Last of the quarter

Sorry everyone,
Its been a busy couple of weeks trying to finish everything out in school. The last full week of school we made a couple favorites of mine. Coq au Vin, Southern Fried Chicken and Cream Corn.  I also got to filet a fish and learn to poach some Salmon. Still not a fish fan but it was fun cooking it.
I love Coq au Vin. Its a very rich dish. I will be happy to share the recipe if you would like it. Just ask me and I can post it or email it to you. I have to say I liked the broiled tomatoes too. Fish can be very delicate when cooking you know its cooked when its opaque and flaking. Most fish takes about 30 minutes or less to cook depending on how you are cooking it. Here is an easy way to cook fish. It takes about  15 minutes in the oven. This is for fresh fish. Not frozen. I would suggest thawing the fish out before doing this and if its frozen cook it less time.

Trout in Papillote ( parchment paper)

1 tsp thyme
1 tsp lemon grass ( just for flavor don't eat it)
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
1/2 tablespoon White wine
Lemon cut into rounds
3 ea cherry tomatoes
4ea olives in half (we used little olives)
1 fillet of trout or fish
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Start with an ample amount of parchment paper. Fold in half and then you want to cut a heart shape out of it. When you open the heart you want to place the fish and ingredients on one side of the heart. Start by laying down the lemon rounds. Use about 3-4 of them, then your lemon grass and seasonings. Place your fillet on top then salt and pepper it. I put my tomatoes and olives on top of the fish. Then drizzle olive oil and wine on top. Fold over the parchment paper starting at the top and working down. Make sure you crimp the edges. Kind of like your rolling it up but you want to make sure it wont open while its cooking. Bake for 12-15 min. Serve with packet closed. When you get to the table then you open the packet.

I served mine with sauteed Zucchini and Broiled Tomato

Broiled Tomatoes

 2 oz ( 2 tablespoons)of Clarified butter

1/2 onion diced- fine

1 garlic clove

2 tablespoons panko or breadcrumbs

2 ea Roma Tomatoes or you can use Beefsteak

1 tsp parsley

2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese- grated

In a pan with butter add onions and garlic and sweat until translucent. Remove from heat. Add Parmesan cheese,and panko. Season with Salt and pepper.  What we did because we did not have the large tomatoes was we took Roma tomatoes cut the tops and a little of the bottom off so it would stand up. Squeezed the seeds out and stuffed the mixture into the tomato. You bake these in a 350 oven until they looked cooked.  We used a Salamander so they got a little toasty. You want them to be browned on the top. 

Happy Eating.