Indian Something or Another

I hope Ganesha doesn't scorn me! But I thought I would try to make a little something tonight with an Indian flair...it was really good...and I'm sure the furthest thing from authentic!

In preparation for cooking, make yourself a simple cocktail in a pretty glass...in this case, Clementine Vodka and Soda Water. Mmmm!

Ground Turkey with Chickpeas, Potatoes and Tomatoes
Serves 4

1 lb ground turkey
1 TB olive oil
Salt/Pepper
1 tsp red pepper flakes
(dashes of Tandoori spice, ground fenugreek, cumin and coriander)*
1 medium onion, diced large
2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, cored and diced large
2 medium white potatoes
4 TB butter
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 TB tomato paste
2 TB chana masala (spice blend: Coriander, Chilli, Cumin, Dried Mango Powder, Bayleafe, Dry Ginger, Pomegranate Seeds, Black Cardamon, Salt, Cassia{cinnamon}, Black Salt, Clove, Tumeric)
1 green pepper, diced
1 handful cilatro, chopped (reserve some for garnish)

This can of Chana Masala cost about $1.50 at Giant. If your store has a nice international aisle, you should be able to find it there. If not, check around the spice section. I've checked various online resources and can't seem to find one...anyone else know if your stores carry this spice blend? I'd be curious to know how easy it is to find.

This is the first time I've bought chickpeas to prepare at home. They Stink! I opened that can it smelled like cat food. Ick! Gave those things a good rinse and cooked 'em up and they were tasty good. But I also didn't make it...the smell was pretty potent. I had the organic brand from Giant.

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over high heat. Add turkey and cook until brown. Season with salt and pepper, red pepper flakes and some other tasty spices. When cooked, remove from heat and reserve.

*I thought it might be nice to make sure the meat has some good spice to it, so I added the tandoori spice, coriander, cumin and fenugreek. I wouldn't fret if you don't have the spices, but make sure to add the red pepper to get some heat in there.

Add the diced potatoes to a large pot filled with cold water and large pinch of salt. Bring to a boil until tender. (make sure to use the boiling water to help you peel your tomatoes...cut an X in the bottom of your tomatoes and drop them into the boiling water for 15-20 seconds, remove and rinse with cold water. The skin will slip right off!) Reserve nearly two cups of the potato water. When the potatoes are just fork tender, drain and reserve. (Basically the al dente for the potato--they will cook a bit more later).

In the same large pot, melt butter over high heat and add the onions. Saute for a few minutes until they just start think about getting tender, just a few minutes. Add the chickpeas, cook for two minutes. Add the tomato paste and stir to incorporate, cook for another minute or two until the aroma of rich tomato-ness is coming from the pot. Add the Chana Masala spice blend. Stir to incorporate and allow to cook for one minute, the spices "blossom" in the hot fat/butter. Now your kitchen will start to smell like an Indian restuarant.

Tomatoey goodness. Buttery goodness! Spices are next. The whole pot will try up as they spices absorb the butter. Make sure to allo to cook for a minute.

Add 1 cup of the potato water. Stir. You want the pot to be slightly soupy, but not runny. Add more water if necessary.

Add the pre-cooked turkey, peppers and potatoes. Stir to incorporate. Drop temperature to low. Add more of the potato water if necessary. Cover and allow to simmer, very gently, for about 10 minutes. Add tomatoes and most of the cilantro and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Serve in bowls with toasted pita and garnish with more cilantro!


Namaste. And don't forget to make yourself a second cocktail!

Just a little bit

I'm sorry for being lazy again. There is a purpose, I promise...trying to save a little $$ and eat leftovers and boring things. Just until the weather moderates itself a bit and the electric bill goes down a wee touch.

Anyway, last night I cleaned out the fridge of some chicken, onions and carrots and made my chicken and dumplings, but instead of making dumplings, I added some rice. It was tasty, but after awhile, the rice virtually dissolved into the yummy creamy broth. Oh well. I still had two bowls.

I've also been meaning to point this out. A few weeks ago in the Washington Post, they had a little product highlight that included: Pinch Plus!

So we've all encountered the situation where you don't have a jar of a certain spice and you only need a small bit. Pinch Plus is almost a solution for that dilema. Pinch Plus packages spices in little, sealed packets that contain One Tablespoon of the herb or spice. I like the idea in general. It's a great way to affordably try new spices and herbs or not have to throw away the outdated, stale products in your cupboards. The downside comes to the variety of spices. Most people would be comfortable buying a jar of basil or cinnamon. So my only suggestion is the broaden the product base and include different varieties of curry or branch into some of the more exotic herbs and spices.

Maybe their could be a partnership with Nirmala's or Penzey's? Anywho...I do like their packaging of certain spice combinations into little booklets with coordinated recipes!

Stuffed Breasts

...chicken breasts...I'm not talking Pamela's girlfriends.

I don't know what made me think this recipe up, but I thought it was interesting.

Chicken Breasts
Stuffed w/Carmelized Shallots, Smoked Almonds and Cheese

2 Chicken Breasts
2 TB Alouette Cheese (w/herbs)
2 TB chopped Smoked Almonds
1 large Shallot, thinly sliced
5 Sage Leaves, thinly sliced
Salt/Pepper
1 TB Olive Oil

1 Egg
1/3 Cup Flour, seasoned with salt/pepper
3/4 Cup Bread Crumbs
3 TB Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 400.

In an oven-safe medium skillet, carmelize your shallots in the olive oil. Add the sage. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. About 5 minutes. Reserve to a small bowl and allow to cool.

Mix your carmelized shallots with the cheese and chopped almonds.

Cut a pocket into the center of the side of the chicken breast. Stuff with 1/2 the cheese mixture.

In your medium skillet, heat your 3 TB olive oil over a medium high flame. On 3 plates, set out flour, egg and bread crumbs.

Coat the breasts with flour, dip in the egg, then coat with the bread crumbs. Place in the hot oil and cook until golden brown and delicious. Turn the chicken over and move your pan into the oven for 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Enjoy.

And now the photo essay:

The almonds I used. Very tasty, great for snacking.

Here's the cheese. Tasty, great for snacking! No really, on some nice crackers. Delish. The cheese is similiar to a mild, light cream cheese, which I would probably use if I couldn't find the Alouette--near the deli specialty cheeses.

The carmelized shallots with the sage.

Sage. I love it. Don't be afraid of using sage at a time other than autumn!

The cheese mixture: Shallots, Sage, Alouette, Almonds, Salt & Pepper.

I used Panko Breadcrumbs to coat my chicken. I love the texture!

The chicken is nearly done on the stove top...but wait...there is a raw spot in the upper right side. We could probably finish cooking the chicken on the stove top, but could risk burning the breadcrumbs. That's why I moved these into the oven.

Raw spot is gone and they are done!

So pretty.

So Tasty. The filling was delicious. It could have used a touch more salt and pepper. Also more sage! And I think I might carmelize the shallots in some butter...but then we're getting into dangerous "Shut Up" territory! Next time we'll try these additions.

Sure the presentation wasn't that great, but it was tasty. Blanched green beans quickly sauted in butter and lemon juice. Mmmmm!

A breakfast burrito

For breakfast this morning, I had a mission...use up some stuff in the fridge before it goes bad.

I decided to make a Breakfast Burrito with Sausage and Peppers.

In your skillet, saute and brown some loose sausage. I had 1/2 pound that I needed to use. When all was said and done, I only used about a 1/4 of a pound. When the sausage in done, remove to a paper towel lined bowl. Drain fat out of the pan and wipe clean.


Place the pan back over a medium high heat. Melt about 1 TB of butter and add a handful of diced green & red peppers and some onion. Saute until just tender. Season with a pinch of salt.


In a small bowl whisk two eggs with 1 TB of water. Add to the skillet with the peppers and onions. Gently stir until the eggs have come together into a soft curd. Add the sausage.


Remove from heat.

Add to a toasted tortilla. If you like, you can garnish with sour cream, salsa and cheese. Fold up and eat. This is the second time I've made the breakfast burrito. The last time I used the leftovers from the Sirloin Tacos with Roasted Tomato Salsa. YUM.

Cafe Berlin

We love Cafe Berlin, period.

We have been going there regularly for six years or so. I first went for a work function and it was great. Last night we went to celebrate a birthday and our party of nine had a great time!

They know what they do and generally do it well. In the six years we've been going their might have been a time or two when I wasn't totally satisfied, but they always redeem themselves.

Mmmm, Beir!

I would say this has to be the best dish at Cafe Berlin, Deutsche Wurstplatte; Bratwurst and Weisswurst with sauerkraut and home fries!

Another awesome dinner; Kassler Rippchen, smoked pork chops! Like a really delicious, rich, chunk of ham. One other dish that would highly, highly recommend is the Ungarische Goulash; Hungarian Goulash, rich and meaty morsels of beef on spaetzle!

A gin martini with some special gin the restaurant had, Hendricks? I can't remember, I didn't order it, but had sip. I'm not a fan of gin in general, but this was pretty tasty. Outside of the beer and cocktails, there were several bottles of this tasty wine!

As a rule of thumb, the desserts at Cafe Berlin are not that great. A few times we've found some cakes to be pretty good. I'm starting to think that they may have changed their baker, because more often than not, the desserts have been getting better. BUT...this dessert isn't a Cafe Berlin dessert. The mother of the birthday girl brought a homemade Rum Cake and the restaurant was kind enough to serve it up for us. Divine. I'm going to have to get this recipe some day!

Greek Pork Loin & Orzo Salad

I threw this together for dinner on Thursday night. I really enjoyed it. The meat was perfectly tender and flavorful. The orzo salad was tasty and tart! The flavors of the meat reminded us of the Bull In Pan at Annie's Paramount Steakhouse in DuPont Circle...stay tuned, I might have to try that some evening!



Greek Pork Tenderloin

1 pork tenderloin, trimmed of fat and cut into 1/2 inch medallions
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 pinch, red pepper flakes
1 TB dried oregano
Salt & Pepper
1/4 cup dry white wine

Mix lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, red pepper, oregano, salt and pepper. Add the pork, allow to marinate for 30 minutes.

Add the pork medallions, one at a time to a skillet over high heat. Cook the medallions for about two minutes per side. Allow excess marinade to drain off before adding to the skillet.

When the medallions are done, remove from pan to a plate. Pour in wine and deglaze pan. Add the remaining marinade and allow to reduce to a thick sauce. Spoon the sauce over the pork.


Orzo Salad
1 1/2 cup cooked orzo-freshly cooked and hot!
1 TB Red Wine Vinegar
1 TB Capers, drained
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1/2 red onion, diced
2 TB Olive Oil
1 tsp dried thyme
Salt/Pepper
1 TB Chopped Parlsey
Small handful of toasted pine nuts

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Toss the tomatoes and onions with olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper. Place in the oven until the onions are golden brown and delicious and the tomatoes have carmelized. Reserve.

So delicious, just like this. Sweet and savory and so aromatic!

In a medium bowl, mix the red wine vinegar and capers. Add the hot, freshly cooked orzo, toss to combine. Add the roasted tomatoes, onions and parsley.

When you plate up, garnish with the pine nuts.

Pine Nuts...where have you been all my life. I used to think I hated you, but I was wrong!

Enjoy.

Good Wine

This is a very good Riesling! We had dinner tonight at Cafe Berlin to celebrate the birthday of Lady Brandenburg. Several bottles of this wine were consumed, in addition to many mugs of beer and martinis and cocktails! I'll let someone who had more of the wine give some details of it.

it's been a busy crazy week.
hope to have some posts for you all throughout the weekend.
next week should be better.

Bushy Basil

My basil plant was getting a little bushy and needed a trim!

So after a quick trim, I had a bowl full of basil, which so was transformed into some awesome pesto.

Once the pesto was made, I decide it best to make risotto! We had a rough day yesterday, so some comfort food was needed.

But this wasn't going to be your everyday, basic risotto.
When the risotto was completed, I stirred into it 2 TB of the fresh pesto.

OMG! This was delicious. The pesto was nearly perfect if I do say so myself. And combined with the risotto...words do not describe!

I served my new
Pesto Risotto with Sauted Chicken in a Butter Shallot Au Jus.

Saute the chicken until done. Toss into the same pan, one diced shallot, give a few seconds to soften. Deglaze with 1/4 cup of white wine and 1/4 cup of broth, reduced by 1/2, stir in 1 TB butter and some parsley.

Mmmmmm!

Smoked Carrot Cake

What a bummer.

I had such huge plans for my Saturday and when all was said and done...not so much.

I woke up at the crack of dawn, as usually. Read the online news and then set out to start making mini-carrot cake cupcakes for a birthday party. I had measured out the flour and grated the carrots when I realized I had no sugar, so I set everything aside and ran to the store. Returned 20 minutes later and resumed the mixing. Mixed everything together and piped the batter into the mini muffin pan, set the timer and placed it all in the oven. About 4 minutes in the fire alarm goes off in our building.

Took me a minute to break away from the kitchen and checked the hallway. There was a little smoke smell in the hall. Very faint. OK, moving. Woke J-lo up and prepared to leave, but I went back in the kitchen and sat there for a minute. I was seriously considering not leaving because I didn't want to remove the half baked cupcakes. Well my sixth sense got the better of me and I removed them from the oven and turn it off.

Headed into the hallway and out of the building.

The firefighters were arriving and running into the building. We got outside and sat there for a few minutes. One woman was crying really bad; if I new Spanish, I might have been able to understand what she was saying. We're sitting there and someone points up to the building. Oh! A little smoke coming out of a vent. OK, so there really is something going on! The last time the alarm went off it was a false alarm, so I sort of expected the same thing. A minute or two later, the smoke was heavier and coming out of a window! And it's the 5th Floor...>OUR FLOOR! Oh my! The smoke started to get thicker and darker. OK, this might be serious.

Shortly after some firefighters came out of the building and were quickly directed back into the building by the guy running the pump truck. I guess they couldn't find the apartment!!! They went back in. The pump trucks are pumping and look...here comes the DC fire, Riverdale fire, Hyattsville is there...hey it's Bladensburg fire!!! FOUR ALARM! SHIT!!!

I don't know who provided the hook and ladder truck, but there they were and raising the bucket up to the 5th floor. Then. The. Glass. Started. Shattering!!!!

At first that was a bit of a panic, but after a minute I realized that had to be a good thing...with the windows closed, there is no oxygen and the fire won't go crazy. If you an oxygen source, the the fire can be worse...so this had to mean the fire was out! But there was still so much smoke and firefighter commotion.

Over an hour later we were let back in the building. We were a bit nervous and worried about what we'd find on our floor. When you really look at it, the fire was two apartments down from ours, so we were a little hesitant to get back in. And worried about the smoke.

Well we weren't going to find out until about seven hours later what if anything happened in our apartments. I guess the firefighters tried to get into our aparment and cut the door knob off...but yet couldn't get into the apartment because we set the deadbolt! So the door was banged up a touch and we had no door knob...and the deadbolt was damaged somehow, so we couldn't get in.

We learned from the last false fire alarm; grab your wallet, your keys and your cellphone. So I had those things, but we couldn't move the car because the firetrucks were completely blocking our car in. We couldn't get into our apartment so we called our friends just a mile down the road and asked if we could stay with them for awhile during the day so we weren't sitting on the sidewalk! After a short while, we were able to get the car out and moved on with our day. Our friends took us to breakfast and then back to their place and watched a movie. After we came back to see what was going on in our building. The door still wasn't fixed, so we were still locked out. On to Target to get some clothes (we were sort of in pajamas!) and back to our friends for showers and relaxing. And we got the call to come back, the door was fixed!!!!

8 hours later we were in! Oy! The Nerves!!!! The deadbolt was still busted, but the were coming back in shortly to finish that. We're in....just the slightest smell of smoke!!!! And it's gone this morning. So a major 8 hour blip in our day. We're exhausted and have a birthday party to get to. Sadly, I couldn't bring the nasty seperated cake batter or flat half cooked cupcakes, so we brought ourselves!

All that said, remember to make sure your fire extinguisher is charged! WHAT? You don't have one....you don't cook??!?! Doesn't matter...get one!!

~*~*~*~

OK, so here is the original post I planned to share on the cake...the cake is still really great so I'll make it again soon. I have to!!!


Original Title of Post: Eat Your Vegetables

I have to add on more bit to last night's dinner. On special occasions, DM would go a step further and make dessert. Carrot cake! It's so delicious. Lord Brandenburg's birthday was this week and we're heading out to his party this afternoon, so I'm making the carrot cake, but in mini-muffin format and the sweet chili cucumber side dish.

So back to the cake!

Mother Berta's Carrot Cake
(Recipe from epicurious.com)

3 medium-sized carrots, peeled
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup corn oil
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup shredded coconut (sweetened variety)
3/4 cup canned crushed pineapple, drained

Cream Cheese Frosting:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Cut 2 carrots into 1-inch dice; place in a saucepan, cover with water and simmer until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and puree in a food processor or blender. Set aside.

Grate the remaining carrot; reserve.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan. Line the bottom with waxed paper and grease the paper.

Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda and cinnamon into a large bowl. Add the oil, eggs and vanilla; beat well. Fold in the carrot puree, grated carrot, walnuts, coconut and pineapple.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour.

Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes before unmolding it onto a rack, then let the cake cool completely.

Prepare the frosting: Mix the cream cheese and butter together in a bowl. Slowly add the confectioners' sugar. Stir in the vanilla and lemon juice. Frost the cake.

NOTES:
For doing these as mini-muffins/cupcakes, they only take 15-20 minutes. I grated all the carrots and quickly boiled them, instead of puree part of the carrots. I don't really care for walnuts, so I used toasted pecans. DM recommends doubling or tripling the recipe frosting recipe.

Perfect Meatloaf

In 2000, I moved into a little basement on Capital Hill. At that house, I met DM. After moving from the basement to a group house a few blocks and a little later another room opened in the house, DM moved from the house I was previously staying in, to our new group house. J-lo, DM, KS and I formed a happy little household. With all our varying schedules, we would occasionally be home at the same time and have a yummy dinner together. Usually it was DM or I making dinner with J-lo and KS cleaning up. Those were some good times!

DM introduced us to one of the most perfect meatloaf dinner I've ever had! Seriously, that good. Now I know and understand the difficulty in proving this statment, as there are as many meatloaf recipes as there are delays on the Red Line. My mom's recipe used meat, eggs, crackers, bacon and ketchup. Really good stuff. A friend of ours adds a bottle of beer to whole thing--tasty! Ray Ray has a pretty good recipe as well. What's your favorite?

All that is to say, a few years ago I sat down and copied DM's recipe. I never made it; I lost the recipe!!! A travesty, I know. Well, guess what I finally got again this week!!!!

A tasty treat I first had a few years ago and actually brings around a lot of great memories of some great times!!

Before I start though; can we change the name of Meatloaf. Loaf should really only be attributed to bread and bread-like products and not meat. OK, soap box over.

72 Market Street Meat Loaf with Meat Loaf Gravy
(Click Here & Here)
Serves 6-8

This recipe is by 72's first chef, Leonard Schwartz, remains the restaurant's most popular dish. After you try it we are certain it will become one of your favorites at home as well. It's also great for sandwiches too!

1 TB butter
¾ cup minced green onion
¾ cup mined white onion
½ cup minced carrot
½ cup minced celery
¼ cup minced red bell pepper
¼ cup minced green bell pepper
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground pepper
½ tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp cumin
3 eggs, beaten
½ cup ketchup
½ cup half & half
1 ½ lbs lean ground beef
½ lb lean ground pork sausage (with no herbs or seasoning)
¾ cup prepared bread crumbs
Meat Loaf Gravy (recipe follows)

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Heat the butter in a heavy bottom skillet and add the green onions, white onions, carrots, celery, red & green bell peppers and garlic. Cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes, or until the moisture has evaporated. Remove mixture from the skillet to a plate and allow to cool.

Pretty vegetables

All stirred together and coated with butter. Mmmm!

And cooked down and getting ready to cool.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, cumin and eggs and mix well. Add the ketchup and half and half. Blend thoroughly.

4. Add the ground beef, ground pork, bread crumbs and the vegetable mixture. It will be easier to mix this with your hands.

5. Gread a loaf pan and add the meat mixture, press it into the corners. Put the loaf pan in a larger pan filled 1 inch high with boiling water. Cook at 350 for 45 to 60 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving. Serve with Meat Loaf Gravy.

Resting. I used a smaller baking dish instead of a loaf pan, about 9 x 5. And it's sitting in a 9 x 13 pan with water. My meatloaf cooked for 50 minutes.

And serve with mashed potatoes!
Look, more new dishes that I snagged at the outlets last weekend!!! These are oval bowls that I loved; they'll be great for serving side dishes from, someday.

Meat Loaf Gravy

2 TB butter
4 shallotts, minced
1 sprig thyme
1 bay leaf
Dash of crushed peppercorns
¼ cup chopped red bell pepper
¼ cup chopped yellow bell pepper
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup veal or beef stock
1 cup chicken stock
2 Roma tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced
Salt & Pepper

1. In a heavy pan, melt 1 TB of the butter and saute the shallots, thyme, bay leaf, peppercorns and bell peppers over medium-heat for 3 minutes.

2. Add the wine and simmer over high heat until reduced by three-fourths, until it makes a glaze.

3. Add the stocks, and simmer, uncovered, over high heat until reduced by one-fourth.

4. Add the tomatoes and bring to a slow simmer. Cook, covered, for 20 minutes.

5. Stir in the remaining 1 TB of butter and season with salt & pepper to taste.

6. Strain and serve.

Delicious 1

Delicious 2

Notes: This is kind of a time intensive dinner. The chopping and sauteing can take up a good amount of time if you chop slowly...I do. One thing that DM mentioned about when he makes this, saute up double or triple the veg and then freeze for future use. A great tip and next time I actually will do that.

I didn't realize until it was just too late that I didn't actually have the full quantity of ground beef, so when I added it to the egg mixture it was extra schluppy, so I increased the breadcrumbs to one full cup. It seemed to help.

As for the gravy. The gravy is tasty, but it's a bit of extra work, so it's totally up to you if you make it. I was pretty good about following the recipe, but altered a few little bits. 1) I didn't have beef broth, so I went with two cups of chicken broth, a reason it's so pale and 2) the full instructions, I didn't reduce after I added the broth and jumped to the tomatoes and covered it. I questioned it, but did what I thought it said. Well, sure enough the gravy was very thin and watery. I fixed it by adding a little cornstarch/water slurry to thicken it to the right consistency. Perfect. Oh and I didn't peel the tomatoes, since the dish was going to be strained, I didn't see the point. And I didn't see the yellow pepper on the recipe until I was home, so I only used red bell pepper. Again, tasted great, just a bit of work.

Tilapia

I was trying to decide what to do for dinner and came across a recipe in my files. I have NO idea where it came from. If anyone knows, or if you gave it to me, let me know!

Anyway...I went the route of fish tonight. It's not something I normally do...I'm always afraid of fish tastying 'fishy.' When I was a kid, I had so much fresh water fish as a kid, and without a doubt, there was always a serving a fish that tasted awful. Well, I'm working out my issues and moving on.

Tilapia with Lemon Caper Sauce
Serves 2

3/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (1 lemon)
1 1/2 tsp drained capers, lightly chopped
2 tsp butter
2 tilapia filets (mine were small, I did three and split the last one)
Salt/Pepper
1/4 cup flour
2 tsp butter

Combine first three ingredients.

Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over low heat.

While the butter melts, sprinkle the fish fillets with salt and pepper. Place the flour in a shallow dish. Dredge fillets in flour; shake off excess flour.

Increase heat to medium-high; heat 2 minutes until butter turns golden brown. Add the fillets to the pan; saute 2-3 minutes per side or until the fish is flaky. Remove the fillets from the pan. Add broth/lemon juice and capers to the pan, scraping up any brown bits in the pan. Bring to a boil; cook until reduced to 1/2 cup (about 3 minutes). Remove from heat. Stir in two teaspoons of butter with a whisk. serve sauce over fillets. Garnish with lemon wedges and chopped parsley, if desired.

I misread the recipe and thought it said two tablespoons of butter. So it a pan fried tilapia vs. sauteed. Oh well, mistakes happen and when you don't know you made the mistake...all is good.

Here's the sauce. I had a shallot in the cupboard that was getting lonely, so I finely diced the shallot and tossed it in the pan before the broth/juice mixture, until they started to soften and turn translucent. You'll also note in the recipe that after the sauce reduces, to add 2 tsp of butter to enrich the sauce. Well, I didn't do that either, cuz i'm stooopid. Again, didn't know this was a mistake until after we finished dinner, so all was good. Maybe if you only saute the fish in 2 tsp of butter, you might want to add the 2 tsp in this step.

Here we go. I served the fish on my new plates that we picked up at the outlets this weekend! I served with some sauted potatoes that were seasoned with salt, pepper and herbs de 'provence. Yum!

Dinner was tasty and light. I'd certainly make this again. And easy!! There were just a few minutes of prep (talking tilapia here, not potatoes) and less than 10 minutes of cooking and sauce making!

The recipe as I found it in my files actually called for brine-packed green peppercorns instead of capers. I'm sure they are good, but I had capers! The recipe also recommended dredging the filets in whole wheat flour for a nutty flavor in the fish. I'm sure it would be good and I could have tried it with the WW flour in the cupboard, but that would have taken my lazy rear another minute to dig it out. Oh well!