Seafood is always a nice treat. Seafood is somewhat available where I live, but it’s not always fresh or terribly affordable. For that reason I find flash frozen seafood to be both affordable and just as good in quality as fresh. Seafood goes great with oil, that’s what there are so many recipes for seafood with an oil and butter sauce. This tilapia and shrimp also have a very light flavor, so adding chives adds a nice flavor that might get lost if you choose a stronger fish like salmon.This recipe takes only as long as it takes to cook your noodles. The tilapia cooks up very fast and the shrimp, if frozen and pre-cooked, only takes about a minute to cook before you’ll have to start worrying about over cooking. This recipe made 4 Adult sized servings.
1. Begin boiling water and cooking pasta of your choice. Add oil to a frying pan and place over medium heat. Once hot add tilapia and butter. Cook for 2 minutes, then flip and cook for another 2 minutes.
2. Break up tilapia into large chunks. Add the shrimp, coat, and heat until warmed, Stir in Chives, then remove from heat. Strain pasta, plate, then top with seafood and some oil. Top with grated parmesan if desired.
Spaghetti and meatballs is such a classic and easy meal, but sometimes we just don’t have the time to wait the 50 minutes it would take to bake them in the oven. So, why not make your meatballs like you would make a burger? Cook it in a frying pan with some oil for 4 minutes a side, and bam! You’ve got yourself and your family a delicious and easy topping for your spaghetti. Most spaghetti takes 6-10 minutes to cook, which give you plenty of time to make these meat balls. I liked the recipe that I used below, but feel free to use your own meatball recipe with this pan-frying method. This dinner was made with just under 1 lb of meat, so by following the directions, you should get about 11-12 meatballs. The recipe below made 4-5 adult sized portions.
1. In the mixing bowl, add meat, egg, breadcrumbs, Italian seasoning, and A1. Mix by hand until combined. Roll out about 3 Tbsp into a ball and add to the frying pan. Once done, add the oil to the frying pan and place over medium heat. Cook meatballs 4 minutes on each side.
2. Cook Pasta as directed, then strain. Add sauce to second saucepan and place over medium heat until beginning to simmer. Add the meatballs once they are done and coat in sauce. Plate noodles, then top with sauce, meatballs, and grated Parmesan.
Hot pot is a very popular dish all across Asia. It includes making a tasty, and sometimes spicy, broth and cooking prepared items in the boiling broth. Hot pot is eaten usually in a group, it does take a while to eat, and does take a good amount of prep time, but hot pot makes great food and a fun experience. First you need a good broth/stock. You can make your own by simmering bones for 4-6 hours, or you can used pre-made broth/stock, either way works. You’ll need some veggies, usually whatever you have. I highly recommend potatoes because they were very good. Mushrooms are a classic addition, and so is cabbage or bok choy. A thin sliced meat is a classic additions, and some bacon cut into thirds provided that. We also had hot pot the next night and was able to cook 1/2 inch strips of venison too! Frozen dumplings aren’t as common, but taste great in the hot pot, and to serve, having one or two varieties of dipping sauce was very nice. The spread above was enough food for 8 servings.
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What You’ll Need
Broth
1/4 Finely Diced Onion
1/4 Cup Diced Pork Belly
8 Cups Broth/Stock of Choice
I made 8 cups of pork stock, then added 2 chicken Bouillons and a sazon goya MSG Packet
2 Garlic Cloves Finely Minced
1/2 Tbsp Ginger Paste
Dipping Sauce
2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 tsp Sesame Oil
1 tsp Fish Sauce
Other Ingredients
Peeled and Thin Sliced Potatoes
Spinach
Sliced Carrots
1 Inch Celery Sticks
1 Can Sliced Water Chestnuts, Strained
1/2 Cup Diced Cabbage
1/4 Cup Diced Bell Peppers
8 Oz Sliced Mushrooms
8 Frozen Dumplings
1 lb Bacon Cut into Thirds
Packets of Ramen Noodles, For Just the Noodles
Equipment
Serving Plated and Bowls
Small Bowls for Dipping Sauce
A Bowl for Each Person
Fork/Chop Sticks and Slotted Spoon for Each Person
Hot Plate/ Rice Cooker
Dutch Oven/ Large Pot for Broth
Separate Utensils for Any Raw Meat
Directions
First make a flavorful broth. I started by boiling 10 cups of water with 2 lbs of pork bones for 5 hours. I started the broth by sauteing the onions with the diced pork belly. Once the onions were soft and the pork belly mostly rendered, I strained the broth through a sieve into the pot with the onion. I then added the minced garlic and ginger, and brought that to a boil.
2. Next, mix together the ingredients for the sauce. The measurements above are for one portion, I made two for our meal, but one shared would suffice for 2 people. Place in a small bowl for dipping. Then prep and plate your ingredients. Presentation is important with this meal. Add a hotplate in the middle and add the pot of broth, heat until it is heated thoroughly.
3. Cooking with the hot pot is rather easy. First, always start with the veggies and dumplings. Raw Meat is cooked on their own after, and finally, noodles are eaten at the end. Soft greens like spinach only need 5 seconds before they can be removed. Otherwise, all veggies can be added to the pot and eaten as they are found. Potatoes may take 2-3 minutes to soften before they are soft enough, and same goes for carrots and celery. You can add frozen dumplings at any point, just wait for them to rise to show they are heated enough. Bacon cooks in about 1 minute, and sliced venison was done in 4 minutes. Noodles only take about 2 minutes to be ready. You can eat ingredients straight from the hot pot, or transfer them to your personal bowl before chowing down.
This weekend I was able to cook up the last of the pork loin roast I prepared. For our last meal, I sliced off a couple more pork chops and prepared some honey mustard sauce to top. Simply mix together the sauce and coat the chops, bake then serve. We had these over spinach and the glaze made a delicious sauce for the spinach too. This recipe makes 2-3 servings, but can be easily altered as needed.
Heat oven to 350 F. Place the pork on the foil lined sheet. Mix together remaining ingredients in the small bowl. Coat each side of the pork with the sauce.
2. Place the pork in the oven. Bake raw pork for 25-30 minutes or cooked pork for 15-20 minutes, until internal temperature reaches 165 F. Top cooked pork with any remaining sauce, then serve right away.
As I’m still working through my pork loin roast, I’ve been coming up with as many options for the rest of it. I’ve always been a big fan of BBQ pork, so I thought it would be great for a potion of it. For this, I made a standard BBQ pork rub. The paprika adds a nice smokey flavor to the rub. The cumin and cayenne also add a bit of spice, but without much heat. The rub recipe below is good for 2-3 normal sized pork chops. If you were to use this rub on a roast, you will need to double or triple it. I also served this BBQ pork with BBQ sauce, bacon ranch suddenly salad, and a can of baked beans.
Heat oven to 350 F. Place the pork on the foil lined sheet. Mix together remaining ingredients in the small bowl. Coat each side of the pork, and coat edges.
2. Place the pork in the oven. Bake raw pork for 25-30 minutes or cooked pork for 15-20 minutes, until internal temperature reaches 165 F.
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