Cooking Light Night-Cornflake Crusted Halibut, Toasted Millet-Confetti Vegetable Salad and Orange Mini Bundt Cakes

It's Cooking Light Night again! This time I decided to do a main dish, a side, and a dessert. Since my family loves fish, I decided to try the Cornflake Crusted Halibut that got rave reviews from the staffers at Cooking Light. I picked a spicy serrano to add to the aioli and it was perfect with this fish. The halibut was a little pricey, but I figure it is ok to splurge once in awhile. I had some millet that wanted to be used, so I found a fun salad that had a yummy dressing to use that up.

Then there were the Mini Orange Bundt cakes that I remember from the cover 2 years ago. I have been wanting to make them and finally got the chance. I must have a mini- mini bundt pan, because I got 24 mini bundts and 12 mini muffins from the recipe. These are chock full of yummy stuff, like toasted pecans, coconut, chopped orange slice candy, and chopped dates, and I had a ton of them, so I took them to a little get-together and everyone loved them. They would be a good holiday food gift!

Cornflake-Crusted Halibut with Chile-Cilantro Aioli

The test kitchen loved this halibut dish with herbed garlic aioli so much that they gave it their highest rating. You'll love that it takes only 25 minutes to make.

Aioli:

2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro

3 tablespoons fat-free mayonnaise

1 serrano chile, seeded and minced

1 garlic clove, minced

Fish:

1 cup fat-free milk

1 large egg white, lightly beaten

2 cups cornflakes, finely crushed

1/4 cup all-purpose flour (about 1 ounce)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 (6-ounce) halibut fillets

4 lemon wedges

To prepare aioli, combine cilantro, mayonnaise, serrano, and minced garlic, stirring well.To prepare fish, combine milk and egg white in a shallow dish, stirring well with a whisk. Combine cornflakes, flour, salt, and black pepper in another shallow dish.Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Dip fish in milk mixture, and dredge in cornflake mixture. Add fish to pan, and cook 4 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness. Serve fish with aioli and lemon wedges.

Toasted Millet and Confetti Vegetable Salad with Sesame and Soy Dressing

Dressing:

3 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon cold water

1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce

1 teaspoon canola oil

1/2 teaspoon dark sesame oil

1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 garlic clove, minced

Salad:

1 cup uncooked millet

2 cups water

3 tablespoons chopped walnuts (I omitted these and used sprinkled toasted sesame seeds on the finished salad)

1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce

1 cup diced carrot

1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper

1/2 cup finely chopped green bell pepper

1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions

1 tablespoon finely chopped seeded jalapeño pepper

To prepare dressing, combine the first 8 ingredients in a small bowl.To prepare salad, heat a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add millet to pan; cook 5 minutes or until golden, stirring often. Add 2 cups water; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes. Remove from heat; let stand, covered, 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Cool completely.Heat a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add nuts; cook 3 minutes or until lightly toasted, stirring occasionally. Add 1 tablespoon soy sauce; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly.Cook carrot in boiling water 3 minutes or until tender. Drain; rinse with cold water. Drain. Combine millet, carrot, cilantro, bell peppers, onions, and jalapeño in a large bowl. Drizzle dressing over the millet mixture; toss well. Top with walnuts.

Orange Mini Bundt Cakes Baked in mini Bundt pans (about $30 at most kitchen specialty stores and home emporiums), these cakes make delicious holiday gifts. The decorative Garland Bundtlette pan used to bake our cover cakes is available at Williams-Sonoma (www.williams-sonoma.com). You can bake the cake in a standard 12-cup Bundt pan for one hour or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cake:

Cooking spray

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

10 tablespoon butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup egg substitute

2 large eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour (about 13 1/2 ounces)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped orange slice candy (about 10 pieces)

1 cup pitted dates, diced

1/2 cup flaked sweetened coconut

1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted

1 cup fat-free buttermilk

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons fresh orange juice

Additional ingredient:1 tablespoon powdered sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°.
To prepare cake, heavily coat mini Bundt pans with cooking spray; turn pan upside down to drain excess. Place granulated sugar, butter, and vanilla in a large bowl; beat with a heavy-duty mixer at medium speed 2 minutes or until well blended. Add egg substitute and eggs to sugar mixture; beat well. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl, stirring well. Sprinkle candy, dates, coconut, and nuts over flour; stir well to disperse and coat candies. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
To prepare glaze, combine 1 cup powdered sugar and juice in a bowl, stirring until smooth.
Spoon 1/3 cup batter into each mini Bundt cup. Bake at 350° for 16 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center of 1 cake comes out clean. Cool in pans 5 minutes. Remove cakes from pans; brush the top of each warm cake with about 2 teaspoons glaze. Cool completely on a wire rack. Garnish cakes with 1 tablespoon powdered sugar, if desired.

Tuesday Morning- Tuesday's with Dorie- Arborio Rice Pudding- what flavor will it be? come back tomorrow and see!

Cooking Light Night-Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta

CB came up with the beautiful logo at the beginning of this post. She started a Cooking Light Night, and I thought it was a great idea. Since I use Cooking Light all the time, I decided I would start calling some of these posts, Cooking Light Night. This is a wonderful dish that I showed my sister a couple of years ago. I wasn't sure of my love of winter squash at that point, but now that I know, watch out! I have been buying squash of all kinds and this was a very delicious dish. The only thing I changed was that I used turkey bacon, because I always do. I usually use whole wheat pasta in all my pasta dishes, but I used mini penne in this one because that is what it called for and I figured there was enough good stuff in this dish for it to be okay. This was the first time I have made a roux with absolutely no fat at all and I was a little skeptical about how it would turn out, but it was delicious with the cheese melted in.

This dish also used cooking spray to roast the squash and it turned out beautifully. I love the color of it. The provolone, bacon, squash, and rosemary, all really played off each other in this dish. It was a definite favorite for me. (Could I use the phrase "this dish" a few more times?)

Try this one- it is GOOD!

Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta from Cooking Light March 2004

Mini penne pasta works well in this dish since it's about the same size as the squash. You can also use elbow macaroni, shell pasta, or orecchiette.

3/4 teaspoon salt, divided

1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 cups (1-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash

Cooking spray

6 slices turkey bacon, raw

1 cup thinly sliced shallots

8 ounces uncooked mini penne (tube-shaped pasta)

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk

3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded sharp provolone cheese

1/3 cup (1 1/2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 425°.
Combine 1/4 teaspoon salt, rosemary, and pepper. Place squash on a foil-lined baking sheet coated with cooking spray; sprinkle with salt mixture. Bake at 425° for 45 minutes or until tender and lightly browned. Increase oven temperature to 450°.
Cook the bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 1 1/2 teaspoons drippings in pan; crumble bacon. Increase heat to medium-high. Add shallots to pan; sauté 8 minutes or until tender. Combine squash mixture, bacon, and shallots; set aside.
Cook pasta according to the package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain well.
Combine flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly with a whisk; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute or until slightly thick, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add provolone, stirring until cheese melts. Add pasta to cheese mixture, tossing well to combine. Spoon pasta mixture into an 11 x 7-inch baking dish lightly coated with cooking spray; top with squash mixture. Sprinkle evenly with Parmesan cheese. Bake at 450° for 10 minutes or until cheese melts and begins to brown.

Up Next- Tuesday's with Dorie- Rugelach!