Parmesan Crusted Halibut

I made this Parmesan Crusted Halibut for my mom's Birthday and served it along with four cheese scalloped potatoes and mixed greens topped with mandarin oranges and a citrus vinaigrette (scalloped potato recipe soon to come and you can refer to my Strawberry Feta Salad post for the citrus vinaigrette) For the fish coating I decided to use grated parmesan in lieu of a heavy bread-crumb base that one would normally do. The reason why is because the parmesan crust gives the fish a nice, light, salty, crunchy coating that you just can't beat!
Needless to say, I think I won the daughter of the year award for this one...



Ingredients

4 5-6 ounce halibut steaks
3/4 C. flour
3 eggs
2 cups of grated parmesan
1 lemon cut in half, reserve one half for the cooking process, cut the other half into slices for a garnish
4 T of extra virgin olive oil
Salt & pepper


Method

Create an assembly line... First put your flour onto a plate, break the eggs in a bowl and whisk with a fork, then add the parmesan to another plate

Preheat a medium size sauté pan over med-hi heat
Salt and pepper the halibut steaks, dredge each halibut steak in the flour, shake off the excess, dip in the egg, then press and coat all sides with the grated parmesan
Add 4 T of olive oil to the preheated pan, then carefully add each halibut to the hot oil
Cook about 4 minutes on each side (depending on the thickness) or until golden brown and cooked through, squeeze the juice from the reserved lemon half over the halibut before removing from the pan
Plate and garnish with the lemon slices




Yield
4 servings

Rosemary-Honey Mustard Crusted Pork Loin

So tender and so juicy. It's like an explosion of erotic flavors in your mouth, but not really because it's just mustard and honey. Just make it, you'll love it



Ingredients


2 lb. boneless pork loin
3 T of honey
3 T of stone ground mustard
3 T of honey mustard
6 sprigs of rosemary
1 cup of either water, apple juice or broth
Salt and pepper to taste



Method

Preheat the oven to 325•
Grease a 9 by 9 (or similar size) baking dish
Remove and chop the rosemary from 3 sprigs
In a small bowl whisk the honey, stone ground mustard, honey mustard, and chopped rosemary together, set aside
Place the pork loin in the baking dish, salt and pepper the the loin then take about 2/3 of the honey mustard/rosemary mixture and coat all sides of the pork roast
Add 1 cup of liquid to the baking dish
Bake in the oven uncovered for about an hour and a half or until a meat thermometer reaches 145•
Remove from oven, cover and let rest for 15 minutes
Place the roast on a platter, carve, then drizzle with the remaining rosemary/honey mustard mixture and garnish with the rosemary sprigs


Yield
4-5 servings

Mini Caprese Bites

Caprese is a simple Italian salad or antipasti (starter) that originated in Capri. It consists of fresh mozzarella, tomato, basil, salt and olive oil.
I took a different spin on traditional way of serving Caprese by turning it into little, single serving bites and drizzling with a little balsamic vinegar. The combination of the juicy sweetness from the tomatoes, the smooth mild flavor from the mozzarella, the fresh flavor and crunch from the basil and the tanginess from the balsamic vinegar is sure to please any palate.  Not to mention they look pretty!


Ingredients

1 package of grape tomatoes
1 container of bite size fresh mozzarella balls (appx 25 count)
1 bunch of fresh basil, if you buy it packaged it will be appx (.66 oz.)
Olive oil to drizzle
Balsamic Vinegar to drizzle
Salt
25 toothpicks


Method

Rinse and cut all of the grape tomatoes in half, drain the mozzarella bites from the container, rinse the basil and rip up the larger leaves into smaller pieces making sure you have about 25 pieces total (one for each bite)
Take one toothpick, skewer one of the tomato halves, then a basil leaf, one mozzarella ball and cap it with the other half of the tomato (see picture below) repeat until all bites are assembled
Arrange all of the Caprese bites on a platter, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve
Right before serving, drizzle each bite with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and finish with a sprinkle of salt.



Yield
Appx 25 bites