Mahi Mahi

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So You Grew a Garden...Now What? 3

Today I am going to feature 2 vegetables. Yellow squash and zucchini. I love zucchini and in the past it has been one of our best successes in the garden. This year is starting out no different. I have already picked 5 or 6 really beautiful zucchinis. The yellow squash is also growing really fast and I've picked several of them as well. If you would like to learn a little more about these vegetables I found this website to be very informative.

I found this recipe on the Food Network website and I am so glad that I tried it. Even my dad who claimed to not like "that kind of stuff" (stuff = vegetables) loved it. The zucchini and squash really soaked up all of the flavor from the garlic, onion and thyme and the egg and cream just helped to smooth it all out. If you have a garden full of zucchini/squash and you want to try something a little different, definitely give this a try. I served this casserole with *Orange Roughy (using this recipe, but please read my note below!*) and plain risotto but it could be paired with just about anything!

Zucchini and Summer Squash Casserole
(Source: Emeril Lagasse via Foodnetwork.com)
I cut the original recipe in half and it easily fed 5 people with left overs. Below I am listing the half recipe as I made it.

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, divided
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onions
3/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 pounds summer squash (about 3 medium), sliced into thin rounds
1 pounds zucchini (about 3 medium), sliced into thin rounds
1/2 tsp dry thyme
1 large egg
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup crushed butter crackers (I only had saltines so I crushed them up in a bowl and added 1 tbsp of melted butter)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, optional (It says optional but I say, Why would you not add cheese? ;))

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a casserole baking dish with nonstick spray or grease with 1/2 tbsp of butter.

Heat the olive oil and butter in a medium pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions, salt, and black pepper and cook until the onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the squash and zucchini and cook until tender, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Stir in the thyme and remove from the heat. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the vegetables to the prepared baking dish, reserving the cooking liquid.

Combine the eggs and cream in a medium bowl and whisk to blend. Gradually whisk the reserved cooking liquid into the egg mixture. When all the cooking liquid is incorporated, pour the mixture over the vegetables in the baking dish. Using a spoon, gently shift the vegetables around so the egg mixture is evenly distributed. Bake until the mixture sets, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle first with the crackers and then with the Parmesan, if using, and return to the oven. Bake until golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes.

*After buying this fish, I learned that Orange Roughy is highly susceptible to overfishing because they are very slow to mature and many stocks have already crashed. Next time I will buy a more sustainable fish.

Shrimp and Feta Linguine

My sister is home from college for a week (yay!!) and last night she came over to hang out. I really wanted to make something tasty and special for her but I couldn't decide what I wanted to make. I had a few different ideas and finally decided on making a pasta dish with shrimp. From there I just sort of wung (winged?) it. The result was a delicious pasta with shrimp, tomatoes, feta cheese and a light cream sauce.

Shrimp and Feta Linguine

1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
4 cloves of garlic, minced
10 oz raw peeled medium size shrimp
1/2 cup white wine
4-5 small campari tomatoes, diced (at my grocery store they come on the vine and are about the size of a golf ball)
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp dry basil (next time I will use fresh but the fresh stuff at my grocery store didn't look so good)
1/2 tsp dry oregano
1/4 tsp dry parsley
1/3 cup half and half
1/2 pound of linguine
3-4 oz crumbled feta cheese

Start boiling a pot of water, when it is boiling add the linguine and cook until al dente. While the water is boiling heat the olive oil and butter in a large skillet. When the butter is melted added the garlic and cook until fragrant (about 2-3 minutes, don't let it brown!). Add the shrimp (and a small shake of salt and pepper)to the pan and cook for one minute. Then add the white wine and bring to a simmer. When the shrimp is pink remove from pan and keep covered. Next add the diced tomatoes to the skillet and cook for 5 minutes stirring often. Add the seasonings and the half and half and bring back to a simmer then turn the heat to low and return the shrimp to the pan. When the linguine is finished, drain the water and toss the pasta in the skillet with the sauce. Finally add the feta cheese.

Szechwan Shrimp

Everyday allrecipes.com send out an e-mail with a "recipe of the day". Most days the recipes don't really appeal to me. But Thursday something about it just caught my eye, so we put it on the menu for tonight. I was excited earlier today when some one on the message board that I frequent said she had tried it and really liked it. Following her and several other reviewers suggestion I doubled the sauce. I also meant to add red bell pepper, but last minute I had a brain freeze and realized that I had started my oil before de-shelling my shrimp so there was no time to cut up the pepper. It still turned out great. It had a nice amount of spice, not too much but enough to notice. I will definitely make this again, I might also try it with chicken.

Szechwan Srimp
(Recipe source: allrecipes.com)

* 8 tablespoons water
* 4 tablespoons ketchup
* 2 tablespoon soy sauce
* 4 teaspoons cornstarch
* 2 teaspoon honey
* 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
* 1/4 cup sliced green onions
* 4 cloves garlic, minced
* 12 ounces cooked shrimp, tails removed

1. In a bowl, stir together water, ketchup, soy sauce, cornstarch, honey, crushed red pepper, and ground ginger. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in green onions and garlic; cook 30 seconds. Stir in shrimp, and toss to coat with oil. Stir in sauce. Cook and stir until sauce is bubbly and thickened.

Basil Baked Tilapia

With all of the heavy holiday food we've been eating I was really in the mood for something a little lighter. I've recently discovered that I LOVE tilapia, so that's what I decided to make. I love risotto with fish but I thought it would be a little too heavy with our light meal. Baked rice seemed like a lighter choice. At the very last minute I decided that I wanted to have a cream sauce for the fish (so much for a light meal, haha). To make the cream sauce I heated a tablespoon of butter in a small sauce pan. To that I added 1/3 cup of the lemon wine sauce that the fish cooked in and 1/4 cup of flour to act as a thickener. When the flour was well combined I added 1/4-1/3 cup of half and half. I was very please with the flavor of the sauce. Now for the tilapia recipe!

Basil Baked Tilapia
(Recipe source: recipezaar.com)

1/2 cup white wine
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup fresh basil leaves
4 thin fish fillets, like tilapa
1 lemon, juice of
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
2 tablespoons plain breadcrumbs
paprika
salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 450*.
2. Pour wine and butter into glass measuring cup and microwave on high until butter begins to melt, about 1 minute.
3. Spread basil leaves over bottom of 9 X 13 glass baking dish, reserving a few large ones for the top of the fish.
4. Place fillets over the remaining basil.
5. Remove the wine mixture from the microwave and add fresh lemon juice.
6. Stir or whisk the wine mixture and pour over the fish.
7. Season the fish with the salt and pepper.
8. Sprinkle the onion powder and bread crumbs evenly over the fish, then add paprika.
9. Cover the pan with aluminum foil, place in lower third of preheated oven, for 12 minutes.
10. Uncover fish and continue to cook until fish is opaque and flakes easily with a fork, about 2-3 more minutes.
11. Serve at once.

Tilapia and Risotto

After having only 2 posts for the entire month of October, I had to redeem myself. I needed to make something that was really really good. Luck would have it that yesterday the Allrecipes recipe of the day actually looked really good to me. It has also been a long time since Jesse and I have had fish, so it was perfect. Unfortunately, when I went to the store they only had frozen halibut and that wouldn't work. The gentleman behind the counter was very helpful and told me that Tilapia is also a great mild flaky fish and would make a good substitute. And it turned out fantastic. For the side dish I made risotto, but I made it very very plain because usually Jesse isn't a huge fan of risotto, so I wanted it to be more rice like with a touch of creaminess. I also served this with julienned carrots, orange bell pepper and red bell pepper.

On to the recipes.

Pan Fried Halibut Steak with Light Green Sauce
(Recipe source Allrecipes.com , Submitted By: Charter Guy)

* 4 (8 ounce) halibut steaks
* salt and pepper to taste
* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour for dusting
* 1/4 cup melted butter
* 1/4 cup dry white wine
* 1 lemon, juiced
* 1/2 cup heavy cream
* 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
* 4 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil
* 2 tablespoons drained capers

DIRECTIONS

1. Rinse the halibut steaks and pat dry. Season with salt and pepper, then dust with flour.
2. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Fry the halibut steaks in the butter for 4 to 5 minutes, until nicely browned. Remove from the skillet and keep warm.
3. Reduce the heat to medium, and stir the wine into the pan, scraping up any browned bits stuck to the bottom. Mix in the lemon juice, then stir in the cream. Simmer for 2 to 3 minutes or until it starts to thicken. Season with parsley, basil and capers, and stir for another minute. Serve halibut with sauce spooned over it. Garnish with additional parsley if desired.

My changes and tips :
Obviously I used tilapia instead of halibut, it was a nice substitute.
I also cut the basil and parsley in half.
I forgot to use capers (whoops!)
When I flipped the fish over to cook on the other side I added the julienned vegetables to pan and let them cook.
I only used about 1/2 of the juice from my lemon and it was still very powerful.

My Plain Risotto

1 cup Arborio rice
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup dry white wine
4 cups HOT vegetable broth
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Melt butter in a large skillet
Add the arborio rice and let it soak up the butter. Next add the white wine, let simmer until it is cooked out.
Add the HOT vegetable broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly and waiting until the broth is almost completely absorbed before adding more.
When adding the final 1/2 cup of vegetable broth season with salt and pepper.

NOTE: We served with just a touch of the sauce from the tilapia, since there was soooo much extra!

Look out, it's a SHARK!!!!

Dinner tonight was awesome! 2 weekends ago on our Jungle Jim's adventure we bought some frozen shark steaks. Seeing as I don't prepare a lot of fish and I have never had shark I was a bit nervous. Every day Jesse would ask me when we were going to eat the shark. Finally I put it on the menu. It turned out awesome! I can't believe how good it was. It was perfectly tender and not at all fishy. Jesse even made a comment about it being like a "$30 plate from Bonefish Grill". I'll take that as a compliment :)

I served dinner with baked rice (he even liked the rice, WOOHOO)

Marinated Shark Steaks (Recipe from recipezaar.com)

2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (eh, I used red wine vinegar, use what you've got!)
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp parsley (I used less since I used dry)
1 clove garlic (I used 2, mmmm garlic!)
2 shark steaks

In a shallow bowl combine the first 7 ingredients and mix well.
Marinate for 30-60 minutes in refrigerator
Broil steaks 4-5 inches from heat for about 5 minutes each side, or until fish flakes easily with fork

Baked Garlic Rice Pilaf

2 tablespoons butter
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 cup long-grain white rice
2 1/2 cups chicken broth, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
I also used some fresh squeezed lemon, I added it about 15 minutes before it was finished

Preheat oven to 375*.
Heat butter in a skillet; add garlic and rice and cook until both are golden brown.
Add 1 cup of broth and the salt and pepper.
Bring to a boil and pour into a covered casserole; bake for 25 minutes.
Stir in remaining 1 1/2 cups broth; cook for another 45 minutes.
This can be doubled without increasing the cooking time.