Lemon Caper Tilapia

For many years, this was Cameron's birthday dinner. It is still a favorite of ours. I usually make it with tilapia, but it would also work well with flounder, sole, or any other mild, white fish. Serve with parsley red potatoes and a salad of mixed greens with tomatoes. This recipe serves 4, but can easily be doubled, just use 2 large pans to cook the fish in, or do in batches and keep the cooked fish warm in the oven (275-300 degrees) while other fish is cooking. If doing multiple batches, pour the sauce over all the fish just before serving.

Ingredients:

3-4 whole tilapia pieces (about 2 pounds)
Freshly ground sea salt and pepper, to taste
3 Tbsp. Olive oil

Juice from 1 good size lemon
3 Tbsp. capers (the small nonpareil size)
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon size pieces

Directions:

Juice the lemon into a small ramekin. Measure capers into the lemon juice, and set aside.
On piece of waxed paper, place fish. Salt and pepper both sides. In a large frying pan over med-high heat, heat olive oil until hot. Carefully add fish and cook for about 3 minutes, or until the edges start to look browned and crisp. Carefully turn the fish using 2 spatulas. Cook for another 3 minutes or so until the fish is done and flakes easily. Remove fish to serving platter. In pan with heat still on, add lemon juice and capers, scraping the pan to deglaze. Then add the butter, stirring and gently shaking the pan , cooking until mixture thickens a bit and makes a nice sauce. Pour sauce over the fish on the serving plate. Ready to serve, or if needed, can be kept warm in the oven for a few minutes. In general the sauce should be put on the fish right before serving.

Pepper Steak

Ingredients:

1 to 1-1/2 lb. sirloin strips, dried on paper towels
1/2 cup cornstarch for coating beef
1/2 cup peanut oil for frying beef
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
fresh ground sea salt and pepper, to taste

1 green pepper, thinly sliced
1 onion, sliced
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
3 Tbsp. Mirin (Japanese sweetened saki -- get in aisle near soy sauce)

additional 2 tsp. cornstarch mixed with 4 tsp. water
additional ground pepper, to taste
additional red pepper flakes, to taste

Directions:

In a small bowl or ramekin, mix together the soy sauce and Mirin with the cornstarch and water; set aside. Salt and pepper the beef, then coat with 1/2 cup cornstarch. In a large frying pan, heat oil on med-high heat until hot. Add red pepper flakes and cook for a few seconds. Add beef and cook on each side until well browned and crispy. Remove from pan to serving dish and set aside. Add a few more red pepper flakes and then green pepper and onion slices to pan. Stir fry for a few minutes until cooked, but still a bit crisp. Add beef back to pan and stir. Add more fresh ground black pepper, to taste. Turn down heat to med-low. Stir the soy sauce mixture again, and add to the pan, stirring to coat the beef and vegetables as the sauce thickens. Serve over rice.

(Serves 4)

Lemon Macadamia & White Chocolate Cookies

This recipe is from my friend, Addy and her daughter, Caitlyn, who made them for a bake sale to benefit the local animal shelter. The recipe is adapted from a Mrs. Field's cookie recipe, with some changes. I knew when I heard the name that they would be good... Well, they were GREAT -- very lemony with lots of macadamia nuts and white chocolate bits. I had to ask for the recipe so I can make them -- here it is:

Curried Chicken

This recipe works well for any chicken pieces, although I usually make it with frozen boneless chicken tenderloins. Serve with cooked jasmine or basmati rice and dipping bread.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. smoked paprika
1/2 Tbsp. chili powder
4 tsp. curry powder
2 tsp. onion powder
3/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
1/8 tsp. ground sage
pinch ground ginger

4 Tbsp. peanut oil

chicken pieces (fresh or frozen), to serve 4-6

1-14 oz. can coconut milk (regular or lite)

Directions:

In a small bowl, mix together the spice ingredients. Set aside.

In a large frying pan over medium heat, heat oil and then add chicken pieces. Cook until chicken is browned and mostly cooked through, turning often.

When the chicken is well browned on all sides, sprinkle about 1 Tbsp. of the spice mixture over the top of the chicken (it helps to use a small sieve to get a thorough even coating). Continue to cook for a minute or so, then turn the chicken so the curry coating is on the bottom. Sprinkle about 1 Tbsp. of spice mixture over the chicken again and continue to cook for a couple of minutes, or at least until the part of the chicken touching the pan gets a nice crust with the curry spices. Turn the chicken again now so that the new spices on top are now on the bottom of the pan and cook another couple of minutes, or until this side of the chicken gets a nice golden curried crust. Remove the chicken from the pan when it is thoroughly cooked through and keep warm on a serving platter.

Add the coconut milk and the remaining spice mixture to the pan. Stir to mix and adjust with a little more salt, if necessary. Cook until heated through and thickened a little. Pour into a small pitcher or gravy boat to serve on top or alongside the chicken and rice.

Scones

This is the recipe I use to make scones. It is from Maida Heatters Book of Great American Desserts, except that over the years I have made a couple of changes: I think they are more tender made with heavy whipping cream instead of milk and I prefer to cut the dough into wedges rather than make as drop biscuits. Also like to sometimes vary the currants with other chopped dried fruit:

Ingredients:

2 cup sifted all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

scant 1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 cup sugar

6 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter (3/4 stick), diced

1/4 cup currants (or finely chopped pecans, dried cherries or cranberries as a variation)

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (or milk/half and half)

Additional sugar for sprinkling on top

Directions:Heat the oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with parchment. In a 1 cup Pyrex measuring cup, or other small mixing bowl, beat together the egg and egg yolk, then add cream or milk to mix -- set aside. In a medium bowl measure the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar; "whisk" with a pastry blender until combined. Add the butter and cut it in to make rather large crumbs. Add the fruit/nut combination you've chosen, mix. Make a well in the middle. Add the egg, egg yolk, and cream/milk combination, mixing lightly with a fork until the mixture comes together--don't over mix this.

Can make these as drop biscuits, dropping by rounded tablespoonfuls placed an inch apart on your prepared cookie sheet (to make 12). OR what I like to do is -- take all of the dough and gently make it into a ball with your hands and place onto the prepared cookie sheet. Gently pat or roll out to about 10 inches, then with a sharp knife, cut into 8 wedges. Space out a bit on the sheet so they have room to bake.

Sprinkle lightly with the additional sugar and bake for 14-15 minutes, or until nicely golden brown, reversing cookie sheet from front to back halfway through baking time.

Remove scones from baking sheet onto a rack to cool. Can be served right away. Any leftovers can be sliced in half and gently heated in toaster oven for a few minutes to regain fresh baked texture.

Orange Beef

Ingredients:

2 Florida juice oranges (or 3 Florida tangerines)
1-1/2 inch cube of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. peanut oil for sauce
1 Tbsp. cornstarch for sauce
2 Tbsp. water

1-1/2 lb. sirloin strips, cut into bite-size pieces, and dried on paper towels
Additional 1/2 cup cornstarch for coating beef
Additional 1/2 cup peanut oil for frying beef
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

Directions:

(1) Using a peeler, zest the 2 oranges and set zest aside.
(2) In a small bowl, then squeeze the juice from the 2 oranges and set juice aside.
(3) In large bowl, toss beef pieces in 1/2 cup cornstarch and set aside.
(4) In a small pot, mix fresh orange juice, ginger, garlic, sugar, soy sauce and 1 Tbsp. peanut oil. Bring to a boil. In a small measuring cup, mix 1 Tbsp. cornstarch with 2 Tbsp. water and add slowly to the boiling orange mixture, stirring until mixture is thickened, then turn off heat.
(5) In a large frying pan, add 1/2 cup peanut oil. Cooking on medium-high heat, add red pepper flakes and stir for about a minute, until pepper flakes are browned. Then add pieces of orange zest, stirring constantly until zest just begins to turn brown around edges. Remove zest pieces and set aside. Add cornstarch coated beef to the frying pan and cook turning occasionally until beef is well browned and very crispy.
(6) Add the cooked orange zest pieces back to the beef in the pan and stir.
(7) Add the cooked and thickened orange mixture to the beef in the pan and stir quickly to distribute the sauce evenly. Remove from heat.

Serve immediately with steamed Jasmine rice (cook with a Tbsp. minced ginger) and steamed broccoli.

(Serves 4)

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

Mostly adapted from the recipe on the package of Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips. I started using these chips in the cookies recently after it seemed that the Nestles Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips and recipe that I have always used seemed to not be as good as they used to be. Was there a change in the formulation of Nestles Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips -- I don't know. Anyway, I use a combination of the Ghirardelli chips and the Nestles chips and like that variation of chocolate flavor and texture better than either of the chips alone. The perfect chocolate chip cookie is about the technique as well as the ingredients, and another key to getting the best results in consistency is in the mixing technique: (1) creaming the butter with the sugars very well before adding the other ingredients, (2) adding in the eggs by mixing at low speed and only until incorporated (so as not to beat air into the eggs which would contribute to a higher rising cookie), and (3) mixing in the dry ingredients gently and only until incorporated (thinks this creates a more tender cookie). I also like the way they bake using convection baking at 375 degrees and baking them after refrigerating the dough (at least 1 hour NOTE: can be refrigerated for a day or two before baking -- this allows you to make the whole recipe in small batches of dough, 1 or 2 dozen a time, so you can have fresh baked cookies when you want them. Alternatively, cold cookies can be reheated gently in the toaster oven to refresh their fresh-baked crispness and melted chocolate texture).

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups unsifted all-purpose unbleached flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 cup (2 sticks) sweet, unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
1 cup Nestles Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare baking sheet by lining with parchment paper. Stir flour with baking soda and salt; set aside. Beat butter with white sugar, brown sugar and vanilla well, until mixture is very light and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed and only until incorporated after each addition. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients on low speed, mixing only until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips. Can be baked immediately by forming tablespoonful drops of cookie dough on the baking sheet and baking for 9 minutes (longer if not using convection baking), and reversing the sheet front to back 2-3 minutes before the 9 minutes is up. The rest of the dough can be wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated to be baked later. When ready to bake, cut off slabs of dough with a sharp knife, break into tablespoonful sizes and place on baking sheet. Bake as directed. Baking the cookie dough after refrigerating it like this also seems to improve the texture of the baked cookie.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.