Oven-Fried Tilapia

Another week, another attempt to enjoy tilapia. This time I decided to go for something a bit more traditional, since the parm thing didn't really work out. A recipe for crunchy oven-fried tilapia seemed just the thing.

Oven-Fried Tilapia

Comments & Modifications:

• I didn't really measure this time either.
• I hate throwing away egg parts, so I used one whole egg instead of two egg whites.
• The idea of crunchy fish sticks appealed to me, so instead of dipping the whole fillet, I first cut it into strips.
• I sprayed the fish sticks with a bit of olive oil cooking spray before sticking them in the oven, to give them a little moisture.

Verdict: This was much better than the parmesan-crusted stuff, but it still didn't completely disguise the taste of the fish. The cornmeal provided some nice crunch and lots of flavor, and for someone who actually likes fish I can see this dish being appealing. I, however, ate my fish sticks with lots of ketchup.

Tilapia with Parmesan Crust

Dan and I have been trying to eat more fish lately, at least once a week. To that end I picked up a bag of frozen tilapia fillets from Wegman's the other day, since I've heard that tilapia is one of the least fishy-tasting fishes.

Even so, when it came time to cook it, I looked for a recipe that would drown the fishiness with other flavors as much as possible. Plus, cheese makes everything better, right?

Tilapia with Parmesan Crust

Comments & Modifications:

• I followed the ingredients list, more or less, but didn't really measure anything. I did cut back a bit on the butter and mayo in relation to the parmesan, in an attempt to cut the fat and calories a bit.
• The parmesan mixture was too thick to spread very well over the fish fillets. It took a while to get it relatively evenly covered.
• It wasn't much of a crust. More of a parmesan glob.

Verdict: I wasn't impressed. Parmesan and tilapia don't really go together at all, in my opinion. I won't be trying this again.

Glazed Delicata Squash

I wanted to try a squash that's less stringy than acorn and easier to cut than butternut, so delicata was the obvious choice. Plus, the delicata squash was just so cute that I had to buy it!

Glazed Delicata Squash

Comments & Modifications:

• I halved the recipe since I only had one squash. It made just a little bit more than what Dan and I could eat as a side for dinner.
• I didn't have fresh sage or rosemary, so I used dried. Immediately after putting the sage in, I threw out what was left in the bottle because it smelled gross.
• Unsurprisingly I did not have "fresh unfiltered apple cider or juice" so I just used normal-people apple juice.
• I didn't have sherry vinegar either. There are so many recipes that call for this, I should track some down sometime. Instead I opted to use apple cider vinegar, since the alternatives were white vinegar, raspberry vinegar, or rice wine vinegar, none of which seemed right for this recipe.

Verdict: I thought this was going to be really tasty, but it turned out kind of meh. Now, I suspect this is due in large part to the substitutions I made. The dried spices added a weird texture to the glaze and tasted a bit off (perhaps due to the sage). The cider vinegar, while the best choice available at the time, made the dish a bit too apple-y; I think a contrasting flavor would have added some much needed depth. I liked how easy the squash was to prepare, compared to butternut in particular, but I think next time I'll try roasting it instead.

Buckwheat Cookies

I totally got fun of for making these. I mean, really, buckwheat cookies? It sounds so pretentious, as if adding some buckwheat flour would turn cookies into a health food. Well, I can wish, at least.

Buckwheat Cookies

Comments & Modifications:

• No changes to the ingredients.
• I used my food processor, which rocks because it's so easy. It wasn't obvious to me at what point the batter came together, since it still looked very crumbly, so the best way to tell if it's ready is to squeeze it together and see if it sticks.
• I shaped the dough roughly into balls, and flattened them with the tines of a fork. The cute crosshatch barely survived the baking process, so for the future I would use a flat-bottomed glass dipped in sugar or flour to gently flatten each cookie ball.

Verdict: These were every bit as subtle and delicious as the recipe promises. The cookies were a very unappetizing gray, which combined with the name turned a lot of people off. Everyone who tried them, though, gave a thumbs up. They're like a sandy version of a butter cookie, with extra earthy flavor from the buckwheat. I'll definitely make these again (especially now that I have buckwheat flour to get rid of!).

Almond-Lemon Tea Cake

I've been slacking off with the recipe reviews! Time to catch up!

Here's another instance of a recipe that got made solely because I needed to use up the ingredients from another recipe. It just keeps going and going . . .

Almond-Lemon Tea Cake

Comments & Modifications:

• I didn't modify this one at all. I'm too scared to mess with baked goods.
• I don't have a stand mixer, so I just used my hand mixer.
• I don't have a flour sifter, so I lightly mixed the dry ingredients by hand.
  
• I'm not convinced the lemon zest and orange zest in the batter was really necessary, since I can't taste it at all. Plus, I hate grating zest.
• Almond paste is a pain to work with. I had a hard time getting it to break up with my hand mixer, and pieces kept shooting off in all directions. Eventually it seemed to come together, but it took a while.

Verdict: This came out really, really good. The cake is dense and moist and almond-y, and the glaze is crispy and sweet and tart, and together they are perfect. That said, I'd need a good reason to fight with the almond paste again. This really would be great for a tea party, since the cake is very rich so the slices are tiny and cute.

And now I have a box of cake flour to use up . . .

Crockpot Broccoli Cheese Soup

I've never been able to make a broccoli cheese soup that meets my standards, so I had high hopes for this one. Also, I learned from making this soup that I love gruyere.

Crockpot Broccoli Cheese Soup

Comments & Modifications:

• I used fresh broccoli rather than frozen, and eyeballed how much. I probably used more than was called for, but since it's broccoli, who cares?
• I used the gruyere, jarlsberg, and cheddar that the recipe says.
  
• I found that 3 cups of shredded cheese turned into very little cheese in that much soup, so we put more in. Of course, I wasn't measuring the cheese either so I could have been guessing wrong.

Verdict: Despite all the cheese, this soup really didn't taste that cheesy. I added a bit of flour to try to thicken it up, but it could have used more. Also, the cheese kind of gummed onto the broccoli and didn't taste like much. Guess I better keep searching for the perfect broccoli cheese soup recipe.

Groundnut Stew

Here's another recipe that I just couldn't resist, after reading the strange combination of ingredients. It helps that this recipe makes a ridiculous amount of food for very little money.

Groundnut Stew

Comments & Modifications:

• This made a ton of food. Dan and I had it for dinner twice, and I had it for lunch at work three times, and there was still a bit left over. That's 7-8 servings!
• It's better with more sweet potatoes. I only put in two and wished I had put in the third.
• Next time I might try replacing some of the tomato juice with apple juice. You couldn't really taste the apple at all and I think it would have added something.
• Again, we cut back a bit on the cayenne to more reasonable levels. A little goes a long way.
• I would definitely add the optional cilantro, but at the end so that Dan doesn't have to have any.

Verdict: Dan really liked this, I thought it was okay but edible. It's possible that some of the adjustments above might make it more palatable for me. It tasted a little two dimensional, as if there was an ingredient missing that would bring all the flavors together. Maybe more ginger?

Gateaux Bastille

This is a rather strange recipe, but I couldn't resist making it once I read the list of ingredients. Also, I had some leftover prunes I needed to use up from a sad attempt at Mediterranean chicken a while back. And despite the chocolate, these actually aren't that bad for you, since there's no flour and very little sugar.

Gateaux Bastille

Comments & Modifications:

• The liquor store didn't have cute little sample bottles of dark rum, so I used light. I also let the prunes and rum sit in the fridge overnight, which may have contributed to the lack of rum-tasting-ness in the final product.
• I used 70% dark chocolate, since I had some laying around. It was fine, except for this next part . . .
  
• I attempted to melt the chocolate in the microwave. I'm guessing the recipe instructs you to use a double boiler for a reason, since the chocolate seized after less than 30 seconds in the microwave. I couldn't bring myself to throw it away, especially since I didn't have enough ingredients to start over, so I did the best I could to mash it back into some semblance of non-seized chocolate. I also added probably another 1/4 c of cream to the chocolate, just to get it soft enough to fold with the eggs.
  

Verdict: Despite my difficulties with the chocolate, the end result was quite edible. The texture is dark and velvety, and the taste is rich and chocolately with occasional fruity bursts. Still, I probably won't make this again, unless of course I have more prunes to get rid of.

Jambalaya

Here's one that I made quite a while ago when I needed to use up some kielbasa. My modifications mean the resulting jambalaya isn't particularly authentic, but it was perfect for Dan and me!

Jambalaya

Comments & Modifications:

• I used a whole u-shaped package of kielbasa, and no other meat.
• I halved the rest of the ingredients, except for the tomato paste, where I dumped in two cans instead of one and a half.
• I used store-bought chicken broth.
  
• I cut back a ton on the cayenne pepper, and ended up using just a couple of dashes. This gave it a very light spicy taste that would probably work for most people.
• I forgot the bay leaves.
• For the future, I would add more vegetables such as bell peppers, carrots, and maybe something green. It felt like there was proportionally too much rice and not enough veggies.
• Also, I'll use the giant stockpot next time instead of the medium one, even for a half batch. It came almost to the brim, and that tomato sauce splashes when it simmers!
  

Verdict: Tasty! Maybe next time I'll manage to follow more of the instructions. Not following recipes is getting to be somewhat of a bad habit for me.

Curried Chickpeas and Black Beans

Okay, time to start reviewing the recipes I've tried!

Curried Chickpeas and Black Beans

Comments & Modifications: For once, I made this almost exactly the way the recipe specified.

• I did leave out the parsley/cilantro because I didn't have any on hand, and I don't think the flavor suffered for it.
• Next time I'll add a little extra water towards the end of cooking, because the sauce wasn't wet enough to moisten the rice.

Verdict: This is definitely a keeper. The flavor is wonderful, and served with brown rice it's quite healthy as well! I keep intending to make this to bring to work for lunch, but haven't gotten it around yet. Maybe next week.