quick and easy meals for 1 or 2

Beer battered tilapia fillets

We hade Butch and Janie over for dinner tonight and this is what we did.

Before I did anything else I started some risotto. I made it with red wine this time as a little bit of a change, also because that’s the only color wine we had (are you surprised?) put about a tbsp. of olive oil and the same of butter in a sauce pan (pot with a handle). Add a half of small onion chopped up. And a little salt and pepper. When the onions are translucent (not brown) add a cup of rice. Stir it up ‘til the rice is covered with the oil, etc. then add about ¾ cup of wine. Cook and stir ‘til the wine is mostly absorbed. Have about 3 cups of chicken broth heating up in another pot and add it as the rice continues to absorb it. You are going to have to stir it pretty often, no, very often, to keep it from sticking. You can start and finish this as early before everything else and heat it up when the other main course stuff is started. I like to double boil this when I heat it up.

We found a place down here that has calamari cleaned and cut into rings then frozen and ready to go. We all like calamari so I bought some and fried them up for an antipasti. We served them with a little marinara sauce that I had in the freezer (are you surprised?). I jazzed up the sauce with a little bit of red pepper flakes while I was heating it up. Thawed out the calamari, dipped in whipped up eggs with a little milk, then combo of flour, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Then into hot fat in a skillet. (for this I like canola)

I had cut up onion, garlic, string beans, red bell pepper, zucchini and broccoli. Then started them in a hot skillet when I started the fish. By the way I did the fish in the oil that was left from the calamari. For the beer batter I started with the egg wash that was left over from the calamari, added about a tbsp. of baking powder about a cup of flour and about a half a can of bear. Whupped it all up and there is the beer batter. Rinse off the tilapia fillets (about one and a half per person). Dip them in the batter and put them in the hot fat. About 1 ½ minutes per side or until golden brown, remove them to a paper towel lined dish. Of course we had some homemade bread shaped into bastone loaves with some olive oil for dipping.

Need I say that we had the rest of the red wine with the meal??