Catching Up

Here are the recipes I have been trying to post for the past little bit. Hopefully my computer, Blogger and my not-so-great technical ability will all have a postive meeting and this post will work!

First up, the peanut butter cookies I made last week. This recipe was chosen simply because I had all the ingredients on hand and I didn't need to use the electric beater - a big bonus when #2 is napping. They weren't that great the day they were made but were quite nice the next day - the honey flavour had developed and made a tasty cookie. I probably won't make then again, they were fine and everyone enjoyed them but there are so many other peanut butter cookie recipes to try.

Peanut Butter Cookies
From Family Circle Step-by-Step Biscuits and Slices

1 cup plain flour
½ cup self-raising flour
1 cup rolled oats
125g unsalted butter
½ cup caster (superfine) sugar
1/3 cup honey
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1 cup roasted unsalted peanuts, finely chopped

Topping
¾ cup icing sugar
25g butter, softened
1 tablespoon warm water

Preheat oven to moderate 180˚C. Brush two baking trays with melted butter or oil.
Sift flours into a large mixing bowl; stir in oats.
Combine butter, sugar, honey and peanut butter in pan and stir over medium heat until melted. Add to flour mixture. Using a metal spoon, stir to just combine ingredients. Roll heated teaspoons of mixture into balls. Arrange on prepared trays with room for spreading and press lightly to flatten. Bake 10 minutes or until golden. Cool cookies on tray.
To make topping: Combine icing sugar, butter and water in a small bowl. Stir until smooth. Dip tops of cookies into topping and then into nuts. (I dipped them into the topping but didn’t add the extra nuts.)

We had fish for dinner one night last week (does everyone else have the problem of all the days blurring together? We don't even have much of a social life but we sure have been busy lately!) I'm not a big fan of fish, usually it tastes just too fishy. Everyone laughs at me for saying that but I hope you know what I mean. I find some fish to be quite mild in flavour (like shark) while others (just about anything else!) has a strong 'fish' flavour. Anyway, the ladies at the deli counter at the local shop helped me out and sold me some basa fillets - I've never heard of it before but it was boneless and they assured me it wasn't 'fishy' tasting. I am so glad that I tried it - it was delicious - the kids scoffed it down, Hubby loved it (he loves seafood) and I really enjoyed it. I even ate the whole fillet - very unusual for me.

Herb-Crumbed Fish Fillets
From the Ugly Binder (I think it came for good taste magazine originally)

1½ cups fresh breadcrumbs
¼ cup finely grated parmesan
¼ cup finely chopped fresh dill I used much less dill, about 1 tablespoon - it's not a favourite
¼ cup finely chopped fresh chives
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 boneless fish fillets
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil

Place the breadcrumbs, parmesan, dill and chives in a shallow dish. Season with salt and pepper and mix well.
Dip each piece of fish into the breadcrumb mixture and use your fingers to press the crumbs firmly onto the fish.
Heat the oil and butter in a large frying pan over medium-high heat until the butter melts and begins to foam. Add the fish pieces and cookd for ¾ minutes each side, or until light golden and the flesh flakes easily when tested with a fork. Serve with steamed potatoes and asparagus and lemon wedges. (We had ours with steamed potatoes with salad instead.)