Pan-Seared Tilapia with Chile Lime Butter

This was taken from Epicurious.com
Ingredients:
Chile Lime Butter:
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 Tb. finely chopped shallot
1 tsp. finely grated fresh lime zest
2 tsp. fresh lime juice
1 tsp. minced fresh Thai or serrano chile (preferably red) including seeds
1/2 tsp. salt
For Fish:
6 (5-6 oz) pieces skinless tilapia fillet or farm raised striped bass fillets with skin
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tb. vegetable oil
2 Tb. flour

Make chile lime butter:
Stir together butter, shallot, lime zest, lime juice, chile, and salt in bowl. This works best with semi-melted butter.

Prepare fish:
If using striped bass, score skin in 3 or 4 places with a thin sharp knife to prevent fish from curling. Pat fish dry and sprinkle with salt and dredge in flour. Heat 1 Tb. of oil in 12 in. nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until just smoking, then saute 3 pieces of fish, turning over once with a spatula, until golden and just cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes, and transfer to plate. Saute remaining fish in same manner.

Serve each piece of fish with a dollop of chile lime butter. Also included Uncle Ben's Ready rice ready in 90 seconds.

Yield: Makes 6 servings

Spinach Pie

1 package of frozen spinach, defrosted with the water squeezed out
1/2 cup finely diced red onion
1/2 cup feta cheese (more if you like it a lot)
3 eggs
1 cup milk
10 cherry tomatoes (or lovely grape tomatoes)
1 pie crust (yours or the store's)

Spread crumbled feta across the bottom of the pie crust. Combine spinach and onions then spread evenly over the cheese. Whisk the eggs and milk together and carefully pour over the spinach. Cut each cherry tomato in half and artfully arrange with the cut side up across the top of the pie.

Bake for about 45 minutes in a preheated 350' oven. Be sure to put a pan under the pie as it may overflow.

If frozen: Defrost completely and warm gently in the oven or individual slices can be heated in the microwave.

Easy Slow Cooker French Dip

Got this from Allrecipes (surprise, surprise)
:)
The version I gave you was scaled down to serve 5 instead of 9.
(recipe below serves 9)
I also added a couple of things to the meal you received; 1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce, 1 tbsp minced garlic and 1 tsp thyme.
Before serving, thinly cut the meat then return it to the crock pot for half and hour to allow the meat to take in a little more juice.
Lastly, if you have cheese on hand you may want to add it to the bread before toasting. Just an idea.
Enjoy!


INGREDIENTS

* 4 pounds rump roast
* 1 (10.5 ounce) can beef broth
* 1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed French onion soup
* 1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle beer
* 6 French rolls
* 2 tablespoons butter

DIRECTIONS

1. Trim excess fat from the rump roast, and place in a slow cooker. Add the beef broth, onion soup and beer. Cook on Low setting for 7 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
3. Split French rolls, and spread with butter. Bake 10 minutes, or until heated through.
4. Slice the meat on the diagonal, and place on the rolls. Serve the sauce for dipping.

Thai Beef With Chiles Over Coconut Rice

Serves 6 ~ Prep Time: 15 minutes ~ Total Time: 25 minutes.
From Everyday Food – September 2009

Ingredients
1 ¼ cups jasmine rice
1 can (13.5 oz.) coconut milk
coarse salt
2 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. fish sauce
2 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. sugar
1 tbsp. oil
3 garlic cloves, chopped
3 long hot peppers or red jalapeno chiles, seeded and sliced into 2-inch matchsticks
1 ¼ pounds ground beef sirloin
1 cup loosely packed torn fresh basil leaves

Directions
1. In a medium saucepan, combine rice, coconut milk, ¾ cup water, and ½ tsp. salt. Cover and bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook until rice is tender and liquid has been absorbed, about 25 minutes.

2. When rice is almost done, combine fish sauce, soy sauce, and sugar in a small bowl; set aside. Heat a cast-iron skillet or wok over high heat. Add oil and heat; add garlic and half the chiles. Cook, stirring constantly, 15 seconds. Add beef and cook, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon, until completely browned, about 4 minutes. Add soy mixture and cook 30 seconds. Add basil and remaining chiles and stir to combine. Serve beef over coconut rice with lime wedges.

Notes:
You may substitute turkey, lamb, pork or chicken.
If you prefer, you can also serve Thai beef with steamed plain rice instead of coconut rice.

Salisbury Steak Deluxe

Sorry this is about two months late!!
Have to say, this recipe is super, super easy. There is one very important key to remember though...the sauce gets it's unique flavor from the combination of horse radish and, here's the key...the scrapings from the pan that the meat is browned in. There have been times that I almost burnt the meat and the sauce ended up with the best flavor (in my opinion). So, after you've browned (or almost blackened) the meat, take the patties out and drain off the grease. Then then let the sauce (+ water) simmer for a few minutes. I use a wisk to get everything blended well then put the patties back in before serving.
Good luck :)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
• 1 tablespoon prepared mustard
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon prepared horseradish
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Dash pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

DIRECTIONS

1. In a bowl, combine the soup, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and horseradish; blend well. Set aside. In another bowl, lightly beat the egg. Add bread crumbs, onion, salt, pepper and 1/4 cup of the soup mixture. Add beef and mix well. Shape into six patties.
2. In a large skillet, brown the patties in oil; drain. Combine remaining soup mixture with water; pour over patties. Cover and cook over low heat for 10-15 minutes or until meat is done. Remove patties to a serving platter; spoon sauce over meat. Sprinkle with parsley.

Ratatouille

I used Martha Stewart's recipe for this month.
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/ratatouille

Of course I made some minor changes.
I used some of my own eggplant, Hansel Eggplant - they are the little round circles of eggplant.
I used lots of different colored peppers including yellow banana from my own garden.
The yellow squash from my gardened ended up too seedy to use, so I added extra eggplant and tomatoes. I used Kusa squash instead of zucchini which is similar in texture but has an amazing lemony smell.

Add the fresh basil just before serving.

Pesto Pizza

Basic Pizza Dough recipe

Adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook
Note: I like this dough because you don’t roll it, you just stretch it by hand

Makes enough dough for one 14-inch or two 9-inch pizzas
Active time: 30 minutes, start to finish: 1 ¾ hours (includes rising)

1 (1/4-ounce) package (2 ¼ teaspoons) active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar or honey
1 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus additional for kneading and dredging
½ cup whole wheat flour (or can use regular white flour instead)
¾ cup warm water (105 – 115 degrees F) - divided
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoons olive oil

Make the dough and let it rise:
1. Stir together yeast, 1 tablespoon flour, sugar/honey, and ¼ cup warm water in a measuring cup and let stand until surface appears creamy, about 5 minutes. (You must use yeast that is not old.)

2. Stir together 1 ¼ cups flour and salt in a large bowl. Add yeast mixture, oil, and remaining ½ cup warm water and stir until smooth. Stir in enough of remaining flour (about ½ cup) so dough comes away from sides of bowl. (The dough will be wetter than other pizza doughs you may have made.)

3. Knead dough on a dry surface with lightly floured hands (reflour hands when dough becomes too sticky) until smooth, soft, and elastic, about 8 minutes (I usually do 5 or 6 minutes.) Form into 1 ball, put on a lightly floured surface, and generously dust with flour. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm draft-free place until doubled in bulk, about 1 ¼ hours.

To shape the dough for baking:
1. Do not punch down dough. Carefully dredge dough in a bowl of flour to coat and transfer to dry work surface. Holding one edge of dough in the air with both hands and letting bottom touch work surface, careully move hands around edge of dough (like turning a steering wheel), allowing weight of dough to stretch round to roughly 10 inches.

2. Lay dough flat on lightly floured work surface and continue to work edges with fingers, stretching it into a 14-inch round.

Pesto recipe
Adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook

Makes about 1 1/3 cups (enough for 3 pizzas)
Active time:15 minutes, start to finish: 15 minutes

3 large garlic cloves (peeled)
½ cup pine nuts
2/3 cup coarsely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

With the food processor running, drop in garlic and finely chop. Stop motor and add nuts, cheese, salt, pepper, and basil, then process until finely chopped. With motor running, add oil, blending until incorporated but not completely smooth.

The pesto keeps, refrigerated, the surface covered with plastic wrap, for up to 1 week.
The pesto can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 2 months. If you are planning to freeze it, omit the cheese when preparing the recipe, then stir it into the thawed sauce before serving.

Pesto pizza
1 pizza dough
1/3 pesto recipe (slightly less than ½ cup)
1 can diced tomatoes, completely drained
shredded cheese – I use half extra sharp cheddar and half mozzarella (it’s better to shred this yourself – if you use pre-shredded cheese, it is dry when you bake the pizza. When you shred it, it melts beautifully.)

Pre-heat the oven to 500 degrees F.

Spread the pesto on the pizza dough. It will seem like a fairly thin layer of pesto, but you don’t want too much. Distribute the diced tomatoes evenly on top of the pesto. Cover with shredded cheese, less than 8 oz total, but it’s up to you depending on how much cheese you like.

Bake in lowest rack of oven for 10-15 minutes, until dough is fully cooked and cheese is melted.

I pre-baked the dough completely without toppings (pierce dough with fork so it doesn’t bubble up.) Then I covered with pesto, tomatoes and cheese and froze. Bake the frozen pizza at 400 degrees, directly on the oven rack for about 10 minutes until heated through and cheese is melted.