Fun with Carbs - Batter Bread

Tom is back in town for a while which means he cooks.  Well he decided to play a nice game with me in the food store the other day.  He came up and asked me if I would like grits or cornbread with dinner.  Without thinking I said cornbread and without hestitation he says "great you're making it".  At that point I couldn't take it back :-(.  Cornbread is something I have not tackled yet so I had to start looking up recipes.  We found a few options and made sure we had ingredients.  

When we got home we actually looked on the back of the Beattie's corn meal and found a recipe for batter bread.  Tom thought it would work and I went to work.  

I followed the recipe as directed due to my inexperience with batter bread.  

Ingredients

2 cups boiling water

2 eggs

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 cups corn meal

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Beat eggs, add buttermilk, then sift into corn meal, baking powder, and salt.  Mix well add boiling water.  

Pour batter into well greased 7 inch Pyrex dish and bake 20 to 25 mins.

When the bread came out we were somewhat concerned it was a bit soft.  However, it sat for a bit prior to dinner and when we served a slice underneath porkchops, mushrooms, with greens it was a great addition to the meal.  

Red Snapper Bake ...

I am going to just start this post off by saying that I went a little bit too far with this one ... sometimes it happens, and it's ok ... so this post is going to be a little bit about what worked, and a bit about what didn't.

I started with a whole red snapper that I had cleaned, deboned and the head removed.  I opened the fish up and put a layer of shredded cheese on either side of the fish followed up a layer of sausage (case removed and made into a thin layer).  I then folded the fish back over.  This is where I started to make a mistake.  Instead of a standard salt crust, I added a number of whole hot peppers to the baking dish and then poured a mix of diced tomatoes and shredded cheese over the fish.

I roasted the fish in the oven for 30 minutes at 425F and then broiled it for 5 minutes at the end to create a crust on the top.  Once I was done I pulled the fish out and realized I had created a number of tasty layers, only one problem, there was a layer of skin in there too.  In order to salvage the dish I gently moved the cheese and tomatoes off to the side and removed the fish.  I opened it up and scooped out the fish and sausage and spooned it onto the plate ... topping it with the cheese and tomato mix.  All in all, not terrible, but I won't be making this specific iteration again.

Taco night ... two different ways

I always try and make taco night fun in our house, and tonight was no different.  Shells came home with some fresh tomatillos and peppers (hot and sweet) from the Farmer's Market and challenged me to figure out what to do with them.

I started off by marinating some skirt steak arrachera style (black pepper and Jugo Magi) and de-shelling and de-veining some large shrimp.  I fired up the grill and then put the peppers and tomatillos (removed from their husks) on the grates.  I turned the peppers and tomatillos every few minutes allowing them to char on the outside.  After they were charred evenly I removed them from the grill and added the skirt steak.  After flipping the skirt steak I added the shrimp to the grill.

While the steak and shrimp were cooking I roughly chopped the tomatillos and added them to one bowl and then the removed the outer skin from the peppers and roughly chopped them, added them to another bowl.  After the shrimp and steak were finished cooking I chopped up the shrimp and added them to the tomatillo mixture ... then I chopped up the steak and added it to the pepper mix.

I served the two meats with chopped avocado and a potato & black bean bake (recipe to be posted at some future point) ... Enjoy!

Scrambled goodies ...

In the US (at least in our house) eggs are often overlooked as a protein at dinner time.  I went out for a happy hour, but when I got home and went to cook dinner I realized that I hadn't planned out a protein for the evening.  I rummaged through the fridge for a bit and came up with a bunch of veggies and five eggs.  I chopped up the veggies (zucchini, yellow squash and yellow onion) and sauteed them on medium high heat for about 8 minutes, agitating frequently.  While the veggies were cooking, I cracked five eggs into a bowl and added a splash of milk, salt and pepper and then used a whisk to mix them.  

The key to good scrambled eggs is a lower heat, constant movement and ensuring they stay moist.  I reduced the heat on the pan to medium, melted about a tbsp of butter and then added the egg mixture.  I used a wooden spoon to stir continuously allowing the eggs to form fluffy curds and then added a little cheese right before spooning them on to the plate.

I topped the eggs with a little hot sauce and we were off and running!

Twice Baked Spaghetti Squash Goodness

Tom is back on the road again so I'm back on as head chef for the week.  I was perusing Pinterest the other day and happened upon a pin of a recipe that I thought was interesting.  I'm a huge fan of spaghetti squash and thought that a twice baked version was such an inventive way to enjoy the squash!

I actually didn't follow the recipe exactly and used more for inspiration.  Click the link to the recipe - Twice baked spaghetti squash recipe

Below are my modifications:

Instead of oven baking (because who has 60-90 minutes on a work night to wait for dinner?) I chose to use the microwave to do the initial cooking of the squash.  I only need a half of the squash so I cut in half, removed the seeds, and placed center side down in a pyrex dish with some water covered with cellophane.  Microwave for 10 minutes until soft.

I decided to use the variation suggestion from the recipe to make the dish as a meal.  While the squash was in the microwave I uncased a chicken sausage and put it in a small sauté with a sliced banana pepper.  I also prepared black beans and rice.

When the squash was prepared I followed directions of removing the squash from the casing with tongs and put into a large bowl with butter.

I then mixed in the sausage and pepper mixture to the squash, added some garlic, pepper, salt and oregano.  I lined the bottom of the squash casing with two spoonfuls of black beans and rice then added my sausage and squash mixture and topped with shredded cheese.

I then put the final product pictured above into a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes until the cheese melts.  I served with a chopped salad.  This is a very versatile recipe so be creative!

A seafood evening ...

It's been a while since I was able to post ... travel will do that to me.  I've been home for a few days now, so I have a bit of content that I can start posting again.  For this dinner, I decided to have some fun with seafood thinking that it would be a healthy option ... then I fried the first half and covered the second half with cheese ... whoops!

For the first course I made a panko fried shellfish dish.  For Shells I went with 16-20 count shrimp and for myself a softshell crab, both panko crusted and fried!

I served both of them over sweet chili sauce and added a roasted hot chili to the plate.

For the main course I broiled a piece of red snapper and topped it with a slice of mozzarella cheese at the last minute.  I served it with an awesome bean and rice mix as well as some sauteed zucchini squash.

Saffron Rice and White Beans
1 package Saffron rice (5 oz)
1 14.5 oz can cannellini beans
6 large spoonfuls petite diced tomatoes (with juice)
1 roasted red pepper (seeded)
1 1/2 cup veggie stock
Salt & Garlic Pepper to taste

Put the beans (with juice), rice and veggie stock in a saute pan over medium high heat.  Stir often while bringing to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium low and add the diced roasted red pepper and the tomatoes. Cook, covered, until all of the liquid has been absorbed into the rice. Add the salt and garlic pepper to taste and enjoy!