Salad à la Paz
September 29, 2005 | Filed Under Salad | Leave a Comment
Sometime ago, Tattum blogged about what she had for lunch. I’m going to copy her and do the same. There is a salad that I put together for lunch, with no particular recipe in mind. The ingredients are what I had in my fridge that day — romain lettuce, carrots, red onions, red cabbage, and tomatoes. For the dressing, I used Red Wine Vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, with salt and pepper to taste.
Paz
Salmon Baked in Foil
September 26, 2005 | Filed Under Salmon, Seafood | Leave a Comment
Salmon about to be baked in foil
Here’s a quick and easy salmon recipe by Giada DeLaurentiis. I love salmon and even before I took up the interest in cooking, preparing salmon featured in my very limited cooking repertoire. I had the simplest method – rub salt, pepper, and olive oil on the fish before putting it in the oven.
Well, this Salmon Baked in Foil recipe is not hard to prepare and adds extra ingredients (tomatoes, shallots, lemon juice, dried oregano and thyme) to the fish, which gives it an extra special taste and something more special to look at in its presentation.
Paz
Note:
* Instead of salmon, you can also use Halibut, Swordfish or Red Snapper fillets.
* When you use the fresh tomatoes, you don’t need to seed it.
* Use dry herbs for this recipe because the flavors are more intense than the fresh herbs.
Baked salmon straight from the oven
Salmon Baked in Foil
4 (5 ounces each) salmon fillets 2 teaspoons olive oil plus 2 tablespoons Salt and freshly ground black pepper 3 tomatoes, chopped, or 1 (14-ounce) can chopped tomatoes, drained 2 chopped shallots 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1 teaspoon dried thyme
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Sprinkle salmon with 2 teaspoons olive oil, salt, and pepper. Stir the tomatoes, shallots, 2 tablespoons of oil, lemon juice, oregano, thyme, salt and pepper in a medium bowl to blend.
Place a salmon fillet, oiled side down, atop a sheet of foil. Wrap the ends of the foil to form a spiral shape. Spoon the tomato mixture over the salmon. Fold the sides of the foil over the fish and tomato mixture, covering completely; seal the packets closed. Place the foil packet on a heavy large baking sheet. Repeat until all of the salmon have been individually wrapped in foil and placed on the baking sheet. Bake until the salmon is just cooked through, about 25 minutes. Using a large metal spatula, transfer the foil packets to plates and serve.
The 23/5 meme
September 25, 2005 | Filed Under Memes | Leave a Comment
Sweetnicks has tagged me for an interesting new meme going around called 23/5.
Basically, the tagged blogger has to go to his or her 23rd post (or closest to), find the 5th sentence (or closest to), and then write something interesting about it on his or her blog.
Here are the Official Rules:
- Delve into your blog archive.
- Find you 23rd post (or closest to).
- Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
- Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions. Ponder it for meaning, subtext or hidden agendas…
- Tag five people to do the same
I don’t have 23 posts yet. Instead, I have a 21st post on Eggplant relish.
Here is the 5th sentence from that post:
“That’s funny; they didn’t look like eggplants to me.”
Hmmm… Now, let’s see: What can I write that’s interesting from this sentence? I don’t think there’s a meaning, hidden text or agenda in my fifth sentence. Okay. So, this is what I can come up with:
Funny: Me cooking. 
Interesting & Fun: I’m constantly learning something new about food and cooking – I really didn’t know that there were different-looking types of eggplants.
I have two new vocabulary words – aubergine and courgette….
I now pass the meme to:
Angelika at The flying Apple
Michele at Oswego Tea
Melissa at The Traveler’s Lunchbox
Mrs. D at Belly-timber
Tattum at Tattum’s Kitchen
I hope you’re able to participate. I’m sure that you will come up with something better with your 5th sentence from your 23rd post than I did. Have fun! Thanks, Sweetnicks!
Paz
Eggplant Relish
September 24, 2005 | Filed Under Eggplant, Foods I Never Liked Before Until I Started to Cook, Vegetables | Leave a Comment
Three eggplants and a yellow squash
The other day, my mother brought home two huge bags of fruit that she bought at the Farmer’s Market. There were a few vegetables, which I wasn’t familiar with and she wasn’t around for me to ask what they were.
I enlisted the help of Melissa, who took a look at the photos that I’d e-mailed her and immediately replied, “They all look like eggplant to me — different (heirloom) varieties.”
Eggplants? That’s funny; they didn’t look like the eggplant with which I was familiar — dark, purple, almost black in color — the kind that I’d see in the vegetable section of the grocery store or supermarket. Until then, I’d never seen white, green, or light purple eggplants. Interesting.
Now, how would I prepare my eggplants? I’d never done that before. I didn’t want them to just look pretty sitting in the fridge and then eventually spoil. What to do? What to do?
I happened to check out Simply Recipes, and by coincidence there was a recipe for Eggplant Relish, staring at me from my computer screen. Now, I knew what I’d make with the eggplants.
This recipe is another winner. It’s simple and tasty. I decided to serve on top of toasted French baguette slices. Next time, I’ll try bread sticks. The nice thing about this recipe is that you can also serve%2
Chicken Peanut Curry
September 22, 2005 | Filed Under African Recipes, Peanut Curry Sauce, Poultry, Vinaigrettes/Salsas/Sauces | Leave a Comment
Checking out the Simply Recipes blog for the first time the other day, I came across a recipe called Chicken Peanut Curry based on a West African meal. The recipe brought back another childhood food memory, which I didn’t mention in my meme.
I found it interesting because although I’d never cooked the food before, I did remember that the ingredients listed in the Chicken Peanut Curry recipe were totally different than the one used in the dish I ate as a child in Africa.
Not only were the ingredients different, the name, Chicken Peanut Curry, was also different from the one used in Africa. Here are the differences:
Current recipe:
Name: Chicken Peanut Curry
Ingredients: Curry powder, scallions, Serrano chili peppers, coriander seeds, mint and cilantro
Childhood recipe:
Name: Groundnut soup (but in the U.S. we call it Peanut Butter Soup because we use peanut butter)
Ingredients: Peanuts – roasted and finely ground, fresh tomatoes, tomato paste, onions, shrimp powder, goat meat, fresh fish, smoked fish, or chicken
We hadn’t had this dish in a very long time – a couple of years, in fact. So, I decided to surprise my mother with the meal and see her reaction.
With the exception of one of the main ingredients – green onions – I found everything easily at the supermarket. I saw Spanish onions, red onions, white onions, yellow onions but no “green onions.” Nope, I couldn’t find them.
I returned home from grocery shopping and mentioned my dilemma to my sister who said she thought that green onions were scallions, but wasn’t sure. So, I looked it up on the Internet. She was right.
I couldn’t find “green onions.” You know why? Because there are no green-looking onions, that’s why! Silly me! Green onions are also known as SCALLIONS! Why don’t people just say scallions? At least, I know what those are. And why does it have two names? I know: Just to confuse me, that’s why. I made a second trip back to the grocery store to pick up my scallions/green onions.
After obtaining all the ingredients, the rest of the cooking process was uneventful. I prepared the meal according to the instructions. Even as I stirred in the peanut butter into the pot, I didn’t think it would taste like the groundnut soup of my childhood days. Finally trying the Chicken Peanut Curry, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it tasted like the soup I remembered.
When my mother first tasted the food, she exclaimed in surprise, “This tastes like Peanut Butter Soup!” She went on to finish her meal. I didn’t have to ask her how it tasted because when she finished, she decreed the meal as, “Very good.” I think I pleasantly surprised her.
I told her the ingredients I used and she confirmed that she normally wouldn’t prepare the Groundnut Soup that way, but we agreed that the end results were the same – the Chicken Peanut Curry tasted similar and good. That’s what counts.
Paz
Chicken Peanut Curry
3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken pieces, cut into 1 1/2 inch wide chunks or strips 1/2 cup flour 4 Tbsp curry powder 2 teaspoons Kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground peppercorns 1/2 cup olive oil 2 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced 2 Tbsp garlic, minced 2 serrano chili peppers, seeded, de-veined, minced 4 cups chicken broth 1/2 cup peanut butter (if using freshly ground peanuts, add 2 teaspoons of sugar) 1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds 8 green onions, chopped, greens included 1/3 cup each finely chopped mint and cilantro 2 limes cut into wedges
1 - Rinse chicken and pat dry. In a small sturdy paper bag, combine the flour, curry powder, salt and pepper. Shake well. Add the chicken pieces and shake to coat well.
2 - Heat oil in a large saucepan on medium high heat. Add chicken pieces. Cook 5-10 minutes (depending on size of chicken pieces) tossing occasionally to cook chicken evenly. Add the ginger, garlic, chili pepper and 1/2 cup of the chicken broth to the saucepan. Cook for 3 minutes, scraping the pan with a spatula and stirring to combine everything well.
3 - Add the peanut butter, stirring quickly to incorporate it with the chicken. Add the remaining 3 1/2 cups of broth slowly, stirring continuously to maintain an even texture. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Right before serving, add the coriander and green onions. Salt to taste.
4 - Serve with rice. Top each serving with fresh cilantro and mint. Squeeze a little lime juice over it as well.
Serves 6-8.
The Perfect Way to Cook a Hard Boiled Egg
September 22, 2005 | Filed Under Eggs | Leave a Comment
Johanna has a delicious-sounding post on her blog for a recipe for Ham bagels with the creamiest scrambled eggs. Yum! She also mentions how she found the way to make her perfect soft boiled eggs, as well as celebrity British chef Gordon Ramsay’s revealed secret to make the perfect scrambled egg.
This got me thinking about what I’d heard American T.V. chef Sara Moulton said about making the perfectly hard boiled egg on one of her cooking episodes called Seafood Sandwiches:
Basically, you put the egg(s) in cold water; bring the water up to a boil; take the pot off the heat and cover the pot; Leave the egg(s) in the pot for about 17 minutes; then throw the egg(s) in an ice bath; Let the egg(s) cool off completely; and then peel the egg(s) under cold running water.
I hadn’t realized that one had to go through all those steps to make the perfect hard boiled egg. A few days ago, when I was about to boil an egg, I decided to try Sara’s technique. My egg came out just fine. No complaints from me!
Does you have your own version of making a perfectly cooked egg — hard boiled, soft boiled, scrambled or otherwise? Please share!
Paz
Shrimp with Garlic
September 21, 2005 | Filed Under Herbs, Parsley, Seafood, Shrimps | Leave a Comment
Here’s a very good and simple recipe for shrimp with garlic by Mark Bittman. He recommends that you serve it with crusty bread to sop up the flavored oil. Yum! I’m happy to write that it’s a hit in my household.
Paz
Shrimp with Garlic
1/2 Cup extra virgin olive oil
6 cloves garlic slivered 1 bay leaf Pinch to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne or good paprika, or to taste 1 pound large (21/30) shrimp, peeled Salt Chopped fresh parsely leaves, for garnish Lemon wedges
1. Put the oil in a medium skillet and turn the heat to medium. A minute later, when the oil is warm, add the garlic, bay leaf, and cayenne and cook until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Raise the heat to high and add the shrimp; cook, stirring occasionally, until cooked through, about 5 minutes. Transfer the entire contents to a shallow bowl, season to taste with salt, and garnish with chopped parsley and lemon wedges. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Rice and Beans: Moros y Cristianos (Arroz con Habichuelas)
September 19, 2005 | Filed Under Latin Recipes, Latin Recipes, Rice | Leave a Comment
I saw this recipe demonstrated on Sara Moulton’s cooking show, on the Food Network channel. She had guest chef Juventino (love the name Juventino!) Avila cooking with her, and they prepared dishes mainly from the Dominican Republic. Out of the three recipes prepared on the show, I tried the rice and beans recipe first. I’ve made this recipe twice and both times, my rice and beans have come out GREAT!
The recipe includes black beans, long grained white rice, diced white onion, diced green peppers, garlic, store-bought sofrito, oregano, ground cumin, chicken stock and salt and pepper.
The second time I made the arroz con habichuelas (rice and beans), just before I started to cook, I discovered that I’d forgotten to buy the sofrito, which is an important part of the recipe because it is the base of Dominican cuisine (and a lot of Latino cuisine, in general). Sofrito consists of vegetables, spices and herbs that are sautéed together and cause the flavors to come out even more.
Luckily, I had the recipe for fresh sofrito from Latina T.V. Chef Daisy Martinez. I had most of the ingredients on hand (and what I didn’t have, I improvised). So, I ended up making my own sofrito from scratch. I’m telling you, I impressed myself.
Now that I’ve tasted the difference between the store-bought and freshly made sofrito, I find that I prefer the fresh one to use in my cooking; and now that I know how to make it, I don’t mind going the extra step to make it.
Paz
Rice and beans: Moros y Cristianos (Arroz con Habichuelas)
1 1/2 cups Goya dried black beans (or canned pre-cooked) 3 cups long-grain white rice 2 1/2 cups white onion, diced 2 1/2 cups green peppers, very small dice 1/4 cup olive oil, for sauteing 4 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped 1/2 cup sofrito 1/2 teaspoon tomato paste 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1 tablespoon ground cumin 1 bay leaf 4 1/2 cups chicken stock Salt and pepper Cover the dry beans with water in a large pot. Do not salt the water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook until tender, about 1 hour.
Rinse the rice with cold water until the water runs clear.
Use a large, 8-quart covered stockpot. Saute the onion and green pepper in the olive oil until tender. Add the garlic and sofrito and saute another 1 to 2 minutes. Add the tomato paste, black beans, oregano, cumin and bay leaf. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring gently.
Add the chicken stock and the rinsed rice. Season with plenty of salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and cook for about 20 to 30 minutes, or until rice is fully cooked.
Sofrito
Makes about 4 cups.
If you can’t find ajices dulces or culantro, don’t sweat. Up the amount of cilantro to 1 ½ bunches.
| 2 medium Spanish onions, cut into large chunks 3 to 4 Italian frying peppers or cubanelle peppers 16 to 20 cloves garlic, peeled 1 large bunch cilantro, washed 7 to 10 ajices dulces (see note below), optional 4 leaves of culantro (see note below), or another handful cilantro 3 to 4 ripe plum tomatoes, cored and cut into chunks 1 large red bell pepper, cored, seeded and cut into large chunks |
Chop the onion and cubanelle or Italian peppers in the work bowl of a food processor until coarsely chopped. With the motor running, add the remaining ingredients one at a time and process until smooth. The sofrito will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. It also freezes beautifully. Freeze sofrito in ½ cup batches in sealable plastic bags. They come in extremely handy in a pinch. You can even add sofrito straight from the freezer to the pan in any recipe that calls for it in this book. Pantry Notes: Ajices Dulces, also known as cachucha or ajicitos are tiny sweet peppers with a hint of heat. They range in color from light to medium green and yellow to red and orange. They add freshness and an herby note to the sofrito and anything you cook. Do not mistake them for Scotch bonnet or Habanero chilies (which they look like)those two pack a wallop when it comes to heat. If you can find ajicitos in your market, add them to sofrito. If not, up the cilantro and add a pinch of cayenne pepper. Culantro is not cilantro. It has long leaves with tapered tips and serrated edges. When it comes to flavor, culantro is like cilantro times ten. It is a nice, not essential addition to sofrito. (See Sources for both the above.)
Diced onions and green pepper in pan
Beans and sofrito added to the pan
Rice added to the pan
Brazilian Salsa Vinaigrette
September 18, 2005 | Filed Under Brazilian Salsa Vinaigrette, Vinaigrettes/Salsas/Sauces | Leave a Comment
I’m still on a high from the Brazilian Day festival and decided to make a Brazilian salsa vinaigrette during the week.
I LOVE this salsa, taken from the recipe in Cook Brazil. It’s simple, fresh-tasting and as always – an important factor for me – EASY to make. The recipe recommends that you eat it with meat (like churrasco, the Brazilian barbeque), fish or sausage, but I ate it with my pollo frito (fried chicken) and I liked it just fine.
I used a large tomato, red and green bell peppers, bought from the Farmers Market (Oh, so good and fresh!). Since I like red onions, I used one, because the recipe didn’t specify what kind of onion to use.
Highly satisfied with the results, I plan on making it again, next time with the churrasco.
Paz
Brazilian Salsa Vinaigrette
Note: all diced ingredients = ¼ inch
1 cup of diced green and red bell peppers.
½ cup diced onions
1 cup diced ripe tomatoes.
¼ cup white wine vinegar.
2 tbs of olive oil
PREPARE:
In a bowl, mix green and red peppers, onions, tomatoes, vinegar and olive oil.
Hint: add salt to the salsa right before serving it. Salt dehydrates the tomatoes in the mixture if let for long time.
SERVE:
Brazilian Vinaigrette Salsa is great with Brazilian Barbecues or on top of any meat, fish and sausage.
SERVING SIZE: 8 portions
Craig’s Lime-Garlic Grilled Chicken
September 17, 2005 | Filed Under Poultry | Leave a Comment
Stephen has this enticing chicken recipe on his blog. I’d recently made Pollo Frito (Fried Chicken), and one might think that it was too soon to make another chicken dish. Not so. I didn’t mind, and neither did my family.
The dish consists of three major ingredients – the chicken, lime, and spices. I had the last two and bought chicken thighs in the morning.
According to the instructions, I started out by placing the chicken in a plastic bag (I made it a double bag, just in case the first bag busted.) and leaving it to marinate in fresh limejuice and chopped garlic in the fridge.
I also placed the bag of chicken on a plate, just in case there was an accident – like the bag busting – causing the ingredients to spill all over the fridge. What? No, I’m not paranoid or have some obsessive-compulsive problem. I just think that it pays to be careful, given the chance. After all, it’s no fun cleaning out a fridge and even less fun cleaning out a fridge that reeks of uncooked chicken and its marinade.
After five hours, I pulled out the chicken, mixed the spices together and rubbed the mixture on it.
The recipe calls for the chicken to be grilled over “a medium-hot charcoal fire with some hardwood chunks added for smoke.” I’m sure that the charcoal fire and wood gives the grilled chicken an extra special taste. However, I live in the city and don’t have an outdoor grill. Instead, I have what I consider one of the best kitchen inventions for people like me or people who don’t feel like grilling outside – a grill pan.
My grill pan is small, and not the nice long-sized ones that I see the T.V. chefs use on the Food Network station (which I watch frequently), but it is quite handy. With a little prayer that my chicken would grill nicely, I placed the spice-rubbed pieces in the pan.
Lime-Garlic chicken in the grill pan
Immediately they started to sizzle and grill. Soon, I turned the pieces over (just once as the recipe calls for) and after 25 minutes, the chicken was ready!
I had wanted to try the asparagus recipe that Stephen suggests to eat with the chicken, but forgot to buy the asparagus. So, I decided to make steamed broccoli and served the meal with a salad on the side.
The food was delicious. Unlike my pollo frito, which had a lemony taste, I could taste the lime on the grilled chicken. The sugar, salt, cayenne pepper, ground cumin, and paprika made a special coating on the chicken and the lime seemed to bring everything together.
For some time after the meal, everyone fell silent. I’m guessing that they felt the same way that I did – satiated after a good meal.
Paz
Craig’s Lime-Garlic Grilled Chicken
