Category Archives: Main Dishes

Fish Tacos

Posted on June 6, 2009 by Veronica

Back when I was preparing to make that Razzcherry Pie, I was browsing other recipes that included both raspberries and cherries in pie filling and ran across this one. Minstrel Boy’s main blog theme is music but he also enjoys cooking (he’s a truffle maker too), so he puts up a recipe every now and again. I questioned his method of refrigerating the pie two hours before baking and that started us chatting a little. He saw my shrimp tacos blog and shared the link to his fish tacos. I am always up for something new and although fish tacos aren’t exactly new to me, I’ve never had one where the fish was fried, or with cabbage, or with ranch dressing (particularly not with a ranch dressing this unique), so I figured I’d try them out. They are the best I’ve had to date, so I thought I spread the word!

To make these tacos, you’ll need

Cod or some other meaty deepwater fish
Buttermilk
Fry coating: I used 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp garlic powder & 1/4 tsp. cayenne whisked together in a shallow bowl–you’ll need more if you’re making lots of fish
Queso fresca, crumbled (I used shredded cheddar b/c I’m a “gringo heathen”–lol)
Shredded cabbage
Diced tomato
Large 5-6″ corn tortillas (I had small ones and couldn’t fit much in them)
Good ranch dressing*
Lime wedges (optional)

Cut your fish into bite-sized chunks and soak them in buttermilk overnight.

Dump a bunch of oil in a skillet–about an inch high–enough to cover the fish once dumped in. While it is heating to 360 degrees, remove your fish from the buttermilk and coat it with the flour mixture. Once the oil is hot, put the fish in and enjoy the delicious smell of fish frying. The fish will cool down the oil, so I turned it back up to high once it was in. It didn’t take long–just a few minutes–remove once the fish is golden brown. Let them drain on a paper towel lined plate. Discard the oil. No need to wipe out the skillet-you’ll be using it again soon.

Stack your tortillas five at a time and wrap in a damp paper towel, then microwave on high for 50 seconds. Take them one at a time and put some fish chunks in, fold it over and put as many as will fit in your skillet. Once the heated side is firm enough to hold it’s shape, turn over and repeat on the other side. Once done, layer on the cheese, shredded cabbage and tomato, then “hose it down” with that good ranch dressing (*recipe below). I also squirted some lime juice over mine and that was wonderful.

Minstrel Boy’s Good Ranch Dressing
1 packet Good Seasons instant Zesty Italian Mix (I used a generic Italian dressing mix)
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup buttermilk
Mix & serve

I served mine with Green Rice & some mixed vegetables. It might sound strange, but this dressing (which is sooo wonderful, by the way–you’ll need to add more buttermilk if you actually intend to use the leftover for dressing b/c it’s thick like dip) tastes really good on top of green rice. Try it! Oh, and we used about three times as much dressing on the tacos as what is pictured–it was that good.

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Posted in Main Dishes, Mexican and tagged cabbage, fish, ranch dressing, tacos. Bookmark the permalink.

Shrimp Tacos

Posted on May 16, 2009 by Veronica

This is a wonderfully light summer meal that has the feel of gourmet without the fuss.

Shrimp Tacos with Spicy Corn on the Cob
Printable recipe

Salsa
1 1/2 cups seeded, chopped tomato
1 cups seeded, chopped cucumber
1/3 cup thinly sliced scallions
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
3 tbsp fresh lime juice
1/4 tsp salt

Filling
8 oz green beans, trimmed
1 tsp fajita seasoning, divided
1 lb medium to large shrimp, peeled & deveined
1 tbsp olive oil

8 6-inch corn tortillas

Corn
4 corn on the cob in the husk
few spritzes of fat-free butter spray
few dashes ancho chile pepper

Directions
1. Combine salsa ingredients & set aside.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet on medium-high. Toss rinsed green beans with 1/2 tsp of the fajita seasoning in a bowl and add to the skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, for five minutes.
3. Meanwhile, toss the shrimp with the remaining 1/2 tsp seasoning and put the corn on the cob in the microwave with the husks still. Cook them on high for eight minutes.
4. Add to the shrimp to the skillet after the green beans have cooked for 5 minutes and cook another five minutes or until the shrimp are no longer opaque.
5. Shuck the corn, leaving the husk on the end to use as a handle. Spray with butter & sprinkle with a light dusting of ancho chile pepper (adjust to suit your heat preference).
6. Heat the tortillas: Wrap the stack in a fairly damp paper towel and microwave on high for 80 seconds (a good rule of thumb when heating tortillas in the microwave is 10 seconds per tortilla).
7. Assemble the tacos: Divide shrimp-and-bean-mixture between warm tortillas and serve with salsa & an ear of corn on the side.

Serves 4

For those of you without a kitchen scale, this is what 8 ounces of green beans (and me with a hormonal lip zit) looks like.

Raw Swimps

Happy Swimps

I hate cucumbers so I didn’t expect to like this salsa, but it blew me away! I couldn’t believe something so simple could be so good. I plan to use it in many a dish to come!

Recipe source: Adapted from Ladies’ Home Journal May 09

Linked with Life in the Slow Lane for BSI: Salsa.

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Posted in Lighter Fare, Main Dishes, Meats, Mexican, Seafood and tagged diet, diet-friendly, green beans, light, shrimp, tacos. Bookmark the permalink.

Impossibly Easy Vegetable Pie

Posted on April 22, 2009 by Veronica

Maybe I’m not the best judge of the quality of meals since I’m on an endless diet and I tend to think anything edible is good, but I really do favor this quiche-type dish and I end up making it a lot b/c it’s satisfying and low in calories (about 200 calories per 1/6th of the whole recipe). Den likes it too and as far as I can remember, he enjoyed it when he wasn’t on a diet (he ate it w/o complaining, anyway), so it’s probably safe for dieters and non-dieters alike.

This is my original version (based on a Betty Crocker recipe off their website), but I came up with this one for our dinner tonight b/c I found some sad looking leeks in the fridge that needed to be used in a jiffy and we didn’t have any milk. Using chicken broth made the meal even more low-cal and worked great!

Broccoli-Leek Vegetable Pie

3 leeks, sliced (white part only)
2 cups brocolli florets
1 cup cauliflower florets
1/4 of a red pepper, chopped (I’d use more for color but this is all I had left)
1-2 cups 2% shredded cheddar cheese
4 whole eggs
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup self-rising flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray. Mix the vegetables with the cheese and spread in baking dish in an even layer. Whisk the remaining ingredients together in a bowl until smooth and pour over the vegetables. Bake 45-55 minutes, or until egg mixture is set in the middle and a knife comes out clean when inserted near the center.

Smoky Barbecue Chicken Pizza

Posted on April 17, 2009 by Veronica

After weeks of drooling over The Cooking Photographer‘s beautiful photographs of her weekly pizza creations, I finally broke down and made one myself, basing it off of her Barbecue Chicken Pizza with Bacon.

She actually recommended that I use my smoked cheddar for a pizza when I went to her for suggestions (after purchasing it on the fly with no plan in mind), and I commenced in sifting through her zillions of pizza photos on a Where’s Waldo hunt for those containing smoked cheese. There were several but I was still undecided as to which one to use until she posted her bbq pizza recipe and I thought it would be perfect for a smoky cheese. And it was.

LOL-she calls her recipe a bastardization and I bastardized it even further! If you want to make this, I’d recommend using Laura’s recipe (click the link above) and just subbing some smoked cheddar for one of the cheeses she uses. You’ll most certainly end up with a better pizza (dang it, I wish I’d had scallions!), but I think if you stick to the basic formula (bbq sauce + chicken + bacon = dynamite!) then there’s not much chance you’ll go wrong, no matter what other variations you incorporate.

I used my favorite pizza dough, Kraft original barbecue sauce, yellow onion, red, green and yellow peppers (all precooked & salted), canned mushrooms (drained well), grilled chicken breast, crispy bacon, smoked cheddar & mozzarella. I prebaked my crust at 350 for 10 minutes, layered everything on (probably in the wrong order–does cheese go first or last?) and baked it at 450 for 10 minutes–which was just a tad too long-and dug in. Yup. Dynamite!

Next time I might try using the whole block of smoked cheese by itself to kick the smoky flavor up a notch, but at least this way I can make another pizza with the other half. :)

__________________
Update 5-11-09

I made this pizza again, this time using a higher quality barbecue sauce, bacon, chicken cooked in the bacon grease, scallions & smoky cheddar only. I used a doughmakers large size pizza pan and did not prebake the crust. I baked it on the bottom rack at 500 degrees for 10-15 minutes and it was perfect–soooooooo much better than the first time.

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Butternut Squash Ravioli

Posted on March 28, 2009 by Veronica

I can spend an entire day decorating a cake but I have no patience when it comes to preparing food. So despite my affection for anything Italian, I have thus far prepared ravioli solely by buying it frozen and pouring sauce over it. Who has the time to make the dough from scratch, roll it out, blah blah blah? Just thinking about it gives me a headache.

Enter last month’s issue of Good Housekeeping. Near the back was their featured “Easy” recipe of the month–Butternut Squash Ravioli. You use wonton wrappers so that you don’t have to make the dough yourself. It wasn’t exactly easy, but it wasn’t too bad….until I made a serious error in judgement.

These suckers are supposed to dry for 30 minutes before boiling. I figured I’d prepare them the night before and let them dry all day in the fridge. Well, the edges got so dry that most of them cracked all the way to the filling and the middles got so soggy on the bottom that they were nearly impossible to pry off the cookie sheet. They fell apart in the boiling water and I had a spaz attack. I was starving and I get CRANKY when I’m hungry. All I could think about was how long it took to fill each one of those ravioli and then seal the edges and all for nothing!

I started banging the hell out of the edge of the pot and things started falling off the back of the oven…picture frames, vitamins, fake ivy….

Then when I started draining them one by one and laying them on paper towels as the recipe (I thought at the time) directed, the mangled mess began sticking to the paper towels. I lost it completely. I started banging cabinets until the apple clock fell off the wall. It didn’t break so I picked it up and threw it one the floor. That did the trick.

After stirring them into the sage butter sauce and watching them further disintegrate, I slid a few remaining whole ones onto a plate and dug in. My sizzling nerves gasped and then settled into complete bliss. At least it was all worth it. So worth it.

Butternut Squash Ravioli
Printable recipe

1 teaspoon olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped (4-6oz)
12 ounces frozen winter squash
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons plain dried breadcrumbs
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 pinch nutmeg
salt
fresh ground black pepper
1 large egg white
1 teaspoon water
12 ounces wonton wrappers (50 wrappers)
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon thinly sliced fresh sage leaf

In a small nonstick skillet, heat oil on medium 1 minute. Add onion and cook about 12 minutes or until tender and lightly browned, stirring occasionally. Cook squash in microwave as label directs; cool slightly.

In medium bowl, combine onion, squash, parmesan, bread crumbs, whole egg, nutmeg, and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and freshly ground black pepper. In small bowl, whisk together egg white and water.

Place 1 wonton wrapper on work surface. With pastry brush, brush egg white along edges; place 1 rounded tablespoon squash filling in center of wrapper, keeping filling away from edges. Top with second wrapper; press down firmly around filling to seal ravioli, pushing out any trapped air. Place ravioli on cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining filling and wrappers, using a second cookie sheet so that ravioli do not overlap. Let ravioli dry 30 minutes, turning over halfway through to evenly dry both sides.

Ten minutes before cooking ravioli, heat large pot of salted water to boiling on high.

Add ravioli to pot; cook 3-5 minutes or until tender, stirring gently to separate ravioli.

Meanwhile, in 4-quart saucepan, cook butter on medium 3-4 minutes or until golden brown, stirring. Remove from heat; stir in sage and 1/8 teaspoon each salt and freshly ground black pepper.

With large slotted spoon, lift out ravioli, 1 at a time; drain, on paper towels. Transfer ravioli to saucepan with butter; gently stir to coat.

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Posted in Italian, Lighter Fare, Main Dishes, Pasta and tagged butternut squash ravioli sage butter sauce. Bookmark the permalink.

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

Posted on September 10, 2008 by Veronica

I have long been of the opinion that if pizza is on the menu, it’s best to order it from Pizza Hut and not mess with a good (well, perfect) thing. Why waste time making my own crust and chopping vegetables when I can just sit my butt down in a chair and wait for someone else to make it? Or, better yet, just stay at home and wait for it to be delivered?

That is until I decided to give a recipe for whole wheat pizza crust a try. Now I find myself making pizza at home more often than dialing for a delivery. It may not be the best recipe out there, but it’s the only one I’ve tried because for me, it was love at first bite. (And the added nutrition form the whole wheat is a bonus too!)

The cool thing about pizza is that you can put pretty much anything between the crust and the cheese and it’s going to taste fabulous. And no matter how much you healthify it–whether it be with a whole wheat crust or tons of veggies–it still tastes like junk food. And if you can stick to one piece (yes, it is possible), then it can be on your diet plan AND it lasts longer that way. It takes Den and me 3 days to eat a large pizza.

Today I used what I had on hand–marinara for the sauce, red onion, mushrooms, green peppers, some leftover hamburger, about a cup of chopped basil and oregano from my backyard and a generous sprinkling of mozzarella. And as always, it was delish!!!

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust
Adapted from a Hodgson Mill recipe

1 package active dry yeast (I use rapid rise/instant*)

1 cup warm water (115 degrees if you’re measuring…I don’t)

1 ½ cup whole wheat flour

2 tsp. granulated sugar

½ tsp. salt

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

Put water in a large bowl and sprinkle the yeast over it. Allow to rest for 5 minutes. Stir in whole wheat flour, sugar, salt, olive oil and 1 cup of the all-purpose flour. Knead in remaining flour by hand and continue to knead for about 5 minutes (the dough will be smooth and elastic).

Coat the bowl with oil, place dough in the bowl and turn to coat thoroughly. Cover the bowl with a towel and set it in a warm place and allow to rise for 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 500 degrees while you’re waiting.

Spray a large pizza pan (or two small) with no-stick cooking spray. Stretch pizza crust (I press it from the center outward) to fit pan and flute outer edges of dough to hold fillings. Brush on some olive oil, then put on your sauce & toppings. Bake until cheese is melted, about ten minutes. Slice it up and serve it hot!

*If you use rapid rise/rapid acting/instant yeast, skip the dissolving step and just mix it in with everything else. I usually mix it with the dry ingredients, then stir in all the liquid before kneading in the remaining flour. Easy peasy!

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Posted in Italian, Pizza and tagged crust, dough, Pizza, whole wheat. Bookmark the permalink.

World’s Greatest Salmon

Posted on June 3, 2008 by Veronica

Oh wow. My system is still having aftershocks since trying a recipe that my friend, Rossie, posted on her myspace blog last week. Although salmon is my favorite fish, I don’t love it. I eat it b/c it’s good for you and it’s not terrible. But prepared this way? Oh. My. Gorsh. I could have eaten an entire salmon prepared this way. Try it. You won’t regret it. And if you hate fish, this recipe just may make a convert out of you.

World’s Greatest Salmon

1 unit pure maple syrup or honey (I used the former but Rossie used honey and said it was wonderful)
1 unit soy sauce
2-4 cloves fresh minced garlic

Marinate the salmon in this mixture for at least one hour before baking (I did two). Bake at 350 with the sauce dumped over it for 15-20 minutes (check to make sure it flakes easily–that means it’s done). Serve with a spoonful of sauce (or three) drizzled over it. (It might be fun to thicken some with cornstarch and serve on the side.) If you’re going to grill it, let it marinate at least four hours and put it on the grill with the skin side down. Then dig in and proceed to lapse into a salmon-induced state of euphoria.

Veronica’s Notes: I had (4) four-oz. pieces of salmon and I used 1/2 cup of syrup and soy sauce each (and 2 ginormous cloves of garlic) and that made a little too much so judge how much sauce you will need based on how much you’re cooking. The amount I made would have been appropriate for at least two more pieces. It’s better to have too much than not enough.