Seared Halibut with Green Beans, Scallions, and White Wine Sauce

This recipe offers a prime example of cooking last minute because the entire dish can be prepared and executed very quickly.  After sauteing the halibut, the fish is removed from the pan, which is then deglazed with white wine and fresh lemon juice. Butter is swirled in gradually to yield a rich, flavorful sauce — punctuated by scallions, capers, and diced tomato — that is simply poured over the fish; its pleasing citric acidity and buttery richness make it a perfect foil for the halibut

 If you can find find Haricots Verts try them versus the good ‘old green beans. 

Ingredients:

1 pound young green beans or haricots verts

Four 7-ounce halibut fillets, each approximately 1 inch thick

Coarse salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste

2 tablespoons canola oil

1/4 cup Sauvignon Blanc or other dry white wine

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, or to taste

1/2 cup unsalted butter

5 scallions, white part only, finely sliced on the bias

1 tablespoon capers, drained and rinsed

1 large, ripe tomato, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/4-inch dice

Directions:

In a pot of boiling salted water set over high heat, cook the haricots verts for 3 to 4 minutes, until tender. Drain and place them in the center of a large, warm serving platter. Cover and keep warm.

Season the halibut on both sides with salt and pepper. 

In a 12-inch saute pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Cook the fish for about 3 minutes, until lightly browned. Turn, reduce the heat to medium, and cook about 4 minutes longer, until the fish is opaque in the center and browned on both sides. Put the fish on the platter with the beans and cover to keep warm.

Pour off any oil in the pan and add the wine and lemon juice. 

Raise the heat to high and deglaze the pan by scraping up any browned bits with a wooden spoon. Cook until the sauce reduces by half, about 2 minutes. 

Reduce the heat and stir in the butter, a piece at a time, to enrich and flavor the sauce. Add the scallions, capers, and tomato. 

Season with salt and pepper, and pour over the fish on the platter. Serve immediately.

Pan Seared Halibut with a Saffron Broth

This couldn't be simpler and the fish melts in your mouth.  The color of the broth is beautiful and the flavor is heavenly.

For the heck of it, I threw a little fresh spinach in one of the bowls, if you want a little texture, a little green, give it a try. Serve with a good bread to sop up the broth. Yum!

Ingredients:

1 halibut filet

Salt

Pepper

1 teaspoon Saffron

1 cup chicken broth

Directions:

Season both sides of halibut with salt and black pepper.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. 

Add halibut and cook 2 minutes per side, or until golden brown.

Remove fish from pan and set aside.

To the same pan, broth and saffron.  Bring to a simmer.  Return fish to pan and simmer 2 minutes, until fish is fork-tender.

Serves 1

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Valentine’s Day is upon us – the perfect occasion for decadent treats.  These Red Velvet Cupcakes definitely fit the bill – moist and full of flavor, it’s hard to eat just one.  Now, I realize that there are some red velvet cupcakes that aren’t red and many of those recipes are really good, but how fun can a brown red velvet cupcake really be?!

As a side note, I’m really pleased with how well the frosting looks on a few of the cupcakes  - for some reason I have the hardest time frosting baked goods, they rarely look good in photos!  I got lucky this time – good motivation to keep working on my frosting skills.

Makes 24 Cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

2  1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1  1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cocoa powder

1  1/2 cups vegetable oil

1 cup buttermilk, room temperature

2 extra-large eggs, room temperature

2 tablespoons red food coloring

1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting:

1 pound cream cheese, softened

2 sticks butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

Directions

Cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 350° F.  Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake papers.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder.  In a large bowl of an electric mixer, gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar and vanilla.  Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins – fill each cup about 2/3 of the way.  Bake in the oven for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, halfway through the cooking.  Test the cupcakes with a toothpick to ensure they are done. Remove from the oven and cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth.  Add the sugar and mix on low speed until incorporated.  Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.  To add a little color, I sprinkled some of the cupcake crumbs on top of the cream cheese frosting.

Fake Brulee - I mean Creme Brulee

Ok, here's the deal. Creme Brulee is a pain in the ass to make - no doubt about it. My version is well, not a pain at all. It doesn't exactly replace the real thing - but it's pretty darn close. ~~Sam the Cooking Guy

Ingredients:

1 box Jell-O Vanilla Pudding mix

1 cup milk

Sugar

Fresh berries

Directions:

Prepare pudding according to directions.  Spoon into 4 ramekins and refrigerate for 30 mins,

Remove from refrigerator and sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of sugar evenly over the top of each pudding.  Using a plumbers torch or small culinary torch, burn the top to a golden brown.  Garnish with berries and serve.