Friday, April 1, 2011

Cooking with Corla

I rejoined Weight Watchers for the hundredth time and the program has changed.  The points are a bit different and almost all fruit and veggies are free.  It is always good to go and check in as a lifetime member and start again!  
Course: sauces
PointsPlus™ Value:    1
Servings:  8
Preparation Time:  14 min
Cooking Time:  11 min
Level of Difficulty:  Easy
I got the new books and tried the tomato sauce recipe.
Ingredients
1tsp Olive Oil
1 Medium Leek finely chopped ( white part only)
1/2 tsp dried oregano
28 oz canned diced tomatoes
6 oz fat-free evaporated milk
2Tbsp basil, fresh, finely chopped
1/8 tsp salt, or more to taste
1/8 tsp pepper
  • Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add leek and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in oregano; cook 45 seconds. Add tomatoes and bring to a simmer; partially cover pan and simmer 3 to 5 minutes.

  • Puree sauce in pan using an immersion blender. Or working in batches, transfer tomato mixture to a blender and puree until smooth (careful not to splatter hot liquid); return pureed tomato mixture to pan.
  • Set pan over low heat and add milk; simmer 1 minute to heat through. Remove pan from heat and stir in basil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Yields about 3/4 cup per serving.


I used fresh tomatoes which I think made it more watery.  My assistant took it upon herself to salt the tomatoes.  
My assistant should have a hair net but I would have settled for a pair of pants.  Not sure we are up to code.  

Been through the blender and adding the oregano. 
Simmer.
I doubled the recipe and then cooked a box of whole wheat pasta and poured the sauce over.  
 
Spilly smurf.  
 Baked it in the oven.


 Served with ham and dill mustard.  The vegetables I cut up and tossed with a mixture of plain yogurt, vinegar and a little salt.  The kids didn't even know we were eating Weight Watchers food.  They loved it!
 Pat always says a good chef cleans as they go.  Hmmmm can't do it all. I shopped after work, ran home and whipped this up in about half an hour.  With the help of one pantsless assistant.
 A clean plate but did you really have to dump your chocolate milk?
Well I can't cry over spilled milk.  Supper was yummy.  

As I said in a previous post I was going to make fish cakes.  They turned out great.  I waited for Pat to come home and fry them and it was a bit tricky.  The first batch the oil wasn't hot enough and then for the second batch it was too hot and like Goldilocks the third batch was Just Right!  They were so good!!  I doubled the recipe and threw a few modifications in.  The kids all ate them and loved them.  


Fish Cakes

1 pound cooked, flaked fish (I used Tilapia)
2 cups mashed potatoes
1 small onion, chopped (I ended up using green onion as my white one was rotten)
2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Dash each salt and pepper
1/4 cup fine dry bread crumbs
Oil for frying
Combine all ingredients except the bread crumbs and oil.(I put the mixture in the fridge for a while to cool it off to make it easier to make balls) Shape the mixture into patties. Coat the fish patties in bread crumbs.
Preheat the oil in a skillet. Pan-fry the fish cakes in batches in hot oil until crisp and brown on one side, then turn and brown the other side. Each side will take just a few minutes. You are only trying to get the ingredients hot and the breading crispy. Everything is already cooked.
Serve with homemade tartar and wedges of lemon.


Tartar Sauce

1 tablespoon onion, grated
1 green onion, chopped
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon chopped capers
1 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped or 2 tablespoons chopped dill pickles
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Cajun seasoning to your taste (optional)
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
salt and pepper to taste
Mix everything together and add salt and pepper to taste. The fresh dill is nice, but the traditional tartar sauce we see all the time has the little flecks of real pickle in it.


The recipe is on the phone.  I threw in a bit of parmesan cheese in with the bread crumbs.  
The fish came in bags and I boiled it in the bags and then used the water to boil the potatoes.  
 Awesome helper.  She loves to Stir.




In go the mashed potatoes.  It really is a whole meal in one but I thought it might be weird to just have a fishcake so I made rice with it too. 
Now my helper is sad.  I can't remember why.  Maybe she thought the tomato was an apple?
Little Fishy cakes just waiting to be fried.  
The master chef working on the perfect combination of oil and temperature.  



 My attempt at "plating" on rice with a smear of homemade tartar sauce.










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