easy

I would love to have this post be upbeat and funny but there are just some times that it just does not work out that way especially when you have a loved one in the hospital and they are not expected to leave. Unlike some folks, I love my in-laws as they have always been wonderful to me. My father in-law loved my cooking and I even created recipes for him. He is one of the reasons that my recipes do not have a lot of added salt. I will be thinking of a recipe which I will dedicate to him here when I have it completed. I want it to be a monument to his personality and one that will bring us all wonderful memories of a great man every time I make it. I love you Bill, even though out of respect I had a difficult time calling you that and see, I did take care of your daughter. In the interim, here is a post from the old site that was almost lost. It is a very, very easy recipe but awfully delicious.

Desperate times call for…

Some of the best things can be born out of desperation and this recipe is an example of one of them. I was in charge of cooking dinner one night for me and the children but had not had any time to go to the grocery store to pick up anything specific. I knew I had chicken in the freezer (Who doesn’t?) but that was about it. I did not feel like serving the kids fast food because heaven knows that they will eat enough of that stuff in the course of their lives. So, I rooted around in the pantry and found a small jar of pineapple preserves and from the fridge a half bottle of teriyaki sauce and some soy sauce. I combined them together in this recipe which was so easy I recreated it with a pork tenderloin. (same steps and ingredients except for replacing chicken with pig)

Fast Hawaiian Chicken
(makes 4 servings)

Ingredients:
1 – Small, jar of pineapple preserves
½ a bottle or less of low sodium teriyaki sauce
1tsp – powdered ginger
1 tsp – coarse ground black pepper
2 tbsp – low sodium soy sauce
4 – Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1tsp – dried basil leaves
1tsp – dried parsley flakes
Sesame seeds
¼ cup of peanut oil
9 X 13 baking dish

In a small bowl mix peanut oil, teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, parsley and basil and whisk together. Set this mixture aside for a moment. Spray baking dish with Pam or some other cooking spray and add about 1/4 cup of water to the bottom of the dish. You can even use rice wine as a liquid if you would like. (Less, if you are using a smaller pan or have reduced the recipe) Arrange chicken in the bottom of the pan and evenly sprinkle (distribute) ginger and black pepper over the top of each piece, kind of pressing the herbs into the chicken with your fingers. Take the teriyaki mixture which had been set aside and slowly pour over chicken. Spoon pineapple preserves evenly on each chicken breast so that each has its own layer. (It’s kind of like adding a blanket to each of the chicken breasts) You can add fresh pineapple slices around the outside of the chicken because it kind of looks nice (and tastes pretty good too when it’s done). Take sesame seeds and kind of “salt” them over top of everything before you put it in the oven.
Bake in an oven that has been pre-heated to 350 degrees for 40 minutes making sure to gently (you do not want to blast the pineapple from the top of the chicken) baste chicken about every 10 minutes with mixture from bottom of baking dish.

I served this with pineapple jasmine rice and green beans dressed with ginger salad dressing.

Enjoy!

I am sorry but yes, it is yet another fish recipe and this after I thought it was going to be “chicken week”. However this is a very easy recipe and won very high marks from one of my most discriminating critics (my daughter). The name of the recipe was kind of joke because nobody would EVER cook while they were fully baked…right? Not that I have ever been that way but I was just referring to the state of the fish at the end of the recipe…Yah, that’s the ticket. You believe me right? Okay, even if you do not believe me, this is still really good fish.

This recipe was born while I was watching chocolate chip cookies being made at the same time I was trying to figure out how to make faux fried fish for dinner. I think I was watching Alton Brown on the Food Network, but that is neither here nor there, and as I was watching the vanilla extract being added to the cookie batter (after Alton’s requisite aside on actual vanilla beans, where they come from, how they grow, what we do with them, etc.) I wondered how it would taste on breadcrumbs and ultimately the fish. I quickly made a crumb test batch to try out on my family first. The test was a success and the rest, as they say, is history. The best thing about grouper is that it takes on virtually any flavor you put on it and the better the outside flavor the better the fish. I know that grouper is expensive right now but if you get the chance you should try this recipe. Haddock or most any other mild, flaky white fish would also work.

I’m Totally Baked
Vanilla Grouper
(makes 4 – 5 servings)

2 ½ lbs – Grouper fillets (skinless, about 8 ounces per person)
1 ½ cups – Canola Oil
1 ounce – Pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp – Sugar
7 ounce package – Panko breadcrumbs

Combine canola oil, vanilla extract and sugar in a medium bowl and whisk together thoroughly and set aside (for now). Next, in a big ass skillet, pour about half of the oil/vanilla mixture in the bottom and start it on low heat. After about 2 to 3 minutes of letting the oil/vanilla mixture heat up add about 1/3 of the breadcrumbs and mix together until the breadcrumbs absorb the oil. Repeat this same process until you have run out of breadcrumbs and the oil/vanilla mixture. Move the heat to just below medium and toast the breadcrumbs for approximately 3 to 5 minutes, then lower heat and toast some more at low for another 2 to 3 minutes. After this remove the breadcrumbs from the heat and set aside to cool.

After the breadcrumbs have cooled a bit, wet grouper fillets (I did it with water but you can also use buttermilk but if you do I would soak the fillets for the entire time you are making the breadcrumbs) and roll them in the mixture fully coating them. Spray the bottom of a 9 X 13 baking dish with a non-caloric cooking spray and arrange the fillets in the bottom of the pan. Bake the fish at 380 to 400 degrees for about 35 minutes or until the fish starts to flake easily. The breadcrumbs should have a “toasted marshmallowesque” look to them. (I always start checking my fish at the 30 minute mark because sometimes fillets can be of different thicknesses and the thinner ones take less time. You do not want to overcook them.)

I served this with steamed fresh green beans garnished with almond slices and wild rice pilaf with Cremini mushrooms and petite peas.

Enjoy!

thewellfedcyclist

Sometimes life gets in the way…

Trust me officer “Baked” is a relative term…