Recipe Notes: Sautéed Tilapia

23 March 2019

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, January 2019

I've probably written this before, but we probably don't eat enough fish. I don't prepare fish in part out of ignorance of what varieties to prepare and how to best cook them. Thus we eat fish only rarely and mostly salmon. The January 2019 Cook's Illustrated had a new, quick recipe featuring tilapia. Other firm white fish were tested in the development of this recipe and tilapia came in second, behind only the more expensive haddock. Farm-raised tilapia is sustainable and farming methods have improved such that the Test Kitchen can now recommend it.

Cooking the tilapia could not have been much easier. Two fillets, totaling about 8 ounces, were sprinkled with ½ teaspoon of salt and left to sit for about 15 minutes. They were then patted dry and cut down the middle lengthwise, separating the thin from the thick portion of the fillet. The thin and thick portions were cooked separately. The fillets were added to a non-stick skillet with vegetable oil on high heat. Each side was cooked until golden brown: about 2 minutes per side of the thicker portions and 1 minute per side for the thinner portion. The fish was served with lemon wedges. Total time was just 25 minutes of which 15 minutes was hands-off.

We enjoyed this dish. The sautéed tilapia were well seasoned and firm. With no sauce they were very simple, there is nothing fancy about this dish. They were easy to manipulate while cooking. We did not have these as leftovers, fish is just not suited to eating after being cooked and stored. I would like to try this again and maybe next time make one of the several sauces published with the recipe.

Recipe Notes: Skillet-roasted Chicken Breasts with Green Beans

20 March 2019

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, January 2019

The January 2019 issue of Cook's Illustrated included this simple, one-pan recipe for chicken and green beans. The published recipe uses 4 chicken breasts and serves 4. Fortunately the web site has a "for two" version. A variation of the recipe with harissa, mint, and carrots was also presented but I will probably not try this. Harissa is an ingredient we don't stock and it looks too hot for our tastes in any event. However, the garlic-ginger broccoli variant might be worth trying.

The supermarket has fresh green beans, imported from Mexico, but they are not very good and not very fresh tasting, so I used frozen green beans. Two chicken breasts were seasoned under the skin with ¼ teaspoon kosher salt each. The skin was perforated with a skewer, spritzed with vegetable oil, and browned in a skillet on the stove, starting with a cold skillet. The chicken was flipped over and roasted in a 325° oven to an internal temperature of 160°. (To be sure, one of the breasts reached 160° while the other was still at 135°. We ate the former and saved the latter, it would finish cooking when reheated.) The chicken was set aside and the skillet, with drippings, put on to the stove. Sliced garlic, red pepper flakes, and salt were added and cooked until the moisture evaporated and the oil began to sizzle. Green beans and water were added, covered, and cooked until the green beans were tender. Cooking continued without the cover to thicken the sauce. The green beans and chicken were transferred to a plate, sprinkled with grated Parmesan cheese, and served with some crusty bread and Chenin Blanc. Total time was just one hour and much of that time was hands off.

This was a good dish, especially given how easy and quick it was to prepare. It was neither too garlicky nor too spicy. The green beans were good, nicely flavored by the chicken and spices, but over done. I will want to try this dish again when we can get some good, local green beans. We got two dinners and a lunch or two out of this recipe; as usual these days, the chicken breasts were very large, over half a pound each.

Recipe Notes: Hearty Lentil Soup

3 March 2019

Recipe from America's Test Kitchen, 2005

I think I first saw this soup recipe mentioned in a Facebook post. We have tried two lentil soup recipes recently; we loved both and have made each several times: Red Lentil Soup with North African Spices and Moroccan Lentil and Chickpea Soup. Both of these soups feature warm spices from North Africa. Would this new recipe with more traditional flavors from America be as good?

To make the soup some bacon was diced then rendered in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Placing the bacon in the freezer for 15 minutes before cutting made it much easier to handle.  Diced onion and carrot was added and cooked until the vegetables began to soften. Garlic was added and cooked for 30 seconds followed by a can of diced tomatoes, bay leaf, and diced fresh thyme and another 30 seconds of cooking. The recipe said to drain the canned tomatoes but I forgot to do this. Finally, French green lentils, the variety recommended in the recipe, were added. I found them in the bulk food section at Whole Foods. The temperature was reduced and the soup cooked to soften the vegetables, about 10 minutes. The heat was increased to high and white wine (Vella Chardonnay) was added and when it started to simmer chicken stock and water were added. The heat was reduced to low, the pot partially covered, and the soup simmered until the lentils were tender. A portion of the soup was puréed in a blender then added back to the Dutch oven. The soup was finished with some chopped fresh parsley, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper. Total time was 1 hour 45 minutes.

The hearty lentil soup is very good and worth making again. Including the juice from the canned tomatoes added some additional tomato notes and some additional depth to the soup's flavor. The flavors are different than the other lentil soups that we had as this soup did not include any spices. All of the lentil soups have been good and it is nice to have a variety of good recipes to choose from when soup season arrives.