Kitchenbelle

Cajun-Baked Tilapia

Posted on May 15, 2009 by kitchenbelle

As I mentioned, my husband has been craving fish. This recipe called for catfish, which I thought would be a nice change since we usually eat cod and salmon. Unfortunately, my grocery store did not have any fresh catfish, however, they did have tilapia fillets. I think tilapia was the perfect substitute! They are firm white fillets that are mild in flavor. This is a nice and easy weeknight meal! I served this fish with Polenta Stuffed Poblano Peppers.

Some recipe notes:

I decreased the original recipe intended for 8 fillets to 2 fillets. However it was still super spicy and a bit on the salty side. I have adjusted the measurements below so that hopefully you won’t have the same problem. I forgot how spicy Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning is!
I substituted olive oil spray for the 1/4 of melted butter called for in the recipe. You could boost the flavor factor by using the butter, however, as a general rule our weeknight suppers don’t contain butter. If I were to make this for guests that would be a different story!
I found this recipe on myrecipes.com. I am obsessed with this site!!! It is a compilation of recipes from Real Simple, Southern Living, Cooking Light and many many more. The kinds of recipes cover a wide scope of difficulty and ingredients and there are great photos and reviews. You can find recipes for just about any ingredient or occasion. You must check it out!

Cajun-Baked Tilapia:

1 cup cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon pepper
2 tilapia or catfish fillets
1/2 tablespoon Cajun seasoning (I used Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning —super spicy!)
a drizzle of olive oil or olive oil spray

Preheat oven to 400 F. Combine first 3 ingredients. Dredge the fillets in cornmeal mixture; place fillets, skin sides down, on a greased baking sheet.

Sprinkle cajun seasoning over fillets. Spray fillets with olive oil spray.

Bake at 400° for 30 minutes or until golden and fish flakes with a fork.

Adapted from recipe found here on myrecipes.com!

Filed under: fish, Main Dish | 4 Comments »

Polenta Stuffed Poblano Peppers

Posted on May 14, 2009 by kitchenbelle

Something about the photo of this recipe in Rachel Ray’s magazine caught my eye. The fact that I had a half of bag of leftover polenta on hand sealed the deal. My husband has been craving fish quite a bit lately. (My mom always taught us that if you are craving something it is your body telling you that you need it! I have been diligently quenching my cravings for as long as I can remember. I love when my husband mentions his cravings because I love finding new recipes to satisfy them.) I decided these peppers would be a perfect accompaniment to some baked fish. I was right! The polenta was just fantastic—creamy and flavorful (not bland at all due to the nice bite and freshness provided by the scallions) and the corn kernels added some always-welcomed crunch. I served these peppers with Cajun-Baked Tilapia. (Recipe to come!)

One note:

I could not find peppers labeled “Poblano” in my grocery store. However, the produce manager assured me Pasilla peppers were the same as Poblano. According to this article, that is not true, however, for the purpose of this recipe they were just fine. They had a nice warm flavor–not as acidic as typical green peppers, not nearly as punchy as jalepenos, and not as sweet as red peppers. They were an enjoyable contrast to the creamy polenta.

Something else I wanted to mention: Technically, today is this blog’s one year anniversary! The reason I say “technically” is because I started writing this blog in May 2008, however, I didn’t make it live until July 2008. It has been a wonderful year of fun in the kitchen—I have discovered so many wonderful recipes from a variety of sources. Sources that have ranged from the expected to the unexpected! (One source I am currently addicted to is myrecipes.com. More on that in future posts!) I continue to adore researching, discovering, trying, and sharing new recipes with you. I hope you’ll continue to visit kitchenbelle.com for inspiration, information, and fun.

Polenta Stuffed Poblano Peppers:

4 plum tomatoes, halved
1 red onion, cut into wedges (I forgot to get an onion so I substituted 5 whole cloves of garlic)
4 poblano peppers, halved lengthwise and seeded
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup instant polenta
1 10 ounce package frozen corn
1/4 cup soft goat cheese
4 scallions, sliced

Heat broiler. On a baking sheet toss the tomatoes, onion (or garlic in my case) and oil. Turn the tomatoes so that they are cut side down and place them on one end of the baking sheet. On the other end of the baking sheet place the peppers cut side down. Broil the vegetables until they are charred, about 5-10 minutes. Flip the tomatoes and peppers over halfway through. Remove from oven. Set peppers aside. Place tomatoes and onions in a blender or food processor.

Heat oven to 400 F. Add the cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper to the tomatoes and onions in the blender or food processor. Puree until smooth. Spread half of this sauce on the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish. Place the peppers (cut side up) on top of the sauce.

In a medium sauce pan bring 2 1/4 cups of water to a rolling boil. Slowly whisk in the polenta. Do not stop whisking, about 3-4 minutes, until the polenta is thick. Stir in the corn, goat cheese, and all but 2 tablespoons of the slice scallions.

Spoon the polenta mixture into the peppers. Drizzle with the remaining sauce. Bake in the 400 F oven until heated through, about 5-10 minutes. Top with remaining scallions.

Recipe adapted from Everyday with Rachel Ray June/July 2009 issue.

Filed under: cheese, corn, Main Dish, peppers, polenta, Side, tomato, VEGETARIAN | 2 Comments »

The Flour Bakery Cookbook

Posted on May 7, 2009 by kitchenbelle

(Above: With Joanne Chang in the bustling Flour kitchen.)

As some of you know, over the past weeks I have been a recipe testing intern for Joanne Chang, owner of Flour Bakery and Myers & Chang. If you haven’t heard of Flour Bakery (there is one in the South End of Boston and one in the Fort Point Channel) you must pull your head out from under that rock and go! Flour sells the most delicious goodies, from cookies, to banana bread, to blueberry muffins, to carrot cake, to sticky buns and much much more. (Joanne creamed Bobby Flay in a sticky bun Throwdown on the Food Network!) You can find some tasty savory bites as well—the sandwiches and soups are to die for.

Well, Joanne’s latest project is The Flour Bakery Cookbook. Lucky for us, Joanne is pulling together some of Flour’s best recipes and neatly packaging them in a cookbook for all to access. How generous of her! The book is set to publish in the fall of 2010. However, as you can tell by following Joanne’s blog, creating a cookbook requires quite a bit of effort. Joanne had to rework every recipe written for commercial use to a recipe that will yield successful results for the home baker.

That’s where I came in! As a recipe tester, I worked with Joanne to test the recipes over and over. We had to make sure the instructions were clear, the oven temps were accurate, the baking time was appropriate and that the different components of the recipes yielded the correct amounts. We made a lemon raspberry cake at least three of four times! (Unfortunately I never snagged a photo of it!) Joanne is so generous she always sent me home with a box of leftovers treats.

This experience really allowed me to indulge my passion for cookbooks, recipes and baked goods. I want to thank Joanne and her fabulous staff at Flour for a wonderful experience and the opportunity to assist with The Flour Bakery Cookbook.

Here are a few photos I snagged during testing:

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Fresh chunks of pineapple are cooked in caramel sauce and then baked beneath a yellow cake batter that yields a pudding-like consistency. Absolutely divine.

pineapple

Dried Fruit Foccacia

Dried fruit pieces distributed throughout this bread offer a surprise with every bite!

Boozy Rum Cake (Pre-Frosting)

What a fantastic name for this cake! Four layers of cake are lined with rum-flavored pastry cream then the entire cake is frosted with rum-flavored whipped cream. The result is light, sweet, boozy and woozy!

If you are too anxious to wait for next fall for the cookbook’s release, you can try Joanne’s Chocolate Cupcake recipe now! It is my go-to chocolate cake recipe! See below.

Easter Egg Cupcakes

Welcome Home Little Guy Teddy Bear Cupcakes

Filed under: Flour Bakery | 14 Comments »

Teriyaki Seared Scallops

Posted on April 27, 2009 by kitchenbelle

I wanted to make a protein to accompany our soba noodle salad. We had some frozen scallops in the freezer (<GASP>—frozen scallops?!) Yes, Trader Joe’s sells bags of frozen scallops and I keep them on hand for quick weeknight suppers. Though they don’t compare to fresh scallops, I think they are quite good!

So I cooked them on our grill pan in this teriyaki glaze. They were the perfect addition to our noodles!

Teriyaki Seared Scallops:

1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
12 sea scallops
scallions, sliced, for garnish

Heat grill pan.

Combine first 6 ingredients in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

Rinse scallops then pat them dry.

Place scallops on grill pan. Carefully brush tops of scallops with half of glaze. After a few minutes flip scallops and carefully brush exposed sides with remaining glaze. Cook 1 minute or until scallops are done. Top with sliced scallions.

Adapted from Cooking Light.

Filed under: fish | 3 Comments »

Soba Noodle Salad

Posted on April 20, 2009 by kitchenbelle

Have you seen the “Going Going Gone” episode of Barefoot Contessa? In it she makes Crunchy Noodle Salad, Asian Grilled Salmon, and Lemon Yogurt Cake with Blueberry Sauce. This episode really makes me want to jump into her kitchen. (She is my favorite—isn’t her kitchen such a peaceful place?) I have had this episode saved on my DVR for weeks now because I have been dying to make the Crunchy Noodle Salad. It is just so appealing! Well I finally made it!

I made some adjustments:

Instead of spaghetti, as Ina suggests, I used soba noodles. Soba noodles are Japanese noodles made of buckwheat flour. The texture of these noodles is fantastic!
I had some black sesame seeds on hand so I used those instead of white sesame seeds.
I only used one red bell pepper instead of two.
I contemplated replacing the vegetable oil with olive oil. I don’t like cooking with vegetable oil but I feared the olive oil flavor would be too powerful and offset the wonderful flavors of salad so I stuck with the vegetable oil.
One adjustment I didn’t make this time but that I will make next time is to use crunchy peanut butter instead of smooth. I think the crunch of the peanut butter will add to the great textures of this dish.
I think julienned carrots would be an excellent addition to boost the crunch factor.

The verdict: FANTASTIC!

I am not kidding. This is one of the best dishes! It is ABSOLUTELY delicious. The fresh flavors and combination of textures really make this dish wonderful. I served it with teriyaki-seared scallops; however, it would be a perfect accompaniment to steaks, salmon, or any other grilled protein. Furthermore, this is a perfect dish to bring to a picnic, cookout, or potluck. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Barefoot Contessa’s Crunchy Soba Noodle Salad:

1/2 pound soba noodles

1 pound sugar snap peas

1 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

1/3 cup soy sauce

3 tablespoons dark sesame oil

1 tablespoon honey

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

3 tablespoons toasted white sesame seeds, divided

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

1 red bell pepper, cored and seeded, and thinly sliced

4 scallions (with and green parts), sliced diagonally

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the noodles and cook according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, bring another large pot of salted water to a boil, add the sugar snap peas, return to a boil, and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until crisp tender. Lift the sugar snap peas from the water with a slotted spoon and immerse them in a bowl of ice water. Drain.

For the dressing, whisk together the vegetable oil, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, garlic, ginger, 2 tablespoons sesame seeds and peanut butter in a medium bowl.

Combine the noodles, sugar snap peas, peppers and scallions in a large bowl. Pour the dressing over the spaghetti mixture. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds and toss together.