Leftover Fish?

Make a salad!

Boil chopped potatoes and hard-boil some eggs. Slice onions and soak in water (it mellows the flavor of raw onion). When the potatoes and eggs are cool, slice or dice to your preference. Chop up some romaine lettuce, shred your leftover fish, add the potatoes, onions and eggs, some tomatoes if you like, a bit of dill and salt and pepper. Toss with your favorite dressing and serve with a carrot spear and broccoli flowerette. Enjoy!

Post-Thanksgiving.

Well, I hope you all are well-fed, are doing great, & had a nice Thanksgiving. We spent our Thanksgiving at the house of friends of ours. We brought a brined turkey, two pies, & a soup to their house. (We brined the turkey using an Alton Brown recipe.)

The soup was one of my favorites: Roasted butternut squash & pear soup. I got the recipe years ago from Eating Well. It's in regular rotation on the menu around here. What's interesting about the soup is that it calls for sprinkling a little Stilton cheese (or blue cheese) on the top of it. Without the cheese, it's floral & delicately flavored. With the cheese, a sharp flavor and creaminess are added. It's almost two different soups!

Using our leftovers, we've made a turkey stock (about a gallon), & we plan on making turkey quesadillas.

For those of you interested, our menu looked like this:
Roasted butternut squash & pear soup
Crudites with sour cream dip & hummous
Apple Cranberry Almond Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Turkey using an Alton Brown recipe
Kris's family recipe cranberry raspberry sauce
An adhoc gravy where we added rosemary and red wine - yielding yummy purple gravy
Pumpkin pie with rum - don't follow the cooking directions - it'll never set
Cherry berry pie
plus a few wines including a Jordan Chardonnay.

Now that the floodgates to Christmas have been opened, it's officially cookie baking time! YAY! I've planned out 13 different recipes that I'd like to make. Today's the day to figure out how many I'm actually making this season. Stay tuned!

Javanese Peanut Pasta

I'm about to illuminate the largest difference between me & my better half. Here goes. Brace yourself!

I like to cook and eat vegan. He, well, doesn't.

I'll give you an example. Last night, I called to see if he found the concept of peanut pasta palatable.

Me: "What about if we do an Asian peanut butter pasta with veggies?"
Him: "Sounds great!"
Him: .....
Him: "I have to ask the question... because I'm not sure. Does that pasta have meat in it? Because... I need meat in it."

So, lo & behold, there was magically steak in our vegan meal. I found some thin steak on sale at Giant for under $3. The frozen stirfry veggies were on sale too. Score!

The recipe comes from one of my all-time favorite cookbooks, 150 Vegan Favorites by Jay Solomon. It's filling, tasty, quick, & cheap. The only sticky point is that the sauce always manages to need a little tweaking this way or that way. I've minorly adapted it here.

I didn't include the steak recipe. Basically, it was a little bland. I recommend making the steak in the Korean bulgogi way (mirin, soy sauce, something spicy - like red pepper flakes, sesame oil, & garlic).

Adapted Jay's Javanese Peanut Pasta
1 jar roasted red peppers, sliced into strips
1/2 cup of peanut butter (chunky or smooth - chunky gives you peanuts as garnish)
1/4 cup of soy sauce
1/8 cup of water (more or less)
4-6 scallions, chopped
1 package of dried Asian white rice pasta (usually found in 1 lb or 13 oz packages)
2-3 tablespoons fresh ginger, chopped fine or microplaned (or a few squirts of the tube of ginger in the produce section)
1 jalapeno, chopped fine (or 1 tsp cayenne pepper or a squirt of Sriracha)
1 garlic clove
1.5 cups of frozen stirfry veggies, defrosted optimally
2 tablespoons oil - either sesame or peanut - or whatever you've got
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1. Set the water for the pasta to boil over the stove.

2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add veggies, garlic clove, ginger, and jalapeno (if using) & saute for a few minutes. Lower heat to medium-low. Add peanut butter and soy sauce. This mixture will melt down a little over the heat & give your veggies a nice coating. Be sure to taste the sauce & add little extra ginger, soy, spice, or peanut butter if needed. If the sauce is too thick, add in a little water. If it's too thin, let it sit on the heat until it thickens.

3. Make the pasta. It normally only takes about 3-5 minutes. If the pasta's done before the sauce is, then strain it & rinse it to keep it from sticking. Rice pasta's always a little more gummy than semolina pasta.

4. Mix the pasta with the veggie sauce in a big bowl. Mix in the roasted red peppers. Top with scallions and cilantro.

OMG, yum. & so filling. 4.5/5 for me.

I can't wait for Thanksgiving dinner dinner!

A few days ago, I decided that I couldn't wait for Thanksgiving. I really wanted some fancy stuffing. An apple sausage walnut stuffing - to be exact. I'd request it for our upcoming Thanksgiving cook-a-thon, but my kitchen counterpart doesn't eat pork. Shame.

Luckily, I finagled the day off today (they took away my Veteran's Day holiday). So, I decided to make something manageable for two people to eat - a stuffed chicken. I used Anne Burrell's sausage apple walnut stuffing recipe as a guideline.

I stuffed 1/2 of this recipe inside my chicken & 1/2 into muffin tins (so each muffin gets a crispy top). I prepped my chicken per the normal - cover with olive oil & then with salt. I added some chopped butternut squash, acorn squash, and red potatoes into the pan. Then, I zested a lemon over all of it, which added a very subtle lemon flavor. & into the oven at 375 until the chicken thigh reached 165 degrees internal temperature.

The "gravy" from the chicken tasted amazing. It was sweetened by the squashes and had a mellow lemon flavor. I plan on making something from it - or maybe just adding it to my chicken stock for a soup.

Adapted Stuffing for two
1 apple, cored & diced
2 sausage links (potentially sweet Italian)
1 celery rib, diced
1/2 onion
6-8 lightly toasted bread slices
1/2 cup apple cider
1 cup chicken broth
4 leaves fresh sage
1/2 cup walnuts
olive oil
salt & pepper

(Directions mostly copied from Anne's recipe)
Coat a large saute pan, over medium heat, with olive oil and add the onions and celery. Season with salt and cook until the veggies start to become soft and are very aromatic. Add the garlic and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes. Add the sausage and cook until the sausage browns. Stir in the apples and apple cider and cook until the apples start to soften, about 3 to 4 minutes. Sprinkle in the sage leaves and the walnuts and turn off the heat.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Add the diced bread and toss together. Pour in the chicken stock and knead with your hands until the bread is very moist, actually wet. Taste to check for seasoning and season with salt, if needed. Transfer to muffin tins (or a rectangular dish) and bake until it is hot all the way through and crusty on top.

Yummmmmy! We gave the stuffing a 4/5.

Update: Apple & Pear Crisp

In yesterday's post, I wrote that we were going to have Apple & Pear Crisp for dessert. It called for so much sugar - that I reduced it by 1/4 cup at least.

Still - It was TOO sweet! Ugh!! The man liked it - what a sweet tooth he's got. But I thought it was overwhelmingly sweet. In hindsight, I should have added only 1/4 cup of sugar into the apples & pears. The crumble on top was really good as is.

That's the update! Tonight, I plan on making something special too in anticipation of Thanksgiving. Wait & see!

Dad's Fish Francaise.

I was speaking with my father about a meyer lemon olive oil that I purchased for use with fish, & he said, "OH! I made a really great fish recently!"

So, we gave that a shot tonight. Here's the recipe. We deemed it a keeper. & it's quick too!

Dad's Fish Francaise
4 fillets mahi mahi (or tilapia or other white fish)
30-45 capers
1 or 1/2 stick of butter
Juice of a whole lemon

Put the butter into the skillet & melt over medium heat. Add the capers. Squeeze in your lemon juice. Heat the sauce until it bubbles. Lay the fish in the pan. When the edges of the fish turn white, flip it. After 2-3 more minutes, take the pan off the heat & let it set for a few minutes. When it's time to plate, you can either do it family style - Let the fish & sauce slide off the pan onto a platter - or you can take your chances on flipping the fish individually onto plates.

DEEElish.

We paired ours with an arugula salad (with meyer lemon balsamic viniagrette, cranberries, and goat cheese - SPLURGE!), steamed carrots, and saffron rice.

And for dessert - Apple Pear Crisp!

Duck Eggs and Waffles

Start with the waffles. These are gluten-free, egg-free, and dairy-free.

Turn on waffle iron. Mix dry ingredients together:
3/4 cup buckwheat flour
1/4 cup rice flour
2 tbl chickpea flour
2 tbl ground flax seeds
2 tbl ground nuts (optional)
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
Make a well in the dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients to well:
1 1/2 cup water and hemp milk mixture (or milk of choice)
2 tbl oil
2 tbl agave nectar or sweetener of choice
Mix wet ingredients inside well a bit, then mix it all together. Add more water or milk if necessary. Make a thick batter that pours, but sits before slowly spreading outward. (Pancake batter is thinner). If the iron is ready, pour the batter into it. Keep making batches. This made 5 waffles for us. Start on the eggs:

Scrambled Eggs with a savory vegetable topping: (serves 2)

Topping:
1/4 cup Onion
1 clove Garlic
3 diced Mushrooms
2 tbl chopped Tomato
handful of Spinach
salt-free seasoning
salt & pepper

Saute onion in a bit of oil. Add garlic. Cook til browning starts. Crack 2 duck eggs, or 4 chicken eggs, and whisk with salt, pepper and a bit of water. Add tomato, mushrooms and seasoning to the onions. Check Waffles. When mushrooms start to look like they are darkening, add spinach and turn off the heat. Keep stirring until spinach is wilted. Place in a bowl. Add a bit of oil or butter to the hot pan (turn back on the heat). Check waffles. Add whisked eggs. Let sit for a few seconds, until the egg on the bottom starts to solidify. Now continuously move the eggs around the pan until the water evaporates, but not entirely. The eggs should look shiny, but not watery, nor spongy. Plate.

This recipe gave the adults a large spoon of eggs, a large spoon (or two) of topping and two waffles each, with one leftover. It also put a smile on a husband who had been woken at 5am by over-exuberant little boys.

Enjoy!

Quick Beef Noodle and Peas Dinner

We just bought the organic salt-free seasoning mix from Costco. It worked marvels in this dish.

Ground beef
Noodles of choice
Frozen peas
Salt-free seasoning
Salt, pepper

1. Brown beef or buffalo, enough to feed the family, and season with salt, seasoning, and pepper.
2. Boil water, add salt, add noodles of choice.
3. Strain noodles. In the hot pot, bring a bit of water to a boil and add frozen peas. Cook covered for 2 minutes on high. The peas should look bright and pop with pea flavor.
4. Mix noodles, beef and peas together. Use some pea water, noodle water and/or oil to moisten.

Fish Dinner - Quick, Easy, Delicious

1. Take fish (4 fillets) out of the fridge. We used Mahi Mahi.

2. Toast one cup of buckwheat while bringing 2 cups water to boil in a kettle. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 2 cups water to buckwheat and cover. Steam for 20-25 minutes.

3. Make marinade. 1/2 cup soy sauce, 3 tbl apple cider vinegar, 2 tbl sesame oil, 4 tbl brown sugar, 3 sliced green onions, 2 cloves crushed garlic. Keep half for serving and marinade the fish in the other half.

4. Use what hot water is left in the kettle to start a pot for steaming fresh vegetables. We had broccoli florets and stems, and large chunk carrots.

5. Heat a pan, skillet or griddle on medium. Take fillets out of the marinade and discard the juices. Cook on one side until edges are cooked, flip over and cook on other side. Fish is done when it is no longer opaque in the center and flakes (separates) when pressed.

6. Plate the buckwheat and vegetables. Squirt with a bit of lemon juice. Plate the fish, top with a bit of sauce.

The whole family enjoyed this one. Hubby couldn't get over how good it was. I liked it best because it was quick, easy, and nutritious and delicious.

Cauliflower Soup and Spinach Salad

Traditional Polish cauliflower soup is made a bit differently. Here was our delicious spin on it:

Zupa kalafiorowa

7 cups beef broth (or 3 cans broth and 1 cup water)
1 lb cauliflower
2 baking potatoes
2 wild boar sausages (or sausage of choice)
1 1/2 tablespoons flour (we used tapioca)
1 cup half and half
1 tablespoon dried dill

Chop sausage and brown in a soup pot with a bit of oil. Add broth and bring to boil. Add cauliflower florets and large chunks of potato. Simmer for 25 minutes. Stir flour into warmed milk (mix milk with a bit of soup to warm it). Add dill and milk to pot. Stir and simmer 5 more minutes. Quick, filling and fantastic!

Serve with baby spinach, dried cranberries and toasted sunflower seeds with your favorite dressing. Our favorite is homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

Grrrravy & Pumpkin Bread review

I posted a recipe for pumpkin bread without trying it. Last night, I made Alton Brown's pumpkin bread recipe (without the seeds). I did add a little more cinnamon, & I pureed my fresh pumpkin innards for it.


"That one!"

It was GREAT! Super moist, delicious flavor. The man gave it rave reviews. He said it's a 4 or 4.5 out of 5 star recipe. The only thing keeping it from being a 5/5 is that it fell apart due to its moistness. SCORE!



We hope you had a happy Halloween!

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In my chicken pot pie recipe, I mentioned gravy as one of the ingredients. My sister (who also posts here) requested that I write out how I make my gravy. So, here it is.


Gravy
I feel like there are two schools of thought with making gravy. One way is to make a roux. The other is to add a thickener to fluids. I've made them both, but making a roux with gluten-free flour hasn't worked well for me.

To make a roux with regular all-purpose flour, you use 1 part melted fat to 2 parts flour. For example, I used to use one tablespoon butter melted & then whisk in 2 tablespoons flour. Let it cook while you whisk it. It's done when the roux turns a light brown (i.e. when the flour is cooked). Then, you'll add your stock/broth/fluid & boil it down.

The way that I made my gravy for the chicken pot pie (the gluten-free way):
I was reducing some chicken stock - maybe about 4 cups - on the stove. To it, I added a tablespoon or two of potato starch. (You could use corn starch too.) I whisked it until it wasn't lumpy anymore. If it wasn't thick enough after that, I added a smidgen more potato starch. Cook it until the starch is cooked. Then, I tasted it, added salt, pepper, tarragon, & anything else that I thought it needed.

That's it! I know it's not precise, but it was a "shoot from the hip" sort of recipe. If you guys want, just comment or email me & I'll make it more specific.