Friday Menu (aka "My Faith is Restored")

After my kabob fiasco, I felt much trepidation as I opened the book to look at the menu for today. I was relieved. It looked, well, good!

Breakfast: You just can't get any easier than cereal, milk, and banana. The menu calls for sugar, but I felt that the 6 grams in my All Bran Complete Wheat Flakes was sufficient. Mr. also received toast and butter.

Luncheon: Another simple meal that was tasty. Mr. was supposed to get a hard roll instead of a slice of bread. He didn't. I saved my orange for later in the day as I was kind of full with the salad, omelet AND piece of bread and butter.

Dinner: Now THIS menu was the one that restored my faith.

I couldn't find halibut at the grocery store. It was overfished in the Atlantic (to the point where it is considered endangered), so now we have to depend on the Pacific NW for it. It is a flatfish from the family of right-eye flounders. I read that it's a low-fat fish that needs little seasoning and has a dense, firm texture akin to chicken or lobster.

The halibut ranges in size from 25 pounds to 431 pounds! At right is a picture of "halibut cheeks." Click on the picture for more information.

When I asked the guy at the seafood counter what would be equivalent, he said that he didn't really have anything but that salmon was also very popular during the 50s. So, I got salmon.

I don't eat fish (or any seafood), so I had the leftover chicken from a previous night's meal. We were supposed to use the "Creole" recipe, but my husband vetoed that and decided to grill it.

For those who would like to try the "Creole" recipe on some fish, I'll type it in for you:

Creole Halibut Fillets

2 cups Creole Sauce (see below)
2 lb. halibut fillets
Salt and Pepper to taste

Make Creole sauce. Preheat oven to 400. Arrange halibut fillets in a lightly greased baking pan. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Pour Creole Sauce over fish. Bake, uncovered, from 30 to 45 minutes, until fish is tender.

Creole Sauce

1 tablespoon butter
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 medium green pepper, chopped
1-lb. can tomatoes
1 tsp. sugar
Tip of bay leaf (JUST the tip)
1 clove
1/2 to 1 tsp. salt
Dash pepper

Melt butter in a medium skillet; add chopped onion and green pepper. Cook about 3 minutes, stirring to prevent burning. Add tomatoes, sugar, bay leaf and whole clove. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Simmer, covered, about 20 minutes. Remove bay leaf and clove. The sauce may be strained, if desired.

Oven French Fries
(These were nice and actually rather quick to make. Cut them more like thin planks rather than fries. They burn if they're too thin. Ask me how I know.)

3 medium potatoes
1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon water
Salt

Preheat oven at 475. Cut raw potato into strips. Mix oil and water in bowl; add potato strips and mix until coated with mixture. Place in shallow pan. Bake 30 minutes (I took them out at 25) at 475. If further browning is desired, place under broiler flame. Salt lightly and serve hot. (I think they intended for these to be rather thick.)

The next recipe was VERY intriguing. I felt like a "real" cook making this one:

Savory Slaw

2 cups shredded cabbage
1 cup shredded carrots
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons vinegar (I used one)
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 tsp. celery seed
1/3 cup Cooked Salad Dressing (see below)
Lettuce

Combine shredded cabbage and carrots. Mix sugar and vinegar; add to slaw mixture with salt, pepper, and celery seed. Moisten with the Cooked Salad Dressing. Serve 1/2 cup mounds on lettuce.

Cooked Salad Dressing (serving: 1 tablespoon)
(This was awesome. I was so proud of cooking this. I especially love the "variations.")

1 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 tsp. salt
Speck of red pepper (What IS it with these tiny amounts of spicy?)
1 tsp. prepared mustard
1 tablespoon oil
1 cup water
2 medium eggs
4 tablespoons vinegar

Blend together flour, sugar, salt, red pepper, prepared mustard, oil, and water in top of double boiler. (I used a small glass bowl that fit into the top of my pot. Just make sure you don't allow the top bowl to touch the water.) Cook over hot water, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened. (I did this for quite a while and finally decided that it just barely looked ever so slightly thicker. I was tired of waiting.) Beat eggs slightly in small bowl; add vinegar gradually. Slowly add half of the hot sauce to egg and vinegar mixture, stirring constantly. Return to double boiler. Stir and cook over hot (not boiling) water until mixture coats a spoon. (This took a while, too, but all of a sudden it coated the spoon and then--poof--it was thick!) Overcooking after eggs have been added will cause dressing to curdle. Remove from heat at once and pour into jar. When cook, cove rand refrigerate.

Now for the Variations:

To make a thicker dressing to use as a Spread, increase flour to 2 tablespoons. Combine first 7 ingredients and cook over direct heat, stirring constantly, until thickened. From this point on, proceed as above.

Russian Dressing:

To 1/4 cup of Cooked Salad Dressing add 1 tablespoon catsup.

Gourmet Dressing:

to 1/4 cup Russian Dressing add 1/2 teaspoon horse-radish (or to taste) and a dash of Worcestershire sauce.

Thousand Island Dressing:

To 1/2 cup of Cooked Salad Dressing add 2 tablespoons chili sauce, 2 tablespoons chopped green pepper and 1/2 hard-cooked egg, chopped.

For dessert we had Broiled Grapefruit:

1 medium grapefruit
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Select grapefruit heavy with juice. Preheat broiler. Halve grapefruit and remove seeds. Loosen pulp from membrane by running a very sharp knife (serrated is best) around each section, without cutting into the white membrane. Place grapefruit halves on shallow pan on broiler rack. Top with the brown sugar. Broil slowly (from 3 inches to 4 inches under heat) until sugar is melted, the grapefruit heated through, and the edges lightly browned, 20 minutes or more. Serve hot.

Variations:

1/2 tablespoon honey instead of brown sugar

Sherry may replace the brown sugar. remove core of grapefruit; pour 1 tablespoon sherry into the center. Broil.