Flounder with New Potato

Sunday night and we kept it light. Flounder tonight with new potatoes and asparagus (yes I am on an asparagus kick this weekend). Mr. Udo flipped out over this dish tonight stating it was indeed a "restaurant quality" dinner. He's so good. I'm so pleased that he liked it. I think it all has to do with how you season the fish and of course not over cooking it. Anyway, here is my secret recipe for restaraunt quality flounder. Yum!

Udo's Flounder and New Potato

• 3-4 defrosted wild-caught flounder fillets
• 1/2 of one lemon
• 1-2 cubes of country fresh cream butter
• sweet sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Old Bay seasoning
• Lemon pepper seasoning

Directions
Easy. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

• Now you want to get those new potatoes roasting well ahead of time because they take foreverrrrr to roast (around 45 minutes). All you're doing here is cutting up your cleaned potatoes and tossing them into a ceramic baking dish (or on a cookie sheet) with some balsamic vinegar, adobo seasoning, olive oil, and sea salt. Roast them until they can easily be pierced with a fork and the outside is crispy.

• So when you are entering the last 10 minutes of potatoe cooking time, that's when you want to start your fish and your greens (you can use broc or greenbeans or spinach or whatever you have on hand, I used up the rest of my asparagus).

• Rinse the fish in cold water and pat dry. Lay the fish down on a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Season each side of the fish with Old Bay seasoning and a little bit of lemmon pepper seasoning, sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper.

• Slice 2-3 lemon slices from 1/2 a lemon and then take the other half of the lemon and squeeze the juice onto the fish. Cover with a little bit of olive oil. Place a dollop of fresh cream butter on top of each fish and lay a lemon slice over each one as well. Broil uncovered for about 10 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Plate with new poatoes and asparagus.

Enjoy!

xXoXOXo <3>Udo

Bacon wrapped Mahi Mahi and Asparagus

Bacon Wrapped Mahi Mahi and Asparagus
We had some Mahi Mahi that I defrosted the other night but I wanted to perk it up a bit so I googled some recipes that used Mahi Mahi and wanted to see if any of them also used bacon (had some left that I didn't cook for breakfast and wanted to use up). Found a lot of recipes out there for Mahi Mahi wrapped in bacon and each pretty much sounded like the other. So here's my variation of one that I found while cooking and internetting...

• 2 defrosted mahi mahi filets that have been cut into bite size pieces
• Some dry rosemary
• Old Bay Seasoning
• Lemon juice to taste
• 3-4 slices bacon cut in half (one for each bite sized piece of mahi mahi)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• Salt and pepper
• Lemon pepper seasoning

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400°F

• Season both sides of the fish fillets with salt and pepper, the lemon pepper seasoning, rosemary, lemon juice, olive oil, and Old Bay seasoning.
• Wrap two pieces of bacon around each fillet. I found out the hard way that wrapping 1 long piece of bacon around the fish sounds like a great idea- but its not. If you wrap a whole piece of bacon around the fish then half of it won't be cooked properly. Ew.
• Warm a non-stick skillet over medium heat, and dazzle a bit of olive oil. When it is hot, set the filets in, browning each side of the bacon for about a minute each.
• Once the filets (bacon) are browned, place in a shallow baking dish (covered) and bake at 400 for about 10 minutes or until fish flakes.
• Meanwhile, mix together some lemon juice and mayonnaise (to taste) varying the amount of lemon so that its not too tart.
• Once the fish is done plate it with asparagus and rice and drizzle with lemon mayo. Yum.

Enjoy!

XoXoXOX <3>Udo

Udo's Pork and Crab Sandwich...

Udo's Pork and Crab Sandwich

(aka the Best Sandwich Ever!)

Simple and delicious. Using the leftovers from the pork tenderloin (recipe in the post below), create delicious pork sandwiches using endive, mayo, pork, mustard sauce, and add a handful of Herr's Old Bay seasoned crab chips. Pile into a soft, fluffy sesame seed bun, or a soft Portuguese roll. Here's the trick... you actually put the chips inside the sandwich. Oh my goodness. It's amazing. The Old Bay taste with the crunch of the chips and the soft & doughy sandwich roll. Oh so good.

Enjoy!

XOxooXO <3>Üdo

Pork tenderloin, strawberries & endive...

Tried my hand at a simple pork tenderloin the other day. I know, I know... who doesn't know how to make pork tenderloin? It's so easy it practically makes itself; but I want to share the trick I used to make it moist and juicy. It was quite possibly the best piece of meat we've ever eaten.

• Take your pork tenderloin and season it with salt, pepper, and Goya Adobo seasoning.
• Place a tablespoon of butter and a dazzle of olive oil in a non-stick pan. Get it nice and hot.
• Place the pork tenderloin in the pan and brown each and every side of it.

Searing every side of the pork will seal in the juices when you cook it in the oven. I used tongs to hold the pork upright while I seared the ends too. It really makes a difference in the tenderness of the meat.

• When searing is complete place the pork into a roasting pan, cover, and bake at 375 for about 20-30 minutes...you need a meat or candy thermometer to check the internal temperature of the meat. There's no getting around this. Don't second guess the internal temp. It's the only way to make sure you get a perfectly cooked dish.
  


• Check the pork at 15 mintues and again at 20 and 25 minutes. You want to check the internal temperature of the meat to see when it reaches 150 degrees. Once it hits 150 turn the oven off and take the pork out and let it rest on top of the oven (in its pan).

Let the pork rest. This allows the juices from the pork to retreat into the center of the meat. So don't cut it right away. Let it rest. You can serve it warm or let it cool and serve it that way too. I served this pork tenderloin with a mustard sauce that I concocted from ingredients on hand. You can use sour cream instead of yogurt but I like the sweetness of the yogurt so that's what I used. I also plated it with a bed of endive and fresh strawberries. You can't believe how well all of these flavoürs work together! The bitterness of the endive is cut nicely by the sweetness of the strawberries; both make for a cool and refreshing chaser when eaten with the pork/mustard sauce.

Udo's Mustard Sauce

• 1-2 tablespoons of whole grain mustard
• 1-2 tablespoons of dijon mustard
• 2-3 tablespoons of vanilla flavoured pro-biotic yogurt
• 1/2 tablespoon of light mayo
• water or chicken stock or pork juices to thin out the sauce

Just add all ingredients into the pan you used to sear the pork and stir with a wooden spoon until a sauce forms. All measurements are to taste- so experiment with your own. Also, it smells really strong when you make it but when you drip a teeny bit over the pork and endive it's very subtle and not at all overpowering. The sweetness of the yogurt balances the tartness of the mustard just like the strawberries and the endive work together to create the same effect. It's a really clean and palatable dish.

Enjoy! XoxoOX <3>Üdo

Better than syrup? Oh yeah...

Out of syrup but you already made the waffles? Grab some fresh fruit and powdered sugar to top off your baked building of batter. Or make a honey sauce with a little melted butter and honey mixed together and drizzled on each waffle. Still need some sweet? Take some left over cake icing (had some strawberry handy here) nuke it and drip it onto your tower of waffley goodness. Still want some sauce? Ice cream never fails. Yum!

XoXoXo <3>Udo

The Scoopeth on GOOPeth...

I love Gwenyth Paltrow. Love, love, love her. No I don't know her personally, but you can just tell she is so down to earth, and gorgeous, and I really like the way she carries herself. I am also a HUGE fan of her super cool mommah- Blythe Danner. Two really cool people. Love em. I've been subscribing to Gwen's GOOP website's newsletter ever since it came out... but realized that maybe you haven't heard of it? GOOP is an awesome site run by Gwen and friends covering all things that you can make, do, bake, see, etc... nourishing the inner aspect. Love it! This week on GOOP Gwen and a friend make the dish BiBimBop... so cute and fun! I'm going to give it a whirl this weekend and let you know how it comes out.... in the meantime- check out Ms. Paltrow whipping up a mean chicken and boogeying down with some bibimbop to boot! FUN!!!

Gwen's super easy chicken dinner...


And Gwen making Bibimbop...

Enjoy!

XoXoxo <3>Üdo

A Pocketbook Full of Posies!

This pretty little ditty is from Ivory Ink Calligraphy!

One of my favorite things in the world (besides my husband, little animals, tiny babies, and tiny little baby animals, down comforters, hugs, hot tea, and filet mignon) is Etsy - where you can buy all things handmade! Etsy is also a wonderful find for female (and male) entrepreneurs and artists! If you scroll all the way down to the bottom of this page you will see a gallery of my favorites things on Etsy. My favorite artist Vusova, my favorite soaps and candles from Breath of French Air, and some favorite photos and paperwork from Pocketbook Full of Posies, Ivory Ink Calligraphy, and Royal Buffet!!

I especially want to take a moment to introduce you to a good friend and coworker of mine- the resident artist at Ivory Ink Calligraphy. She also owns and operates Pocketbook Full of Posies.

If you have a special upcoming event and want to add a whimsical, elegant touch - you can commission Ivory Ink Calligraphy to do your invites. Reasonably priced and simply gorgeous paper perfection! Every item is meticulously hand-crafted by a super jazzy Gemini who has a background in marketing and studio art. Check out Ivory Ink and Pocketbook Full of Posies today!

XoxoOX <3>Udo

... should you fancy a sip of tea with a tasty snack or two... stop by Udo Umami ... and opening November 2009 - my Bubble Stick Soap and Bubble Shoppe!