I was soooo craving fish!

Well, another week has flown by. My daughter fell and hurt her foot shooting a wedding last weekend, so I went down to Cincinnati to help her with the kids to allow her to stay off of it for a while. While I love being able to help out and spend more time with the grand babies, I miss being in my own kitchen. The weekend was crazy with running around and errands so tonight was the first meal I've actually cooked since I got back. I spent most of the day running errands and I had another migraine... so I wanted a fast and easy meal tonight. I took out a few Tilapia fillets, add some quick cooking couscous and frozen peas and carrots and with 10 minutes total prep time and 20 minutes in the oven I have a tasty meal on the table.

I hesitate to actually call this a recipe, but here is what I did:
Place 1 lb fish fillets on baking sheet.
Combine 1/2 cup mayonnaise with 2 TB of hot pepper jelly.
Spread mixture over fillets.
Bake in a hot oven at 425 for about 20 minutes or until fish is done.

That's it. Yummy! You can substitute herbs, apricot jam, marmalade, etc for the hot pepper jelly if you wish. The mayonnaise keeps the fish moist and tender.

My mothers parents were big fishermen. I remember a picture of my almost 80 year old grandmother with a HUGE (I think it was 60lbs...) fish she caught in Alaska. lol Anyway.. Gram taught me to spread mayo over salmon then broil it. The first time she told me that I thought she was nuts. Sounded pretty gross to me. But it was awesome! Gram rocks! I then began to experiment with different additions to the mayo to vary and deepen the flavors. You know how I like to play with my food. lol. I've added dill, garlic, lemon, ginger, soy sauce, assorted jams and jellies, mustard, various herbs... (not all at once mind you...) the options are endless.

So go ahead. Experiment. You just might find a new favorite. Oh, and by the way, this works great for chicken too. :)

ANOTHER TWIST ON TRADITIONAL MEATBALLS

If you have been following my blog, you already know that I will be teaching a cooking class September 24th on how to change up recipes by switching your spices and a few basic ingredients. This is the third of 6 meatball variations I will be showcasing at the cooking class. My focus is to teach people not to be afraid to try different combinations of ingredients and spices to easily create a wide variety of tasty foods. I will also be creating several side dishes and even desserts using the same basic techniques.  My goal is to free you of any restrictions you may have placed on yourself and empower you to create dishes that allow your creativity to flow! If you are interested in attending this class, contact Willard Christian Alliance Church at 419-935-6281 to register or for more information. 

I served the meatballs with some stir fried veggies and a little Jasmine sticky rice drizzled with soy sauce and chili oil.The meatballs are so flavorful they didn't need a sauce. I have a hard time finding ground pork so I made my own by cutting a lean pork roast into chunks and pulsing them in a food processor until it was chopped fine enough. I then just added the other ingredients and let the food processor do the work of blending. 

CHINESE PORK BALLS

1 lb ground pork

8 – 10 green onions, thinly sliced (including some of the green tops)

1 TBL fresh ginger, peeled and minced

½ cup finely chopped bean sprouts

2 TBL soy sauce

1 egg, slightly beaten

½ cup dry bread crumbs

Mix all ingredients well and form into 1 ½” meat balls.

Bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes or until lightly browned.

Serve with stir fried vegetables and rice.

Also good with sweet and sour sauce over rice. 

Little Balls of AWESOME!!

Tonight I decided to make the second of the 6 meatball variations I am doing for the cooking class 9/24/11. I defrosted some boneless skinless chicken breasts and played around to decide what to use for seasonings. I looked up several Thai recipes but didn't seem to have everything for the recipes so I ended up creating my own.  These are so yummy and flavorful that you really don’t need a sauce, but if you want to kick it up a notch, try the dipping sauce included here or a little sweet chili sauce. I served this with steamed carrots and Thai Kitchen Lemongrass and Chili noodles (like top ramen).

Thai Chicken Meatballs

3 large chicken breasts (approx 1 lb total)

2 cloves garlic minced

2 TBL chopped fresh chives

2 TBL chopped green onion including part of the green tops

1 ½ TBL fresh or 2 tsp dried cilantro chopped

½ cup finely shredded or minced carrot

1 ½ tsp lemon grass paste (found in the produce dept)

1/8 tsp cayenne

1 TBL soy sauce

1 egg

¼ cup dry bread crumbs

Finely chop herbs and onion.

Grate or chop carrot very fine.

Cut chicken into chunks and place in food processor.

Pulse until meat is minced.

Add remaining ingredients and pulse until well combined.

Refrigerate for 15 minutes or more to make it easier to form balls.

Form walnut sized balls and place on lightly greased sheet.

Bake at 400 for 15 – 20 minutes or until cooked through.

You may also fry or broil if you prefer.

Serve with dipping sauce below or with sweet chili sauce.

Dipping Sauce:

½ cup soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

2 green onions sliced thinly

Makes approx 34, 1 ½” balls

You could also form the mixture around bamboo skewers and grill or broil for a different presentation.

KEFTEDES WITH AVGOLEMONO SAUCE

I have found that the main difference between recipes from other countries is really just the use of herbs and  spices. There are some basic guidelines of what to use for each country. Then it's just a matter of using them in combinations that sound good to you. In a few weeks I am doing a cooking class on using spices to change up basic recipes to make dishes from different countries. Every country has their version of meatballs, so what I am doing is preparing meatballs using beef, chicken and pork and changing the spices to represent different nationalities. I will do a sauce for each meatball recipe. I also will be using the same concept to represent different countries in rice and slaw recipes. Now that I have the concept, I need to come up with the recipes. I have found that most people really want a written recipe- they tend to get very uncomfortable when I say "a little of this, and a little of that". lol
So here is my version to represent Greek cuisine.

Greek Meatballs- Keftedes (kef-teh-des)
1 lb lean hamburger
1 egg beaten
2 thick slices white bread
1/2 cup diced onion
1 TBL fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 TBL fresh mint, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Soak bread briefly in water.
Squeeze out all water and place in bowl with remaining ingredients.
Mix well.
Form into walnut sized balls.
Refrigerate until ready to cook.
Roll in flour before frying.
Pan fry, deep fry or bake meatballs.
Serve with lemon wedges or the sauce recipe below.

Avgolemono Sauce (av-go-LE-mo-no)
Beat 2 eggs until frothy
Gradually stir in juice from 2 lemons (approx 1/2 cup).
Stir in 1/2 cup broth.
Heat over medium heat, stirring often until sauce thickens.