30 Things to Make Before I Turn 30: Beer Battered Fish

I don't do a lot of cooking with fish at home, which is a shame since living close to the ocean, we have access lots of great fresh fish and seafood. When my sister in law Margaret told me that she had recently made beer battered fish for dinner and that it was really yummy, I decided to add it to my list of 30 Things to Make Before I Turn 30. 

Let's take a look at how I am doing on my list:

1. Cornish Hens [Check!]

2. Homemade Salsa [Check!]

3. Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

4.  Noodles from scratch (Recipe from Jody)

5. Cheese Souffle 

6. Blueberry Pie

7. Homemade Marshmallows

8. She Crab Soup (Famous in the area where we live!)

9. Beef Pot Roast [Check!]

10. Julia Childs' Bearnaise Sauce [Check!]

11. Monkey Bread 

12. Yeast Bread

13. Sweet Potato Soup [Check!]

14. Julia Childs' Poulet au Porto [Check!]
15. Homemade Pretzels with Homemade Mustard Dip [Check!]

16. Scones

17. Beer battered fish [Check!]

18. Homemade Granola [Check!]

19. Rack of lamb (Thanks Cheryl)

20. Pasties (Recipe from A. Chris)  [Check!]
21. Pioneer Woman's Rosemary Rolls
22. Lasanga [Check!]
23. Eggplant Parmesean
24. Fettucine Alfredo (Recipe from Mary)
25. English Muffins
26. German Potato Salad
27. Giada De Laurentiis's Mushroom Pesto Sauce
28. Rib Eye Steak with Pan Jus
29. Chicken Braised in Red Wine
30. Bean Burgers (Recipe from Margaret) [Check!]

So I have completed 12 of the 30 recipes. My 30th birthday is in March, so I have 10 months to complete the remainder of the 18 recipes. I need to get crackin'!

I found this recipe for beer battered fish on Tasty Kitchen. Once I saw that the recipe called for Yeungling, one of our favorite beers, I was sold. We used cod because it was fresh at the fish counter and the fish lady recommended it, but the original recipe calls for haddock or pollock. The cod tasted really great, but was super flaky and didn't transition well from the frying pan to the paper towel to our plate. Overall this was a great recipe and very fun to make.

Beer Battered Fish

Recipe from Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients

6 pieces of haddock or your choice of white fish (approximately 24 ounces)

1 1/2 cups of flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup mild

12 ounces of beer

1 1/2 cups oil for frying (canola or vegetable)

Directions

Rinse fish well under cold water and pat dry. Begin heating cast iron skillet or other heavy-bottomed frying pan and proceed with batter.

Measure flour and salt into a medium mixing bowl. Add milk and about 1/4 of the beer, stirring until blended. Add more beer in small amounts, incorporating it into the batter until reach a pancake batter consistency.

When the oil has reached 325 degrees (place a dollop of the batter in the oil and if it sizzles immediately, you are ready to fry), coat one piece of fish with batter on both sides and lay carefully in the hot oil. 

Fry fish for approximately 3 minutes until the underside has turned a medium golden brown. Turn the fish to cook the other side, approximately 2 minutes or until it reaches that same golden color. Remove cooked fish to a bed of paper towels to drain. Repeat with remaining fish pieces. Serve with homemade tartar sauce and more beer!!

Roasted Sweet Potato Fries

These roasted sweet potato fries make a wonderful, healthy side dish. The deep orange color of these fries is beautiful and the flavor is earthy and sweet. I tossed mine with fresh garlic, thyme, rosemary, and kosher salt because those are my favorite fresh herbs, but there are so many different ways you can season these. The aroma of these baking will fill up your house and make it seem that you were very domestic even though this is a very simple recipe.

Sweet potato fries do not crisp up like traditional fries, instead the texture is much softer. These are so filling and yummy I made a batch with just one potato and ate it as my lunch. 

Sweet Potato Fries

Ingredients

3 sweet potatoes (some people peel them, but I like the skin on!)

Fresh rosemary 

Fresh thyme 

Garlic, minced

Olive oil

Kosher salt

Pepper

Directions

Preheat over to 400 degrees and spray a large baking sheet or two small baking pans with cooking spray.  Wash the sweet potatoes and cut them into wedges. Rustic is good here! Place the sweet potatoes wedges in a large bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Season to taste with rosemary, thyme, Kosher salt, and pepper.

Spread out on pans and bake for 40 - 45 minutes, turning the fries every 15 minutes to prevent browning. 

Rice Krispies Cookies

This is another recipe from my Aunt Marlene. I have loved these cookies since I was a little girl. If you like sugar cookies, these are a fun twist because of the crunchy Rice Krispies and sugary coating. They are quick and easy and make a big batch - about 36 cookies if you don't eat a bunch of the dough like I did!

Rice Krispies Cookies

Special thanks to Aunt Marlene

Ingredients

1 cup margarine

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup Rice Krispies cereal

1 cup white sugar

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

Cream together margarine and sugar. Add vanilla. Add dry ingredients, add rice krispie cereal last. Roll into balls, and roll lightly in sugar. Place on cookie sheets and pat down with your palm.

 Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees until golden on the edges. 

30 Things to Make Before I Turn 30: Julia Child's Bearnaise Sauce

I'm going to be completely honest and straightforward here: Julia Child would not be impressed with my Bearnaise Sauce. It was waaaaay too thin and instead of trying to fix it with another five steps like Julia recommends in her book Mastering the Art of French Cooking, I just served it. Thankfully I have an extremely supportive, easy to please husband who not only drowned his steak in this sauce and sang it's praises, he DRANK this sauce because he thought it was that delicious. 

So my first endeavor with Julia Child's Bearnaise sauce is nothing to brag about. I will take make another attempt to "master" this incredibly buttery and sinful sauce at a later date.

Julia Childs' Bearnaise Sauce

Bearnaise sauce differns from hollandaise sauce only in taste and strength; instead of lemon juice, its basic flavoring is a reduction of wine, vinegar, shallots, pepper, and tarragon. 

Ingredients

1/4 cup wine vinegar

1/4 cup dry white wine or dry white vermouth 

1 tablespoon minced shallots or green onions

1 tablespoon fresh tarragon or 1/2 tablespoon dried tarragon

1/8 teaspoon pepper

Pinch of salt

3 egg yolks

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon cold water

3 tablespoons cold butter

1/2 to 2/3 cup melted butter

2 tablespoons fresh minced tarragon or parsley

Directions

In a small saucepan boil the vinegar, wine, shallots or onions, herbs, and seasonings over moderate heat until the liquid has reduced to 2 tablespoons. Let it cool.

Beat the egg yolks until thick.  Add in the lemon juice and cold water. Strain in the vinegar mixture and beat. Add 1 tablespoon of cold butter and thicken the egg yolks over low heat. Beat in the other tablespoon of cold butter, then the melted butter by droplets. Correct seasoning, and beat in the tarragon or parsley. 

Makes 1 1/2 cups.

Turkey Stuffed Peppers

I found this recipe for turkey stuffed peppers on Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes and since I haven't had stuffed peppers since I was a little girl, I decided I  needed to try this recipe. Growing up, my Grandma (who is a phenomenal home cook) let us all pick out any meal we wanted and she would make it as a present for our birthday. I remember my mom requesting  stuffed peppers for her birthday meal one year. I think that is why I always think of stuffed peppers as being a special meal. They look impressive but are really easy to make. With the combination of the cooked rice and turkey, they are very filling and the peppers make this dish extremely flavorful. This recipe wasn't my husbands favorite dish, but I enjoyed them and kept enjoying them since they make 6 servings! Best off all is the nutritional value: each pepper is only 185 calories, 2.3 grams of fat, 20 grams of protein, 20 grams of carbs, and 1.6 grams of fiber.

Turkey Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients

1 lb lean turkey meat

1 garlic, minced

1/4 onion, minced

1 tablespoon fresh cilantro or parsley

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon cumin powder

salt to taste

3 large bell peppers, washed 

1 cup fat free chicken broth

1/4 cup tomato sauce

1 1/2 cups cooked rice

Olive oil spray

1/4 cup reduced fat shredded cheese

Optional: Sliced avocado and sour cream for topping

Directions

Heat over to 400 degrees. Spray a little olive oil in a medium sized saute pan and heat on a medium flame. Add onion, garlic, and cilantro to the pan. Saute for about 2 minutes and add ground turkey. Season with salt, garlic powder, and cumin and brown the meat for several minutes until completely cooked through. Add tomato sauce and 1/2 cup of the chicken broth. Mix well and simmer on low for about 5 minutes. Add cooked rice and combine with meat.

Cut the bell peppers in half lengthwise and remove all the seeds. Place in a baking dish. Spoon the meat mixture into each pepper half and fill it with as much as you can. 

Place all the stuffed pepper halves on the baking dish and pour the remainder of the chicken brown on the bottom of the baking dish. Cover tight with aluminum foil and bake for about 35 minutes. Top with shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, and avocado.