easy fish fillets

Easy and tasty fish that doesn't take too long to make.  Because we're using frozen fish, you can easily make it for one person or for as many as you want.  Choose any (cheap) frozen white fish, like cod or flounder.  It goes well with rice or any sort of vegetables.  Most people say run the fish under cold water to thaw it right before using it, but I sometimes just throw it in a bowl of warm water and change the water when it cools down.  Fish cooks fast, so start rice or potatos early.

Once thawed, pat the fish dry.  While a good amount of butter melts in a non-stick pan, season the fish with salt, pepper, and paprika on one side.  When the butter stops bubbling, it's ready.  Cook the fish on high heat (but not high enough to burn the butter) spiced side down.  Season the other side while the fish cooks.  The trick is to not move the fish.  This makes it crispy and keeps it from falling apart.

With a spatula flip the fish after 3-4 minutes and cook it again undisturbed.  If you're serving vegetables with it, I like to throw in frozen vegetables a minute after I flip the fish.  Cooking things together not only spreads the flavor but saves on dishes.  They say fish is ready when you can easily flake it with a fork.  Perfect fish can be flaked with a fork on top but center should be just short of flaky.  Add some lemon or lime juice and enjoy!

eggs crazy

Sticking with the theme of everyday food, I would like to introduce you to "eggs crazy." The procedure: fry two eggs in two table spoons of butter. Sprinkle with salt and black pepper. (Julia says never add salt at the end of cooking because the taste will be too strong and it won't bring out the food's natural flavors.) While you let the eggs get nice and crispy, toast two pieces of (wheat) bread.

My personal preference is to throw in some sliced tomatos a few minutes before the eggs are done. On the toast, I put (strawberry) jelly. Put the eggs onto the bread and cover with tomatoes. Drizzle the rest of the butter ontop. Poke the yolks to let them seep through to the bread. Be prepared for some salty-sweet goodness.

julia child's omelette

Today I saw Julie & Julia. I can't believe I never knew about Julia Child. I only ever saw her books and thought they were too intimidating, but needless to say they're on my xmas list now. As an homage I made a super easy and super good two-egg omelette for dinner. I'll let Julia show you how. (I put jelly on mine.)

party dips double feature - part 2 - tomato butter

People always seem to like my tomato butter, so I make it sometimes for BBQs and parties.  It's super-easy to make and has a lot of flavor.  All you need to do is chop up the dried tomatos and mix everything together.  You should cool it, but take it out at least an hour before serving so it's not too hard.

• 2 sticks soft butter (room-temp, not melted)
• 1 tube or 2 small cans of tomato paste
• couple tablespoons of soy sauce
• chopped sun-dried tomatos
• 1 or 2 tablespoons of Italian herbs to taste
• pre-mixed or make your own with oregano, basil, etc.
• salt
• pepper

It's best on baguette or some sort of white bread, but I eat the leftovers on wheat for breakfast.  (The sausage in the pic is a smoked-pork version of a merguez sausage, which is really popular in Germany, specifically in Saarland where I live.)

And the party double feature is complete!