This is from www.arthursdays.blogspot.com June 20, 2010.

Today I decided to go with a new recipe. Every now and then I’ve written about food, and it usually involves some earlier story about a food article we’ve done, but today I’ve decided to go with a new one. This was last night’s dinner, made up from a novel reference.

In a recent James Patterson novel (I have no idea what the name is) that I'm listening to on my MP3 player in the car, one of the characters makes a dinner for his girlfriend, a Crabmeat Stuffed Tilapia. He tells her that he can prepare it, put it in the oven, and they can have forty five minutes to make love, and the dinner will be ready.Now any cook would know that any tilapia dish made in an oven for forty five minutes would be like a fish brick.

I loved the sound of the dish, but knew the writer didn't research the recipe a bit. It had little to do with the story and he probably didn’t care. For me, I can’t remember the name of the book, but can remember the food item. It says much about the writer, and me.

I read through a number of crab meat stuffed tilapia recipes on the internet and realized that any boy from Baltimore knows more about crab than the food writers ever will. So I went with the combination of recipes and my gut instinct. This is not rocket science.

Crabmeat Suffed Tilapia

Ingredients: (This is for two people, not the usual four)

2 tilapia filets about 6 ounces each (170 grams)

1/3 lb. fresh crab meat (fresh if possible)

1 stalk celery

1 small onion

1-2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (or dried if needed)

2 tbs. butter½ cup bread crumbs (I used whole wheat I made myself)

1 tbs. lemon juice

1 teas. Old Bay Seafood Seasoning (I guess you could use 1/4 teas. cayenne if you have no access to Old Bay, but a boy from Baltimore always has his Old Bay)

Sprinkle of paprika

Instructions:

Chop the onion and the celery into fine pieces

Sauté in a small skillet, with some butter, until softened

Chop the parsley and add to the onions and celery

Remove from the heat and add crab meat, bread crumbs, lemon juice and the Old Bay (or cayenne) and mix together very well

Form the mixture into two large crab oval crab cakes and place on a greased baking dish

Place a tilapia filet on top of each

Dot fish with butter and sprinkle on the paprika

Put in a 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes (mine was done in 15 minutes in a convection oven)

Serve on plate with lemon wedges (and anything else you'd like to add)

Serve with a smile, but make love before or after, there is not enough time while baking.

This one is from my other blog: arthursdays.blogspot.com

In 1995, my family appeared in one of many “Six O’clock Survival” features in the Calgary Herald. We cooked our way to “instant success” with a number of great meals with photos.

This favorite started as:

We’re back! Here’s a great dinner that we make together. It’s a little exotic, but Arthur chose this for his birthday dinner earlier this week.

We suppose that living in Detroit for 12 years, with its large Greek and Lebanese population, had its effect on us, and Mid-eastern food became an important part of our diet. Here’s a recipe that we love to make and it can be done in 30 minutes or less.

My recipe is based on many year’s of eating this at the Joe Zania’s Gnome Restaurant in Detroit, and this was my take on it. I’m sure Joe never used soy sauce in his life!

Ground Lamb and Pine Nuts Over Hummus

Basic Hummus Recipe

1 can chick peas (19 oz.)
5 tablespoons tahini
1 teaspoon minced garlic (2 to 3 cloves)
juice of 1 lemon
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons water

Put all ingredients in a food processor and blend until almost smooth.

3/4 lb. ground lamb
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
3 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
salt and pepper to taste

Brown lamb in a frying pan in oil with all listed ingredients.

1/2 package pine nuts (50g)

Brown pine nuts in oven or toaster oven at 400 degrees F, for about 10-15 minutes, checking every 5 min.

Assemble on serving plate. Spread hommus on plate, cover with lamb mixture, top with browned pine nuts. Serve with warmed pitas and a Greek or tossed salad.

Serves 4.

This story is not really about the recipe, it’s about a pound of lamb!

On Saturday, my wife and I went to the grocery store in the afternoon. While wandering through the meat department, I spied ground lamb on sale, usually $8.49 per 500mg (a bit over a pound) on sale for $6.00. This was still much higher than it should have been (my thoughts), but it was $1.50 in savings.

I remembered the Ground Lamb, Pine Nuts and Hummus and thought how we haven’t made that for dinner in a year. Since both girls are home for the summer, we should make it! My wife agreed and we put it in the cart. The pine nuts were $45 a pound but we only needed a little!

At the checkout I checked the receipt and it rang in at $8.49.

I couldn’t argue with the cashier because he can only do what the machine says, so off I went to customer service, who were busy with elderly lottery players. I decided to wait while they painstakingly chose numbers. Why should I rush their fading dream?

I got to the counter and explained my plight. I was questioned a bit, and the store person called a meat department person to go and check out my story, as if I’d make this up for my $1.50!

A new person of authority appeared and was consulted. She asked the store person questions, and after determining I was correct, she said, “You get it for free!” and she than handed me $8.49!

I will enjoy my Ground Lamb and Pine Nuts Over Hummus more than ever!