Teriyaki Mahi Mahi with Mango/Kiwi Salsa and Ginger Cream Sauce

This is a great go to meal for special occasions. It looks great, tastes great and is very easy! I had this dish in a restaurant and loved it so much I recreated it at home the next day. There are never enough leftovers to do a bubble and squeak recipe but a girl can dream.

Mahi Mahi
6 filets
3/4 cup teriyaki sauce (I like Very Very Teriyaki or Island Teriyaki)

The method:
Place fish in large zipppered bag with teriyaki sauce. Marinade for approximately 1 hour in the fridge.

When mango salsa and ginger cream sauce is ready prepare the BBQ or grill. Cook fish over med-high heat for about 3 minutes per side or until cooked through.

Mango Salsa

Ingredients:
2 mangos, peeled and diced
1/2 large red onion, diced
1-2 kiwis, diced (or you can use pineapple)
1 jalapeno, diced (or more if you like it hot)
3 tbs cilantro, chopped
1 tbs lime juice

The method:

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Season with salt to taste.

Ginger Cream Sauce

Ingredients:
2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
3 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1 pint of heavy cream
1 tsp kosher or sea salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

The method:

Combine cream, ginger and garlic in heavy bottomed saucepan. Heat just to a boil and reduce by half. Keep an eye on it and adjust heat as necessary. You are looking for a consistency of gravy or a thick cream sauce. Season with the salt & pepper. Keep warm.

To serve: Place 3-5 tbs cream sauce on each plate, top with a Mahi Mahi filet. Spoon 2-3 tbs Mango/Kiwi salsa over fish and serve. I serve this with rice pilaf.

Lemon Glazed Shrimp

Prepare BBQ or Grill
Soak skewers in water for 30 minutes to prevent burning.

Ingredients:
20 large shrimp
1tbs olive oil
5 tbs lemon curd (you can find this by jams & jelly)
2 tbs dijon mustard
1 tsp (or more to taste) finely diced jalapeno
zest of 1/2 lemon
1 tbs lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt

The method:
Mix lemon curd, dijon, jalapeno, zest, lemon juice and salt in small bowl.
Place 4 shrimp on each skewer.
Brush with olive oil and BBQ for approximately 1 minute on each side.
Brush with glaze and cook for 1-2 minutes. Turn over and brush with glaze and cook for 1 minute.

Garden Tart with Lemon Glazed Shrimp

Summertime and the garden over floweth! People are giving away tomatoes and zucchini to anyone who will take them. My son brought me zucchini that came from his girlfriend's Uncle. He must be overrun with them! My own tiny garden is producing tomatoes so pretty soon I'll be giving them away or leaving them on desks at work. This Garden tart is a good way to use up those vegetables!

Garden Tart

Ingredients:

1 onion, thinly sliced

1 large or 2 small zucchini, sliced

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tomatoes, sliced & drained on paper towels

2 tbs fresh basil, chopped

1/2 to 1 cup of shredded mozzarella

1/2 cup grated Parmesan (I use a microplane)

1 pkg puff pastry shells

The method:

Preheat oven according to puff pastry package.

Pre-bake puff pastry tarts until lightly golden. Remove tops.

Place 1 tbs olive oil in a skillet, add onions and cook over medium until carmel in color. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a plate.

Place remaining tbs of olive oil in skillet and heat over med-high heat. Add zucchini and quickly brown on both sides. Season with salt & pepper and add to the plate with the onions.

To assemble the tarts: Divide onions, zucchini and tomatoes into 6 same-size portions. Place onions, then zucchini, then tomatoes into each tart shell. Sprinkle each with basil, mozzarella and parmesan.

Bake for approximately 10-15 minutes until tart shell is golden and cheese is melted.

Kind of Caprese Panini (Squeak)

I call this Kind of Caprese Panini because when I told my husband about this recipe he informed me that he thinks fresh mozzarella is funky. He actually compared mozzarella to another food he despises, raisins! Can you imagine not liking fresh mozzarella? I can't. So rather than thinking up something else to do with the leftover Crunchy Chicken with Lemon-Caper Sauce from my post on Tuesday, August 18th I swapped out the mozzarella with provolone. Sometimes you have to compromise in a marriage! By the way, the provolone was fantastic! Don't tell my husband!

Ingredients:

Loaf of french bread, sliced

1/4 c mayonnaise

3 tbs chopped basil

2 tomatoes (I used red & yellow heirlooms), sliced

provolone cheese

leftover crunchy chicken

The method:

Preheat grill pan or skillet.

Mix mayo & basil.

Spread basil mayo on both slices of bread for each sandwich.

Layer chicken, tomatoes and provolone on each sandwich.

Place onto grill pan and cover with a foil wrapped brick, cast iron pan or a regular skillet with cans to add weight.

Cook until golden on first side, Flip over and cook until golden on the other side.

Summertime Bread Salad (Squeak)

Even leftover roasted vegetables can be used to create a new side dish for dinner! First time I've ever eaten or made bread salad. For some reason, mushy bread didn't sound appealing...but boy was I wrong! First of all, the bread isn't mushy and when it soaks up the vinaigrette, it's like heaven in your mouth. So give this one a try!

Ingredients:
1/2 c olive oil
2 garlic cloves, sliced
3/4 loaf of french bread
Leftover asparagus & cherry tomatoes (bubble)
1 red bell pepper, cut into chunks
1/2 an English Cucumber, seeded and cut into chunks
1/2 container of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
3 tbs chopped italian parsely

Lemony Vinaigrette (recipe to follow)

The Method:

Preheat oven to 425

Place the olive oil and garlic in a small skillet and cook on low heat until garlic is golden. Remove garlic with a slotted spoon.

Cut the bread into 1 inch pieces, place on foil-lined baking sheet and toss with 2-3 tbs of the garlic oil. Season with salt & pepper and place in oven. Toss once during baking. Remove when bread is golden brown.

Toss all the vegetables in a large bowl, mix in approximately 1/4 cup of the lemon vinaigrette.

30 minutes before serving add the bread cubes and toss to combine. Add more vinaigrette if needed.

Lemony Vinaigrette:

¼ c lemon juice
1 tsp sea salt
½ tsp black pepper
1 tbs + 1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs honey (or more to taste)
1 tbs fresh thyme leaves (3-4 sprigs)
½ c olive oil

Add first 7 ingredients, whisk well until combined. Add olive oil slowly while whisking until an emulsion forms. Store leftover vinaigrette in the refrigerator. Bring to room temperature and use on salads, roasted veggies etc.

Simple side dish. Roasting vegetables is so easy and if you line the baking sheet with foil --- no clean up!

Ingredients:

Asparagus, ends trimmed

Cherry tomatoes

olive oil

sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

freshly grated parmesan (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400

Toss the asparagus and tomatoes with olive oil, about 2-3 tbsp. Season with salt and pepper. Roast about 5-7 minutes. Sprinkle with parmesan.

Yum, Yum! That is what we had for dinner last night and, according to my husband, it is his favorite chicken now! I should name the chicken after him and call it Markilicious Chicken because it really was delicious and obviously, my husband's name is Mark. Try this for dinner tonight and let me know if you loved it as much as we did. Share your ideas to use this chicken as a second dinner (Squeak). I'd love to hear from you.

Crunchy Chicken with a Lemon-Caper Sauce (Bubble)

Ingredients:
6-8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 1/2 c of Panko
1/2 c grated fresh Parmesan cheese (not from the green container)
1 tsp Lawry's
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 c lemon juice
1/2 c white wine
1/2 c chicken stock
2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
2 tbs capers
1-2 tbs honey
3 tbs unsalted butter, divided
3 tbs olive oil

The method:
Preheat oven to 400
Place 1 chicken breast at a time in a zippered freezer bag. Pound to about 1/4 inch with a small skillet, meat mallet or rolling pin. Repeat with remaining chicken breasts. Season chicken with salt & pepper.
Place panko, parmesan, season salt & pepper in shallow container. Dredge each chicken breast in panko. Meanwhile, heat 1 tbs butter and 1 tbs olive oil in skillet. Saute 1-2 breasts for 2-3 minutes, until browned. Turn over and lightly brown other side. Transfer to foil lined baking sheet and repeat browning for each breast. Transfer chicken to oven. Bake for 10-15 minutes.
Prepare sauce: lightly wipe out skillet to remove panko. Add white wine and reduce by half. Add lemon juice and chicken broth, reduce by half. Add honey, capers and parsley. Off heat add 1 tbs butter and swhirl to combine. Serve sauce with the chicken.

Weekend Blog...Sunday night...Work tomorrow, Yuck! These apples are something I always serve with pork chops. Remember, Peter Brady of The Brady Bunch? Pork Chops and Apple Sauce, said with a lisp? You know how old you are if you remember that episode! Applesauce always goes really well with pork but I like to make the apples more of a side dish. This would go really well with the Glazed Apricot Pork or any pork chop dish. Save your leftover apples for the amazing Apple Butter Pizza pictured above!

Sauteed Apples (Bubble)

Ingredients:

4-5 Granny Smith Apples; peeled, quartered and sliced (about quarter inch)

1 tbs butter melted in pan

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 tbs brown sugar

pinch of sea salt

Heat butter in pan over medium heat add sliced apples. Saute apples over medium high heat about 5 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally. Add the brown sugar and cinnamon. Cook for 2-3 minutes longer until apples are crisp tender and slightly browned.

Apple Butter Pizza with Crisp Topping (Squeak)

Ingredients:

Pre-made pizza crust (individual size)

3/4 cup leftover apples

2 tbs apple butter

1 individual packet brown sugar oatmeal (or 1/4 cup of instant oatmeal)

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 tbs brown sugar

1 tbs melted butter

Preheat oven to 425

Spread apple butter over pizza crust

Place apples over the apple butter

Mix oatmeal packet, cinnamon, brown sugar and butter together

Sprinkle oatmeal mixture evenly over the apples

Bake for 11-13 minutes until crust and apples are slightly browned. Allow to cool for 5 minutes and serve with vanilla ice cream (optional).

Now that I've created this blog all I can think about is cooking. We are going to have a lot of food at our house (in case anyone wants to come over to eat)! Last night we experimented with food photography. Took many pictures of the recipes but getting an appetizing picture of food is harder than it looks. Hopefully, my darling husband will figure out how to make my yummy food look good by the end of this weekend. That is his blog job. My sister is making this recipe tonight. No cooking for me since it is my son's birthday and we'll be going out to dinner. Happy 20th Birthday, Benj!

Lemon Roast Chicken with pan gravy, potatoes, carrots & onions (Bubble)
Preheat oven to 400

Ingredients:
2 chickens
2 lemons
4 onions, quartered
2 carrots, peeled and chopped or bag of baby carrots
8 Yukon gold potatoes washed and quartered
4 tbs olive oil
3 tbs flour
2 tbs butter
2 cups chicken stock
Lawry's Season Salt or Sea Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Prep Chickens; remove innards from inside cavity & neck. Save for stock or toss.
Squeeze juice of 1 lemon on each chicken
Stuff each chicken cavity with the squeezed lemon & 1 onion cut into quarters.
Rub 1 tbs of olive oil on each chicken and season with Lawry's Season Salt & pepper (or lemon pepper if you have it)
Place the potatoes, carrots and remaining quartered onions in bottom of roast pan; toss with 2 tbs of olive oil & season with salt & pepper.
Place chickens on top of vegetables.
Roast for about 45 minutes. Stir vegetables occasionally.
Check chicken temperature with a meat thermometer until 165 degrees. Insert meat thermometer into thickest part of the thigh, making sure not to touch the bone.
Transfer chicken & vegetables to serving platter and tent with foil for 15 minutes.

Pan Gravy
Add 2 tbs butter to drippings in the pan
Melt butter.
Add 2 tbs flour to pan and use a whisk to scrape up browned bits (fond). Cook flour for 1-2 minutes.
Add 2 cups of chicken broth and whisk, whisk, whisk.
Cook for approximately 10 minutes. Add more chicken stock if too thick.
Season with salt & pepper to taste.

My inspiration

My first post ever! My inspiration to start this blog came from my Mom using the bubble and squeak (B&S) phrase while I was growing up but it hit home this week when my sister called asking how to cook for her family of seven and save money at the same time. I put together a grocery list and recipes for a weeks worth of dinners using the B&S method I've used for years. Here are the first 2 recipes:

Dinner 1 - Apricot Glazed Pork Chops with Roasted Potatoes & Carrots (Bubble)
Ingredients:
6-8 thick cut boneless pork chops
4-6 yukon potatoes
bag of baby carrots
Apricot Jam
Dijon Mustard
Soy Sauce
olive oil
Lawry's Season Salt
Pepper

Pre-heat oven to 375
Cut potatoes into 1 inch pieces and place on a foil lined cookie sheet(for easy clean up). Drizzle w/ olive oil, lawry's and pepper. Mix with hands to make sure all potatoes are covered with olive oil. Put in oven. Stir every 10 minutes or so to make sure they don't stick. Bake for approx 35-45 minutes.

Prep carrots the same way as potatoes. Bake for approximately 15 minutes after the pork chops come out.

If using thick cut pork chops, first cut pork chops in half horizontally. Make 1 pork chop per person plus 6 for leftovers for next dinner (Squeak).

Make sauce for glazing: Mix 1/2 cup of apricot jelly with 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustared and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce.

Season pork chops with Lawry's and pepper

Brown chops in skillet in batches for 2-3 minutes per side. Put all chops on baking sheet, brush with glaze and roast for about 10 minutes; turn over and glaze again. Check for doneness. Once done tent with foil for about 15 minutes.

Dinner 2 - Pork Fried Rice and Stir Fried Grean Beens (Squeak)
Ingredients:
Leftover pork chops
Long Grain white rice
1/2 lb green beans
carrots (about 1/2 cup when diced)
celery (about 1/2 cup when diced)
red onion (about 1/2 cup when diced)
2-3 tbls soy sauce
2 garlic cloves
5 tbls peanut or vegetable oil
3 eggs


Make a large batch of white rice, follow package directions
Prep while rice is cooking: Dice leftover pork chops into small cubes, dice red onion, celery & carrot.
Mince garlic.
Crack eggs into a bowl and scramble lightly
Prep green beans; remove ends and cut in half

Once prep is complete and rice is cooling...

Put 1-2 tbls of oil in large pan. Stir fry the onions, celery, carrots for 2-3 minutes; remove from pan when crisp tender.
Stir fry pork until crispy.
Add garlic to pork and stir fry 1-2 minutes
Add onions, carrots, celery back in with pork & garlic.
Move the pork & vegetables to the side of the pan. Add 1 tsp oil if pan is dry & scramble eggs in the pan.
Add rice and stir fry until everything is mixed in for about 2-3 minutes.
Add soy sauce to taste. Stir to combine.
Turn heat to low.

To stir fry the green beans:
Add 1 tbls oil to pan.
Heat the oil over medium high heat.
Add green beans and stir fry 5 minutes.
Add pepper and 2 tbls soy sauce to pan & cover.
Cook until green beans are crisp tender...about 5 more minutes.