Poached fish balls

Ok, this ain't my fish balls. It's a shareware image. I won't bore you with my camera situation. For the moment though, those things up there actually are fish balls.

We last visited fish balls on the day that the dog, Frida (I misspelled it before), ate them before I could cook them. The trauma of that event has passed and I'm ready to “roll” again. I had a debate with myself for most of a day as to what method I would use to cook them: bake, steam, poach, or wok-smoke. In the end poaching won out, simply because it seemed to me the be the simplest choice. There was also to choice of fish to consider. I think my previous version was catfish and shrimp. This one was tilapia and shrimp. Side dishes included sauteed baby spinach and a turnip puree.

Fish balls

¼ lb. shrimp, peeled and de-veined

1/2 lb. tilapia filet

1 tbsp flour

2 scallions, white and green parts finely chopped

1-2 tbsp Shiaoxing cooking wine (optional)

1 tbsp mayonnaise

½ tsp onion powder

½ tsp garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

½ tsp sesame oil

2 cups chicken stock

Cut the shrimp and tilapia into 1” pieces and place them in the bowl of the food processor. Add the remaining ingredients except the chicken stock. Pulse to chop the fish and combine everything. Don't puree the fish completely, stop short of that. With wet hands, form the mixture into 12 balls.

Bring the chicken stock to a boil. Carefully drop in the fish balls. When the stock comes back to a simmer, turn the balls, cover the pan and let it sit for 5-6 more minutes before serving with rice, orzo, or some other favorite thing of yours.

Fried tilapia with baked potato and edamame

(The following is in homage to Ogden Nash)

Cooking of tilapia
Is never at all sloppia.
With potato and some soy
A bounty of much joy.

Eating dinner on my own again last night lead me to an impulse menu plan. I couldn’t think what I wanted, or rather there were too many things I wanted. So I went to Safeway and spotted tilapia filets at the fish counter. Bingo. I determined to do the flour, egg and breadcrumb thing and shallow fry them. When I say shallow fry I just mean that there’s only about ¼” of oil in the pan and it doesn’t cover the top of the fish when you’re doing one side at a time.

No recipe necessary here. I got the oil screaming hot and fried the fish for 2 minutes on side one and 1 minute on side two. It was scrumptious.

My sides were the remains of a bag of edamame out of the freezer, simmered in a little water, drained, and dressed with butter, garlic powder, onion powder and pepper. No salt.

The baked potato I prepared in our convection toaster oven. 400 degrees for 1 hour. It was a white potato, not a russet and the final texture was soft and creamy as opposed to flaky. It received some butter, salt and pepper.

All in all I had one splendid feast.

Copy cat cooking

Last night it gave me great pleasure to use recipes by Jen (http://jensfoodjourney.blogspot.com/) and (don’t know her name: http://fortheloveofcooking.blogspot.com/). I did a slight modification of Jen’s, baking instead of grilling the tilapia. Also, her marinade called for tequila, of which we had none. I substituted vodka, with which we are always well-stocked. As for the zucchini-crust casserole there was a more significant modification.

We pulled up all the mustard greens from the garden yesterday and Peter labored mightily to clean, blanch, and freeze them. I reserved some for the casserole and used our arugula on the top. Any of you who garden know how satisfying it is to eat your own goodies!

Four zucchini was more than I needed. If you use four, buy the smallest ones you can find. I ended up using probably three.

Basil & Lime Tilapia
2 tilapia filets
1 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp fresh chopped basil
½ tsp salt
2 tsp vodka
pepper to taste

Aioli
3 tbsp finely chopped basil
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tbsp lime juice
1 ½ tsp Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, minced
½ tsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a small bowl, mix together all ingredients except fish. Place fish in a ziplock bag and pour the marinade over it. Seal the bag and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Mix together all ingredients for aioli. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Place fish filets in foil packets that have been lubricated with cooking spray. Seal, place on a baking sheet, and bake for 14 minutes.

Since the casserole that follows bakes for longer than the fish, time the baking of the fish to coincide with end of casserole cooking time.

Vegetable pie with a zucchini crust
4 zucchini, shredded and squeezed in a towel to remove moisture
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 ½ cups mozzarella, divided
2 tomatoes, diced
1 1/2 cups blanched and squeeze-dried mustard greens
4 oz. mushrooms, sliced
2 green onions, chopped
½ cup parmesan, grated
1 1/2 cups arugula, tossed with olive oil to coat
dried oregano, to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a casserole dish with cooking spray.

Combine zucchini with eggs and 2 cups of the mozzarella. Push the zucchini firmly into the casserole to form a crust. Season with salt and pepper and bake for 10 minutes.

Allow to cool for a few minutes. Then layer in mustard greens, mushrooms, green onions and tomatoes. Top with remaining ½ cup mozzarella and the parmesan. Sprinkle with oregano to taste. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes. Scatter the arugula on top of the casserole. Bake 5 more minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes and then serve.

Tilapia oreganata

I am here to testify to the great quality of the recipe for Tilapia Oreganata recently posted by Jen (http://jensfoodjourney.blogspot.com/). The flavor is wonderful, the breadcrumb topping crispy, and the fish cooked perfectly at 14 minutes in my oven. Try this!

With her permission, I’m including Jen’s photo of the tilapia.

I was cooking only 2 filets (instead of the 4 in the original recipe) but it was simple to halve the ingredients. I didn’t measure anything, just eyeballed it. I used homemade bread crumbs and turned the fish what I guess you would call “bottom side up.” That’s the flat side and I found it easy to get the crumb mixture to stay on that way. I also used more oregano than called for (dried). I love the oregano flavor.

I took a picture of our dinner plates last night but it is much too blurry to use. The real reason I wanted the picture is because it included fiddlehead ferns sauteed with wild ramps. We’re going to have them again tonight, so I’ll try again. Tune in tomorrow.

Tilapia filets

This is not the most creative thing I’ve done of late. However, it was startlingly good. I mentioned using bisquick in place of flour the other day, I think. It brings something lovely to the party – extra crispness and good texture to the coating. These tilapia filets are just like the best fish sticks you ever had.

Tilapia is inexpensive and universally available (particularly in Mexican restaurants where they deep-fry it whole without mercy). I’ll offer two ways to prepare it. One is pan-fried, the other is oven-fried.

Tilapia filets
2 5-6 oz. tilapia filets (substitutes: cod, catfish)
bisquick
1 egg
panko breadcrumbs (or regular, un-flavored crumbs)
salt, pepper and paprika
vegetable oil

Rinse the filets under cold water and dry them well with paper towels.

Sprinkle the fish with salt, pepper and paprika. Use your hands to press the spices into the fish so that they stick.

Put some bisquick in a fine-mesh strainer and shake it over the fish, coating it with a fine layer on both sides.

Lightly beat the egg with 1 tbsp water or milk.

Dip the filets, one by one, into the egg, coating them completely. Let the excess drip off and coat the filets with breadcrumbs, pressing them onto the surface.

Place the filets on a wire rack over a plate and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes. Remove them from the fridge about 30 minutes before cooking. This is crucial to getting the coating firmly setup enough that it will not separate from the fish while frying. If you are using method 2 below, this step is not necessary.

Method 1: Coat a sauté pan, large enough to accommodate both filets in one layer, with 1/8” vegetable oil. Heat the oil over medium high heat until a spatter of water pops instantly when flicked in. Carefully lay the fish into the pan. Fry undisturbed for 4 minutes. Use 2 large spatulas, one on top and one underneath, and great care to turn the filets over. Fry on the second side for 3 minutes. Remove the filets to the wire rack which you’ve cover with a layer of paper towels. Sprinkle a bit of fine salt on them and let them rest for just a minute. Serve on hot plates and dig in immediately while the fish is still hot and very crispy.

Method 2: Spray the wire rack with cooking spray and place it over a baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 400°. Bake the filets for 20 minutes or until the coating is firm and lightly browned. No resting time required, but do sprinkle a bit more fine salt on them.

For a free excerpt of my book, “A Year of Food,” in which I opine, report, cook, muse and philosophize about everything that passed my lips for an entire year, write to me at: scrout1944@msn.com.