Feeling Fishy

For some reason, people are always afraid of fish. I don't get it. You rarely do you need a lot of ingredients to make a tasty meal and it's normally healthier and faster to make.

Maybe it's the smell or texture that throws people off but here's a simple recipe with a fish that is thick like a steak and doesn't really have that smell.

What's Needed:

2 5oz Yellowtail Steaks
1 medium cantaloupe, peeled and seeded
1 cup yellow sweet corn
Salt and Pepper
2 tablespoons Olive oil

What Do You Do?

Wash and clean Yellowtail steaks and pat dry. Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides and lightly spray with olive oil. Set aside. Cut cantaloupe in half and slice into thin slivers, 1/4 inch if possible.

Steam corn for 7 minutes. Do not boil or you will lose a majority of the crunch and sweetness of this wonderful vegetable.

While you are steaming, heat your skillet with olive oil. Just before it begins to smoke, place steaks in pan. Do not touch them once they are down. Just let them be. I know you may be tempted to check but no, let them cook for 4 minutes on each side.

Plate and serve.

A Bit of Sweetness

With the summer upon us, I thought why don't we break out something special for one of Jake and Ed's favorite patron's birthday? So I went to the cupboard looked around and then it happened. Well really I heard some D'Angelo on the radio and for those that know all he said was "Brown Sugar babe, I gets high off your love/I don't know how to behave."

Well that locked it down for me. What more can you can say about love and cooking. And thus we all enjoyed the beast that this wonderful mix of sugar, a bit of butter and a whole lot of love.


Parts:

Pound Cake
1 cup softened butter, plus 2 tablespoons melted
2 1/3 cups of firmly packed light brown sugar
6 eggs
3 cups of sifted flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup of yogurt
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1/3 poppy seeds (optional)

Peach Frosting
1/2 cup softened butter
1/4 cup peach preserves
1/4 cup peach yogurt
1 pinch of salt
2 1/2 cups of sifted powdered sugar

Process:

Preheat your oven to 325. Grease up a 10" bundt pan with the 2 tablespoons of melted butter.

In your mixing bowl, cream 1 cup of softened butter and add sugar. Continue to mix this until it becomes lift and fluffy. This should take about ten minutes on high. Don't forget to keep scraping down the sides to allow for thorough mixing. After everything is light continue to mix and add 1 egg at a time. Continue until all eggs are mixed.

In another bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt. Add 1/3 of flour mixture to batter at a time. After first portion, add 1/2 cup of yogurt. Alternate portions until flour and yogurt are completely mixed. Stir in vanilla and poppy seeds if you choose to use them.

Pour batter into your greased pan and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Check for doneness with a knife. If it comes out cleanly, then you're good to go. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

While cooling, it time to make the frosting.

In a small bowl cream 1/2 cup of butter until smooth. Add the 1/4 cup of preserves, 1/4 cup of peach yogurt and salt. Beat on high until smooth. Reduce speed to low and begin adding powdered sugar in sections until all of it is blended. Spread it on over a cooled cake.

For those purists, go without the frosting. Actually the frosting itself is wickedly tasty, but you would be fine going without it. So save this frosting recipe for something else, maybe a lemon cake! Either way, just make this and you'll know exactly what D'Angelo meant.