I give you Sunday night's dinner:
The main dish was grilled Amberjack that Eric and his brother caught earlier that weekend. There is absolutely nothing better than some fresh grilled fish in my humble opinion...and that's coming from a girl whose fish eating experience consisted of nibbling at fried catfish before I met my husband. Don't worry, I've seen the error of my ways and I am a fish fan now...let's face it, I would have gone hungry many many nights if I hadn't learned to love it. Our sides were pinterest finds that got two thumbs up from everyone.
Grilled Amberjack
What You Need:
Amberjack fillets or fish fillets of your choice
olive oil
Greek Seasoning....our favorite is from Penzey's
How to Make It:
Drizzle olive oil on a piece of aluminum foil (make your piece big enough so you can fold it over and make a packets). Place fish on aluminum foil and sprinkle with Greek Seasoning. Fold aluminum over fish to close packet and place on grill for 5-10 minutes, until fish is cooked through. Grill time will depend on the thickness of your fish. I promise you can't go wrong with this combo. We've done this with several different types of fish and it's delicious every time.
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Garlic Aioli
adapted from this recipe
What You Need:
1-lb Brussels Sprouts, chopped into wedges (I halved the small ones and quartered the large ones)
2-3 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
For Aioli:
6 Tbsp Mayonnaise
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 tsp dried parsley
How to Make It:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil (makes clean up super easy). Place Brussels Sprouts on foil, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Mix sprouts around on pan to ensure even coating.Bake for 15-20 minutes, flipping a few times with a spatula, until sprouts are golden brown.
While sprouts are baking mix aioli ingredients together in a small bowl. Cover and store in the fridge until ready to serve. This can be done well in advance.
When sprouts are done, serve on a plate with aioli for dipping.
These babies are amazing. If someone told me 6 months ago I would love Brussels Sprouts I would have laughed at them....does this mean I am growing up?
Pecan Pilaf
adapted from this recipe
What You Need:
3 cups water
3 bullion cubes
1 cup uncooked brown rice
1 Tbsp dried minced onion flakes
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp dried thyme
1/8 tsp pepper
2 Tbsp dried parsley
3 Tbsp butter, divided
1/2 cup chopped pecans
How to Make It:
Place bullion in water in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. Stir to make sure bullion has completely dissolved. You can skip this step and just buy 2 1/2 cups chicken broth if you would like. I never have any chicken broth on hand, but I always keep bullion.In a rice cooker, combine 2 1/2 cups chicken broth, rice, onion flakes, salt, thyme, pepper and dried parsley. Place lid on top and let the rice cooker do it's thing. You can do this on the stove in a large pan, but I have never had any success cooking rice on the stove so I let my rice cooker do what it's made to do.
While the rice is cooking, toast chopped pecans in a pan with 1 Tbsp of butter until they are fragrant.
When the rice is done, stir in 2 Tbsp of butter and toasted pecans. Serve immediately.
Note: if you are using white rice, you only need 2 cups of chicken broth.
I have decided that this is my new go-to non-Tex-Mex rice recipe. It's so tasty! The blog it comes from is one of my favorite cooking blogs called Plain Chicken. Many of my recipe favorites come from there.
I was going to continue with dessert but I've decided it deserves it's own post....because it's just that good. Plus it will make it easier for me to go back and find when I am searching for it. =)
