KITCHEN ADVENTURES: Steamed Fish w/ Broccoli & Cauliflower + Mashed Potatoes w/ gravy

STEAMED FISH W/ BROCCOLI AND CAULIFLOWER

Ingredients:
1 1/2 Nile fish fillet
4 tbsp of butter/margarine
cloves of garlic
salt
ground pepper
broccoli
cauliflower

Procedure:

Finely chop the garlic. I use 9 cloves ’cause I wanted to make sure that the flavor of it will be richer. I love the smell of it when I cook.

Slice the 1 1/2 Nile fish fillet into 8 pieces. Make sure that there’s no remaining bones in it. You can use Hammour fillet (similar to King Fish; popular fish in the Middle East) or Dory fillet. Marinade it with salt and ground pepper.

Pre-heat the pan and add the 4 tbsp of butter/margarine. Let the butter melt under low heat. Don’t you love the smell of butter/margarine as it melts? Hmmm! =)

Add the finely chopped garlic into the pan and saute until it turns into golden brown.

Add the fish fillet cuts into the pan together with the garlic and butter/margarine. Make sure that the fillets are distributed equally into the pan so it’ll be cooked properly. Cover the pan for 8-10 minutes.

Chop the broccoli and cauliflower as you like and rinse it with water. Use a colander to drain the vegetables.

Add the broccoli and cauliflower. Cover the pan again and let it everything steam for 10-15 minutes. Serve hot.

MASHED POTATOES

Ingredients:
4 large potatoes
Milk
4 tbsp of butter
1 1/2 tsp salt

Peel the skin of the potatoes using a fruit/vegetable peeler.

Cut the potatoes into cubes. I prefer to cut it like this so I won’t have a hard time mashing the potatoes after.

Add boil a water into a large saucepan pan. Add the potato cubes and cover the pan for 25-30 minutes or until the potatoes are soft enough to get mashed.

When the potato cubes are already soft, put it in a dry, large bowl and get ready to mash! =P I used the cooking utensil and a spoon to mash the potatoes since I don’t have my food processor yet. Doing it manually might give you a hard time but for myself, I honestly enjoyed it.

Add milk, butter and salt into the bowl of mashed potatoes. The amount of milk that you have to put depends on the texture of mashed potatoes that you want to achieve. I used 2 cups of milk. By the way, the photo doesn’t show that there’s a butter in it ’cause I got carried away mixing it and forgot to take a photo! LOL! =P

Serve it hot!

GRAVY FROM SCRATCH (1st try!)

Ingredients:
3 tbsp butter
5 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 pc chicken cube
1 pc beef cube
2 1/4 cups of water

Procedure:

Dilute the beef and chicken cubes into water.
Heat a saucepan and heat-in the butter. Let it melt under low heat.
Add 2 tbsp of all-purpose flour and cook in low heat while continuously stirring for 7-8 minutes or until the color turns medium brown.
Add the remaining flour and continue stirring.
Gradually add the chicken and beef broth while stirring (step 1). Continuous stirring is need to prevent lumps from forming.
Bring the mixture into a boil. Cook for 5 minutes or until the mixture thickens.
Serve with hot mashed potatoes!

This was my plate! My husband and I enjoyed our dinner. Happy tummy, happy husband!

*** Serving is good for 4 people. For a large number of people to serve, you have to do the math.