Hi Swai!

I've heard murmurs of this fish, as its more popular lately (for reasons of overfishing perhaps? new fish coming to the forefront and hailing from Asia as this one does). It is also cheap. I bought two fillets for $3.15 cents. I wanted something to plate with my previous post of a dish, the simple pasta and I thought a nice (cheap, and unexplored) fish would go well.
Baked Swai
2 fillets (or however many)
2 tbs of butter
Oil (to coat the dish)
2 cloves of garlic
1-2 tbs of basil

Oil and butter the pan. Rub the extra butter on the fillets. Lay fillets in pan. Top with minced garlic (finely diced) and basil. Pop in oven at 375 for about 20-25 minutes. 

Swai proved delicious. Juicy and flavorful. Perhaps because I baked it in butter but man, I will definitely purchase this type of fish again. I forgot to look if it was farm raised or wild caught, darn it!

Simple Pasta Dish

My body must be entering winter mode because all I want is yummy linguine shaped pastas. Typically, I try to avoid such foods especially after last week! (saturated with wine and beer, delicious foods and desserts) Whilst browsing the net this morning before the big food shop, I stumbled upon Real Simple's website and an article about 20 simple pasta dishes. Real Simple is a neat magazine by the way.

I took the recipe from Real Simple tweaked it a lil. One, I used linguine instead of penne. I just love the size of linguine and fettuccine too for that matter. Two, I didn't use the exact herbs they suggested. I have some freeze dried basil that I topped upon my pasta dish.The reason I was drawn to this dish is because I just love ricotta cheese, which is the main ingredient in the sauce.

Simple Pasta with Ricotta Herb and Lemon
Inspired by Real Simple
Serves 4
1 box of linguine
1 and 1/2 cup of Ricotta
2 tbs of butter (unsalted, do consider if you butter is salted or not when adding the salt)
2 tsp of salt
1 tsp of pepper
1/2 of a lemon's zest (see photo)
basil to taste
2 tbs of olive oil
Mix ricotta and the butter with a whisk, you'll want butter on the softer side. Add salt and pepper. Cook your linguine, drain, strain, add back to pot and add your oil. Plate the pasta. Add the sauce. Add the herbs and lemon zest. Just a few pinches of each. A simple, light and tasty side dish. You will enjoy;)

Thoughts: The ricotta is served on top the pasta at room temp. The airy-ness to ricotta makes it feel like a light summer side. Still though, in the beginning of winter I was scarfing this pasta down. I recently was awakened to the wonders of the zest, I've only zested with oranges and lemons. I put just a pinch of lemon zest a top that pasta and sauce and man, its subtle and yet perfectly strong.

A Florida Thanksgiving Table Setting

A Florida Thanksgiving 

2012

A Crusty Bread Cheesy Appetizer

Here is a pre Thanksgiving meal. I followed an appetizer recipe that my mother gave me. Super simple. Super tasty. Who doesn't love a simple app and who doesn't love bread and tasty oil for dipping? I followed a recipe from Departures magazine. It hails from the restaurant Bottega in Napa, they call it Salsa Di Parmigiano. I'm calling my version, The Crusty Parm Dip.
Crusty Parm Dip
serves 6-8
1/2 lb of Parmesan finely shredded granules
1/2 lb of Asiago finely shredded granule
2 tbs of green onion chopped finely
2 tsp of minced garlic
2 tbs of black pepper
1-2 tbs of cracked red pepper (depending on how hot you like your foods, more if you like)
1-1 1/2 cups of extra virgin olive oil
Crusty baguette for dipping
Mix the cheeses in a bowl. Mix in the green onion and garlic minced. Mix in the peppers and mix in the oil. Until well dispersed. Dip chunky bread in and enjoy;)

I thought I was going to stay away from the blog seeing that I was on vacay down south with my family. However, I can't quite keep away. Food is all around me this holiday. See you tomorrow. Giving thanks...

A Family Recipe ... Breakfast Egg Dish

Had to share, could not keep away. With my parents and siblings and boyfriend for Thanksgiving and my mom has just prepared a delicious Egg Bake Dish. I made this a couple a weeks ago for a catering experience, and I did it vegetarian. Tonight, she did it with sausage. Herein lies the recipe, the proof, the delicious genius of the dish. MMMmmm Mmmmm good. I photo documented her preparing our breakfast. You prep at night and bake in the morning.
Mag's Egg Bake Dish (by way of my cousin) 
Serve 8 or so
8 eggs
8 pieces of bread (def whole wheat)
1 1/2 c of white sharp cheddar
1 tbs dry mustard
1 1/2 lb sausage
2 c milk
salt and pepper to taste
Saute the sausage and lay at bottom of dish. Mix in a bowl the eggs. Then add in the bread chopped up bite size, the cheese, the milk, the mustard and seasonings. Lay in the egg and bread mixture on top the the sausage. The key, again, for I made this before in a vegetarian manner, is to let it sit over night. It has to sit, something scientific happens here. So when you wake, for instance on a holiday morning like tomorrow, you can quickly bake and serve. Makes for one great Thanksgiving breakfast. I will post a photo of finished baked dish in the morning. Happy Thanksgiving yawl.

mixing the eggs and bread and cheese and all...

layering the egg mixture on top the sausage

Bake at 350 for about 40 min. Til bread is browned. 

Pizza... Inspired by the Jalapeno Popper

Brother Rob had another idea. An idea that he was so excited about that I could not combat it, no matter how disinterested I was in jalapeno poppers and their versatility. He's been loving the poppers lately (I guess?) and wanted to make them. I agreed. Then whilst browsing the aisles and referring to our smart phones for a recipe list in Trader Joes, Rob decided the popper would take shape in and on a whole wheat pizza. Now we were talking...

We used the Sriracha butter from yesterday to dress the pizza dough, in place of a red sauce. Rob and I wanted a white garlicy sauce. We used the idea of the jalapeno popper (baked jalapenos, bread crumbs, cheese) and merged it with the cheeses typically found on a white pizza (ricotta, provolone, mozzarella) plus some veggies (red pepper, spinach). It was fun creating this pizza with one central idea. We tried it twice and the second time was perfect.

Rob's White Jalapeno Popper Pizza
inspired by Rob's life
serves 4-5 (2 med sized slices each)
1 bag of whole wheat pizza dough
Provolone
Mozzarella
Ricotta
Sriracha Butter (any flavorful buttery goodness to top your pizza dough, in place of the red sauce)
2 garlic cloves
1 handful or two of Spinach
1/2 Red pepper
6 baked jalapenos
2 chopped up fresh jalapenos (be careful of the seeds and jalapeno membrane oils, they are hot, Rob learned the hard way)
Home made toasted bread crumbs (finely chopped bread crusts that were sauteed in pan with butter and oil bout 4 pieces)
Stretch the dough, on a floured surface. Cook it on a pizza stone, or pan. The pan should be oiled, the stone should be well floured. Top the dough with melted compound butter concoction (Sriracha butter!) And spread on the ricotta. Add the baked jalapenos (we did them sliced open long ways, gutted, and at 350 degrees until appeared baked, prob 20 minutes) Add the mozzarella and red peppers. Add the spinach leaves. Add the provolone last (to sort of hold in the contents) and sprinkle the unbaked diced jalapenos on top. Cook in oven at 375 degrees until cheese slightly browns and crusts appear golden and crisp.

We are headed south on vacation today for the holiday but I will hopefully add a few posts here and there. Happy Thanksgiving ya'll and much love.

Brother Rob's Sriracha Butter

My brother is visiting for the holidays and was intrigued by the blog challenge. Before I knew it, he was dishing out ideas for today's cooking challenge, left and right. His first idea: Sriracha butter, inspired by his own personal experiences with the wonderful hot chili sauce.

Brother Rob's Sriracha Butter
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp red wine vinegar
1 minced garlic clove
1 stick of butter
4 tbs of Sriracha
Mash the ingredients in a bowl until well blended. We made a compound butter here (remember previous compound butter post?). When even blended, place onto aluminum foil or saran wrap and roll into a log shape. Place in fridge and let cool/harden. It makes for a great something that will keep in your fridge for awhile. Slice, serve, enjoy:)