Posts Tagged ‘garlic’

Daring Cooks: Rice with Mushrooms, Seafood and Artichokes

Sunday, August 16th, 2009

Here it is, a few days late. For this month’s Daring Cook’s challenge Olga from Las Cosas de Olga and Olga’s Recipes chose the dish Rice with mushrooms, cuttlefish and artichokes from renowned Spanish chef José Andrés.

Although I was very excited to try this dish, I found that I wasn’t ready for another paella-type dish so soon after making tomato paella a few weeks go. I considered skipping the challenge all together, but I’m glad that I didn’t.

I have never cooked with cuttlefish. In fact, I didn’t know people ate them. When I was younger and had a parakeet I used to give him a cuttlefish bone in his cage and he would peck at it (for calcium I think). It turns out cuttlefish is similar to squid. I could have substituted squid for cuttlefish, but Shawn isn’t really a fan of un-fried squid, so I chose mussels instead. Because mussels cook very quickly, I added them at the end of cooking when there was still a bit of liquid left in the rice. I spread them over the top of the rice and steamed them with the lid on the pan for about 8 minutes.

I made the recipe with turmeric instead of saffron, portobello mushrooms, frozen artichoke hearts and I threw in some piquillo peppers for color. I also used canned tomatoes instead of fresh for the sofregit for several reasons: 1. My tomato plants haven’t produced anything worth mentioning for at least a month. Something to do with it being too hot here for the blooms to set; 2. I didn’t make it to the farmer’s market again this week because I had to go put a new battery in my car on Saturday morning; 3. I have been wary of most fresh tomatoes from the supermarket after being traumatized by this horrible story.

Rice with mushrooms, cuttlefish and artichokes
From Chef José Andrés’ TV show “Made In Spain” via Olga for Daring Cooks

Cooking time: 45 minutes

Equipment:

1 Chopping Board

1 knife

1 medium saucepan

1 Paella pan (30 cm/11” is enough for 4 people. If not available, you may use a simple pan that size)

1 Saucepan

Ingredients (serves 4):

4 Artichokes (you can use jarred or freezed if fresh are not available)

12 Mushrooms (button or Portobello)

1 or 2 Bay leaves (optional but highly recommended)

1 glass of white wine

2 Cuttlefish (you can use freezed cuttlefish or squid if you don’t find it fresh)

“Sofregit” (see recipe below)

300 gr (2 cups) Short grain rice (Spanish types Calasparra or Montsant are preferred, but you can choose any other short grain. This kind of rice absorbs flavor very well) – about 75 gr per person ( ½ cup per person) Please read this for more info on suitable rices.

Water or Fish Stock (use 1 ½ cup of liquid per ½ cup of rice)

Saffron threads (if you can’t find it or afford to buy it, you can substitute it for turmeric or yellow coloring powder)

Allioli (olive oil and garlic sauce, similar to mayonnaise sauce) – optional

Directions:

  1. Cut the cuttlefish in little strips.
  2. Add 1 or 2 tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan and put the cuttlefish in the pan.
  3. If you use fresh artichokes, clean them as shown in the video in tip #7. Cut artichokes in eights.
  4. Clean the mushrooms and cut them in fourths.
  5. Add a bay leaf to the cuttlefish and add also the artichokes and the mushrooms.
  6. Sauté until we get a golden color in the artichokes.
  7. Put a touch of white wine so all the solids in the bottom of the get mixed, getting a more flavorful dish.
  8. Add a couple or three tablespoons of sofregit and mix to make sure everything gets impregnated with the sofregit.
  9. Add all the liquid and bring it to boil.
  10. Add all the rice. Let boil for about 5 minutes in heavy heat.
  11. Add some saffron thread to enrich the dish with its flavor and color. Stir a little bit so the rice and the other ingredients get the entire flavor. If you’re using turmeric or yellow coloring, use only 1/4 teaspoon.
  12. Turn to low heat and boil for another 8 minutes (or until rice is a little softer than “al dente”)
  13. Put the pan away from heat and let the rice stand a couple of minutes.

Sofregit
(A well cooked and fragrant sauce made of olive oil, tomatoes, garlic and onions, and may at times different vegetables such as peppers or mushrooms.)

Cooking time: aprox. 1 hour

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of olive oil

5 big red ripe tomatoes, chopped

2 small onions, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped (optional)

4 or 5 garlic cloves, chopped

1 cup of button or Portobello mushrooms, chopped (optional)

1 Bay leaf

Salt

Touch of ground cumin

Touch of dried oregano

Directions:

  1. Put all the ingredients together in a frying pan and sauté slowly until all vegetables are soft.
  2. Taste and salt if necessary (maybe it’s not!)

Allioli is the optional part of the recipe. You must choose one of the two recipes given, even though I highly recommend you to try traditional one. Allioli is served together with the rice and it gives a very nice taste

Allioli (Traditional recipe)

Cooking time: 20 min aprox.

Ingredients:

4 garlic cloves, peeled

Pinch of salt

Fresh lemon juice (some drops)

Extra-virgin olive oil (Spanish preferred but not essential)

Directions:

  1. Place the garlic in a mortar along with the salt.
  2. Using a pestle, smash the garlic cloves to a smooth paste. (The salt stops the garlic from slipping at the bottom of the mortar as you pound it down.)
  3. Add the lemon juice to the garlic.
  4. Drop by drop; pour the olive oil into the mortar slowly as you continue to crush the paste with your pestle.
  5. Keep turning your pestle in a slow, continuous circular motion in the mortar. The drip needs to be slow and steady. Make sure the paste soaks up the olive oil as you go.
  6. Keep adding the oil, drop by drop, until you have the consistency of a very thick mayonnaise. If your allioli gets too dense, add water to thin it out. This takes time—around 20 minutes of slow motion around the mortar—to create a dense, rich sauce.

José’s tips for traditional recipe: It’s hard to think that, when you start crushing the garlic, it will ever turn into something as dense and smooth as allioli. But don’t give up. It’s worth the extra time and effort to see the oil and garlic come together before your eyes. Just make sure you’re adding the olive oil slowly, drop by drop. Keep moving the pestle around the mortar in a circular motion and keep dreaming of the thick, creamy sauce at the end of it all.

Allioli a la moderna (Modern recipe)

Cooking time: 3-4 minutes

Ingredients:

1 small egg

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil (as above, Spanish oil is highly recommended)

1 garlic clove, peeled

1 Tbs. Spanish Sherry vinegar or lemon juice (if Sherry vinegar is not available, use can use cider or white vinegar)

Salt to taste

Directions:

  1. Break the egg into a mixing bowl.
  2. Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the garlic cloves, along with the vinegar or lemon juice.
  3. Using a hand blender, start mixing at high speed until the garlic is fully pureed into a loose paste.
  4. Little by little, add what’s left of the olive oil as you continue blending.
  5. If the mixture appears too thick as you begin pouring the oil, add 1 teaspoon of water to loosen the sauce.
  6. Continue adding the oil and blending until you have a rich, creamy allioli.
  7. The sauce will be a lovely yellow color.
  8. Add salt to taste.

José’s tips for modern recipe:
(1) If you do not have access to a hand blender, you can use a hand mixer (the kind with the two beaters) or a food processor. If you use a food processor, you must double the recipe or the amount will be too little for the blades to catch and emulsify.
(2) What happens if the oil and egg separate? Don’t throw it out. You can do two things. One is to whisk it and use it as a side sauce for a fish or vegetable. But if you want to rescue the allioli, take 1 tablespoon of lukewarm water in another beaker and start adding to the mix little by little. Blend it again until you create the creamy sauce you wanted.

Olga’s Tips:
(1) In Spain, rice is not stired as often as it is when cooking Italian risotto. You must stir it once or twice maximum. This tip is valid for all Spanish rice dishes like paella, arròs negre, arròs a banda…
(2) When cooking the alternative style you can change the cuttlefish or squid for diced potato.
(3) If you can’t find cuttlefish or squid, or you’re not able to eat them because of allergies, you can try to substitute them for chicken or vegetables at your choice.
(4) Sofregit can be done in advance. You can keep it in the fridge or even freeze it.
(5) For more information on how to clean and remove the heart of artichokes, please watch this video
(6) To watch how Jose Andres cooks this dish click here.
(7) For more information on how to clean and remove the heart of artichokes, please watch this video
(8) To tone down the taste when you do it by hand in a mortar, then add an egg yolk. If you want to tone it down in the alternative way use milk or soy milk. Anyway, the best alternative way is the original oil and garlic alone.
(9) Allioli must be consumed during the preparation day and preserved in the fridge before using it.
(10) For help on conversion on metric to imperial, visit this page.

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Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Keep it Simple Stupid: Tomato Paella

Sunday, July 26th, 2009

I’ve always been one of those people that has trouble keeping things simple. For special occasion meals I tend to go overboard, choosing recipes that have 25 hard-to-find ingredients and take several days to prepare. The dishes almost always come out great, but sometimes they feel contrived and I’m left too pooped to enjoy the fruits of my labor. But occasionally, I will run across a recipe like this Tomato Paella and I am reminded that sometimes the best dishes are the ones that take little time and allow a few good ingredients to shine through.

I’ve had this recipe stored away for months, waiting for the moment that I had a few extra homegrown tomatoes to use up. When that day finally came last week, I pulled it out and realized I didn’t have any saffron. I had been meaning to order some from here, but there was no way my tomatoes would last that long. So I skipped it, subbing some tumeric instead, and I didn’t miss it.

The only other change I made to the recipe was that I cut the rice in half, thinking that two cups of rice would be too much for just the two of us. In retrospect, I could have eaten the entire full recipe by myself, but it would have taken weeks for my waistline to forgive me.

Tomato Paella
Adapted from Mark Bittman. This recipe depends on good quality tomatoes, so use the best-tasting tomatoes you can find. I would not try making it with those pink, mealy off-season atrocities from the grocery store.

1 3/4 cups water

1 1/2 pounds good-tasting tomatoes, cored and sliced into thick wedges

kosher salt

fresh ground pepper

1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 of a medium onion, diced

1 large clove of garlic, minced

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 teaspoon sweet smoked spanish paprika

1/2 teaspoon ground tumeric

1 cup short-grain rice, such as arborio

chopped parsley for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Toss tomato wedges with a pinch of salt and a generous grinding of pepper. Drizzle with olive oil and set aside.

3. Warm 1/8 cup of olive oil in a medium-sized oven-proof skillet. Add the onion and cook until translucent. Add the garlic, paprika, tumeric and 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and cook two minutes more. Add the tomato paste and cook a minute more.

4. Add the rice to the skillet and cook, stirring until shiny and slightly toasted, a minute or two. Add the water and bring to a simmer as you arrange the tomato slices on top of the rice and drizzle the tomato juices over the pan.

5. Put the skillet into the preheated oven and bake 15 minutes. The tomato skins should be wrinkled and the rice should be browned and crispy around the edges. If you like crispy rice on the bottom, put the skillet over high heat for a few minutes to allow a crust to form. Garnish with the parsley and serve.

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Posted in budget recipes, main dishes, spanish, vegetarian | 1 Comment »

Falafels—Baked, not Fried

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

Falafel is a scary word to the uninitiated. Say it to most people and they will make a face and say, “what is that?” But falafel is delicious. Especially stuffed inside a fresh pita with lots of veggies and tzatziki sauce.

Falafel is made from a mixture of soaked, ground up chickpeas, flour, onion, garlic, seasonings and herbs. While falafel is not an inherently unhealthy food, it can be if made the wrong way. When you buy falafel from a greek restaurant or street vendor, the balls are generally fried, served on white pita, and slathered with tahini sauce and tzatziki.

The first time I made falafel, I fried it. It was great and I was kind of sad that it could only be an occasional treat. Then I read that you could bake it instead of frying and I was intrigued. I decided to try it on the next batch. I found that the difference in flavor was negligible and baking the balls on a cookie sheet was much faster than deep frying them. To further “healthify” the meal, I omitted the tahini sauce, which contains a lot of fat. Instead I used tzatziki made from low fat greek yogurt. I stuffed it all into a white whole wheat pita and filled it with extra tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers. And the result? It tasted just as good as the first batch and it was easier to boot.

Baked Falafel
This recipe for the falafel balls is adapted from this Epicurious recipe. The only real difference is, the balls are baked and not fried. I also like to double the recipe so I can freeze some for later. Note: You do not cook the chickpeas in this recipe. I know this sounds strange, but just go with it. I promise, it works.

2 cup dried chickpeas

1 large onion, roughly chopped

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 teaspoons kosher salt

2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes

8 cloves of garlic

2 teaspoon cumin

2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup flour

oil, for greasing the pans

For serving:

sliced cucumbers

chopped tomato

lettuce

Tzaziki sauce (recipe below)

1. Place the chickpeas in a large bowl, covered by two inches of water (the bowl will seem much too large, but the chickpeas will expand a lot). Soak the dried chickpeas overnight (at least 18-24 hours) and then drain and rinse them.

2. Preheat the oven to 375 F.

3. Place the chickpeas, onion, parsley, cilantro, salt, red pepper flakes, cumin, garlic, baking powder and flour in a food processor and process until well blended.

4. Grease two large cookie sheets (my falafel stuck a little bit to my cookie sheet, so you may want to use a silicone baking mat if you have it, or I suppose you could line the pan with parchment). Using a small ice cream scoop, scoop the chickpea mixture and place it on the cookie sheet in rows about an inch apart (alternately you could roll the mixture into balls the size of walnuts, but the scoop really speeds up the process—I highly recommend using it).

5. Taste the mixture and adjust for seasonings.

6. Bake the falafel for about 20 minutes, or until they feel dry and firm. If they stick to the pan, allow them to cool some before trying to remove them.

7. Stuff each pita with 3 or four falafel balls, lettuce, tomato, cucumbers and a generous dollop of tzaziki sauce.

Tzaziki Sauce

16 oz low fat or fat free greek yogurt

1/2 of a seedless cucumber, grated

2 cloves of garlic

3 tablespoons fresh herbs of choice (dill, mint, parsley or cilantro)

juice of 1 lemon

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl.

2. Taste and adjust seasonings.

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Posted in budget recipes, main dishes, mediterranean | 3 Comments »

Little Dumplings of Joy

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

Sunday night as I was going through my Google Reader I noticed an abundance of dumpling recipes on favorite sites like Chez Us and Use Real Butter. It turns out that the June Daring Cooks challenge is Chinese dumplings or potstickers. I had just recently learned about the Daring Kitchen and decided to sign up. But, it turns out there is a waiting period to be an “official” participating member. Something about keeping the challenges secret. Fair enough. I still wanted dumplings. Unfortunately, it was late, I didn’t have the ingredients and I was exhausted. So instead, I sobbed silently over a plate of hot dog fried rice. Don’t judge me.

There is one person I know that makes the best “mandu” (korean dumplings) I have ever eaten in my entire life. Her name is Wool and she is pretty much amazing. She can turn the simplest of ingredients into the most flavorful dishes you have ever tasted. Although she has told me the secrets of her mandu, I have never been able to replicate them, and believe me I have tried. Thinking maybe she was leaving out some ancient Korean secret, I bought this book by Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee called Eating Korean. It’s a great book—I’m not by any means an expert, but to me it has the most authentic looking recipes of any Korean cookbook I have ever looked at, and most importantly, it has the Wool stamp of approval. So I’m using a recipe from it as the basis for my dumplings, with a few changes.

Korean Pork “Mandu” (Dumplings)

Adapted from Eating Korean: From Barbecue to Kimchi, Recipes from My Home

The original recipe calls for mung bean sprouts, but I substituted napa cabbage because that’s what I bought. I also added a carrot and soy sauce because Wool uses both in her mandu. The recipe calls for fresh ginger, but I used powdered, well, because Wool does. And I added a little sugar … just because I wanted to.

1 cup shredded napa cabbage, washed

1/4 of a large onion, sliced

1 carrot, chopped

1/2 lb ground pork

3 large cloves of garlic

2 stalks of green onion, finely chopped

2 tsp kosher salt, divided

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

1 tsp white pepper

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp ginger powder

1 package of round dumpling wrappers (or you can make them homemade if you have time)

oil for frying

1. Salt the cabbage with 1 tsp kosher salt and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Squeeze the water out and place the cabbage into a food processor with the carrots, onion and garlic. Process until the vegetables are finely chopped. Squeeze out any moisture from the mixture.

2. In a large bowl mix the vegetables with the pork. Add the salt, soy sauce, sesame oil, white pepper, sugar and ginger powder. Mix gently with your hands until the seasonings are thoroughly incorporated into the meat. At this point I like to cook a small amount of the filling in a skillet to taste for seasonings. I can then adjust them if I need to.

3. The next step is to fill and pleat the dumplings. Set up a small bowl of water at your wrapping station. Place a teaspoon of filling in the middle of the wrapper. Then, dip a finger in a bowl of water and wet the edges of the wrapper (usually I do it halfway around so it doesn’t get too soggy). If you don’t want to mess with the pleats, you can just fold it over and pinch the edges closed. If you want to make them look pretty and authentic,  you’ll want to pleat them. I could try to tell you how, but to really understand you need to see photos of the process. Jaden at Steamy Kitchen has a great tutorial with photos that will be much more useful than any explanation I can give here. So if you need help making your dumplings look all neat and fancy, get on over there and check it out.

4. At this point you’ll either want to cook the dumplings or freeze them.

If you’re going to freeze them lay them out on a baking sheet sprinkled with flour. Freeze the dumplings until they are nearly solid and then seal them up in a ziplock bag. You can cook them later at any time using the instructions here. If you’re going to cook the dumplings you’ll want to do it immediately because if you let them sit for too long, they will get soggy. Then the wrappers will come apart, they’ll all be stuck together and you’ll be pissed.

To cook the dumplings (you do it the same whether they are frozen or fresh) arrange them in a hot, oiled skillet, flat side down. Once the dumplings are nicely browned on the bottom (a few minutes, but longer if you started with frozen dumplings), add about 1/4 cup of water (carefully, it will make a lot of noise and splatter) and quickly put a lid or a plate over the top to steam the tops of the dumplings. Once the wrappers look translucent (this only takes a minute or so) remove the lid and allow the rest of the water to cook out. Serve them right away. I like to make a dipping sauce out of soy sauce, rice vinegar, sambal oelek and a little sugar.

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Posted in appetizers, asian | 2 Comments »

Vietnamese Spring/Summer/Winter rolls

Friday, January 23rd, 2009

Vietnamese salad rolls or Goi Cuon make a light, refreshing meal. In the spring. That’s why people call them spring rolls. But don’t get them confused with Chinese spring rolls, which are fried crispy. They’re also good to eat in the summer, which is why some people also call them summer rolls. Get it? And now it’s winter so … sorry. I know that was lame, but I couldn’t resist. Apparently this has been a topic of some contention. Really, I don’t know what the seasons have to do with these crunchy, fragrant little rolls, but if you took the wrapper out of the equation you would be left with … salad. Not only does the name “salad roll” make the most sense, but apparently this is also the literal translation of “Goi Cuon.” Besides, you’re supposed to eat them year round.

I have been meaning to make these for some time. The first time I ever made them we used rice noodles that were too thick and they were quite chewy. And to further add to the naming confusion, my very clever father in a fit of hilarity dubbed them, “rubber rolls.” We rolled and chewed and chewed and giggled and then chewed some more. We even took a nice photo.

When I got this lovely book in the mail a while back, I saw there was a recipe for rubber … er salad rolls and also vietnamese baguette sandwiches or Bahn Mi. They call for a lot of the same ingredients, so recently when I decided to try my hand at salad rolls again, I made plans to have Bahn Mi the next day to use up the leftover herbs and vegetables.

These were really tasty. In fact they were so tasty and I was so hungry that I failed to take a clear photo. In the midst of eating them I decided I had better get up and take a picture, but I didn’t have the patience to make a nice pretty roll for the photograph. Instead I took a big bite out of the fat, lop-sided roll that was sitting on my plate, held it still (I thought) and snapped a photo in my dark kitchen. I didn’t zoom in to make sure it was clear. I just put the camera away and continued to polish off my dinner as if I were a starving child in Africa (my apologies if any starving children in Africa are actually reading this). So I present to you this seemingly chubby hand (and why is it that my hand always looks chubby in photographs?) holding a half-eaten lop-sided blurry salad roll. Taa daaa!

I know. Hold your applause. I also meant to mention before that I was inspired to make salad rolls again when I saw this post at ChezUs. Notice the pretty pictures, the nice even rolls and the non-chubby hands.

Vietnamese Salad Rolls

Disclaimer: This is not really a recipe. It’s more like a starting point for how to make your own salad rolls written in recipe format. People put all kinds of things in salad rolls. The most basic recipe includes cucumber, carrots, a few herbs and boiled shrimp or pork (or both). Add or substitute other meats, herbs, veggies, or fruits, keeping in mind color, texture and flavor. Many rolls are made with bean sprouts or bell pepper. Jicama might be a nice variation and I’ve even heard of adding mango. P.S. A mandoline is a good thing to have for julienning the vegetables. Watch those fingers!

Rolls

1 large carrot, julienned 

½ english cucumber, julienned 

2 large radishes, julienned 

1 head boston lettuce 

4 oz rice vermicelli 

1 lb shrimp, peeled and de-veined 

fresh mint 

fresh cilantro 

2 tablespoons hoisin sauce 

1 clove garlic, minced 

1 fresh jalapeno or serrano, minced 

1 package of rice paper wrappers

Dipping Sauce

⅓ cup lime juice 

2 tablespoons sugar 

3 tablespoons fish sauce 

1 tablespoon soy sauce 

1 clove of garlic, minced 

1 fresh jalapeno or serrano, minced

1. In a small bowl combine the shrimp with the hoisin sauce, garlic and jalapeno. 

2. Place the vermicelli in a large bowl and add boiling water to cover. Soak for 15 minutes or until the noodles are tender. Rinse in cold water and set aside. 

3. Prep the veggies and carefully wash and dry the herbs and lettuce. Cook the shrimp in a small skillet until they just turn pink. Allow to cool. 

4. In a small bowl combine the dipping sauce ingredients. 

5. To serve, assemble all the fillings. Place a large, shallow bowl of hot water on the table and allow each person to make their own. 

6. To make a roll, dip a rice paper round into the water for a few seconds to soften and then lay it on a plate. The wrapper should not be softened entirely in the bowl. It will continue to absorb residual water and soften as it sits on the plate. 

7. In each wrapper place three shrimp, a lettuce leaf, some rice noodles and a small amount of each of the veggies and herbs. Fold the sides of the wrapper in and roll like a burrito. It may take some practice to create a tight roll without tearing the wrapper. Rolls that are not pretty still taste good (see chubby hand photo as evidence). 

8. Dip in sauce and eat.

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Posted in appetizers, asian, seafood, vegetables, vietnamese | 1 Comment »

Christmas Eve Ceviche for Everyone

Thursday, December 25th, 2008

My family has had a Christmas Eve party every year of my life for as long as I can remember. It’s become such an important part of our holiday tradition that I don’t think it would feel like Christmas without it. I remember as a kid, when the party came around, I could count on two things: getting to open one present early and eating some really good food. As a very mature adult, I have more patience and will power. I have to wait to open presents, and that’s okay. I also realize that most of all, the party is a chance to catch up with the friends and family that we don’t see enough the rest of the year—and it’s those people that really make it special. They are the party. They are Christmas. But do you want to know a secret? I still get excited about the food.

This year was Mexican. My dad was making Soup Nazi Mexican Chicken Chili. No soup for you! And this year was the first year that I was asked to bring something. I decided on ceviche right away. But then as my supply of Meyer lemons began to expand to levels of grotesque proportions, lemon bars started to sound like a really good idea. For several days, I went back and forth between ceviche and meyer lemon bars. My mom loves lemon bars, but would we really need more sweets? The definitive answer was yes. So I did what any reasonable person would do. I made both. And those people I was talking about? You know, the special ones? They wolfed down the ceviche before my dad got to try it, so guess what we’ll be having for New Years? (If you can’t guess, see answer below):

Looks good doesn’t it? Well, you’ll have to make your own because we’re fresh out. Let me know when you’re done and you can have some lemon bars for dessert.

Mock Ceviche

Ceviche is sort of a Latin American fish cocktail. It can be made with shellfish, squid or almost any firm white-fleshed fish. Traditionally, ceviche is not cooked with heat. Instead it’s marinated in citrus juices, which chemically “cook” the fish. And contrary to popular belief, chemically cooked fish is not as safe as fish cooked with heat. You should always treat any fish used for ceviche as though you were going to eat it raw. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to take on that burden of responsibility. So I use this trick suggested by Mark Bittman: Cook the damn fish. Nobody will know the difference. I love ceviche, but I don’t love the idea of giving anyone a tapeworm for Christmas. Ho ho ho!

Ceviche

1 1/2 lbs bay scallops (the small ones), rinsed 

1 cup diced tomatoes, seeded 

2 medium avocados, 1/4 inch dice 

1/4 cup onion, minced 

2 jalapeños, seeded and minced 

1 clove garlic, minced 

1/2 small bunch cilantro, chopped 

1 tablespoon fresh oregano, chopped

Thick corn chips for serving

Dressing

2 tablespoons olive oil 

1 lemon, juice and zest (I used a meyer lemon) (about 2 tablespoons)

4 key limes, juice (about 2 tablespoons)

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the scallops, turn the water off and put a lid on it. Allow the scallops to sit for two minutes. Drain and run under cold water to stop the cooking. Cut each scallop in half and set aside.

2. In a bowl large enough to accommodate the finished dish, combine the dressing ingredients. Add the scallops, tomato, onion, jalapeno, garlic and herbs. If there’s time, allow the ceviche to marinate in the refrigerator for several hours to blend the flavors. 

3. Add the avocados and toss gently just before serving. Serve immediately with a side of corn chips.

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Posted in seafood, vegetables | No Comments »

Lots and Lots of Cabbage

Monday, December 22nd, 2008

That’s actually a gross exaggeration. Two heads of cabbage in most households does not qualify as “lots and lots of cabbage,” but when you’re the only person that likes cabbage in a household, two heads of cabbage can seem a little overwhelming. When I got the first head of cabbage in my Greenling box, I thought it was the prettiest head of cabbage I had ever seen. I immediately started thinking up ways to cook it. A week went by without any decision being made and then another head of cabbage arrived. I decided it was time to get cracking. My plan was to find a way to cook the cabbage so that Shawn would eat it and possibly like it a little. The only way I have seen him enjoy cabbage in the past is when it is stewed with ground beef and onions and then stuffed into little white dough balls. The balls are then baked to form a meat and cabbage pocket that is then to be dipped in ketchup and mustard and eaten. These strange objects are called “bierocks”.

That’s all fine and dandy if you are, like Shawn, a bottomless pit that can eat an entire loaf of white bread in one sitting. If you’re like me, all that bread gets pretty filling and is pretty heavy in the stomach. So bierocks were out, and I was not ready to re-live my recent experience with cabbage rolls (don’t ask). So here is what I came up with. A dish of cabbage and potatoes, sauteed with a little bacon and baked with a touch of cream and an herb cheese topping. It was quick, satisfying and didn’t make the house smell like boiled cabbage, which was a key factor in convincing the boy to eat most of it.

So, that’s 1/2 a head of cabbage down. Only one and a half heads to go. Next on the cabbage list is baked crispy spring rolls (egg rolls). Stay tuned folks.

 

Cabbage Potato Gratin with Herb Cheese

The method of sautéing the cabbage quickly gives it a sweet flavor. The cheese topping is of course optional, but it never hurts. I suspect that some gruyere would work well here too.

Makes 4-6 side dish servings.

2 strips of bacon, 1/2 inch dice 

2 cups yukon gold potatoes, 1/2 inch dice 

2 cloves of garlic, minced 

1/2 of a medium head of cabbage, 1/2 inch dice 

salt and pepper 

1/3 cup half and half 

2 oz boursin garlic herb cheese or goat cheese, crumbled

1. Preheat oven to 425. Render the bacon in a large skillet until crispy. Add the potatoes and garlic and cook until lightly browned. Then add ¼ cup of water and cover. Cook until the potatoes are tender and then remove the lid and allow any remaining liquid to evaporate. Season with salt and pepper. 

2. Add the cabbage and saute until it wilts slightly. Season with salt and pepper. 

3. Add the half and half and cook for a minute or two to reduce the cream. Place the mixture in a square 8 inch casserole dish. Distribute the crumbled cheese evenly over the top and bake 20 minutes. Cool 5 minutes before serving.

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Greenling Box — 12.02.2008

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008

Here is my delivery for this week. I think it’s even better than last weeks. We got: avocados, mushrooms, red potatoes, meyer lemons, oranges, cilantro, apples, radishes, arugula, beets, bok choy and salad bowl lettuce.

I was really excited to see collard greens in the box. I really enjoyed the ones in the last box, and when Greenlings Mason Arnold and Devon Haire came to talk about the service at my office this week, they brought a sample box and let everyone take something home. I, being the greedy little produce hoarder that I am, grabbed the collard greens, two meyer lemons, two onions and a bunch of fresh thyme.

I cooked the collard greens up that night with a slice of bacon cut up really small and some garlic. We ate them all. I suppose olive oil and garlic would be almost as good. Or maybe olive oil, garlic and mushrooms. Mason says the key is not to cook them too much and apparently he’s right.

Another happy discovery was beets. I have been eating tons of beets lately. My co-workers expect me to turn purple any day now. A lot of people don’t know that the best way to cook beets is to peel them, cut them up, toss them with salt and olive oil and roast them in the oven without foil. They get so sweet they’re almost like candy. If you wrap them in foil, they’re still good, but you’re essentially steaming them. When you leave the foil off, the flavor of the beets gets more concentrated and they taste so much better.

Here are my beets all cut up and waiting to go in the oven. Once they are roasted I like to eat them immediately, right off the pan put them in a green salad with this vinaigrette:

Favorite Vinaigrette

You can use almost any vinegar in this recipe. My mom always says that the key to a good salad dressing is to use a few types of vinegar. I like to use a tablespoon of white or red wine vinegar and a tablespoon of rice vinegar. Use what you have or what you like.

Makes about 3/4 of a cup of dressing.

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons vinegar (1 tablespoon each of two types)

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2 teaspoons dijon or grainy mustard

1 lemon, juiced

1 teaspoon honey

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

pepper to taste

1. Measure the olive oil into a 2 cup (or larger) measuring cup. Add the remaining ingredients to the cup and whisk everything together. Allow it to sit for several minutes.

2. Whisk again. Taste with a leaf of lettuce dipped into the dressing. Adjust seasonings if necessary.

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