Weekly Cooking (and related issues) Thread

[Jamestown1630]

Fish!

(A little early again this week, to get ahead of Mom's Day; but here is your weekly cookin' thread :-)

I am not much of a meat-eater; in fact, I was largely a 'veg/fish-itarian' until I met and married my husband.

I like a good hamburger now and then, or my husband's barbecued pork chops; and I like chicken pie and chicken and dumplings. But I'm not one to go into a restaurant and order a 'slab o' meat'. Steak, for instance, isn't near the top of my list.

But I do love FISH! along with all the other 'beautiful swimmers'.

We have two recipes that we 'go to' when we have some really good fish.

The first recipe is one originally designed for Bluefish; but it works with any firm, oily fish (I'm not sure where we found it, but it may have been in a Chesapeake cookbook). I personally think the sauce would make a great, simple pasta sauce, leaving out the fish:

Bluefish baked with Tomatoes and Capers

1/4 cup Olive oil

1 onion, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

2 T. chopped garlic

1/4 cup chopped green onions

1-1/2 lbs tomatoes, peeled and chopped, with juice (3 cups) OR 1 28-oz can chopped tomatoes

1 Cup dry white wine

3 T. capers, drained and chopped

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

1 bay leaf

Juice of 1 lemon

salt and pepper

4 Bluefish fillets, 6 to 7 oz. each.

Preheat oven to 375F.

In a heavy pot, heat the oil and saute the onions, celery, garlic and green onions until limp.

Add tomatoes, wine, capers, thyme, bay leaf, and lemon juice. Simmer 45 minutes, and season with salt and pepper.

Make a layer of 1/2 the hot tomato sauce in the baking dish. Arrange the fish on top. Spoon the remaining sauce over the fish.

Butter one side of a sheet of waxed paper that is cut to fit the top of the baking dish.

Place the paper, butter side down, on top of the dish.

Bake 20 to 30 minutes, or until the fish flakes.

Remove fillets to a heated platter. Spoon the sauce over, and serve at once. Good over rice.

Second Recipe: here is a recipe we first received from either one of Jacques Pepin's books, or his television show. My husband thought that Jacques made it look so easy, that he tried it. Somewhere I have a pic of husband proudly showing off his rendition of this Stuffed Salmon in Pastry; but you don't have to do it so fancy. It can be done in the pastry with small fillets for individual portions; and the fish and stuffing alone would also be wonderful 'en papillote'.

But for a big shindig, the entire whole-fish presentation is impressive, and not very difficult to pull off:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/stuffed-salmon-in-flaky-dough-recipe.html

I think I've seen more detailed instructions on how to simulate the fish's scales, using a small round cutter, so that it looks more like this:

http://www.cakestudent.com/decorating-with-puff-pastry/

-JT

[Hardens Hollow]

I’ll second that! I LOVE older recipes, with character and tradition.

[JRandomFreeper]

Believe it or not, I get par-cooked, frozen biscuits.

That is the only savory bread I will do that with.

They last great, and I can cook one per day. Fresh.

I have some cheats. ;)

/johnny

[pugmama]

Who makes the biscuits that you like?

[JRandomFreeper]

Mary B's is the vendor for these biscuits. UPC # 020593000232

There are other brands out there that I will also use.

These regional ones were handy and have a calorie count of 190 each.

Easy for me. So I do it. ;)

I think I've done the same in a commercial kitchen with Pillsbury brand.

/johnny

[Hardens Hollow]

Say it isn’t so! I’m shocked!

But makes sense if you have your biscuit sandwich every morning. That’s why I was curious about how often you made biscuits- it could’ve been a labor-intensive little sandwich!

[JRandomFreeper]

For some stuff, I'll do it the hard way, like the ribs I'm having for supper.. But for breakfast sammiches... easy is the password. LOL! Momma didn't raise no fool.

[Covenantor]

Here’s a quick recipe using Pillsbury Buttermilk grand biscuit tubes. Great for snacks that don’t harden up.

Split the biscuits horizontally while cold, they’re layered so it’s easy.

Filling:

my favorite is Canadian bacon with minced onions and black pepper. Brown in pan.

1 teaspoon of filling on biscuit, fold in semi-circle, pinch edges, light egg wash, bake per instructions, 450 iirc, about 15 min or until golden.

Jam fillings work real well, pulled pork also.

These will stay soft for a full day and more. They’ve never lasted more one day, getting scarfed up real quick
.

Figure it might work well for you since a batch for you would last well for a few days. 1 min nuke to heat up.

[Jamestown1630]

Maybe if you soak *portions* of the bread for varying times?

And perhaps you could try something harder/sturdier than challah.

(By the way: we used to be able to buy in the supermarket a frozen ready-to-bake braided challah; I can’t recall the brand. But we never see it anymore. It always looked nice on the holiday dinner table. Does anyone see it in the stores now?)

-JT

[JRandomFreeper]

I never, ever, ever, ever use the tube breads.

The closest I come is par-cooked frozen biscuits.

I'm not even interested in a tube bread recipe. Par-cooked and frozen, or made fresh.

I can cook 2 biscuits fresh at a time if I need to, but the frozen is good enough and easy enough.

I just won't touch the tubes. Ever. never ever, ever, ever.

/johnny

[Jamestown1630]

Yes, those two roues were delightful.

But the one who was constantly drinking reminded me of this (of which there are many variations):

http://www.corsinet.com/braincandy/hholiday2.html

-JT

[Liz]

CINNAMON BUN PIE
An unusual pie recipe from the NYC temple of gastronomy
---Momofuku Restaurant---uses tubed cinnamon buns.

Cinnamon rolls rise under cream cheese and butter and streusel--standard” depth 9x9" pan on cookie sheet catches overflow. Do not overbake; best eaten when gooey.

METHOD Place cinnamon rolls in foiled/sprayed round cake pan, distributing evenly---will be gaps.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the sugar and vanilla and blend until mixture is smooth. Pour this mixture over the cinnamon rolls and spread evenly over the entire pan.

Stir/combine flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon, salt. Add melted butter, vanilla, into til dark oat clusters. Sprinkle evenly over cream cheese layer.

Bake 350 deg 28-32 min, edges begin to brown very slightly; cool before slicing/serving. Optionally, drizzle w/ packaged frosting.

DO-AHEAD NOTE friges a week. Gently micro-reheat individual servings.

INGREDIENTS 8-count package of refrigerated cinnamon rolls 8 ounce package of cream cheese, softened 1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick) 1 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract For the Cinnamon Streusel Topping 1/3 cup all-purpose flour 1/3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats 2 tablespoons brown sugar 1 teaspoon cinnamon pinch salt, optional 2 tablespoons butter, melted 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

[Liz]

Cute Mother's Day cake.

Cake layer w/ lattice icing set on lattice "brim."
Tied w/ blue satin ribbon. Icing flowers.

[Hardens Hollow]

Now, that’s a good idea - I can start the soak with half the bread, then add the other half with 5-10 min to go.

I actually did use a fairly dense honey white bread that didn’t rise enough ;) That’s why in thought it would be perfect for bread pudding, and I didn’t want to make breadcrumbs or croutons out of it. I’d hate to waste a nice challah in a bread pudding (although the recipe did call for it).

[JRandomFreeper]

Whenever I have challah I wind up making it myself.

It's like puff pastry or the turnovers I make.

It's a lot of work, but it's worth it, in my humble opinion.

I love me some apricot and cream cheese turn overs.

/johnny

[greeneyes]

OK. Now and then, whatever the thread feature is, I’ll check it out and see if there is one that sounds good.

[greeneyes]

Gifts I received my first year of marriage (50 yrs ago):

Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook
Better Homes and Gardens Cooking for Two
The Encyclopedia of Cooking

Continue to use them all to this day.

[MomwithHope]

I love making turnovers, too bad I can’t have any right now, too many calories. My favorite is goat cream cheese and a touch of homemade blueberry or blackberry preserves inside. Heavy on the cheese, light on the fruit. but sadly no more goat cheese unless I buy it, and the store bought never tasted as good as mine. Since we never kept a buck, fed natural feed and cooled milk down quickly our milk and cheese never had a goaty flavor. Waxing nostalgic.....

[Nea Wood]

Appreciate it! :-)

[JRandomFreeper]

It is hard to beat home-made. You were blessed with that cheese.

I've never used blackberry preserves for turnovers. Maybe it was growing up here with blackberries in season.

I use a lot of apricot preserves for pastries and I'm using orange marmalade a lot for meats and for marinades.

/johnny

[MomwithHope]

Orange marmalade is my absolute favorite. Have never made it but I read a post of your about making it with jalapeno. Sounds crazy good but I can’t take the real hot stuff.