Fish+Linguini+Balsamic Browned Butter Sauce = Yum!

Yeah, the title would have been way longer that I have intended it to be. The original title was going to be: Pan-Fried Fish with Broccoli Linguini and a Balsamic Browned Butter Sauce. But I still ended up with a long title.

For the life of me, I totally forgot what kind of fish this was, as it was only labeled "seafood. " The vendor at Dry Dock Fish at my local farmer's market told me what it was, but then I spaced out right after because I was staring at a temptingly nice piece of ahi tuna, which I also got. You'll see what I made with that in the coming day or two. I know there was an "-er" at the end of it. Crap! I really need to pay better attention next time. Better yet, I'll have to write it down. But suffice to say, it's a white fish. So for this recipe you can use any white fish you prefer like cod or tilapia.

I did a simple pan-fry using some of that Emeril's Original seasoning I had gotten a few months back. I usually just season my fish with some salt, pepper and paprika. I served it with some steamed broccoli that I chopped up and tossed with some linguini in olive oil. For the sauce, I didn't want to overpower it with a tomato sauce. I really wanted something subtle.  I went to a browned butter sauce that I added some balsamic vinegar to.

I did killed two birds with one stone for this dish by boiled my pasta while steaming my broccoli over it. My steamer fit perfectly on top of my pot. I love when you can multi-task several pieces of cookware to minimize space and cleanup.

Took me 30 minutes to put the whole thing together.

Serves 2-3

Pan-Fried Fish with Broccoli Linguini and a Balsamic Browned Butter Sauce

2 large white fish fillets
salt
pepper
Paprika or you own preferred seasonings
Olive oil
1/2 box linguini pasta
1 head of broccoli or 1/2 lb broccoli flourettes - chopped
1/2 c chopped fresh parsley

Balsamic Browned Butter Sauce
3-4 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar


Steam the broccoli for 5-7 minutes until tender. A fork or knife should pierce through without hesitation.

In a pot of boiling water, cook the pasta until al dente. Roughly 8-10 min. Be sure to season the water with salt and add a little drizzle of olive oil and sitr once to keep the pasta from sticking.

While those cook, melt the butter into a sauce pan on medium to low heat. It should start to foam. Remove the foam and leave on the heat until the butter starts to lightly brown. Remove the butter from the heat and add the balsamic vinegar. This will stop it from browning further. Give it a good stir to blend it right before serving.

Drain the pasta and place into a bowl, add in the broccoli and parsley and toss together with a tiny drizzle of olive oil. Keep covered until ready to serve.

Season the fish fillet.

In a skillet, coat the bottom of the pan with oil and heat on a medium flame. Cook the fish for roughly 3-5 minutes on bothe sides depending on the thickness of the fillet.

Putting it together.
Plate some of the pasta and broccoli, then a nice piece of the fillet on top. Drizzle a generous serving of the browned butter sauce over the fish and pasta.

Creamy Kabocha Soup

So Foodbuzz is having their first even food blogger awards. Click here to get your nominations in.  I did.

Anyway, I told you I was ready for the fall. I've made myself a lovely fall soup to prove it. Creamy kabocha soup. Or squash or pumpkin soup, if you'd like to call it that.

I made this one is completely vegetarian, but you may substitute chicken broth for the vegetable broth, if you'd prefer. I love the orangey-yellow color of it. Screams autumn, don't you think? I finally figured that I could use my blender to puree stuff. Why did it take me this long to figure it out? I don't know, but I'm glad that I did, so this means more lucious creamy soups to come. But I still would love an emersion blender. I used to have one, but I don't know what has happened to it since. I think I've mentioned before that I hate watery soups except if there's tons of bits and chunks in it.

This soup isn't overly thick and just right to coat the spoon with every slurp.

Garnished it with a little fresh dill and i was ready to go. The weather was perfect for this lovely soup. The evening have been cool, just the way I like it. I had this with a side of baked zucchini sticks.


Serves 2

Creamy Kabocha Soup

1 small to medium kabocha
1/2 medium onion - chopped
2 garlic cloves - chopped
1 12 oz can vegetable or chicken stock
1 small can evaporated milk
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt
pepper

Note: use a blender, food processor or emersion blender to puree the mixture.

Cut the kabocha into chunks and heat in the microwave for 3-5 minutes. Then scoop out the flesh and mash them. Discard the skins.

Saute the garlic and onions in a olive oil for 2 minutes until the onions are a bit translucent. Add the mashed kabocha, then the vegetable stock. Bring the soup to a simmer, stirring occasionally.

Add the evaporated milk and stir to combine.

Then puree the mixture using a blender, food processor or an emersion blender.

If you don't have any of those, you can leave it as a chunky soup. Serve warm.

 

 

Baked Crabby Patty

What's one of the first things that come to mind when someone mentions crab? For me, it's crab cakes. Or boiled crab. Whichever comes first. Yum!!!! The term "crabby patty" is commonly heard on the cartoon Spongebob Squarepants. These little patties are my crabby patties. A baked version. No oily aftertaste and the taste of the crab comes through. A simple mixture of chopped green onions, fresh fill, egg, paprika and panko. Baked it, then Sprinkle a little shredded cheese and melted it in the broiler for a minute or two. Placed it on a toasted slice of wheat baguette.

A simple easy meal. Two were enough for me. Though, I did make them nice and plump. So I guess that's why they filled me up good. Or was is the full bottle of water I had with it. Either way... I'm lovin' these crabby patties. Delicious.

Makes 4 palm-size patties.

Baked Crabby Patty

5-6oz crab meat
1 tsp fresh dill - chopped
2 green onion - chopped
1 Tbsp paprika
1 egg - beaten
1 1/2 c panko crumbs
1 tsp dry parsley
1/2 c shredded cheese (your choice)
Sour cream - optional

In a bow, combine the crab meat, dill, green onions, paprika, egg, parsley and 1/2 c of the panko crumbs.

Dive into 4 mini patties and let them chill for 30 min in the fridge to let them settle together.

Preheat your oven to 357˚F.

Take the patties from the fridge and coat them with the remaining panko crumbs.

Place on a lightly greased making sheet and bake for 10 min.

After 10min, turn your broiler on and transfer the baking sheet into the broiler to give the top an even browning.  Roughly 2-3 min. Then top with the shredded cheese and let it melt for 1 min.

Place on top of slices of french bread and top with a little sour cream.

Avocado Sour Cream dip

Today will be relatively short. A really simple dip that uses only 3 ingredients. Two of which are in the name. It's got a nice lightly green color to it and it can be used as a sandwich spread. How about that? It's got a nice smooth and creamy texture to it with a lovely blend of the sour cream and avocado flavors. Yum! This is perfect for parties. If you put this out on a buffet table, you'd probably find me standing next to the bowl of this dip, nibbling away.

I served this with some garlic rosemary baked fries. Have it with some chips or bread.

Baked Rosemary Fries

Click here for my Baked Garlic-Rosemary Fries



Note: if not baking the fries right aways, keep them soaked in water spiked with a little white vinegar to keep them from browning.

Avocado Sour Cream Dip
1 medium avocado
1-2 Tbsp Sour Cream
juice of half lemon.

Combine all ingredients together. Mash the avaocado until creamy and leave a few chunks.

Serve them way while hot.

Veggie Hash

Hash. Actually, I had a craving for hash browns, but I decided to change it up the last minute because I had myself a bell pepper I wanted to use.  Here's a simple veggie hash that anyone can make. No need to buy the frozen variety.

The grater I had was a pretty small hand-held kind, so I'm able to only grate several chunks at a time. Make sure you drain and pat dry all the water after. I think that's one of the keys to making a nice crispy crust. Also, if you're not going to cook it right away keep it soaked in water. This will be to keep the potatoes from browning. Then pat it try. I mixed in the veggies and cooked them until they had a nice crispy crust. I like a good mix of crispy and chewy.

Feel free to change up the veggie on this. You can add anything you feel comfortable with. I had this with some grape tomatoes and a nice slice of bread.

Serves 1-2

Bell Pepper and Green Onion Hash

8 baby potatoes or 2 russet potatoes (peeled and shredded or chopped)
1 small red bell pepper (diced)
2 green onion (chopped)
1 tsp garlic powder
salt
pepper
3 Tbsp unsalted butter

Once the potatoes have been shredded or chopped, soak the pieces in some water for several seconds then drain and squeeze out the remaining water in paper towel.

Mix in the bell pepper and green onion season with a pinch salt and pepper.

Heat a skillet and melt the butter. Then add in the hash mix, pat it down to make a large round.

Check the underside. When it looks crisp and browned, flip it and cook the other side. When the other side has browned the cut the hash into pieces and mix. Cook for another 2-3 minutes after.

You have a nice mix of crispy and soft potatoes.

Opo in a Roasted Eggplant Sauce

Opo. Aside from it being a word in the Philippine language, it is also a type of long squash with a taste similar to a zucchini. Actually, in the Philippines it's called Upo. These green veggies can grow from 6-inches to 36-inches long and as thick as having a 12-inch diameter. From the pic below, I think I got 4-5 pounder that was roughly a foot or so longer. It's also goes by another name Bottle Gourd. You can find out more about this squash here. Those suckers can get HUGE.

Anyway, I turned this giant squash into spaghetti strips using my little handy-dandy do-dad with melon baller attached. You can use a grater also to cut them into strips. Just grate them lengthwise.



I sauteed the strips in a little olive oil and minced garlic.  For the sauce, I roasted the eggplant then pureed it in the food processor. After, I combined it with some sour cream, chopped green onion, herbs and some shredded crab meat. The crab is optional, if you want to keep this dish purely vegetarian. Then I mixed it all together and presto. Veggie noodles in sauce. You can use zucchini if you're not able to find opo in any markets.

Don't mind its appearance, but trust me when I say this really tastes super good and healthy, too.

Serves 2

Opo in an Roasted Eggplant Sauce


1 large Opo or 2-3 large zucchini - shaved into strips

Eggplant Sauce:
1 large eggplant
3-4 Tbsp sour cream
1 green onion - finely chopped
1 garlic clove minced
1 tsp dry parsley
extra virgin olive oil
salt
pepper

1/2 c chopped crab meat - cooked and free of any shell (optional)


Preheat your broiler.

Divide the eggplant in half and lightly drizzle and coat them with some olive oil. Place on a baking sheet and broil until browned and roasted. Roughly 5-6 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let them cool before scooping out the flesh from the skins. Mash them really well or pureé them in the food processor. Place in a bowl and add the sour cream, parsley, green onion and the optional crab meat. Season with a little salt and pepper.  Set aside.

Cut the opo or zucchini in half and scoop out the seeds. Shave the halves into thin spaghetti like strips. Or shred them into pieces. You may peel them from the skins, if you prefer.

Once you've shaved them, drizzle a little olive oil in a pan and saute the garlic for 30 sec, then add the opo /zucchini strips and saute them as well for a few minutes until they are tender.  Roughly 5 min.

Then add the eggplant sauce mixture and combine well. Stir occasionally for another 3-5 min.

Serve warm.

Kabocha Cookies

Kabocha is a Japanese squash. More commonly a pumpkin. This summer has been great for the squash familia. I think I've got my fill of them by the looks of the recipes I've posted these past few month. I was thinking about making some tempura with them, but then I thought of making some sort of baked cookie with them. It's been a while since I've made cookies. Why not? I did make sweet potato biscuits. Why not kabocha cookies, right?

I recently received a jar of some Red Ape Cinnamon, which is pure organic ground Cassia cinnamon from Sumatra. I haven't, at the time, even opened the jar and the smell was so wonderful. Twist the cap open and the aroma fill the air. I love cinnamon. Just the smell of cinnamon and I'm in love. Check out their site to see what other products they offer. It tastes quite lovely to be honest. There's just something about cinnamon that makes it irresistable.

I found a neat trick by mircowaving the kabocha for roughly 5 minutes to get the flesh soft, cooked and easy to handle. It sort of steams them in a way. Make sure you cut them into chunks first. This helps in scooping them out from the skins without have to boil a big pot water.

It's got a little consisteny of a muffin top. I guess I should call these kabocha muffin tops, but I like the sound of cookies better. These are really tasty and with a slight sweetness. A perfect afternoon snack.

Makes 12 large cookies or 18 medium cookies.

Kabocha Cookies

1 small kabocha (2 c)
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
8 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
4 egg yolks
1 1/3 c flour
1 tsp baking soda


Preheat oven to 375˚F

Heat the kabocha in the microwave for 5 minutes. Then slice in half. Heat for another five minutes to cook until tender. Let it cool for several minutes before handling. Scoop out the flesh and into the food processor or blender. blend until smooth. You may also mash them, if you don't have either.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Then in another bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Mix in egg yolks and the kabocha. Slowly add in the flour mixture and mix until thoroughly combined.

Place on a baking sheet lines with parchment paper and bake for 15-20 minutes.