Simple Super Bowl Potato Salad

Since my computer went down a couple of days ago and I promised 30 recipes in 30 days, I am adding another today.

Sometimes I just want simple tastes, like this "Super Bowl" inspired potato salad.  The other foods you serve will probably have lots of seasonings, so this potato salad will not compete with them.  It has only 4 ingredients and is easy to make. I used Idaho potatoes for this recipe, however, I have used red or white potatoes.  I also leave the skins on.  It's up to your preference.

Potato Salad

1 lb potatoes, well-scrubbed

1 teaspoon garlic salt

2 Tbs minced onion

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup mayonnaise

Cut potatoes in cubes and place in saucepan with cold water to cover.  Add 1 teaspoon garlic salt ti water.  Cook on high till water is boiling; about 8 minutes.  Lower heat and simmer until done; about 7 more minutes.    Drain and cool.  Mix potatoes, minced onion, mayonnaise and salt and pepper. 

Duplicate some of your favorite recipes from the most popular and best American restaurants in the country.  Click the image to get volumes 1 and 2 of America's Secret Recipes at a great price.

Fried Catfish Nuggets for the Super Bowl Crowd?

Wow!  Had technical problems with my computer-tied to my phone service for a couple of days  This is the recipe for day 24 which should have been yesterday.

There's no way I could possibly share a 30-day recipe collection without including a favorite food of mine.  CATFISH!  And, in particular; fried catfish nuggets!  Growing up in Annapolis, Maryland, we could fish for catfish in the clean waters of the Severn River at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.  There was no pollution.  So even though catfish were called "bottom-feeders," the Bay and the river were so clean, the risk
of contamination was so extremely slight, that it was unheard of.  Now, of course, I get farm-raised catfish raised in certified waters.  I buy whole catfish or fillets or even pieces (nuggets) from my local supermarket.

I can eat it anytime and any day of the week.  Since I could eat half the whole batch below by myself, I would have to cook a lot for a Super Bowl crowd.  Catfish for four people is my limit.  So you might have to consider whether you want to have fried catfish for your Super Bowl crowd, too.  You don't want to have to spend all your time in the kitchen while everyone is watching the game.  You would no doubt have to keep replenishing the platter.

Fried Catfish Nuggets

2 lbs catfish fillets or nuggets
1 cup yellow corn meal
½ cup crushed Panko (Korean or Japanese bread crumbs)
1 tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes
1 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1 tsp dried parsley
Vegetable or Peanut Oil

If you have fillets, cut them into 1 inch pieces or nuggets.  Mix cornmeal, Panko, salt, pepper and dried seasonings in a thick brown paper bag.  Drop nuggets into bag and shake until well coated.  

Heat oil to hot in a large heavy skillet (cast-iron is my favorite).  Fry catfish in batches in a single layer.  Do not crowd.  Cook until golden brown; about 2-3 minutes on each side.  Drain on brown paper bag or newspaper covered with a paper towel.

Serve with homemade dipping sauce.

Homemade Dipping Sauce

1 cup mayonnaise
3 Tsp dill relish
Couple of dashes of hot sauce

If you love cooking and great food, yet are on a budget, learn how to get the secret recipes from YOUR FAVORITE restaurant, too, and easily cook them yourself in your own kitchen!  Click book cover image.

Dad's Baked Chicken for Sunday Dinner

On many Sundays at home, my dad would cook his specialty; baked chicken.  It was a simple recipe and yet very tasty and comforting.  He just cut up a chicken, put the pieces in a roasting pan and in a short while, they were ready with no fuss. The dish always turned out well.  This is  a whole meal in itself.  Just add green beans or peas or broccoli.

Baked Chicken

Ingredients

! chicken, cut in pieces

Garlic salt and pepper

Garlic powder, optional

1 onion, cut into slices and separate into rings

4-6 carrots, cut into thirds or  large chunks

4-6 potatoes, cut into chunks

1/2 stick butter or margarine

1 cup hot water

About 2 Tbs flour

 Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Sprinkle chicken all over with garlic salt and pepper; add garlic powder.  Sprinkle flour lightly over the tops of the chicken.  Dot butter over all pieces.  Arrange carrots and potatoes around the chicken.  Add seasonings.  Put onion rings over chicken and veggies so flavor will penetrate. . Pour water into pan.  

Bake 30 minutes in the hot oven basting every 5 minutes or so with the remaining water combined with the pan juices.  Remove chicken and vegetables to a platter.  Make gravy from pan juices, if desired.

Get some great homemade tasting recipes from the best-selling copycat cookbook.  America's Secret Recipes.  Click image.

Mom's Bread Pudding-The Perfect Comfort Food

One of the all-time comfort foods is bread pudding.  So many things have changed about food since I grew up.  One thing remains--the memories of the smells coming from the kitchen when I came home from school.  And, a favorite was bread pudding.  Now, my mom would make tapioca pudding and rice pudding.  Neither of which ever gave me the kind of satisfaction I got when I ate her bread pudding with what she called "hard sauce."  Way yummy. The smell of cinnamon and nutmeg.  I could hardly wait to finish dinner so I could get to the dessert.  The recipe for  Day 23 is:

My Mom's Fabulous Bread Pudding.

Ingredients


2-3 cups stale bread
1 quart scalded milk
1/2-3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (163 C).  Tear bread into small pieces. Pour milk over bread crumbs and raisins; set aside to cool.  Beat eggs.  Add butter sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla.   Place bread and raisins in a buttered casserole dish.  Pour milk and egg mixture over bread.  Make sure bread is submerged.  Bake for an hour.  Serve warm with hard sauce.



Hard Sauce


1 stick butter (1/2 cup), softened

2 cups confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbs hot water

Cream butter, add sugar, vanilla and water and  beat well until creamy.  Put on bread pudding.  Refrigerate unused sauce.

Get your own copycat recipes from some of America's most famous restaurants. Click image for details.

Super Bowl Perfection-Mediterranean Style Cheese Puffs

Most recipes for Super Bowl or Playoff parties are pretty standard.  This appetizer from sunny Spain in the Mediterranean is not standard.  It features creamy Manchego cheese which comes from sheep's' milk.  Genuine Manchego cheese comes only from the whole milk of manchega sheep bred and reared in the La Mancha region near Madrid. . If La Mancha sounds familiar, think , Don Quixote of La Mancha.  This cheese was mentioned in the novel.

This recipe, which comes from one of my favorite and most beautiful cookbooks, Mediterranean, also suggests using Gruyere cheese or another well-flavored cheese.  Be aware; these tasty little gems will get eaten up in a jiffy.  Give yourself time to make a few batches.  You'll need them.

Cheese Puffs

1/4 cup butter, cubed
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup water
2 whole eggs, plus one yolk
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 cup finely grated well-flavord cheese, 
         such as Manchego or Gruyère


Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. (About 218 degrees F.)  Bring the butter, salt and water to a boil in a pan.  Sift the flour onto a sheet of  waxed paper, then pour the flour into the boiling liquid and stir it in very quickly.


Beat the mixture with a wooden spoon into a thick paste that leaves the side of the pan clean.  Remove the pan from the heat.


Beat in the eggs and yolk, one at a time, then add the mustard, cayenne pepper and grated cheese.


Place teaspoonfuls of the mixture on a non-stick baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.  Lower the oven temperature to 350F (176.6C) and cook for another 15 minutes, until well browned. Serve these hot or cold.


Make sure to have lots of olives.  They are a great accompaniment to the cheese puffs.

Get other deliciously impressive appetizer recipes and  bites from the very  popular America's Secret Recipes cookbooks.  Your family and friends will keep coming back for more. Click image at left.

Meal Stetcher Chicken, Broccoli and Noodles

In today's economy with the hike in the price of food, gasoline and everything else, I home cooks find themselves looking for ways to stretch the family  food budget. I always buy the value packs of chicken breasts and separate them into baggies and freeze them till I need them. Here is a recipes that really stretches one chicken breast and a bag of egg noodles. Just made this tonight for dinner from what I had on hand.  Yum Mee!

Ingredients

1 chicken breast, cut in half lengthwise
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 chopped onion
1 16oz bag medium width egg noodles
1 cup noodle water
2 cups frozen brocolli florets
1 can cream of celery soup
1 small can mushroom stems and pieces (Do not drain)
2 Tbs light (or non-fat) sour cream
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp oregano or Italian seasoning
4 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs butter
garlic salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Cook egg noodles as directed in water seasoned with a teaspoon or so of garlic salt. Drain. Reserve 1 cup water.

Heat 2 Tbs olive oil to medium high heat. Add garlic and onions, cook for about 2 minutes until soft. Season chicken breast with garlic salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and dried thyme leaves. Put in pan and cook on each side for about a minute. Lower heat and add a cup or water of broth. Cook on low for about 15 minutes. Let chicken cool and cut into small pieces. Reserve liquid with onions and garlic.

In a saucepan heat 1 Tsp olive oil to medium heat. Add 2 cups broccoli florets and cook for about 3 minutes coating all florets with the olive oil. Add 1 cup water and cook for five minutes or to preferred degree of softness.

Cut up cooled chicken into small pieces. Add celery soup to chicken water. Stir until well mixed. Add mushrooms with juice and cook for about 1 minute. Cut off heat and mix in 2 Tbs sour cream. Pour mixture over noodles in pan. Add broccoli florets and i cup noodle water. Mix well. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Stretch your budget with copycat recipes from America's favorite and most popular restaurants. Over 200 recipes.  See recipe secrets exposed and make them at home. Click image at left.

Charging On with San Diego Style Fish Tacos

A friend of mine is a San Diego native--hard to find out here in DC-for me, at least.  so, I asked her what a San Diego food would be.  She said that the locals love fish tacos, the likes of which she can't find here, although she keeps trying.  You can get them grilled, however, Robbye says there is nothing like San Diego fried fish tacos in a beer batter.  They are made with whitefish fillets such as cod, tilapia, halibut and even, mahi mahi. Since she doesn't cook, I searched for a recipe.  There are some some that are simpler, however, this looked authentic from what Robbye described.

San Diego Fish Tacos Recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 cup canola oil

1 cup beer
1 large egg
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 - 8 ounce whitefish fillets cut cross-wise into 6 pieces
1 small to medium sweet onion such as Vidalia, 4 to 8 ounces
10 sprigs cilantro
1/2 cup light or regular mayonnaise
1/2 cup low-fat yogurt
1 small head green cabbage, 12 to 16 ounces
2 ripe but firm avocados
1 lime
1 12-ounce jar medium-hot salsa
12 flour tortillas, about 8 inches in diameter

Directions:

1. Put the oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Combine the beer, egg, and flour in a medium-size mixing bowl. Stir in the mustard, cayenne, salt, and several grindings of black pepper. Put 6 pieces of fish in the batter, coat well, and add to the skillet. Cook for 3 minutes, turn the pieces, and cook for 3 more minutes, or until golden brown. Drain on a paper towel-lined platter. Repeat with the remaining 6 pieces. Reduce the heat if needed to prevent burning.

2. While the fish cooks, peel and quarter the onion and remove the leaves from the cilantro sprigs. Put the onion and cilantro in a food processor and pulse several times, or until coarsely chopped. Add the mayonnaise and yogurt tot he processor and pulse just once or twice to combine. Put the onion-mayonnaise sauce in a small bowl.

3. Halve the cabbage lengthwise and remove the core from each half. Place each half, flat side down, on a cutting surface and cut into thin shreds with a chef's knife. (Or shred using the large holes of a four-sided grater or the grating attachment of a food processor.) You should have about 4 cups. Put the cabbage in a small bowl.

4. Halve, pit, and peel the avocados. Cut each half lengthwise into six slices. Lay the slices on a small plate. Cut the lime into 4 wedges and put in a small dish. Put the salsa in a small bowl with a slotted spoon (so you won't get a lot of liquid in your tacos).

5. Bring all the ingredients for the tacos to the table and allow diners to make tacos one at a time as follows: Put a few tablespoons cabbage in the middle of each tortilla. Top with 1 piece of fish, 1 tablespoon of the onion-mayonnaise sauce, 1 tablespoon salsa, 2 avocado slices, and a squeeze of lime. Fold, eat and enjoy.

Serves 4.

This recipe is from the book, Cooking to Beat the Clock by Sam Gugino.

Get secret restaurant fish recipes from this edition of America's Secret Recipes. Get Volume 2 included.