Crispy Baked Catfish

    Bill isn't in to grilling in chilly or rainy weather, 

and that's what we're still having.  

Since last Wednesday, our rain gauge 

has totaled 7-inches.  

So to compensate, there’s extra oomph in this baked catfish recipe, thanks to the addition of tangy and sweet French dressing!

Spicy Roasted Pork Tenderloin

Here’s the scoop:  

crispy on the outside, 

juicy and tender on the inside, 

packed with savory spices!  

Pork tenderloin is great ~ it's healthfully lean and reasonably priced at our local Jewel grocery store, making it affordable for a meal any day, and it's hard to mess up. 

Chicken Fajitas, About the Easiest You Will Ever Make!

These could very well be the easiest

~ and maybe the tastiest fajitas ~

you'll ever make!

They are so good and super simple to make, thanks to Perdue Short Cuts, Grilled Fajita-style Chicken! 

Crispy Homemade Shake 'n Bake Pork Chops

You may remember way back in the day, back in 1965,  when “Shake ’n Bake” first appeared on the grocery shelf…
 
Shake ’n Bake provides a healthier, less-greasy alternative to frying.  

Vintage 1976

Manufactured by Kraft Foods, the flavored bread crumb-style coating for pork and chicken mimics the texture on the outside of fried foods.  It comes with its own baggie for you to shake the meat in order to cover it with the breading mixture.  

My homemade version is a copycat of the classic dish, only a hundred times better than the packaged version!

If you like crispy, savory chops, the crunch of these baked pork chops will be just the thing for you.  

No marinating needed ~ all that’s required is a resealable bag for covering the chops in the panko breadcrumb coating, made from ingredients right out of your pantry.

Serve the chops with rice and vegetables for an easy, delicious weeknight meal!

Yield: 4Author: Pam @Pam's Midwest Kitchen Korner

Crispy Shake 'n Bake Pork Chops

This homemade Shake 'n Bake is easy and cheap to make. It makes a great crispy breading for your pork chops that is utterly satisfying.

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 pork chops, about ¾” thick
• 1½ panic bread crumbs
• ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
• ¼ teaspoon dried parsley
• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon seasoned pepper

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400° and set wire rack on baking sheet.
2. To a large resealable plastic bag, add panko and remaining ingredients, blend well.
3. One at a time, place pork chop in bag and shake until evenly coated in panko mixture.
4. Place chops on wire rack.
5. Bake until pork is cooked through and bread crumbs are golden, about 25 minutes.

Created using The Recipes Generator

Enjoy!

Grilled Spicy Cod Tacos with Tomato Salsa

Cod fish is sometimes referred to as the “Chicken of the Sea,” as it’s a mild flaky fish that easily takes on the flavors of its seasonings.  

Instead of deep-frying the cod for our fish tacos,  I coated the fish with a spicy ancho chile rub and Bill grilled them to perfection.  The fillets were on the thin side so they would grill quickly, while he used a grill basket to enable flipping them easily, without breaking.

These tacos pack more than just a little heat, thanks to ground ancho chile pepper and jalapeño peppers.   They’re later tempered with cabbage, and tomato salsa when you eat them, but use a light touch, if heat isn’t your thing. 

I make my own salsa, as most store bought salsa contains cilantro, and that only gets through my kitchen door by mistake.

Ready to grill!  Mmmmm!

This is comfort food with no feeling guilty eating it!

Spicy Cod Tacos with Tomato Salsa

For the cod fillets:

1 pound cod fillets
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 teaspoon ground ancho chile pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
8 flour tortillas

Garnish:

1 cup shredded white cabbage
Tomato salsa, recipe below
Bermuda onion, chopped
Sour cream

Method:

In a small bowl, combine oregano, paprika, chile pepper, garlic powder, coriander, salt and black pepper.
Sprinkle mixture over fish fillets, and rub to coat.
Heat grill on high.
Place fish in grill basket or grate and brush with olive oil, turn grill down to medium-high.
Grill about 10-12 minutes until fish flakes easily with a fork.

Assemble tacos:  

Use a fork to break cod into flakey pieces and place on warmed (I warm them in the micro) tortillas.  Top with shredded cabbage and tomato salsa.

While fish is cooking, make salsa:

Tomato Salsa

6 plum tomatoes, peeled and seeded
¼ cup chopped onion
1 jalapeño, chopped (for less heat, discard ribs and seeds)
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons lime juice
Salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

Chop tomatoes and place in a medium bowl.
Add remaining ingredients to tomatoes and combine well.
Let stand for 15 minutes to develop flavor and adjust seasonings if necessary.
Refrigerate or let stand at room temperature for 2 hours.
Spoon over tacos.
 4 servings 

ENJOY!

Baked-crisp Lake Perch

We’re big fans of lake perch ~ straight from Lake Michigan ~ mild tasting, bearing snowy white meat with no “fishy” odor like ocean perch. 

It’s on the cool side here, a good excuse for starting up the oven yesterday, and baking the fish instead of grilling.

Now, here’s why I like this recipe so much:  The breading surrounding the perch bakes into a crispy crunchy coating ~ it’s the same mouthwatering texture of fried fish, minus a plethora of fat and calories. 

Adjust the seasonings to your liking; add red pepper flakes if you prefer a little heat, or Parmesan cheese, if that’s what floats your boat.   And then simply bake for a mouth-watering meal.

I hope you try it and like it as much as we do!

Baked-crisp Lake Perch

Ingredients:

1½ pounds lake perch fillets

3 tablespoons butter, melted

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1½ cups panko bread crumbs

1 teaspoon dill weed

2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 teaspoons smoked paprika

1 teaspoon oregano

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon seasoned pepper

Cooking spray

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Whisk butter and lemon juice in small bowl, brush on each fillet.

In a zip lock, combine remaining ingredients and coat fillets with mixture.

Coat a baking pan with cooking spray.

Arrange breaded fish on pan, skin side down.

Bake 12-15 minutes, until fish is crispy and flakes easily with a fork.

Serves 4

ENJOY!

Spice-Rubbed Grilled Tilapia

Paprika is so much more than a little dusting of color for your deviled eggs and potato salad!

Smoked paprika, Pimenton de la Vera, has a smoky quality and taste I really like for a robust dish.  It’s the Spanish cousin of the more popular sweet Hungarian paprika.  

 

Smoked Paprika, Pimenton de la Vera, La Tienda the Best of Spain photo credit

Sweet Hungarian Paprika, Vspicery photo credit

                                 



Unlike Hungarian-grown paprika, in which red peppers are slowly sun-dried into a rich, fruity flavor, with no heat, smoked paprika is made from dried pimento peppers that have been smoked over an oak fire, and then ground into a fine powder for a woodsy smoky flavor.  

Smoked paprika can be sweet or hot ~ a little goes a long way ~ add it to grilled or roasted seafood, meats and stews, or ~ make sinister deviled eggs!

I saw this recipe, loaded with good seasonings, in our local newspaper, The Northwest Herald. Herbs de Provence is a classic blend of herbs from the sunny South of France, which includes thyme, savory, fennel, basil and lavender.  It’s equally good on roasted chicken and in sauces. 

This rub was exactly what the tilapia was begging for:

It gave the fish plenty of flavor that both Bill and I liked.  It’s good ~ give it a try!

Spice-Rubbed Grilled Tilapia

Ingredients:

Cooking spray
2 pounds tilapia fillets
2 tablespoons smoked paprika
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons herbs de Provence
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon seasoned pepper

Method:

Lightly spray tilapia with cooking spray.
Mix remaining ingredients in a small bowl.
Rub spices into fish fillets.
Grill over medium heat until fish flakes easily with a fork.
Serves 4

ENJOY!

Smoked Catfish

Bill is posting today and all I have to say is that the catfish was excellent!  Love it prepared in this fashion!

Here’s Bill:

I’ve made many foods on the smoker but even though we love catfish, I never thought about smoking catfish until Pam told me about it after reading on Stephen’s blog, The Obsessive Chef.  It’s pretty simple as it’s a white fish, thin filets and no skin.

Thinking back, Dad made a smoker by taking an old refrigerator and converting it to a smoker.  He was so proficient that people he knew would ask him to smoke the salmon they caught from Lake Michigan.  He smoked all kinds of meat as well as his favorite, cheddar cheese.  Delicious!

Having used only an electric smoker which I thought didn’t really do a great job, I bought a charcoal smoker.  It is so much easier, except I have to learn the nuances of where the heat is the highest and the smoke output is greatest.  I’ll learn it as I plan to smoke a turkey breast soon.

Smoked Catfish

Ingredients:

6 catfish fillets, approximately 2 pounds

3 tablespoons coarse black pepper

3 tablespoons sea salt

2 tablespoons white pepper

Smoked paprika

Crushed dill weed, dried

Mop (marinade):

2 cups seafood stock

3 tablespoons lemon or lime juice (lemon is desired)

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

Method:

Prepare the fillets by rubbing coarse black pepper, white pepper and sea salt on both sides.

In a large bow, combine mop ingredients.

Once the mop is prepared, add fillets.

Refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

When the smoker is hot and reaches 200 degrees, remove the fillets from the refrigerator, reserving the mop.

Apply salt and pepper again.

Rub on a little smoked paprika and dill.

With the heat between 175-200 degrees, the smoking process takes about 2 hours.

Brush reserved mop on fillets every 30 minutes.

Catfish filets are done when they flake easily.

Cool.

Wrap in foil and refrigerate.

Served with crackers, it’s a great hors d’oeuvres!

Be sure to enter the $65 CSN giveaway I posted on Sept. 15^th!

Check out my friend, Linda’s blog, at My Kind of Cooking for her great recipes and cookbook giveaway.

Really Terrific Tilapia

A friend gave this recipe to me a long time ago.  It’s so easy and good that I want to share it with you.  With the few ingredients in this dish, you won’t believe how delicious this could be after reading the recipe.  Trust me, this is delicious and the way you will want to make tilapia from now on!  Actually, it works with any white fish. 

The smoked paprika or regular paprika with the garlic and butter is the perfect blend for this mild tasting fish.  It bakes fast into a delicious entrée for dinner.  Tilapia is a wonderful “non-fishy” fish and here’s hoping you give this a try!

Ready to bake 

Baked Tilapia

Ingredients:

3 tilapia filets

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon garlic, minced

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

Salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

Melt butter.

Place 1 tablespoon of butter in bottom of baking dish.

Add ½ tablespoon garlic, ½ tablespoon paprika to butter.

Combine and spread out over bottom of baking dish.

Lay tilapia over this mixture.

On top of tilapia add remaining butter, garlic and paprika.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes or until done.

This is really quick, easy and delicious!!!

             

Barbecued Chicken Wings

It’s time to grab some napkins and have some finger-lickin’ good chicken wings!

Whether you call them Buffalo wings, chicken wings, hot wings or just wings, they’re a wonderful thing.  I guess I’m not alone in my love for wings and now that grilling season is here, they’re the perfect thing to barbecue. 

They’re called Buffalo wings because that is their city of origin is Buffalo, NY.  There are several legends of how they came about with one being that they were first prepared in Buffalo in 1964 by Teressa Bellisimo, the co-owner, along with her husband, Frank of the Anchor Bar in Buffalo.  Their son, Dominic, arrived late one night at the bar, hungry and unannounced, with his college friends.  Teressa needed a fast, easy snack for them and as luck would have it, they had just received a mis-delivery of chicken wings instead of the necks and backs she had ordered for her spaghetti sauce.  It was then that she came up with the idea of deep frying the wings and tossing them in hot cayenne sauce. 

They are probably Buffalo wings to the rest of the country but, around here we call them chicken wings and they’re a great bite-size morsel of savory goodness.  This time there was neither hot sauce nor blue cheese dipping sauce ~ just a delicious barbecue sauce and this is the way it goes….

BARBECUED CHICKEN WINGS

Ingredients:

2-3 pounds chicken wings

1 cup bottled bottled chili sauce

½ cup water

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon liquid smoke

2 teaspoons dry mustard

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

Salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

Combine all ingredients except chicken wings, in a large saucepan. 

Bring to a boil.

Lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Set aside for basting.

Rinse chicken wings, cut and discard wing tips, pat dry.

Place wings on grill under slow heat.

Cook, turning occasionally and basting with sauce approximately 30 minutes until cooked through.

Makes about 2 cups sauce

Serve

They’re finger-lickin’ delicious!

Parmesan Potato Wedges

It’s satisfaction to the hilt when you bite into a potato wedge that has some crunch on the outside and then sink your teeth down into the fluffy potato inside.

I have not made French fries in years because these Parmesan potato wedges are so easy to make and delicious with hamburgers, hot dogs, ribs, steaks or about any meat.  Just cut the potatoes into wedges, add the seasonings and bake.  I made certain these were golden brown and covered well with the seasonings by turning them over in the pan a couple of times while baking.  This also ensures that they will be cooked evenly. 

These wedges are great and definitely a change from the run-of-the-mill potatoes.  Add more paprika or garlic powder or even make them using chili powder ~ there are so many options!  Lovely chunky potato wedges; they are the best!

By the way, I’m sure you can guess what shop the filet came from if you read the post before this one!  One great meal!

Parmesan Potato Wedges

Ingredients:

3 russet baking potatoes

1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

2 teaspoons smoked paprika

1 teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon dried rosemary

1/4  teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon McCormick’s Seasoned Pepper

½ cup olive oil

Method:

Scrub and dry potatoes.

Cut each unpeeled potato lengthwise into 8 wedges.

Combine remaining ingredients in a shallow bowl.

Coat wedges with the mixture.

Place wedges on baking sheet, cut side down.

Bake at 400 degrees about 45-50 minutes, turning and basting occasionally until golden brown.

They are addicitive!

Cheesy Cottage Potatoes

Do you know why the potato crossed the road?  I’ll tell you later!

I love potatoes!  Boiled, baked, roasted, fried, and raw also; it doesn’t matter.  Recently, I even came across a recipe for potato FUDGE!  Now, we all can get even more deliciousness and calories from a potato.  I just might have to try that recipe!

Even though I grew up on a farm, I never did dig potatoes that I can remember.  That’s not so with Bill when he helped his grandfather with the chore.  He says it was hard work as you had to dig them out with a fork, being careful not to pierce the potatoes.  Then, it was a case of putting the potatoes in the bushel basket, picking it up and moving it to the next potato plant.  And as he worked his way down the row to the end that bushel basket was almost more than a young boy could carry.  I think that’s one reason he is so muscular today ~ it’s all that gardening work when he was a lad! 

I always thought that potatoes came from the land of Erin, not so!  The first potatoes; the “Irish” white, were cultivated in the mountainous regions of Peru.  They worshipped potato gods and performed rituals and sacrifices to ensure the success of the crop.  Was this was the beginning of the couch potato and Mr. Potato Head?

Cheesy Cottage potatoes are creamy delicious and a perfect side dish for about any meat.  And it’s easy too!  Here’s the recipe:

Cheesy Cottage Potatoes

Ingredients:

5 large potatoes, cooked and sliced thin

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated

1 medium onion, chopped

½ cup bread crumbs

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

1-2/3 cups milk

1/3 cup butter

Smoked paprika

Method:

Mix potatoes, cheese, onion, bread crumbs, onion, salt and pepper in a large bowl.

Pour into greased 2 or 2 ½ quart casserole dish.

In a small saucepan, heat together milk and butter until butter is melted.

Pour over mixture in casserole.

Sprinkle with smoked paprika.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes until bubbly and browned.

Serve

ENJOY!

By the way, the potato crossed the road because he saw a fork up ahead!