Friday, June 21, 2013

It is summer!
Fresh Vegetables and a cool soup in the way to go!

Working within my heritage, inspired by Tzatziki!

gazpacho - Greek Inspired

3 medium lemons, juiced
2 cucumbers, peeled
3 tomatoes, cleaned
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup fresh dill weed
5 scallions, green part only
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup plain yogurt (not Greek)

All is placed in a blender and liquefied, serve cold

Friday, June 7, 2013

success when cooking with \a fish i don't like

It is Tilapia, the fish that i have not liked previously.
I have had it cooked for me, i have had it in restaurants and i have tried to cook it previously,
i always found "Meh" at best.
No flavor,
no soul
and sometimes a "tinny" taste.
The challenge was issued by my GM friend (of several major restaurants),
it was his favorite fish.
The fish was on sale, as it often is, and so i went for a challenge.
Special ingredients were up my sleeve:
something new off the self - Panko bread crumbs with chipolte peppers!
Then a blend of dried oregano, basil and sun dried tomatoes, all diced up nice.
A not so good sesame oil, so no added taste.
Salt.
So here is how it went:

2 pounds thawed tilapia fillets
sesame seed oil to coat the bottom of a 17" x 12" cookie sheet
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoon dried oregano, basil and sun dried tomato blend, minced
1/4 cup Panko bread crumbs with chipolte peppers

1 tablespoon of  the  dried oregano, basil and sun dried tomato blend is added to the pan with the oil.
Mix and add in the salt.
place the tilapia pieces on the tray and then sprinkle the remaining dried oregano, basil and sun dried tomato blend over each piece.
Refrigerate for 1 hour
Sprinkle the bread crumbs on each piece, flip the fish and sprinkle again.
Cook in a 425 F oven for 7 minutes.
Serves 5.

The team who i cooked for rated it a AAA!