Beurre Blanc Success!

This past Sunday afternoon was spent, with a good friend, enjoying a chick-flick double feature at the movies. It promised to be a fun afternoon filled with laughter and tears and oh boy, did it deliver.

The first movie on the agenda was Julie & Julia. There was no doubt that I would love this movie, being the foodie that I am. But I had no idea how much this movie would draw me in, make me laugh and inspire me. I have never heard of the Julie & Julia project, nor do I have a copy of the book or the cookbook Mastering The Art of French Cooking.

For those of you who have not seen it, the movie focuses around a young NYC woman who is a struggling writer in a dead end job. She seems to enjoy, and know, her way around the kitchen and decides to cook every recipe in the above mentioned, Julia Childs' cookbook and started a blog about it. Meanwhile, the movie flashes back to the life of Julia Childs and how she came put herself through a predominantly male cooking school, teach and then write the book. Both woman lead a very parallel life, nearly 50 years apart....and both succeeded at their dream, through food.

Well....I came home from the movies and spent the next few hours looking up Julie's blog (both her current one and the one that inspired her book turn movie. I have added Mastering The Art of French Cooking to my "must have" list of cookbooks. And, just today, the same friend who shared this experience with me gave me the book that launched the movie. I cannot wait to read it!

In the meantime, I was inspired to try to make a Beurre Blanc Sauce, which is a french sauce made with mostly butter and is excellent over seafood and vegetables. I have never done a Beurre Blanc sauce before and understood it to be quite tricky. Too much heat....or not enough stiring...and the sauce can break in an instant and leave you with a buttery mess. Some recipes call for adding cream right before the butter to help the butter "blend" better. I think that's cheating. So I searched for Julia Childs' recipe and was pretty sure I found it.

So tonight's dinner was.....Lemon Pepper Fluke with Beurre Blanc and Roasted Broccoli. The sauce was nothing short of amazing. Rich...creamy....tangy....lick-the-sauce-pan goodness!

Beurre Blanc

1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 Tbsp finely minced shallots
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp white pepper
1 lb chilled butter (2 sticks) cut into 1/2 inch pieces

Put the wine, shallots and vinegar in a small heavy saucepan. Boil over high heat until reduced to nearly 3 tbsp. Reduce the heat to medium-low (I actually took it off the heat for a few minutes and let it cool a bit). Add the butter, one piece at a time, whisking constantly until it melts before adding the next. Be patient - it is worth it! Season with salt & pepper. Strain (optional....I did not) and serve immediately.

The Lemon Pepper Fluke was easy and you can use any white fish. Pat fillets dry and season with a lemon-pepper seasoning. Saute in a little butter or olive oil and drizzle sauce over the fish to serve.

I have to say - I even amazed myself with this one!! Enjoy!

White Chocolate Coconut Brownies

I was in a baking mood last night. Found this recipe online and it originally called for pecans, I used coconut instead. I think next time instead of vanilla extract....I would use coconut to enhance the coconut flavor. I think an almond extract would work well too.

The texture of these are much lighter than a traditional brownie...a little buttery and almost cake like. Very good!

White Chocolate Coconut Brownies

Ingredients
10 tablespoons (1 stick plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter
8 ounces white chocolate pieces
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coconut
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Using 2 tablespoons of the butter, grease an 8-inch square baking pan. In a metal bowl set over a pot of simmering water (double boiler), melt the remaining stick of butter with the white chocolate. In a medium bowl whisk together the eggs and sugar. Add the flour, vanilla, and salt and mix well. Fold in the pecans and the melted white chocolate.

Spread the brownie mixture in the buttered pan and sprinkle the chopped semisweet chocolate over the top. Bake until firm, for about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a rack before cutting into squares.

Parmesan Crusted Pork

WOW.....is all I can say for this one!

Atleast, once a week I like to try brand new recipes. I picked up some pork loin cutlets that were on sale last week and I was looking for something to do with them. I stumbled upon this recipe and I can't wait to make it again. Next time, I think I would try it with tenderloin medallions, but really you can use anything from pork chops to pork loin chops to tenderloin.

This has great flavor and the lemon gives it an added zing and makes it refreshing! Oh...and did I mention it was quick? This only took me 20 mins to throw together and with a bag of steam fresh green beans (which I also like with a little lemon)....dinner was ready in no time!

Parmesan Crusted Pork

2 large eggs
1 cup dried Italian-style bread crumbs (I actually used Panko breadcrumbs which I seasoned myself with dried parsley, garlic powder, salt & pepper)
3/4 cups freshly grated Parmesan
4 boneless center-cut pork loin chops, pound to about 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick (As mentioned, I used pork loin cutlets)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 tablespoons olive oil
Lemon wedges, for serving

Directions
Whisk the eggs in shallow dish and place the bread crumbs in another shallow dish. Place the cheese in a third. Sprinkle the pork generously with salt and pepper. Coat the pork completely with the cheese, patting to adhere. Dip the pork into the eggs, then coat completely with the bread crumbs, patting to adhere.

Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a very large skillet over medium heat. Add pork , in batches if necessary, and cook until golden brown and the center reaches 150 degrees, about 3-4 minutes per side. Transfer the chops to plates, sprinkle with a little parmesan cheese and serve with lemon wedges so each person can squeeze onto pork as served.

Mom's Fish Cakes

My parents have had a boat since I was a small child and I practically grew up with a fishing pole in my hand. Unfortunately, there are some fish that we love to catch, but hate to eat. Bluefish, Striped Bass & Mackerel come to mind.

A few summers ago, my mother played around with a recipe for fish cakes as a way to use these "fishy" fishes in a way that makes them edible. She tweaked it here and there and this is the final result.....and they are YUM-O There are really no measurements, so use your best guesstimate (I'll put in parenthesis what I used). And you really can use any kind of white fish.

Mom’s Fish Cakes

1 medium onion, diced (1/2 large onion)
1 red pepper, diced (1/2 pepper)
1 or 2 stalks celery, diced (2 small stalks)
1 to 2 eggs (2 eggs)
bread crumbs (approx 1 cup)
mayonnaise (approx 3 tbsp)
dijon mustard (2 tbsp)
red hot sauce or old bay seasoning (large pinch of old bay)
fresh parsley, chopped (tbsp dried)
fresh, uncooked fish filets ( have used striped bass, fluke and tilapia), diced

Saute the onion, red pepper & celery in a little olive oil until tender. In the meantime, in a large bowl whisk the egg(s) and add the bread crumbs, mayo, mustard, red hot sauce and parsley. Add the vegetables and fish. Shape into cakes. It is best to make these either the day before or first thing in the morning that you plan to cook them. The longer they set the better they will hold together when you cook them

Brown them in a saute pan with some olive oil and then place them in a 350 oven for about 10 to 15 minutes to finish them. Serve with a squeeze of lemon.