Flounder in Parchment

My dinner for tonight. The flounder was very moist, maybe too much, but it had a pretty good flavor. A firmer fish might be better. The general recipe I used was for 4 servings and I had to cut it to just one serving. I served it with some roasted butternut squash and a nice salad with some of my favorite things, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, kalamata olives and feta cheese. The beauty of cooking with wine is that most of the bottle is left to drink.


Flounder in Parchment

1 flounder fillet
3 peeled shrimp
approximately 1/4 cup chopped red pepper & yellow pepper
1 chopped green onion
1 small clove pressed garlic
1 1/2 tablespoons white wine
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
1 /2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram leaves, crushed

Rinse flounder and pat dry, season both sides with salt & pepper. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly spray parchment with oil. Place folded fillet on one half of parchment. Sprinkle with chopped peppers and onion. Place the shrimp on top of vegetables. In a separate bowl mix the wine, mustard, lemon juice and marjoram. Pour over the shrimp & fish. Fold the parchment over the fillet. Trim the parchment to allow about 2-3 inches around the edge of fish. Starting at the bottom fold edges together going around to the top of the paper. Place on a cooking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes. To serve cut an X through the top layer of parchment to display the fish.

Banana Cake

Okay, I've been accused of favoring C since all my posts so far are things I cooked when she is visiting. This Banana Cake I baked a few weeks ago just because I had an over supply of bananas stacked up in the freezer. I baked half into a small rectangle cake for B & I, then half a dozen baby cakes for future use that I froze. I actually thawed them out & took them in to work for our last pot luck.

Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Icing.
SERVES 16 , 1 9x13 pan or 1 bunt.
Ingredients

1 1/2 cups bananas, mashed, ripe

2 teaspoons lemon juice

3 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup butter, softened

2 1/8 cups sugar

3 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 1/2 cups icing (or powdered) sugar

chopped walnuts

Directions

Preheat oven to 275°. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 pan. In a small bowl, mix mashed banana with the lemon juice; set aside. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, cream 3/4 cup butter and 2 1/8 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in 2 tsp vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Stir in banana mixture. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake. in preheated 275 F. degree oven. Check it in about one hour, Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven and place directly into the freezer for 45 minutes. This will make the cake very moist. For the frosting, cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add icing sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high speed until frosting is smooth. Spread on cooled cake. Sprinkle chopped walnuts over top of the frosting, if desired.

!

Fruit Salsa

I've been really craving fish and the local grocery had a sale last week so we had a choice of salmon or flounder for dinner Saturday night. I wanted to serve it with a fruit salsa, so C thought salmon would be the best choice. Pinapple and mango were also on the sale list, so pineapple/mango salsa it was. I've made the salsa before, but it really did come out well and made the dreary, rainy weekend seem a little more sunny. C & I ate the salsa with some blue corn tortilla chips as an appetizer and then on our salmon. C made a spinach strawberry salad (strawberries were also on sale this week). The salad was really good, but a few too many almonds for me. Next time I'll probably halve them, although what size is a small package?

Fruit Salsa

1 chopped mango
1 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh pineapple
1/3 cup finely chopped red onion
1/3 cup sliverd yellow sweet pepper
4 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peal
3 tablespoons lemon juice
4 teaspoons finely chopped jalapeno (about 2 peppers)
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

In a medium bowl stir together the fruit, onion, pepper cilantro, lemon peel, lemon juice, jalapeno and ginger. Cover and chill for 8 to 12 hours. Makes about 3 cups.

Scones

Most of the scones I've had have been sweet, on the dry side and with a stingy amount of fruit. I saw these on the KAF web site and have been meaning to try them for some time. How could bacon, cheese and onion be bad? Cassandra visited this weekend so it seemed the perfect time. They were really good, not too dry & chock full of bacon, cheese and onion. I used the green onions instead of chives since the chives at my local grocery were very tired looking. I also used whole milk instead of cream. The bad part was eating only one.

Shrove Tuesday - A great excuse to have pancakes for dinner. I would have preferred the pumpkin pancake recipe that I developed last fall or the Whole Wheat Pancake recipe from my aunt Laura, but Bill was home & prefers the "old standbys" so I went with the "Joy" recipe.









Pumpkin Pancakes

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup milk
2 eggs
2 tablespoons melted butter
3/4 cup pumpkin

Mix all dry ingredients together. (You could leave out the cloves & ginger if you want, I like them, but they do kind of give the pancakes a "kick") In a separate bowl mix together the milk, eggs, butter & pumpkin. Add the pumpkin mixture to the dry ingredients and stir just until mixed. Cook on a griddle or in a skillet as any other pancakes.

Brownie Recipe

I had a request for the brownie recipe, so here it is:

TRIPLE CHOCOLATE BROWNIES

1 CUP UNSALTED BUTTER

2 ¼ CUPS SUGAR

1 ¼ CUPS DUTCH PROCESS COCOA

1 TABLESPOON ESPRESSO POWDER

1 TEASPOON SALT

1 TEASPOON BAKING POWDER

1 TABLESPOON VANILLA EXTRACT

4 LARGE EGGS

1 ½ CUPS UNBLEACHED FLOUR

1 CUP DARK CHOCOLATE CHIPS

1 CUP WHITE CHOCOLATE CHIPS

1 CUP CHOPPED NUTS, OPTIONAL

PREHEAT THE OVEN TO 350 DEGREES. LIGHTLY GREASE A 9X13 PAN.

IN A MICROWAVE SAFE BOWL, OR IN A SAUCE PAN SET OVER LOW HEAT, MELT THE BUTTER. ADD THE SUGAR, STIRRING TO COMBINE. STIR IN THE COCOA, ESPRESSO POWDER, SALT, BAKING POWDER AND VANILLA. WHISK IN THE EGGS, STIRRING UNTIL SMOOTH. ADD THE FLOUR, CHIPS, NUTS IF USED, STIRRING UNTIL WELL MIXED. SPOON THE BATTER INTO THE PREPARED PAN. BAKE THE BROWNIES FOR 28 TO 34 MINUTES UNTIL A KNIFE INSERTED INTO THE CENTER COMES OUT CLEAN. THE BROWNIES SHOULD BE SET ON THE EDGES AND BARELY SET IN THE CENTER. REMOVE FROM OVEN AND COOL FOR A T LEAST 1 HOUR BEFORE CUTTING.

CHOCOLATE GANACHE

¾ CUP HEAVY CREAM

1 TABLESPOON UNSALTED BUTTER

8 OZ SEMI SWEET CHOCOLATE CHIPS

HEAT CREAM AND BUTTER IN SAUCEPAN OVER LOW HEAT UNTIL BUTTER IS MELTED. ADD CHIPS AND STIR UNTIL MELTED, COOL SLIGHTLY AND BEAT UNTIL THICKENED. SPREAD OVER BROWNIES. IF DESIRED, SPRINKLE TOP WITH CHOPPED NUTS, TOFFEE OR SHAVED CHOCOLATE, WHITE OR DARK.

Of course another major comfort food are brownies. These are triple chocolate brownies, made with dutch process cocoa, dark and white chocolate chips and topped off with chocolate ganache. White chocolate is finely grated on the top. I sent most of them home with Cassandra to keep them off my waistline. She said she was going to take them to work to share.