Wild Rice Tart

So much of what I've been cooking lately has either been a curry or a copy of another blogger's recipe. All week, I've been planning to get back to my roots and make something super Minnesotan. Today, I finally got around to making what I will eventually consider a 'classic.'

I'll admit that this was an experiment, but oh boy, was it successful! Luckily, I had my previous experience with a smitten kitchen tart to guide me, and I had the forethought to be careful with my smoked salmon (the ricotta totally stopped it from taking over).

Ingredients:
3/4 cup uncooked wild rice
1.5 cups mushrooms, cremini, chopped
1 small onion, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, diced
1 sprig rosemary, needles removed from stalk
1 tablespoon dried dill
2 tablespoons butter
3/4 frozen peas, unfrozen but not overcooked
1/3 cup ricotta cheese
3 oz, smoked salmon, in thin strips if possible
3/4 cup grated Gruyere cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 eggs
1/4 cup bread crumbs
salt and pepper to taste
1 store-bought pie crust, pre-baked for 10 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit

Simmer the wild rice in water for about 30 minutes until you've reached a nice texture. Drain. Saute the onions in the butter until almost translucent. Add your mushrooms, rosemary and dill. Continue to cook for about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and keep cooking until everything is soft.

In a medium-sized bowl, mix the hard cheeses, cream and egg. Add rice, peas and sauteed ingredients. Mix well with salt and pepper. Now, coat your pie crust with a thin layer of ricotta and top with the smoked salmon.


Now, add your rice mixture into the pie crust and top with a bit more Parmesan and the bread crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. Let cool for 15 more minutes.

Honey Mustard Tilapia with Red Potato Salad

The creative juices were definitely flowing today. I had a craving for fish but a ton of extra ingredients lying around. Some kind of compromise was in order.

I ended up buying couple fillets of white fish and making a good dent in my other supplies. I would recommend you make the salad first, then move onto the fish. The salad can be eaten warm or cold. The fish should be served hot.

Also, I should note that there are not small red potatoes in the Red Potato Salad, and that recipe is actually a variation of one my favorites by Mark Bittman.

Red Potato Salad
Ingredients:
2-3 medium sized beets, peeled
1 large sweet potato, peeled
4 green chillies
3 cloves of garlic
The juice of one lime
1 can pinto beans, rinsed
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Chop up the beets and potato into half-inch cubes. Toss them in olive oil, and add cumin seeds, salt and pepper. Bake at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, use a food processor or blender to turn your chillies, garlic and lime juice into a sauce. I even added a little onion to the mix.

Remove the beets and potatoes from the oven. Add your sauce and the can of pinto beans. Bake for another 10 minutes or until all vegetables are soft. Serve warm or cold.



Honey Mustard Tilapia
Ingredients:
About half a pound of tilapia fillets (other white fish are acceptable)
2 tablespoons whole grain mustard
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium yellow onion, quartered
Salt and pepper to taste
Diced parsley for garnish
1-2 sheets of tin foil

Spread a sheet of tin foil out in a large baking pan. Spray with cooking spray. Arrange tilapia and top with slices of the butter. In a bowl, mix the mustard, vinegar and honey. Here would be a good place to add the salt and pepper too. Top the fish with the sauce and then arrange the quartered onions. Close the tin foil around the fish. Use a second piece if necessary. The fish should be completely sealed.

Bake for 15-20 minutes at 375 degrees. Wait for it to cool, and drain some of the sauce if necessary. Garnish with parsley and serve with Red Potato Salad.

BACON!

For the last several weeks, I have had a package of bacon in my freezer. I do not often eat bacon, but I had it in my head to cook a big meal using bacon in more than one dish. Last night, that's exactly what happened.

I kicked the night off by baking some bacon-free biscuits. Yet another recipe from Smitten Kitchen turned out fabulous. I can only hope my recipes will someday yield such pleasing results. These buttermilk chive biscuits would be a great addition to many meals, and they sure were to mine!



Next, I moved on to the BACON! I chose to make black eyed peas, a dish that will always remind me of my grandmother, who is from Texas. This recipe is adapted from the one on the package of the peas, but I'll give it to you anyway.

Ingredients:
1 6.5 oz. package dried black eyed peas
1 cup long-grain white rice
4 cups water
2 tbsp fresh thyme, minced
2 large bay leaves
5 strips bacon
1 medium sized yellow onion, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, chopped
2 stalks of celery, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1-2 green chillies, because I love them
Salt and pepper to taste

First bring the dried peas to a boil in a pot of water. Boil for 2-3 minutes. Then cover, and soak peas for one hour. Drain the peas, and then add them to the uncooked rice. Add the 4 cups of water, and simmer with the thyme and bay leaves until rice is cooked and water is mostly absorbed.

Cook bacon in skillet until crisp. Drain it on a paper towel, and discard all but a small amount of the bacon grease. Saute the vegetables, garlic and chillies in the bacon grease. Add the vegetables to the peas and rice. Chop up the bacon and add to the mixture. Removed leaves. Season to taste and serve.



Finally, this dish was supposed to be the main event, but it sort of fell flat. I think I used too much bacon. Due to this mistake, I will condense my recipe as I explain.

Obtain 1 large fish fillet. I used fresh cod. Season it with lemon and dill. Cut into medium sized pieces and wrap with bacon. Fry pieces lightly on each side. Place in baking dish, and bake for about 20 minutes, doing what you can to remove excess grease.

Lesson learned, use the bacon sparingly!