The following recipe has been adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook. With how often I cook pescetarian, I'm always at a loss as what to do with fish. This recipe originally calls for baking the fish on top of a coal grill with hickory chips. While cooking atop the grill is great during the summer time, sometimes starting the coals and cooking out is just too large of a time investment. Baking in the oven works out great, however!
Ingredients:
2 pounds fish fillets
1 lemon, thinly sliced
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt
Pepper
Equipment:
Baking pan
Knife
bowl
fork
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Arrange half of the lemon slices in the bottom of a shallow baking pan.
3. In one layer, place the fish on top of the slices
4. Sprinkle fish generously with salt and pepper
5. Place the remaining lemon slices on top of the fish
6. Combine the melted butter with the minced garlic.
7. Pour the garlic butter mixture over the fish.
8. Basting frequently, cook the fish for 25-30 minutes, or until flaky.
Serve with the lemon slices and butter mixture. Should serve a party of six.
Possible alterations:
Obviously, one could us the original recipe and bake the fish over slow coals with hickory chips on it. One could also add different spices than just garlic butter. Sage would probably bring something to the party, as would dill. Chives might also be worth trying. As for side dishes, some rice would be nice, as well as putting it on a bed of greens.
Good Eats and Happy Gaming!
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
TED Talk: Nathan Myhrvold: Cooking as never seen before
I was on Reddit when I stumbled across this. I figured I should share. I hope you find this as interesting as I do!
Also, I've done the math and I appear to be a few posts behind my goal of 52 posts this year. This means you can all expect some extra posts from me this week so I can get back on track!
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Orange-Honey Glazed Carrots
Seeing as this month is apparently "Good Recipes from Cookbooks", I thought I'd share one of the first recipes that I ever learned. It is from "Cooked Up by Kids" from The Virginia Children's Hospital at Fairfax Hospital. I've had this book for a very long time, so it's certainly seen better days. Even though it is aimed at kids, it doesn't make the recipes any less delicious!
Ingredients:
6 carrots
3 T butter or margarine
1 T honey
1/3 cup orange juice
1/4 tsp. salt
1 T fresh parsley, minced
Equipment:
Cutting board
Vegetable peeler
A saucepan with lid
knife
measuring implements
Directions:
1. Wash and peel the carrots. Slice them into 1/2 inch pieces.
2. Place the carrots, along with the orange juice, butter, honey, and salt.
3. Cover and cook over low heat until the carrots are tender. Should be about 20 minutes.
4. Once carrots are tender, uncover and cook slowly until the juice is mostly gone.
5. Stir until the carrots are glazed with the butter/honey mixture.
6. Remove from heat and sprinkle parsley over carrots.
Serve as the side to a all kinds of things. Makes enough for a family of four, although the recipe should double nicely.
Possible Alterations:
I can't think of anything that I would do to make this recipe better. It's simple and to the point. If you think of anything, however, I would love to hear from you!
Good eats, and happy gaming!
Ingredients:
6 carrots
3 T butter or margarine
1 T honey
1/3 cup orange juice
1/4 tsp. salt
1 T fresh parsley, minced
Equipment:
Cutting board
Vegetable peeler
A saucepan with lid
knife
measuring implements
Directions:
1. Wash and peel the carrots. Slice them into 1/2 inch pieces.
2. Place the carrots, along with the orange juice, butter, honey, and salt.
3. Cover and cook over low heat until the carrots are tender. Should be about 20 minutes.
4. Once carrots are tender, uncover and cook slowly until the juice is mostly gone.
5. Stir until the carrots are glazed with the butter/honey mixture.
6. Remove from heat and sprinkle parsley over carrots.
Serve as the side to a all kinds of things. Makes enough for a family of four, although the recipe should double nicely.
Possible Alterations:
I can't think of anything that I would do to make this recipe better. It's simple and to the point. If you think of anything, however, I would love to hear from you!
Good eats, and happy gaming!
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Nomalicious Falafel Burgers
I've been doing research into recipes that will freeze and re-heat well, that are also vegetarian. Of the many places I have been looking, cookbooks have been a great resource. The recipe that I want to high-light today came from one such book, "The Meat Lover's Meatless Cookbook" by Kim O'Donnel.
I made a batch of these yesterday, and was really happy with the results. So, here's the recipe!
Ingredients:
1 cp dried chickpeas
1 1/2 cups onion, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cp fresh cilantro or parsley (or 1/4 cp each), chopped
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/8 tsp cayenne
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4~1/2 cup olive oil
Equipment:
1x spatula
2x large bowl
1x food processor
1x measuring implements
Directions:
1. Soak the chickpeas at least 8 hrs at room temp. They will be roughly 2cups when done soaking. Drain and set aside.
2. Pulverize the chickpeas in the food processor until the beans just form a paste that sticks together when you squeeze it in your hand. Over processing the chickpeas will likely end up making bad burgers.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients, save for the oil. Combine by pulsing the food processor ~12 times.
4. Refrigerate batter ~1 hr, until firm.
5. Preheat oven to 350F (if your oven is more awesome than mine)
6. Remove batter from fridge and shape into patties, using scant 1/3 cup measure. Handle batter as little as possible.
7. Place on a plate/baking tray and cover. A cutting board covered with parchment paper also works. Return to the fridge and chill for another 10~15 minutes.
8. Heat the oil in shallow skillet, and place the patties in the hot oil in small batches. Fry until golden brown (~3 minutes).
9. Flip the patties and cook for an additional 3 minutes.
10. Place on baking tray and place them in the oven to finish cooking.
Serve in pita, hamburger bun, or atop romaine lettuce, decorated with things like lettuce, tomato, and other burger fixings. This will make somewhere between 6-8 patties.
Also included in the book is a recipe for Tahini sauce. Tahini is made from ground sesame seeds, and can be difficult to find, and can be pretty expensive once you do. This sauce is fairly tasty, but the recipe makes a lot, and it supposedly only lasts a few days. The recipe is as follows:
Tahini sauce:
1 cp tahini, stirred well
1/4~1/2 cp lemon juice
1~2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup water
Blend all ingredients until smooth. The sauce should be pourable, so add extra water if needed. It should keep in the fridge for a few days.
Possible Alterations:
There are some other recipes included in The Meat Lover's Meatless Cookbook that has the same basic batter, but changes the spices. If you're very curious about it, you should get a copy (buying is good, but don't forget about your local library!)
While I like the tahini sauce, I would probably not want to make that much of it ever again. It's expensive, and ketchup, mustard, and mayo-sriracha sauce all do a fantastic job on the burger anyway. Also, I ended up adding way more garlic than recommended, as well as probably went a over the recommended amount of salt. Tahini has a bitter aftertaste, so salt helps counter-act that. I know this because I initially forgot to add the salt, and realized my error when I tasted the sauce.
All told, I will definitely give this recipe another go, especially to see how it handles the freezing/re-heating process.
Good eats, and happy gaming!
I made a batch of these yesterday, and was really happy with the results. So, here's the recipe!
Ingredients:
1 cp dried chickpeas
1 1/2 cups onion, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cp fresh cilantro or parsley (or 1/4 cp each), chopped
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/8 tsp cayenne
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4~1/2 cup olive oil
Equipment:
1x spatula
2x large bowl
1x food processor
1x measuring implements
Directions:
1. Soak the chickpeas at least 8 hrs at room temp. They will be roughly 2cups when done soaking. Drain and set aside.
2. Pulverize the chickpeas in the food processor until the beans just form a paste that sticks together when you squeeze it in your hand. Over processing the chickpeas will likely end up making bad burgers.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients, save for the oil. Combine by pulsing the food processor ~12 times.
4. Refrigerate batter ~1 hr, until firm.
5. Preheat oven to 350F (if your oven is more awesome than mine)
6. Remove batter from fridge and shape into patties, using scant 1/3 cup measure. Handle batter as little as possible.
7. Place on a plate/baking tray and cover. A cutting board covered with parchment paper also works. Return to the fridge and chill for another 10~15 minutes.
8. Heat the oil in shallow skillet, and place the patties in the hot oil in small batches. Fry until golden brown (~3 minutes).
9. Flip the patties and cook for an additional 3 minutes.
10. Place on baking tray and place them in the oven to finish cooking.
Serve in pita, hamburger bun, or atop romaine lettuce, decorated with things like lettuce, tomato, and other burger fixings. This will make somewhere between 6-8 patties.
Also included in the book is a recipe for Tahini sauce. Tahini is made from ground sesame seeds, and can be difficult to find, and can be pretty expensive once you do. This sauce is fairly tasty, but the recipe makes a lot, and it supposedly only lasts a few days. The recipe is as follows:
Tahini sauce:
1 cp tahini, stirred well
1/4~1/2 cp lemon juice
1~2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup water
Blend all ingredients until smooth. The sauce should be pourable, so add extra water if needed. It should keep in the fridge for a few days.
Possible Alterations:
There are some other recipes included in The Meat Lover's Meatless Cookbook that has the same basic batter, but changes the spices. If you're very curious about it, you should get a copy (buying is good, but don't forget about your local library!)
While I like the tahini sauce, I would probably not want to make that much of it ever again. It's expensive, and ketchup, mustard, and mayo-sriracha sauce all do a fantastic job on the burger anyway. Also, I ended up adding way more garlic than recommended, as well as probably went a over the recommended amount of salt. Tahini has a bitter aftertaste, so salt helps counter-act that. I know this because I initially forgot to add the salt, and realized my error when I tasted the sauce.
All told, I will definitely give this recipe another go, especially to see how it handles the freezing/re-heating process.
Good eats, and happy gaming!
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Melon Salads
July is upon us, which means for myself and my American readership that the month of the out-door picnic and fireworks. To kick off this month of awesome food and good times, I'm going to introduce two recipes. They're both very similar, but they have some key differences that definitely have an effect on the flavour.
First is a favourite of my family, and it makes an appearance at many cookouts throughout the summer. It's referred to as Cucumber Melon salad, and while one can use just about any kind of melon, I like it with Watermelon best.
Cucumber Melon Salad
Equipment:
1x large bowl
1x small bowl
A Chef's Knife
A cutting board
A spatula or spoon
Measuring implements
Melon baller (optional)
Ingredients:
Salad:
3 cucumbers, quartered and sliced
8 cups watermelon balls (or cubed watermelon works fine)
1/2 cup mint leaves
1/2 cup crumbled Feta cheese
1/2 cup pine nuts
1T chopped kalamata olives
Dressing:
2 tsp olive oil (extra virgin is nice)
2T lemon juice
2T white wine vinegar
1T onion
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
Directions:
1. Mix all ingredients for the salad in a large bowl
2. In a separate bowl, place the dressing ingredients and stir.
3. Pour the dressing into the salad bowl, and mix together.
It can be served immediately, but if dried mint is used the salad should set for a while for all the flavours to come out.
Now a lot of these ingredients can be a bit of an investment, especially if you don't have a place like Trader Joe's nearby to pick up pine nuts and olives at a good price. There is, however, a much simpler watermelon salad out there.
Jeff Potter, author of "Cooking for Geeks", mentions this salad in the previously mentioned book when discussing tastes. It does show how dissimilar flavours can come together to make some seriously tasty food. His recipe is also much simpler than the Cucumber Melon salad, so it may be better for those of us looking to save time and money (which is probably most of us)
Watermelon Feta Salad
Equipment:
1 Large bowl
1 spatula/spoon
Measuring implements
Ingredients:
2 cups watermelon, cubed or scooped
1/2 cup feta cheese, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup red onion, sliced, soaked and drained
1 T olive oil (extra virgin is preferred)
1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
Directions:
1. Combine the ingredients in a large bowl. Toss to coat.
Bring it to parties, serve it around the table, just enjoy it. It should be noted that this does not make nearly as much as the Cucumber melon salad, but the recipe should scale well.
Possible Alterations:
The Cucumber Melon salad can, of course, be done with lots of different varieties of melon, or even mixtures of melons such as watermelon and honeydew. Jeff recommends adding black olives, mint leaves, or red pepper flakes to his Watermelon Feta salad. It's probably best to not add them all at the same time, although you should notice that the cucumber melon salad has both olives and mint, so it's probably worth experimenting with.
Jeff also mentions that anytime onions are going to be served raw, they should be soaked in water. There are some very scientific reason behind it, but the TL;DR version is this: chemicals that are released when an onion is cut will stabilize as a gas. It reacts with water to create sulfuric acid. By soaking the onion, the chemicals that would end up reacting with the water in our eyes becomes dissolved into the water. Drain off the water, and all the nasty stuff goes with it. Problem solved!
Cooking for Geeks is a great book. If it seems like something that interests you, definitely pick up a copy. I'd recommend a hard copy. E-readers are cool, but I don't think they're up to the rigors of the kitchen.
Happy gaming!
First is a favourite of my family, and it makes an appearance at many cookouts throughout the summer. It's referred to as Cucumber Melon salad, and while one can use just about any kind of melon, I like it with Watermelon best.
Cucumber Melon Salad
Equipment:
1x large bowl
1x small bowl
A Chef's Knife
A cutting board
A spatula or spoon
Measuring implements
Melon baller (optional)
Ingredients:
Salad:
3 cucumbers, quartered and sliced
8 cups watermelon balls (or cubed watermelon works fine)
1/2 cup mint leaves
1/2 cup crumbled Feta cheese
1/2 cup pine nuts
1T chopped kalamata olives
Dressing:
2 tsp olive oil (extra virgin is nice)
2T lemon juice
2T white wine vinegar
1T onion
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
Directions:
1. Mix all ingredients for the salad in a large bowl
2. In a separate bowl, place the dressing ingredients and stir.
3. Pour the dressing into the salad bowl, and mix together.
It can be served immediately, but if dried mint is used the salad should set for a while for all the flavours to come out.
Now a lot of these ingredients can be a bit of an investment, especially if you don't have a place like Trader Joe's nearby to pick up pine nuts and olives at a good price. There is, however, a much simpler watermelon salad out there.
Jeff Potter, author of "Cooking for Geeks", mentions this salad in the previously mentioned book when discussing tastes. It does show how dissimilar flavours can come together to make some seriously tasty food. His recipe is also much simpler than the Cucumber Melon salad, so it may be better for those of us looking to save time and money (which is probably most of us)
Watermelon Feta Salad
Equipment:
1 Large bowl
1 spatula/spoon
Measuring implements
Ingredients:
2 cups watermelon, cubed or scooped
1/2 cup feta cheese, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup red onion, sliced, soaked and drained
1 T olive oil (extra virgin is preferred)
1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
Directions:
1. Combine the ingredients in a large bowl. Toss to coat.
Bring it to parties, serve it around the table, just enjoy it. It should be noted that this does not make nearly as much as the Cucumber melon salad, but the recipe should scale well.
Possible Alterations:
The Cucumber Melon salad can, of course, be done with lots of different varieties of melon, or even mixtures of melons such as watermelon and honeydew. Jeff recommends adding black olives, mint leaves, or red pepper flakes to his Watermelon Feta salad. It's probably best to not add them all at the same time, although you should notice that the cucumber melon salad has both olives and mint, so it's probably worth experimenting with.
Jeff also mentions that anytime onions are going to be served raw, they should be soaked in water. There are some very scientific reason behind it, but the TL;DR version is this: chemicals that are released when an onion is cut will stabilize as a gas. It reacts with water to create sulfuric acid. By soaking the onion, the chemicals that would end up reacting with the water in our eyes becomes dissolved into the water. Drain off the water, and all the nasty stuff goes with it. Problem solved!
Cooking for Geeks is a great book. If it seems like something that interests you, definitely pick up a copy. I'd recommend a hard copy. E-readers are cool, but I don't think they're up to the rigors of the kitchen.
Happy gaming!
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