From our Food Goddess, TaMara:
I’ve had a stressful couple of weeks and haven’t had much time to spend in the kitchen. I decided I really wanted to try this method of cooking fish and was pleasantly surprised that spending two evenings in the kitchen testing it out, really shifted my mood and relaxed me. I know that is not the case for everyone, even thinking of what to make for dinner can create stress. That’s probably the biggest reason I do this, write down recipes, because I want to help alleviate, or at the very least reduce, that stress. So simple, tasty and foolproof is my mantra.
I think this recipe falls into that category, even though it’s a bit more elegant than my normal weeknight menus. I tested it on fish, boneless chicken breast and boneless chicken thighs. It worked equally well on all of them, so I’ll post instructions for each below.
In case it seems a bit more complicated than you’re comfortable with, I have a similar recipe that’s simpler, but just as tasty, Crispy Potato Chicken (found here).
A couple of additional fun potato recipes are Accordion Potatoes (click here) and a Classic Hash Brown recipe (found here).
What’s on your plate tonight? Any big weekend plans? Anyone doing any canning or freezing of the summer’s bounty? I just finished of the last jar of my brother’s excellent salsa. He is taunting me that he’s making more, but it’s an 800 mile round trip, so not exactly practical to drop by for another couple of jars.
Tonight’s featured recipe:
Potato Encrusted Fish or Chicken2 large baking potatoes
3 green onions, chopped
1/4 tsp Old Bay Spice
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp salted butter
salt & pepper to taste
4-6 ounce fish fillets ( I used cod. Haddock, tilapia or any firm fish will work)OR
2 large boneless chicken breast , cut into equal halvesOR
4 boneless chicken thighsWash and shred the potatoes on the large holes of a box grater. I don’t peel them. Drain them well. I squeezed the water out by hand and then patted with a paper towel. Then combine in a bowl with onions, salt, pepper and old bay spice.
Season chicken or fish fillets with salt and pepper. You want the fillets to be fairly equal in size, so halve the breasts and trim the fillets so they are about 4×4 in size.
Heat the oil and butter in a large skillet. When the oil and butter are hot, spoon 4 small, evenly spaced mounds of the shredded potatoes (each about 1/3 cup) into the skillet (my skillet is small, I had to do two at a time). Press a portion of fish or chicken into each mound and cover with the remaining potatoes. Cover the skillet. Cook the potato packages over medium heat for 6 to 7 minutes. Add additional oil if needed (I added a little as I turned each piece). Turn them carefully with a large spatula and cook them for 4 minutes, remove the lid and continue to cook for an additional to 2 to 3 minutes uncovered. The potatoes should be nicely crusted on both sides. This should be plenty of time for the fish. For the chicken, depending on the thickness, reduce heat to low and cook an additional 3-5 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.
Violet
Those look really yummy! I will give them a try, but not for awhile because it’s so freaking hot that I’m doing as little cooking and effort as possible. I went outside to water and fill up the bird bath for the poor birds at 7:15 p.m. and it was still 95 degrees. Summer. Ugh.
Yatsuno
I’ve seen a variation on this that uses very very thinly sliced potatoes that are wrapped around the fish/chicken. One tip: Season the potatoes well. Spuds are major salt sinks.
dance around in your bones
That sounds good, I’d probably try it with boneless skinless chicken thighs. Of course, the grandkids won’t even try it. Well, maybe if I put it in a Happy Meal box.
I currently have beau coup peaches falling off a tree in the backyard – made a peach cobbler that was a huge hit – anybody have any other ideas for what to do with fresh peaches that don’t involve canning or that might be suitable for a New Food phobic family (at least until they have tried it and decided it wasn’t poisonous after all?)
It has to be an easy recipe, because that’s all I do (hence, no canning).
Yatsuno
@dance around in your bones: Can’t go wrong with peaches and ice cream. Plus it’s still raspberry season. Also. Too.
Violet
@dance around in your bones:
Poached peaches are good. Here’s a recipe from Mayo Clinic. You can vary the flavors as you wish. Good served cold and with ice cream, which might be popular for the kids.
Peach pie, of course. There are a million recipes for that.
Slice them in half and put on low on the bbq. Do the cut side down first, then turn over and add a little butter and maybe cinnamon and brown sugar. BBQ just until soft/cooked. It’ll vary depending on the ripeness of the peach and the heat of the bbq. Easy, delicious and healthy dessert.
Just Some Fuckhead
Sounds delicious. Send food.
MikeJ
i make potato encrusted halibut sometimes, but rather than hash browns I use a mandolin to to cut slices of potato wafer thin.
Or going back and reading the other comments, what Yutsy said.
Yatsuno
@MikeJ: For real dramatic effect, use Peruvian purples.
Yatsuno
@MikeJ: For real dramatic effect, use Peruvian purples.
Yatsuno
Aaaaaaand FYWP.
TaMara (BHF)
@dance around in your bones: Here’s all the peach recipes JeffreyW and I have done: W4DS Peach Recipes
Most are pretty simple.
Yuts and MikeJ – do you then pan fry the packets? Sounds like it might be a bit easier for anyone worried about about the shredded potatoes falling apart (they don’t really).
Sophist(from droid)
@dance around in your bones:
Peach Schnapps?
RSA
As I told my Facebook friends earlier tonight:
dance around in your bones
@Yatsuno: I LOVE peaches and ice cream. I asked my daughter if her kids would eat peaches and ice cream and she said no.
I remember making fresh peach ice cream as a kid (sit on the porch and take turns churning the ice cream maker and it was to die for). Kids today – I don’t understand them. They’d rather eat Otter Pops or GoGurts. Wha?
dance around in your bones
@TaMara (BHF): Wow – all those recipes sound great! Thanks.
@Sophist(from droid): As does Peach schnapps :) Doubt if I could give it to the grandkids, but maybe it would make grandma a bit more mellow :)
Yatsuno
@TaMara (BHF): The technique is pretty much the same as yours. You pan fry both sides until things get crunchy and everything is done. With the chicken a finish off in a 350 degree oven until thoroughly cooked isn’t a bad idea.
Yatsuno
@dance around in your bones: What kid doesn’t eat ice cream??? Methinks your daughter is way underestimating their palates.
Pogonip
I would just like to applaud John’s decision to sober up. John, Tunch would have wanted it that way.
MikeJ
@Yatsuno:
Mine are long gone. Blackberries, however, are just starting to appear. Another six weeks and I can trek up the pass to the huckleberry patch 3,000ft above Snoqualmie.
Ruckus
@dance around in your bones:
I slice them thin and put in my cereal. Of course I eat organic granola or some other such crap with almond milk so they might not be interested.
JW
@dance around in your bones: Mix coarse chopped peaches with yogurt or sour cream. Stir ’em with some brown sugar. Great hippie desert!
I’m close to envious.
Yatsuno
@MikeJ: YUMZ!!! I know the blackberries came in really late around here. Nope, no climate change, nothing to see here, move along now!
tybee
friend of mine gave several bushels of peaches to a “distiller” in north georgia.
i get to taste the results next week.
raven
Ikettes Peaches and Cream
ruemara
I scored a lot of overripe fruit. I’m washing most, dicing them and freezing them but I think I may make some preserves of these plums, whip up a nice soft butter dough and make some sweet rolls for the IT room.
raven
Our fig tree is bustin! Boned stuffed cornish game hens with spiced fig gravy.
Laissez les bons temps rouler !
I am not a kook
@dance around in your bones: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A1linka
Cheryl from Maryland
Pan sautéed pork chops with peaches. Seriously – brown the chops, add sliced peaches, cook until chops done and peaches soft ( no need to peel). Serve with arugula or other fresh salad green.
dance around in your bones
@Yatsuno: They LOVE ice cream, just not with peaches on top. They prefer chocolate sauce.
I just made another peach cobbler just because I know how, and I can! HA!
Yeah, I don’t understand these kids either. When I was a kid, we were just happy to have food of any kind.
NotMax
If time is short, can get a somewhat similar product by using (the horror!) crushed potato chips and baking the crusted fish or meat instead of pan frying. Dip the chicken or fish in milk, then shake off excess and dip in crushed chips mixed with other seasoning of your choice until coated well. The salt and oil from the chips does a kind of mock frying in the oven.
Some people are strongly averse to (or allergic to) Old Bay seasoning.
There are any number of variations of substitutes. One (leaving out the bay leaves) is:
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. celery seed
1-1/2 tsp (or more, to taste) black peppercorns or crushed black pepper
1 tsp. paprika
a sprinkle each of powdered mustard and crushed or powdered clove
Run everything quickly through a food processor (or electric coffee grinder) for a bit to get everything to the same consistency
dance around in your bones
You guys have all given wonderful suggestions for food I would like. Do like. Have always liked.
I’m trying to find things my picky grandkids would like. I remembering despairing about my kid ever eating decent food (I used to puree cooked carrots in her spaghetti sauce so that she would get SOME nutrition at least) but now she’s all organic all the time.
The grandkids are another matter. I suppose they will get with the program at some point.
rikyrah
looks delicious
NotMax
@dance around in your bones
There’s always the old standby of fish sticks along with mac and cheese. A little cole slaw on the side for veggies.
Oatmeal-raisin cookies for dessert. Or even banana bread drizzled with chocolate syrup. Using the syrup to customize servings for each kid by having it form their individual initials piques their interest eating it.
Sandia Blanca
@dance around in your bones: Not canning, but freezing, is a simple way to make those peaches last. My mom would always slice up some peaches (peeled or not, it’s up to you), sprinkle on some lemon juice (and sugar if they need it), and put those in plastic bags. A couple of dozen bags will last you quite a while.
To eat, just thaw a little (or a lot) and eat plain or on ice cream. If the grandkids won’t eat them, well, more for you!
Yatsuno
@dance around in your bones: Honestly, a lot of it is the parents. They tell the kid that they aren’t going to like something and surprise they don’t like something! One of the things you can do is really enjoy something in front of them and really pique their curiosity about it. Kids are very rarely choosy eaters by their own devices. Another neat trick is letting them help in the kitchen. If they have a vested interest in what’s being made, they’re much more likely to try things.
dance around in your bones
@NotMax: That’s a good suggestion (the drizzling your initials thing). They already eat a lot of mac and cheese.
@Sandia Blanca: I like that idea – freeze until ready to eat them! Seriously, we have prolly a hundred peaches on the ground (even with me picking up dozens for peach cobbler) and I hate to see them go to waste.
@Yatsuno: I made Black Magic Cake for a couple of the kids’ birthdays and got them involved in the measuring /mixing/baking process. It was amazing to watch them get excited about the process – especially beating up the whipping cream that I use for ‘frosting’. It was like magic to them and they all begged to hold the beaters.
Kids like to cook, if you get them involved in the process.
NotMax
@dance around in your bones
Lotta prep, but yummyville. Peach Melba Pie
Violet
@dance around in your bones: How old are the kids? With younger kids they say to offer the same food multiple times to get them to try it. Parents (and grandparents) modeling good eating habits helps too. Don’t make it an issue, just put it in front of them and ask them to try a bite.
Some kids do have picky palates. One of my friend’s kids is that way–there’s very little she’ll eat. I think it’s a control issue with her. Their life was really chaotic during a formative time in her daughter’s life and I think the daughter decided controlling the food that went into her mouth was one of the few things she could control, so she did. You don’t know what all is happening in the kids’ lives that lead them to be picky.
Jane2
@dance around in your bones: Peach pie…it’s one of my favourite things about the south.
dance around in your bones
@NotMax:That looks yummy, but I’m not a fan of huge prep. I’ve done too much of it during my life :)
My peach cobbler is basically – melt a stick of butter in a baking pan, pour batter over it and then peaches that you’ve cooked with sugar and lemon. No stirring, and then sprinkle cinnamon on top and bake.
I’m all about the easy peasy lemon squeezy. Just have gotten lazy, I guess. Any of y’all want to come over and cook for me ? :)
dance around in your bones
@Violet: The kids are 3, 5 and 7. All boys. I just have chosen not to get in the middle of the food wars because a) it’s not my problem and b) they’ll probably grow out of it.
I’ve been around long enough to know kids who grew up on broccoli and tofu as toddlers vs. kids who ate only hot dogs and spaghetti and guess who ended up being addicts and who ended up being productive members of society ( as we define it) so I feel like, who am I to judge? There are so many variables in child-raising, and food is only one of them
When I was a kid we ate cold cereal, Malt-o-Meal, hamburger sandwiches, biscuit donuts, iceberg lettuce salad drenched in Italian bottled dressing – I could go on and on. I never knew a single kid who was obese or suffering from anything from this ‘diet’.
I think we just went outside and played out asses off all day until our moms called us in at dusk. I was telling my oldest grandkid the other day about how we used to nail roller skates on a piece of plywood to make a ‘skateboard’, and how one kid fell and hit his diaphragm against the sidewalk and lost his breath. He said “What did his parents do?” and I said back in the day, our parents weren’t there hovering over us all day long – eventually he got his breath back and we all moved on.
I don’t know why I am even telling y’all this.
NotMax
@dance around in your bones
The older I get, the less of a fan of prep I am as well.
But sometimes it’s a relaxing diversion that makes a rainy afternoon whiz by.
Violet
@dance around in your bones: Sounds like a good plan. I like your idea of getting the kids involved in making the food too. I bet they’d enjoy that, especially if their parents aren’t doing that with them.
I agree we probably played outside unsupervised a lot more and got more exercise in general. Food itself has changed. Packaged foods have ingredients we’d never heard of when we were kids. And things like high fructose corn syrup are new since the 1980’s, and who knows how that sort of thing and the gmo frankenfoods affect our bodies, metabolism and weight. Especially in young kids and their developing bodies.
noodler
Jaques pepin has an episode about this fish, it is foolproof. I really enjoy it and make it often. My sons like it too.
tesslibrarian
@dance around in your bones: peach slushies are always fun. It’s actually a recipe for peach-bourbon daiquiris, but the bourbon isn’t a necessary component.
Blend peeled peaches, ice, limeade in a blender, then stick in your freezer to firm up a bit. Serve w a spoon, if too dense; frozen fresh blueberries are an excellent topping/mix-in. (And,of course, adults are free to add a little bourbon, if desired, to their batch.)
Joy
Do you think you can use the fresh (using that term loosely) shredded potatoes in the dairy case? Yes, I’m lazy.
TaMara (BHF)
@Joy: You bet. A shredded potato is a shredded potato. :-) I’m all about simple.
Mousebumples
Late to the party here, but I love making riced potatoes (peel potatoes, boil until soft … but instead of mashing, run them through a ricer) or skin-on mashed potatoes (with all sorts of mix-ins and flavors, depending on my mood and what I have handy). If you do any/either of those and have leftover “potato water” (water that you would usually just drain off after boiling potatoes), you can use it to make these potato dough rolls. Mmmmm …. Delicious.