Tag Archives: rosemary

Hardcore Hobbit: Flounder with Bacon

Posted on August 2, 2011 | Leave a comment

Well, sure we don’t exactly need warming against the cold of Forochel this time of year but doesn’t a piece of bacon wrapped flounder just sound tasty? How about grilling that piece of bacon wrapped flounder? How about we just say BACON wrapped flounder one more time. *cough* Bacon *cough*. In LOTRO this dish is made using water, BACON (o.k. I was on a bacon kick yesterday), seasonings, and flounder. My husband and I once again collaborated on this one…after all he is the grill master around here. The water part of this recipe eluded me so we made this using frozen flounder. There, water in the ice. Actually using this fish still frozen helped us wrap it in bacon and season it without having it fall apart. If you are using fish from Forochel I’m sure it comes pre-frozen anyways.

2 flounder fillets, still frozen
4-6 strips bacon (I recommend 2 strips of bacon per filet)
1 tsp extra virgin avocado oil
1 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped
1/2 tsp white pepper, freshly ground

Add the bacon to a medium hot pan and cook for a minute. Just enough to partially cook the bacon.
Brush the fillets with the avocado oil.
Sprinkle the rosemary and white pepper on both sides.
Wrap the bacon around the filet and secure each slice with a toothpick.
Cook the fillets on a grill for about 10-12 minutes.
Serve immediately. These are great served with some mini gem potatoes cooked in a foil packet on the grill.

Serves 2. Each serving contains (3 oz flounder piece and 2 strips bacon) 172 calories, 7.5 grams fat, 24.4 grams protein, no carbs and no fibre. Get that fibre in using a high fibre side dish and a nice veggie dish. Enjoy!

Hardcore Hobbit: Pork Chop

Posted on June 28, 2011 | Leave a comment

Juicy, tender pork chops oh my yes. I usually have a tough time with pork chops, I really am not their biggest fan so I put this one off for awhile. Then I found these beautiful butterflied pork loin chops on sale. The time to make a pork chop I actually enjoyed was now. In the game pork chops are made with salt, pork chops, and cauliflower. The first thing that came to mind was to do a brine. I hear so many good things about doing a brine before grilling. I have now learned that these things are completely true. Wow! I loved this pork chop. I will be doing brined pork chops from now on. It was juicy, flavourful, and well…tastylicious! I never thought I would say that about a pork chop. These pork chops also displayed what I think are the prettiest grill mark lines I have ever seen my husband do. Was it the magic of the brine or was it the awesomeness of husband….only the grill knows what happened out there. It is not talking.

2 centre loin butterflied pork chops about 4 ounces each
2 cup water
2 tbl kosher salt
2 tbl brown sugar
1 tbl molasses
1 clove garlic, smashed
1 bay leaf
1 long peppercorn or half tsp peppercorns
2 cup ice cubes
2 cup cauliflower
2 tbl margarine
4 tbl chicken stock (added slowly to achieve desired texture)
1 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Combine the water, salt, sugar, molasses, garlic, bay leaf and peppercorn in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and stir until the sugar and salt dissolve. Remove from the burner and add ice cubes.
Once the brine is cool, place the pork chops in a bowl and pour the brine over them. Refrigerate for atleast 2 hours but no more than 12 hours.
Preheat the grill to high then reduce to medium. Oil the grill and remove the chops from the brine placing them on the grill. Discard brine. Allow to sear for two minutes on each side. Then cook on each side for 3 minutes.
While the chops are cooking bring a large pot of water to boil. Add the cauliflower and cook until fork tender, about 10 minutes or less. Drain. Add the margarine and rosemary and smash. If you want a smoother texture slowly add chicken stock 1 tbl at a time while you mash. Season to taste.

Serves 2. Each serving contains 281 calories, 10.2 grams fat, 8.4 grams carbs, 2.5 grams fibre, and 37.2 grams protein. Oh what tasty happiness these pork chops with a side of rosemary cauliflower be. On a side note, rosemary mashed potatoes are tasty with this too, for those not fond of cauliflower.

Psst, want to know what long peppercorns look like…

They have a bit more of a woodsy and spicier taste than your usual peppercorn. They are a lot of fun to work with. If you see some, acquire!! You can usually find them in Indian grocery stores. You often see them in pickles, Indonesian and Malaysian cooking. Err….I mean….from just beyond the shire ofcourse.

Hardcore Hobbit: Golden Roast Potatoes

Posted on December 13, 2010 | 2 comments

Sometimes, a side dish requires that extra bit of something special. Instead of approaching these with my usual slice potatoes, season and oven method, I thought I would give another tried and true method a go. In the game Golden Roast Potatoes are made from golden shire taters, fine seasonings, and savoury seasonings. I made mine from the golden fleshed shire taters grown right here in the shire…*cough* I mean on the island.

500 grams golden fleshed potatoes
1 sprig of rosemary, chopped
3 1/2 tbl lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 basil leaves, chopped
1/4 tsp dried red pepper flakes
sea salt
ground pepper
cooking spray

Scrub your potatoes and cube them.
Boil for 10 minutes and drain.
While the potatoes are boiling combine the remaining ingredients in another bowl. Allow to sit until the potatoes are done cooking.
Pour the mixture over the drained, hot potatoes and stir.
Pour into a baking dish and spray with cooking spray. Bake at 400F for 25-30 minutes. Turn once during baking.

Serves 2 or 4, depending on how much you love potatoes. Each serving for 2 contains 190 calories, .4 grams of fat, and 4.4 grams of fibre. Just cut that in half for servings for four. These are delicious cold too!