Friday, February 18, 2022

Broiled Asian-inspired Red Snapper Fillets

The marinade for these broiled Asian-inspired Red Snapper Fillets includes soy sauce, Shaoxing, mirin, miso paste and sesame oil. It elevates any plain fish to fabulous!

Food Lust People Love: The marinade for these broiled Asian-inspired Red Snapper Fillets includes soy sauce, Shaoxing, mirin, miso paste and sesame oil. It elevates any plain fish to fabulous!

A few years ago, we were in California to pick up a vintage MG-D Tourer that had been restored for us by dedicated group of specialists. I had found it online quite by accident while searching for information about my husband’s grandparents. Turns out they were the owners listed on the original bill of sale back in 1932! Of course, we had to buy it. 

The gentleman who was selling it agreed to supervise its restoration in his workshop in Monterey, which is attached to a beautiful home he runs as a bed and breakfast. His only requirement was that we had to come to Monterey when the car was ready so he could teach us how to drive and care for it since there are a few tricks to keeping it running right and changing gears.

While we were there, we spent a few hours at the wonderful Monterey Aquarium, admiring the beautiful sea creatures and learning more about sustainability. I took that opportunity to download their Seafood Watch app which helped shoppers make better decisions about which seafood to buy. It was a great resource! Now you can use their website https://www.seafoodwatch.org to the same effect.

When our host for today’s Fish Friday Foodies chose the theme of sustainable seafood, I knew what I wanted to make. Red snapper has been on a no-no list for a while, but thanks to a new program in the Gulf of Mexico, their numbers are rising and Red Snapper, at least those wild-caught in the Gulf, is now a good alternative to more overfished species. 

Red Snapper from H-E-B, wild caught in the Gulf of Mexico


Ingredients to serve 4
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons Shaoxing
2 tablespoons mirin
1 tablespoon white miso paste
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
2 red snapper fillets, scaled, approx. weight 1.6 lbs or 726g  

To garnish:
chopped cilantro
chopped red chili pepper (I use the larger ones that aren’t too hot.)
black sesame seeds

Method
Mix all of the ingredients up to the fish in a casserole dish large enough for the fillets to fit side by side. I used a little whisk. 

Making the marinade

Put the fillets skin side up in the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes but up to a three hours.

Marinating the fish, skin side up

About half and hour before you want to cook your fish, remove it from the refrigerator and turn the fish over in the marinade, skin side down. 

Turning the fish over, skin side down

Broil on high for about 9-11 minutes, depending on the thickness of your fish, basting the fish about halfway through with the marinade.

Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 5 minutes. 

Resting the cooked fish

I like to serve this with coconut rice to which I’ve added some thawed spinach. 

Garnish the red snapper with chopped cilantro, chopped red chili peppers and a sprinkle of black sesame seeds. 

Food Lust People Love: The marinade for these broiled Asian-inspired Red Snapper Fillets includes soy sauce, Shaoxing, mirin, miso paste and sesame oil. It elevates any plain fish to fabulous!

Enjoy! 

It’s time for my fellow Fish Friday Foodies to share their sustainable seafood recipes! Many thanks to our host, Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla.

Would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517 (at) gmail.com. Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas.

Pin these Broiled Asian-inspired Red Snapper Fillets!

Food Lust People Love: The marinade for these broiled Asian-inspired Red Snapper Fillets includes soy sauce, Shaoxing, mirin, miso paste and sesame oil. It elevates any plain fish to fabulous!

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Thursday, February 17, 2022

Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread #BundtBakers

This Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread is soft and fluffy, full of flavor from the sourdough starter, herbs, garlic and lots of butter!

Food Lust People Love: This Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread is soft and fluffy, full of flavor from the sourdough starter, herbs, garlic and lots of butter!

We are super fans of garlic bread in our house so when our host for this Bundt Bakers event proposed the key ingredients “herbs” I decided to make a garlicky herby bread instead of a cake or quick bread. It was a good decision!

Once it came out of the oven, all golden, fragrant and delicious, I said to my husband, “You know what would be nice? Pizza sauce to dip the monkey bread in!” He heartily agreed. Fortunately, I almost always have homemade pizza sauce in the freezer. I warmed it up and we enjoyed this pretty little loaf as supper with a salad. I suggest you do the same!

Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread

We want lots of springy fluffiness for this soft monkey bread so while the sourdough starter is there for flavor, I use active dry yeast as well to make sure these puff right up. For the herbs, I used a mix of fresh oregano, rosemary and Italian parsley. Use your favorite fresh herbs!

Ingredients
For the bread dough:
3/4 cup or 155ml milk
3 tablespoons or 42g butter, plus extra for greasing the Bundt pan
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup or 57g sourdough fed starter 
1 egg yolk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 1/2 cups or 312g flour, plus extra for kneading
Several sprigs assorted herbs, stems discarded, leaves chopped

For baking: 
1/4 cup or 57g butter 
1 clove garlic, smashed and minced
(1/2 the herbs from above)

Optional for serving:
1/8 cup or 28g butter, melted, for brushing on finished bread

Method
Put the milk in a large microwaveable vessel and add in the butter. Microwave until the butter is mostly melted. Let it cool for a few minutes.

Put the yeast and sugar in your mixing bowl and pour in the warm milk/butter mixture and set aside for about 10 minutes. You are hoping that the yeast activates and gets all bubbly. If it doesn’t, you need to buy some new yeast and start over.

Bubbling and active!

Now add the sourdough starter, the egg yolk and the salt along with about half of the flour to your mixing bowl and mix on medium speed until all of the flour is incorporated.  

Adding the sourdough starter, egg yolk and salt with half of the flour

Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula to mix in any flour left there. It’s a very runny batter at this point.

Continue mixing and add the remaining flour by spoonsful until all is incorporated. Now it should be wet and soft sticky dough but that’s what is needed for soft and tender rolls.

The finished dough. Keep kneading!

Now add half of the herb mix and knead for 3-4 minutes, changing to the dough hook, if necessary, to help develop the gluten.

Adding half of the herbs to the dough and knead

Cover the bowl with cling film and allow the dough to rise in a warm place for about an hour or until it doubles in size. If it's cold in your kitchen, you can partially fill the sink with hot tap water and put the bowl in it for warmth.

After the first rise

Meanwhile, grease your 6-cup Bundt pan liberally with butter.

Add the other half of the chopped herbs and the minced garlic to a microwave safe bowl with the butter. Microwave on high until the butter is melted, stirring once or twice. This takes just a minute or so. 

Once the first rise is done, punch the dough (620g) 17 balls about 26g each down and knead it briefly on a floured surface. Cut the dough ball into small pieces about the size of golf balls. Roll the dough pieces into balls, pinching them from underneath to stretch the tops so they are nice and round. 

Divide the dough and roll into balls

Roll them in the herby butter then put the balls, side by side, then on top in another layer, pinched side down, filling your prepared Bundt pan as you go. 

Filling the Bundt pan with dough balls rolled in the herby garlic butter

Spoon any leftover herb garlic butter over the dough balls. 

Spooning the leftover herby garlic butter over the dough balls

Put the whole baking pan in a clean, new garbage bag, capturing some air before you clip it shut, so that the bag doesn’t touch the top of the dough. Allow the monkey bread to rise in a warm place for about an hour.

The risen dough balls

About 15 minutes (or however long your oven takes) before the second rise is completed, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Bake the monkey bread in your preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until it is golden brown all over. I like to put the Bundt pan on another larger pan to make it easy to 

Out of the oven!

Allow to cool for a few minutes then invert the pan and decant the monkey bread. Brush with more butter, if desired. (Do it!)

Brushing with more butter!

Serve warm, if possible.

Food Lust People Love: This Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread is soft and fluffy, full of flavor from the sourdough starter, herbs, garlic and lots of butter!

Enjoy! 

Food Lust People Love: This Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread is soft and fluffy, full of flavor from the sourdough starter, herbs, garlic and lots of butter!

It’s the third Thursday of the month so that means it’s time to bake something in a Bundt pan! Our original host for this event is Lara of Tartacadabra. We send her our best wishes for good healthy and well-being and thank Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm for stepping in to take over the hosting duties! Check out all the Bundt bakes with herbs below!

#BundtBakers badge

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.

Pin this Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread!

Food Lust People Love: This Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread is soft and fluffy, full of flavor from the sourdough starter, herbs, garlic and lots of butter!

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Sunday, February 13, 2022

Baked Nutty Truffles

These baked nutty truffles are soft and chewy, so chocolatey, perfect for your Valentine or special people you love. If you don’t have a heart-shaped pan, use a mini muffin pan. It’s all good. 

Food Lust People Love: These baked nutty truffles are soft and chewy, so chocolatey, perfect for your Valentine or special people you love. If you don’t have a heart-shaped pan, use a mini muffin pan. It’s all good.

A few weeks ago we needed an outing and since restaurants unmasked still aren’t feeling safe, we headed out to Target. Our nearby store was recently renovated so we wanted to check it out. 

While I was aimlessly roaming the aisles, I came across a heart-shaped  mini cupcake pan on a random shelf nowhere near kitchenware. Fortunately, there was working price check scanner one aisle over. When I scanned the barcode, it told me the price ($12.99) but also that the item was out of stock. Au contraire, I said to myself and anyone else who happened to hear me, I hold one in my hand! I took that as a sign that I should buy it. 

It’s made out of silicone but has a metal frame inside which makes it sturdier than plain silicone bakeware which bends in half so easily. That said, I still put it on another baking pan before putting it in the oven.

My Trudeau heart-shaped muffin pan

Baked Nutty Truffles

I used sweetened condensed coconut milk for this recipe. It adds a subtle coconut flavor to the baked truffles. If you can’t find it though, replace it with dairy condensed milk. The truffles will still be delicious! This recipe is adapted from one on the Betty Crocker website

Ingredients
For the baked truffles:
2 oz or 56g semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter, plus more for the baking pan
7 oz or 198g sweetened condensed coconut milk
1 tablespoon amaretto liqueur
1 1/4 cups or 156g flour
1/4 cup or 30g chopped almonds
about 1/4 cup or 40g dark chocolate morsels 

For the icing:
1/2 cup or 63g powdered sugar
1-2 teaspoons milk

Candy sprinkles for decorating, if desired

Method
Lightly toast the chopped almonds in hot pan over a medium flame for just a few minutes, until they are golden. Shake the pan frequently to stop the almond pieces from scorching on one side. 

Toasting the nuts

In large microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips and butter uncovered on medium (50%) 2 minutes, stirring once, until melted. 

The melted chocolate and butter

Stir in the condensed milk, liqueur, flour and nuts. 

Stirring in the condensed milk, liqueur, flour and nuts

Cover and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.

The truffle mixture ready for chilling

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your mini muffin pan or mini heart pan by greasing it with a little butter.

Shape dough by tablespoons around two chocolate morsels. 

Pressing two chocolate morsels into the middle of a truffle ball

Press the mixture into the spaces in the buttered baking pan. Continue until all 16 holes are well filled. 

Filling the mini heart-shaped cupcake pan

Bake 13-15 minutes or until the dough is shiny on top and set but still soft. 

Just out of the oven

Cool for 20 minutes then remove from the baking pan to a cooling rack. Cool completely before adding the icing.

Truffles on a wire rack to cool completely

To make the icing, mix together both ingredients, adding just enough milk to make it piping consistency. 

Pipe some lines on the little hearts and immediately add sprinkles, if using, so they stick to the icing. While I was searching through my box of sprinkles, I came across a small jar of red hearts so I pressed one of those on each as well. 

Piping the icing and adding sprinkles

These would make a pretty little gift for someone special. If you don’t have a decorative box or plate, cover a square of stiff cardboard with foil and tape the bottom to secure. Add a paper doily, if you have one. If not, just wrap with cling film. No bow necessary because the pretty truffles show through!

Food Lust People Love: These baked nutty truffles are soft and chewy, so chocolatey, perfect for your Valentine or special people you love. If you don’t have a heart-shaped pan, use a mini muffin pan. It’s all good.

Enjoy!


Food Lust People Love: These baked nutty truffles are soft and chewy, so chocolatey, perfect for your Valentine or special people you love. If you don’t have a heart-shaped pan, use a mini muffin pan. It’s all good.

It's Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing recipes with heart! Our host is Rebekah from Making Miracles and she introduced the theme thusly: "You gotta have heeearrrttttttttt!! Happy almost Valentine's Day! Interpret this literally or figuratively. Is your recipe full of the love you poured into it, does it actually contain some type of heart, or is it heart-shaped? Be creative!" Check out all the recipes with heart below.
 
We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

Pin these Baked Nutty Truffles!

Food Lust People Love: These baked nutty truffles are soft and chewy, so chocolatey, perfect for your Valentine or special people you love. If you don’t have a heart-shaped pan, use a mini muffin pan. It’s all good.

 .