F5: Pan-seared Tilapia with Edamame and Mango

I have decided to start a new feature on my blog after a bit of inspiration from my brother, Jeff. Last week he sent me a recipe idea, which I then made, and which is now the first "Featured Flavors of Friends, Family, and Fstrangers" (the "F5") recipe. (yes, that says fstrangers. It is a bit hokey to add an "f" to the word strangers just to make it work for me, but at the time when I thought of it, it seemed hilarious. Now, it seems mildly annoying, but we're gonna stick with it anyway...) The rules of this contest are simple--you submit a recipe (you can e-mail it, mail it, hand it to me...), then if I make it and love it, I will share it on the blog as the monthly winner of the F5 award.

The recipient of the F5 award for the month of April: Jeffrey.
(I don't have a physical prize to award you...maybe that will come someday if this blog ever starts producing an income...)

Pan-seared Tilapia with Edamame and Mango


Ingredients:
Tilapia fillets
Frozen edamame, out of the pod*
Mangoes, cut into small pieces
Low-sodium soy sauce

Directions:
1. Heat olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the fish and cook 3-4 minutes each side, until flaky.
2. Meanwhile, boil some water and add the edamame. Boil about 5 minutes, then drain and add to the tilapia pan when the fish is done cooking.
3. Add the mango to the pan as well and cover with the soy sauce. Reduce the heat, stir, and cover pan. Let the soy sauce get soaked into the mango and boil the excess off a bit, but not too much cause it might burn. *I could only find edamame in the pod--if that is all you can find, just thaw and remove from pod before cooking.

Increase proportions of fish, mango, and edamame according to the size crowd you are feeding. When Jeff makes this for himself, he recommends 1/2 cup edamame, and 1 mango. It is delicious, fast, and healthy. Thanks for sharing!!


So, send in some recipes for the next F5 award! I have set no deadlines, other than I will post the next winner sometime in May. You can enter multiple times, too, in multiple months. I may need you to, because I'm not sure I'm quite up to 12 readers yet...although, apparently I do have some global readers--I've had visitors from a total of 10 different countries thus far--with 3 from Turkey! So, welcome to everyone and thanks for reading! Enjoy the food!

Short and Sweet

It is late, and I am just waiting for some icing to thicken so I can frost a cake, but I thought I'd make use of these 10 minutes and post a short blog. This is an easy dinner, or a semi-dressed-up lunch that takes all of 5 minutes to prepare. We have had it a couple times for dinner in the past few weeks when we have been busy at night and didn't want to cook. I've made minor variations on the original recipe, but it doesn't stray too far (there aren't that many things you could change before it becomes a whole new dish...).

I give you--Ham Sandwich on Pumpernickel.


Ham Sandwich on Pumpernickel
adapted from Food and Wine (March 2008)

1. Toast 2 slices of pumpernickel bread.
2. On one slice, spread a layer of mango chutney.
3. On the other slice, layer the following: thinly sliced Virginia Ham, 4-5 thin slices of apple (we used Fuji, but use whatever you have at home...), sliced medium-sharp cheddar cheese.

That's it! Easy, and tasty. The actual recipe called for grilling it in a panini press, but since we don't have one, we just toasted the bread first. If you have a press, go for it.

Rotini with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce and Onion Roasted Potatoes

There has been a lull in posting--if you check this often, my apologies. I have still been cooking, but finding the time to put the recipe and pictures on here has been tricky. In addition, I have been pouring through culinary magazines like nobody's business. By doing that, sometimes if we just don't have time to cook, it makes me feel like I still made even a slight attempt to be "culinary" for the day.

Lucas and I are big pasta eaters. In fact, some weeks we probably have pasta with every meal. Recently we have tried to use whole wheat pasta when available to add a semblance of healthiness to our fast and carbohydrate loaded dishes. The latest issue of Food & Wine (February 2008) has an article dedicated to fast, hearty pastas. It was, of course, the first article I read when I opened the magazine. Thus far, we have tried 2 of the recipes with minor adaptations to both. I can't say I've been really pleased with either--although I can't say that isn't because I didn't stay true to the original recipe or I just didn't care for the dish. I am picking one of the two to share (in my opinion , the slightly better of the two). This dish involves a roasted red pepper sauce. I have made a roasted red pepper sauce in the past, and was looking forward to seeing how mine compared with the recipe in the magazine. In the end, I think both Lucas and I preferred my version because it is a bit more flavorful--I will post that here sometime and you can compare them yourselves. The main difference in the 2 is the source of fat--my version uses heavy cream and this one uses olive oil. Take your pick, I guess.

For this recipe you will need the following ingredients:
3/4 lb. rotini noodles (I used whole wheat)
6 oz. roasted red peppers (if you don't have access to fresh, you can find them in jars)
1/4 c. extra-virgin olive oil
3 T. tomato paste
1 large garlic clove
3 fresh basil leaves
1/2 lb. salted fresh mozzerella cheese cut into 1/2" cubes
salt and pepper

1. Boil the water and add the rotini noodles. Cook according to package directions.
2. In a blender, puree the red peppers, olive oil, tomato paste, garlic, and basil leaves until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. Heat the sauce in a small sauce pan until simmering.

4. Drain the pasta place into a large serving bowl. Toss with the sauce, mozzarella cubes, and if desired, top with fresh basil.

Now, I'm not saying this recipe wasn't good at all--we definitely ate it all, and even had leftovers the next day--I'm just saying it could use some tweaking for my taste. You might try it and love it. If you do try it and make any changes, let me know so I can give them a try.

Our side dish was onion roasted potatoes, a staple since Lucas and I first got married. It is easy, quick, and always tasty. It is also readily adaptable to size of crowd you are feeding. I make it with new (red) potatoes and for that use one potato per person. If you are using russet or other large potato, you may just need 1 for every 2 people.


Ingredients:
1 packet dried onion soup (e.g., Liptons)
olive oil
potatoes, cut into cubes

1.. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Coat potatoes with olive oil and sprinkle on onion soup--stir until well coated. I usually use less than a whole packet--just sprinkle and stir until the potatoes are completely coated and save the rest for next time. Use enough olive oil to coast, but you don't want a pool at the bottom of the pan either.
3. Place potatoes on baking sheet and bake in oven for 30-40 minutes, or until tender. Stir halfway through to ensure even cooking.

Enjoy!

Honey Pecan Porkchops with Carrots and Apples

In addition to having a plethora of lemons to use, we also have a large quantity of pecans fresh from the farm, thanks to Lucas' grandparents. Recently, we were looking for a last minute recipe to use with some porkchops we had bought on sale, and what a delicious and fast recipe we did find. Anything involving butter, pecans, and honey really can't go wrong. We served this with a side of carrots and apples, which is a recipe of my mom's that I hadn't made it quite awhile. This became evident when I forgot how to make them while in the process of making them, and therefore they did not turn out like mom's. Thankfully, though, I have called her since then and now have the correct method for next time!

Ingredients:
1. 1 lb. porkchops or tenderloin cut into strips
2. 1/2 c. flour
3. salt and pepper
4. 2 T. butter
5. about 1/4 c. honey
6. about 1/4 c. pecans
(We used more honey and more pecans than the recipe requests....therefore, our version was most likely tastier =])

Directions:
Combine the flour and salt and pepper in a bowl. Dredge porkchops in mixture to coat. In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add porkchops and cook until brown on both sides and center cooked through. Remove porkchops from pan, but reserve drippings.





To drippings, add honey and pecans, stirring to make a sauce. Heat through, and serve over porkchops.





For the carrots and apples:
1. Cut 2-3 medium sized carrots into coins.
2. Slice 1 medium sized apple into slices, then cut slices into quarters (see picture...). You can peel or leave skin on.
3. In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil (I don't know how much--enough to cover the carrots and apples...). Add carrots and boil until they begin to soften. For the last 2-3 minutes of cooking, add the apples.
4. Drain water and add 1-2 T. butter and 2-3 T. brown sugar to the hot carrots and apples. Melt over low heat to form a glaze. Feel free to adjust the amount of butter and sugar to taste. Those amounts are just guesses anyway, since it changes every time I make them.

Enjoy!

Welcome!

Hello--welcome to my new blog, dedicated to postings of food and recipes. Lucas and I still keep our other blog, but this will be the place for me to share what has been going on in the Ward kitchen.

On the other blog, I mentioned that we have a Meyer lemon tree in our yard. I'm not going to repost the previous things I made, but most recently I tried a sugar cookie with Meyer lemon icing. The

cookie recipe was my grandma's, and it makes a nice, chewy cookie that is crisp on the edges. I had to try a few different recipes before I found one with that consistency. Should have started with Grandma's cookie first! The icing was a simple combination of powdered sugar, lemon zest, vanilla, and the juice from a lemon. I have made it once with Meyer lemons and once with lemons from the store (Eureka or Lisbon maybe?). The Meyer juice is much sweeter and therefore makes a very sweet icing.

Aside from baking, I came across a recipe for Red Curry Chicken that I tried out last week. It was made with a mild curry sauce and served with brown rice and sweet potatoes. This was my first attempt at Indian food, and I can't wait to try it again. The recipe: 1 medium diced onion, 8 oz. chicken breast, cubed, 1/2 c. canned diced tomatoes, 3/4 c. water, 2 T. olive oil, 3-4 T. red curry paste (mild). Saute onion in oil. Add chicken and cook until lightly brown. Stir in curry paste. Add tomatoes and water and simmer uncovered until sauce thickens and chicken is thoroughly cooked. I made one slight change to the recipe in that I used a chicken that I had roasted the day before with a garlic and lemon rub, so our chicken may have had a different flavor than the recipe will give. I served it over brown rice with sweet potato that I roasted in the oven with olive oil and salt.

Next time--Ricotta cheese blueberry pancakes.