Spud 3 Cooks: Tilapia, Green Beans and Potatoes

Spud three made dinner last night and it was fantastic!

I wend looking for something to cook and found tilapia fillets and green beans in the freezer. I went to the computer and searched for "tilapia green beans recipe". The first recipe to pop up was for Breaded Tilapia with Seasoned Potatoes and Garlic Green Beans.

I got busy so when Spud 3 came looking for dinner, I handed him the recipe. It is pretty complicated but he did it.

The startling thing about this recipe is that it 'fries' the breaded fish in foil packets. I was very skeptical but it worked.

A few notes about the recipe.

45 minutes is way too long to bake the fish. Next time we will stop and check after 30 minutes.
Oil the foil all the way around. The fish didn't stick to the bottom of the packet but it did stick to the top where it got flattened too much.

If you like potatoes you will want to increase the amount! They are yummy enough that doubling the recipe is probably a good idea.

Spud 3 has a strange (to me) dislike of frozen vegetables. He loves fresh and canned but not frozen. The recipe calls for fresh or frozen green beans. He insisted on using canned. It worked. Well it worked except for the confusion between teaspoons and tablespoons. The Tablespoon of minced garlic in the beans was a bit much, but it really wasn't as overwhelming as it might have been, particularly when the beans were mixed into the potatoes.

We will definitely be trying this again together and separately.

Spicey Mussels

Re-posted here as part of my ongoing efforts to collect my recipes from over the river and through the internets into one place.

Every now and then I want something tasty, spicy, seafoody and EASY. This cooking guide (I’ve given up on the term recipe for the moment) meets all of those requirements.

In a covered skillet saute garlic (as many cloves as you can stand although I usually use two) and onion (diced very fine only if you want) in a small amount of olive oil or butter.

Once the garlic is soft but not brown add very dry sherry (or whatever white wine you cook with) to deglaze the pan. (I probably add about a quarter to a half cup)

Add one small can of tomato sauce. (The best tasting brand you can afford.)
Add a dash (or two or three) of red pepper flakes. (Make is as spicy as you want. Use whatever heat source you want. I prefer the red pepper flakes from a local Italian grocery because I like to pretend that this is an Italian dish.)

If you are a make-ahead kind of person you can stop here. Let it simmer on the stove or cool and store it.

Just before you are ready to serve heat the sauce in the skillet (which has a lid). Add the mussels. (J use frozen mussels because I don’t like having to debeard them. Tragic, I know, but then I live far far away from any coast. Fresh seafood is a joke this far inland. Using the frozen version allows me to pretend that I am having a treat.)

Cover and simmer for six to ten minutes. (Talk to your fish monger, or go read all about preparing seafood on an extension service website. Make sure that you follow safe handling practices and don’t just rely on some goofball on the web to insure your good health!) You can add other seafood if you like but pay attention to proper cooking times for whatever you add.

Throw away any mussels that do not open.

Throw away any mussels that do not open. Did I Say that already? It is important.

These can be served as is with a great crusty bread to soak up the cooking liquid. Or it can be served over pasta.

Shrimp in Spicy Garlic Sauce

This recipe is re-posted here in an attempt to collect my recipes posted hither and yon across the intertubes into one place. Sorry I don't have a picture of this one.

Mince at least 3 cloves of garlic and 1 inch of peeled fresh ginger.

Stir together 3 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce, 1 tsp honey, chili garlic paste to taste (about 3 tsp), 3 tsp toasted sesame oil and a dash rice vinegar or mirin. stir and set aside.

Mix about 1 Tbsp corn starch with 3 Tbsp cold water. Set aside.

Heat oil in hot pan. Add 1 can sliced water chestnuts. Stir until oil becomes hot again. Add garlic and ginger. Stir just until it becomes fragrant. Add 2 lbs, peeled, deveined, tail off shrimp. (If using pre-cooked, then just heat through.) Stir fry about 2 minutes until the shrimp is opaque and just cooked through. Add sauce. Bring to a boil. Stir up cornstarch mixture. Add to pan. Stir and cook until slightly thickened. Serve over rice with vegetables. like broccoli and red peppers.