Pescado a la Veracruzana (Veracruz style fish)

I made this last night and it was delicious and easy as hell. I had some extra mushrooms and cooked potatoes so I added those and it made it slightly more Italian feeling but great. I just had the leftover sauce on my rice and beans for lunch and it was fantastic day 2, so you could make the sauce ahead and just use it to cook the fish in the next day (for a dinner party or something).

Pescado a la Veracruzana (Veracruz style fish)
4-6 servings

White-fleshed fish fillets -- 2 pounds (I would recommend Barramundi which is a sustainable substitute for snapper)
Limes, juice only -- 2
Salt -- 1 teaspoon
Oil -- 2 tablespoons
Onion, sliced -- 1
Garlic, minced -- 2-3 cloves
Tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped -- 3 cups
Stock or water -- 1 cup
Green olives, pitted, chopped -- 1/3 cup (Mixed Spanish olives are a good choice)
Parsley, minced -- 3 tablespoons
Dried oregano -- 2 teaspoons
Chili Powder -- 1 teaspoon
Bay leaf -- 1
Capers rinsed -- 1 tablespoon
Pickled jalapeño peppers sliced into rounds -- 2-3 each
Cinnamon stick (optional) -- 1
Whole cloves (optional) -- 2-3
Salt and pepper -- to taste

Method
Add the fish, lime juice and salt to a large bowl and marinate for 30 minutes to an hour.

While fish is marinating, heat the oil over medium flame in a large pot or skillet. Add the onions and sauté until translucent. Add garlic and continue sautéing for another minute.

Add remaining ingredients except for the fish, reduce heat to low and simmer for 10-15 minutes to meld flavors and reduce the sauce somewhat. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Add the fish fillets and cover them with some of the sauce. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until fish is cooked through, 8-12 minutes. Serve with rice.

Variations
Red snapper is the fish most commonly used for this dish, but any firm white fish fillet will do. In Mexico, the fish is sometimes left whole for this preparation.

today's pear muffins

i had some pears that were a few days past the perfect eating time, so i decided to make pear muffins today.

this is what i did:

I roasted the pears based on a babycakes roasted apple recipe:

1 pound pears, diced into 1-inch cubes
1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/8 cup lemon juice

i preheated the oven to 325 and prepared a cookie sheet by covering it with parchment paper
i mixed the 4 ingredients listed above until the pears were completely coated, then i spread them on the prepared cookie sheet and put it in the middle rack of the oven for 35 minutes. the result was so delicious, i might cook roasted pears or roasted apples as their own end-result someday, rather than as a first step for muffins.

meanwhile, i was missing some of the ingredients for the babycakes muffin recipe, but i did have a gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, bean-free muffin mix by "The Cravings Place." i followed the instructions for their muffin mix - enough to make 16 muffins, but i added 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/8 teaspoon allspice, 1/8 teaspoon ginger, and 1 tablespoon vanilla, and once the pears were done roasting, added those.

i cooked the muffins according to the muffin mix instructions, and with the addition of the pears, it produced 18 delicious muffins.

Spicy Ketchupy Tofu with Cauliflower Rice

Spicy Ketchupy Tofu
1 package extra firm tofu
flour for dredging
1.5 cups ketchup
0.5 cups oil (like peanut or canola)
cayenne pepper
1 garlic clove minced
lemon juice to taste
salt & pepper

This is from Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian." Because he gushed about it, I overcame my fear of the ketchup sauce. It turned out to be very General Tso's Chickeny and awesome.

• Slice or crumble tofu
• Dredge in flour
  
• Sprinkle with salt & pepper & fry in 1/3 cup oil over medium high heat until browned (at least 6 mins)
  
• Remove tofu from skillet
• Add remaining oil to skillet
• Add garlic and cook for about a minute
• Add ketchup
• Add cayenne pepper to taste
  
• Cook for about 5 minutes until sauce thickens and gets all sticky/caramelized
• Return tofu to skillet and cover with sauce
• Add some lemon juice to taste
  

Cauliflower Rice
Chop up cauliflower in food processor until about the size of rice (it sort of resembles couscous). Microwave in covered dish for about 5 minutes until soft with no added water. Voila, a yummy rice substitute that goes well with lots of stuff. (You can also make awesome fried rice out of this. There are loads of recipes online.)

turkey meatloaf

i make this at home more than any other meat dish, cuz its so easy and so yummy

preheat oven to 350

mix these ingredients in a large bowl:

1 lb ground turkey
1/2 cup chopped onion (yellow, red, or whatever)
1/2 cup corn flakes
1/2 cup to 3/4 cup red sauce (i usually use something like newman's own)
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste

optional - 1 tablespoon mustard
optional - 1/8 cup chopped parsley

pat into a greased or no-stick loaf pan, or mound into a loaf on a greased shallow baking pan and bake for one hour

is really good with sweet potato fries.

Kimchi Raw Ramen

This is sorta a salad and soup combined. Good for lunch or dinner. It's gets your raw in there as well as the warming soup.

Serving one person:
brown rice udon noodles (i know it's not ramen but hea, it's healthy)
kimchi plus about a 1/4 to 1/3 cup of it's brine (or veg stock if you don't have enough brine)
tamari
sesame oil
chili flakes or tabasco
1/2 carrot very thinly sliced
some zucchini very thinly sliced
1 spring onion
about a tblsp of chopped coriander
a few fresh mushrooms chopped (i didn't have any this time!)

Cook your noodles. Put aside and then add some of the kimchi brine to the pan and heat it up. Throw a few splashes of tamari in and then add your noodles back in. Add some water if you want more broth. Take off the heat and put it in a bowl. Add all your veggies, a heaping amount of kimchi, add a bit of chili on top, coriander and a few splashes of sesame oil. My favorite kitchen utensil for thin slicing is pictured above. Works great for carrots and zucchini!

Tempura At Home

You know how you are tempted to order tempura when you have Japanese take out or delivery and it's always soggy by the time you eat it and sort of a bummer? Well for real, just make it yourself. It's INCREDIBLY EASY and so satisfying.

For the vegetables, pre-cook them by steaming them or blanching and shocking them so they're not raw when you dip them in the batter and fry them, this will make them soft and delicious when you crisp them up.

From what I've read, the key is to getting the batter really cold and dipping your veggies right before you fry them. Double dip if you like extra coating. Classic tempura isn't fried long enough to brown, but us Americans might like it that way.

Tempura Batter

1 cup AP flour (AP whole wheat would work, I am pretty sure rice flour or another gluten free flour would work too)
1 cup seltzer
2 t. salt

In a quart container, add all ingredients, shake them up and store overnight in fridge.
When you're ready, heat oil to frying temp in a deep pan or wok so there is room for the veggies to swim.
When oil is hot, dip veggies in batter and drop in hot oil, frying until just golden. Remove from oil and drain on newspaper or paper towels. Sprinkle a bit more salt over the veggies and serve quickly with a nice ginger soy or ponzu sauce.

Notes to myself after my first run:
make sure oil is HOT.
make sure the oil is not crowded.
make sure you are hungry.

Enjoy!

Apple Empanadas

These are fun to make and supergreat for a fall mexican food party. And I think Dresch-approved? (derived from this and this.)

Apple Empanadas

4 baking apples
1 1/3 cups sugar
about 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
a pinch of nutmeg
1/2 cup butter (softened)
3 oz of cream cheese
1 cup flour

Make the dough the night before:

Mix butter and cream cheese and then mix in flour. Roll into a ball. Leave over night in the fridge.

The next day:

Take dough out of fridge 1/2 hour before making. Mine was still hard after this, so I softened it in the food processor with a little warm water.

Making the filling:

1. Peel, core and chop apples into little pieces.
2. Mix with one cup sugar and a tsp. of cinnamon and dash of nutmeg.
3. Cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes or until soft. Cool.

Making the empanadas:

1. Roll out dough on floured surfaces and cut into little 3-4 inch discs. I didn't have a cookie cutter so used the bottom of a 28 ounce can of tomatoes.

2. Add a small spoonful of filling to the center of each and moisten the dough around the filling with a little water. Seal together into mini pie.

3. Bake for about 15 minutes.

4. Roll warm empanadas in cinnamon sugar and done!