Friday Favorite June 11, 2010: Smitten Kitchen

Today's Friday favorite strays a bit from the garden, but not too much when you think about it. After all, vegetable gardening is done for the main purpose of producing food. Gardens produce fresh, yummy produce turned into scrumptious dishes grown and prepared by your own hands. So to include a recipe blog as a Friday Favorite is not too far fetched.

This is a blog introduced to me by my husband. It never fails that almost every time I look at it I begin drooling. Today's Friday Favorite is Smitten Kitchen. Click the link and enter the glorious goodness.

Recipes From the Garden: Sauteed Talapia with Garden Fresh Herbs

My hubby dubbed this dish "Delicious Fishes".
I used Talapia but this marinade would be good on any light fish such as Bream, Cod, or Bass.
Great alternative to the traditional Southern fried fish dinner.

Ingredients:
Talapia Filets (1 per serving)
4 Tbsps Olive Oil
2 Cloves Garlic-minced
1/4 cup dry white wine
Salt and pepper (to taste)
1 Tbsp Fresh Rosemary chopped
1 Tbsp Fresh Oregano chopped
1 Tbsp Fresh Basil chopped

Directions:
1. Mix two Tbsp olive oil, garlic, wine, and herbs in a large bowl
2. Marinate the Fish in the herb mixture for at least 30 minutes
3. Add 2 Tbsp olive oil to a pan and heat.
4. Add the fish to the hot pan and sear both sides adding salt and pepper to taste
5. Pour remaining marinade onto seared fish and continue cooking until wine has evaporated and fish is cooked through
6. Serve Immediately.

Recipe: Asian Wok Seared Lamb with Cilantro salad and Stir Fried Zucchini

OK, so I bought the zucchini this time, but hopefully there will be zucchini in the garden this summer (I have 8 plants in the ground) and I will be making this with my own and not store bought. The cilantro in this recipe was from my herb garden.
I came up with this recipe after eating at a chain restaurant that we do not have locally. My kids love this and it is a great meal for any occasion and can be made with beef as well as lamb.

I also usually make Asparagus Stir Fry to go with it but as luck would have it, it was on sale at the store and they were all out. So I decided to try it with zucchini and it was a winner!
Cilantro Salad

Ingredients:

1 head of romaine lettuce chopped finely
1/4 cup of cilantro chopped finely
Directions:

1. Mix romaine and cilantro in a large bowl until well blended.2. Remove from bowl onto serving tray. Set aside.


Asian Wok Seared LambIngredients:

1 pound of lamb cut into bite size pieces (can cut from leg of lamb, or chops)
1 Tbsp sesame oil
3/4 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp Cilantro chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, minced

Directions:
1. Mix the soy sauce, and sesame oil in a large bowl
2. Marinate the lamb in the soy sauce mixture for 15-30 minutes turning to coat well (can be left in fridge over night to marinate if desired.)
3. Place marinated lamb into preheated hot wok and sear until browned, draining off any excess liquid to allow for searing.
4. Add garlic and cilantro cook for two minute stirring occasionally.
5. Place fully cooked lamb on top of cilantro salad, and serve immediately.

Zucchini Stir Fry

Ingredients:

3 Cups Zucchini julienned or chopped
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp ginger1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
1 tsp soy sauce (more or less to taste)
2 cloves of garlic minced

Directions:

1. Preheat wok and add sesame oil.
2. Add zucchini, and cook for a couple of minutes until zucchini begins to get slightly limp.3. Add remaining ingredients, and cook for additional 1-2 minutes stirring continually, be sure you do not over cook or the zucchini will become mushy.
4. Serve immediately

Recipe: Italian Bread with Herb Butter Spread

This recipe is time consuming because you have to wait for the bread to rise, but the payoff is well worth it in the end! My whole family loved this with the herb butter spread, and also with fresh local honey.
Italian Bread (makes 2 loaves)

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups warm water
• 2 tablespoons active dry yeast(or 2 packs)
  
• 6-8 cups bread flour
• unsalted butter
• all purpose corn meal
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 egg white
• 1 tablespoon salt

Directions:
1. Pour the warm water into a large mixing bowl.
2. Add the yeast to the warm water and let it stand for about 10 minutes.
3. Stir in 2 cups of flour, and beat well.
4. Add the salt.
5. Gradually beat or knead in all but about 2 cups of the flour.
6. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and cover with a clean dish towel.
7. Let it rest 10 minutes.
8. Knead by hand until dough is elastic, kneading in as much of the remaining flour as necessary for smooth dough.
9. Butter a large mixing bowl.10. Place the dough in the buttered bowl, turning the dough to get all sides buttered.
11. Cover bowl with a slightly damp dish cloth and let rise undisturbed for about 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in bulk. (I like to use my cold oven or microwave to sit it in so it is undisturbed.)
12. Punch down dough and let rise about 1 hour longer.
13. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface.
14. Divide the dough in half and form each portion into a ball.
15. Cover with a dish cloth and let rest for 10 minutes.
16. Roll each half of the dough into a rectangle about 1/2-inch thick.
17. Roll up tightly, and roll with hands until loaf is 10 to 11 inches long.
18. Place loaves seam side down on buttered bread pans which have been sprinkled with cornmeal.19. Place pans in in a warm place to rise for about 1 hour, until doubled in bulk.
20. Place a shallow pan on bottom rack of oven; fill with boiling water.
21. Bake loaves in center of oven preheated to 375° for 20 minutes.
22. Add 1 tablespoon of water to egg white in a bowl and beat lightly; brush over and along sides of loaves.
23. Continue baking for 20 minutes longer, or until well-browned and done.

Herb Butter Spread

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp fresh rosemary cut finely
1 tsp fresh sweet basil cut finely
1 tsp fresh oregano cute finely

Directions:
1. Let the butter sit in a warm area to soften.
2. Once the butter is soft enough to mash easily with a fork, add the salt and herbs
3. Use the fork to mix all of the ingredients together until you get a smooth spread like consistency and all the herbs are evenly incorporated.
4. Keep in a sealed container in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Recipes From the Garden!

I made the best Italian bread with an herb butter spread this week, and I have decided that I should share this tasty stuff with you, so every week I will post a recipe that I have made, hopefully it will contain something from my garden, but if it is a great recipe, I may include it just for fun.

One of my hobbies is cooking and I really enjoy it and have over the years become a pretty good cook. I cook everything from traditional Southern comfort food, gourmet food, to ethnic food from around the world. My husband and I are very experimental and we like to try a lot of different foods. I love to cook great tasting, healthy food from scratch.

I am sure the first few weeks will be things I have made with my herb garden, and a few things I made last year which probably won't have pictures, but I promise were very tasty. Of course, when the veggies start coming in I will be able to really play around with cooking different things and being creative in the kitchen with my garden veggies.

I would love you to share your experiences with me if you make any of my recipes, good or bad!