Kale Chips

  » By Keith Prickett

June 22nd, 2008 - Posted in Snacks | Leave a comment (0)

Keep reading!  You might see the title and not give this snack another glance, but they were surprisingly better than expected.  A co-worker and I were talking about how much lettuce and kale I have growing in my garden and what to do with it all.  She mentioned that she has baked her kale before and they are almost just like crunching into a chip.  I thought, “that sounds like a good idea,” so I gave it a try.  I went out to the garden and picked a bunch of my first kale.  I had been letting it grow because I was too lazy to look up what to do with it!

I ended up making two batches (actually three — I burned the first batch :-/) because I have SO much kale.  This allowed me to try different seasonings.  On the first batch I lightly sprinkled garlic powder to create a garlic kale chip.  On the second batch I wanted to try something spicy so I lit it up with Cayenne Pepper.  They were both so delicious and easy to make.  I would make these for guests as a snack and/or conversation starter!  Rachel thought it might be fun to serve this at a sushi night.  Here’s what I did:

Ingredients:

• 5 or 6 medium size kale leaves (use any kind of kale — I had a couple different varieties)
• Powdered seasoning (I used powdered garlic for one batch and cayanne pepper for the other — my co-worker mentioned trying curry powder).
• Olive oil

Directions:

1. Rinse the kale then pat it completely dry
2. Pour a little olive oil in your (clean) hands and rub it over each kale leaf to lightly coat it
3. Spread out on a cookie sheet, do not overlap
4. Sprinkle your seasoning (or leave it plain) lightly over the kale
5. Bake on a cookie sheet in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for about 8 to 9 minutes, or just before it starts to turn brown.

Note: You want them green and crispy.  I learned the hard way that it begins to turn brown really fast after it completely dries out in the oven.  Touch it while it is still green after about 8 minutes, then check it every minute after that.  I even went as far as pulling the crispy ones out when they finished and letting the others continue to bake for another minute or so until done.  Burned kale chips are not that great.

I hope you like them!

Sesame Codfish with Ginger (and Broccoli)

  » By Keith Prickett

November 2nd, 2007 - Posted in Dinner, Fish | Leave/read a comment (1)

Seafood is good for you right? I like to incorporate fish into my dinner menu at least once a week. Again I got the idea for my recipe from the Nightly Special’s book.

Tonight I wanted to cook something fast, light and delicious since we were planning on going ballroom dancing and wouldn’t have much time after work to cook and eat.  I found this recipe and modified it to my taste and really enjoyed it!  Here’s what I did.

Ingredients:

• 1 large fillet of Cod (USA Wild Caught — don’t go for that farmed fish and stay local!) Salmon or Snapper will do too.
• 1 minced shallot (an small onion will do though)
• 2 or 3 tablespoons olive oil
• sesame seeds
• 2 tablespoons of shredded ginger
• 1/2 tablespoon chili oil
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• For Broccoli as a side, you’ll need some fresh or frozen broccoli

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Brush the fish with the olive oil
3. Place the sesame seeds in a plate and lay the fish on the plate to coat with seeds.  Repeat on both sides (if there is no skin — no need to do this on the skin side) — set the fish aside
4. Add the shallots, ginger, soy sauce, and chili oil to a shallow baking dish
5. Add the olive oil to a frying pan and cook the fish on each side over a medium heat for 2 minutes each
6. Place the fish in the baking dish and bake for about 10 minutes
7. While you wait, fill a small pan with a small amount of water.
8. Add the chopped broccoli to the water and steam (on high) for a few minutes to soften.
9. Serve the broccoli with the finished Codfish

I hope you enjoy it!

Spicy Mahi Mahi

  » By Keith Prickett

October 10th, 2007 - Posted in Dinner, Fish | Leave a comment (0)

My wife was gone today, so I was a little disappointed I didn’t get to share this with her. Though, not all is disappointing, due to her absence I was able to get this blog rolling and concentrate on the nerdy part of it. Now, I am done with that and can actually post the recipe and photos. I hope you enjoy this!

What you’ll need [basic version]:

• “Your size” portion of mahi mahi fish fillet
• spices
• rice
• broccoli

I want to keep things simple, because sometimes long lists of ingredients intimidates people. I’ll list the spices below, but I’ll try to keep my recipes as simple as possible.

Here’s how I prepared the fish:

1. Cut my large fillet into 4 pieces (you may have more or fewer pieces)
2. Rinse the fillet with cold water
3. Rub the fillet with canola or olive oil (today I used canola).
4. Place in small glass baking dish
5. Oh, don’t forget to preheat the oven to about 350 degrees (f)
6. Now the fun part, sprinkle about 2 tsp (more or less to your taste) of the following seasonings over the fish:
   • Ground Pepper
   • Chili Powder (like McCormick)
   • Onion Powder (or fresh and finely chopped)
   • Garlic Powder (or fresh and pressed)
   • Ginger
7. Next, squeeze 1/2 of a medium lemon over the piece(s)
8. and finally, throw it in the oven for about 20 minutes. It’s really easy to overcook this, so be careful to watch it. I definitely overcooked mine (about 30 minutes) and it was just slightly dry.

The key to my flavor today was the chili powder and ginger, but you can use any combination of the seasonings you have available from my list and it will still taste good!

While this was in the oven, I started 1 cup of rice with 2 1/2 cups of water in my rice cooker. Then, when the fish was looking ready I steamed some broccoli pieces to go with it.

There you have it, Spicy Mahi Mahi with steamed rice and steamed vegetables. An easy 1/2 hour dinner for four — or, as in my case, one. Don’t forget the lemon wedges and for a little garnish, try cilantro leaves in the rice and a pinch of chili powder sprinkled around the side of the plate (see below).