Take-home: The Rashida Special

Okay, I LOVE Rashida Jones. She's got a dry sense of humor, stylishness, low-key attitude, and uber-cool cohorts (including dad, Quincy Jones and ex-fiance, Mark Ronson). I believe the term is "girl crush," ie: a girl that other girls want to copy and be best-friends with.

So when I read Aziz Ansari (Rashida's Parks & Recreation co-star, and a fellow foodie) twitter about the "Rashida Special," I was intrigued.

azizansari Bout to do up the best breakfast ever aka the Rashida special - egg whites, avocado, black beans, and turkey bacon in a tortilla.



I've read this post months ago, but today after the gym it felt like a breakfast burrito kind of morning...with a little more preparation, I would've pulled together a Rashida special, but today I used what I had.

1 flour tortilla
1/2c Egg substitute
2 tbs black beans
2 Morningstar Farms Sausage Links (no-meat)
sprinkle of extra sharp cheddar
1tbs green chiles

1. Lay one flour tortilla on a plate, sprinkle with water, microwave for 20 seconds to soften.
2. Spray a small bowl with cooking spray and add egg substitute. Microwave for 2-3 minutes stirring occasionally until cooked through. Remove and lay on tortilla, sprinkle with cheese.
3. Heat Sausage links as instructed on package (1min 20 sec). Place in a straight line down the center of the tortilla. Top with green chiles.
4. Season beans with salt & pepper, heat 30 seconds or until warm. Spoon on top.
5. Wrap it up, carefully making sure to get everything inside.

This meal was quick and delicious (with the help of my trusty microwave), but the Rashida Special is definitely going to be added to my menu...hopefully with more success than my emulation of Rashida's bangs...

Restaurant Take-Home: Continental's Miso Glazed Chilean Sea Bass with Sweet Potato Mash

So here's another Continental favorite, I had to try again. One of the tastiest entree's at Stephen Starr's The Continental: The Miso Glazed Chilean Sea Bass.
Many recipes for the sea bass called for long marinating and Mirin rice wine...both of which were huge turn-offs for me...additionally, having never cooked sea bass, I figured I'd stick to a fish I'm assured one can never cook wrong: Salmon. Also, it's available everywhere.

Another shortcut, was using Trader Joe's instant miso soup mix instead of miso paste. I'm not sure that miso is that hard to find, but at least this way, without making this dish every single day (which after making it the one time, doesn't sound like too bad of an idea) you can still use the ingredient. Also, if Trader Joe's is your main grocery store, you'll have no problem whipping it together whenever.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons hot water
• 1/2 packet Trader Joe's instant miso soup
  
• 2 salmon fillets
  
• Cooking spray
• 1/2c chopped scallions

1. Preheat oven to 450.

2. Sift Trader Joe's instant soup (or at least try to get rid of the tofu bits and dried veggies)

3. Combine first 4 ingredients.

4. Arrange fish in a shallow baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle scallions on. Spoon 2/3 of miso mixture over top of fish.

5. Bake for 10 minutes, add more glaze over the top. Bake for an additional 5-10 min. Beware of burning (glaze may get hot and the sugar can burn) -- if this happens add a few tbs of water to the sauce around the fish -- NOT on top of the fish.

6. You should be able to smell the deliciousness of the fish when it's done. A well cooked fish will show bits of whiteness on the outside amid the pink and the glaze.

At Continental, the sea bass is served alongside a sweet and fluffy cloud of white sweet potato mash (and a fried sweet potato chip). I'd tasted a similar puree at Trader Joe's last year around Thanksgiving, so I headed to the store to pick up a can to serve alongside...alas, a conundrum when looking for white sweet potatoes: the contents of the can were slightly bitter, orange, yams. Still, to turn them around, I added a pinch of salt, a few tbs of butter and some brown sugar to taste (about 1/4c). All in all, not quite the same asian complement as starchy white sweet potatoes, but not a bad combination either.

Lobster Mac n Cheese

Nothing says summer vacay like a tasty, decadent lobstah...and what better place to find it than in the culinary mecca of Chelsea Market (home of the Food Network). To The Lobster Place it was, although after seeing the amazing seafood selection, it was clear we couldn't walk out with just one seafood item. So pre-cooked lobster meat it was -- which also allowed for a stroll through the Meatpacking District and sunbathing on the HighLine during time that would otherwise have been spent boiling a gazillion tons of water.


It also helped to have, days earlier, tasted the Lobster Mac at Continental (where I am pleased to report they have returned to the tasty orzo pasta, making the dish a lot more dense and thusly delicious).


















However, for a recipe, I had to turn to the queen of Lobster and decadence: The Barefoot Contessa herself, Ina Garten.
I have to say, eating her food almost makes you envision yourself in a gorgeously decorated garden of your very own Hampton's beachhouse.








Pasta:
Small/Medium shells
Oil
Salt

Sauce:
1 pint (16 oz) whole milk
6 tbs butter
1/4c flour
2c grated Gruyere cheese
1c grated Sharp Cheddar cheese
1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 - 1lb cooked lobster meat
1/4c bread crumbs (plain, unseasoned)

Makes 4 generous servings

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Cook pasta to al dente (ie: boil water, add pasta, cook for 6-8 min, strain and rinse with cold water to stop cooking, set aside). (requires about 1/2 - 3/4 of package)
3. Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan, but don't boil it. *this is Ina's step and I really like it as a quick and easy way to get a nice, thick sauce...much less tedious than adding cold milk and allowing it to thicken* In a large pot, melt 6 tablespoons of butter and add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk. *not having a whisk, I used a wooden spoon, although you should be conscious to flattening any lumps that may develop with the back of the spoon.* Still whisking, add the hot milk and cook for a minute or two more, until thickened and smooth.
4. Lower heat and add Gruyere (save a handful for topping), Cheddar, 1 tablespoon salt, the pepper, and nutmeg. Set aside off heat.
5. As we used pre-cooked lobster, I heated it up a bit by heating 1 tbs butter and 1 tbs water in a small saucepan. I added the chopped up lobster to the mixture and cooked for a minute or so or until it was a bit warm. Then add the lobster to the cheese sauce and stir until it's well distributed.
6. As there was more pasta than sauce, I added the pasta a handful at a time to the cheese sauce to get it all incorporated. Next, spoon the mixture into a greased baking dish. Cover the top with remaining gruyere and breadcrumbs. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly. Enjoy!

*You can also spoon this into individual ramekins or smaller oven-safe bowls, so you can enjoy the leftovers later without drying it out by cooking over and over*

Fried Fish

OK, not really, but alternatively it's a really cheap, fast, easy, and tasty dinner (all of my basic requirements) and on top of all that, it's pretty healthy too!

So first off, I'm in love with fish because it cooks in like 1/10th of the time as chicken (and unlike chicken, it's hard to overcook). While my top choice is a delicious salmon (see pan-seared salmon recipe...), the problem with having salmon (or most fish vs chicken, say) is that it's often pricey and hard to find fresh...this is why I sometimes prefer white fish. Catfish in my opinion tastes kind of like mud. Tilapia on the other hand, while flaky and deliciously tender, doesn't really have much taste at all. Bad if you're making Tilapia Steaks, but great if you're making practically anything else as you can flavor it yourself to fit about any dish. Also, it's dirt cheap and available in almost every grocery store. Score!

A really common way of cooking fish is to fry it, but as I am afraid of hot oil: a) because I think I could really hurt myself, b) because it's super messy and takes a lot of effort to work with, and c) because I don't really like to see how much fat goes into making a really tasty restaurant dish. So I LOVED this fast, easy, healthy alternative: Oven "Fried" Fish

Ingredients (per 80z fillet):
1 Tilapia Fillet (defrosted and cut into 2in 'chunks')
3 tbs milk
2 tbs cornmeal
1 tbs salt
1/2 tbs pepper
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
(optional: hot sauce)

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
2. Prepare cookie sheet lined with parchment paper -- You can use a regular cookie sheet and just spray with cooking spray, but the parchment really helps the fish from sticking.
3. Pour milk into small bowl (add a few shakes of hot sauce if preferred).
4. In a plate, mix dry ingredients: cornmeal, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder
5. Dip fish chunks in milk mixture.
6. Dip fish in dry mixture, turning and sprinkling to ensure fish is evenly coated. Try to coat as much as possible, although it's ok if fish is a bit wet to touch.
7. Arrange fish on cookie sheet, bake for 10-15 minutes (turning once if desired) or until golden brown.

You can eat these "fish sticks"...plain with ketchup, hot sauce, tartar sauce, and/or lemon...in a sandwich...or you can use these as the basis for a crispy fish taco! For fish tacos, I would add some mexican hot sauce or jalapenos to the milk mixture and maybe some chili powder to the dry mix. For toppings, see my post on fish tacos!

Enjoy :)