My husband has been fishing a lot, and bringing home his fresh catch of the day. I love not having to go grocery shopping, but I am always looking for new recipes for the fish. I found a great recipe for beer battered fish from Lake Michigan Angler. The recipe is for Lake Perch, which is what I made it with - but my guess is that you could use this recipe with most fish and it would be good. The only change I would make to this recipe, is that I would add more seasoning - more pepper and maybe a little garlic salt - but the consistency of the batter was perfect. It was delicious with a little lemon squeezed over it.
Fish Fry Beer Batter RecipeIngredients:12 Lake Perch fillets (about 1 pound)
2 1/2 cups flour (reserve 1/2 cup of flour for dusting fillets)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 12 ounce can beer warm
canola oil for frying
Directions:
1) Combine 2 cups of flour, salt, paprika, and pepper in a small bowl, mix well. Add warm beer to the flour mixture and beat with a wire whisk until well combined and foamy. Refrigerate the batter for at least 60 minutes
2) Remove skin from the Lake Perch fillets and wash with cold water. Dry the fillets with paper towels. Put ½ cup of flour in a plastic bag. Add the perch fillets to the plastic bag and shake to coat the fillets with flour.
3) In a large frying pan, heat the canola oil, 1/2 inch deep, to about 375 degrees. Remove beer batter from your refrigerator and stir well again with the wire whisk.
4) Take the floured fillets and dip one by one, into the beer batter to coat, and carefully place the fillet into the hot oil. Fry fillets till golden brown on both sides. Place cooked fillets on paper towels to drain excess oil.
This recipe is another inspiration from Gordon Ramsay, I can just hear him screaming now..."It's RAW". But these individual beef wellingtons won't be raw and is a great recipe if you are trying to impress some dinner guests.
Individual Beef Wellingtons
1 Pound Fresh Mushrooms, Sliced
1/2 C Chopped Onion
1/2 C Dry Sherry
1/4 C Butter
1/4 C Chopped Parsley
6 8oz Beef Tenderloin Fillets
1 17.5oz Package Frozen Puff Pastry, Thawed
1) In a Large Skillet over medium heat, combine the Mushrooms, Onion, Sherry, Butter, and Parsley and Saute until all the liquid is absorbed and the mixture resembles a paste. Cover the top of the steak with the mixture
2) Partially thaw the Puff Pastry Sheets and roll out the pieces enough to cover each piece of meat. Place steaks on a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and store in refrigerator until serving time.
3) Preheat oven to 425 and bake for 25 minutes. Steak will be rare but will continue cooking while the dish is sitting.
Because I am sort of nuts and thought that I needed more to put on my plate (literally), I started doing cooking challenges as a member of an online cooking community. This was one of my first challenges, and while it was very time consuming - the results were amazing. This is comfort food at its finest. One note on the filling - the recipe I used made a lot more filling than I needed - but I just froze the leftovers and used them as mashed potatoes another night.
Homemade Potato-Cheese Pierogi
(The Dough)
8 C All Purpose Flour
4 Eggs
8oz Sour Cream
1/2 tsp Salt
Warm Water
1) In a Large Bowl, Beat together Eggs, Sour Cream, and Salt. Stir in Flour and Warm Water. Add the Water until the dough feels like velvet. Turn Out onto Floured board and Knead until smooth.
2) Roll Out to 1/8 to 1/4 Inch thickness. Cut into circles with a glass or biscuit cutter. Cover with Waxed Paper to prevent drying if not filling immediately.
3) Place 1-2 Tbspn of filling into the center of each circle of dough. Fold over, and seal by pressing edges together with a fork. Repeat until all ingredients are used.
4) Bring a large pot of water to boil. Immerse Pierogi and cook until they float to the surface.
(The Filling)
4 Pounds of Mashed Potatoes
1 Pound of Cheddar Cheese
Salt and Pepper to Taste
1) In a large bowl mix mashed potatoes and shredded cheddar cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
The August 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogi from scratch and an optional challenge to provide one filling that best represents their locale.
I will tell you that ever since I got hooked on the TV show "Hell's Kitchen" and heard Chef Gordon Ramsay berating people for their mushy risotto, it has been a dream of mine to try and make one. I am glad that I tried this recipe that I found on AllRecipes, it was fairly easy and was delicious.
Chicken & Asparagus Risotto
By: Katie
Serves 2
2 Cups Chicken Stock
1 Tbspn Olive Oil or Butter
1 Tbspn Minced Garlic
2 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, Cubed
2 tsp Olive Oil or Butter
1/2 Large Onion, Minced
1 C Arborio Rice
1/2 C White Wine
8 oz Fresh Asparagus, Finely Chopped
1/2 tsp Dried Oregano
1/2 tsp Dried Basil
1/2 C Grated Parmesan Cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste
1) Bring Chicken Stock to Boil in a Small Suacepan, then Keep Warm on Low Heat
2) Heat 1 tsp Olive Oil over medium heat in large Saucepan, Stir in Garlic and Cook 30 seconds until Fragrant. Add Cubed Chicken and Continue Cooking Until Firm and Lightly Browned - Set Aside.
3) Heat Remaining 2 tsp Olive Oil in the Saucepan and Cook until Onions are Translucent, About 1 Minute. Stir in the Rice and Cook Until Rice is Opaque, and the Onion begins to Brown
4) Stir in the Wine and Asparagus; Cook Stirring Constantly, Until the Wine Evaporates. Reduce the Heat to Medium and stir in 1/3 of the Hot Chicken Stock. Cook, Stirring Constantly, Until all the Liquid has Absorbed, 8-10 Minutes.
5) Stir in another 1/3 of the Chicken Stock and Continue Cooking Until Absorbed, 8-10 Minutes. Season the Risotto with Basil and Oregano. Pour in the Remaining Stock and Stir until Absorbed, 8-10 Minutes.
6) Season with Salt & Pepper to taste, then Stir in Parmesan Cheese and Chicken
Someone sent me a couple of new crockpot recipes to try, and this one came out great. It is the perfect Monday recipe because it requires very little effort and comes out great. I will say that I wouldn't describe the flavor as "Italian", but it was great.
Italian Cream Cheese Chicken
Serves 4
4-6 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
1/2 C Water
2 Packages Dry Italian Salad Dressing Mix
1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 8oz Package Cream Cheese (Room Temperature)
1 16oz Package Frozen Broccoli Cuts
1) Place Chicken in Crock Pot
2) Combine Water and Italian Salad Dressing Mix and Pour Over Chicken
3) Cook on Low for 3-4 Hours, or 3-4 Hours on High if Chicken is Frozen
4) Mix Soup and Cream Cheese Together, Stir into Chicken
5) Cook an additional Hour or Two on Low
6) Serve over Rice or Pasta
One of the best things about summer is Greek Fest. If you have never been to one, you should find your local Greekpalooza and try all the wonderful food that you will find there. Greek is one of my favorite kinds of food, and one thing I can never get enough of is Greek-style chicken. This dish takes a little longer than I'd like it to on a weeknight, but really has great flavor, and I can usually get 1-2 days of lunch out of the leftovers.
Greek Chicken
2 Tbspn Flour
1/2 tspn salt
1/4 tspn black pepper
1 tspn dried oregano
1/4 # crumbled feta cheese
1 Tbspn fresh lemon juice
2 Tbspn olive oil
1 1/2 C water
1 Cube Chicken Bouillon
6 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
2 Cups loosely packed, torn spinach leaves
1 Ripe Tomato, chopped
Directions:
1) On a large plate, combine flour, salt and pepper - set aside. In a small bowl, combine cheese, olive oil, lemon juice and oregano.
2) With a meat mallet (or soup can if needbe), pound each chicken breast to 1/2 thickness. Spread cheese mixture on each chicken leaving 1/2" border. Fold chicken breasts in 1/2 and secure with a toothpick. Roll chicken in flour
3) In large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Cook each chicken 1-2 minutes until golden brown on each side. In a small bowl, whisk together the water, the bouillon and the remaining flour - pour over the chicken in the pan. Add spinach and tomato to pan and bring to a boil. Simmer for 8-10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Discard toothpicks.
Greek Orzo
1/4 C olive oil
1/2 C fresh lemon juice
1/2 C pitted kalamata olives, chopped
2 ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tspn finely chopped oregano
1 (8 oz) package of crumbled feta cheese
1/2 # dried orzo pasta
1 C chopped fresh parsley
Directions:
1) Stir together olive oil, lemon juice, olives, tomatoes, red pepper, red onion, garlic, oregano, and feta cheese in a large bowl. Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour.
2) Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the orzo and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain and toss the tomato mixture. Sprinkle with chopped parsley to serve.
I found this recipe on All Recipes by Char Finamore when looking for a marinade to make London Broil. Because it is a tougher piece of meat, you should really let the meat marinade in this for 6 hours or more. Even though this marinade is generally used for London Broil, you could probably use this with any steak. The only thing that I changed about this,was that I used a little more garlic than the recipe called for - but that is true with most recipes that I use. Also, the original recipe calls for the meat to be grilled on medium-high heat for 5-8 minutes per side, though I chose to broil the meat and it came out perfect.Ingredients:3 Cloves Garlic, Minced1/2 C Soy Sauce2 Tbspn Vegetable Oil2 Tbspn Ketchup1 tspn Dried Oregano1 tspn Ground Black Pepper2 # Flank SteakDirections:1) In a small bowl mix together: garlic, soy sauce, oil, ketchup, oregano, and black pepper. Pierce the meat with a fork on both sides 2) Place the meat and marinade in a large resealable plastic bag and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.3) Cook
I love pork chops, but my husband isn't the biggest fan. I knew that this one would be a hit with him because he loves gravy and loves mushrooms. I added a little bit of garlic and Worcestershire sauce to the sauce because I was worried it might be too bland; it was perfect. My husband also felt like there should have been more mushrooms, so next time I will probably add some fresh sliced mushrooms to the sauce. I also used thinner, tenderized pork chops which probably would work the best.
Pork Chops with Mushroom Gravy
By: KMSTAT (AllRecipes)
1/2 C Dry Bread Crumbs
2 Tbspn Parmesan Cheese
4 Pork Chops
1 Tbspn Vegetable Oil
1 Can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/2 C Milk
1) Combine Bread Crumbs and Parmesan Cheese in a plastic bag. Add the chops two at a time and shake to coat.
2) Heat oil in skillet over medium heat, and cook chops until brown on both sides. Remove pork chops from the skillet and reduce the heat.
3) Blend soup and milk in the skillet. Add more milk if you would like a thinner gravy. Bring to a gentle boil. When soup is boiling, add chops to skillet. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until chops are cooked through.
March is officially comfort food month for me. It is the worst month here in the Midwest because one day you will have a sunny, 40 degree weather day and the next day it will be snowing and 15 degrees. I am usually freezing all through March because I am tired of wearing a coat and I feel like if I just stop wearing it that maybe mother nature will cooperate and give us some warm weather. So when this doesn't happen, I turn to food - what else is new? One of my favorite "warm you up" things to eat is chicken parmesan, so I went looking for a good recipe. I was surprised to find that a lot of the recipes out there don't include a tomato sauce which I thought was imperative to the chicken parmesan recipe so I went with one that did incorporate a marinara sauce. I did change a few things about this recipe, but not much. I did not put the sauce in the baking dish and cook the chicken in it because I would assume that this would make the chicken soggy. Instead what I did was that I cooked the chicken by itself in the baking dish and made some angel hair pasta on the side. I topped the angel hair with the chicken and then poured the tomato sauce over all of it. I also didn't have monterey jack cheese on hand, so I used provolone. Delish!
Tomato Chicken Parmesan
By: vero_cn81 (Allrecipes)
2 Eggs, Beaten
1 C Grated Parmesan Cheese
7 oz Seasoned Bread Crumbs
3 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts Cut in Half Lengthwise
1 Tbspn Vegetable Oil
12 Oz Pasta Sauce
6 Slices of Monterey Jack Cheese
1) Preheat oven to 375
2) Pour beaten eggs into a shallow dish. In another shallow dish, mix together the bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. Dip the chicken breasts into the egg and then the bread crumbs to coat.
3) In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add coated chicken and saute for 8-10 minutes on each side, or until chicken is cooked.
4) Pour tomato sauce into a lightly greased 9x13 baking dish. Add chicken, then place a slice of cheese over each piece of chicken. Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese is completely melted.
I love making chicken enchiladas, but I don't make them a whole lot because I find it a pain to wrap all of the filling in the tortillas and I think that mine always come out drier than I would like. I found this recipe in Cooking Light and thought that it might be a good substitute. I didn't LOVE this recipe - I felt like it still lacked a sauce, but when I topped it with sour cream and guacamole it made it much better. It tasted good and packed some spice and the chicken wasn't dry, so I loved those things about it. I think that if I made this again, I wouldn't use as many tortillas - if any. I think maybe instead I would make some of my cilantro lime rice and serve it with that.
Mexican Chicken Casserole
1 C Fat Free Chicken Broth
2 4.5 oz Cans of Green Chilies
1 2/3 pounds of Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast
2 tsp Olive Oil
1 C Chopped Onion
1 C Evaporated Skim Milk
1 C Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
1/4 C Light Cream Cheese
10oz Enchilada Sauce (I used a Medium Salsa Verde)
12 6 inch Corn Tortillas
Cooking Spray
1/2 C Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1 Ounce Crushed Tortilla Chips (about 6-10 chips)
1) Combine broth and 1 can of the chilies in a skillet; bring to a boil. Add chicken and reduce heat. Simmer for 15 minutes or until the chicken is done.
2) Remove chicken from cooking liquid and set liquid aside. Shred chicken with two forks and set aside.
3) Preheat oven to 350
4) Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 can of chilies and onion; saute for 3 minutes. Add reserved cooking liquid, evaporated milk, monterey jack cheese, cream cheese and enchilada sauce. Stir well and add shredded chicken. Cook 2 minutes, remove from heat.
5) Place 4 tortillas at the bottom of a 2 quart casserole coated with cooking spray. Spoon two cups of the chicken mixture over the tortillas. Repeat layers twice, ending with the chicken mixture. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese and chips. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
I love going out for breakfast and ordering things that I would never make at home. Everything from fruity crepes to fluffy pancakes. But why is it that I don't make these things? They are simple after all and they taste good at any time of day. One Sunday morning I had a hankering for pancakes, so I went searching for the perfect recipe. I found a winner by crazycatlady on AllRecipes. I don't like maple syrup - or any syrup for that matter; so I like pancakes that have ingredients that make them naturally sweet. The bananas and chocolate do the trick in these. The great thing about this recipe is that the batter is really good - so you can mix the flavors up by substituting different ingredients for the banana and chocolate.
Chunky Monkey Pancakes
1 C All Purpose Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
3/4 C Milk
3 Tbsp Melted Butter
2 Eggs
1 Tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Large Banana, Diced
1/2 C Mini Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1/3 C Chopped Pecans
Cooking Spray
1) Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Set bowl aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, melted butter, eggs, sugar and vanilla. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients, being careful not to over mix the batter. Gently fold in the banana, chocolate chips and nuts.
2) Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cupfulls of batter onto the skillet and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side.
I love a good piece of meat, but sometimes I am at a loss of what to do with it. My "go to" steak marinade is: garlic, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper - but I wanted something different. One thing I dislike about a lot of marinade recipes is that they all require a long time to marinade and I usually fail to pre-plan long enough in advance to marinade for the length of time that the recipe requires. Because of this, the meat often doesn't get the full flavor that it would had I remembered to thaw my meat and prepare my marinade in time.
I found a great flank steak recipe on All Recipes by GUYCON. He grills this, and seeing that my grill is currently covered in 3 feet of snow I skipped this step (broiled instead), and I of course didn't have the 6 hours that this recipe recommends marinading my meat and instead marinated for 1 hour. The meat was still plenty flavorful and everything I look for in a steak. I may have found a new "go to" steak marinade - and maybe one day I will remember to take my meat out in enough time to marinade for the full 6 hours.
Marinated Flank Steak
1/2 C Vegetable Oil
1/3 C Soy Sauce
1/4 C Red Wine Vinegar
2 Tbspn Lemon Juice
1 1/2 Tbspn Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tbspn Dijon Mustard
2 Cloves Garlic, Minced
1/2 tsp Ground Black Pepper
1 1/2 Pounds Flank Steak
1) In a medium bowl mix the oil, soy sauce, vinegar, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, garlic, and ground black pepper. Place meat in a shallow glass pan. Pour the marinade over the steak, turn and cover. Refrigerate for 6 hours
2) Preheat grill for medium-high heat
3) Oil the grill. Place the steaks on the grill and discard the marinade. Grill meat for 5 minutes on each side or until it is to your liking.
January is comfort food month for me. After the holidays where you have to eat and make "pretty" food, the only thing I want to do is eat a bowl of something that will make me all warm inside. Beef Stroganoff is one of my favorite comfort foods - it is simple to make, hits the spot and tastes even better the next day. I stumbled across Donna's Beef Stroganoff recipe on All Recipes and was intrigued by the 4.375 average rating out of almost 800 reviews - can't go wrong there.Beef Stroganoff III2 Pounds Beef Chuck Roast1/2 tsp salt1/2 tsp black ground pepper4 oz butter4 green onions, sliced (white part only)4 Tbspn all purpose flour1 can condensed beef broth1 tsp prepared mustard1 6oz can sliced, drained mushrooms1/3 C sour cream1/3 C white winesalt & pepper to taste1) Season meat with 1/2 tsp of salt and pepper2) In a large skillet, melt the butter and brown the beef. Then push the beef to one side of the skillet. Add the onions to the skillet and cook 3-5 minutes. Push the onions to the side of the skillet with the beef.3) Stir the flour into the juices on the empty side of the skillet. Pour in beef broth and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and add the mustard. Cover and simmer for 1 minute or until meat is tender4) Five minutes before serving, stir in mushrooms, sour cream and white wine. Heat briefly and then salt & pepper to taste. Serve over cooked egg noodles.
