;233 until soft but not brown, about 15 minutes. Cool in skillet.

Beat eggs, matzo meal, coarse salt, and white pepper in large bowl to blend. Stir in carrot mixture. Place whitefish and salmon cubes in processor. Using on/off turns, chop fish to coarse paste (small pieces of fish will remain). Stir fish into matzo meal mixture.

Using wet hands and about 1/3 cup for each, shape fish mixture into sixteen 1/2-inch-thick cakes. Arrange on prepared baking sheet. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with plastic and chill.

Add enough oil to 2 heavy large skillets to coat bottom. Heat oil over medium-high heat. Add 8 fish cakes to each skillet. Sauté until golden and cooked through, about 3 minutes per side. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 hours ahead. Transfer to another baking sheet, cover, and refrigerate. Rewarm uncovered in 350°F oven 10 minutes.

Arrange 2 fish cakes on each plate. Spoon sauce over or alongside. Garnish with lemon wedges and parsley.

Cauliflower Popcorn
adapted from Kosher by Design Entertains


This is a great vegetable side dish! It's called "popcorn" because of the color and the fact that you just want to keep sneaking little pieces into your mouth all night long. Very easy to make, this is a Shabbat dinner favorite amongst the "Kosher by Design" cookbook fiends. You know who you are!

Ingredients:
2 heads cauliflower, cut head into medium sized florets and discard stems
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 - 1/2 tsp tumeric
6 - 8 TBS olive oil

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 450 and line a jelly roll pan or baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a very large bowl, combine the salt, sugar, spices and oil. Add cauliflower florets and toss to evenly coat.
Place in a single layer on the prepared sheet and roast, uncovered, for 30-35 minutes until the largest piece can be pierced with a fork. If the tops are starting to get too brown, toss the cauliflower during the baking process.

Mediterranean Tilapia

This is a quickie post, since I am totally wiped out from spinning. There are a cadre of delicious recipes on allrecipes.com, and I just love reading the reviews from other people. It helps with picking which recipe to use, and often there are tips for improving a recipe. The reviews of this recipe gave a great suggestion of baking the topping on the fish and that made it just perfect.

Mediterranean Tilapia

adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
6 TBS sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained and chopped
2 TBS capers, drained
2 tilapia fillets
2 TBS oil from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes
1 TBS lemon juice
4 TBS kalamata olives, pitted and chopped

Feta cheese, optional

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375. In a small bowl, stir together the sun-dried tomatoes, olives, capers and feta, if using. Set aside.

Place the tilapia fillets side by side in a baking dish. Drizzle with oil and lemon juice. Spread topping over fish, and bake for 10-20 minutes, until fish flakes with a fork.

Check after 10 minutes, so as not to overcook, or the fish may be dry.

Pecan Crusted Tilapia

Don't I sound fancy?

Well, I can't take all the credit for this idea. I must give props to Bob, the fish guy at Eddie's in Towson. While I waited for my lunch order, I wandered over to the fish counter and noticed some recipe cards laying about. I didn't see anything for tilapia, so I asked the guy behind the counter. My new friend, Bob, suggested that I try rolling it around in crushed pecans and baking it at mumblemumblemumble... Then my deli number was called, and off I went.

So here I was, with a great sounding recipe, and no details. What's a girl to do but google? And I came up with this delicious concoction that is a total winner. I threw in some nice roasted brussel sprouts as a side, and it didn't take all that long to put everything together.

The pecan crust gives a nice sweet and tangy flavor to the fish, while the milk coating helps keep it from drying out. The original recipe said to pan-fry the fish, which I did to get some color, but I finished the fillets in the oven. Thanks, Bob!

Ingredients (serves 4):

adapted from my new friend, Bob, and myrecipes.com

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

2 TBS finely chopped pecans

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/2 cup buttermilk (or make your own)

1 tsp hot sauce

3 TBS flour

4 tilapia fillets

1 TBS vegetable oil

lemon wedges, optional for serving

Instructions:

Combine the first 5 ingredients in a shallow dish and set aside. Combine buttermilk and hot sauce in a medium bowl, and then pour flour into another shallow dish. Set up your "dipping" stations in a line - flour, milk, crumbs - to make dredging easier. Dredge one fillet at a time, into the flour, then dip in buttermilk and press into crumbs.

Heat oil in a non-stick pan, over medium-high heat, and cook 2 fillets at a time. Cook for about 3 minutes on each side, or until the fish flakes easily with a fork. Serve with lemon wedge, if you would like.

Salmon in Foil

Summertime, and the livin' is easy. Well, okay, at least this dish is easy! And it works well when both Alex and I get home at 9PM on a weeknight or when I want to really impress people with some fancy cooking skillz. Oh yeah, I haz dem.

This is a family recipe that I can remember my parents making in a pinch. It works well with any kind of fish, but we happen to enjoy it with salmon. The sauce can also be altered to your own tastes, but I like to keep it simple!

Ingredients:
1-1.5 lb salmon fillet
aluminum foil squares (big enough to wrap around each piece of fish)
2 TBS olive oil
2 TBS lemon juice
2-3 tsp dijon mustard
Parsley flakes

Instructions:
Pre-heat the oven to 450.
Divide the fish into 4 serving sizes (or 2 for larger portions) and lay in the center of a foil square (skin side down). Turn up the edges slightly to form a makeshift bowl, so the liquid won't run out.
Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice and mustard and pour equally over all the fish. If you run out, just make more.
Sprinkle the fish with parsley and then wrap up the foil. Fold over the long edges first and roll down, then the short edges, making sure it's well sealed.
Bake for 15-18 minutes, depending on how well done you like your fish. If you're serving this to a large group, it might be easier to remove the fish from each foil packet and then serve it.

Peekabo - where are you?

Found you! Now get in my belleh...

Fennel Crusted Ahi Tuna

I love ahi tuna. Just give me a big ol' bright pinky red slab of raw ahi and I'm a happy girl. The absolute best seared ahi tuna I have ever eaten was actually in Ann Arbor, Michigan, when we were there for my sister-in-law's (Mariel) graduation from UM. She took us to a really nice restaurant (the name escapes me) and I just about cried when my entree was all gone. It was that good, and I have yet to meet its equal. But, that doesn't stop me from trying.

This recipe is from Epicurious, and Mariel loves to make it. She toasts the whole spices and then grinds them in a mini-coffee grinder. Tre chic. We loved it so much that Alex re-created the recipe the other night. It was almost as good as hers...almost. The whole spices really make a difference, so if you can get them, please do so! The whole recipe can be found here, but we only use the spice mixture (not the whole aioli sauce).

Ingredients:
2 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
1.5 tsp kosher salt, divided
2 1/2 pounds ahi tuna steaks (serves 6, about 1 1/4 inches thick)

Instructions:
Combine the first 3 ingredients in heavy small skillet. Toast over medium heat until fragrant, shaking skillet occasionally, about 3 minutes. Grind spice mixture in spice grinder (or a coffee grinder, small immersion blender, etc). Transfer to bowl; mix in 1 teaspoon salt. Prepare barbecue or your non-stick skillet (high heat). Coat the tuna with about 4-6 tablespoons oil. Sprinkle with spice mixture, making sure to fully cover the tuna. Grill tuna until seared outside and rare in center, about 4 minutes per side. Let it rest for about 10 minutes, then slice and serve.

Tilapia with Lemon Basil Vinaigrette

A few weeks ago, Alex and I went to our friend Paul's for a delicious Sunday night dinner. His girlfriend Stephanie is a great cook/baker and a fellow cheeseaholic. She grilled tilapia with this amazing lemon-basil sauce and I had to have the recipe. Seriously, it turned me back on to tilapia, which I had sworn off after seeing a particulary disturbing episode of Dirty Jobs.
She sent me the link and it was a really easy vinaigrette to mix together. While she marinated her fish for about 20 minutes before grilling, I just let the fish sit for a few minutes before broiling it. Either way is good, but personally, I liked the grilled flavor a little bit more. Too bad we can't grill on our 6th floor balcony!
The vinaigrette has really good flavor and can be used on basically any light fish (halibut, tilapia, cod, etc...). I doubled this recipe and had just enough for 4 fillets.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 TBS fresh lemon juice (if you're feeling wild, add lime too!)
2 TBS olive oil (preferably extra-virgin)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 tsp grated lemon peel
3 tsp thinly sliced fresh basil or 3 teaspoons dried
2 tsp drained capers
a few small pinches of sugar to cut the tartness..maybe 1.5 tsp?

2-4 fillets of fish (be sure to double if using 4)

Instructions:
Whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and lemon peel. Mix in the basil and capers, and let the mixture sit for about an hour (at room temperature). You can season with S&P, but I don't think it needs it!

If you are grilling fish, marinate for no more than 20 minutes beforehand. The acid in the lemon will actually start to cook the fish if you leave it for too long! If you aren't grilling, then let the fish sit in the marinade for 5 minutes or so while the broiler preheats. Broil 6-8 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of your fillets. Your fish is done when it's white and flaky.