This is a slight adaptation of as recipe by Laura Calder, host of the Cooking Channel show, French Food at Home. I don't watch much food tv and so haven't actually seen her show, but I've watched a few of her videos on the Cooking Channel web site and must say I'm a bit smitten.
Entrees
Crispy Tilapia with Classic Tartar Sauce
To be perfectly honest, I'm not really a big fan of Tilapia.
I love working with it as it's firm, meaty flesh cooks quickly and holds together nicely in the sautè pan. I love buying it, because let's face it, as seafood goes it's downright cheap to put on your plate. I even love inking it into our weekly meal plan because everyone in the family totally digs it.
Except me…..
Quick Chicken Cacciatore
This recipe is a twist on one I saw recently in Fine Cooking for a Veal Cacciatore. I'm not one who has a problem eating veal from a philosophical stand point, but in this particular dish chicken makes an easy and cheap substitute with hardly any impact on the flavor of the final meal.
While this is a one pan meal, it is cooked in stages so that each component can be done to perfection, then combined and reheated at the last minute. This dish is super easy, and just loaded with flavor, especially if you take the time to extract every little bit of moisture from the mushrooms, and caramelize them to a rich brown like you see in the photo above.
Classic Meatballs on Cheesy Polenta
I arrived a little early to a Share Our Strength benefit a few weeks back, and having missed lunch that day, was starving. Luckily the event was being held at the fabulous Lincoln Tavern and Restaurant in South Boston so there was plenty of good food on offer. I grabbed a seat at the bar, ordered an IPA and one of their more popular bar appetizers, meatballs over creamy polenta.
In short order I was a very happy guy.
Baked Shrimp with Fennel and Feta
I know I've said it before, but I'm going to say it again….I could kiss Molly Stevens. Queen of one-pot cooking (her cookbook All About Braising: The Art of Uncomplicated Cooking is a must own), this nearly one-pot meal is another of hers that I fell in-love with by just reading the recipe.
Wheat Fusilli with Chorizo, Mozzarella and Basil
This killer of a pasta dish is a twice adapted version of one originally by Lynne Rossetto Kasper of APM's "The Splendid Table". I say twice adapted because the version I was working from was itself adapted from the original, and appeared recently in the cooking section of a Sunday Boston Globe.
Panko Crusted Chicken Drumsticks with Honey Mustard Sauce
I'm not sure where my friends at Cooking Light found their budding culinary superstar, Matisse Reid (age 12), but we are big fans of hers here at Oui, Chef. Matisse is featured every few months in Cooking Light where she offers up "Kid in the Kitchen – Family Friendly" fare, and once again she's knocked it out of the park with this chicken dish.
Her secret?
Pasta with Arugula Basil Pesto and Crisp Serrano Ham
I love a good pesto genovese as much as the next guy, but by the time late summer rolls around I've eaten enough basil pesto to choke a horse, and I'm looking to shake things up a bit to keep me from suffering pesto-palate fatigue. This dish does just that by adding peppery arugula and sweet spring peas to the pesto along with the basil. The resulting pesto looks like a traditional genovese but will surprise your taste buds with a flavor complexity that a plain old basil pesto just can't deliver.
Mussels with Coleman's Mustard Cream
This dish, what the French would call "Moules a la Moutarde", is traditionally made with a dijon mustard but when my friends from Coleman's Mustard sent me a beautiful collection of their dry and prepared mustards to try, I couldn't resist giving this classic French meal a British mustard make-over!
The results? Jolly good nosh, if I do say so myself….the Dog's Bollocks, really!
Roasted Halibut with Sherried Chorizo and Breadcrumbs
Well it should, because I posted a cod dish like this not too long ago. Normally, given the dish's similarities I wouldn't have posted this one so soon after the other, but it was so stinkin' good that I couldn't resist. Plus, it's different enough that it might appeal to some folks who took a pass at the first one.