Parmesan Crusted Tilapia

I know this is a little overdue, and the picture's not great, but I’ve finally got the time to post the main course I served at my dinner party the other night. I honestly didn’t think this was that great. Part of it was my fault, as I undercooked the fish. The crust was also a little lacking though. The mixture was too thick to really spread onto the fish, and so it was really more of fish covered by lumps. After it had gone back under the broiler it was spreadable, and if I had put it back under the broiler, it probably would have turned it into more of a crust, which is what I would recommend if you do this. As for the potato pancakes, I used this recipe. The centers of the pancakes were good, but the edges became blackened and charred. I don’t know if the cooking temperature should have been lower, the cooking time shorter, or if there just should have been thicker edges. I doubled the pancake recipe when I made it, but provided the original here. I also served steamed broccoli, but I won’t bother providing a recipe for that.

Parmesan Crusted Tilapia

Makes 5 filets

5 tilapia filets 

1/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese 

1/3 cup bread crumbs 

2 ½ T unsalted butter, softened 

2 T low-fat mayonnaise 

4 t lemon juice 

¼ tsp smoked paprika 

¼ tsp garlic powder 

1/8 tsp onion powder 

1/8 tsp celery salt 

1/8 tsp dried basil 

Pinch black pepper 

Pinch salt 

Pinch cayenne pepper

1. Set your oven to broil. Whisk together everything that’s not the tilapia. Grease a broiler pan and place the tilapia in the pan.

2. Put the tilapia under the broiler, cook for three minutes, flip the tilapia over and bake for another 2 minutes. Take the tilapia out of the oven and spread the topping evenly over each piece of fish (I had trouble spreading it, so I more lumped it, if you have this problem take the tilapia out with a minute left and spread the topping better). Put the tilapia back under the broiler, and cook until it flakes, and is fully cooked.

 

Hashbrown cakes

Makes 4

1 1/2 cups paper-thin onion slices 

1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, coarsely grated on large holes of box grater or in processor (about 2 1/2 cups) 

1 teaspoon salt, divided 

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Put the potatoes in a medium bowl with half of the salt. Let sit for 5 minutes. Place the onions in a large bowl. Squeeze the water out of the potatoes, and mix them with the onions. Toss with the butter and remaining salt.

2. Place 4 mounds of the potato mixture onto a buttered baking sheet. Place in the oven for 15 minutes. Take the baking sheet out of the oven, and turn the oven temperature down to 350 degrees. Use a flat spatula to press down each pancake until flat. Flip each pancake over, and place back in the oven. Bake for another 45 minutes, or until cakes are golden and crisp around the edges.

 

Roasted Sweet Potato Empanadas

If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you might be thinking to yourself, “Hey, haven’t I seen that before?” And of course the answer is sort of. I’ve been making empanadas lately because I had some leftover puff pastry in my freezer, and didn’t feel like going shopping. I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner with a friend of mine, and she had brought over sweet potatoes, so this is what we settled on. I truthfully don’t know if I should call this an entrée or a dessert, they’re pretty sweet, but on the other hand, they are made with potatoes. What I do know is that I’ll call them good any time I eat them.

I didn’t try it, but I think this would be really good with either some goat cheese, or if you’re not quite adventurous some cream cheese. Try it yourself and let me know what you think.

Roasted Sweet Potato Empanadas

Makes 9 empanadas

2 Large sweet potatoes
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
¼ tsp salt
1 Tbs packed brown sugar
¼ cup maple syrup
½ cup chopped pecans
Flour for dusting
1 egg beaten

1, Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Cut the sweet potatoes into ~ 2 inch chunks (I left the skins on mine). Place them on foil on a cook sheet and roast until cooked through, about 15-20 minutes.

2. While sweet potatoes are roasting, unfold the sheet of puff pastry. Cut the pastry into three strips by cutting along the folds, and then cut each strip into thirds.

3. Working on a well floured surface, roll each piece of puff pastry out into a roughly 5 x 5 inch square. Set the squares aside.

4. Put the roasted potatoes in a large bowl. Use a masher to mash them up. Mix in the salt, brown sugar, maple syrup, and pecans.

5. Place equal portions of the potato mixture on each square of puff pastry. Put the filling on one half of the pastry, leaving a border of between one and two centimeters. Fold the puff pastry over the filling, and then curl up and crimp the edges (see photo below for final product).

6. Place the empanadas on an oiled cookie sheet (they even stuck to my non-stick sheet). Brush each empanada with egg. Use a fork to poke holes in the empanadas. I poked three sets of holes in the larger ones and two in the smaller ones.

7. Bake for about 18 minutes, or until puff pastry is puffed and golden.

Spinach Gnocchi with Spicy Garlic Marinara

It's my first post that's an entree. Huzza! Of course it comes promptly after I got a nod from cupcakes take the cake. It wasn't much, but it massively upped my readership, at least for that day.

I threw a dinner party last Saturday, and decided to make a mess of food. I was only feeding six people, but I wanted to make enough to bring back to Richmond (I’m subletting a place there), and feed myself for the week. I decided to make something that would transport and keep easily. I’ve been wanting to try making Gnocchi for awhile now, so I made spinach gnocchi with roasted garlic marinara sauce. The gnocchi was pretty good, but the pasta sauce was excellent. As noted, I made ridiculous quantities of these foods. I’ve tried to reduce the recipes to more reasonable proportions here, but be aware that the pictures I’ve posted are from making a mess of sauce and 5lbs potatoes worth of Gnocci.

To make the pasta sauce I used home made roasted garlic and roasted garlic oil. It’s really easy to make yourself. I used the recipe here, but only made 2 heads of garlic worth.

Spicy Roasted Garlic Marinara Sauce

Should make ~4 servings

2 Tbs roasted garlic oil
1 Tbs olive oil
¼ head roasted garlic
2 cloves raw garlic, lightly crushed
1 28-oz can skinned, whole, plum tomatoes, packed in tomato juice and basil
½ tsp red pepper flakes
¼ tsp Oregano (or to taste)
Salt and pepper to taste

Here's the garlic roasted in Oil:

1. Put two tablespoons of oil in a medium sauce pan over medium-low heat. Put the roasted and raw garlic in the pan and let simmer until the garlic begins to turn golden, stirring occasionally.

2. Drain the can of tomatoes and reserve the juice (you’ll probably throw it away, but if you want your sauce to be more liquid, you can add it later. Add the tomatoes to the pan, and turn the heat up to medium high. Using a masher or a big spoon, mash up some of the tomatoes until you get the consistency you want. The heat will also break the tomatoes down.

3. Add the red pepper flakes, oregano, salt and pepper, stir to combine. Bring the sauce to a simmer, and reduce until you get a consistency you like. I probably reduced it for about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent burning.

4. Serve sauce warm over Gnocchi, or whatever other pasta you are serving.

Spinach Gnocchi

Makes 2 main course servings

1 Lbs potatoes (use Idaho or Russet DO NOT USE WAXY POTATOES)
10 oz Spinach (I used frozen)
~1 cup flour
Salt, Pepper, and Nutmeg to taste

1. Put the potatoes into a pot of boiling water. Boil for 35-45, or until tender.

2. Wilt the spinach, either by thawing it in the microwave if you’re using frozen, or by putting the spinach into boiling water for a minute, and then submerging it in ice water, if you are using fresh. Chop the spinach up very finely.

3. Once the potatoes are ready, take them out of the water and skin tem one at a time. It is important that the potatoes still be hot when they are riced, so this needs to be done quickly. Move the potatoes using tongs, and hold them using oven mitts. Chances are you will burn yourself doing this. Once you’ve taken the first potato out, you may wish to turn the heat down under the remaining potatoes.

4. As each potato is peeled, put it through a ricer. If your ricer has multiple size options, use the smallest holes available. Continue until all the potatoes are riced.

5. Mix the riced potatoes with the spinach, a generous amount of salt, the pepper and the nutmeg. Kneed the ingredients together. Add half a cup of flour, and kneed it into the dough. Different people will require different amounts of flour. Keep adding until the mixture takes on a sticky dough like quality. The best way to test when you’ve added enough flour is just to pinch off some dough, roll it into a bowl, and put it into some boiling water. If the gnocchi stays together, there is enough flour.

6. Other recipes suggest rolling the dough into long ropes ½ an inch think, and then cutting the ropes into ¼ inch segments. I just rolled the dough into small balls in my hands. Place the balls in one layer on a cookie sheet or in a casserole dish. Try not to let the balls touch each other, or they will stick

7. To cook, place the gnocchi one at a time into a pot of salted, boiling water. After a minute or so the gnocchi should begin to float. After another minute or so remove the gnocchi with a slotted spoon. Let cool and serve with the sauce.

I don't know why, but sometimes blogger automatically rotates my photos, sorry this one is sideways.