French onion-crusted fish with anchovy butter

Onion-crusted sole with anchovy butter

Adapted from “Jacques Pepin More Fast Food My Way.” Who doesn’t like French-ish fast food?

Ingredients

1 (6-ounce) can French-fried onions

1 can (2 ounces) anchovy fillets in oil

1 large garlic clove, sliced

4 tablespoons butter at room temperature

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon white wine

1 large egg, beaten

4 sole fillets (about 6 ounces each)

3 tablespoons oil

Method

Whir French-fried onions in a food processor until a slightly chunky powder. Set aside.

Whir anchovies, garlic, butter, pepper and white wine in a food processor until creamy. (Can be made ahead and refrigerated.)

Dip fish fillets in beaten egg, then in onion powder. Cook over medium high heat in oil in a large skillet, flipping over once it’s well browned, less than 10 minutes overall, and that’s if you have thick fillets. (We used cod, and it took about 8 overall.)

Rating: The onion coating on the fish is totally cheating, and I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before. I will now be willing to be seen buying the onions, even though they are usually associated with casseroles, aka hot dish here. The jury was divided on the anchovy butter. I like anchovies, and since it’s all whirred up, any texture considerations were removed. But I thought the sauce was simply overwhelmingly salty, even though I accidentally added more wine than was called for, which should have cut things a bit. I thought it overwhelmed the delicate fish. Dave thought it was almost salty enough and that overwhelming the fish and everything else on the plate was just fine. So views differ. But the fish coating is a winner, and easy to have on hand ready to go.

Sweet endings: Apple-almond crisp and coconut ice cream

Today is a day about endings and beginnings. In the wee hours of the morning, a skeleton crew of journalists walked out the door of a stalwart institution for the last time. In the early hours of dawn, the first wave hit the shiny downtown office tower that now houses us. The bulk of the staff checked out for the last time on Friday, urged on by eager movers and the journalistic need to hit a watering hole on such occasions. It was an odd day, with bicyclists racing around the building sporting Go-Pro helmets, and writers unleashing their words upon the soon-to-be demolished walls. Milton and Aerosmith quotes vied for wall space. A fat lady was depicted singing. Petroglyphs of journalistic deeds sprouted on cubicle walls, and a chalkboard outline of a reporter appeared on the carpet. My coworkers are a clever bunch, and a tad kooky. Probably the most succinct: “425 Portland. The writing is on the wall.”

Limited to three moving crates, we spent the final weeks leading up to the move essentially in one giant book exchange. Journalists love words, and hoard words. But with space at a premium, out came the books. I limited myself to snagging two of the copious quantity of cookbooks: a Williams-Sonoma book on holiday baking, which clearly speaks to my obsessive holiday preparations, and a door-weight of a book on desserts from Bon Appetit. (Luckily, someone organized a book donation so the remainders won’t all go in recycling.) Do I need another book? Of course not. But I need a sweet coda for a venerable building, so tonight I chose something from my last souvenir cookbook.  It's tastier than something from that box of lead type.

Dave got me this Italian bakeware pan for Christmas. I utterly adore it. The crisp wasn't bad either.

Apple-Almond Crisp

From “Bon Appetit Desserts”

Ingredients

Topping

1½ cups flour

½ cup packed light brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

¾ cup chilled butter, cut into ½-inch cubes (1½ sticks)

1 cup sliced almonds

Filling

¾ cup sugar

3 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon peel

1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg

8 small Granny Smith apples peeled, halved, cored and thinly sliced

1½ teaspoon vanilla

¾ teaspoon almond extract

Method

To assemble topping, whisk flour, sugar and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Rub in butter until it forms small clumps. Mix in almonds. Cover and chill until ready to use, up to three days.

Whisk sugar, flour, lemon peel, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl. Toss in apples, then extracts. Butter a 13-by-9-inch baking pan. Spoon apple mixture into dish. Sprinkle with topping. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven until apples are tender and top is golden and crispy, about 1 hour. Cool at least 10 minutes before serving warm.

Rating: Really hard to go wrong with that list of ingredients.

Coconut Ice Cream

From “The Sexy Forever Recipe Bible”

Ingredients

2½ cups heavy cream

½ cup water

8 egg yolks

¾ cup sugar

1 cup coconut milk

Method

Heat the cream and water in a heavy saucepan over medium low heat until hot, but not boiling. Remove from heat. Whisk egg yolks for 2 minutes. Stir in cream, whisking constantly. Return mixture to pan and heat on low, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Pour mixture through a strainer into a clean bowl and set aside to cool. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours before processing in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer directions.

Rating: A subtly flavored vanilla ice cream. Just a hint of coconut. Otherwise a nicely textured custard-based ice cream that paired well with the crisp.

 

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Pecan-cracker crusted chicken with sour cream mustard sauce

Sun Valley Pecan-Crusted Chicken

Adapted from “Vintage Restaurant” by Jeff Keys, a compendium of recipes from the Sun Valley restaurant. I’m not tempted to ski, and the restaurant is probably completely unaffordable, but $28 gives you a free pass to the recipes. This entrée has apparently been on the menu for a few decades and is a crowd favorite.

Ingredients

3/4 cups coarsely ground pecans

3/4 cups ground saltine crackers

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

7 tablespoons butter, divided

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard, divided

1 cup sour cream

Method

Mix pecans and crackers; set aside on a plate. Melt 4 tablespoons butter and mix with 1 tablespoon of mustard.

Pound chicken breasts between two  sheets of waxed paper until 3/8-inch thick.  Spread butter-mustard mixture on one side of each chicken breast.  Press chicken into pecan-cracker mixture, flip over and apply more mixture, pressing in to make sure crumbs adhere. Repeat with remaining chicken breasts.

Melt remaining 3 tablespoons butter in a large skillet. Cook chicken until deep golden brown on each side. Transfer to baking sheet and bake in preheated 450 degree oven for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix sour cream and remaining tablespoon of mustard. in skillet, combine any remaining crumb bits, butter-mustard remainders and sour cream mixture and cook until heated through. Serve chicken with creamy mustard sauce on one end and a tomato chutney on the other. (The recipe has a separate entry for a tomato black currant chutney, but I used a tomato golden raisin chutney I put up last fall.)

Rating: I can see why it’s popular. The crunchy pecan bits are nice, and who doesn’t like a creamy mustard sauce? Pretty fast fix as well, so it has weeknight potential, especially if you make the crumb mixture ahead as I did. Next time I might try adding a touch of white wine to the sour cream mustard mixture to deglaze the pan.