Simple Comfort Food – Recipes that are simple and delicious.

Baked Tilapia in Red Curry Sauce

July 21, 2017 Dax Phillips 2 Comments

Tilapia gets a bad rap in my opinion, and there are probably reasons why. They get a bad rap for many reasons, however being surrounded by many Filipino family members, tilapia seems to be the default fish of choice, and probably for many reasons. But to be honest, it’s a fish that we tend to enjoy, whether it be baked, fried, grilled, or even put into a soup. So recently I purged some items in our freezer, and tilapia was one of those items. I decided to come up with something new, yet something familiar for the family to try. Baked tilapia in a red curry sauce.

I knew all of my kids loved fish, and many of us love the red curry and coconut curry that I often make with chicken, vegetables, and rice. So this tilapia dish was not stretching too far from the meal rotation.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

6 skinless tilapia fillets, rinsed and patted dry
1 tbsp canola oil
2 tbsp red curry paste (use more if you desire a bit more heat)
14 oz can of coconut milk
large handful of fresh green beans, trimmed
1/2 cup pearl onions, optional
salt, to taste
cracked black pepper, to taste
1 lime, juiced

This dish is a one skillet recipe, which is nice not only for the cooking process, but also for the cleanup.

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees.

During this time, heat a large skillet on medium heat. Add the oil, and then add in the curry paste. Use a wooden spoon and mix in that curry paste, breaking it down. Take in the aroma. I love that aroma. Add in the coconut milk and continue to break in the curry paste.

During this time, season the tilapia filets with a bit of salt and pepper and place into the oven to cook for about 10 minutes.

Once the sauce comes to a simmer, remove the fillets from the oven and add the fillets to the sauce.

Toss in the green beans and the pearl onions.

Give a gentle mix, then move the skillet into the oven to finish cooking, about 5-10 minutes. This will allow the fish to fully cook, and thicken up the sauce a bit.

Remove, plate, and squeeze on the fresh lime juice. Enjoy!

Mayonnaise Grilled Potatoes

July 18, 2017July 19, 2017 Dax Phillips 2 Comments

I know it drives my wife a bit nutty when she opens the refrigerator and sees a couple of shelves of condiments. See I grew up on condiments. My parents were condiment junkies, obsessed with what was new, and what varietal there was with things like mustards, ketchups, and mayonnaise. That’s probably where I got my own issues when it comes to going down a couple of aisles in the grocery store. I ALWAYS stop and look at different barbecue sauces, ketchups, olives, mayonnaises, etc. You get the point. But I have gotten better over the years, and sure, if my wife says to go get a second refrigerator, I’m sure my flood gate would open and that second refrigerator would start to load up on different condiments.

But my narrowing it down, I have came down to three mayonnaises that I truly love and will need no other, other than homemade. Hellmans, Duke’s, and Kewpie. My wife and kids are not fans of mayonnaise all together, with the exception of including it in things like potato salad, and this particular recipe inspired me to get the awesomeness in mayonnaise embedded into some grilled potatoes without them knowing of course.

I know when you think mayo, and grilling, that you may think ‘grosse’, but trust me on this one, it’s pretty rad. The mayonnaise actually creates not only flavor (and great flavor at that), but great crust and texture. Think of using mayonnaise beyond sandwiches and potato salads, and using it as a marinade for all of your grilling needs.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

Baked potatoes, washed
1/2 cup of mayonnaise per potato
salt, to taste
sliced scallions, optional

That’s it. Really simple stuff going on here for your grilling needs.

Start slicing your cleaned baked potatoes about 1 inch thick, about 3/4 of the way down. You still want them to remain in tact, but not fall apart. This is much like a hassleback potato, but a thicker slice.

Next, lather the mayonnaise all over, and into the crevices, of the potato. Season with salt.

Now you can do these in the oven if you desire and you can roast these as you normally would, but my grill was going that day and I decided to lay these on the grill for some additional flavor. However you decided to cook them, just cook them until fork tender.

Once cooked, place these on serving plate and shower with some fresh scallions.

If you are looking for different ways to use mayonnaise, give these mayonnaise crusted baked potatoes a try. I know next time, I will be grilling some up and lathering some mayonnaise onto them once they come off the grill! Hope you enjoy.

Ultimate Brownie Bites

July 16, 2017July 16, 2017 Dax Phillips Leave a comment

Since I have been laid up at home, and the kids have been around during their summer break, I have been dabbling in more baking than I probably should, not only to kill time and boredom but to provide a dessert for post dinner meals for the kids. I typically let my daughter handle most, if not all, of the desserts for the family. By default it is typically a small bowl of ice cream, however my daughter will jazz things up with crushed pistachios and a fresh raspberry coulis from time to time. For me, I have little patience and just want to get things done with dessert. This is where the ultimate brownie bites comes into play.

It’s similar to the dump cake I made last year, or maybe even the Ranger cookies where I purged a bunch of things from our cupboard. This is very identical and the inspiration was to get rid of things and make a chocolate dessert that I knew my kids would love. The things I do, I’ll tell you…

Not the prettiest of pictures, but trust me, the picture doesn’t matter as the taste made up for it.

Let’s get started.

1 box of your favorite brownie mix, cooked according to its instructions
16 small Reese’s peanut butter cups
6 Oreo cookies, crushed
1 cup of graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup of roasted, salted peanuts, crushed
1/4 cup of butterscotch chips, optional
vanilla ice cream, optional

Start by baking your brownie mix according to directions. Cook about 3/4 of the way through, then remove from the oven. We are only cooking partially as we are going to load it up and finish the rest with the toppings.

Once about 3/4 of the way through cooking, remove the brownie pan from the oven and set onto a non-burn working surface.

Take the graham cracker crumbs and sprinkle on top of the brownies, lightly coating the top.

Next, layer on about 16 of the Reese’s peanut butter cups.

Ultimate Brownie Bars Recipe — Ultimate Brownie Bites Recipe

Crumble on the Oreo cookies, then sprinkle with roasted peanuts and butterscotch chips.

Place this back into the oven, and cook until the top is nicely melted and the brownies are cooked to your liking.

Remove, let cool, and let the kids gaze at this sugary delight until it is time to dig in. Sure, it’s a mess when slicing into it, and it falls apart of the most part, but that’s where the vanilla ice cream come in and acts like a glue to capture all of that loveliness.

Was this a hit for dessert? You betcha, and let’s just say it didn’t last long in the house. The good thing is I was able to purge a few things from the cupboard while satisfying the rest of the family. A win, win. Hope you enjoy!

Larb Stuffed Loaded Baked Potato

July 13, 2017July 13, 2017 Dax Phillips Leave a comment

I’m always looking for something to do with my leftovers and to be honest I am a bit surprised I had any leftovers from a recent Thai/Lao larb fest. I will also be honest and state that larb is probably one of my top 10 things to eat. There’s something about the medley of flavors and the interaction when grabbing a bit of sticky rice and nubbing it down into the herbaceous larb. I’ve done a bunch of different things outside of the standard larb recipe, of which includes leftovers. Everything larb fried rice, larb bao, and larb quesadillas to name a few. This one on the other hand goes right up there with an excellent use of leftovers, still has that great heat (depending on how you make the larb), and is filling to boot. This one is larb stuffed loaded baked potatoes. I can probably chalk this one up with all of the potato skins I’ve made in the past as well.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of leftover larb (feel free to use beef, pork, or chicken)
1 baking potato
1/2 tbsp olive oil
pinch of salt

That’s it. Granted you may thinking making larb takes a bunch of time, but seriously, it takes about 5 minutes, or as long to cook your protein

Start by preheating your oven to 400 degrees, or use your microwave if you want to roll that way, and poke some holes into the potato with a fork.

Take some olive oil and lightly coat the exterior of the potato, and season with a bit of salt. I love a crusty, salty potato, and yes, I eat the whole thing.

Bake or microwave the potato until it is knife tender in the middle. This takes about 8-10 minutes in the microwave, or about 45-60 minutes in the oven.

Once the potato is fully cooked, remove it from the oven, take a butter knife and make a long slit through the top, then carefully using your fingers give it a pinch to make a nice open pocket.

Warm your leftover larb in a skillet, or microwave, then generously load the larb into the baked potato. You can see the extra Thai chilies I added (nice boost for vitamin C), and how loaded it is. I also wanted some extra heat. Did I mention that I find myself eating a Thai chili a day? For whatever it’s worth, it hasn’t kept the doctor away, but I do love them.

If you are looking for a great and interesting take on a loaded baked potato, give this one a shot, but by all means, if you have not had Thai/Lao larb you must make it. It’s addicting. Hope you enjoy!

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