there is one thing that joe does not eat. well, one food category, really, and that is SEAFOOD. not even the smell of it. i happen to LOVE fish, so whenever he goes away for work, or i have the opportunity, i make FISH. i grew up eating a lot of salmon, so that is usually the first thing that comes to mind. this marinade was great and the meal went well with a side of parmesan couscous.
the veggie side dish is a specialty of my uncle Tom (also a lasagna expert). the only addition i made was baby portabello mushrooms (i snuck in another thing joe isn’t terribly fond of).
VEGGIES:
- 1 large red onion, julienne cut
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- 2 T olive oil
- 4-6 C spinach (tons of spinach – i just kept adding it as it cooked down)
- 1 C sliced baby portabello mushrooms
- 2 T capers
- 2 medium tomatoes, cut into halves and quadrants
- 1/2 C feta cheese
- heat oil in a large saucepan and add onion and garlic. saute till soft.
- add spinach and mushrooms and cook down till the spinach is wilted.
- add tomato and capers. cook another couple minutes, then add feta, turn off heat, and cover to soften the cheese.
SALMON MARINADE:
- 1 T ketchup
- ground ginger
- 1 t salt
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 3 T soy sauce
- marinade salmon for an hour or two in the fridge then grill till browning on each side.
This was my first meal in Vermont in THREE years! I spent last week there visiting my parents and helping them plant 200 trees on their ‘farm’. Below is a picture of the off-the-grid house that they built themselves. The cardboard boxes contained the 600 trees that they are planting this year. We had planned to make salmon on the grill, but it stated raining. Apparently airlines don’t feed you as much as they used to, so i was starving when i got in. Luckily, because i was so hungry, i had picked up this recipe card in the local Shaws on the way home.
THE HOUSE:
THE CHICKEN:
- 3 chicken breasts, halved longways so that they make 6 thin chicken breasts. alternatively, you could use a tenderizer
- 1/2 C flour
- S + P
- 3 T olive oil
- 1 medium shallot, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 T capers
- 1 Lemon, cut in half from pole to pole, 1/2 thinly sliced, the other juiced
- 1 C chicken broth (1/2 bouillon cube)
- 3 T chopped fresh parsley + garnish
- sprinkle both sides of chicken breasts with salt and pepper, then dredge in 1/2 C flour
- preheat oven to 250 and heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.
- when oil is hot, fry the chicken breasts till golden brown (about 3 min on each side) then keep hot in the oven.
- once all the chicken has cooked, add shallot and garlic to the pan and saute till fragrant.
- add broth and lemon and simmer down to 1/3 cup
- add capers, lemon juice and simmer down again (another 2-3 min.)
- stir in chopped parsley * and serve immediately over chicken.
* the Shaw’s recipe says here to add 2 T butter ‘to thicken’ but i think that a pinch of flour or cornstarch works just as well.
before starting this blog, joe typically ate twice as fast as me. now that i photograph my plate nearly every night for posterity, he is nearly finished by the time i’m digging in. we first had these fajitas after a long day at the zoo in Mendoza, Argentina. The zoo was so spectacular, that even though it was 4:00 and we hadn’t eaten lunch yet, it was hard to pull ourselves away. It worked out well, because by eating lunch so late, we ate dinner at a culturally acceptable hour… 10 PM!
CORN TORTILLAS:
- 2 C corn meal (i used some extra fine stuff from a Hispanic grocery store)
- 1 C + 3 T warm water
- mix water and corn meal in a medium sized bowl, first with a fork and then use your fingers. the resulting dough should stick more to itself than to your fingers.
- press the dough into approx 2 T balls.
- to flatten, place a ball between two sheets of parchment paper, and roll into a 1/16″ disk with a rolling pin (or wine bottle).
- heat a skillet over medium-low heat until a drop of water sizzles in it (not smoking, or it’s too hot). gently flip the dough disk onto the skillet and cook 1 minute on each side.
FAJITAS:
- 2 cloves of garlic, sliced thin
- 2 T olive oil
- 1 small head of red cabbage, 1.5 lbs., cut in half and then into thin slices
- 1 medium red onion, julienne cut
- 1 small green pepper, sliced
- S + P
- heat oil in a large skillet (same one as the tortillas) and cook garlic until fragrant.
- add cabbage and onion. saute 4-5 min then add green pepper.
- continue cooking about 15-20 minutes until all the veggies are soft. serve with black beans, cheddar cheese and salsa.
Filed under: DESSERT, DINNER, MULTISPORT | Tags: beef, brick, brownies, chocolate, potatoes
we biked and bricked the course this morning. it was 90° outside, but we biked it 10 minutes faster than last time, a month ago. the park was packed with cars and there were at least as many bikes on the road as cars. there are at least 8 good hills on the course, and on the last one, the man biking in front of me sort of slumped over off the road.
dinner: burgers:
initially, i didn’t really feel like grilling the burgers. didn’t we just eat burgers 4 days ago? but i REALLY COULDN’T after giving myself second degree burns with the spatula… i had left our metal spatula sitting apparently too close to the grill exhaust while it was preheating. i now have a very neat imprint of the spatula handle on my right palm.
joe ended up cooking the entire meal himself, while i pathetically clutched a cold beer can…
dessert: brownies:
before burning myself, i had managed to make the RICH DARK CHOCOLATE brownie recipe found on the back of the King Arthur flour bag. luckily, i made a half batch becuse these are really to die for.
- 1 C sugar
- 1/2 C butter
- 1/2 t salt
- 3/4 C Hershey’s special dark cocoa powder
- 1/2 t baking powder
- 2 eggs
- 2 t vanilla
- 3/4 C King Arthur all purpose flour
- 1 C semisweet chocolate chips
- melt butter in medium sized, microwave safe bowl. add sugar and heat heat again if necessary to make it smooth (maybe 30 sec. more).
- stir in cocoa, salt, baking powder, and vanilla until smooth.
- add flour and chocolate chips
- bake at 350 in a
finally! i remembered to make the dough yesterday! just judging by it’s elasticity (and taste- i LOVE raw dough) yesterday afternoon, i knew this was going to be my pizza ever. I resolved to bake the pizza for the dough, and not the toppings. So we only baked it 5 minutes, not long enough to brown the cheese. The first dough we baked had some spinach pesto sauce from last night’s dinner (of salad and crostini).
followed the recipe exactement: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/001199.html
I would like to emphasize the amportance of lots of semolina flour. in the past, we had used parchment paper to transfer the pizza into the oven, but using a semolina-covered cookie sheet was much better. we also had a little sangria with the pizza. my favorite recipe – my ex-roomates know it to be DELICIOUS.
sangria:
- 750 ml red wine (cabernet sauvignon is good)
- generous 1/2 C cointreau
- generous 1/2 C peach brandy
- 1 lime, juiced
- i lemon, juiced
- 1 orange, juiced
- 1 orange, lemon, and lime, sliced
- lemon – lime club soda
- stir together juice, booze, and wine in a pitcher then add fruit slices.
- add club soda directly to the glasses so that it doesn’t flatten in the pitcher.
pesto:
- 1 10 oz package frozen spinach
- 2 C fresh spinach
- 4 cloves garlic, halved
- 1/3 C parmesan cheese
- 3 T olive oil
- 3-4 T walnuts
- 1 t fresh ground pepper
- 1 t salt
- mix together spinach, garlic, walnuts, half the olive oil, salt and pepper in a food processor.
- add parm and remaining olive oil until fully chopped. add more salt and pepper to taste. I used maybe a T of sea salt. keep refrigerated.
if there is one treat that i like as much as oatmeal raisin cookies, it is currant scones. i can justify eating treats that have some semblance of healthiness in the form of oats and dried fruit. i cannot wait to eat one tomorrow morning with my coffee!
- 3/4 C rolled oats
- 1 C white wheat flour
- 1 C all purpose flour
- 1/2 C sugar scant
- 1 t cinnamon
- 1/2 t baking soda
- 2 t baking powder
- 5 T butter, cut into small pieces
- 1/2 C dried currants
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 t vanilla extract
- 1/2 C buttermilk + extra for glaze
- 3 T brown sugar
- 1 t cinnamon
- preheat oven to 350°
- mix all dry ingredients in med bowl. using your fingers, incorporate butter until it looks like a coarse meal. throw in currants
- measure buttermilk, whisk in eggs and vanilla, and using a fork, mix into the dry mixture until it forms sticky dough
- turn out dough onto lightly floured counter, and with floured hands, gently form into 8 inch dia. circle.
- cut into 8 slices, and transfer to a parchment-covered or greased) baking sheet.
- glaze scone wedges with extra buttermilk, then sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon mixture.
- bake 18 min in preheated oven.
oh la la! the first sign of spring. crepes and a spritz. the spritz’s are no longer around to photograph – sorry. they are a uphoric combo of 3/4 prosecco and 1/4 aperol. they are ‘supposed’ so include seltzer water, but i don’t bother.
the crepes are a simple recipe from ‘The Cook’s Companion’. cooking is simple in theory, but the first time i make them, i inevitably under cook the first one and fail to flip it without ripping. keep the oven heated to 25o and keep the first ones warm, while cooking the remaining batter. i sure wish we had nutella!
- 3/4 C all purpose flour
- 1/2 t salt
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 1/4 C milk
- butter for the pan
- mix flour and salt in a meduim bowl and create a well in the middle
- whisk together milk and egg in the flour well, gradually incorporating flour. then slowly whisk in remaining milk.
- let batter sit in fridge for 30 min before cooking
- heat in skillet to medium. when fully heated, melt a teaspoon of butter and pour just enough batter in to coat the pan.
- let it cook for at least 30 seconds – till the crepe begins to bubble away from the pan and steam a little bit.
- flip it and cook 20-30 more seconds on the other side.
it’s FREE CONE DAY at BEN & JERRY’S, so i decided that i should make something nice and light for dinner…oops. that was my original intent anyway. then i realized that the sweet potatoes were peaking, and we happened to have some ground beef in the freezer. so i had to make sweet potato fries and burgers. it was filling, but really good.
the burgers i just marinated in Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce for an hour, then grilled in our cast iron skillet.
fries:
- 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into fries
- 2 T canola oil
- 3 T taco seasoning
- pinch of cayenne powder
- pinch of cinnamon
- bit of salt
- toss the fries together with all the seasonings in a large bowl
- preheat oven to 425° and bake on a sheet for 30 min, then flip them and bake another 20-30 min, until browning.
ever since i sampled the guacamole at Oyamel in DC, made table-side with a mortar and pestle, i have been making my own at home and LOVING IT. it is so easy to make, and can be affordable when the avocados are in season.
i made the chips by slicing up some tortillas, brushing with evoo, sprinkling with sea salt, and broiling on each side on high for a minute.
- 2 ripe avocados (preferably Haas)
- juice of 1 lime
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- approx 1/3 T FINELY chopped onion
- 1/2 C canned diced tomatoes, drained
- pinch of cayenne pepper
- S + P
- squeeze lime juice over avocado in small mixing bowl. Use a fork to crush the avocado.
- mix in remaining ingredients and salt and pepper to taste.
this was such a treat. this salad was like candy! i have read somewhere that eating avocado with other foods helps your nutrient absorption. i wish i had allowed a good hour and fifteen to prepare all the ingredients (mainly the beets), because i was pressed and had to cut corners (turned up the oven).
- 3 medium beets, peeled and cut into 6-8 wedges
- 3 T minced onion
- 1/4 C balsamic vinegar
- 1/3 C olive oil
- 1/2 avocado, sliced
- 1/2 C (or so) dried cranberries
- 1/3 C feta cheese
- romaine lettuce
- 1/2 C walnuts
- 3 T brown sugar
- 1 T canola oil
BEETS:
- preheat oven to 425°
- to make dressing, mix together balsamic vinegar, evoo, and onion in medium sized bowl. toss beets in dressing and let marinate while the oven heats up.
- bake beets for 25 min, then flip and bake another 20 min, or until soft through.
CANDIED WALNUTS:
- heat canola oil and brown sugar (and a tiny pinch of cayenne pepper) in medium saucepan with walnuts. keep stirring as the sugar caramelizes and begins to coat the nuts (about 5 minutes).
- when the sugar is fully caramelized, remove from heat and pour the nuts onto a piece of parchment or a plate to cool. THEY LOOK NICE, BUT ARE VERY HOT AND WILL BURN YOU. i found this out the hard way…
two skinny jenkins 