Great Cooking Magazine Challenge March 2011

A couple of weeks ago I threw out the Great Cooking Magazine Challenge again. This is an event for all of us to attack that stack of cooking magazines, clippings or printed out recipes. If you're anything like me you have plenty of material! The idea is to try something new. Don't worry if you didn't know about the challenge until now. Just take some inspiration and come back here to share what you tried. The linky will be open for a month.

I got a new Sunset magazine recently because I was attracted to the beautiful waterfall on the cover. But they always have pretty good recipes too. The March edition was no exception. I'm the only one that likes seafood in my house, so sometimes on the weekend I will do fish or shrimp for lunch for just me. So the Halibut Parchment Packets sounded just up my weekend cooking alley.


I like to cook with what I have on hand, so I had to make a few changes but I stayed pretty close to the recipe. It was tasty and something different for sure!

Halibut (or Tilapia!) Parchment Packets with Coconut Almond Rice
March 2011 Sunset Magazine

• 3/4 teaspoon red curry paste (I used green curry paste)
  
• 3/4 cup canned coconut milk
• 3 tablespoons slivered almonds
• 1/8 tsp chili paste (my addition)
  
• 1/2 cup basmati rice (I used regular rice)
  
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened flaked coconut
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
• 4 halibut fillets (6 oz. each) (Tilapia worked well!)
  
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 3/4 pound asparagus, ends trimmed, cut into 2-in. pieces on the diagonal (I omitted)
  
• 1/4 pound sugar snap peas
• 1/4 cup cilantro leaves
• Lime wedges

1. Preheat oven to 400°. In a small bowl, whisk curry paste & chili paste, gradually adding coconut milk. Transfer 1/2 cup sauce to another bowl; set bowls aside.

2. Toast almonds in a small saucepan over medium heat until golden, 3 minutes. Stir in rice, reserved 1/2 cup sauce, 1/2 cup water, the coconut, and 1/2 tsp. salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, until rice is tender, 16 to 18 minutes.

3. Season halibut (or other white fish) with remaining 1/4 tsp. salt and the pepper while rice cooks. Cut 4 pieces of parchment, each 12 by 14 in. Set a fillet in center of each, then mound asparagus and peas on top (some may roll off). For each packet, bring 2 opposite sides of parchment up over ingredients and fold several times to seal. Bring other sides up and fold to seal. Place packets, folded sides up, on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until fish is just opaque (poke with a sharp knife to check), 10 to 15 minutes. (I used the parchment lined with foil and it needed a bit more time to cook. I upped the temp to 450 for the final couple of minutes.)

4. Microwave remaining 1/4 cup sauce to warm. Divide rice among 4 plates and top each with fish and vegetables from a packet, discarding extra liquid. Drizzle sauce over dishes and sprinkle with cilantro. Serve with lime wedges if you have them.

My note: I didn't have unsweetened coconut, but rinsed the sweetened coconut I did have. Gotta improvise!

I made enough to bring for lunch this week. That office break room microwave won't know what hit it :-) Beats the heck out of Lean Cuisine!

So whatcha got cooking? Show us what you tried. Leave your link below and please link back to me in your post. That way everyone that reads your blog can see everyone else's magazine recipes too! There aren't many rules here..just cook something new!

I'm joining in over at Beth Fish Reads for her weekly Weekend Cooking event.