Fish 'n' .....Parsnips?

One thing I love that I don't eat often enough is Fish 'n' Chips. I am a fish addict. If I could eat it six nights a week I would. But I try to stay away from fried foods for two reasons:
1. The smell of frying oil that lingers in the air makes me want to vomit.
2. I haven't seasoned my Dutch Oven yet.

So today I am seasoning my new Dutch Oven so I can fry some fish tonight. But I have parsnips I need to eat soon and I'm not cooking tomorrow since the boyfriend is taking me out to eat, and I would hate for them to go to waste. But they're slightly like potatoes right? So I can make "chips" out of them. I just have to decide how to do that. Alton Brown tells me you can just fry them and they are delicious so I might try that.


No no no, Parsnips are for Saturday's meal. What am I saying? I'm gonna make a variation of my mom's home fries, but turn them into thick steak fries. And I am ruling that all dinner conversation is done in a British accent.


Fish 'n' Chips

Ingredients:

• 3 cups canola oil
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus 1/2 cup for dredging 
• 2 teaspoons baking powder 
• 2 cups seltzer water 
• 4 cod fillets
• 3-4 potatoes, washed and dried 
• 1 package lipton soup mix, preferably an herb variety. 
• 1/4 cup olive oil  

Directions:

In a Dutch Oven, heat 3 cups of canola oil to 360° and preheat your oven to 475°.

While that's heating up, wash your potatoes and slice them into steak fries.

Put them in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Mix until well coated and then sprinkle with soup mix, mixing again to be sure they are evenly seasoned.

Dump on to a baking sheet in a single layer and pop in the oven for about 15 or 20 minutes. Flip each fry over and put back in the oven for an additional 10 minutes or until crispy.

Mix together all your dry ingredients in a large bowl except for the extra half cup of flour. Put that in a separate container for dredging your fish. Add your seltzer and whisk to combine.

Cut your fish into 4 inch squares (roughly).

Dredge your fish in the flour, shaking off the excess.

And dip into your batter.

From the batter, carefully get your fish in the hot oil and fry for 5-7 minutes per side or until golden brown. I recommend doing two or three chunks of fish at once.

Place the finished pieces on on a cooling rack over a backing dish lined with paper towels to drain.

Serve with your chips and tartar sauce ASAP!



Mangia!

Something a little sweet

I'm sorry for the lack of posting yesterday, but Tuesdays are wing nights and therefore I don't often cook anything on Tuesday. So I have nothing to blog over. I also go to a friend's house on Wednesdays for dinner, and while I do cook it's not always easy to blog it when I'm somewhere else. But to make up for the breaks between, with the cooler weather now here I can do some baking once a week. I have even more dessert recipes saved than I do savory foods.

I knew I wanted to bake, but looking around the cupboards we only have boxed stuff and that's unsuitable for blogging. It's my first winter in the house so I've had zero need to get things like cocoa or shortening, or anything to do with the oven really. But I have always wanted to make cake pops. Except I don't have cake mix. But I do have brownie mix! Brownie pops can't be bad can they? People love brownies. People love frosting. People love chocolate and sprinkles. It's gotta be a winner.

Brownie Pops

Ingredients:

• 1 pan prepared brownies (either homemade or boxed) 
• 1/2 cup of frosting 
• 6 oz. bakers chocolate 
• sprinkles, colored sugar, crushed nuts, and/or melted chocolate for decoration 
• Lollipop sticks (I used shish-kabob skewers. I was not spending more money for more leftover sticks to float around my utensil drawer.) 
• You will also need a block of foam of some sort to stand the pops in while they dry

Directions:

Once your pan of brownies is COMPLETELY cooled, crumble the brownies by hand in a large mixing bowl. Also set aside a baking sheet covered in parchment or tinfoil.

Add the frosting and mix by hand until well incorporated. The mix should hold together well, but shouldn't feel like raw batter. You may add more frosting if you find it's too dry/less if it's too wet.

Now take about a tablespoon of the mix and form it into a ball like you would meatballs.

Put them on your baking sheet and freeze for two hours.

If your freezer looks at all like mine, you may need to get a little creative for this step. Either acting in shifts or becoming a Balancing Wizard.Once they are frozen, remove them from the freezer and melt your bakers chocolate, following brands directions. Some require shortening so check before you get to this point.

Poke a hole in the top of each ball. This will become the bottom of the pop eventually.

Take your lollipop (shish-kabob) sticks, and dip the ends into the melted chocolate before sticking them in the holes to create a sort of glue.Now take the pops one at a time and dip them into the chocolate, allowing the excess to drip off.

Once the chocolate as stopped dripping, gently roll in sprinkles, nuts, or whatever other toppings you have chosen. If you have an alternate color of chocolate to melt, you can fill a ziplock bag with it, cut the corner off, and make a piping bag to drizzle chocolate over the top.

Alternatively, you can set them upside down. I opted to do this because I had some casualties. If you can keep all but the 4 or 5 you're about to dip in the fridge or even freezer, it works better than allowing them to get to room temperature.

I found I liked them more if I sprinkled the toppings on by hand. Sure it made a mess, but it worked better for me. Stand in styrofoam and put in the fridge. I find if you don't keep them cool, its a disaster. If you're using skewers like I did, use scissors or wire cutters to remove the tips and make them a manageable length.





Mangia!

A Special Request Blog

Alright, I wasn't planning on making an entry today since we're having pizza, but I had a special request from a very old friend to "please make a blog about making coffee because apparently I am an epic failure at the art of Chock Full O Nuts". I can't pass that up.

Coffee for Checo

Ingredients:

• coffee grinds
• water
• coffee filter
• coffee maker 

Directions:

Put amount desired amount of water in coffee maker. I generally aim for the 8 cup mark so I can have more than one cup in the morning.

Pour the water in the coffee maker.

Put your coffee filter in and add your coffee. I grind my coffee myself, but grinds from the super market will work just fine. I also like really strong coffee so I get the darkest roast I can, and do 1 heaping scoop for every 2 cups of water.

Hit brew.

Wait for the pot to finish and then pour a cup.

Add sugar.....

and creamer to your liking then stir.

Drink it and enjoy the nectar of the gods.


As a bonus I have included my top secret ice recipe:


Ice for Checo

Ingredients:

• water
• ice cube tray
• freezer

Directions:

Fill ice cube tray with water from the tap.

Put in freezer and wait a few hours.

Ice!




Mangia!

I ♥ Slow Cooker Meals.

Up in Northwestern New York, I'm told winter lasts forever. This year I get to find out for myself. And I hate hate HATE winter weather. But winter is good for a lot when it comes to food. You just can't cook warm comfort food in a heatwave that breaks 100°. So I'm just going to focus on the tasty foods I'm going to be able to make, instead of all the shivering and teeth chattering I'm gonna do.

Today I'm making chili in our slow cooker with fresh baked cornbread. I love me some cornbread. I opted to go with ground turkey because I'm paying a little more attention than usual about what I eat and, for me personally, just sticking to leaner meats can help me drop an additional 10 pounds. I'm trying to lose 40 pounds and this is gonna be the time I finally do it. And of course I say this when starting up a food blog. Ha! But I'm convinced with some strict portion control and exercise, I can eat pretty much anything and reach my goal.

6-Hour Chili

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground meat (beef, turkey, chicken, whatever you're in the mood for)
• 1 large (48 oz. or more) stewed/crushed tomatoes 
• 1 can for corn
• 1 red onion 
• 3 cans of 3 types of beans (one can per variety) 
• 1 package chili seasoning

Directions:

Get out your slow cooker and start with the tomatoes.

Then the meat. I prefer to crumble it by hand as I add it.

Next is the onion.

Now the corn.

And finally the three beans.

Mix it all together, the top with chili seasoning. Mix again and put on low for 6 hours. I stir it every time I walk into the kitchen just to smell it and make sure everything melds evenly.

Top with anything you like. I like cheese and sour cream, sometimes chives if I have them. I also always make cornbread to go with chili. It's the best combination.





Mangia!

I Got A Pickle, I Got A Pickle, I Got A Pickle Hey Hey Hey Hey!!!

So normally Saturday is Date Day for my and the boyfriend. We go out for a late lunch and then I'm off the hook for dinner. Not this week however. He's out doing important stuff with friends and I bought a jar of pickles when I went out today.

The two things have nothing to do with each other, aside from he is expecting to reheat beans and rice tonight. And while we're still doing that, I'm going to attempt one of our favorite foods as a side: Fried pickles. A friend's girlfriend gave me a recipe a month or so ago and I just never tried it. Here goes nothing.



Mackenzie Fried Pickles

Ingredients:

• 1 jar dill pickle chips 
• 2/3 cup pickle juice 
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons of flour 
• 1 egg
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Mix pickle juice, 2 tablespoons flour, and the egg together in one bowl. In another, mix 1 cup flour, and salt & pepper.

Dip the pickle chips in the egg mixture first, and then the flour. Fry in about 2 inches of oil at about 350° for about 2 minutes or until golden on both sides, flipping once.

Drain on paper towels and serve.

Alternatively, you can be a total klutz like I am and dump half the pickles and all the flour on yourself and the floor halfway through but it is not recommended.

Mangia!