Ocean Perch

Continuing in my search for new fish options, I saw fresh ocean perch on sale at the store the other day. My only experience with perch until this point was lake perch, which unless you caught a really big one, we always threw back. Too small and boney to deal with. The ocean perch looked and smelled good though, so I came home with some and did a little research online for recipes. I saw a lot of baked ideas, but didn't feel like turning the oven on just for a piece of fish, so I took the breading idea from the baked recipes and just did it in a pan with some olive oil instead. I dredged the filet in bread crumbs with parmesan cheese, dried herbs and salt. A great feature of fish for a weeknight meal is how fast it cooks! To go with it, another fast side: spinach with garlic. I just slice the garlic because the bigger pieces are sweeter than minced when you let them slowly caramelize in the pan in some olive oil. Then just add fresh spinach (baby is best, but regular large leaf is fine, just pull out the big stem pieces) and some salt to taste and wilt the leaves in the hot oil. This was a fast, yummy and healthy meal. One thing that was still true about my knowledge of perch though: boney. We found bones in both pieces I cooked, so be careful! Those tiny bones were like needles.

Ode to Orzo

Since I made the orzo salad with spinach, feta and tomatoes, I have been using orzo in other applications because Erik expressed a liking for it and I think it's fun. It's like the marriage of rice and pasta and opens up applications you could use either of those starches in.
For this dinner I added a can of cream of mushroom soup, a little milk (just to thin out the condensed soup a bit, not as much as is called for for soup- we're not making soup here, after all) and fresh spinach to the orzo along with some Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper. You could certainly add some chicken to boost it up a notch too, but I thought it was pretty hearty on its own and I'm always happy to find some other dishes I can make for vegetarian friends and family.

First Apple Pie

Ever since I was old enough to make pie, I have endeavored to create one just like my paternal grandmother's. That pie was the best part of Thanksgiving dinner for many of my young years. My memory of it may be more about the warmth and joy of the family on that particular day of the year rather than the actual pie recipe, but I am sure it was also a darn good pie.

Apple pie is a favorite in our house. Erik would eat them year round if I made them, but I prefer to wait for the local apple crop to come in. The weather was gorgeous yesterday and we went out to a local farm and bought a bag of Macintosh apples. Normally, I do not use a single type of apple for my pies, but rather use one or two apples of three to four varieties. This way it "hedges my bet" that there is one or two that will be too mealy or mushy and evens out the tart/sweetness. With these apples being so fresh, I figured I'd just go for it and use only them. I like my pie a bit on the "spicy" side, so I put in a good teaspoon of cinnamon, a hefty pinch of all spice, a pinch of ground cloves and a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg. I usually use brown sugar and vary the amount depending on the types of apples anywhere from 1/2 to almost a full cup. I put maybe a tablespoon of flour or so in with the apples to help thicken the filling and usually a couple "dots" of butter over the filling once it's in the pie plate. I also add some cinnamon sugar on top of the crust which browns up nicely and adds some more flavor to the crust. I did not make my own crust this time, it was store bought. I usually save crust making for a really special occasion- for my sanity mostly. I am still working on being reliable with my own crust.

Pie is fun and frustrating to make because I could do everything (other than the apples) exactly the same every time and have a very different pie outcome. Sadly, with this bunch of apples, the pie ended up too tart and mushy, although it looked gorgeous! The mushiness I think was a product of cooking a bit too long (although the crust was nearly perfectly done, I'd say, so I wouldn't have wanted to cook it too much less). The tartness was my underestimation of how strong this bunch of macs was. When I add in some galas, fuji or other sweeter variety, the amount of sugar I put it would have certainly been enough, and probably would have helped the texture too.
Nevertheless, the first pie of the season is cause for celebration. I'm certain my grandma knew the trials and tribulations of a finicky pie and is smirking along with me at this one.

Tilapia

The prices of fish at the market have been hard to swallow sometimes, but I know fish is good for us and so I branched out recently into a new kind that I had never cooked before- tilapia. I went online to find research recipes and learned it was a whitefish much like cod, so that helped. I decided to go it on my own after reading up a bit, and I seasoned it with salt and Old Bay, then dusted it with flour and cooked it in a frying pan with some olive oil. When it was golden on both sides, I took it out and then put some butter in the same pan, some fresh squeezed lemon juice, and a bunch of fresh sage leaves (because I happen to have plenty ready to pick in my herb garden) hand torn, and a little salt and pepper. Cooked that sauce for a minute and poured it over the fish. Voila! I even got a little fancy with a lemon wedge garnish... oohh la la! Tilapia filets are not large so they are perfect portion sizes AND cook quickly. I think I'll be back for more next time I see them at the market.

Adventures in Piping

I got a set of decorating tips and a piping bag for Christmas and thought it was finally time to give it a try. I have envisioned making gorgeous layered cakes with beautiful designs on them for a long time, but have always been thwarted by apprehension. Then I was inspired by an episode of Barefoot Contessa where Ina was celebrating her anniversary with her husband and just "whipped up" a three tiered cake with a simple, but elegant piping job on it. "I can do that!" I thought. Yes, I know, she is a professional and used to make all occasion cakes at her shop, but she made it look so easy, I was inspired.
I had an occasion to make a cake this weekend and I decided to go for it. The cake is a carrot cake recipe I got out of a "healthy" cookbook and it involves whipping egg whites until they are at "soft peak" stage and then folding in the ingredients one by one so as not to completely deflate the foam. It is a very "springy" cake in texture, pretty dense, and very flavorful. I love it and carrot cake is Erik's favorite. For the frosting, I have a relative who does not like confectioner's sugar, so I wanted to make the frosting without using it. I tried to find recipes on the internet without confectioner's sugar. Yikes. My new plan was to try Superfine sugar. I was worried even Superfine would be a bit grainy in the final product so I added just enough hot water to it to melt it before adding it to the cream cheese and butter I was beating up in the Kitchen Aid. This worked like a charm with the grainy issue, but sadly, left my frosting too soft. I tried switching out my paddle attachment for my whip attachment and that added some body to it. Then I put it in the fridge for a while to see what that would do, and that helped but not enough to hold the shape of the star tip piping. It could have maybe been chilled longer, but I think next time I will try the Superfine without mixing with water and see what that does.
Despite the "goopiness" of this frosting, I was not deterred from trying to decorate my cake. I think for a first attempt it's not too terrible. I need to work on the evenness of my strokes, and with this soft frosting I went too close to the edge on the top a couple times and it nearly fell right off.
Definitely a fun thing to try and I think there will be more elaborately decorated cakes in my future. Watch out, Ace of Cakes, I may be looking for a job soon ;)

Eggplant Fritters

Every so often I buy eggplant because for some reason I feel as though I should cook with it and like it. I don't know where this urge came from, but there it is. I feel like eggplant parmesan is a hassle and usually ends up greasy. Eggplant's ability to absorb grease and water can make it difficult to deal with and I also find it goes from not cooked, to mushy in about 20 seconds difference of cook time, so you have to watch it!
For this round of eggplant cookery, I found a recipe for eggplant fritters in the Joy of Cooking cookbook (right above the calf brain fritters). It involves precooking the eggplant in some water with a teaspoon of vinegar then creating a batter with some flour, baking powder, an egg and salt. Once the batter is made you have to let it rest for two hours, then fry it up! I have tried a similar batter in my deep fryer before and it slid through the basket before setting up and made a big mess, so this time I went with a sauce pan and enough oil to go 2/3 of the way up the fritters, requiring a flip halfway through cooking. I had a little trouble with them sticking to the bottom of my pan, but learned I just had to be firm with my spatula and all was well.
I made some tartar sauce to dip in, not knowing what might be traditional for this application, but really what savory fried food doesn't go well with tartar sauce? This may be one of my favorite eggplant concoctions thus far, but I've been told to try it on pizza... perhaps next time I get the urge in the produce aisle for this purple delight.