We gotta talk about what you’re doing this weekend. I need to hear what you’re making, and who you’re rooting for…blah blah, we’ll get to it. Before we delve in, I need you watch this video. It’s important. Do me a solid and watch it, please.

It’s going to make you laugh. It might even make your day. And it’s totally going to make you fall in love with Kristen Bell.

I’m sort of obsessed with her reaction to meeting a baby sloth. I dunno. I think it might the funniest, most endearing thing I’ve ever seen. And I’ll be honest, it also sorta scares me. That’s not a normal person’s reaction, you know? But I dig it. I dig her craziness. Baby sloths can make someone crazy. I get it.

There’s nothing crazy about baked green bean fries. These are the opposite of baby sloths.

They’re healthy, snappy, crunchy.

They’re a little healthier since I opted to use multi-grain crackers, instead of bread crumbs.

You can do either, if you like. They’ll be delicious either way.

After I ran the crackers through a food processor, I spread the mixture out on to a plate, added a little salt and a good amount of crushed red pepper. Whenever I go healthy, I always up the spice. It’s a must.

Like the typical vegetable fry, they went from flour to egg to crumbs.

On a baking sheet and in the oven.

While they were going at it in the oven, I made the meyer lemon aioli.

Whoa. This stuff…I don’t have any close-up shots of the aioli itself, but the zest is pretty amazing. It’s bright and shiny…and not so healthy, but delicious. I recommend.

If you’re still stuck as to what you should make for the Super Bowl, might I recommend some Soft Pretzel Tots, Spicy Vegan Chili, Cheddar Jalapeño Cornbread, Zucchini Fries or Tater Tots!

Spicy Baked Green Bean Fries (with Meyer Lemon Aioli)

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Fries:
2 cups bread crumbs (or Pepperidge Farm Baked Natural crackers crushed)
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 pound French green beans, cleaned and trimmed
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs, beaten

Aioli:
1 meyer lemon, juiced and zested
1/2 shallot, minced
1 large egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup canola oil

1. Preheat oven to 375F. On a plate, mix bread crumbs with red pepper flakes and kosher salt. Dip green beans in flour, egg and then transfer to bread crumb mixture and coat evenly.

2. Place coated green beans on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until green beans are lightly golden brown.

3. Meanwhile, add meyer lemon juice and zest, shallot, egg yolk and salt to a blender. As blender is running, slowly drizzle canola oil into the mixture. It will thicken as it emulsifies. Salt to taste and transfer to a ramekin.

*Heads up: Pepperidge Farm kindly gave me a stipend to make this recipe.

You know what you don’t need? A guacamole recipe. I dunno.

Maybe this is me being a total brat, but honestly, even if you don’t know how to boil water, the last thing you need is a recipe that involves mashing, folding and adding salt. That’s just silly talk.

I lamented for a long time about sharing this situation you see pictured because why do you need this?! You can do this without me. Who am I to tell you how to make your guacamole.

But, I love it. So I figured that maybe you would, too. And maybe you never thought to put pomegranate seeds in guacamole. And maybe you’ll make it and share it with someone. That’d make my day.

So here I am. Just a girl…with a bowl of guacamole, asking you all to mash up some ripe avocados, mix ‘em with some chopped up cucumbers and pomegranate seeds. It’s way more special this way! Refreshing, sweet, lime-y…special!

Pomegranate Cucumber Guacamole

Print this kinda sorta recipe!

2 Haas avocados
1/2 shallot, minced
Handful of pomegranate seeds
1/4 cucumber, peeled and finely chopped
1 lime
Salt

In a medium bowl, mash up both avocados. Fold in minced shallot, pomegranate seeds, cucumber. Squeeze in lime juice and mix. Salt to taste. THAT’S IT!

Recipe adapted from Recipe of Memory

I like to think that galettes are like lazy, messy, casual pies. You only sorta have to roll them out. You only sorta have to make them look pretty. But really, the messier the better. It’s about the easy.

I can’t really think of a meal of the day where easy is most welcomed than on a cold, hazy January morning.

Let’s have pie for breakfast. But let’s leave the fruit for the summer. It’s January. So, pie…with runny eggs, lots of cheese and salty bacon.

Too good!

Start it with a non-sweetened pie crust. Basic! Simple!

Roll it out. Spread on some ricotta. Sprinkle on some mozzarella!

Fold over the edges. You can try to make it look all cute. Or not. Who cares.

Brush on a little egg wash and stick it in the oven.

Take it out. (Do you like my step-by-step?) Add the bacon. Add the egg yolks. Back in the oven for a few more minutes, just until the egg yolks set, slightly.

When you take it out, it needs some salt, pepper and basil. Sprinkle on some red crushed pepper (I put it on everything!).

Serve it up with some coffee. Or some juice.

The buttery flakey crust is just too good with all the cheese.

And the salty bacon. Hi breakfast! And the runny eggs. Whoa!

Breakfast Galette

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Crust:

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cubed and cold
1/4 cup water, ice cold

Toppings:

3 tablespoons ricotta cheese
1/4 cup mozzarella, shredded
2 slices bacon, cooked and cubed
3 large egg yolks
3 basil leaves
Salt and Pepper

1. In a medium bowl, mix together all-purpose flour and salt. Place flour and unsalted butter in freezer for 5 minutes to chill.

2. Combine flour mixture and butter. Mix until you’re left with what resembles coarse meal, with pea size pieces of butter. Add ice water 1 Tbsp at a time, mixing until it just begins to clump together. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it’s ready. If the dough doesn’t hold together, add a little more water and mix again.

3. Remove dough from bowl and place in a mound on a clean surface. Gently shape into a discs, being sure to not over-knead. Wrap the disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour, and up to 2 days.

4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. On a floured surface, roll dough to a 10-inch circle with a 1/4-inch thickness. It’s okay if the edges are shaggy and it’s not a perfect circle. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet.

5. Scoop ricotta onto the center of the dough, spreading out to make a large circle, stopping 1-inch from the edge of the dough. Sprinkle on grated mozzarella cheese. Fold edges of dough over the cheese. Transfer baking sheet to the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

6. Whisk together yolk and water. Brush dough with the egg wash. Bake until crust is lightly golden brown, 25-30 minutes. Take galette out of the oven and gently place yolks atop cheese. Arrange bacon bits to your liking and place back in oven for 2-3 minutes, or until yolks set.

7. Garnish with basil and salt and pepper.

The real name of this salad should read:

“Roasted Rainbow Heirloom Carrot Goat Cheese and Avocado Salad with a Citrus Cumin Dressing.”

But! it needed some tweaking. Let’s not do recipe titles that read like paragraphs. Not a good look. Also the word “rainbow” is way cuter than the word “heirloom.” (I think.) Who doesn’t want to eat a rainbow?! No one.

This dish is like a plate full of skittles…but in carrot form.

Have I ever told you how I sorta think lettuce blows? I’m not a big salad eater.

Let me retract my statement: I’m not a big salad maker. As a kid, making the salad and setting the table was my job, every day…for what felt like for forever. So now, in adult protest, I don’t make salads. Unless they have brown butter dressing on them.

I am, however, a big salad orderer. When I go to a solid restaurant, I usually get a salad. I dig good salads. They’re not super easy to make. There’s an art to the anatomy of a successful salad.

I had something similar to this at a restaurant here in LA. It couldn’t have been simpler: roasted carrots sprinkled with cumin and goat cheese. That was it. Easy. Incredible.

The texture of the roasted carrots is super spesh, guys. Special. They’re thinly sliced and roasted until they become chewy with a slight crunch. That might sound weird, but trust me it’s such a win.

Add some avocado! And some goat cheese! Major.

I’m also not over winter citrus yet. I dunno if I’ll ever be.

I made a simple citrus and cumin dressing, using a few tangelos and a meyer lemon. Feel free to use an orange and a regular lemon. And for the carrots, I found some beautiful heirloom carrots at the store. Regular ol’ orange carrots will work juuuust fine.

In other non-salad news, Pepperidge Farm asked me if I would cook something up that’s healthy for the Super Bowl, which is funny ’cause I dunno even know who’s playing…

…actually, I do now. I just googled it.

So, what are you feeling? Are you feeling healthy? Do you even care about eating healthy on the Super Bowl? If so, what do you think I should figure out how to bake? This is important!

Roasted Rainbow Carrot Salad (with Citrus Cumin Dressing)

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Salad:
15 carrots (peeled, trimmed and thinly sliced)
1 avocado, cubed
2 ounces goat cheese, crumbled

Dressing:
1 shallot, minced
2 tangelo oranges
1 meyer lemon
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt
Ground pepper

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Evenly divide sliced carrots between two lined (important!) baking sheets and place in oven for 15 minutes. Remove carrots and let cool on baking sheets. You’ll find them slightly rubbery. This is good. You don’t want a carrot chip salad, ya know?

2. Meanwhile, make the dressing. Place the minced shallots in a small bowl. Squeeze the juice from the oranges and lemon, being sure to catch any seeds. Whisk in extra virgin olive oil. Add cumin and add salt and pepper to taste.

3. To assemble the salad, add the carrots, cubed avocado to a medium bowl. Pour half of the dressing over top and gently toss. Add more and more dressing until it’s to the point of your liking. Divide salad between two plates and crumble goat cheese on top. BOOM! Eat the rainbow.

Yields 2 Salads

Wuuuuttts up, lovely people! I just came out of an intense 8-day working cave. OMG hard work, I love you (sometimes). I decided to celebrate with baking a pie, naturally.

And winter citrus! I’m all about it at the moment. The bursting, brilliant colors of January are coming at you in pie form. Get into this.

When I was in college, living in North Carolina, I would get suuuuper depressed during winter. The days and days of no sun, and constant rainy, cloudy and sometimes snowy weather buuuuumed me out. Big time.

This lead to me doing research on seasonal depression. (P.S. I might’ve been a little overly dramatic.)

Said research lead me to this random long article about tanning salons aiding with this specific type of depression. I was convinced that this was going to work. So there I went, with my googles and PERMANENTLY tanned self (I mean, have you seen my about page? Me no need no tan, ya know?), to the tanning salon.

Obvi, it didn’t work. It did however cause my skin to peel in places I wish to not discuss. So that happened.

And it also lead to my decision to pass on moving to New York like half of my graduating class and opting for sunny Los Angeles instead. It was a good decision.

Too bad I didn’t know about winter citrus, because this stuff is the cure for seasonal depression. I’m convinced.

Just look at how purdy it is! Good gracious.

This pie starts with a graham cracker crust. Solid start to any (easy) pie.

The filling is a made up of sweetened condensed milk, a few eggs and some blood orange juice. I squeezed a bunch of them and used the rest for mimosas. Good look.

And whipped cream. That’s it. Oh yeah, and I lined the outside with Nila Wafers because I think it added a hint of prettiness. Feel free to skip this step if you want.

Think of this pie as a less tart, slightly sweeter, prettier version of key lime pie.

Blood Orange Pie

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For crust:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 12 crackers)
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
4 tablespoons granulated sugar

For filling:
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of fresh blood orange juice (from 3-4 blood oranges)

For topping:
1 1/4 cup chilled heavy cream
6 tablespoons powdered sugar
10 Nila Wafers

1. Preheat oven to 350F. In a food processor, add graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and granulated sugar; pulse for 30 seconds. Transfer mixture to a 9-inch (4-cup) pie dish. Press mixture evenly onto bottom and the sides of the pie dish. Bake crust in middle of oven 10 minutes and cool completely pie dish on a rack. Leave oven on.

2. Meanwhile, whisk together condensed milk and yolks in a bowl until combined well. Add blood orange juice and whisk until combined well (mixture will thicken slightly). Pour filling into crust and bake in middle of oven 15 minutes. Cool pie completely on rack (filling will set as it cools), then chill, covered, at least 8 hours.

3. Just before serving, place the Nila Wafers along the outside crust, pushing them slightly into the filling. Beat cream in a bowl, with an electric mixer, until it just holds medium to stiff peaks. Serve pie topped with cream.

Adapted from this Key Lime Pie from Gourmet

Pig candy is a real thing. Didyouknowthis?

I did not. Until last week when I had dinner at Lou’s, this wine bar in a random strip mall next to an even more random laundromat. In other news, I’ve been pronouncing the word “laudromat” like “laundry-mat…” up until, oh I dunno, like, yesterday.

Not sure if you knew this, but in Los Angeles things like kitchen floors that aren’t made from formica, a washer & dryer in your unit, and a parking space for your vehicle, are all considered luxuries. I have two out of the three and I feel lucky and rich.

Pig Candy. Let’s go back to that.

It’s really special. I’d even go as far as to say that it’s important.

Sure, I’ve brushed bacon with maple syrup…

I’ve even sprinkled a bit of brown sugar atop of it; but I’ve never added it all up and then thrown in cayenne for an explosion that’s so crazy and fun, that the only words I can find to describe it are crazy and fun.

It started with brown sugar and some cayenne. It shouldn’t be too spicy, just a kick. Take a note below on the cayenne amount. No bigs.

Throw it in the oven for 15 minutes or so. Take it out…

Brush on some maple syrup. Bake some more. Flip over the bacon slices, put more maple syrup on. Bake some more. And then refrigerate.

The bacon pieces will harden, and be all candy-like. They’ll be sweet with a small amount of kick. Put it on a couple scoops of ice cream. Serve it as a snack with some beer. Drink it with fancy wine. How ever you wanna enjoy it is cool.

Just remember this:

Bacon is important.

Pig Candy

Print this recipe!

10 slices of bacon (about 1 1/4 lb of thick-cut bacon)
*3/4 teaspoon ground cayenne
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup

1. Preheat oven to 350F. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar and cayenne.

*(Note: the cayenne I had was pretty dull. If yours is brand new, I’d recommend a 1/2 teaspoon vs. the 3/4 teaspoon I used. You want it to be a touch spicy; not straight fire, ya know?)

2. Line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment. (This will help with the clean-up.) Place a baking rack atop the lined baking sheet and lay bacon side-by-side.

3. Coat both sides of bacon with the brown sugar mixture, pressing it into the bacon to be sure it adheres.

4. Bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly golden brown. Take bacon out of the oven and coat one side with maple syrup. Place it back in the oven and bake for 5-7 additional minutes. After the 5 minute mark, flip bacon over, coat with maple syrup and return to oven for the last 5-7 minutes.

5. Place in refrigerator to harden for an hour. Cut into pieces and eat atop some ice cream or by itself. Maybe with a glass of beer. That’s pretty good.

Phew! I didn’t mean to be away this long. I missed you all!

I figured I’d take MLK day off, and then a recipe failure happened. And then I had to jump on a plane to head back east to bury myself in the work that I’ve been putting off for weeks. Procrastination, I hate you.

But good news: I’m here, working diligently and it’s awesome. I’ve been in this really awful anxious mood for the past few weeks, so all this doing, writing and completing feels refreshing and wonderful. SO, I’M BACK! And I brought cheese to this productive party, my dudes and dudettes. Cheese!

This recipe is inspired by a picture in the new issue of Saveur. The picture is just a few jalapeño peppers just laying there looking cute and delicious and fried.

I might’ve stared at the picture for an hour straight. Mainly because I knew under the fried bread crumbs cheese lived, and partly because after about 20 minutes of being on any plane I’m immediately ready to get off.

I get ansty. Bratty. And I always have to go to the bathroom. Basically I’m the worst plane neighbor ever. But I will share my food magazines with you and I’ll smile a lot. So there’s that.

I started by using an espresso spoon to get out of the seeds and membranes from each of the jalapeños. If you’re a lunatic and love spicy, then by all means leave them in.

These peppers are stuffed with a softened cream cheese, Monterey Jack mixture a spice or two and some salt and pepper. After they’re filled, they take two dips in the egg and bread crumb mixture. The two dips is pretty essential since jalapeños have super smooth skin and you really want the bread crumbs to stick. In some hot oil and out they come, all golden brown and gooey inside.

Fried, cheesy, spicy….and go!

Fried Cheesy Jalapeño Poppers

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3 cups canola oil
16 jalapeños
6 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 3/4 cup Monterey Jack, shredded finely
1/4 teaspoon cumin powder
Pinch of kosher salt
Pinch of freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups panko bread crumbs

1. Make a slit down the middle of each jalapeño, being sure to keep the stem end intact, and slice off the end. Using a small spoon (I used an espresso spoon), scoop out the membrane and seeds.

2. In a small bowl, mix together the cream cheese, Monterey Jack, cumin, salt and pepper.

3. Add canola oil to a medium pot (or cast iron skillet) and heat to 350F. Line a baking sheet with paper towels and set aside.

4. Meanwhile, stuff each jalapeño with a small spoonful of cheese mixture.

5. In batches, dip jalapeños in flour, egg, panko bread crumbs, and then dip once more in egg and panko bread crumbs. Transfer to hot oil and fry until golden brown, 2-3 minutes per side. Transfer to paper towels to drain and serve immediately.

Fried Cheesy Jalapeño Poppers

Life tweaks. They’ve happened this week.

It’s weird how much better these little tweaks make you feel. First one: I’ve worked out every day this week. I’m not gonna make some unrealistic statement and say that this is how I’m living from here on out, but good gracious does it make me feel giddy.

Second tweak: I’ve cut out coffee. I know. I know. I can’t believe I just wrote that. It wasn’t planned. I woke up Monday morning and got some tea instead of coffee. And then I did the same thing the next day. And the next day. And now, it’s Friday and I feel like I have more energy than I’ve had in months. In months I’m guessing this won’t last for long–the taste of coffee is a long time love.

I decided to keep up with the health-ish, unusual track that I’m on and snack on some beets. (I honestly don’t even know who I am right now.) I hate beets. I think they taste–for the most part–like dirt. Like, the actual earth. People put a bunch of goat cheese on them and avocado and think they’re delicious. Datsss cool. I’m just not one of those people.

But I do love those Terra chips. You know those? They’re like $6 a bag from Whole Foods and they’re filled about a quarter of the way? Yeah. Well, the beet chips–surprisingly–are my favorite. It’s unexplainable.

Turns out slicing some beets and baking them is waaaay cheaper than buying a big bag of pre-sliced and pre-baked ones.

I made one batch last week and one batch yesterday. Pro-tips: Martha’s method with placing a baking sheet on top of the chips to keep them flat is a winner. She’s too smart.

Also, only take the beets out of the oven when they’re pale. Their color will turn from a deep beet red to a pale beet red. This is confusing in text, I’m sure, but if you take the dive and make these, you’ll see the difference when you do an oven peek.

So, join me on this strange journey. Grab a mandoline. Slice up some pretty golden beets and maybe a few red beets.

Toss them with very little olive oil. Sprinkle on a some sea salt. Baked them.

And boom. Healthy snacking. It’s happening.

Baked Beet Chips

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4 medium beets
2 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
Sea Salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Peel beets and slice 1/16 inch thick with a mandoline. In a large bowl, toss beets with extra-virgin olive oil. The beets should have a very thin coat.

2. On two rimmed baking sheets (or use one sheet and bake in two batches), arrange beets in a single layer. Sprinkle with a small amount of sea salt.

3. Stack another rimmed baking sheet on top of each. Bake until edges of beets begin to dry out, about 20 minutes. Uncover and rotate sheets. Bake 10 to 20 minutes, removing chips as they become lightened and pale in color. Note: Pretty much all of mine needed the full extra 20 minutes of baking time. Transfer to a wire rack; chips will crisp up as they cool.

Adapted from Martha Stewart

Have you ever had a savory cupcake? I have. A fancy famous chef made it for me. It was $15. I didn’t like it.

Have you ever had savory bread pudding? I have. Incredible.

Have you ever had a savory pudding ? Just no.

Have you ever had/heard of savory biscotti? Up until last weekend, I had not. I came across it on the internets and was fascinated upon first sight. And since it’s all up in your face, pictured above with a cup of steamy coffee, it’s obviously a major yes. Duh.

The dough comes together in about 10 minutes…and all in a food processor.

This means you’re not making a mess. No one likes a bunch of clean-up.

If you don’t have a food processor. You can do it by hand. Just be sure to grate the cheese finely, rather than the big grates you see pictured above.

Shape it. Bake it. Let it cool. Bake it again.

The black pepper and cheddar love each other in this twice baked cookie.

Super cheesy…with the perfect amount of kick. I’d recommend one on the way to work with your morning cup. In the afternoon with some black tea.

I dunno. Maybe even as a substitute for a dinner roll? (Am I stretching? Probably.)

Cheddar Black Pepper Biscotti

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2 eggs
1 cup grated Cheddar cheese
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
3/4 teaspoon salt

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Put the eggs and cheese in a food processor and process until yellow and thick, about a minute. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and black pepper and pulse three or four times, just to integrate the dry ingredients; you don’t want to overwork the gluten in the flour.

2. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead it until it holds together — it may be a bit crumbly at first. Shape the dough into an 8- to 10-inch log, transfer to the prepared baking sheet and gently flatten.

3. Bake until the log begins to color and is firm to the touch, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool for about 10 minutes, then cut on the bias into half-inch slices. Lay the biscotti flat on the baking sheet and bake until crisp and toasted, 15 minutes; turn and toast the second side for another 10 to 15 minutes. Cool completely before serving.

Recipe tweaked from Mark Bittman

Yields 12

Last week I had a straight hour where all I thought about were fish sticks. I’m pretty sure it had everything to do with me avoiding work, coupled with the Los Angeles weather being an absurd 80 degrees in the dead of winter; nonetheless, it was all I could think about.

The weirdest part about this fixation was that growing up cafeteria fish sticks were the last thing I ever wanted on my lunch tray. Even at the ripe age of seven, my brain knew they were not to be trusted.

I mean, just up until last week I was under the not-so-cute impression that fish sticks were made like chicken nuggets: ground up, reformed to a “stick shape”and coated to hide the scariness. I know this sorta doesn’t make sense, but this is what I thought.

Turns out, I was dead wrong. So glad I was wrong. Aren’t you glad!? This means we can still guiltlessly enjoy them.

Turns out they’re made really normal like.

Fish. Bread crumbs. Fry. That’s it.

I took a good quality fish. Cod was on sale! Though, halibut or tilapia would work, too. Basically you need some white fish. White fish. That’s it.

I cut the fillets down the center into thirds. I ended up with three long, super skinny fillets. I then cut those into 4-inch sticks. That’s it! I trimmed some of the edges to make them a better stick-like shape. You can do this too or just leave them be. Whatevs.

Cracked a few eggs in a bowl. Mixed some Parmesan with a few handfuls of panko crumbs. Seasoned it. And dipped. And then fried. That’s it!

If you’re not into the whole hot oil thing, no biggie! I got you.

I actually baked the ones you see below. (Note! These are pre-bake!) The only difference from the fried and the baked is that the baked will give you paler fish sticks. They won’t be nearly as crispy or golden brown. But they’re still delicious. And healthier….so you decide.

If you need me, I’ll be eating the remainder of these fish sticks whilst listening to this pretty song imagining I’m on some vintage wooden sail boat off the coast of Maine. Heat waves do this to me.

Homemade Fish Sticks (with Spicy Tartar Sauce)

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1 pound of cod fillets (Halibut or Tilapia would work too)
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt

1. Rinse the cod and thoroughly pat dry with paper towels. To cut the fish into “sticks,” slice the fillets into thirds, lengthwise. You’ll end up with three long strips. Cut those strips into 4-inch pieces. I ended up with about 20 (4-inch by 1-inch) fish sticks. Note: I trimmed those 4-inch pieces’ scraggly edges. You can do this too, or just leave it be. Your call.

2. Add the all-purpose flour to a medium bowl. In another medium bowl, crack in the eggs and beat. On a plate, combine the panko bread crumbs, Parmesan, crushed red pepper and salt.

3. Roll the cod pieces in the flour, shaking off any excess. Drop the cod pieces in the beaten egg and then lastly, roll them around in the panko mixture. Transfer the pieces to a baking sheet. At this point you could either place them in an oven to bake or in some hot oil to fry.

4. To bake: Preheat oven to 450F. Place fish sticks on parchment and bake for 15-20 minutes and until edges are slightly golden brown. (They won’t be as golden brown as in the pictures above, but nonetheless, they’ll be delicious!)

5. To fry (my favorite way!): Preheat oven to warm. Place 1 cup of oil in a 10-inch cast iron skillet and heat, over medium-high, to 350F. (If you don’t have a thermometer, no bigs. Add a small piece of bread crumb to the hot oil. If it sizzles and starts to brown, you’re good.) Using tongs, gently add fish sticks to hot oil, cooking on each side for 1-3 minutes, or until golden brown. Transfer to paper towels to drain and then place in oven to keep warm while you finish the rest of the fish sticks.

Spicy Tartar Sauce

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup finely chopped jalapeño
1/2 teaspoon fresh parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon Sriracha

1. In a small bowl, mix all ingredients together and add more Sriracha if you like.