Tilefish And Brussels Sprouts.

 The Hawthornes were just sitting there, eating lunch, 

minding their own business,

when I announced, "Dang!  This is really good!"

 And so I stopped eating midway through my plate,

grabbed my camera,

and shot what was left

so I could blog about it and tell you how it all came to be.
Because I'm a good person.
And you're welcome.

First, the tilefish.

Mild and sweet flavor.

Firm texture.

And it lends itself to any number of preparations.

Yesterday, I dredged it through a beaten egg,

then through breadcrumbs and cornmeal

and fried the fillets in peanut oil. 

Served them with a remoulade -

mayo, stone-ground mustard, minced onion,

 sweet relish, some lemon juice, 

a drizzling of Lea & Perrins, and a few dashes of hot sauce.

Today, I'm going for something lighter.

I sprinkled some cornstarch on a plate,

along with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper,

and lightly patted the mixture onto the surface of my fillets.

Then, I heated a film of peanut oil and a little butter in my skillet

over medium-high heat and sautéed for 2 minutes on each side.

You're not cooking the fish through;

you're just lightly browning the outside.
You're going to finish it off in the oven.

While the fillets are sautéeing,

prepare your baking dish.

 Place a few pats of butter in your dish

Slice some onion and red and orange peppers

and scatter about.

  Remove fish from skillet and place in prepared dish.

Pour a little white wine in the dish.

And bake at 350° for about 18 minutes.

By the way, my fillets are about 1 inch thick. 

If yours are thinner, cut your time back.

While the fish baked,

I prepared my Brussels sprouts -
an underrated vegetable if there ever was one.

Now, if you say you "don't like Brussels sprouts,"

then chances are you're not cooking them properly.

If overcooked, they become sulfurous and unpleasant.

If undercooked, they can be bitter.

So one must find the happy medium.

I'm slicing my sprouts in halves and quarters (depending on size),

sautéing them first to give them a nice char,

then tossing them with a Caesar-type dressing,

topping them with breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan,

and finishing them off in the oven.

It works.

Prepare the sprouts:  Slice off the bottoms of each sprout, then halve the smaller ones and quarter the larger ones.  You want the slices all about the same size for uniform cooking.

Make the dressing:   My dressing is a variation of a Caesar dressing and works well with the Brussels Sprouts.  It's bold and pungent and complements the sprouts without overpowering them.

Dressing:

1 TB lemon juice

1 tsp anchovy paste

1 garlic clove, minced

2 tsp Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp Grey Poupon Dijon mustard

1 TB mayonnaise 

3-4 TB Bertolli Extra Light Olive Oil

Mix the first five ingredients until incorporated, then slowly whisk in the olive oil.  Keep whisking until you have a nice emulsion.  Always taste-test.

Rosie Notes:  You could use real anchovies instead of paste, but I like to keep the paste on hand for occasions like this - when you only need a teaspoon or so.  As for the mayonnaise, this is something I never use in my standard Caesar dressing, but I'm using it here.  The mayonnaise serves a purpose - it helps hold the emulsion.  As for the olive oil, I'm using Bertolli extra light because of its neutral taste - it doesn't compete with the other flavors in the dressing.  As for the mustard, use the real deal - Grey Poupon Dijon mustard, not the Food Lion brand.  Big difference!  Most things I'll substitute the FL brand for except for two things - the Dijon mustard and Nestle's chocolate chips.  Food Lion brands don't come close on either.

Sauté the sprouts:  In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, heat a tablespoon of unsalted butter and a teaspoon or so of peanut oil until the butter is foamy.  Add the Brussels sprouts halves and quarters and cook, tossing, for 5-7 minutes.  Transfer to a buttered baking dish.  Wipe out the skillet with a paper towel and melt a big tablespoon of unsalted butter.  Pour in some panko unseasoned breadcrumbs (2-3 TB) and swish around for a bit, to coat and lightly toast.

Prepare the dish:  Toss the sautéed Brussels sprouts with enough of the Caesar dressing to lightly coat.  Lightly grate some Parmesan cheese over the top, evenly spread the sautéed panko over top, then give it another light grating of Parm.  Bake in a 350° oven for about 7 minutes.

Enjoy!

What The Hawthornes Are Eating. Lunch.

  Sometimes, less is more.

 Mr. Hawthorne seasoned the tuna filet with

freshly ground salt and pepper

and seared it in a combination of butter and oil -

butter for flavor and oil to raise the smoke point.

Just a couple of minutes over medium high heat.

I like my tuna rare-medium rare.

The spinach was wilted in a combination of

peanut oil and a little sesame oil.

Go easy on the sesame oil

until you know how much of a punch it kicks.

Sesame seeds were toasted in the pan.

I like to add a bit of butter to my spinach

a drizzling of soy sauce or tamari,

and, of course, I must have my lemon juice.

 Youngest Hawthorne loves seafood

and he prepared this tilefish for lunch.

He seasoned the fish with Old Bay Seasoning,

 added a little sherry diluted with a bit of water to the pan
(We were out of white wine.  Gasp!),

dotted the filet with butter,

and baked at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

If you haven't tried tilefish,

put it on your list.

It's an incredibly light and sweet meat.

By the way,
very nice job, Youngest Hawthorne!

Giada loves Nana.

My Fried Fiesta.

Every now and then my body gets a craving for something. Every now and then I want some greens and I have to have a salad with a mesclun and arugula and basil mix from the garden with fresh cucumber and heirloom tomato from the garden, with almonds, with red onion, with green pepper from the garden, with bacon and croutons and a hard-boiled egg. And some kind of cheese. And my homemade Eye-tal-yun dressing: balsamic/cider vinegar to the first line on a Good Seasons cruet minced garlic Italian seasoning oregano onion powder granulated garlic some Grey Poupon Dijon and some soy sauce. You get the picture. Every now and then I want some dark greens and I have to have some collard, turnip, and mustard greens with potatoes cooked in with them and served with vinegar and butter. It coats my very soul. Every now and then I want some red meat and I have to have a bloody rare steak. Tonight, it was fried food. I listen to my body. My body is a temple.

What I decided on for my fried tooth fix was a grit cake with a bacon vinaigrette and a shrimp cake with a chili citrus cream sauce. Sunday morning I had made sausage biscuits with gravy and a creamy, cheesy side of grits. It was the Hawthorne boys' last breakfast at home and their favorite. I saved the "leftover" grits and planned to turn them into "moreover" grits. Hence, the grit cakes.

I also followed my rule from the other week to divest my freezers of their bounty. I thawed out a bag of shrimp. Small steps. Small steps. Now I'll show you how to simultaneously peel and devein shrimp.

Take scissors and cut down the back of the shrimp, cutting deep enough so that you ...

... expose the vein. With my right thumb and forefinger, I slid the shell off and, with my thumb, swept out the vein. Rub the vein off on a paper towel. Cleans up your thumb and the vein sticks to the towel. Next, my ingredients for the shrimp cakes.

From top left going around: red onion green pepper celery parsley scallion red jalapeno 2 little hot-as-a-firecracker chiles that were volunteers in my garden egg thyme basil

After I compared the shrimp I had with the ingredients, I scaled back on the basil, red onion, green pepper, and celery. (See back of cutting board.) I'm getting my Cuisinart out for this procedure.

I put in the shrimp.

Added in the egg.

And the rest of the ingredients.

I just pulsed 6-8 times. You don't want a paste or a puree.

You want different sized chunks of shrimp. As you can see, I over-pulsed. Rosie bangs head and kicks self. BAD ROSIE!

I grated in the zest of 1/2 lemon.

A tablespoon of Grey Poupon Dijon mustard.

Next, I measured out a cup of oyster crackers.

I put the crackers in a baggie and crushed with a rolling pin. As with the shrimp, you want the crumbs multi-sized. As you can see, I didn't make the same mistake twice. My oyster crumbs are properly done.

Fold the crackers into the shrimp mix.

Cantcha jes see all the flavors??

To form the shrimp cakes, I scooped a quarter measuring cup of the shrimp mixture and plopped it out in my hand.

I had a biscuit cutter the same size as the quarter cup shrimp cake and put it over my cake.

I then inverted my shrimp cake onto a panko-sprinkled, wax-papered baking sheet.

I ended up with nine pretty little 1/4 cup shrimp cakes.

And I panko'd the tops of each cake.

Cover and set in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Now, on to my Bacon Vinaigrette. For the Grit Cakes.

I chopped up 6 strips of bacon and let them cook while I prepared the rest of the ingredients.

My ingredients for the bacon vinaigrette: (Or, as Sandy would say, Vinny Garrette. And Mars Capone is Al's long lost brother. And Pauler and Guy Fairy both say pap-a-ree-ka. Pet peeves of mine.) Back to the ingredients. 1/4 cup Balsamic vinegar 2 TB Dijon Mustard 1 TB Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce celery green pepper red onion 2 garlic cloves thyme chives basil parsley

I chopped, sliced, minced,

When the bacon was browned and crispy, I added the green pepper ...

... and the celery ...

... and the red onions. Cooked for about a minute.

Dropped in the herbs.

A quarter cup of Balsamic vinegar.

A tablespoon of Lea & Perrins.

Two tablespoons of Poupon Dijon.

I taste tested and added 2 tablespoons of cider vingegar and slightly less than a tablespoon of sugar. Heat through, cover, and set aside. Reheat before serving. Now, my chili citrus cream sauce.

The recipe: 1/4 cup lemon juice 1/4 cup lime juice 1/4 cup white wine 1 scallion 1 inch cube of fresh ginger 2 TB sweet chili garlic sauce 1/2 - 3/4 cup whipping cream 2 TB buttah

I squeezed 1/4 cup each lemon and lime juices and added 1/4 cup white wine. I sliced the scallion and nuked the piece of ginger.

Don't make me say this about the ginger again: Rosie's Tip #228: Keep ginger in the freezer in 1 inch pieces. Take out as needed. Nuke for about 20 plus seconds. And you can squeeze it with your fingers and juice it. Mince the rest of the pulp and add in.

I wanted to reduce this by half so I measured it with the end of my spoon.

And I marked it.

And reduced it over medium low heat by half.

I added the rest of my whipping cream left in my carton. It was halfway between 1/2 cup and 3/4 cups.

Check the level ...

... Mark it ...

... And reduce by half.

Add in 2 tablespoons sweet chili garlic sauce. Cover and set aside and wait for serving. At service, heat back up and enrich with ...

2 tablespoons of buttah. A tablespoon at a time, swirled in. Just a lovely finish to a qibswedyk sauce. My two sauces are done. I'm ready to fry. After I cooked Sunday morning's grits for my boys, I evenly spread the leftover grits in a 7 x 11 pan, covered, and refrigerated, planning moreover grits all the time. Moreover grits coming up:

I took a biscuit cutter and cut out 4 grit cakes, top left. The shrimp cakes are on the bottom right.

Heated up LOLB and ELBOO, slid my grit cakes in, and immediately covered with a lid since grits spit spectacularly.

Six minutes on the first side and it's nicely browned. I went to flip the cakes and I have no lovely little cakes.

The grits all broke up and became a smooshy grit pancake. Now, don't get me wrong. The grits tasted great and everything but I wanted a cake. Individual cakes. Crispy, panko encrusted cakes and creamy, buttery, cheesy, corny grits inside. I didn't get it. The cakes just dissolved. But HEY! That's why I'm here. To come up with an idea about a menu/meal. Then try to achieve it. And when it doesn't quite come up to my par, I try to tweek and correct it. I share with you my triumphs and my failures. And offer solutions. Actually, I don't look at is as failure. I look at it as learning. Next, I started on my shrimp cakes.

I slid four shrimp cakes into a hot mix of a peanut oil blend.

2 1/2 - 3 minutes on each side. Drain. And serve.

On the left, grit pancake/ wannabe grit cake/ with bacon balsamic dressing. Bacon and grits. Get it?

On the right, shrimp cake with chili citrus butter cream sauce.

My fried tooth is sated. Unfortunately, these pictures were shot without the benefit of natural light plus I forgot to show the inside of the shrimp cake, so the next afternoon, Mr. Hawthorne sauteed some tilefish and 2 more shrimp cakes for us. First he peeled and chopped one of our heirloom tomatoes.

Add some chopped green pepper.

Cooked over low heat for a while, and added freshly ground salt and pepper.

He finished his sauce with a sprinkling of basil. Here's the tilefish and the two shrimp cakes. The shrimp cakes went for about 2 1/2 minutes each side. The tile fish was a bit thick so it went for about 5-6 minutes each side.

I used the bacon vinaigrette and also the chili citrus sauce from last night's dinner. Just nuked them. I should have heated the citrus sauce on the stove top and whisked in butter at the end to keep it from separating like it did in the microwave, but it was still quite good. I loved the fresh tomato sauce with the tilefish.

Isn't that a lovely fish? Sweet and delicate. Here are the innards of my shrimp cake. So now, I'll tell you what I would have done differently with the shrimp cakes: 1) More shrimp. 2) Less cracker filler. 3) Chop/mince/slice by hand, not pulse by Cuisinart. 4) 2 - 2 1/2 minutes for sauteeing. That way ... perfection. As for the grit cakes, I'm still working on that. They were good tasting, but not what I was aiming for. I wanted a creamy inside and nice crispy outside. I got a crispy pancake. Still all good.