Yes it's RAW fish but it's not Sushi...

Hi all! sorry I have been out of commission for a few weeks. lets pick up where we left off.

When we think of RAW fish most of us think about Sushi, right? well that is the way its done in Asian countries, but what about raw fish dishes from the Americas? In Latin American Countries Raw fish is "cooked" with acid. ACID you say? Yes the citris fruits used in Latin American cooking contain citric acid, and with enough you can make the raw fish in our next dish delicious and safe to eat!

Bryant's Ceviche De Pescado

Ingredients:
1/2 lb of raw white fish (halibut, sea bass, tilapia, albacore etc...) cut into 1/4 - 1/2 in peices.
1 HOT pepper (chile, jalapeno, chipolte, habenaro use discression, how hot can you stand?)
1 Garlic Clove (well discuss the diference between a bulb and a clove at the end)
1 medium meaty tomato (roma works nicely)
1/2 Bell pepper your choice of color minced
1 small onion chopped
7 limes (14 if using key limes) Juiced Well (pulp strained or not is your choice)
     3.5 to 'cook' the fish
     3.5 for the marinade
1/4 bunch of cilantro chopped as fine as possible (DO NOT CHEAT & USE DRIED you will regret it)
1/2 Tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)

Preparation:
Place raw fish pieces into a glass dish and cover with lime juice, salt it and add HOT peppers and minced garlic clove 1 tbs of Cilantro. place in fridge for at least 4 hours. this will be the 'cooking' of the fish in the acid bath. now place the chopped onion in a bowl cover with warm water and salt the water, let sit for 10 - 20 min Then drain and rinse. after the fish has 'cooked' combine with remaining cilantro, bell peppers, onion, EVOO, and the rest of the lime juice. refridgerate atleast 1 hour before serving to allow flavors to combine.  Serve in a custard dish, or small bowl. this goes great with Tortilla Chips or in a four tortilla for a soft taco.

Combine mayo, and salsa for a nice sauce for Fish Tacos, add lettuce and a white cheese. Use a warm Tortilla and the Ceviche cold. DELISH!

OK for some of us bulb and clove and piece etc... can get confusing. when it comes to garlic, the Bulb is the entire group of Cloves. the cloves are the pieces that are all stuck together under the dried flaky skin of the Garlic Bulb.

Enjoy
Bryant

Quick Crunchy Chicken

Like many of you, I can get real tired of "George Foreman grill chicken". I am always trying to find quick ways to make chicken taste different than the chicken I ate last night. When you are a bachelor or newly wed, money is tight and chicken is cheap.

One way to mix up the flavors is through the process of Marinades/Rubs or Seasoning. Marinades or rubs work well, but chicken absorbs it slowly = Time consuming! Seasoning during cooking, or just prior to, can add Flavor to the first 1/8 to 1/4 inch of the meat. It can also draw out moisture resulting in dry bird. So be careful to avoid salting until during the cooking process.

So now we arrive here...
How do I get crispy, juicy, flavorful, easy and fast chicken? Here's a tip, don't read this long winded monologue introducing a simple recipe. We now return you to your regularly scheduled serious answer:

Fried Onion Crunchy Chicken

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 - 3 oz Can of Crunchy Fried Onions 
• French's© makes a popular brand, find those then get the store brand of the same product. You should save about 25% (25% = beer money)
• 2 Tbs Flour
• 2 large (3 med) Boneless skinless chicken breast.
• these are the ones you buy in a giant bag at Sam's Club© or the leaner but slightly less cost effective size bag at your local grocery.
• 1 Large Egg well beaten

Directions:
Before you start collecting your ingredients preheat the oven to 400˚ F.  Pour the can of crunchy onions into a 1 gallon zip seal freezer bag with the flour.  Seal the bag and place under a towel on the counter. crunch up the onions by whacking the bag with the back of a spoon. stop when you have mostly eraser-head-sized peices. (Think: The end of a pencil) Pour out the contents of the bag into a shallow pan or deep plate. A pie plate works well. Into another plate/dish pour the well beaten egg. Dip the (thawed) chicken into egg then into the breading then place on a sheet pan, with a rim. Repeat until all breasts are breaded. Place in preheated oven for approximately 20 min. (if its pink in the center still, it's not done yet)

That's it! while that cooks crack open a can of your favorite veggie, rinse, and put in a sauce pan with 1/4 cup water and 1 Tbs butter, season as you wish, and slowly heat over med heat. Once the water boils, and all the butter is melted, reduce the heat to the lowest heat setting and cover.

Remember serve on a 8-10 inch plate. the smaller portions will require you to trick your brain into thinking the meal is larger and therefore you are satisfied from what you think is a small meal.

That's really all for now, really.
Bryant

Spices Spices Spices! Which one do I use?!?

This is a great Instructable that I found to help me get some of my questions answered. Take some time to read through this, keep it bookmarked, and maybe, like me, you'll start retaining some of the info.
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-use-herbs-and-spices-in-cooking/

By the way: If you haven't ever been to instructables.com before. after you read the article and bookmark it, take a look around. Instructables.com is great for finding that weekend project, or find fixes for some common, and not so common, household problems. It's fun and easy to use and you can even print a copy so you have the instructions right there with you.

OK I'll be back again this week with another recipe, I promise!
Bryant

"I'm a meat and potatoes guy!"

I hear this all the time, and for a long time I thought it was true of me too! My doctor kept stressing how important vegetables (other than potatoes) were for me. So I HAD to find a way to make veggies tollerable without dumping cheese and fatty oils allover them. after searching and hunting, and a few weeks of choking and gagging down some of the old standbys I found some NEW information.

First off STOP BOILING YOUR VEGGIES. Some veggies are sweet, or earthy (like meat), or even herbal. Combining just the right seasonings with these unboiled veggies can add, what I like to call, flavor explosions!

"How do I cook them if I can't boil them?" first off MAN (or woman) what is your favorite cooking appliance EVER? The one that takes us back to out caveman instincts?! Where FIRE cooks our food! The GRILL. and with grill season upon us it's time to grill up some MAN FEASTS! (if you don't have access to a grill your oven's broiler set at about 450˚ TO 500˚ F will work) So to appease the Ladies we live with or may be trying to impress throw in some color with these suggestions:

Brussel sprouts - Cut in half, add olive oil, salt/pepper, Lemon Juice
Red Peppers - use whole, directly over flame turn untill all skin is black, cut off top and remove seeds, cut and serve on burgers, or put in pasta salad
Green beans. (NOT CANNED) Fresh beans lightly oiled and set perpendicular to grates.
Carrots - Grill on top rack or away from high heat areas. sprinkle with cinnamon if desired.
Cut an onion in half, lightly oil or butter, add black pepper, wrap in foil, cook flat side down/halfway through flip to round side down.
Asparagus - same as green beans
Portabello Mushrooms - marinate and grill just like your burgers, use 1 beef patty and one Portabello to make a double decker burger with half the fat!

Pineapple (yes this is a fruit) - use canned rings or buy fresh and cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices, coat in brown sugar and cinnamon, lay out foil, poke holes in foil, cook pineapple on grill on the foil.

Hope this helps. any other Ideas or Questions post them below.

Bryant

The BEST Bread Pudding Recipe!

Bread Pudding - Sounds like something that is completely wrong. Two things you don't mix often are pudding and bread.  When was the last time you made a Pudding sandwich. Well some of you out there know EXACTLY what I am talking about. Bread Pudding is a moist, fluffy, sweet desert casserole with a light crust, perfect for Icing or glaze. Bread pudding could cure the craving for most anything. GUYS, this is an easy desert to keep on hand for that anniversary you forgot to plan for, or to impress your lady on a budget, or make and keep for the week in the fridge for an easy hot breakfast. I'll attach a link at the bottom for a few EASY glaze/icing recipes to mix it up, OR sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Bread Pudding
8x8 glass or ceramic dish
Note: a great bread to use for this is Italian or French bread. If you are using a sandwich bread use a little more and press the dry ingredients down before adding the butter.

Ingredients
Enough day-old bread to fill the glass dish level to the top
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup raisins (optional, or use crasins, dates, figs, dried strawberries, dried apples, marshmallows, or chocolate chips)
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups milk
3/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Tear bread into 3/4 - 1/2 in. pieces directly into 8x8 baking pan. Melt butter or margarine and slowly pour over bread. If desired, sprinkle with raisins.(we talked about this earlier) In a mixing bowl that fits your needs, combine eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat (This means with a handheld or freestanding machine) until very well mixed (slightly frothy on top). Again SLOWLY pour wet ingredients over bread, and push down with a fork until bread is soaking in the egg mixture. Let soak for 5 min before baking. Bake for 50 - 60 minutes, or until the top springs back quickly when tapped and has a golden brown top.(unless you used pumpernickel bread...)

Vanilla Glaze
Chocolate Glaze

Peanut Butter/Oatmeal/Chocolate Chip cookies

These cookies were presented to me as a "vegan" recipe. so if you want Vegan follow diet guidelines accordingly. BUT They can be made non vegan using butter, real milk and real chocolate chips. Both ways Yield DELICIOUS cookies   INGREDIENTS: 2 cups flour 2 cups oats 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup canola oil 3/4 cup chunky peanut butter 1 cup sugar 1 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup soy milk 2 teaspoons vanilla 1 1/2 cups chocolate/carob chip   DIRECTIONS: Preheat to 350, and lightly grease 2 cookie sheets (or line 'em with parchment paper...either works)   Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl before adding wet ingredients. Add peanut butter last. Dough should be very firm. Scoop out 1-2 tablespoons of dough per cookie, rolling into a rough ball and flattening slightly with your palm on the cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes, until cookies puff slightly and tops are lightly browned. Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before removing from cookie sheet, or they'll fall apart.

A Greek Favorite: Pastitsio

This is one of my Favorite Greek Dishes. PLEASE do not be scared off by the nutmeg. This dish is Fantastic. The last time we made this dish we tried using venison instead of beef, great choice!

Ingredients

1/2 pound dry ziti or macaroni pasta
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 dash ground nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
1-1/2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon butter
1/2 large onion, chopped
1/2 clove garlic, crushed

1 pound lean ground beef
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/4 cup dry red wine
1/4 cup vegetable broth
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups milk
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 egg, lightly beaten
salt and pepper to taste

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 

cook pasta for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain and return to pan.Melt butter until golden brown and pour over pasta add 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese, nutmeg, salt, pepper and toss well; allow to cool. Add eggs and toss again; set aside. 

To make meat sauce: Saute onion and garlic with butter until onion is Translucent. Increase heat and add ground beef; stir well. Cook until meat begins to brown. Add tomato paste, wine, broth, parsley, salt and pepper. Simmer over low heat, covered, for 20 minutes. 

To make cream sauce: Over medium heat, melt butter in saucepan, slowly stir in flour and cook gently for 2 minutes. Pour in milk and bring to a boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add nutmeg, salt, pepper and cool slightly before slowly adding beaten egg. Transfer 1/3 cup of this sauce to the meat sauce. 

To assemble: Grease a 9x9 inch baking dish. Spoon half of the prepared ziti evenly in the bottom and top with meat sauce. Top that with remaining ziti. Pour on cream sauce and spread to completely cover ziti. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top. 

Bake for 40-50 minutes until golden brown. Let stand 10 -15 minutes before serving. 

SERVES 4