Pan Seared Fish and Grits

We typically have some kind of seafood on Fridays for dinner. We really like a curried seafood and rice thing we make - curry seafood with cilantro rice, but we were looking to do something different. Thought about shrimp and grits but decided to change it up and pan sear fish with the grits instead of shrimp. It turned out great. The key is getting a good crust seared on the fish. Tilapia is perfect for this because it can take a good quick sear and still stay moist inside. If you have issues with tilapia maybe use another fish. Trout would be good or catfish. Here is how we did it -  

Ingredients for the grits:

1 cup stone ground grits
4 cups water
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup shredded parmesan
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1/2 medium onion sliced
2 cloves garlic minced
Olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
Salt and pepper

For the tilapia:

2 tilapia fillets cut in two lengthwise 
Olive oil
Lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 teaspoon hot chili pepper flakes - optional
Salt and pepper

For the grits:

In a small frying pan sauté the onion and garlic.
In a medium sauce pot, bring the water to a boil
Add the grits to the water, stir and reduce the heat to low. Cover loosely and cook for 20 minutes stirring frequently.
Remove the grits from the heat and stir in the onions, garlic, parsley, cheese and butter. Cover to keep warm..

For the fish: 

Brush the tilapia with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Heat a well seasoned cast iron or non-stick frying pan on medium high heat and add the tilapia.
Cook on one side until a nice brown crust develops, like in the photo below. Then turn and cook the other side the same way, about 2-3 minutes per side. Squeeze lemon juice on the fish while cooking.

Ladle grits onto individual plates and top with two pieces of the tilapia. Sprinkle with the chopped cilantro and chili pepper flakes if using and drizzle with olive oil.

Stuffed Paccheri

Paccheri is a type of large tube pasta resembling short manicotti and common to southern Italian cuisine. Their size and shape make them very versatile so they can be served either with a chunky sauce or stuffed. Either way, they make an interesting and unusual plate presentation for friends. You probably won't find them in a supermarket but they are readily available at Italian food markets or from on-line Italian food web sites. I would recommend always having a variety of dried pasta shapes in the pantry. But, if you are a regular reader of this blog you probably already have half a dozen or more on the shelf.  : )

Paccheri can be stuffed with anything from cheese, to meat, to seafood, to vegetables and herbs in a variety of combinations. We made these filled with a mixture of ricotta and seasoned ground pork with a tomato sauce and topped with cheese. Use your own measured creativity for filling and the sauce ingredients. Just have a little fun with these things.

The ingredients below will make 22-25 paccheri with sauce. This will be enough for two people with left-overs (and you know this is even better the next day) or enough for 4 people with two sharing each crock. Our crocks are 6" diameter by 2 1/4" tall.

Ingredients for the stuffing:

1/2 lb ground pork 
1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese 
2 teaspoons fennel seeds crushed
1/2 teaspoon herbes de provence
I tablespoon fresh flat leaf parsley chopped
1 tablespoon pine nuts toasted
9 Kalamata olives pitted and chopped
Olive oil as needed
Salt and pepper

Ingredients for the sauce:

1 28 oz can peeled whole tomatoes preferably San Marzano
1/2 yellow onion diced
3 cloves garlic minced
1 tablespoon fresh chopped basil
2 tablespoons fresh chopped flat leaf parsley
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 grape tomatoes cut in half, basically for looks but you could put one on top of each filled paccheri, that would be pretty cool.
Salt and pepper

Directions:

- Preheat the oven to 375
- Start the pasta water to boil

- Brown the ground pork along with the herbs and salt and pepper to taste
Scrape the meat into a bowl to cool but don't clean the pan just yet.
When cool, mix in the ricotta, mozzarella, fennel seeds, herbs de provence, parsley, pine nuts, olives and a little olive oil.

- Boil the paccheri for about 5 minutes, enough to make them pliable so they can be stuffed. They will finish cooking in the oven. Drain and put them in cold water to stop the cooking, this also allows them to cool and prevents them from sticking together. 

- In the same pan you browned the meat, add a tablespoon of olive oil and saute the onion and garlic. 
Add the tomatoes and their juice, crushing the tomatoes with your hands and mashing them in the pan with a wooden spoon.
Add the basil, parsley and salt and pepper.
Let simmer about 15 minutes or until ready to use

Brown the ground pork and add in the herbs.

Mix the browned pork and the cheeses together 

Spoon a little of the tomato sauce into the bottoms of the crocks.

Fill each of the paccheri with the stuffing mix and stand up on end in the crocks.

Spoon the rest of the tomato sauce around and over the paccheri.

Cover the top of each crock with mozzarella, pecorino, 5 of the grape tomatoes. Sprinkle with parsley and drizzle with olive oil.

Bake at 375 for 30 - 35 minutes.

Serve as individual crocks, spooning out the stuffed paccheri on to a separate plate. 

Cast Iron Crispy Hash-Brown Cake with Fried Peppers

The cool thing about this hash brown cake is it has just the right balance between a crunchy outside and buttery inside. Cut this in wedges for serving. It is perfect for an unrushed weekend breakfast or brunch but really goes well with just about anything - especially as a side to a good steak. It also makes a satisfying vegetarian main course. 

Just a word of caution - this really has to be done in a cast iron skillet for best results. You will have to flip over the hash browns halfway through so become familiar and think through the procedure first or you might end up with a mess.

Ingredients

2 1/2 pounds (3 to 4) russet potatoes, scrubbed but not peeled

Fine sea salt

1 1/4 sticks salted butter

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 medium sweet onion, diced

8 ounces green frying peppers, such as Hungarian wax, cubanelle or baby poblano, leave whole if small, halved if large. You can also find mixed color baby bell peppers in most supermarkets now days.

Directions

Put the potatoes in a saucepan and add enough water to cover generously. Salt the water, bring it to a simmer over medium heat, cover partially, and cook until the potatoes are tender enough to stick a fork into but still on the firm side of done, about 20 minutes. Drain the potatoes and let cool. (You can boil the potatoes up to a day ahead of time and keep them in the refrigerator, if you like.)

While the potatoes are cooking, clarify the butter: 
Heat the butter in a small skillet over medium heat until it foams and starts to turn dark blond on top, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let the butter sit for a few minutes. Then tilt the skillet toward you and gently spoon off the layer of foam. Pour the clear golden butter into another bowl, and then pour the dark dregs at the bottom of the skillet into the bowl containing the foam.

Grate the potatoes coarsely, skins and all, onto a baking sheet, making sure to keep them loose and not pack them down. Combine 1/2 teaspoon salt and the black pepper in a small bowl, sprinkle over the potatoes, along with the diced onion, and gently mix to combine.

Heat a 10-inch cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat, and add half of the clarified butter. Add all of the potatoes in an even layer, keeping them loose. Reduce the heat to medium and cook the potato cake until the bottom turns dark amber brown, about 15 minutes. (Peek on the sides: If it's browning too quickly, turn the heat down to medium-low.)

Be careful here because the cast iron skillet is going to be heavy and the handle will be hot - Put a large plate upside down over the skillet, and using two thick oven mitts, grab the sides of the skillet and turn it upside down, releasing the hash-brown cake onto the plate. Put the empty skillet back on the burner and add all but 1 tablespoon of the remaining clarified butter. Slide the potato cake back into the skillet. Cook until the underside turns dark amber brown, 10 to 15 minutes.

While the potato cake is cooking, fry the peppers: Heat a large saute pan over medium heat and add the remaining tablespoon of clarified butter. Add the peppers and 1/4 teaspoon salt, and cook, flipping them often, until they blister and feel tender throughout, about 10 minutes.

To serve, lay the large plate upside down over the skillet, and using oven mitts, invert as before. (If the first side was prettier, invert the cake again onto another serving plate.) Top with a jumble of fried peppers. Cut into wedges and serve immediately.

Agrodolce Carrot Ribbons with Chick Peas and Pine Nuts

This simple and very tasty side dish goes well with chicken, pork or fish. Let the onion and shaved carrots caramelize so their essential sweetness comes through. The addition of the white wine vinegar gives this dish a subtle sweet and sour flavor profile. Nice! Shave the carrots as thin as you can.

Ingredients

1 red onion, sliced thin

1 can chickpeas, drained

3 tablespoons olive oil

4 carrots, peeled and shaved into ribbons (using vegetable peeler or mandolin)

2 garlic cloves, thin sliced

Pine nuts, approximately one handful toasted

White wine vinegar, enough to drizzle

Parsley, a handful

Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:

Saute the sliced red onion and carrots in 2 tablespoon of olive oil on medium heat until the onions and carrots are caramelized. Remove to a bowl. 

Add the chickpeas to the pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and saute until browned. 

Add the carrots and onions back in and the garlic and stir occasionally for about 5 minutes

Meanwhile in a separate pan toast the pine nuts until golden.

Remove the carrot, onion, chickpea mixture from the heat. 

Drizzle with the white wine vinegar, then add parsley and the pine nuts and stir together. 

Salt and pepper to taste.  

Adapted from a Food Network Recipe 

Mashed Pinto Beans

If you are planning a Mexican themed dinner, there's going to be some kind of bean dish, maybe a couple different ones. This is our easy go-to replacement for crappy pasty gummy refried beans. You will love this!

 

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 medium onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin
2 (15-ounce) cans Goya brand pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 - 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth, plus more if needed

Squirt of the juice of half a lime 
Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Red pepper flakes as you like

Shredded Colby jack cheese

Directions:

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat.

 

Add the onion and cook until tender, about 3 minutes. 

Stir in the garlic, chili powder and cumin. Cook for 1 minute more. 

Stir in the beans and chicken broth and cook until the beans are warmed through, about 5 minutes. Mash the beans COARSLY with a potato masher or the back of a wooden spoon, adding more chicken broth to moisten, if needed. This should be sloppy not gummy.

Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Stir in the cilantro. 

On the plate, add some red pepper flakes and shredded cheese - 

Herb Encrusted Pork Roast and Sides

There are a few of things we always make for New Years Day - roast pork, lentils, roasted or pan fried potatoes, corn bread and some kind of greens, either collards or mustards. Trying to combine traditional southern Italian with traditional American southern New Years. Also, had prosecco, couldn't get any moonshine...

This is how I did the pork roast - The herb mixture is made up of ground fennel seeds, rosemary, lemon zest, light brown sugar, minced garlic, flat leaf parsley, red pepper flakes, olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl and the add enough olive oil to make the herbs moist and spreadable. The day before cooking, score the top layer of fat and rub the herbs all over the roast and down into the score marks. 

Lisa made the potatoes, mustard greens and corn bread.  I cooked the the pork roast and lentils in the clay oven.  

Cooked the lentils in the pignata and made a dough lid. The ingredients in the lentils were minced carrot, onion, garlic, pancetta, rosemary, a bay leaf and chicken stock.

Cooked the pork roast in a cast iron skillet. 

Removed the lid and spooned the lentils into a serving dish.