Master of disguise

There are a lot of challenges I love watching on t.v....the four items in the chopped basket, the taste challenge on Hell's Kitchen, trying to anticipate ingredients in certain dishes to get that "perfect balance" but nothing compares to hiding healthy seafood from my wife, Sims. I love fish, and the tastes that go along with a great fish dish. But tonight I imagined I was on the "Chopped" challenge and I reach in the basket and pull out my four ingredients...they are...1)Fresh Tuna, and 3 notes that say..."OK Oilcan , 2)now hide that flavor from your wife...3)and she has to eat the whole thing.....4)and LOVE IT!!  AHA!!! you lose!!!...now that was the ultimate challenge basket I had in front of me tonight...We had swordfish the other night that I put over Quinoa and topped the fish with sauteed zucchini and eggplant and fresh tomatoes...served grilled corn and peas on the side. I guess she saw right through the disguise. Swordfish is a steaklike fish that shouldn't be too hard to disguise..I thought sneaking that by her would have been as easy as sneaking beer into a concert in the 80's. She said it was good, but I could tell she tasted F I S H....oh well...made tonight more of a challenge...so, here I was with my basket with my four items (see above for 1-4)...so I go to my imaginary pantry for more ingredients...how do you cover/mask Tuna and still make it delicious????? hmmmm.....I've got it!!!!   BACON!!!!!!!!   So.....here we go... took two tuna fillets...sliced hers in half so it would cook to MW-WELL and mine would still be MR-MED...pan fried extra thick slices of BACON in a seperate saute pan...meanwhile, heated up some potato gnocchi (potato dumplings) in a saucepan with boiling water...ok, follow along....when the bacon was cooked put the bacon grease over the tuna in the other pan...left some BACON grease in the other pan to saute red peppers and Vidalia onion....put green beans in the boiling water that was just vacated by the gnocchi....chopped up the BACON and added it to the pepper/onion mix.....added olive tapenade (she loves that flavor) and some fresh tomatoes....finished with some Marsala wine...let that reduce....So....BACON  infused Tuna topped...make that smothered.... with the onion/BACON/pepper/tapenade/tomato mixture served with browned gnocchi (with sauteed garlic and onion) and the green beans......OK, the healthy Tuna became equal to a triple whopper with all that BACON, but I just chalk that up as collateral damage....because my friends...tonight I am a chopped champion!!!!! With a smile on her face she joined the "clean plate club".Yahoo!!! I guess tomorrow will have to be something under 2 grams of fat and about 40 calories.....but tonight.....HAPPY....thank you BACON....sigh

Seafood Sunday

So....thinking about seafood when I went shopping for dinner, I always tell my kids.."start with the protein and go backwards....with the protein being the foundation of the meal, it is easier to marry other dishes with your initial concept...anyhow....You can always find a bargain while making a great meal. I found some Cod that was 1/2 price as well as some large shrimp that too was 1/2 price. You gotta use it right away, especially with seafood. (take your trash out that night with any residual seafood you might put in there) So...here we go...I decided to make a crab/shrimp imperial that I stuffed in the Cod...I saved 9 Shrimp...Broiled them and made that as a topping/garnish for the Cod...I thought of a Hollandaise (pain in the ass to make) but thought that would overwhelm the taste of the seafood. OK....remember the Basmati rice that I had from last night?? well....I had some leftover and added pearl onions and peas to it and put baby asparagus on the other side of the meal (love me some asparagus. I didn't want to get to fancy as you can "overdo" a dish and take away the natural flavors...as they say.."sometimes, less is more" I didn't ask for a rating on this dish as I think the kids are getting wise to my reactions to their ratings (I really have to learn that they all won't be a 10 in their eyes) Anyhow.....Stuffed Cod instead of something like a Flounder was yummy and easy. Cod is a very easy fish to marry a lot of ingredients with...not too expensive either...especially when it is half price. Gonna try to figure out how to put pics of these dishes on this blog as well....till next time......

First Blog

I love to cook and use my family as Guinea Pigs...sorry guys...didn't mean to put the word Pig in there..but I love seeing you Pig out on the food I cook for you....oops used that Pig reference again. Anyhow...I cooked a stuffed pork loin (bartlett pears, spinach, Vidalia onion, feta cheese and mushrooms) and broiled it on the grill. Made a sauce from Pinot Noir wine, blackberry preserves, and a finer chop of the stuffing. Just to put the dish a little off balance...served it with cheddar cheese and potato stuffed Perogies. Grilled Corn on the cob and grilled zucchini finished off the dish....that was last night...tonight we had a bit of an Indian flavor...simmered boneless, skinless chicken thigh in Tahini-Curry, chicken stock sauce for about 5 hours. The chicken shredded wonderfully and the simmered sauce developed a perfect consistency to compliment the chicken. Ok....cooked an Indian style of Basmati rice (seasonings) and nuts to put the chicken on. So....Rice, Chicken (with a bit of the sauce), A greek yogurt/cucumber sauce with similiar seasonings and topped with fresh (farmers market) chopped tomatoes. garnished with a sprinkle of Feta Cheese (leftover from Friday) Grilled big ass pieces of marinated eggplant and served it with toasted homemade Italian bread to sop up any leftover sauce....got the bread at the farmers market too. Both dishes turned out pretty welll...my family gave them both 9 3/4 (thats out of 10)...the nerve...it's Hamburger Helper for your ass tomorrow...Just kidding, this goober don't do HH....cooking is too much fun...and besides...the best part....THE KIDS DO THE DISHES! Anyhow...I think this will be fun...More tomorrow...hmmmm...Seafood sounds like fun...let's see what happens....