Baked Halibut with Parmesan Crumb Topping

Baked Halibut with Parmesan Crumb Topping

(from thespruceeats.com)

INGREDIENTS:

-1.5 lbs halibut fillets

-3 slices bread

-2 tbsp (I probably did half a cup, TBH) Parmesan Cheese (grated) 

*DO NOT BUY PRE-GRATED CHEESE IT TASTES LIKE NOTHING GRATE IT YOUR DAMN SELF

-1/2 tsp garlic powder (I added some finely diced garlic too)

-1/2 tsp onion powder

-1/4 tsp kosher salt

-Dash o' pepper

-2 tbsp butter (melted)

-Garnish: lemon wedges

VEGAN-IZE/ALLERGY-IZE the crumb:

-Abigail's Bakery Millet & Sweet Brown Rice Bread (NH bakery, available online or at NE Whole Foods)

-Violife Just Like Parmesan (Whole Foods)

-Miyoko's Vegan Butter

DIRECTIONS:

-Heat oven to 450. Spray baking sheet or pyrex with oil or line with foil.

-Cut halibut into four (6 ounce) servings/size the pieces into attractive serving sizes of your choice. Arrange the fillets on the tray/dish, skin-side down.

-Tear the bread into pieces and put in food processor. Pulse til breadcrumbs are crumby.

-In a medium bowl, combine the crumbs with the Parm, garlic and onion powders, salt, pepper, and melted butter. Mix well.

-Sprinkle the buttery seasoned breadcrumbs onto the fish and pat down to help the crumbs adhere to the top of the fish.

-Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until fish registers 145 degrees.

-Serve with lemon slices if you'd like.

NOTES:

This dish is SO easy and fast to make but packs a nice wallop. Seems fancier than it is! It made me excited to eat whitefish so it is going on my regular rotation. 

Definitely use more parm than the recipe calls for and I also added some finely chopped garlic to the crumb mix. 

The crumb is so delish, you can put it on anything/use it for vegan stuff. I'm going to try it on some chicken soon.

The Everyman's Chocolate Mousse

The Everyman's Chocolate Mousse

*My brilliant baker friend Sarah loves to challenge herself by making Jefe-friendly desserts. This one is his favorite and I am always jealous cuz he won't ever share. It is super simple and has literally 3 ingredients, 2 of which are different forms of water. SO, this mousse is allergy AND vegan-friendly!


INGREDIENTS:

3/4 cup (6 oz.) water
8 oz. chocolate (70% recommended, but pick what you love)
ice cubes
whipped cream for topping *optional


DIRECTIONS:

1. Pour water into a saucepan *you can flavor it with orange juice or cassis puree if you want to get fancy. Over medium-low heat, whisk in the chocolate. The result is a homogenous sauce.

2. Put the saucepan in a bowl partly filled with ice cubes or pour into another bowl that is over the ice--it will chill faster. Then whisk the chocolate sauce by hand or with an electric mixer *if mixer, it will thicken faster, so watch out! Whisking creates large air bubbles in the sauce, which steadily thickens. After a while, strands of chocolate form inside the loops of the whisk. Pour or spoon immediately into ramekins, small bowls, or jars, and let set. Serve immediately or refrigerate


3 things can go wrong and here's how you fix them:

1. If your chocolate doesn't contain enough fat, melt the mixture again, add some chocolate, and then whisk it again.

2. If the mousse is not light enough, melt the mixture again, add some water, and whisk it once more.

3. If you whisk it too much so that it becomes grainy, this means the foam has turned into an emulsion. In that case, simply melt the mixture and whisk it again, adding nothing.

Korean Chicken Tacos a la Blue Apron

It's been fun scamming the Hello Fresh/Blue Apron system (getting free trial boxes of ingredients and recipes then canceling immediately) and although Hello Fresh has emerged as the winner in terms of cool recipes, this Blue Apron chicken came out tasty enough that I wanted to preserve it for future reference.

NOTE: Blue Apron thinks all humans eat about 1/4c of food per meal. Proportions are weird, but the recipe yielded enough sauce to coat about 2 chicken breasts, so up to you to determine the ratio of sauce to protein.

INGREDIENTS:

-10oz. chopped chicken breast

-4 tortillas

-1 lb. sweet potato

-1 tsp furikake (sesame seeds and seaweed)

-2 tbsp creme fraiche

-1/2 lb. cabbage

SAUCE:

-2 tbsp black bean sauce (SOOOOO GOOOOOOD)

-1 tbsp gochujang

-1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

-1/4 c sushi sauce

-cornstarch *I recommend adding some while you are cooking the sauce to nicely thicken it up

NUTRITION: 820cal per serving (2 servings total)

DIRECTIONS:

-Roast the sweet potatoes however you want at 450 and garnish with the furikake when done.

-Thinly slice the cabbage and drizzle with half the rice wine vinegar and some olive oil.

-Mix the sauce ingredients together, adding gochujang to taste (try it beforehand--I used about half of it! REALLY good...)

-Chop and cook without stirring to brown the chicken (I used a wok)

-Add the sauce and cook til the sauce is nice and thick (add the corn starch if you want)

-Serve your chicken in the tortillas smeared with creme fraiche (with a little salt sprinkled on it) as well as the cabbage. Stuff the sweet potatoes in there too if you want! Otherwise, just a nice side.