Fish 3 Easy Ways and a Compound Butter

I love fish, but I used to be too intimidated to cook it at home.  It always seemed like a special "eating out" food.  Once I realized how quickly and easily fish could be prepared I got over my fear.  My parents used to complain that I made the entire house stink because of my late night salmon dinners.  Here are some really simple ways I've been eating fish lately.


First I baked a tilapia fillet.  It was frozen, and I was still sick last week and need something easy and quick.  I took the frozen fillet out of the freezer, placed it on foil, topped it with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and sliced lemon.  I folded the pouch and baked it at 350 F for about 20 minutes.  I served this over plain pasta with parmesan cheese.

Not very colorful, but carb-y and delicious

Next up: more Tilapia with Compound Butter.  I really don't know why I've never made compound butter before.  It is amazingly simple and so good.  I add capers, lemon juice, lemon zest, and pepper to softened butter.  Then I wrapped the butter in wax paper, formed in a log, and put back in the fridge to harden.  While the butter firmed up I dredged the fish in flour and cooked for three minutes per side in olive oil.  I then sliced the butter and placed on the fish to melt into a lovely sauce.  That's it!  

 The tilapia was served with sauteed red peppers and a baked potato.

Finally, scallops with the leftover compound butter.  I had frozen scallops, and I was trying to figure out how to cook them.  The package said I could boil them in the bag.  I had water on for pasta anyway, so I threw these in the water.  I ate these lovely little scallops with a pasta which I will share on the next post.

Sick day #3 Gelato makes it better

Still sick, but I am going to work tomorrow.  The antibiotics are starting to kick in, so I'm feeling a little better.  My throat was much worse through part of the day, so I ate some mint chocolate chip gelato. My husband can't get enough gelato lately, and we've been buying Talenti.  It's very good, creamy, delicious, and it helps a sore throat.

Sick day #2

I'm home sick again today, and I will be tomorrow as well.  My sweet tooth continues to rage on, and I'm eating cinnamon sugar toast like it's going out of existence.  My throat is much worse today, but I'm getting medicine so I know that will help.  In the meantime, here a link to a give away on vegan crunk.  Check it out.  I really like Bianca's site, and I can't wait for her cookbook.

Chicken Noodle Soup

I spent the day home sick sitting in my recliner, reading, and watching episodes on Buffy and Angel.  If I wasn't sick it would be the perfect day.  I know the old saying "feed a fever, starve a cold," and I have been running a low grade fever, but my appetite has been on the side of ridiculous today.  I have a massive sweet tooth that is normally non-existent, and I just keep eating.  The strange thing about all my eating today is that my throat is terribly sore, but it doesn't seem to hurt when I'm eating.  Today I've had leftover corned beef, cabbage, parsley buttered potatoes, fruit leather, a brownie, toast with cinnamon and sugar, crackers and cheese, and finally, chicken noodle soup. 

Luckily, I had meant to make Chicken Noodle Soup even before I got sick.  I had leftover chicken and broth from the chicken tacos on Saturday night.  This soup comes together very quickly and easily (even if you're sick).

I like a lot of vegetable in my soup, so I chopped and cooked 1/2 an onion, 4 celery stalks, and 6 carrots.   

 After all the veggies started to get tender I added the chicken broth and chopped chicken.  I let this all cook on medium heat for about 20 minutes, then I brought the entire pot to a boil and added the noodles.  I let it cook for 18 minutes more then added salt and parsley.  I had to add a lot of salt because I made my broth from scratch.  If you are using commercially prepared broth, you can probably cut back on the salt.

 Now my fridge is packed full of boxes of soup.  Hopefully, I can enjoy them soon when I'm not sick

Chicken tacos and a question for my readers

Whole chickens were on sale last week, so I decided to buy two.  Whenever I have whole chickens, I want to make chicken tacos.  Below you can see the seasonings I used.  There is garlic, bay leaves, fennel seeds, red pepper flakes, oregano, kosher salt, and whole tri-color peppercorns.  I also added dried cumin, but I forgot to put it on the plate for the picture.  I put all of the spices and chicken into the crockpot and filled it about 1/2 way with water.  I turned it on low and forgot about the whole thing for about 8 hours.  When the chicken was done I let it cool and pulled it apart.  It was served with pepper and onions, cilantro, tomatoes, black olives, cheese, sour cream, and hot sauce.  You can see the table spread in the picture below.  Now I have leftover chicken and broth for chicken noodle soup.  

Now for the reader question, I know I have readers of this blog who never comment, but now I want some input.  Originally, I started out this blog as a journal style record of what I eat each day and included recipes and pictures. Right now I've just been posting recipes about twice a week with no food journal.  What do you want to see?  I think it's interesting to see what other people are eating, but I'm not sure if I'm alone in this.

Corned beef, cabbage, and parsley buttered red potatoes

I know, I know, St. Patrick's day is over, and even if I were posting this on St. Pat's, it's not every original.  It is a meal that I love, so I thought I would post this.  I've made Parsley Buttered Red Potatoes many times before, but I really think this is the best I've ever made.  The secret is steaming the potatoes and adding lots of butter.  It's so easy I don't know why I don't make this more.

I know the above picture isn't very pretty, but I think it's difficult to get a nice shot of a bowl of corned beer and cabbage.  Ugly food just tastes better sometimes.

Meatballs: A method, not a recipe

I learned how to make meatballs on my own one day.  I didn't look at a cookbook or delve into my inner memories and gather wisdom given to me by a grandma long ago, I just mixed some ingredients together.  It tasted really great, so I did it again and again.  Each time I make meatballs it's a little different.  I don't measure, I just eyeball ingredients and know when I have enough by feel.  I'm telling you this as a reason (excuse) for why I don't have a recipe for this.  Someday I will measure and write down what I do, but for now I'll give you a basic idea of how I make meatballs.

First, I make breadcrumbs; I don't see the point in buying pre-made breadcrumbs, but if you do, then use those.  These could be fresh breadcrumbs or dry.  I made fresh breadcrumbs today because I had part of a sourdough loaf in my breadbox that I was worried about finishing.  I cut off a hunk and put it in my food processor.  I've used wheat, white, rye, and sourdough bread; anything that's not sweet would be fine.  The breadcrumbs go into a small bowl.

Next, I put onion, herbs, and garlic into the processor.  These items get ground and olive oil is streamed in until the consistency is about that of a pesto.  Today I used half a red onion, the leaves from 5 rosemary sprigs, 6 sage leaves, a handful of flat leaf parsley, and 4 garlic cloves.  I add basil to this often, but I didn't have any today.

Then, I put two pounds of ground beef in a bowl and added salt and pepper.  After the salt and pepper was mixed into the beef, I incorporated the herb/oil mixture.  I really think the best way to mix everything together is with your hands, but if you feel uncomfortable about this you could use a spoon.  Then I added the breadcrumbs.  I add a little at a time and mix until the mixture will hold together in a ball.  It should be moist, but not wet.

After everything is mixed, I roll walnut sized meatballs.  Then put onto cookie sheets and bake at 350F for 20 minutes.  The meatballs can now be added to pasta sauce or cooled and placed in plastic bags for freezing.  If you freeze the meatballs they can be reheated right in a pasta sauce.