Yet, each time, I am sorry to say that I was defeated by time and fatigue. When someone synthesizes a drug that is awesome like caffeine without the crash, sign me up for the clinical trial. In the mean time, let's all have another cup of coffee (which, at this point, would be my third) and take a load off for a few moments, okay? Mmm... coffee.
November is quite a funny time of the year. There's no way I can know what you're up to but, where I am, the workload seems to increase to a fever pitch. You have two papers and a midterm? Let's throw another midterm and a formal lab report in there and see how everything comes together. Well, this term, its a large paper and a presentation that, I have to say, I have been avoiding. Fear of failure (failing school, failing the super, f.a.i.l.).
As far as I'm concerned, oral presentations are the purest form of torture. They are like a paper in that they must be heavily researched and backed but, when it comes down to presentation and questions, the research falls away and, nakedly, you stand there. It is like being a wounded gazelle on the Savanah that sees the lions descending.
But, I digress. Whining about school is not the point here! In light of the super business that was going on this week (and in effort to lessen the amount of hang-ups), I spent my weekend making Mom Soup and Mom's Fish Dish. There is no way this starving student is skipping dinner or eating microwave dinners when there are awesome left-overs in the fridge. Paired with steamed veg, how can you go wrong?
Here's a recipe for the Crock-Pot (CP) that I find quite tasty. My mum does it in the oven for about 1.5 hours and it comes out about the same (except that the top potatoes come out crispy!). I'm still working out some of the kinks, but, hey, life's about learning right?
Mom's Fish Bake
(Done the C-P way)
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| Bringing together a lot of the goods. The only thing missing here are the fish filets; they're in the sink just out of the picture to the right. Once they get thawed, they're a little picky to handle! |
You will need:
- 4 frozen Basa fish filets, thawed
- 1 sweet onion
- 1 pkg. grape tomatoes, sliced or approx. 2 ripe tomatoes (We grow these suckers in the garden at home and, let me tell you, this dish is like a whole other world of awesome when they're ripe and right off the vine. Seriously.)
- 9-10 baby potatoes, sliced extremely thinly (My mom also uses plain potatoes as well, so don't feel bound to the baby ones)
- Assorted spices (I like cumin, coriander, curry powder, paprika, and garlic powder, however, you have a lot of choice with this. It all depends on what you like and you can definitely experiment!)
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup water (When my Mum does it in the oven, she doesn't put the water in, however, I'm a big fan of the broth to eat this more like a stew so I add the extra liquid. It doesn't seem to affect flavor and makes cleaning the basin a lot easier).
- 6-inch chunk of cellery, cut in half
- 5-6 baby carrots
How it’s done:
No preheating necessary, aren't you glad?
- Give the onion a good chop into thin strips.
- Cut the tomato and potatoes into slices. The tomato slices can be a bit on the meaty side if you like, but make sure that the potatoes are cut ultra thin; otherwise, the potatoes won't cook all the way through and its a little icky. (Yes, that it is the technical term ^_^;; ).
- Assembly of this is pretty easy so don't worry if it seems awkward.
- Take your empty C-P basin (mine is about 3 qrts) and start with a layer of onion at the bottom.
- Next layer is fish! Take two thawed fillets and lay them over the onion layer. (I try to make sure that they don't over lap but I don't know that it makes a super big difference).
- Spice up the fish fillets by sprinkling your chosen spices over them.
- Take your tomato slices and lie them over the fish.
[Edit:Upon reading this for the zillionth time, I realized that I never said anything more about the celery and carrots. After you get the tomato layer in, put one chunk of celery on either end and disperse carrots between tomatoes in that layer. I do this for flavor. I'm not sure if it makes a difference, but it certainly doesn't hurt!] - Follow the tomato layer by a layer of thinly sliced potatoes.
- Next layer is more sweet onions!
- Lay the last two fillets of fish over the onion layer and spice up their surface!
- Cover this with a layer of tomatoes and then follow with a layer of potatoes.
- Drizzle the top of the layered goodness with the tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil.
- Pour the 1/2 cup of water in by pouring it into the cracks along the edges so as not to disturb the spice on top of the potatoes.
- Lid on and let it cook on high for 3 hours. After three hours check the potatoes on top for doneness. (This is the part of the recipe I haven't quite figured out how to make work for the C-P. My Mum puts the potatoes on top but I think in the future I might put the tomatoes on top because some of the top potatoes never seem to cook quite right. I wish you better luck than I have had!).
Serves 3 hungry people or 4 people with some salad and veggies! ^__^
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| After getting all the layers set up and tossing the lid on, I sit there and watch it cook (left). Then I get bored because, honestly, its like watching paint dry. However, I will say that, even if the C-P dish looks really full, the junk inside shrinks down so it doesn't look so full after its done. I forgot to take a picture before I divided it, but, on the right, is one portion. Yes, not exactly the most attractive thing ever, but I like to eat it just the same! |
The recipe above is courtesy of my Mum. I'm not sure if its an original because, when asked, she says that she got the recipe from her brother. The trail, sadly, goes quite cold after that point. Regardless, from me to you, it is yummy. Speaking of which, it is just about that time. I'm going to go heat me up some fishy goodness. Enjoy guys!
KitchKem is currently rocking out to Raise Your Glass by P!nk and hating referencing with a passion.
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