Pistachio Crusted Halibut with Polenta and Sauteed Beet Greens

Woah, that's a long title.  I usually like to keep recipes to separate posts, but this was such a perfect trio that I wanted to keep the meal all in one.  This was comfort food at it's best.  One of my co-workers gave me a nice piece of halibut that her fella caught in Alaska.  The rest of the meal just kind of fell into place.  I really wanted to try polenta and I just recently learned that beet greens are amazing and had found some at the farms market last week.  So, with all that, I cooked!


For the Halibut
What you'll need:
about 1 pound halibut fillet
1/2 cup salted pistachios
1 cup corn meal
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 cups milk
2-3 tablespoons oil (I used canola)


Slice halibut into about 1 inch thick strips, then remove skin (if its still there).  Place fish in a ziplock bag and pour milk over top.  Let sit for an hour in the milk.  When ready to cook, preheat oven to 375.  In a food processor add nuts, corn meal, salt and pepper and pulse until pistachios are broke down into small bits, but not powdered.  In a baking dish, add oil so it coats the bottom with a thick layer, you may need a little more oil depending on the size of your dish.  Don't skimp.  Bread each side of the halibut lightly pressing the nuts into the fish.  Place fish in pan and bake for 15-20 minutes, depending of thickness, flipping half way.


For the Polenta
What you'll need:
1 cup yellow polenta (I got mine at Winco in bulk)
1 cup cold water
3 1/2 cups hot water (from tap is fine)
1 tsp salt
2 tablespoons half and half
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese


In a medium to large pan, add polenta and cold water.  Whisk around a little, turn burner onto medium and add salt and 2 cups of the hot tap water.  Stir constantly until all the water is absorbed (5 to 6 minutes).  The more you stir and work the polenta, the creamier it will be.  Once water is gone, if you stop stirring, polenta should bubble, add remain 1.5 cups, half a cup at a time until water is again totally absorbed.  Now reduce heat to low, cover and let sit for 2 minutes.  After that, add half and half and cheese and whisk for 2 to 3 more minutes.  Polenta should be think and creamy and you shouldn't really see anymore grittiness.  Serve with anything from thick soups to meat sauces, anything goes!  


For the Sauteed Beet Greens 
What you'll need:
2 bunches beet greens (or 1 bunch beet greens and 1 head romaine lettuce. I only had one bunch, next time I will buy 2)
1/2 cup bacon bits plus 2 teaspoons of the bacon fat
1 cup sliced onion
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper


Fry bacon (3 or 4 pieces. I like to use scissors to cut into pieces before I fry it, less messy than crumbling with your hands).  Remove from pan, drain fat leaving 2 tablespoons and add onion.  Cook onion until nice and browned and caramelized. Turn heat to medium and add vinegar, sugar and pepper.  Let vinegar bubble for a minute to reduce slightly and add bacon and beet greens.  Mix around until greens are well coated and begin to wilt. About 1 minute.  Add romaine and mix again.  Turn off heat and let sit for another minute.  Toss one more time.  Serve on its own or with polenta.  


Here are the pictures.  I didn't think I was going to get to blog these recipes because my camera was still having issues.  Kam fixed it after I had already began cooking, so I missed a few of the beginning photos.  You'll still get the idea.  I was cooking all this at the same time so I'm just going to run all the photos together.

After 5 minutes.

I would make all of these recipes again.  I think polenta will be experiment with much more this winter.  Call me crazy, but its rainy and yucky here in Spokane today and I couldn't be happier.  Sweaters and boots.  Just about time to bust out the old tights....summer was amazing this year, but I'm so happy its fall!  Enjoy!

Orange and Balsamic Glazed Beets

So I wasn't sure what the end result was going to be with these.  I love love pickled beets, but those have a really strong pickled taste and the earthy beet flavor is pretty well hidden.  I also knew that the few times at salad bars when you think you're grabbing pickled beets and they are actually just plain, that I didn't like them, so I took a shot.  And, perfect success.  Kam loved them and I loved them.  The orange and vinegar was a tasty glaze that complemented the earthy beet.

What you'll need:
4 - 5 smallish beets
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt
pepper
zest and juice of one orange
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar

Preheat oven 400. Cut both ends off each beet.  Rub with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Wrap each beet in tin foil and bake for 45 minutes to an hour and a half depending on size.  Once fork tender, remove foil and allow to cool enough to handle.  Remove skins, they slide off easy with a little pressure, and turn your fingers a nice shade of pink! Slice into bite sized pieces.

When you remove beets from then oven, begin glaze.  In a medium pot add orange juice and zest, sugar and vinegar.  Bring to a boil.  Turn heat down to medium low and reduce to a syrup, about 6 or 7  minutes.  Add beets into the glaze and toss.  Allow beets to heat back up before serving.

One of my new knife finger slicer weapons.  (I got the set of 5 from Costco for about $20 and they are awesome!)

My new zester that someone gave us for a wedding gift.  Unfortunately, there was no card with this particular gift so we have no idea who it is from.  Whoever you are you must know about my cooking hobby, thank you and I love it!

Sweet, tart, earthy.  Best part, they make your pee turn reddish.  Next time I think I will try crystalized ginger instead of orange. Enjoy!

Pickled Beets

Ok, I'm a dork for taking that photo, I know this.  But, I have always loved pickled beets, they make me smile.  It totally stems from my mom.  I think she would have them with dinners at least once a week when I was a kid.  Plus, salad bar pickled beets. Who doesn't love those? My boss is on a major pickled beet kick right now, so it sparked my interest to making them.  I brought her a jar of them this afternoon and she immediately grabbed a fork.  She is taking the jar home, which tell me that she really likes them.  I consider her to be really picky, so if she's taking something home... success.  I also made the cake pops for her... needless to say those made the cut too.  Anyway, these beets were really simple, and didn't take too much effort.  Just a little time.

What you'll need:

3 baseball sized beets (or a little smaller)
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup white vinegar
2 cups water
1 tablespoon mustard seeds
1/2 tablespoon whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 tablespoon pickling spice
1 cup sugar

Cut the end off the beets, where the stem was.  Boil beets like you would potatoes.  Cover them with water, bring to a boil, reduce slightly, and cook until fork tender.  About 1 hour.  Remove from water and allow to cool until you are able to handle them.  Remove skins (I used a butter knife to scrape and just peeled it off).  In a large pot, add all ingredients, except beets, and bring to a boil.  Reduce and simmer for 5 minutes.  Slice beets into about 1/4 inch rounds.  If they are pretty big you can cut them in half.  Place beets into pot with the pickling liquid and allow to simmer for a half hour.

I had 2 pickle jars that were basically empty in the back of my fridge that I used to store my beets in.  I washed them really well and removed the labels.  Place equal amounts of the beets into the jars, trying not to get too much of the spices into the jars.  One you have all the beets removed from the pickling liquid, pour it through a fine mesh strainer into the jars so that it just covers the beets.  Allow to cool and store in fridge.

Kam said I looked like Dexter while making these. Knife, blood (beet juice), and an apron.

So I am really happy with these babies.  And, this might sound gross to some people, but I think when the beets are gone, I'm going to give pickled eggs a go.  I have eaten one bite of a pickled egg in my life, and I don't think the pickling liquid was right.  So, with the knowledge that people LOVE pickled eggs, and always seeing them on those shows on the food network and the Travel channel, I'm doing it.  I will let you know!  Enjoy!