Tilapia Baked in Parchment

The past weekend, our eldest daughter flew down from NY for a visit with us. It was soo great to see her, and admire the woman she has become. Striving for a healthy lifestyle, I made  a sinple low fat fish dinner  for us. Any mild fish will do, baking opposed to frying, reduces the fat and calories, wrapped in parchment and baked retains all the juices and flavors.
Picked some herbs from the garden, parsley, chives, thyme, rosemary, minced some garlic, sliced some grape tomatoes, meanwhile the tilapia was brining in a solution of 1/2 cup kosher salt, 1/2 cup sugar per gallon of water.I only needed a pint of brine, so reduced accordingly, added some granulated garlic, dried rosemary, and thyme, brought the mixture to a boil, rmoved from heat allowed to cool completely before adding fish filets and then placed in fridge to brine for about 1& 1/2 hours.


  Time to assemble:

Minced the herbs,rosemary,thyme,parsley chives, sliced garlic and tomatoes

place  filet on the parchment paper ,added the herbs,garlic,tomatoes and drizzeled with some olive oil

This is actually a chicken breast wrapped in parchment as an example of how it should be sealed, as i forgot to photo the fish. I baked the wrapped packages  in a glass baking dish for 20 minutes at 350

Cut off top of parchment, served with a wild rice blend, and julienned sauted veggies. ( I used my titan juliener, to do the veggies, works great ) Everyone loved the dinner

Chicken In Stewed Tomatoes

Many years ago,more than I wish to recall, my wife Doris made this Creole chicken dish,using boneless chicken breasts and stewed tomatoes.I believe she found it in one of our cookbooks,it was a simple dish, season the breasts with a spice mixture of paprika, cayenne, marjoram, salt and pepper,saute till lightly browned, add tomatoes cover, cook.
Well , it was good,but of course we needed to adjust it to our own preferences of spice and herbs, etc.It has since evolved to a base for many other meats, like Italian sausage, pork chops or cutlets, chicken on the bone, or rolled  stuffed boneless chicken breasts.The simplicity of this dish starts with a can or two, of Del Monte Italian Style seasoned stewed tomatoes,  our preferred choice,which are already seasoned,and cooked, creating a quick tomato sauce base.
 With the addition of a large onion chopped, a couple of cloves of garlic, meat of choice and the stewed tomatoes ,you will have dinner in about an hour or so, if time is not a factor, the longer it cooks the better.
The basic steps are as follows: brown meat in a saute pan with a couple tbsps of olive oil, remove to a warm plate, discard all but 2 tbsps of oil in pan, add onions cook till soft, add minced garlic cook 1-2 minutes,but don't brown.Add meat back to pan, add the 1 - 2 cans of stewed tomatoes which have been pureed in a blender or processor .You may add any additional herbs of choice, like basil ,oregano, or spice it up with hot pepper etc, but be aware the tomatoes are already seasoned, so taste first, we usually add a tsp or so of sugar as the tomatoes  can be acidic at times.
My favorite is Italian sausage with rigatoni pasta, but we limit that, so it's usually chicken .
now that you have a basic concept, follow along as I prepare dinner:

.Brown chicken, here I used chicken thighs, bone in, skin on, which were brined ( see note below about brinning).I browned the thighs skin side down till very crisp, about  8 minutes, then cooked on the other side 8 minutes.Removed to a warm platter and then sauted onions in the oil,till soft, add minced garlic cook 1-2 minutes don't brown garlic or it will be bitter.

When the onions were soft and garlic added for a couple minutes, added 1 can of the pureed stewed tomatoes, stirred all together

Cover ,bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer for a couple minutes

Add browned mostly cooked chicken to pan, cover and let simmer about 1 hour, longer is better.I started this early in the afternoon, as I was busy with other  holiday baking, it actually cooked on a low simmered  for 2 & 1/2 hours

Time to serve, on  'warmed' plates, place some chicken, add the al dente cooked rigatoni to the sauce in the pan and toss a  minute or so to coat the pasta. Then add to the plate , open the wine, toss the salad, slice the oven warmed  bread and enjoy !

Brinning is simply soaking a meat in a brine of salt ,sugar, water and if desired herbs and spices. The brinning process litteraly plumps the meat with moisture and if seasoned  adds flavor , it also denatures the protein,making it more tender.Basic brine is per gallon of water add 1/2 cup coarse salt ( or 1/4 cup table salt), 1/2 cup sugar, add any seasonings desired, think of the brine as a soup, more you add the greater the flavor. Bring to a boil, remove from heat, let cool completely before adding the meat ( chicken ,turkey, pork ) place in the fridge .
whole chicken  or bone in parts, 24 hours , boneless 1-2 hours, fillet of fish 1 hour. As you see, the smaller and boneless needs less time. after the brinning, rinse and dry before cooking, discard brine.
Of course a smaller quantity can be made using the same proportions of salt and sugar to water.

Spinach,Cheese,Walnut Stuffed Pork Cutlets

It was a typical monday,what's for dinner? A look in the freezer shows  chicken breast on the bone,had that yesterday.Boneless pork cutlets,( I buy whole or half loins on sale,cut to size),Hmmm, I'm gonna pound out these and stuff em with something.
Filled rolled cutlets, whether beef or pork or chicken is not new,but it allows a variety of filling choices.On hand we had baby spinach, always reggie parm, who could live without fresh garlic and onions,chicken,beef stock in the pantry,I'm rolling now!  The image evolved, thinly pounded pork cutlets,seaoned with salt and pepper,sprinkled with minced garlic,fine chopped walnuts ,( or pine nuts) grated reggie parm,and a layre of baby  spinach,rolled and tied! When all 4 were assembled, dredged in flour,and browned in olive oil.Removed to a warm platter,to the pan,added one small onion chopped,sauted till soft,added 4 cremini mushrooms (also called baby bella ) diced,cooked till soft,added minced garlic,cook one minute,add 1 can beef broth,1/4 red wine, bring to a boil,lower to a simmer,add pork rolls,cver, let simmer about 45 minutes. Remove rolls to warm platter,pour broth and veggies into a sauce pot,puree with a hand imersion blender,( or in a blender,a little at a time),till smooth. Bring to boil,cook till reduced and thickened.





pounded thin in zip bag

topped with s&p garlic,walnuts

topped with reggie parm

layer of baby spinach

ready to tie

removing excess string

dredge in flour

brown on all sides(I should have inserted tooth picks horizontal
 with roll),easier to brown all sides

removed rolls added veggies,saute onions first,then mushroom, shredded carrot,add garlic

add beef broth and rolls,bring to simmer

simmer covered about 45 minutes

remove rolls to warm platter,cover.pour broth and veggies into saucepot
puree with hand imersion blender(or table top blender,small amounts at a time)

add sauce top with roll cut in half
conclusions: Flavor of rolls was great all fillings were detectable,although It could have simmered for only 15-20 minutes,would have been enough..The sauce  was too rich,and competed with the meat.Next time,I'll just brown the rolls 2-3 minutes a side,remove and make a  lighter sauce with
 tbs or 2 of onion,no garlic, cup of broth,1/4 cup red wine,reduce by half,add 1/4-1/2 cup cream and reduce till thickened.Also a rue could be made,saute the onions till soft,add 1-2 tbs flour,cook 2 min,add broth and wine stirring till thick.