Tilapia over Orzo

Wanted Salmon. Too expensive. Went for a cheaper alternative, felt like Sandra Lee. Anyways. I seared the tilapia first, then poured a melted butter/lemon juice/lemon zest mixture over them in a flat kinda casserole dish. Some garlic, some rosemary, some sauteed onions. Baked the fish in the juices and herbs topped with two thin slices of lemon (more acid!). It was delicious. Every time I bit into an onion, it was a burst of citrusy, acidic, tart flavor.

This was actually the first time I had orzo. I really liked it as a much easier to cook version of rice. Much lower maintenance. I just mixed the orzo with olive oil, some rosemary, some Parmesan and some Gruyere (my favorite cheese!). It was pretty mild compared to the strong flavors I cooked with the fish but it was a nice compliment.


Anyways, nothing too fancy but I had to blog about something. It's been far too long. And I successfully seared something. I was really proud. Because the searing didn't cook the fish all the way, just created this brown crust on the bottom. Then the baking finished cooking it through. It was so nice and flaky.

Anyways, happy Bastille Day. Made some croque-monsieurs for myself to celebrate this national French holiday.

OH. Also, last Saturday, I went to Blue Dahlia Bistro on 11st street (eastside in the historic French district) here in Austin, TX. Absolutely delicious. I ordered a prosciutto, mozzarella, pesto tartine. MMmmm. It was divine. Brought friends there too. One ordered a ham and cheese (super lame) and the other ordered smoke salmon (garnished with dill) and didn't eat it because he thought it was raw and got scared (super, super lame). But I ate it and it was so good. Salmon is just so flavorful. Not well-versed in the fish arena so it's nothing big when I say that salmon's probably my favorite.

Au Revoir!

My Experi-MINT

I said earlier that I'd make some stuff with mint. Well, here they are.

Penne pasta with a garlic-tomato-mint sauce
Um, just sauteed the garlic (delicious), tossed in canned diced tomatos, and added the chopped mint leaves at the very end. Nothing fancy.

Mint Julep
Obviously I didn't know how to make this because I actually crushed up the mint leaves as opposed to just bruising them. I would've tried again but now my mint leaves have gone bad. Oops. Maybe next time.

Mint Chocolate Chip Brownie Sandwich with Cream Cheese Icing
Oh god, I don't even know what to call this. They were supposed to be mint chocolate chip cookies but I didn't have enough flour. And I when I chilled my mixture, I knew it wouldn't be thick enough to be cookies. And because it looked more like cake batter, I just poured it onto a baking sheet and they came out kinda brownie-like. Although, I think I overcooked it as it was a little dry. So I whipped up a cream cheese icing, put it between two layers of cake, added another dallop on the top, sprinkled some powdered sugar and cinnamon, and garnished with mint leaves. I think it looks better than it tastes. Also, I didn't use mint in the actual thing but rather mint extract. I cheat.

As a result of this experiment, I don't think I'm going to eat anything mint for a while. Well, except mint chocolate ice cream. Mmmmmmm...