RECIPE: Quinoa with Almond-crusted Tilapia

If I could eat NOTHING but almond-crusted tilapia for the rest of my days... I'd be one happy girl!

Confession - I've eaten it many times but I've never made it myself. UNTIL TONIGHT! Go me!!!




Tonight I'm also playing with quinoa for the first time. Again... I've ENJOYED it before. But I've never MADE it... before tonight.


(And I do believe my hero-of-a-hubby isn't that much of a fan. But I WILL try one more time with some slightly different flavors - just for him. But that's NEXT time. And right now we're working on tonight!)


This is what quinoa (pronounced "keen-wah") looks like... it cooks into a nice fluffy texture and can often replace rice or cous cous in most recipes. (Some people even use it for breakfast, like oatmeal... adding flavors suitable for breakfast.)

But tonight we are going to make a veggie quinoa and serve it up with almond-crusted tilapia. Oh heck ya!






It's this easy... 1 cup quinoa and 2 cups water. Bring it to a boil. Put a lid on it... and it's ready in approximately 15 minutes.



While that's cooking I'm moving on to the tilapia... starting with almond slivers (toasted and unsalted). Cut, chop and slice until it looks more like a powder.



Mix together the ingredients for one of the dredging stations... I used heavy cream and agave nectar. (Another recipe I found online used coconut milk and agave nectar. THAT would be good too!) I don't have measurements for this... so if it tastes too sweet, just add more cream.







Lightly season the fillets with kosher salt and set out your dredging stations. Here I have (from left to right)... corn starch, cream/agave mixture and almonds.





One step at a time... move the fish through the dredging stations and into the hot saute pan. Medium-high heat... a few minutes on each side... and voila!



And now for the veggies...



Everyone in ... please...



Zucchini, tomatoes, oil/paprika mixture... then beans...



And the cooked quinoa...



Give 'er a stir...



Taste and see... yep, it needed a little more kosher salt.



Plate up the quinoa and vegetables... and top with the fish.




I'm telling you... just LOOK at that beautiful crust! And just wait until you taste it... oh man!





Vegetable Quinoa
Recipe courtesy Lori Tisdale

Ingredients
1 cup quinoa
1 can black beans
1-2 small roma tomatoes, diced
1 cup sliced zucchini
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon paprika
Kosher salt/pepper to taste
4 tilapia fillets
1/3 cup sliced green onions

Instructions
- Following directions on package, cook quinoa.
- In small ingredient bowl whisk together olive oil, lemon juice and paprika.
- In a saucepan over medium heat, cook beans and vegetables with oil/lemon juice mixture until warm, about 5 minutes. Salt/pepper to taste.




enjoy your time in the kitchen...

RECIPE: Crock Pot French Dips

My Mom mentioned to me that she was making french dip sandwiches the other day... and all of a sudden I knew that's what I wanted for my birthday dinner!

It can't get much easier than this... tri-tip roast, dried onion bits, garlic, pearl onions, crimini mushrooms, chicken stock and soy sauce. That's all you need.



It really is this quick... plop the un-trimmed roast into the crockpot. Toss in the dried onion bits and crushed garlic.



Peel the pearl onions and slice them in half... toss them in too...



Add a few splashes of chicken stock...



And some soy sauce and mushrooms...



Yes, that easy.



About 3 hours later it looks like this... but it's not ready yet. Turn it over, replace the lid and resist the urge to open it again for at least 2 more hours.



When it's ready, slice it against the grain in thin strips.



Then strain the au jus... you can toss the remains of the very cooked onions and mushrooms. They've reached their flavor destiny at this point...



But don't hesitate to squeeze out the last bits of juice ... press the juice out with the back of a spoon. You want as much au just as you can get.



Remove any excess fat... and place the meat into a pot with the drained au jus.





If you'd like, dip the toasted side of the hoagie roll in the au just to soak up some additional flavor. Top with meat slices and if you're like us, some provolone cheese.



Serve it up with whatever side dish you think goes well with french dip. Tonight we did Braised Yukon Golds... so yummy!




But don't take my word for it... do it yourself. Here's the important stuff...



Crock Pot French Dip Sandwiches
Recipe courtesy Lori Tisdale

Ingredients
2-3 lbs tri tip roast
1 ½ tablespoons dried onion pieces
2 cloves garlic, smashed
8-10 small crimini mushrooms, quartered
1 cup pearl onions, halved and skins removed
1 tablespoon soy sauce
¼ cup chicken stock
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
Hoagie rolls


Instructions
Without cutting off any fat, place tri tip roast into crock pot. Top with dried onion, crushed garlic and mushrooms. Add soy sauce and chicken stock to bottom of crock pot. Place lid on crock pot and go do something fun.

Once you can insert a fork and it comes back out of the meat easily, slice meat against the grain and set aside. Strain out any large pieces of fat, mushrooms and pearl onions out of au jus. Transfer au jus and sliced meat to large pot and set on medium low heat, cover and keep warm. Toast hoagie rolls, if desired. Quickly dip toasted side of bread into au jus and top with meat and additional toppings. We like provolone cheese.

Cooking time
High temp: 3-5 hours
Low temp: at least 8 hours



enjoy your time in the kitchen...

RECIPE: Braised Yukon Golds

Tonight we made Crock Pot French Dip Sandwiches and needed a good side dish to go along with them. And braising is yummy.

Easy decision.



The picture shows what you need... except I've pictured 5 potatoes here and I really only used 3 because these are on the larger side.

Slice them up... thick is good here. They don't have to be super thin. In fact, too thin and they'll just fall apart during braising.



Lay them out in a large skillet, add oil, chicken stock, garlic and salt/pepper. Place the lid on the skillet and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes...



2o minutes later... remove the lid and allow the chicken stock to reduce...




Serve them up by themselves or with some killer french dip sandwiches... that's what we did! YUMMY!





Braised Yukon Golds
Recipe courtesy Lori Tisdale

Ingredients
3-4 medium sized Yukon Gold potatoes, rinsed
2 tablespoons olive oil, garlic-infused
1 cup chicken stock
3 garlic cloves , smashed
Kosher salt and pepper

Instructions
Slice potatoes and lay into a large skillet, on medium-high heat. Add garlic-infused olive oil and the chicken stock. Toss in the garlic cloves and a pinch of kosher salt and black pepper. Place cover on skillet and allow the stock to come to a slight boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, allow to simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the lid, turn the heat to medium-high; cooking while the liquid reduces. Toss the potatoes once or twice. They are ready when the liquid thickens and coats the potatoes. Plate potatoes, sprinkling with freshly shaved parmesan or chopped rosemary. Season with additional kosher salt and pepper, if needed.


enjoy your time in the kitchen...

reorganizing a small corner of the kitchen...

When items start collapsing over on themselves you know it's time to either get rid of something or reorganize. So, today I did both.

Here's the BEFORE shot...



As you can see, things were a bit crammed. The time to do this was well overdue...

So, I took a tip from last month's Better Homes & Gardens magazine: organize your kitchen cabinet items into various baskets that you can pull from the cabinets while either cooking or baking.

GREAT idea! I love it... with the coupons I had for Michael's this cost me less than $20!!!



I bought 3 baskets...

The first one was a small one for my "use-all-the-time" spice/seasoning supplies and then a medium size basket for the "not-so-everyday" stuff.



So here's the AFTER shot...



And lastly, I bought a large basket for the baking supplies. This basket will go in another cabinet where I keep the canisters containing flour, sugar, confectioner's sugar, brown sugar, chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk and cocoa powder.



Next? I worked on my cooking station... where I keep my knives, aromatics, oils, utensils, etc. In true "spring-cleaning" mode I took it all out, cleaned off the counter tops, hit it with 409, organized it all, and put it back in place.





I love my kitchen... it's kinda small. But it works for the here and now. I dream of a much larger kitchen with sliding drawers for the pots/pan, lids, etc. With a pull-out pantry where I can organize all my vinegars, oil, canned goodies, pastas, rice, etc.


And who knows if that will ever happen... but a girl can dream, can't she?! In the meantime, I'll be a good steward of what I have, make good meals for my hero-of-a-hubby and post on my blog from time to time.

I doubt a bigger kitchen will help me cook any better... so I'll just keep having fun!



enjoy your time in the kitchen...