Panko Crusted Tilapia Loins
Crispy and golden on the outside, tender and flakey on the inside. Panko Crusted Tilapia takes about 10 minutes to make and is delicious. The mild flavor of this fish pleases even picky eaters. Try it topped with mango salsa.
Panko Crusted Tilapia Loins
4 Tilapia loins, thawed
Seasoning salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 C Panko bread crumbs
3 TB Olive oil
Heat a skillet and the olive oil over medium high heat. Fill one shallow dish with beaten egg and another with panko breadcrumbs. Lightly season the fish on both sides, then dip in egg, then breadcrumbs pressing to coat. Pan fry about 4 minutes on each side until very brown and crispy, and cooked through. Serve with tartar sauce, cocktail sauce or any other condiment you prefer.
Julie Languille
Easy Dinner Recipes and Dinner Planning
Filed under easy recipes | Comment (0)Risotto Cakes Rock!
Next time you make risotto, make extra so you have enough leftover to make risotto cakes. Yesterday I made some and they were SO good. I spent most of the day working in the yard, since springtime on Whidbey Island is so green, I swear if you stood still long enough the foliage would grow right over you. So we all worked up a great appetite working in the yard.
Leftover risotto doesn’t look like much, and although the easy recipe idea sounded good, I wasn’t so sure when I took the risotto out of the fridge and it was a cold, firm, white lump. Never the less, I poured some bread crumbs into a shallow dish, heated some EVOO and butter in a skillet and carved off a large spoonful of risotto. I tried forming a patty with the spoon, but that wasn’t cutting it, so I used my hands and formed small patties. Then I pressed them into the breadcrumbs until well coated on both sides.
I put them into the waiting skillet and they sizzled. I let them cook until they formed a crispy golden crust then gently flipped them over. They’re a bit crumbly when they are warmed through. The crust formed more quickly on the second side. Carefully I removed them and plated them for my husband and I.
Oh my gosh, they were SO good. Crispy on the outside, creamy and delicious on the inside. They were amazing. My husband insisted I make some to share with the neighbors, because they love risotto. They were very pleased to receive them, let me tell you and I was happy to share.
You’ve got to try them!
Julie Languille
Busy wife and mom, and owner
Dinners In A Flash - Easy Dinner Recipes
Filed under easy recipes | Comment (0)Easy Recipe - Chicken Piccata and Risotto Milanese
Last night after a day of gardening, my family whipped together a delicious dinner of Chicken Piccata, Risotto Milanese and Kaylah’s Green Salad with Carrots and Apples.
I started the risotto first, by mincing the onion and shallot (because I had one on hand) and sauteing them in butter and oil. I added the rice to toast and coat, then added the first liquid coarse. Kaylah, my 9 year old, delighted in pounding the chicken breasts for the Piccata. Pounding makes them tender, and they cook quickly and evenly. I seasoned the chicken, dredged it in flour and started it cooking in butter and oil. Kaylha went on to create her signature salad and my husband came in to help finish the risotto while I created a pan sauce of lemon, wine, butter and capers for the chicken.
I made extra rissoto this time, because I want to try making risotto cakes. You scoop leftover cooled risotto and shape into patties, coat in breadcrumbs and panfry in butter and oil until crispy, golden and delicious. We’ll have that over a bed of greens today for lunch when we have earned a break from our projects. My daughter and I are cleaning up the garden, planting vegetable seeds and weed whacking all the extra exuberent growth that arrives this time of year.
Risotto Milanese
This is more of a method than a recipe. It is a delicious recipe, it’s really inexpensive, grows easily to feed a crowd and can by paused halfway through for early preparation for a dinner party, then finished just before dinner.
1 small onion, minced (or shallots, leeks or green onions)
4 TB Butter, divided
2 TB Olive oil
Arborio rice
Dry white wine - optional
Chicken, mushroom or other stock
Mushrooms, apsaragus or other vegetable or shrimp to flavor the risotto
Parmesan cheese, grated
Saute onion in oil and 2 Tb butter until softened. Add rice, measuring one handful per person plus one (or more) for the pot. Toast the rice until fully coated in fat, adding more oil or butter if needed. Add the first coarse of liquid. Pour in wine (if using) or stock until the rice is covered and the liquid is over the rice. Salt the mixture and stir. Let the rice cook until the liquid is nearly all absorbed then repeat the coarse with more stock, salt and stirring.
Prepare your flavoring. I used mushrooms, which I quarter then coat with olive oil and pan roast until tender and flavorful. If you are using asparagus, blanch it until just tender and chop it in bite size pieces. Use the blanching water as one of you liquids to flavor the risotto. For shrimp, peel, devein and remove tails. Frozen shrimp needn’t be fully defrosted. It will defrost and cook really fast in the risotto. shrimp risotto needs to be served really quickly when it is done so the shrimp doesn’t overcook.
Generally the risotto is perfect after 3 additions (courses) of liquid, but taste yours as it is almost done and adjust accordingly. Risotto is usually served al dente, meaning is still has a bit of bite and isn’t mushy. When the rice is nearly done add another knob (2 Tb) of butter and stir like a madwoman for a minute or two to emulsify the butter into the risotto sauce. Stir in a half cup or more of Parmesan cheese and your flavoring ingredient and serve when it is all heated through or cooked in the case you are using shrimp.
Chicken Piccata
4 chicken breasts, pounded in ziplock backs to an even 1/3 inch thick (good kid job)
Season salt
Flour to dredge
5 Tb butter, divided
2 Tb olive oil
3 Tb Lemon juice
1/4 Dry white wine
2 Tb Capers
In a skillet over medium high heat, melt 2 Tb butter and heat olive oil. Season chicken breasts on both sides with seasoning salt, then dredge lightly in flour, patting to remove excess. Pan fry until golden brown on both side and until cooked through. About 3 minutes per side. Cook in batches if necessary to avoiv crowding the pan. You can test for doneness by gently poking the chicken and insuring no squidgyness remains. When chicken is done, remove to a platter and cover with foil to keep warm. Deglaze the pan with the wine, stirring to disolve any browned bits in the pan. Add the lemon juice and the remaining butter and stirr briskly to emulsify. Add capers and stir until warmed. Then server chick with sauce drizzled over, passing any extra sauce at the table.
Kaylah’s Salad with Apples and Carrots
1 handful of greens per person torn.
1 apple, cored and chopped
1 C baby carrots, halved
4 mushrooms, sliced
Vinaigrette, store bought to dress
Combine all ingredients and serve
Filed under easy recipes | Comment (1)Lemon Cream Pasta With Shrimp
Tonight’s Easy Dinner Recipe was amazing. Dreamy, creamy lemon sauce over tender tagliatelle with succulent shrimp. Delicious and on the table in about 15 minutes. The tagliatelle was made with semolina flour and tasted really tender and homemade. I paired it with some broccoli dressed in lemon and butter and sprinkled with lemon zest. That and a green salad with pinenuts, craisons and my favorite vinaigrette (Le Martinique True French Vinaigrette) and we had a lovely dinner in minutes.
Lemon Cream Pasta with Shrimp
1 lb Shrimp, peeled and deveined
8 Oz Fettucine or tagliatelle
2 TB Butter
1 C Cream
2 tsp Lemon zest
3 TB Lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 C Parmesan cheese, finely grated
Start a large pot of water to boil and salt it generously. Meanwhile in a medium saucepan, melt butter over very low heat, and add cream, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Gently warm the cream sauce and don’t boil it. When the water comes to a boil, add the pasta, and 4 minutes before it is done, add the shrimp to the pot. When done, drain the pasta reserving 1/2 C of pasta water. Return the pasta and shrimp to the pan, add the cream sauce, and stir in the parmesan cheese. Thin with reserved pasta water if needed.
After I got the pasta going, I put the broccoli on to steam. I grated extra zest and juiced extra lemon juice for the broccoli. While both dishes were simmering away, I tossed my salad together.
This was so good and so filling. I think I may have just enough left to have for lunch tomorrow. Yum!
Julie Languille - Busy working wife and mom and website owner
Dinners In A Flash - Online Dinner Planner
Filed under easy recipes | Comment (1)Last Night’s Dinner - Halibut Cheeks
I had my dinner plan all ready, had my grocery list in hand and was strolling by the fish case not intending to stop when I spied them. Perfect, tender, fresh, enticing halibut cheeks. They are in season for such a short period, that I knew immediately I had to get some. So into my cart they went, and despite having my meals planned I did some hasty mental rearranging.
Hmmm, how best to prepare halibut cheeks. I briefly considered coating in panko and pan frying until crisp and golden, but quickly discarded that idea, because I thought the halibut cheek’s delicacy would be lost. Another possibility - pan seared with a ponzu aioli. Ponzu is my favorite sauce with any white fish sushi; I bet it would be divine with halibut cheeks.
I wanted a simple preparation that would present the fish as perfectly as possible. Then it hit me, I’d pan sear it and create a simple pan sauce of white wine, lemon, butter and capers. I’ll post the easy recipe below.
I served it with a green salad of greens from the farmers market, sliced mushrooms and chunks of pear - divine. We also prepared lovely globe artichokes with butter and a side of toated crusty bread with just a suggestion of garlic to sop up the suices. Divine.
Halibut Cheeks Piccata
1 lb Halibut cheeks
2 Tb butter, divided
2 Tb Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 C White wine - dry
2 Tb Capers, rinsed
Heat olive oil and melt 1 TB of butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Season halibut on both sides, then cook in the hot pan for about 6 to 10 minutes until done, turning halfway. Halibut cheeks vary in size, so you’ll need to test the texture to make sure they are cooked through. Remove halibut to a platter and cover to keep warm. Add wine to the pan and scrape up all the crusty bits. Add the butter and capers. Simmer a minute until slightly reduced and thickened. Serve halibut cheeks drizzled with sauce and pass any remaining sauce at the table.
For more great easy dinner recipes visit: Dinners In A Flash
Julie Languille
Filed under easy recipes | Comment (1)