We’ve been eating fish about 1-2 times a week, and although we love simply broiling fillets with salt, pepper, citrus, and a little butter, we needed to break out of the rut!  We found a few bread crumb crusted fish recipes, and tweaked them a little to come up with this combination.  We’ve found it works well with salmon and bass, and we’re looking forward to experimenting with other fish as well.  I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients

• 4 salmon/bass fillets (4-6 oz per fillet/serving)
• 4 Tbsp butter, melted
• 4 tsp horseradish
• 1 cup bread crumps (made with 1 day old bread is the best.  We usually make our own and keep in the freezer)
• 2 tsp fresh oregano, chopped
• 2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• 2 Tbsp oil (we use olive oil)

Procedure

1. Set oven to broil.
2. Combine melted butter and horseradish in a medium bowl.  Add bread crumbs, oregano, and parsley.  Mix with a fork until incorporated.
3. Heat an oven safe pan (we use cast iron).  Add oil and heat until oil has ripples and is about to smoke.
4. Add fillets, skin side down and top with crumb mixture.  Cook on the stovetop until fish looks cooked ~1/2 way up the side of the fillet (about 3 minutes).
5. Move pan into oven and broil until the top is browned (about 2 minutes).
6. Serve hot with your choice of veggies and enjoy!

First Tomato Harvest: June 5th.  We had enough small tomatoes (tumber cherry and sun gold) to use in a salad.  The tumbers were supposed to tumble, but ours just kept growing up towards the sunlight.  I finally tied them up when they reached ~4 feet tall!  The sun golds are at ~5 feet tall right now, as are the large jet setter tomatoes.  The jetsetter fruit is currently ~3 inches in diameter, and should grow to be ~4-5 inches.  They are quite green, but we look forward to a tomato/mozzarella salad in the near future!

Today’s cherry tomatoes were perfectly ripe, sweet, and juicy.  They were perfect in a salad with arugula, romano, salt, pepper, vinegar and EVOO.  I make something similar to this recipe.  I wanted to keep it simple and focus on the tomatoes, so I left the nuts out of the recipe.  FYI – this recipe is great with toasted almonds or walnuts instead of the pine nuts, and we’ve added coconut and raisins with great success in the past.  Here are some pics!

Adam and I are very fortunate to have grown up with great, fresh food.  My family planted a large vegetable garden almost every year.  Now that we’ve embraced city living, we miss the fresh veggies you pick form the back yard and eat the same day.  We have some great sources for fruits and veggies (http://www.dekalbfarmersmarket.com/), but it’s just not the same as a fresh tomato right off the vine.

So… container gardening here we come!  We developed the following plan for our back patio:

It includes: a sun gold tomato, jetsetter tomato, spacemaster cucumber, eight ball squash, spearmint, 2 genovese sweet basil, 2 arugula, and 2 spinach plants.  We also have 4 tumbler cherry tomato plants on our front steps.  Hopefully we can get the cucumber and squash to run along our railings so we can maximize our patio garden output!  We’re looking forward to seeing what we actually get and I’m sure our plan will evolve throughout the season!

Margaritas are always a perfect pairing for Mexican food.  These go fantastic with the shrimp tacos.  Drinker Beware: these are not sweet like margarita mixes.  They pack a punch.  Please drink responsibly.  :-)

Margaritas

Ingredients

• 3 ounces Silver Tequila
• 2 ounces Triple Sec
• 1 ounce fresh lime juice
• ice
• lime slices
• kosher salt
• sugar

Procedure

1. Combine tequila, triple sec and lime juice in a Boston shaker with ice.  Shake well.
2. Prepare glasses by wetting the lip with a slice of lime.  Dip glass into a mixture of equal parts kosher salt and sugar.  Garnish with the slice of lime.
3. Pour in alcohol mixture.  Enjoy!

Notes

• This recipe is all about the ingredients.  We use Sauza’s Silver Tequila and freshly squeezed limes.  The lime juice MUST be freshly squeezed.
• Use a clear measuring cup with ounce markings to make your life easier.
• For the ice, use mini ice or cracked ice.  The smaller ice pieces have more surface area, allowing you to quickly cool your margarita in the Boston shaker.  If you don’t have a Boston shaker, you can use a cocktail shaker or any sealable container.
• I keep a kosher salt/sugar mixture in a ziploc container and dip the glasses right in the container.  You only need a little bit to top the glasses, but you need enough to coat the rim.  The mixture keeps indefinitely.
• Want to make a flavored margarita?  Just add an ounce of your favorite fruit juice.  Freshly squeezed orange juice is a great addition to this recipe.  It’s also good with strawberries, raspberries, or pomegranate juice.

Awhile ago, I went to a mexican restaurant that served really good shrimp tacos.  I’ve had them a few times, and attempted to duplicate them at home.  The recipe has undergone some tweaks, and this is what I came up with.

Shrimp Tacos

Ingredients

• 1 lb medium shrimp, peeled and cut into chunks
• 2 – 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 scallions, diced
• 1/2 large jalapeno, minced
• Juice of 1/2 lime
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 tsp chili powder
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 cup diced tomato
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, loosely packed
• 8 small flour tortillas, warmed
• Finely shredded monterey jack cheese (optional)

Procedure

1. In a medium bowl, combine shrimp, garlic, scallions, jalapeno, lime juice, salt, and chili powder.  Set aside.
2. Heat a large saute pan over high heat and add vegetable oil.  Add the shrimp mixture to the pan and saute the shrimp, stirring constantly, until it is just undercooked (not completely pink).  If the pan is hot this should only take about 2 minutes
3. Add the tomato and cilantro and heat until heated through, about another minute.  Be careful not to overcook the shrimp.
4. Put the warm tortillas on plates (preferably warmed), add the shrimp mixture to each tortilla, top with shredded cheese if desired, and any other condiments of choice (chipotle hot sauce is a favorite of mine).

Notes

• Heating the flour tortillas is important.  You can do this by covering them and putting them in the microwave for about 10-20 seconds.  You can also wrap them in foil and warm them in the oven.
• The tortillas shown in the picture are homemade! (props to the wife).  The recipe for them is at http://www.texasrollingpins.com/tortillarecipe.html.

KT was in Ohio for the week, so in true bachelor style I made myself small (8 inch) pizzas pretty much every day, and they came out pretty good. The dough recipe is an American style dough, slightly crispy on the outside, soft in the middle. Will post it sometime when I get the chance.

I’ve been playing around with a pizza dough recipe based on a formula by Tom Lehmann using this calculator: http://www.pizzamaking.com/dough_calculator.html. I’ve played with a bit, adjusted it to my tastes, and here’s the result:

Pizza Dough

Yields 4 dough balls (395g), good for 13 inch pizzas

Ingredients

• 945g High Gluten Flour
• 2 5/8 Cups Water (divided)
• 1/2 Tbsp Active Dry Yeast
• 2 Tbsp Kosher Salt
• 1 Tbsp Vegetable Oil

Procedure

1. Put 5/8 cup warm water (~100F) in electric mixer bowl. Sprinkle yeast on top and let stand 10 minutes.
2. Add remaining 2 cups cool water to mixing bowl. Attach mixing paddle and mix on a low speed.
3. Add the salt and oil, followed by the flour. Mix for about a minute, until the dough is all clumped up on the mixing paddle.
4. Remove the dough from the paddle and put in the bowl. Grease a dough hook lightly with cooking spray, and attach. Mix on low for about 7 minutes. The dough might clump up on the hook every so often. Just stop the mixer, pull the dough off, and start again. The dough should become noticeably smoother, and be tacky.
5. Lightly flour a board and transfer the dough onto it. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces and gently form each piece into a ball.
6. Store the dough balls in airtight containers in the fridge. Be sure they have room to expand a bit. Spray each container with cooking spray, place the dough ball inside, and spray the top of the dough ball. I’ve also used small bowls covered with plastic wrap. The dough will be ready to use in 24 hours, and will last around 5 days.

Pictures!

I took some pictures of the steps as I made the dough.