Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Radish Dressing

This recipe began as a need to use up my radishes, my carrot row markers, that come to age quickly and suddenly inundate my late spring garden with roots ready to harvest. Spicy as they are, my plan was to create a salsa or a relish, but I ended up making the most wonderful and sustainable Spicy Salad (recipe to follow), and consider this recipe to be the dressing.

Ingredients
12 Radishes, quartered and then thinly sliced
1/4 cup Raspberry Vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil (or more to taste)
1 to 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
A couple pinches of salt
1 teaspoon oregano
( I bet mint might work REALLY well too! Just might try it this weekend!)

Process
  1. Pare radishes, and the cut into quarters.
  2. Into a medium water tight container (trust me, use a lidded Tupperware or it's like), cut 1/4 radishes into thin slices.
  3. Combine remaining ingredients and stir. Put the cap on and shake. Put it in the refrigerator and walk away. Come back and stir it, recover and chill some more. You get the drift, let it marinate and agitate it often. You will use this later over and awesome sustainable salad mixture.

Simple Fried Chicken


Ingredients
4 rinsed, boneless, skinless, thinly-filleted chicken breasts

3 eggs, scrambled in their own bowl

2 cups Panko flakes, and a bread pan, tossed with:
1 T Basil
1 T Oregano
a generous pinch of salt

olive oil, enough to cover 1/4" of pan of choice

Process
  1. Prepare chicken according to directions and set aside on a plate.
  2. Heat oil in pan you will fry chicken in. Oil is ready when, small amount of water flicked off finger, sizzles into pan.
  3. Submerge one chicken piece in egg mixture.
  4. Drip off and then dredge into Panko mixture.
  5. Drop chicken piece flat side down into hot oil pan.
  6. Fry, flipping once, until finished. Keep warm in oven if you need to fry a second batch.
  7. Serve with a side salad, or a garnish of Ranch Dressing.
*Also very good as a "Second Day Salad" (recipe to follow).

Monday, June 8, 2009

Super Easy Fish Tacos


I made this tonight - great for the kids, healthier choice than fish sticks with tartar, and made a wonderful salad when I omitted the wrap for myself.

Ingredients
Frozen fish sticks
1 small (10 oz.) bag thin cut cabbage/coleslaw mix
3 + tablespoons Mayo
1 tablespoon lime juice
Fresh salsa like Sisters Salsa
Small tortillas or soft taco wraps

Process
1. Cook fish sticks according to directions.
2. In a medium bowl, combine mayo and lime juice. Toss in coleslaw and mix. You may need to add more mayo and lime juice, but not too much as it is not to be the wet consistency of coleslaw.
3. In wraps or in a bowl if you want to omit the wrap, place some of the cabbage mix.
4. Next place cubes of fish sticks.
5. Dab a bit of salsa on top.
Wrap it up and eat it.

Yum!

Pork Schnitzel (Milanese)


My sister Mush just sent me this recipe.

The 2 cups of oil called for in this recipe may seem like a lot, but they're necessary to achieve a wrinkled texture on the finished cutlets. When properly cooked, the cutlets absorb very little oil. To ensure ample cooking space, a Dutch oven is essential. (When Dick cooks this, he uses a deep pan and cooks a few at a time). In lieu of an instant-read thermometer to gauge the oil's temperature, place a fresh (not dry) bread cube in the oil and start heating. When the bread is deep golden brown, the oil is ready. (It's really fool proof!)
Ingredients:
7 large slices high-quality white sandwich bread, crusts removed, cut into 3/4 inch cubes (about 4 cups)
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
2 cups plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil (we use canola oil because it's a little lighter)
1 pork tenderloin (1 1/4 pounds) trimmed of fat and silver skin and cut on angle into 4 equal pieces (Veal or chicken cutlets can be used as well)
S and P
1 lemon cut into wedges (not necessarily needed if making Milanese)
2 tablespoons fresh parsley leaves (also not needed if making Milanese)
If making Milanese (like we do) you will also need
Baby Arugula
Red Onion
Sweet cherry or grape tomatoes
(lemon if desired)

Process:
1. Place bread cubes on large microwave-safe plate and nuke on high for 4 minutes, stirring well halfway through cooking time. Microwave on medium until bread is dry and few pieces start to lightly brown, 3-5 minutes longer stirring every minute. Process dry bread in food processor to very fine crumbs, about 45 seconds. Transfer bread crumbs to shallow dish (you should have about 1 1/4 c crumbs). Spread flour in second shallow dish. Beat eggs with 1 tablespoon oil in third shallow dish.

2. Place pork (veal or chicken) between 2 sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap and pound to even thickness between 1/8 and 1/4 inch. Season cutlets with S and P. Working with one cutlet at a time, dredge cutlets thoroughly in flour, shaking off excess, then coat with egg mixture, allowing excess to drip back into dish to ensure very thin coating, and coat evenly with breadcrumbs, pressing on crumbs to adhere. Let coating dry 5 minutes.

3. Heat remaining 2 cups oil over medium-high heat. When hot, lay 2 cutlets, without overlapping, in pan and cook, shaking pan continuously and gently, until cutlets are wrinkled and light golden brown on both sides, 1-2 minutes per side. Transfer cutlets to paper towel lined plate and flip cutlets several times to blot excess oil. Repeat with remaining cutlets. Serve immediately

4. To make Milanese style, top cutlets with arugula, red onion, and cherry tomatoes which has already been tossed with extra virgin olive oil. (Sometimes Dick will drizzle a little balsamic vinegar or lemon on His. I like mine a little plainer.)
Mmmmmm, mmmmmm, good! (And healthy to boot!)