Foil Packet Lime Tilapia

Sometimes I get inspired to cook, but not to spend a bunch of time cooking. This leads to interesting choices. This particular choice let me to take an old standard of foil pack fish (basically en papillote) but make my own sauce for it. The end result was good news / bad news. The good news was the recipe worked and was fast, simple, and tasty. The bad news is that it looks like absolute hell. I don't know. Close your eyes when you eat it or something.

Foil Packet Lime Tilapia

Ingredients

• 3 tilapia filets (about 4-6 ounces each)
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1-1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon Ponzu sauce
• 1-1/2 tablespoons lime juice
• 3 large chive, chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 pound frozen broccoli
• 3 Key Limes, quartered

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375F (190C, Gasmark 5)
2. In a bowl, combine the sour cream, garlic powder, Ponzu, lime juice, red pepper, and chive. Stir to incorporate all the ingredients.
3. Cut 3 sheets of aluminum foil into about 8-10" squares. Lay a piece of tilapia in each square.
4. Figure out some way to turn the foil into an envelope of some description. You can always watch the video (at the bottom of this post) to see the highly technical method I use.
5. Divide the broccoli between the 3 packets. Place the packets on a baking sheet.
6. Pour the sour cream mix evenly into each packet. Seal the packet.
7. Bake for 25 minutes. 

BONUS VIDEO CONTENT!

Good Times!

Mushroom and Chive Ravioli

     The Wife is somewhat predictable about certain things. If I ask what movie she wants to watch, it's always Pride and Prejudice or Ghostbusters. If she's going to read a book, likely it will be about the English royalty. If she's going to watch TV, it's going to be a baseball game. When it comes to food, it's pasta. Left to her own devices, it will be mac & cheese. If I'm cooking, it's pasta with red sauce and meatballs. I always tremble at that request because it is Labor Intensive. It's borderline P.I.T.A. However, she is wonderful and I love her very much, so I will indulge her. Plus, I really like pasta and meatballs, too. I already have a good red sauce and meatballs recipe I use, so I just needed to come up with a pasta. She loves ravioli and she loves mushrooms, so I threw together a filling for some ravioli for her. The end result was 54 delicious ravioli. Fortunately, they freeze really well. Just lay them on sheets of waxed paper with a dusting of flour! The basic pasta recipe came out of the KitchenAid pasta roller instructions. The filling is all mine. I hope you like it as much as much as we did! As always, notes are in blue.

Mushroom and Chive Ravioli

Ingredients

• For Filling
• 1 lb. ricotta cheese
• 8 ounces mushrooms, finely chopped (use whatever kind of mushroom you want. We used regular white mushrooms)
• 6-8 whole chives, finely chopped (use both the white and green part)
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• For Ravioli Pasta
• 4 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon water
• 3-1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour (I actually did sift the flour for once!)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

For Filling

1. Heat olive oil in a large pan. Add chive and sautee for 2-3 minutes.
2. Add mushrooms and sautee for another 2-3 minutes.
3. Add Worcestershire sauce and sautee for one more minute. 

   

   Shroomin'!

4. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then put mushroom and chive mixture in a bowl with the ricotta and stir to incorporate.

   

   Now you need to resist the urge to just shovel this by the spoonful into your gaping maw.

For Pasta

1. Place eggs, water, flour and salt in mixing bowl. Add the beater blade, turn to speed 2 and mix for 30 seconds (we're assuming you have a KitchenAid here. If not, just mix by hand at whatever your personal "speed 2" setting would be)
2. Swap the beater blade for the dough hook. Turn to speed 2 and knead for 2 minutes (or if you're not lazy like me, just knead it by hand.)
3. Remove dough from bowl and hand-knead for 1-2 minutes (I actually did this. I am not a total slug.)
4. Divide dough into 4 pieces. Run each through a pasta roller until you his "5" (I'm hoping pasta rollers have universal measurements, because I went to 5 on the KitchenAid pasta roller. I apologize in advance if you end up with tissue paper)

Assembly

1. Take 2 rolled out sheets of pasta. On one, start dropping 1 tablespoon scoops of the filling at even intervals along the dough (Our ravioli ended up being about 2-3/4" across on the average. Use smaller scoops if you want an obscene amount of smaller ravioli.)

   

   Notice the precision spacing between the filling. That's because The Wife did this part.
   I was busy rolling out pasta.

2. Take a basting brush and brush water on the pasta in between the filling. Lay the other sheet of pasta over the top and press down in between the filling, sealing the two sheets and working out any air bubbles.
3. Use a ravioli wheel cutter to cut the pasta into squares (If you already have one of those things that stuffs and seals the ravioli all in one, you probably are way past anything I can offer you and should go to a site where they know what they are doing). If you're using my measurements, you'll end up with about 54 ravioli.
4. Cook like them you would any other ravioli. 

Those are the steady hands of a neurosurgeon.
Or an English teacher.
Good times!

Herbed Cheese Scones

     I loves me some scones. I used to think scones were just something stodgy people from England grimly chewed while they drank their tea. Unless someone proves otherwise, I'm going to continue thinking that. However, I have found that they are versatile and tremendously easy to make. Many people are surprised when I tell them I've never made a sweet scone. All the scones I've made to this point are savory. Granted, I've only made one other kind of scone, ham and cheddar. This particular recipe came out of Bon Appetit magazine. I made a lot of changes, so I have no idea what the original recipe tastes like. Mine were great, so I imagine theirs is ok. As always, any notes and changes are in blue.

Herbed Cheese Scones
via Bon Appetit

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more
• 1 cup (2 sticks) chilled, unsalted butter, cut into pieces (I'm going to be honest. I don't ever use unsalted butter. I don't even use less salt most times. I live dangerously)
• 8 ounces provolone cheese, grated (no provolone in the house. I figured blue cheese would work in this recipe, so I went with 6 ounces blue and 2 ounces of butterkase cheese)
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped chives (we used green onions in place of the chive)
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary (we used 1 teaspoon dried)
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme (we used 1 teaspoon dried)
• 4 large eggs
• 3/4 cup heavy cream, plus more

Directions

1. Pulse baking powder, salt, paprika, and 4 cups flour in a food processor until combined (HAHAHAHAHAHA. No.) add butter and pulse until the texture of coarse meal with a few pea-size pieces of butter remain (I just cranked the Kitchenaid with the regular blade. I learned not to go straight to 5 or you are cleaning up the counter. And the walls.)
2. Transfer mixture to a large bowl and mix in cheese, chives, rosemary and thyme. Make a well in the center; add eggs and 3/4 cup cream. Using a fork, blend eggs and cream, then slowly incorporate dry ingredients until a shaggy dough forms.

   

   Wrong Shaggy.
   

   
   

   

   Zoinks! Still the wrong Shaggy.

   Be careful not to overwork dough (Overwork is not something that happens much with me)
3. Turn out dough on a lightly floured surface and press into an 8" square about 1" thick (I didn't make mine into a square. It was more of a "splat"). Using a floured chef's knife, cut into 16 squares and divide between two parchment-lined baking sheets (I am openly defying the recipe at this point. I used the ring from a quart jar lid to cut CIRCULAR scones. NOW WHAT, BON APPETIT?) Wrap with plastic and chill 2 hours (the scones, but if you want to kick back for a couple of hours, go right ahead)
4. Preheat oven to 400F. Brush tops of scones with cream and bake, rotating baking sheets halfway through, until golden brown on tops and bottoms. This will take about 20-25 minutes (I went 30 just to be difficult)

Good times!