Milk-poached Tilapia

I saw a recipe suggestion for fish poached in milk and thought it sounded a little weird, but worth a try.  I just laid tilapia fillets in a 9x13 pan, sprinkled on some Old Bay and covered with milk (a cup? maybe a little more, enough to just cover the fish).  I baked it uncovered for about half an hour, flipping them about 20 minutes in.  The milk evaporated a bit, although not enough to thicken into a sauce.

They were good, a little bit buttery almost, but without a thick creamy feeling.  It might be good to bake them longer and let the milk boil off or to pour it off and reduce into a sauce.  I served it with some simple roasted potatoes and steamed carrots.

Spring Gnocchi

We're trying to take full advantage of the spring weather before this weekend's snow, so this was another bright, light dinner.  It didn't turn out quite as good as I had hoped, but might be worth trying again, with some modifications.  We also didn't make our own gnocchi, but the packaged ones are pretty good.  This was largely a bit of a trick of timing, so maybe that will help next time.

I put the proscuitto in the toaster oven to crisp and then started two pots of water boiling.  The larger is for the gnocchi and the smaller is just to blanch the peas.  I chopped and started sauteeing the shallots (in a large pan) while the peas blanched, and then drained the peas.  The peas went into the large pan and I tried to keep them stirring, then cooked the gnocchi.  Once they were floating, I threw into the large pan as well, and let them sautee as well.  This was tricky as I basically made a double-batch, maybe next time sautee in small sections.  I made (with Andrew's help) the lemon ricotta, which needed way more lemon, and sliced the cripsy proscuitto into pieces.

We plated it all with a scoop of gnocchi and peas, topped with a large spoonful of ricotta, and sprinkled some proscuitto, and served it up.  It needed salt and pepper, despite adding some during the cooking.

Shrimp Spinach Orzo Salad

Again taking advantage of the fantastic weather, this salad was light and summery and fairly easy to throw together.  We left about half the ingredients out, in the interest of time, thanks to once again spending too much time after work outside.

The ratios weren't quite right, and I think it would be better if it all set up together for a few hours or overnight.  It needed more dressing and the veggies should have been chopped a bit smaller.

Cook orzo.  Mix spinach, sliced cucumber and radishes and onions, and dress.  Drain orzo and rinse with cold water.  Grill shrimp with lemon juice and pepper.  Top salad with shrimp, crumble feta, and add in the rest of the dressing.

Not Pad Thai

Originally we were going to have pad thai tonight, as we tried it a few weeks ago and it worked fairly well (the trick was small batches).  But pad thai does require some prep work and with the time change combined with beautiful weather, we were a little pressed for time.  I had also grabbed a bag of microwave steam-in-the-bag veggies to boost the nutritional value, so I went a different route.

Instead, I just pan fried some tofu, mixed in the veggies, and softened the noodles in steaming water.  Then I mixed them into the pan and stirred it all together with some garlic, soy sauce, and lime juice.  It was good and quick and easy and easy to clean up.  Definitely something to try again, especially once the CSA veggies start rolling in.

Southwest Egg Rolls and Spanish Rice

While dinner did not look particularly noteworthy, it was pretty tasty.  Although these were written up as an appetizer, with a side of Spanish rice, they made a nice dinner.  If I consider this a trial run, this could probably be a good dinner for company.

The egg rolls were much easier than I had thought, and definitely something I'd try again, probably with a more typical Asian filling.  I used my favorite thing - chipotle cheddar- and black beans, frozen corn, and spinach.  These were spicy with a good heat, but not overwhelmingly so.

The Spanish rice was dry, but okay.  I made brown rice in the rice cooker and added a can of diced tomatoes and a couple tablespoons of cumin.  It wasn't saucy like the packaged stuff, but probably also not full of salt.  Worth some googling to see if someone has a better recipe.

Shrimp Picatta with Peas

I wanted something like chicken picatta, but without real meat (shrimp and fish don't count, in my version of vegetarianism) and so this super easy and bright dinner with hints of spring.  Which is a bit cruel as winter will probably last another month, or more.

Saute the (peeled) shrimp with a little garlic and oil, then remove while keeping the good juices in the pan.  We like it really piquant so I added just over a half cup of lemon juice and a small bottle of white wine.  Season with a little salt and pepper and parsley if you have it.  Meanwhile, cook small pasta (alphabets if you grocery shopped with a 3 year old) until al dente.  Scrape the bottom of the pan and then reduce the sauce to a thick, saucy consistency.  Add the shrimp back and coat and then mix in some peas.  Serve over the pasta.

The peas turned a bit of a murky canned-pea green, despite being good frozen ones.  I'd like to try either fresh peas (ideally from the pea pick at the farm in the summer) or steaming them first and adding in at the last second.  These needed to thaw in the sauce and maybe got overdone.  They tasted pretty good, despite my not liking cooked peas much.

It all came together nicely and quickly and was quite delicious.  I always forgot how much I like small pasta.

Hawaiian Pulled Pork

I was pleasantly surprised by how easy and tasty this turned out.  One (half-price!) pork tenderloin in the crockpot with bottled teriyaki sauce and a can of crushed pineapple.  Reminiscent of Natalie's family's party, but it worked quite well.  It was sweet and tangy and saucy.  We put it over the flatbread style buns and steamed some carrots on the side.