On Saturday we had planned on trying to get out of the house, but when it came right down to it, we didn't feel like going anywhere, so I ran over to the store to get a few things and was trying to think of a nice dinner that would be reasonably priced. I remembered that I had a recipe I had torn out of my mom's Good Housekeeping magazine that she left when my parents stopped on their way to Florida. It was a recipe for couscous encrusted salmon. I felt like trying it out on halibut instead, since we have had salmon a few times recently.
I grabbed 2 nice fillets of halibut for $4.80, 2 small packs of portabella mushrooms for $5, and a nice big fresh baked roll for 60 cents. I already had the couscous and the pesto.
I fried up the 'shrooms in a little olive oil, parsley, seasoned salt and garlic powder. I wrapped the roll in aluminum foil and put it in the oven while the fish cooked.
And with the fish:
Preheat oven to 450
Heat 1 cup water in 1-qt saucepan to boiling on high. Remove from heat, stir in 3/4 c. couscous, 1/4 c. refrigerated pesto, 1/4 tsp red wine vinegar and 1/8 tsp pepper. Cover, let stand 5 min.
Place 4 fillets (it called for 4, I only had 2, so I just had leftover couscous) ~6 oz each on foil-lined cookie sheet. Season with 1/4 tsp salt.
Mound 1/2 c. couscous mixture on top of each fillet, pressing into even layer.
Bake in upper third of oven 12 to 15 min. or until fish is flaky.
Serves 4.
*As I was watching it cook, I was concerned it might be a little dry, so in the last maybe 8 minutes, I added 1/2 can of diced tomatoes and it was a nice bit of juiciness in the end.
It was scrumptous!!
On Sunday, we went on a little adventure. Matt had heard about Federal Donuts and we needed to give it a shot. They sell three things: coffee, donuts and fried chicken - a strange combo for sure,
But WELL worth it!
They have a method and it works for them. They have a certain number of donuts and a certain amount of chicken they cook and when they run out for the day - they close up shop.
On their website, they have FAQ's and my favorite is
Q: Why don't you make more chicken?
A: Why don't YOU make more chicken?
Hilarious.
Each 1/2 chicken comes with a doughnut - just a basic one, but it was soo good. And we were super lucky because someone ordered 4 cinnamon doughnuts and left without them, so they asked if anyone wanted them, and well - duh, free donuts - we did! They were possibly the best I've ever tasted. As you can see - no photos because I didn't want to set the d-nut down in order to photograph.
Highly recommend.
It was small and quaint and made me wish I had a place where I was a regular and they knew what I wanted every time I stopped by. With only a few doughnut and chicken flavors - this could be the place. Even if they don't remember me - they could take a guess and have a decent shot!
