Every week I write out a to-do list for that week, so in an effort to remind myself to eat a little healthier, I put "eat fish" on the week before last's list. I had some ocean perch in the freezer, so I opted to thaw that out. And my friend has repeatedly talked about a sour cream and onion recipe that she uses for fish on a regular basis. Unfortunately, I didn't have the actual recipe, so I tried to make it up on my own. For starters, it took a lot longer to bake than I expected. So I ended up having a two-part dinner... broccoli and yellow rice to start, fish about 30 minutes later.
Gotta say that I wasn't that impressed. But that could be due to the type of fish I used or that I didn't have the recipe quite right. I'll probably give it another chance now that I have the actual recipe, and next time I'll use the same type of fish she uses.
Next up was Nigella Lawson's One-Pan Sage-and-Onion Chicken and Sausage from her cookbook Feast. It had an average five out of five stars rating on the Food Network site which is pretty amazing. And I have to admit that I love Nigella... everything of hers that I've ever made has been incredible. The only problem with this recipe was that it required cutting up a whole chicken. I have never been able to cut up a chicken. My mother tried to show me once, but I never seemed to be able to "feel the joints" and "just pop them apart". Normally I would get around this by buying a chicken that was already cut up, but I decided to grow up and cut up my own chicken. It felt like that scene in Julie and Julia when Julie gets herself all worked up over boning the duck! I put it off until about 11:30 at night, but I finally got up the nerve and lo and behold I ended up with ten separate (and only slightly mutilated) pieces! It went into a marinade of olive oil, onion, worcestershire sauce, sage, English mustard, pepper, and lemon. I don't generally like lemon and often leave it out or substitute lime, but kept it in this time and I am so glad. The lemon itself was so sweet that it smelled like fresh lemonade! After the whole thing sat in the fridge overnight, it went into a pan with some sausages and fresh sage to bake. It smelled soooo good! And it tasted great. I've been eating the leftovers all this week, and it has reheated really well. The juices are perfect sopped up with a nice piece of bread, too. Yum!
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| soaking up all those yummy flavors |
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| getting ready to go in the oven |
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| too bad this isn't a scratch-and-sniff blog! |
The same day that I made the chicken and sausages, I also made ricotta cheese which I talked about in a separate post. The ricotta cheese led to a Rachael Ray recipe for pizza topped with chicken, ricotta, sun-dried tomatoes, broccoli, mozzarella, and fresh basil. With the exception of keeping track of all the ingredients, it was fairly easy to put together. I used grilled chicken strips and fresh pizza dough from Trader Joe's and the leftover broccoli from my fish dinner a few nights before.
The broccoli seemed out of place at first, but the more I ate, the better I liked it. The whole thing was very filling... one-and-a-half pieces were plenty. But it reheated great in the toaster oven, and the leftovers tasted even better than fresh out of the oven. I think this recipe is a keeper, too!
The last recipe was pretty simple and just added fresh dill and chives to the rest of the ricotta. That made a spread on toasted ciabatta bread which was served with greens in a little dressing (my favorite Trader Joe's Tuscan dressing). I forgot to take a picture, but it made a nice light lunch. Very fresh.
So that's the saga of my week of cooking. Without even meaning to, I think I've made up for all the months that I skipped last year. It's gotten me in the mood to cook, though, so who knows what might be next?
Wow, that is a lot of cooking. I'm sorry the perch didn't come out right. I do think the recipe is best with a hearty red fish. It is supposed to be used with trout but I have also used it with salmon and it was just as good.
ReplyDeleteI might try that chicken recipe one day and the pizza also looks really good.
I have never liked salmon, but I will definitely try it with the trout sometime.
ReplyDeleteI think you would like the chicken & sausages, and the leftovers lasted me all week, which would fit in well with your cooking strategy. Plus, aside from cutting up the chicken (and the cookbook does say you can substitute ten thighs), it was very easy with little hands-on work required.