Citris Tilapia with Wild Rice/Mushroom Combo and Steamed Vegetables

Really tasty but far too healthy!

Ingredients
1 lb. tilapia fillets (4-5)
juice from one large orange
zest of the entire orange, separated into two portions
2 tbsp. butter
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp dried cilantro (can use basil)
1/2 tsp. tarragon
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 cup wild rice
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup chopped wild mushrooms
assorted uncooked vegetables


Directions
Preheat oven to 425°F.

Roll the orange around on the counter under pressure to loosen the inner membranes and release the juice inside. Zest the entire orange, reserving it in two equal halves. Oh, and if you don't have a Microplane, get one. No other grater, 'zester' or other tool works this well! After zesting the orange, squeeze out all the juice you can, and discard the hull. Here you see a half-zested orange and the collected zest so far:


Bring rice and chicken stock to a boil, cover and reduce heat and cook for 20 minutes, or following the package instructions, or until just under done.

Put the OJ, half of the zest, butter, red pepper flakes. cilantro and tarragon in a bowl; heat in microwave for 20 seconds at a time until butter melts.


Rinse fish and pat dry; lightly spray the oven-proof baking dish with Pam to prevent sticking and then lay the fish in the baking dish.


Season to taste with fresh ground pepper and sea salt. Whisk the orange sauce well, and pour evenly over fish, and immediately put it in the oven.


Steam vegetables until just done, do not overcook.

Set the timer for 7 minutes so you can start checking on the fish. It needs to bake for 7-10 - check every minute - until fish reaches 150°F on an accurate instant-read thermometer. Here it is all cooked:


When the rice is just about done, add the chopped mushrooms to the rice and mix well; cover and turn off heat.

Plate the cooked fish, vegetables and rice. Distribute remaining orange zest over cooked fish. Drizzle remaining sauce in cooking dish over vegetables. Serve. Prepare to wish you had made more. See picture at the beginning...

Makes 4 servings.

Remember Me!

Well, the lady of the house is off this weekend to attend a women-only retreat, so I had to make something tasty so she'd remember to come back! Just kidding, she'll probably come back... but it WAS tasty. Very low carb for us types needing that.


Ingredients
2 Rib-eye steaks, bone-in
extra virgin olive oil
cracked pepper
kosher salt
1 lb. cremini mushrooms
1 medium onion
2 Poblano peppers

Advance Preparation
Remove the steaks form the packaging and pat dry. Using your hands, apply a very light coat of oil to the steaks, followed by some fresh half-cracked black pepper and kosher salt. Apply liberally to both sides. Leave uncovered in the refrigerator for 24-48 hours to evaporate some of the moisture and concentrate the meat's flavor - sort of mini dry aging.


Method
Start a nice charcoal fire in your Weber grill, or other animal cooking device. Let it burn down until the coals are about half nice gray ash, about 20-30 minutes.

Slice the mushrooms about 1/4" thick. In a large dry non-stick skillet (preferably cast iron), brown a single layer of the mushrooms over medium low heat without crowding them. Stir frequently, making sure to get both sides. You want to be toasting them and drying them out, not burning them.

While you are doing this, top and remove seeds and cores from peppers. Cut the peppers and onion up into pieces about 2" by 3/4" or so in size. Using very little oil, saute them in a separate pan from the mushrooms. You can easily control a very light oil application by using PAM or the like to spray them rather than pouring oil into the pan. Saute the vegetables over medium low until the onions become translucent.

Now get your steaks on the fire. Depending on thickness, they won't take long, so you can't just forget them out there.

Once nicely cooked (to about 130°), load them up and bring them in. Lightly cover them with a sheet of foil to rest for 10 minutes or so, to let them cook a bit more and redistribute the juices. Don't skip this step!


As soon as the mushrooms are browned and have reduced in size by almost half, the flavor has really concentrated and they are ready to mix into the onion/pepper mix. Stir it all together, adding a bit more oil (or use the PAM trick) just so they are barely coated.

Once these veggies are about as yummy as they'll get and you can't keep away any longer, plate up the steaks and veggies. Salt and pepper the veggies if you desire, and dig in!

Enchiladas Montadas, Verde y Colorado, en estilo de Nueva Mexico

That's "New Mexico style Red and Green Stacked Enchiladas" for you gringos! This will feed 2-4 people, depending on hunger and side dishes. It's very filling - no pun intended.

Some comida from New Mexico. I know there's a girl in Austin that misses this yummy stuff, so this one's for you, Jana Po!



This is the New Mexico variation complete with over easy egg. íSalud!

Ingredients
6 Hatch green peppers - seeded, stemmed and roasted, skin removed
(you can use 2 4oz cans if you must)
8 oz. shredded queso quesadilla - goes in green stack
6 oz (or 1/2 small jar) of nopalitos (cactus cut in small strips), rinsed WELL and drained
2 chicken breasts or 4 thighs - boneless & skinless, trimmed of fat (thighs taste better!)

red chile sauce
(I was in a hurry so used enchilada sauce)
8 oz. shredded cheddar - goes in red stack
1 lb ground beef

8 corn tortillas
Oil
2 eggs
2 Tbsp cilantro, minced

Directions
Place peppers in food processor and whiz it until a chunky sauce ensues. If it is a too little thick, blend some more, and even add a little water, but do not completely puree.

Put red enchilada sauce in a small saucepan over medium low heat. If it is too thin, the authentic way is to add a little corn meal for a thickening agent.

Bring 1 quart of water to boil in a medium saucepan. Crumble the ground meat into the boiling ware, and boil until cooked, which will only be a few minutes. Remove from heat, let cool a bit and strain out water, reserving one cup.

Add taco seasoning to ground beef (or use your own favorite seasonings), stirring in well. Add back water as needed to make the meat mixture a good consistency. Once well mixed, add a fourth of the meat mixture to the red sauce, and set the rest aside.

Season the chicken with salt, pepper and garlic. Cook in an un-oiled skillet until browned, then flip and repeat with other side. You can also of course grill it outside if you like. Once the chicken is cooked, let cool and shred the meat. Set aside.

All of the above can be done a day in advance.




Next, we'll prepare the tortillas. Heat a scant quarter-inch of cooking oil in a skillet over medium heat. Slide a corn tortilla into the oil and leave just long enough to see small bumps start to rise on it, then remove it with tongs and drain on paper towels. Repeat for the seven remaining tortillas. This will make them both softer and tougher against tearing.


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Time to build the stacks. I made these on the same platter, but it may be easier to do it on two separate plates. We'll do the green one first. Ladle a little bit of the sauce on the plate and then lay down a tortilla. On this goes about a fourth of the queso quesadilla cheese and about a third of the nopalitos, and about a third of the shredded chicken. Repeat these steps two more times, so that you have 3 layers. Finally, top with a tortilla and the rest of the same cheese.

Next, we will do the same for the other enchilada. First, take about 20% of the seasoned beef and mix it in with the red chili sauce. Now, repeat the steps above with the cheddar cheese, the meat-enhanced red chili sauce and the remaining seasoned beef. Top with the last tortilla and the remaining cheddar cheese.


Slide these babies into the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes - you want everything melted but not starting to brown. you're just gonna have to watch them. You can do them under a low broiler as well, but you can't do ANYTHING else but watch them, that works really fast.


Once out of the oven, it's time for the "montada" part of the dish, so top each stack with a nice over-easy egg. This will break and run down through the enchilada, adding both great flavor and texture to the dish. I finished off the dish with minced cilantro, both for color and because I like the taste.


You can also use shredded lettuce and chopped tomato, pico de gallo, olives, or other garnish. Here is a picture of the enchiladas having been cut:


And here is a closeup showing the layers and fillings:

Hot Roast Beef Delight

I was cruising through the freezer the other day as part of my loss prevention program. I'm tired of not knowing what's in there and losing track of stuff. So, I came across an eye of round roast that was about 2 lbs worth. This is a more challenging cut of meat than most, because there is so little fat that it will very easily end up tough when cooked. What to do?

Open-faced Roast Beef Sammies!

Ingredients:
2 lb. eye of round
2 lg. onion
2 pk. McCormick brown gravy mix (yes, I got lazy)
8 slices thick dark bread
garnish


Method:
Remove your roast and remove all exterior silver skin and visible fat. It should look something like this. Notice the obvious grain - we will be cutting across this later.


Heat the oven to 275°. In a heavy Dutch oven, brown the eye of round well on all sides. Place the Dutch oven in the preheated oven and cover. Cook until internal temperature gets to 125° - start checking after 30-40 minutes (depends on the meat temperature at the start).

Remove meat from Dutch oven and let cool. Our next goal is to slice it across the grain and very thin - 1/16" or less. I accomplished this by freezing the roast, and when almost completely frozen, I loaded it into the slicer. I know that not everyone has one, so you might have to carefully do this by hand. If so, you won't want it frozen!


Here's a shot of the finished product. You can see how the carryover heat ended up cooking the roast to a perfect medium rare. All sliced:


Now, prepare the gravy as directed, in a medium to large pan. Reduce heat to just below a simmer, and mix in all the sliced roast beef, stirring to coat well. Keep this on a medium low heat for now.

While this is heating, peel and then slice the onions into 1/4" slices. Separate the onions into rings, and place in a large covered skillet with a little water. Cook until they become translucent and start to caramelize. Turn down burner and keep warm.

Now it's time to put it all together. Add a little of the gravy on top of the bread, then pile on the sweet caramelized onions. Top this with a nice pile of the roast beef, and finish with a little garnish. Repeat this for the other 3 sandwiches and devour.