On the First Day of Christmas...

I can't believe it's December already - the sixty degree, sunny weather really isn't helping convince me either. However, the overabundance of holiday movies on Lifetime and cars in the mall parking lot are telling me that Christmas is right around the corner.  So, to help get me in the holiday frame of mind, I'm attempting to create a dozen unique holiday recipes by the 25th, a la The Twelve Days of Christmas.  

On the First Day of Christmas (or the Third Day of December), my true love gave to me...a caramelized pear crostini with goat cheese and a honey-whiskey reduction.  Alright, it might not flow as well as the original version, but you can appreciate my efforts, can't you?

Caramelized Pear Crostini 
1 sprigs worth of rosemary leaves, roughly chopped
¼ cup + 2 tbs olive oil
a dozen thin slices of bread (I used baguette) 
2 tbs butter
1 small yellow onion, sliced thinly
1 red pear, cubed
¼ cup honey-whiskey (I used Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey)
4 oz log goat cheese
sea salt

+ Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
+ Mix rosemary with ¼ cup of olive oil in a ramekin.  Set aside.
+ Melt 2 tbs of olive oil and 1 tbs of butter over medium-high heat in a small sauce pan.  Once the oil is sizzling, add the onions.  Stir  until all of the onions are well coated in oil.  Sprinkle with a bit of sea salt.  Cook onions until they are just beginning to brown - stir occasionally, and lower heat if the onions brown too quickly. 
+ Add the pear and 1 tbs of butter.  Stir until the pears are coated in oil.  Allow to cook, stirring occasionally  until the pears and onions are brown and caramelized.  Transfer into a small bowl.
+ With the heat on, add the whiskey to same pan you caramelized the pear and onion in.  Cook down until the whiskey has reduced by half, becoming thick and syrupy.  Take off heat and set aside.
+ While the whiskey is reducing, place the bread on a broiling pan.  Using a small spoon, drizzle enough rosemary-olive oil to coat the top of each slice.  Bake for about five minutes, or until the edges just begin to brown.
+ To assemble the crostini, spread a thin layer of goat cheese onto each slice of toasted bread.  Top with a generous spoonful of the caramelized pear-onion mix.  To finish, drizzle with honey-whiskey reduction.  Serve warm (but don't worry, based on how quickly my family ate them, they won't be around long enough to get cold).

Tilapia with Asparagus and Spicy Polenta

I spend most of my days discovering new recipes.  Whether it’s researching my favorite chefs’ sites, stumbling around the internet finding intriguing looking dishes, or leaving the Food Network on all day while I mill around the house, I am constantly making a point to remember really interesting recipes I hear about.  “Ooooh!  Guinness chocolate pudding?”  or “Lavender-lemon marmalade.  I’m making that.” But let’s be real.  I bookmark them or promise myself I’ll look them up later and then never do.  There are times when I feel the need to over-plan  menus to the obsessive-compulsive level.  Most of the time, these meals come out good but don’t always live up to the ridiculous preparation I put into them.  The best meals are always throw-togethers; the ones where I see what’s in the house, figure out how I can use them all together, and take a leap.  Maybe it’s because the experimentation and lack of expectations, but I enjoy cooking and eating these dishes the most. 

Since I was stuck home without a car today, dinner tonight ended up being one such throw-together meals.  I came up with a package of frozen tilapia, some rosemary springs, and a quarter of a bag of polenta – my all-time favorite grain – shoved in the back of the cupboard.  It did take a bit of research on my part (mainly looking up the ratio of liquid to grain, I really need to start memorizing those), but this is the easiest and most delicious dinner’s I’ve made in a while: Tilapia with Asparagus and Spicy Polenta.

Okay, one quick rant before I get to the recipe.  When most people – no, let me rephrase that – when most Americans think about a fast, easy dinner they think fast food or something packaged that takes less than 10 minutes to re-heat in your microwave.  And they’re all wrong.  If you just have some basic elements in your kitchen, you can make something that’s quick but healthy as well. 

My Always-Have-In-Kitchen List:

+ variety of spices (salt, pepper, curry, chili powder, cinnamon, etc.)
+ grains (rice, quinoa, polenta, etc.)
+ onions
+ garlic
+ olive oil
+ wild-caught fish in the freezer (Trader Joes has great stuff)
+ salad greens
+ a dozen eggs
+ always, always at least three fruits and vegetables (never, ever canned, sometimes-if-you-really-have-  to frozen).  

Tilapia with Asparagus
3 fillets wild-caught tilapia
3 tbs olive oil
coarse sea-salt
lemon-pepper (regular black pepper works too)
chili powder
smoked paprika
½ yellow onion, sliced
1 small bunch of skinny asparagus, cutinto three inch pieces
3 rosemary sprigs

+ Preheat the oven at 350 degrees.
+ Place each fillet in the middle of a square of tin foil.
+ Season both sides of each fillet with salt, pepper, chili powder, and paprika to your taste.  
+ Drizzle a good helping (about 1 tbs) of olive oil on top of each fillet.
+ Fold the sides of the foil up, creating a little packet.  Fill each with one third of the onion and asparagus, and finish with one sprig of rosemary.
+ Crimp the edges of the foil, sealing the packets.  Then place in a baking dish or on a baking sheet.
+ Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily (test by pulling the fish apart gently with a fork:  if the fish flakes, it’s done; if it resists or is slightly bouncy, it needs a few more minutes.)

Spicy Polenta

2 tbs olive oil
1 ½ tbs garlic, minced
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp rosemary, chopped finely
½ tsp coarse sea-salt
½ tsp pepper
3 cups vegetable broth
1 cup polenta
2 tbs salted butter

+ In a medium sauce pan, sauté the garlic, red pepper, rosemary, salt, and pepper in the olive oil for about one minute.
+ Add the vegetable broth and then bring the liquid to a boil.
+ Once the broth is boiling, slowly pour in the polenta, while whisking constantly.  
+ Turn the heat down, bringing the mix to a simmer, whisking occasionally.  
+ When the polenta has thickened, and the liquid is almost completely gone, whisk in the butter.
+ Remove from heat and cover, allowing the polenta to continue to thicken and the flavor of the broth to settle into the grain.